For success in 2022 we need to focus on a few areas of major importance. They are:
· Wisdom
· Being Coachable
· Work Ethic
· Humility
· Being Generous
One of the most brilliant people I’ve read about has shared some thoughts about each of these. (See the bold type that follows each).
Wisdom
· Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
· Do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion.
When it comes to “wisdom”, there are many forms of it. Of course, there is the academic form of it. This applies to many areas. This can be confused with “knowledge”, too, but in many instances can be interchangeable.
MK received her MBA after she was 50. In my opinion this is the best time to get it. She already had 25+ years of working in the real world. In management. In different companies. A variety of roles in those companies. She found the MBA at that point of her life was much more valuable than it would have been when she was 22.
In my life my experience was much different. Three kids by the time I was 23. My wisdom came from a variety of bosses in a variety of companies and industries. Let’s call it OJT – on the job training. “Getting my lumps”. I didn’t always learn along the way, so I simply received more lumps!
In a recent Sports Illustrated article they featured Tom Brady. One of the paragraphs reads:
Brady also turns to a council of elders who’ve lived well and lived long. Ageless Tom Brady might work alongside teammates half his age, but he often socialized with men twice as old, many of the successful entrepreneurs or titans of industry. . . . When Brady is in the company of these wise men, decades older, he spends a lot to time listening. “Learning from those people is really important to me.”
Brady gets it.
Being Coachable
· Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.
· Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
· Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.
· Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
This one really hits home in a couple of ways.
First and foremost is with at least a couple of very close acquaintances of various ages.
Two of them are still little boys. One of the boys is a very good athlete. He may be the LEAST coachable kid I’ve ever met. I have discussed, with his dad, that this might hold him back.
Time will tell.
The irony is that his younger brother might be the most coachable kid I’ve ever met. Same parents. Same upbringing. Different results. Again, time will tell.
As you can see, though, age doesn’t have anything to do of being coachable, however.
Work Ethic
· Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
· All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
MK and I are very fortunate. We both grew up in homes where there was amazing work ethic. She was a Navy brat whose dad was on the ship for months at a time. Mom was a nurse who worked the midnight shift so she could be a mom during the day and evening.
My dad was a plant manager. He died when I was 13 of a heart attack. I can only remember a few vacations all those years. I watched him work Saturdays. He got involved with the school board. Was an usher at church at the 7 a.m. service so he could welcome the parishioners early Sunday morning with a handshake and a smile.
I grew up admiring how hard he worked and what it took to meet the needs of his family.
Humility
· When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
· Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
I don’t think there is a better example of this than in professional sports. I really do believe that Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali’s “I am the greatest” was also trash talk to scare other opponents. However, all we have to do is to turn on an NFL football game on a Sunday and see the lack of humility is abundant today.
I’m old school. I loved when Walter Payton crossed the goal line and simply gave the ball to the referee. I loved when a lineman sacked the quarterback and simply got ready for the next play.
You won’t see much of that today.
Being Generous
· A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
· Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.
· One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
I remember many years ago when one of my friends said about another friend, “I’d love to buy him for what he is worth and sell him for what he THINKS he is worth.” Great line.
One member of our family has an amazing tradition. Both husband and wife carry a $100 bill in their wallet. When appropriate, they will simply give that $100 bill to someone who is unsuspecting. Their favorite story was when they were flying one Christmas and having a drink at the hotel bar. They saw one of the janitorial staff working especially hard and gave her the $100. With tears in her eyes, she told them that this would buy Christmas gifts for her kids.
Who felt better? I can guarantee you it was the people who gave her the money.
The quotations above all came from one person.
King Solomon.
All the above quotations are from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible- all written about 3,000 years ago.
Keep in mind that as brilliant as Solomon was, he didn’t listen to himself and had a tremendous fall.
They key for 2022 is to take heed of what he wrote, incorporate it into your personal life and have the most amazing year of your life.
Five simple areas:
· Wisdom
· Being Coachable
· Work Ethic
· Humility
· Being Generous
As always, never easy . . . but always simple! Have a great 2022.
