Fend Off the Unimportant
You have to ferociously fend off the forces of default.
Anyone on a path to making better organizations and a better life knows that as they think, so will they be. And as they are, so will they do.
So throughout their lives, they remain actively vigilant to establish for themselves the processes that enable them to think as they need to, and thus to be who they need to be. For then they will do what needs to be done to pursue their cause.
These people know that how they “mind” the world is a function of the mind they have for doing so. Some – like the Samurai or the Navy Seals – would call this discipline.
You can either design and develop this personal discipline on purpose – your operating processes. Or they will be built into you by default.
Leaders in life and organizations will ferociously fend off the forces of default, which are always waiting in the wings. Those forces are, among others, the friends one chooses, the media one consumes, the subcultures one inhabits, and the communication systems one engages in.
The systems within which one lives will take the leader where they go, not necessarily where she “wants to” go.
Habits and routines are more potent than one’s will or one’s desires, no matter how strong those may be. They will have their way with us both in the short-run and in the long-run.
So the question might be: are the processes by which you live contributing to your purposes or to some other destiny?
-Lee Thayer