Axiom 85: Everyone Measures Success Differently

"Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so."

-Galileo Galilei

"The person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance."

-William Julius Wilson

It hit me one day when I noticed that some people do lousy work. For whatever reason the quality of their work is bad. However, you can't always write bad work off to just laziness or stupidity. If this is true then why are smart, hard-working people producing lackluster work? It is all in how you measure success.

Everyone has a different standard they use to measure success. Your boss, your significant other, your coworkers, and yourself might all have different opinions on what doing good work looks like. The key is understanding what all of these different measures look like. Only then can you determine if you are going to be successful in your current situation.

It's not necessarily that one measure of success is better than another, or that there is a right and wrong. Just make sure that the scales of success are generally similar between yourself and the ones that matter when times count. If your boss or client uses a totally different measure to gauge success than you do it could spring a surprise failure on you if you are unaware. 

Axiom 84: When Everything is an Emergency Nothing is an Emergency

"Now when everything has priority, nothing has priority. If everything comes first, nothing comes first." -Larry Geller

"I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything." 
-Dan Millman

At one point in my life I began to realize that I couldn't get everything done on my to-do list. I'm naturally a person that likes to have all the items crossed off my to-do list. I had to come to terms with the fact that the older and more successful I became that my to-do list would always remain full. What I also learned in the process was that all tasks are not created equal.

Equal priority cannot be given to all of your tasks. If you have a lot of things on your to-do list focus on the most important ones first. There will be low value "busy" work tasks on your list and there will be high value important tasks on your list. Many times we get caught up in so many low value "busy" work tasks that we never push the ball forward on those big important tasks.

That's why I say when everything is an emergency nothing is an emergency. It is up to you to not treat all the things on your to-do list with the same level of priority. If you do then your overall level of production will remain low and you will never be as successful as if you were to work on high value tasks first.
  

Axiom 83: Rise Above Corruption

"The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity." 

-Frank Serpico

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. and if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." 
-Friedrich Nietzsche

The further I have advanced in the business world the more I see a shady underbelly that I hoped did not exist. In America I had hoped that corruption did not exist but it lingers in the shadows ready to derail your success at any moment. It is a sad state of affairs when corruption occurs but you must not become part of that corruption also. You will destroy your reputation and your long term success if you do.

I did business with a large customer account for years. Then shortly after a new purchasing person started working for them we began having problems. All of a sudden each small mistake we made was blown out of proportion. We got smoking mad emails from this guy telling us how awful of a supplier we were.

We did everything we could to make this guy happy. We lowered his prices, delivered quicker to him, and did everything we cold to give him better service. However, he was not happy with us and we lost the majority of their business. Later on when he left the company we heard that our competitor was paying him behind the scenes in exchange for business.

Our service wasn't that bad after all. We only got those nasty emails so he could justify ordering from our competitor. It's just one sad example of corporate corruption from many I have seen.

I know who the liars are. I know who the payoff people are, Eventually they all get caught, fired, or shamed. Luckily there is still enough legitimate business out there that you don't have to play their game. Let them think they won for the time being. Eventually they will lose. It is just a matter of time.