Rules to Live By

Word count for this week's article:  362

Approximate time to read:  About 1.4 minutes



No life insurance lesson today, just a life lesson. Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, says the four success habits are; show up on time, do what you say, finish what you start, say please and thank you. Pretty simple, no? But let’s look a little deeper into each one.

Most agree that in modern society, punctuality is a must. That’s not to say there are sometimes when extenuating circumstances preclude us from being on time. But they must be the exception. I know some people who are rarely on time. Since time is our most valuable commodity, that demonstrates a lack of common sense, in addition to being extremely disrespectful of the other party.

Woody Allen said that 80 % of success is showing up. The late Georgia State University professor, Michael Mescon, wrote a book titled Showing Up for Work and other Keys to Business Success in which he articulates three rules of success; showing up, showing up on time, and showing up, ready to work. Again, pretty simple, yet so many fail to do even that.

Do what you say is just keeping your word. I believe it is better to say you can’t do something than to say you can and then not do it. Having a reputation for being reliable can be invaluable.

Finish what you start. I’ll admit that I am guilty of violating this rule, specifically as it relates to household projects (just ask my wife!). But as it relates to our job, it is imperative that we finish the tasks assigned us.

The last item is by far the simplest and yet one that is often skipped; saying please and thank you. It is a basic tenet of civility and costs us absolutely nothing. I am extremely fortunate to have had parents who drilled this into me and my brothers and as a result, I drilled it into my kids. There should be no caste system with regards to common courtesy, everyone deserves it.

So there you have it. Four simple rules. Notice I said simple, and not easy. Well except for saying please and thank you. It doesn’t get much easier than that.