I’ve done a fair amount of public speaking, but an experience at a recent event gave me a whole new perspective on the words we say to each other and what they really mean.
My speech was for about 200 high-powered professionals. The host introduced me: “We’re really excited for our guest speaker today. He’s the CEO of entreQuest and the New York Times best-selling author of Grow Regardless.” Then he said: “He’s going to say some things you’ve probably heard before, but we should really listen anyway.”
I thought, “What the heck?” The host didn’t say anything wrong, really, but his words struck me. My visceral reaction was that we have got to rethink this saying that “We’ve heard it all before.”
How about we ask a better question? Okay, so you’ve heard it what are you doing about it? What are you doing to live it consistently? The practice of growing regardless and being totally authentic is simple, but it’s not easy. Focus on what you said, keep your word to the extreme, put forth tireless effort. If you say you want to be the best, then back it up in what you do.
As an example: Don’t say you want to be healthy and then eat a Big Mac. They cancel each other out. Don’t say you care about the client experience and then talk badly about your clients when they’re not around. Don’t say you don’t care about your ego and your title and then have the biggest office and the best view and come and go as you please.
Just be the best and work as hard as you can to get there. Never quit. It’s extreme, but so is being the best.
This blog will continue in “I’ve Heard It All Before – Part Two.”
Joe Mechlinski is the bestselling author of Grow Regardless, CEO of entreQuest, and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits