Lockdown has been lifted. Finally, the shackles will be off and some degree of normality will resume.
Last time out we spoke of the importance of planning and more specifically planning for 2021. We know this year has been a write-off and we don’t want a repeat of that next year (maybe it’s impossible to be as bad as 2020, but you know what I mean).
If my previous article fired you up, then you will have spent some meticulous time planning. You would have got the notepad out, the excel sheet fired up and perhaps you gathered the team for a good brainstorming session.
And maybe you’ve even made use of some of the tools we suggested.
2021 is on the horizon so you’re probably putting the final touches on the plan. The cherry is being placed neatly on top.
So what’s next . . .?
EXECUTION
Execution. Action taking. Unrelenting desire and determination to put your plan into place. And in my view the foundational key to all success, be it in life or business.
Because we know our plan is useless without action. All that planning is simply wasted without execution.
Have you ever heard of Edwin C. Barnes?
I didn’t think so. Let me introduce him.
Edwin C. Barnes became famous because of his plan and even more so because of the rigorous execution of his plan.
When Barnes was young, he planned on becoming a business partner of the greatest inventor who ever lived – Thomas A. Edison.
He didn’t have any technical skills but he was very determined to execute his lifelong plan.
But he had seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stood before him.
He didn’t know Edison and he hadn’t enough money to buy a train ticket to Orange, New Jersey, where Edison resided.
However, he wouldn’t let these roadblocks jeopardise his plan. In 1905, he decided to catch a freight train to Orange, New Jersey and present himself to Edison.
Despite being poorly dressed and looking more like an outcast, he told Edison that he had come to form a partnership with him.
People standing alongside Edison began to laugh at Barnes’ seemingly preposterous proposal.
But Edison didn’t laugh.
Strange thing, Edison had thought at the time, the man looked so ragged and unkempt. But his eyes burned with intensity. Edison would record many years later:
“I had learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing, so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win.”
He decided to give Barnes an opportunity to work with him, not as his partner, but as a floor sweeper.
Barnes accepted his offer without hesitation and so started his career with broom in hands.
After working for Edison for nearly two years, Barnes saw a golden opportunity.
The inventor was ready to sell his dictating machine, a recorder which could playback the human voice.
Barnes seized the opportunity to sell this product while most of Mr. Edison’s sales force didn’t show interest in this product as they had doubt about the success it could have.
Barnes changed the name to The Ediphone and sold it to office supply companies everywhere. Soon, there was a slogan on every box with an Ediphone: “Made by Edison and installed by Barnes.”
Within months, Barnes had sold thousands of machines. Sales, in fact, had grown so rapidly he established his own company, Edwin C. Barnes & Brothers.
His success was such that Edison eventually gave him an exclusive contract to distribute and market the device all over the nation.
He had become a partner of Edison’s and in doing so ACHIEVED HIS GOAL!
Among other things, the story of Edwin C. Barnes demonstrates the importance of execution.
He took action. The Foundational Key to ALL Success and didn’t make excuses (of which he could’ve had plenty).
He had a plan and he executed with conviction.
I hope you can take inspiration from Edwin C. Barnes and I’m sure that you realise that execution is everything and is ultimately the foundational key to all success for you in life.
We all have dreams and aspirations but it is only those who take action that will reap the rewards.
You’ll never be successful just thinking about it.
Picasso once said, “Action is the foundational key to all success”
What's Your Key ACTION ITEM today?
