“Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.” –– Denis Waitley
Today is Ash Wednesday, a day when million of people reflect on their lives and attempt fundamental change in the way they live.
But you don’t have to be a member of any particular religion in order to pursue change. In fact, you can change any aspect of your life with a decision.
Tom Peters, author of “The Pursuit of Wow!“, lays it all out. He quotes IBM founder Thomas Watson, who said that you can change your life this second by deciding that from now on, you will quit doing anything in less than in a world-class way.
Watson used the example of a restaurant waiter, who regardless of any other factors, can decide that all his service will be world-class.
It can be the same way with you. Let’s say you’re a coach. From this second forward, you can decide that all of your practice plans will be world-class.
If you’re an athlete, you can decide to practice on an Olympic level.
Some people say change is hard. It isn’t. Change is as simple as making a decision right now. What IS difficult is STAYING changed. You may have heard the saying, “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it hundreds of times.”
But if you can make a decision right now, and back it up with daily commitment, you can be world class.
which means, of course, that you need to create metrics for every world class behavior. What does “world class” mean? You get to decide but you can’t without a measurement system that tells you what continuous improvement would look like. Unmeasurable goals are not true goals.