BEHIND THE MIKE

What if you met Joe Burrow or Ed Orgeron? Would you have to sell them on the benefits of “second chances?” At one time or another both were left for dead, only to bounce back to greatness for LSU’s football program.

Do-overs are rare in almost every endeavor. I always told my children they should make measurable progress in a reasonable time frame. How long is it reasonable to spend in the first grade? Industry standard… one year should do it.

We rarely get a second chance to make a bad thing good or a wrong thing right. About all that is accomplished is we prove we could be better despite failing previously. If failure is the by-product of competing, it should follow that in order to have more success one would judiciously conclude that we need to learn how to fail faster.

Rewinding time isn’t possible. Do-overs, while rare, occasionally provide you with a second chance. Even if you fail again, there is something good to be learned. As Tom Edison would say “I just found another way not to invent the light bulb.”

Coach John Wooden would argue, “If you do not have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over again?” Time is often the excuse we use for the unfinished business. The real problem is not a lack of time, but a failure to prioritize.

When others cannot find time to work you into their schedule, it is not a reflection on their priorities, but a reflection of your spot on their schedule. As the old joke goes, procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on another’s part.

It is fair to conclude that when one says “yes” to you that it means they may have to say “no” to another. Mark Twain observed, “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.” The answer is to eliminate yourself from the equation. It is not selfish to make yourself a priority, it is necessary.

That requires focus. We need to feed our focus and dump our distractions. When you stay in a situation where you are not appreciated, it is not necessarily because of loyalty to another person or entity. It might be better defined as breaking your own heart.

When your values are clear, decisions come easy because your focus is on and around those values. I spent a half century flying around the world flapping my gums, but my priorities have always been the family. When you travel a lot in business, you must have a powerful relationship with your spouse.

Make no mistake, my proudest achievement and greatest legacy in life are my children and grandchildren. Ironically, there is only one reason why— my wife Christine. She is the one who deserves 1,000% of the credit for who and what they are.

When you are in business for yourself, you have all the pressures of succeeding in the working world while trying to balance your home life. Sixty percent of all new businesses fail for a variety of reasons. Balancing all those pressures is one reason.

A change in your values will affect a change in your behavior. That is why it is critical to be locked and loaded on what those values are. They will drive your decisions.

Over my brief tenure on earth, I have concluded that unsuccessful people make decisions based on what they see through the rearview mirror. Successful people make their decisions on what they see through the windshield. To borrow a sports quote from hockey great Wayne Gretsky: “You have to skate to where the puck is going to be.”

Our entire life is a series of decisions but when we make those based on what other people think, we should remind ourselves that we are not in charge of their happiness. Rather, we are in control of our own. You do not need their approval to live your life the way you want.

It is fair to add and goes without saying that when your choices are all bad it will never produce a good result. Choose wisely!