Blog about Leadership

There is a commonly reference proverb that states:
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

This is used to encourage you to set goals and aim for success. The idea is to not focus on how you are going to do something or what road you will take, but rather focus on where you want to end up – your destination – to determine the route. Even if you don’t know the route to take, but know the destination then as you live your life the route becomes known – the opportunities arise.

First things first, set a goal – determine the success you want to achieve.

Many years ago, I was soldier stationed in Germany and while I was there, I met an older gentleman who was always willing to give me advice on any topic that I asked. He was a retired office and at the time worked for a Defense contractor. The best advice he gave me was to always do my best on what I am working on at the moment and let the details of what to do next work out for themselves.

Ever since I was a teenager, I was always looking toward the next things I wanted to do. When I was fifteen, I wanted to start working toward certain college degrees, but I wasn’t focusing very well on completing my high school diploma. I spent more time focusing on the topics that interested me, but didn’t give my best efforts in the general topics of high school. Of course, later in life, I learned how important the foundation of general knowledge is in working toward higher learning topics.

When I was in college, I remember taking an assessment to determine my learning style. I scored nearly even across all categories. What this indicated was that I was driven by the topics that interest me at the time that they interest me. I can delve into single topic and learn more about it in a short period of time, but when it comes to learning and studying specific topics as set by a University curriculum, at times, I didn’t have the interest, so I didn’t delve in to the same motivation as I focus on non-curriculum topics. Completing my degrees, while simple from my intellectual perspective, became difficult because of motivation and working on the topics as given to me rather than those I sought myself.

There is an un-sourced quote from former Secretary of State and General Colin Powell that I have always enjoyed:
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

In this one quote, Colin Powell breaks down a three-point process for success: Preparation, Hard work, and Learning from Failure.

1. Preparation – Set goals. Don’t focus your attention on all the details of how to achieve your goals, but focus primarily on the goals.
2. Work hard – In everything that you do, do it to the best of your abilities. The opportunities will come your way, but you need the foundation set in place in order for the opportunities to come.
3. Learn from Failure – This has been a common theme on this blog. Failures are not the problem, but rather one of the opportunities. How you respond to failure better determines success in the future than nearly anything else. How you respond to failure demonstrates your work ethic, your determination, your perspective, and your level of experience.

As 2008 becomes history and 2009 becomes the present, this is a new year with new opportunities – make the most of this year starting now.

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