An Entrepreneurs Words Podcast

I'm going to ask a question to which I already know the answer. But I'm asking it anyway. Have you ever hated doing something? Maybe it's something boring that turns into pure drudgery. Perhaps it's something you just flat don't want to do.

My favorite Major League baseball team is in a slump. They can't hit their way out of a paper bag. Their starting pitching has been amazing, but the bats are asleep. They are losing games 1 - 0 or 2 - 1. For a fan, it's agonizing to watch.

What do sandpaper, tiny bits of stone and gravel, a 1969 John Wayne movie and successful people - especially entrepreneurs - have in common? The one-word answer is . . . grit.

We've always been told that there are no guarantees in life except death and taxes. I submit that there is one more guarantee that's much more pleasant. We can be guaranteed that every day will be a good day . . . if we make it so. How?

The other day I was speaking with a man who was miserable in his job. He was feeling very stifled and unappreciated. He told me about several decisions his boss had made that proved costly to the company and impacted his bonus on a personal level.

The U.S. Marine Corps is well known for taking raw young men and women and transforming them into lean, mean fighting machines (or so goes the saying). The process they use is fascinating and very instructive. It involves breaking down an individual and then building them back up.

Tyler is an entrepreneur. He runs a small but growing company that recycles old computer equipment. Tyler is very frustrated right now. Marie is a stay-at-home mom. She has two small children under the age of five and produces marketing materials for three companies, working from a spare bedroom. Marie is very frustrated right now. Why are Tyler and Marie so frustrated?

Here are several scenarios. Tell me what's missing. A manufacturing operation is experiencing an alarming increase in the number of product rejections. A child chronically fails to turn in his homework assignments. Monthly financial reports for a company seem to always be delivered at least two weeks late and sometimes more. Bears are constantly getting into trash bins in a neighborhood and making an incredible mess.

Southwest Airlines has been in business since 1967 and has recorded 43 consecutive years of profitability. The company flies 707 Boeing 737 aircraft with 278 more on order. Southwest pioneered low-cost travel and has grown to be one of the largest airlines in the world.

When is the last time you thought about being eaten by an alligator? When was the last time you contemplated being run over by a cement mixer? Or, how about being beaned in the head by a meteorite? Probably never - right?