Finding The Meat At A Vegetarian Barbeque

Monday Morning has been in hiatus so I take a few weeks off to recharge my mental batteries and to do some serious thinking about today’s subject.

From a middle-aged manager: “I’ve lost my edge. Maybe you can help me get it back. I’m good at what I do, but frankly, for the past ten years or so, I just don’t get any real satisfaction out of my successes.”

From a thirty-something sales rep: “I don’t know why, but I feel burned out. I just can’t get motivated. Sure, I’m keeping my numbers up, but I’ve lost the ‘zip’ that used to drive me.”

From an executive: “Nowadays, I feel like I’m on a journey from success to mediocrity.”

Have you ever felt that way? Increasingly, I am hearing similar comments from people of all ages working in companies ranging from Fortune 50’s to small business owners, who represent a broad spectrum of professions.

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that I have had to fight feeling the same way. At first, I tried to chalk-it-up to the year-long recovery from my 1998 aortic aneurysm surgery and the continuing limitations on my activities resulting from it. But after a few years of hearing the same flatness expressed by others who hadn’t had aortic aneurysm surgery, it became obvious that there was something else going on—and it wasn’t just me. While I still found satisfaction in what I did (writing, coaching, speaking, etc), it still seemed like I was attending a barbeque sponsored by vegetarians—lots of good food, but no meat (if you are a vegetarian I mean no criticism)!

What did I do? I refined my processes for doing business, re-envisioned my long-term goals, revised my material (updated from the 70’, 80’ and 90’s), revamped my strategies and revisited my approach to handling problems and setbacks. I analyzed my attitude, amplified my aptitude and augment my ability to work with technology so my 11 year old granddaughter didn’t have to explain it to me! But still, the edge kept dulling and my internal fire tended to quickly turn to embers.

As more and more people expressed related feelings and frustrations, I moved from self assessment to examining changes in business mores’ that have become predominate over the last 25 years. My method for doing this included rereading books and articles by the guru’s of the business and motivational genre during that time period, and involved reading biographies/autobiographies of business leaders, as well as having conversations with successful people I was acquainted with.

It became clear to me that the common denominator for successful people remaining fully energized, challenged and fulfilled had more to do with the way they approached life and business than with methods and measurements. What is that common denominator? Thriving on competition!

Take a look at the following quotes and I think you’ll see what I mean.

“Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition -- in having put forth the best within you.” Henry J. Kaiser
“A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up. It's all a matter of pride.” --LPGA Golfer, Nancy Lopez
“Thank God for competition. When our competitors upset our plans or outdo our designs, they open infinite possibilities of our own work to us.” -- Gil Atkinson

All of the August Monday Mornings will take a look at the power of competition to motivate us, empower us and create staying power; how many of us had our competitive edge “domesticated” out of us, and some simple steps to regain it.
Have a great and profitable week…
Robert Hidde bob@confidentliving.com