My father is full of wisdom. From a very young age I always valued his insight on the ideals of business, responsibility and accountability in our world, and the importance of relationships, both professional and personal.
There are so many professed statements and quotes my father has written over the years. And quite honestly, there are too many to list here, but I’ll share some of the most thought provoking and idealistic ones that have stuck like glue, as I’ve grown older.
A family member, friend, business partner, or associate will ask my dad, “Mr. Pryor, how are you?”
My dad’s response has been, and will always be, “Terrific, but improving.”
To me, instead of offering a, “Great, and you?” mantra, he always offers a thought-provoking three word sentence that demonstrates that despite your physical and mental feelings in the present, you can always strive for improvement in your day to day life as a whole.
The value to be a better person is taken for granted often in today’s world. You may be at a point in your life that things are going incredibly great, and you simply can’t imagine how it could possibly be any better. Or perhaps you’re at an extremely low point in your life, throwing your day-to-day existence into a sink or swim mode where you simply find yourself struggling to keep your head above water. Maybe in between both measures, and you’re simply just coasting through life at a steady pace?
No matter where you are standing in life, whether on the battlefield or on the playing field, there is always room to improve your stance. Have you ever been told by someone, “You’re perfect the way you are.” In all honesty, there is little truth in such a statement. Perfection doesn’t exist no matter how hard we strive for it. Physically or mentally, we are all flawed in some way, we carry scars, we make mistakes, and we lack infinite beauty. Despite the unreachable goal of perfection, you can still improve on what you’ve been given, and who you are as a human being.
When my dad shared his, “Success is not, logical” tactic, I had to really dig deep to uncover what this meant in my own life.
Success is driven, not given. You can work towards success, but you can’t invent it. I think this is infinitely true in the business world as a whole. If you want to be a successful CEO, employee, Vice President, accountant, or whatever job position you currently hold, you have to challenge yourself on a daily basis to be successful. You have to set goals to reach a successful plateau. You also have to rally around and support your teammates, those who work closest to you, to be successful as well. Relationships are a two way street. This is true in relation to success. To find it, you have to encourage and equip those closest to you as well. Have you ever thought of that?
Employees won’t perform if they aren’t equipped to do so. Make sense? Give them goals to help them help you. It’s a closed loop in the business world to meet deliverables/due dates/project deadlines successfully. It simply isn’t ‘logical’ to tell someone how successful they are. The real question is, how did they get there?