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The 12 Week Year — Chapter-10: Greatness in the Moment
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Chapter 10 Greatness in the Moment They say that with technology the world is now smaller; I think it’s also moving faster. Life seems to be getting busier and speeding up. Don’t get me wrong; technology is great. My phone now has way more computing capability and usefulness than the first laptop I purchased in 1988 for about six grand. The downside is that we now have very little downtime in our day. It used to be that on the drive to and from work you could ramp up and ramp down, but now most people spend that time on the phone. The natural margin in our day is disappearing but we still need time to mentally relax. In this hurried new world, multitasking has become a highly valued skill. The belief is that in order to get the most out of my day, I need to be fully scheduled, fully committed, and constantly on the run. The fear is that I might miss out on something good, so I hurry from one meeting or event to the next, squeezing in a phone call or two in between. When I’m in meetings, I’m constantly checking my email and messages because I don’t want to miss anything, and with texting I can carry on two or three conversations at one time. Not many people would admit that this is the way they operate, but just look around you—this is the way most people behave. In our efforts to not miss anything, we unwittingly miss everything. Our attention is spread over various subjects and conversations, and when we strive to do so much, we actually apply very little of ourselves to any individual activity. We feel stressed out, burned out, exhausted, frustrated, and disconnected. In the end, this approach practically guarantees that we will be mediocre by virtue of the fact that nothing gets our full attention, not the important projects, not the important conversations, and not the important people.
Most people are running so fast, they miss life. They are in one place physically and another place mentally. You are most effective when you are mentally where you are physically—when you are present in the moment. Athletes call it “playing in the zone.” When you’re present in the moment, your thinking is clear and focused, decisions come easily, and you move through tasks almost effortlessly. When you are in the moment, you live with grace and ease. When you are totally present in the moment, when you connect with the now, life is more enjoyable. “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” —Abraham Lincoln You can’t change the past or act in the future. The current moment—the eternal right now—is all you have. Right now, you can affect what happens to you for the rest of your life. The future is created now, our dreams are achieved in the moment. My wife Judy and I are both cancer survivors. For those of you who have dealt with cancer, either yourself or with a family member, you know firsthand how quickly you gain an appreciation for the present moment. The fact is that life happens in the moment, life is lived in the moment, and ultimately, greatness is created in the moment. Performing in the Moment Like many people around the world, every couple of years I tune into the Olympic Games to watch amazing athletes do incredible things. A few years back, as I watched the events, the following thought crossed my mind: When does a champion become great? The obvious answer seemed to be when the individual achieves a high level of performance, such as winning a gold medal, but as I considered my own question further, I came to the conclusion that greatness is not achieved when the result is reached, but rather long before that, when an individual chooses to do the things that he knows he needs to do. Let’s stick with the Olympic athlete as an example. The athlete becomes great not when she breaks a world record and wins a medal. That’s when
the world recognizes her, but in reality the event is just the evidence of her greatness. The athlete achieved greatness months, perhaps years, earlier when she decided to run the extra mile, swim the extra laps, or to perform just one jump more. I would argue that Michael Phelps didn’t achieve greatness when he won his eighteenth gold medal or when he won his first. He became great when he decided to do the things that would allow him to win. He achieved greatness the moment he chose to put the effort into his training, spending the hours in the gym and pool and eating the foods his body needed instead of those he wanted, strengthening his mental resolve. The gold medal wins were simply the evidence of his greatness. Michael Phelps had actually achieved greatness many years earlier. Results are not the attainment of greatness, but simply confirmation of it. You become great long before the results show it. It happens in an instant, the moment you choose to do the things you need to do to be great. “Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” —Roger Ward Babson What I find profound is that the difference between greatness and mediocrity on a daily and weekly basis is slim, yet the difference in results down the road is tremendous. The difference between greatness and mediocrity for a salesperson is two or three extra appointments a week, five or ten more calls a day, three hours out of a 45-hour workweek spent working on their business. For a manager or leader, it’s recognizing the good work of one more person each day, delegating a task instead of doing it themselves, spending three hours of their week on strategic priorities, giving verbal praise and encouragement to someone who’s struggling. On a daily and weekly basis these differences seem minor, but in the long run they are significant. Each and every one of us has the God-given ability to be great. What makes a champion is the discipline to do the extra things even when— especially when—you don’t feel like it. The encouraging news is that, regardless of how you’ve performed in the past or how you are performing currently, you can be great, beginning today, simply by choosing to do the things you know you need to do. It
really is no more complicated than that. In the end, you are either great in the moment or not at all. In the first chapter I wrote about the two lives most of us have: the one we live and the one we are capable of living. Don’t settle for anything less than the life you are capable of. Make a commitment to be great each day and watch what can happen in just 12 short weeks.