By J. William DeMarco
Yesterday we posted the 11 Ways You Allow Your Life to Suck by Jeff Haden… one thing that hit me huge was #3:
3. You don’t try to be last.
Everyone likes to be first.
But often it’s better to be last: The last to give up, the last to leave, the last to keep trying, the last to hold on to principles and values.
The world is full of people who quit. The world is full of people who pivot–even though pivot is sometimes just a fancy word for “give up.”
There will always be people who are smarter, more talented, better connected, and better funded. But they don’t always win.
Be the last to give up on yourself; then, even if you don’t succeed, you still win.
Optimism or a contrarian way at looking at the less than obvious issues in life.
Something that dawned on me during some morning reading… we do this when we look at people as well. When we work with others and mentor… do we look at people’s weaknesses or strengths. I think many times we gravitate toward weakness. Shortcomings seem to standout larger than strengths at times, but if you start puting your energies into assisting folks with their weaknesses, you will demoralize and is some cases sabotage their future potential.
Instead, why not focus on strengths…focus on sharpening skills that already exist. Compliment positive qualities…bring out gifts inherent in them. THEN… once a strong sense of trust has been nurtured and developed and you have begun to gain confidence…now is the time to address weakness…and of course address those gently and one at a time….don’t focus on the negative, accentuate the positive and don’t quit on people…
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