By Bob Meyer

Success in today’s business environment requires a razor-like focus.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

“Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle—when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

—Sue Tabor, General Manager of Nordstrom’s department store
in San Francisco

Today’s fierce competition requires agility, flexibility and lightening-fast decision-making on your part.

Getting everything exactly right is less important than racking up “good tries” in a spirit of constant improvement. So get on with it!
Here’s today’s brand new set of Rules for Doers: the technology of just doing it!

1. Think big, start small. First, think big. That long view will sustain you during an off week. Second, don’t waste time trying to win over your critics. Instead search out that one supporter who believes and build momentum from there.

Third, follow the small-win strategy; don’t try to do everything at once. Pick a modest but significant area where you can prove you are up to something serious by producing an early success.

2. Pick a breakthrough project. Quickly go after a few tangible gains in important areas to provide a base for a valid strategy. Aim for the first measurable results within weeks.

3. Make smart mistakes. The intrepid individuals who “just do it” are the ones who can appreciate failure for the education it is. If you’re not making one mistake a day, you’re not trying hard enough!

4. Passion tempered with patience. Achievement begins with rock-solid commitment, put in motion with a lively sense of hustle and tempered with the patience needed to convince others that the goal is compelling and worthwhile.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 8:59 am and is filed under Entrepreneurs & Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.