John Joseph Merlin was a very successful maker of clocks and precision instruments. He also designed weighing machines and wheelchairs, improved musical instruments and even spent much of his time trying to develop a perpetual motion machine. This highly intelligent man was also a talented musician who enjoyed playing both the harpsichord and violin. With this background, you might find it surprising that he is remembered for the man who invented the “Roller-Skate.”
It is a new year with new opportunities and new challenges. According to Forbes magazine, over 40% of Americans prepare a New Year’s Resolutions list. Self-improvement (48%) is the top category for resolutions; weight (38%), money (34%), and relationships (31%) round out the top four “Resolution Types.” Age seems to play a huge role in the success rate of achieving your New Year’s Resolution. 39% of the people in their twenties achieve their resolution, while only 14% of people over fifty do so.
The ability to communicate is the single most important skill determining your success in life. No matter where you are from, what you do, or what position you hold, you must communicate effectively if you want to succeed. The key word in that last sentence is “Effectively.” Research has demonstrated people only read about 20% of the text, therefore, 80% of information is being overlooked. Let me put it another way: 5 times as many people read ONLY the headline … that is why there is much more pressure surrounding the headline than many other parts of the content.
There is NO immunity to having problems. Successful and/or good people have problems, issues, and complications. “Bad” has no boundaries; bankruptcy, failure, mistakes, wrong decisions, setbacks, illness, poor choices, gaffes, errors, slip-ups, disappointments, and blunders can happen to anyone. They aren’t immune to any of these things and having a great attitude doesn’t protect them from having bad things happen to them, either; that “myth” is a total misnomer.
There are certain times in our business and personal lives that we have to make important decisions that will have a huge impact on our future. These “defining moments” or “critical choices” are the difference between clarity or confusion, misery or joy, success or failure. Several years ago, I was the recipient of some rather profound commentary on life. It didn’t come to me via some world-renowned scholar or teacher; it was casually presented to me by my son Tyler, who at the time was a 21-year-old college student. We were talking about his first few years away at college and I asked him how he goes about making important decisions. He thought for a moment and then said: (I am paraphrasing to the best of my memory) …
You can line up DOMINOS in a beautiful pattern and spend hours doing it … but all you have to do to knock them all down is PUSH over the first one (the lead domino) and the rest will follow. The same is true about a business. You can spend years and years building up a great business with a super reputation and one employee can cause a customer to never do business with you again. One employee can PUSH a customer the wrong way and run them off … in other words … they knocked down one DOMINO. But could that one upset customer cause other customers to follow them?
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January 16, 2022
by Robert Stevenson