Begin Here
By Sean Alexander

I was talking with one of my cousins the other day. Dick runs a nice little business (ESCO Manufacturing, Inc.) down in Florida that has consistently given off a delectable cash flow for thirty years. Last year, the cash cow ran dry. Well, maybe not completely dry, but the flow of life sustaining nutrients slowed appreciably. “What happened,” I asked. “It looks like we might be at the end,” he said. “It was nice while it lasted.” I thought about that for awhile, and then realized that it didn’t make any sense. The reason it didn’t is because my cousin doesn’t take defeat lightly. I couldn’t imagine Dick just giving up.

Sure enough, when I talked with him again, six months later, business was booming, sales and profits were set to break another record and everybody was fully employed (i.e., no layoffs). He and his team accomplished all of that improvement right in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I was curious; after so much going wrong, what went right? The particular actions Dick and his team took (a re-focus to a direct sales force, re-jiggering of sales points, reductions in costs) are of concern and interest to his business, but not to us here.

The key point of interest here is the fact that he took action. He could have studied his problems to death, but he didn’t. He could have run a never ending series of experiments, but he didn’t. He could have blamed the downturn in his business on the economic crisis and hoped for a magic genie (e.g., the government) to make everything right, but he didn’t.

Dick took action. It was specific. It was immediate. It was massive. It was specific in that he didn’t try to re-invent his whole company or approach to his marketplace. He quickly evaluated the situation and identified a few measurable actions that would likely improve company performance. It was immediate in that he didn’t wait for the right time, the right environment, the right moment to move forward. The situation was urgent, and that was how he acted—urgently. It was massive in that he didn’t just do one thing, then another, then another. Such a sequential approach would have so wounded the company that no amount of care could have saved it. He did everything, all of it, simultaneously. That is massive action, and action beats meditation.

I met up with Dick a couple weeks ago in East Lansing, Michigan where we attended a wedding of one of our many extended family members (Melissa was a delightfully beautiful bride, and her new husband Doug is quite a decent chap). It was a nice interlude; autumn has arrived along the “north coast” of the USA. I discovered that the implemented changes in Dick’s business continue to drive his company to new heights. The slowly improving economic environment is simply an added bonus, not the reason for his company’s health. Dick’s bias to action moved his company forward when it was most needed. That is what action is all about. Moving forward. There is no gain in the status quo. There is no advancement in business-as-usual. There is no comfort in the comfort zone.

This failure to act is where so many of us go wrong. It isn’t that we don’t have good ideas. It turns out that generating ideas is the easy part. Upon seeing a new gadget or gizmo, or a new service being delivered, or a new process bringing better results; who among us hasn’t said, “I thought of that two years ago.” Perhaps true, but the person who made things better was the one who actually made, delivered, or improved something. Ideas are cheap. Words are nice. Action is dear.*

* It was Abigail Adams, in a 1774 letter to her husband John, who said, “We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.”

Many, many years ago, high on a mountain top in a land far, far away a Novice inquired, “Master, where do I begin?” The Master answered “Where are you?” Confused, the Novice declared, “I am right here.” With a single raised eyebrow, a tilted head and a soft voice, the Master encouraged, “Begin there.” Many fruitful decades later a Novice inquired, “Master, how were you able to accomplish so much in your lifetime?” The sage Grand Master enlightened, “I always began where I was.”

You, too, can begin where you are. What action could you take, not just sometime today, but right now that could create an opening for improvement, that would move a stalled project forward, that will make a measurable difference in your life? Do that. Do it now. Do it right here. Then you’ll be on The Vital Edge.

To Your Vital Success,

Sean Alexander

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© 2009 Sean Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

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Sean Alexander is President of VitalThought, a boutique consulting company that focuses on Results-Based Management. His monthly ezine, The Vital Edge, helps executives, project managers and team members discover project and personal success with results-based strategies and tactics. If you're ready to energize your projects and yourself, investigate the possibilities at www.vitalthought.com.