I was speaking to an old friend today and came up with an analogy.
Anyone who has in business long enough understands the concept of economics of scale.
Economics of scale, or at least how I interpret it, is basically having a production line for just 1 product, let’s say a cup. And all company resources goes towards the production of just that cup in mass volume, as fast as possible, in that 1 specific specification.
Once the production line is created for the production of the cup, the factory gets to work.
After months of careful planning and execution in alignment to the 1 goal of producing the perfect cup,
The machine engines are turned on, they now can produce their cups with such efficiency that no other companies, without that specific production line, can possibly produce.
Thus achieving market dominance.
The goal here is to produce the cup as cheaply (Price), as quickly (Time), and as close to specifications (Quality) as possible.
And all the company’s resources is dedicated to achieving that goal. All other possible courses of action or spending that the business deems as irrelevant to this goal will be ignored.
Just like the factory production line’s goal of creating the most efficient way to produce the cup, setting your own goals works in a similar way.
Once you’ve set your goal, just like the business which disregards any other action/expenses that doesn’t bring them closer to producing the perfect cup as fast as possible,
You need to constantly keep realigning yourself to ensure all actions taken (or not taken) will get you closer to your goal.
For things you want to do but know you should not be doing, ask yourself:
Is this action I’m about to take going to get me closer to the goal I’ve set?
If the answer is no, don’t do it.
If the answer is yes, do it
For things you know you need to do but are avoiding, ask yourself:
By avoiding this action, will it slow down my process to get me closer to the goal I’ve set?
If the answer is yes, don’t do it.
If the answer is no, do it.
If you have the discipline to constantly do this before you take any action, don’t you think it’s pretty much inevitable that you’re going to hit your goal?
I used to work in a sales company, Appco, and my then boss once said something which I still remember
“Everyone knows exactly what they should and should not do to get what they want, but why so few succeed is because most lack the discipline to follow their own advice.”
Allison Lin
Such is the nature of the human condition, we are both our greatest ally and our own worst enemy.
A Simple Exercise
A simple exercise that I’m trying out now is a practice Grant Cardone does of writing his goals everyday as if he’s already achieved it.
Once in the morning right after he wakes, and once at night right before he goes to sleep.
Example is if you want to have $10,000 to spend every month, instead of writing it as:
“I want to make $10,000 every month.”
Write it as:
“I make $10,000 in disposable income every month”
I’m about half a week into doing this practice, we’ll see how it goes after 30 days, so far quite a few interesting doors has opened up in my life since I’ve started it.