Jolt!, Phil Cooke [reading women txt] 📗

a regular basis because motivation is the intangible element that allows you to break through barriers and limitations. When you’ve reached the end of your knowledge about a problem, run out of tools and options, or lost your way, motivation is what can get you through.

» IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE, VERY OFTEN SHEER MOTIVATION OVERCOMES LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, RESOURCES, AND SKILL.

Working in the entertainment industry, I see plenty of young people with an intense motivation to make a movie. In some extreme cases, they’ve never been to Hollywood, have no filmmaking skills, no experience, and no contacts with anyone in that world. In a few cases, all they have is motivation, but sometimes that is enough.

Stay motivated. Don’t let a lack of inspiration deprive you of your dream. Surround yourself with people who will speak possibility into your life.

KNOWLEDGE

Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.

—DON WOOD, WRITER

Far too often, people don’t think realistically, get the information they need, or find the right expertise. Edison failed many times, but his eventual success didn’t come from dumb luck—it came from preparation. Too many people today undervalue knowledge.

Because computers allow us to try and fail so many times, we refuse to take the time to read the manual. Because we feel so rushed, we refuse to stop and find out what we really need to know. Because young people are pressured into careers, they often don’t see the value in spending time getting a good education.

When I was a kid, I idolized the Green Bay Packers. For me, they were the ultimate football team. Coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi and quarterbacked by Bart Starr, in my eyes there wasn’t anything those players couldn’t do. Lombardi took them to the highest levels of excellence, but no matter how many championships they won or trophies they took home, Lombardi never stopped practicing the fundamentals—the basics that can make or break a champion.

Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them. Band-Aid remedies never last.

—JACK NICKLAUS, PROFESIONAL GOLF CHAMPION

Every day people are promoted out of their level of competence. But they don’t keep up with the growing wealth of knowledge about leadership and business, and sooner or later, they are exposed. Failure happens when your knowledge doesn’t keep up with your position.

Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.

—THOMAS J. WATSON, FOUNDER OF IBM

Jolt your attitude toward failure. Failure is simply a potential result. Every attempt can yield different results, and some work better than others.

You are not a failure—you are part of the process, and every outcome is another step on the road to eventual success. Without failure, change is never possible and success can never be achieved.

Embrace it. Learn from it. Turn your failures into knowledge and your knowledge into success.

» JOLT #23

GET OVER YOURSELF!

It Is Not About You

The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.

—AESOP (620 BC–560 BC)

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

—PROVERBS 16:18 NKJV

In the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, the United States Olympic basketball team sported some of the great players of the game, and coach Larry Brown was one of the most experienced coaches in the country. The American players were outstanding athletes and could play at a level few outside the United States have ever achieved. But in spite of their remarkable individual skills and talent, by the time the final buzzer went off, the U.S. Olympic basketball team could do no better than the bronze medal.

Teams from Argentina and Italy with less individual talent beat us decisively. Everybody likes a star, but in a team sport, success comes more from teamwork than from individual talent. The United States was unable to win the gold because the players—as talented as they were— couldn’t work together as a team. Each player came from a different background, a different style of play, with different priorities, and as a unit they were unable to gel when they needed it most.

From this point on, stop thinking about life as an individual event, and start looking at your life and career as a team sport. Your company is filled with other team members. Your family is a team. You form a team with your clients or customers. To accomplish anything of significance in today’s economy, we have to work as a team.

Historians have revealed that many of the greatest artists and leaders of the past actually accomplished their greatest work as a team. When I first visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome and looked in awe and wonder at Michelangelo’s magnificent ceiling, I assumed he had done it all by himself. I pictured him alone on the scaffolding—as in the movies—slaving away, with occasional trips down the ladder to replenish his paints.

But since that time, I’ve learned how the great artist created a team of brilliant assistants—artists and artisans in their own right—who helped him in a vast number of ways. They found the best raw materials needed to make the finest paints and knew how to mix them for the best results. He had assistants to help him outline the major scenes, others to help fill in, and still others who used their skills with various details of the project. Art historians tell us that most of the major painters of the period set up schools and worked with various students and assistants to accomplish their work. In fact, I walked through a museum recently in Washington, D.C., and viewed a painting that was credited to the school rather than the artist. A great artist painted it, but there was no way to be sure how much he painted and how much his students completed.

It reminds me of how animated cartoons and feature films are created today. After you watch the next major animated feature at your local theater, stay in your seat and watch the credits for the staggering number