Get Smart!: How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field
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- Do a KWINK Analysis
- Start with Your Relationships
| Open Up Your Thinking There are several powerful, practical thinking tools that you can use to unlock your creativity, expand your thinking, and move yourself out of the comfort zone. The all-around champion tool to change your perspective and to develop higher levels of flexibility is “zero-based thinking.” Zero-based thinking comes from zero-based accounting. In zero-based accounting, you challenge every expense at the beginning of every accounting period. You ask not whether you should increase or decrease a particular expense but whether or not you should be spending money in this area at all. In zero-based thinking, you ask the brutal question, Is there anything that we are doing today that, knowing what we now know, we wouldn’t startup again if we had to do it over?” Do a KWINK Analysis Apply a KWINK (Knowing What I Now Know) analysis to every part of your business and personal life. Is there anything that you are doing today that you wouldn’t get into again, if you had to do it over, knowing what you now know? How do you know if you are dealing with a zero-based thinking situation Simple—the answer is stress If there is something in your life that you wouldn’t get into again today, you will continually experience stress, worry, anger, frustration, and dissatisfaction in that area or with some person. This negative situation often permeates your conversation, distracts you throughout the day, and keeps you awake at night. Start with Your Relationships In zero-based thinking, start with your relationships of all kinds. Is there any person in your business or personal life that you would not get involved with again if you had to do it over? Is there anyone in your business whom you would not hire, assignor delegate tasks to, promote, or even go to work for today knowing what you now know? If there is someone whom you would not get involved with again today, the only question is, How do you end this situation, and how fast?” Can you guess how many of your decisions will turnout to be wrong in the fullness of time According to the American Management Association, fully 70 percent of decisions made in the world of work, and probably in personal life, turnout to be wrong eventually. They can be a little bit wrong, a lot wrong, or totally wrong. To develop high levels of flexibility, to perform at your best, you must be prepared to make the three statements of the superior executive. A DMIT Y OU A RE N OT P ERFECT “I was wrong Look around you at your situation, and especially at those areas that are causing you stress, dissatisfaction, or unhappiness, and be willing to admit that you were wrong. When you made the decision or got into the situation, it seemed like the right thing to do. Based on the information you had at the time, it was quite logical. But the answers have changed.” You have learned things that you did not know before, and the external situation and requirements have changed as well. What seemed to be the right decision when you made it has turned out to be the wrong decision today. As soon as you admit that you were wrong and take action to correct the situation, your stress evaporates. Sometimes, people think that by admitting they are wrong, they are demonstrating weakness. They think people will not respect them if they admit that a decision they made and defended in the past was wrong. But it is exactly the opposite. In times of turbulence and rapid change, having the courage and character to admit you were wrong, when the mistake is probably clear to everyone around you, actually increases their respect for you and their willingness to be influenced by you in the future. On the other hand, no one looks more weak and foolish than someone who is obviously wrong but refuses to admit it. Here’s an interesting point. When you identify a situation that you would not get into again today, knowing what you now know, it is too late to save the situation, or the person. It is over. The only question now is, “How much time, money, trouble, and pain are you going to lose or suffer before you admit that you were wrong and take whatever action is necessary to rectify the situation?” A DMIT Y OU M ADE A M ISTAKE “I made a mistake Because of ego, many people find it difficult to admit that they have made a mistake, even when they obviously have, and it is clear to everyone around them. Don’t let this happen to you. Because you are going to be wrong and make mistakes fully 70 percent of the time, don’t wait for everyone else to figure it out. Instead, jump ahead of the curve and quickly admit, I was wrong. I made a mistake.” And then rectify the situation as rapidly as you can. C HANGE Y OUR M IND “I changed my mind Again, changing your mind when you get new information is a mark of courage, character, and flexibility, not of weakness. Even if you have spent eighteen months developing anew business or product strategy, if you get new information that invalidates your key conclusions, be prepared to change your mind, to abandon the now-obsolete strategy in favor of doing something new, different, and more appropriate to the current situation. The more readily you can say the words I was wrong, I made a mistake, I changed my mind the better you will think and the more respected you will be by all the people around you. Download 0.86 Mb. Share with your friends:
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