This past week we lost one of the great coaches and mentors, John Wooden. In his long career as head basketball coach at UCLA, he won 10 NCAA national championships and coached players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lucius Allen, Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, and Bill Walton. While known for winning and leadership, he also left us with a plethora of great "Woodenisms" which are attributed to him. Here is one of my favorites:
Never mistake activity for achievement.
As an entrepreneur, my days are either spent traveling or
delivering management development workshops. It's what I love to do and
what pays my bills. Any down days, which are fortunately (or sometimes
unfortunately) rare, I try to build in time to get important back-work done such
as writing web copy, updating sites, reaching out to colleagues and potential
customers, and thinking up new projects. I'm always amazed at how much
precious time I waste.
Many people confuse busyness with accomplishment. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you don't believe me, just take a look at this video clip from one of my favorite shows, Seinfeld.
You've all heard of the Purpose Driven Life. Maybe we all need to have a purpose driven day. I like to think of it as that Friday right before you take a week of vacation. Usually I get a good plan in place for the day on the night before and then on Friday, it's all business, taking care of stuff that won't be around to torment me in thought during my week off and won't need taking care of on my first Monday back. I'm tired by the end of that day, but it's a different kind of tired...not exhaustion, but a satisfied, nothing left in the tank feeling of accomplishment.
I wonder what would happen if I approached each day like that? Have you ever thought of trying it? Why don't we make a commitment to doing it this week?
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