Often I am asked, “How have you gotten so far in my career in so little time, or how did I get ahead?” After a thorough analysis of my life, it really comes down to the three primary principles that I live by.

1. Stay Focused

2. No Excuses

3. Be Better

These three principles have helped to shape my life to this point.

Stay Focused

The first principle, Stay Focused, means that we have to Stay Focused on achieving our dreams. Once you have committed yourself to pursue your dreams, thing (life) will happen to distract you. Sometimes life gets in the way. Those distractions can be events, personal issues, or even people. There are so many distractions these days that often we face more than one distraction at a time. Because there are so many distractions, we have to remind ourselves always to Stay Focused.

When you develop a plan to take you from where you are to where you want to be, staying focused becomes a little easier. There will still be distractions and obstacles that come between you and your goals, but having a defined plan helps to keep you on the right track and moving in the right direction.

Many years ago, I was a Correctional Officer in a Medium-Maximum security prison. Over time, I noticed that many of the inmates would decorate their cells/lockers as much as regulations allowed. This was a common practice, so there was nothing strange about it. One of the Correctional Officer’s daily duties is to inspect several inmate cells. This number varied depending on the unit you were assigned to, program, supervisors, or any other nuance within the system. The primary purpose of this duty was to disrupt the flow of contraband inside the prison. The inmates never knew which cells were going to be searched or when, so hiding contraband was risky. One day, I was inspecting/searching a few cells in the unit I was assigned to work. Inmates are usually present when this occurs, so from time to time, correctional officers engage the inmates in conversations or give directives. 

I entered the cell of an inmate that I could tell that he had many years under his belt. Inmates with a little time inside tend to act a bit differently from inmates who have been inside only a short time. Over time, an observant officer could spot the difference between the two. I immediately noticed that this inmate cell was immaculate. He was “squared-away.” His bed, locker, and space were all well organized and clean. I thought to myself that this man must be prior military because of how neat his area was, so I asked. He answered that he had never been in the military, but wanted to know why I asked. I explained that the appearance of his cell and how organized it was, was indicative of someone who had some military bearing or experience. He told me that he kept his cell in that condition so that it remained a cell in his mind. He said that when guys (inmates) decorated their cells, they do it to make it more like home, more comfortable. He added that he never wanted his cell to feel like home. That way, he could Stay Focused on doing the things he had to do to get out and go home. That chance conversation immediately resonated with me and has stuck with me.

It is like that inmate implied, often people get too comfortable in bad situations instead of staying focused on what they need to do to get better. We get too relaxed sometimes with our current situation. Complacency kills! When we become complacent, we lose focus and miss opportunities that can cost us dearly. 

No Excuses

The next of the three principles is No Excuses. The No Excuses principle means that we have to hold ourselves accountable for our actions or lack thereof. We alone are responsible for our outcomes. We dream our dreams, we develop our plans, and so it is only natural that we are held accountable for seeing our plans to fruition.

Master Yoda said, “Do or Do Not, there is no try!” I think that this was his way of telling young Skywalker to stop making excuses. Most of the time, we have to “do it” to get it done. We cannot control anyone else’s actions, only our own. When we realize that we alone are accountable, it is empowering. It is empowering because we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Each of us knows our true potential and, therefore, in the best position to measure our progress accurately. If we are sincere, we know when we are performing at our highest levels and when we are not. When we perform at our highest level, and the outcome is not what we wanted, there is no reason to make excuses because we have done our best. The negative result tells us some things. Maybe we need to reevaluate our plan, method, or both. Perhaps we need to find a way to get better. The most important thing is that we learn the lesson and use what we have learned to Be Better.

Be Better

The final of the three principles is to Be Better. Be Better means precisely what it says; each day, I wake up with the intent and desire to be better than I was the day before. With being better my focus, the principle reminds me that the swift does not win the journey, but to he that endures. Life and success are often not a sprint. They are more like a continuous, long-distance race. And, in the race, you have to be careful not to take off too fast because you will burn out just as quickly. You have to pace yourself so that you can last for the duration of the journey. You have to be careful not to move too slowly as well because moving too slow is just as damaging. When you move too slowly, you will not make enough forward progress, and that can have a very negative effect on your motivation. Be Better also reminds me that there is NO external competition. I learned a long time ago through life experience and sports that we have no control over the actions or performance of others. I only have control over what I can do and how I perform when doing it. I realized that if I continued to measure my progress against that of others, I would always be miserable. All of us have our separate races to run.

The Be Better principle also directs me to make continuous incremental positive improvements, and they will lead to great long-term success. This process is known as the Kaizen Philosophy or method (I will have to write a detailed post about that another time). However, what it means is that to get the elephant out of the room, we have to do it chunk by chunk.

Often we set giant goals because we have all be taught to “Dream Big,” Swing for the Fences,” and I am a big advocate of dreaming big. What they do not tell you is how to get from where you are to where you want to be. They also do not tell you how much time it is going to take. And, the truth is that I can’t tell you either…specifically, just being real. I do not know what your dreams are or what motivates you; only you have that information. What I can do is give you a scalable blueprint that will allow you to achieve your dream, no matter what it is.

First, you need a clear vision of what your dream or goal is (be as specific as possible). Next, you have to research to find out exactly what it is going to take for YOU to achieve your dream. Once you have taken care of the first two steps, it is necessary to plot your route from here to there. The focus at this point is to make those continuous incremental forward steps that I mentioned earlier. Instead of trying to conquer the entire mission in one session, break it down into achievable steps or phases. For example, if your dream is to write a book, most of us cannot write an entire book in one session. Try starting with a chapter. If that is too much, write a paragraph. Still too much, then start with just a sentence. Even if you start with just writing a sentence each time, you will have that paragraph, then a page, followed by a chapter. It does not matter how much you accomplish, just that you accomplish something positive that moves you toward your dream. The key is to remember to break those big projects down into smaller, manageable tasks. After you have spent some time doing this, you can look back to see just have far you have come and how much you have accomplished. That is the real motivation.

These three principles provided me with a blueprint for moving my life forward. I am sure that if you use and apply them to your journey, they will serve you just as well.

We have to Stay Focused on achieving our dreams, remember to make No Excuses for our performance, and to strive to Be Better than we were the day before. When we apply these three principles to our lives, we become UNSTOPPABLE!