|
Dreams and ability are worthless unless they lead to concrete, usable results
Friday, 26 May 2006
I was at a dinner party a few months back, when one of the guests made the following comment: “I think I’m an extremely intelligent person”. The other guests and I were a little shocked at the arrogance of the comment, but not overly so as we knew this person had a pretty high opinion of himself.
“Why do you think that?” someone inquired.
The “extremely intelligent" person then told us about how he’d done well at university, read a lot of difficult books, and was working on the first draft of a great novel. I knew he'd recently been made redundant from a job that was only slightly above average in pay and responsibilities.
For all I know, he could be a lot more intelligent than he comes across as, but the evidence isn’t very compelling. None of his achievements are particularly stellar, and it’s difficult to think of anything he’s produced or done that was spectacular in any way.
The world is full of people like this, and you probably know a few yourself - those who think they’re smarter or more able than everybody else just because they've passed a few exams or read a few books. The complete lack of real-world achievement that many such individuals have reached makes me doubt that they’re as wonderful as they believe.
Ability is worthless in such a vacuum. Only if it leads to solid, usable results can it be considered of any value.
Another type of person that seems very common, is the incessant dreamer. Now there’s nothing wrong with dreaming, and I do a lot of it myself. But people who always talk about this or that fantastic idea they’ve had and how they’re going to become rich or famous with it are ten a penny.
Once again, dreams that don’t lead to solid, usable results are next to worthless.
Those who have excessive dreams and high-levels of confidence in their own abilities often think that’s all it takes to achieve success. All they have to do is wait around for someone to discover just how brilliant they are, and the rewards will roll in. They may even put in a token effort by drawing up a few plans, talking up their ideas, or writing a draft or two.
But the world rarely pays attention to such people. They often grow bitter as they get older, believing we’ve all missed out on an amazing opportunity to make our lives better.
“If only they’d listened to me, everything would be different,” they imagine.
If you have ability and dreams, you can use the mistaken beliefs of such people to your advantage.
Rather than talking up how great you are and what wonderful ideas you have, put your energy into producing something useable and concrete. Create something that people can see, hear and touch out of your abilities and dreams. Not a draft, or a strategy, but an actual working model of whatever it is.
If you’re a musician, write a great song; if you’re a novelist, write a great book, if you’re an engineer, design a great product. Nobody will be interested in a product until it’s complete, so don’t bother talking it up until that time comes.
Once people can see that you’re someone who knows how to get things done - who actually produces useful outcomes rather than just talking about them - you’ll be well on your way to success.
There are so many people out there who talk up what they’re going to do without delivering, coast along delivering the bare-minimum they can get away with, or obstruct things being delivered with bureaucracy and other stalling tactics, that simply identifying yourself as someone who actually get things done you’ll stand out as something special.
Usually, for example, when I start a new job, I’ll get straight onto producing something useful. Often, I’ll do so without being asked, and aim to deliver more than was expected of me. Using this strategy, I can usually establish myself pretty quickly as an important person with management and colleagues.
Another example from my own life is a website I once created in a niche that clearly wasn’t being served. All sorts of people had talked about how they were going to create a great site for that niche, but nobody had actually done it. Within weeks of launch, I had lots of media interest and had been contacted by many of the big players in that market. Just by producing something concrete, I’d established myself as someone important.
What distinguishes almost all successful people from the dreamers that surround them is their ability to deliver useful, tangible outcomes. Become someone who has a track-record of doing that, and you'll have all sorts of interesting opportunities presented to you.
 | Learn the skill of resilience | | I saw a very interesting TV documentary a couple of weeks back on the issue of happiness. It was asking what makes us happy and what makes happy people different from those who aren't. | | It's hard to appreciate the emotional impact of something until you experience it | | When I was a young adult, the father of a friend of mine passed away. My friend had a very close relationship with his father, and was devastated. He went into a deep depression for a number of months. |  | Seven simple ways to ruin your friendships | | I've met a lot of lonely people over the years - quite a few of whom I've gotten to know well. Often, they claim to have real trouble establishing friendships. Usually, they're making simple mistakes that virtually guarantee to ruin most of their chances. Here are some of the main ones. |  | Operate in the real world | | I grew up in a somewhat academic family. Many of my parent's friend are academics, and I've spent a lot of time socialising with such people. My own career has been mostly in the business world. What strikes me is how different their world-view of how things operate is to what I've experienced. | | Three good tricks for catching out liars | | The world is filled with liars. We all tell porkies to some degree in order to get what we want. Of course, some people lie more often than others. | | Self-esteem has to be earned | | It seems obvious to anyone who thinks about it for a moment, that sound decisions must be based upon good information. If we say that good information is basically "the truth" and look at decisions as those that are made to improve our lives, it seems strange that a modern semi-religion has grown around encouraging us to lie to ourselves. The lie I'm talking about is, of course, building up our "self-esteem". |  | Collect some achievements you can be proud of | | We all go through difficult times in our lives. When things don't turn out as we might have wished and the world seems to press violently down on us from all sides. We all have times when we feel terribly alone. | | My favorite productivity tools | | Most of us want to get more done. The tools we come up with often help us to achieve this goal. Here are my favorite productivity tools. | | Play out in the real world, not imaginary ones | | One of the blessings and the curses of modern life is the endless potential for us to get lost in imaginary worlds. Television, books, games, the internet, magazines and many other fantasy environments beckon us from every direction. |  | How to develop more sophisticated taste | | We live in an impatient world. Technology has given up unprecedented control over what we consume. If you don’t like what you’re watching on TV, there’s a hundred other channels just waiting for you to flick over to them. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|