Heiii Guys,
kali ini gue pengen re-post tulisan yang tadi siang gue baca di Edu-active.com. tulisannya sih masih dalam bahasa inggris banget ya masih copas banget belum sempet translate dan merapihkannya. tapi, sangat menarik dalam bahasa inggrisnya mudah dimengerti koq. Semoga bermanfaat!!!!
I
recently met with a capable and driven executive and asked him, “How
are you?” He gave me a rapid-fire answer of all of the things he was
doing: travelling, business updates, career changes and his children’s
innumerable activities. It sounded like an intense but satisfying life.
Then I asked him again, “How are you really?” And the moment
I did, he became emotional and the reality of his life just flooded out
of him: his stress, his frustration of trying to juggle it all, his
sense that he had no time to really think, or play with his children or
enjoy any of it. The (cute) summary is this: his schedule was always
filled but his life wasn’t fulfilled. What is less cute is the idea that
he, and many of us, have been sold a bill of goods.
We’ve been sold on a heroic ideal of the uber-man and super-women who
kill themselves saying yes to everyone, sleeping four hours a night and
straining to fit everything in. How often have you heard people say, “I
am so busy right now!” But it almost seemed like a back-door brag.
But it’s a bogus badge of honor. It suffocates our ability to think
and create. It holds otherwise hard working, capable people back from
our highest contribution. Below are a few of the myths of success that
hold us back from becoming very successful.
Myth 1: Successful people say, "If I can fit it in, I should fit it in."
Truth: Very successful people are absurdly selective.
As Warren Buffet is credited with having said, “The difference
between successful people and very successful people is that very
successful people say no to almost everything.”
As I wrote in a piece for Harvard Business Review, this means, "Not
just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and
strategically eliminating the nonessentials. Not just once a year as
part of a planning meeting, but constantly reducing, focusing and
simplifying. Not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but being
willing to cut out really terrific opportunities as well. Few appear to
have the courage to live this principle, which may be why it
differentiates successful people and organizations from the very
successful ones."
Myth 2: Successful people sleep four hours a night.
Truth: Very successful people rest well so they can be at peak performance.
In K. Anders Ericsson's famous study of violinists, popularized by
Malcolm Gladwell as the "10,000 hour rule," Anders found that the best
violinists spent more time practicing than the merely good students.
What is less well known is that the second most important factor
differentiating the best violinists from the good ones was actually
sleep. The best violinists averaged 8.6 hours of sleep in every 24 hour
period.
Myth 3: Successful people think play is a waste of time.
Truth: Very successful people see play as essential for creativity.
Just think of Sir Ken Robinson, who has made the study of creativity
in school's his life's work. He has observed that instead of fueling
creativity through play, schools actually kill it: "We have sold
ourselves into a fast-food model of education, and it's impoverishing
our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our
physical bodies. Imagination is the source of every form of human
achievement."
Myth 4: Successful people are the first ones to jump in with an answer.
Truth: Very successful people are powerful listeners.
As the saying goes, the people who talk the most don't always have
the most to say. Powerful listeners get to the real story. They find the
signal in the sound. They listen to what is not being said.
Myth 5: Successful people focus on what the competition is doing.
Truth: Very successful people focus on what they can do better.
The "winningest coach in America" is Larry Gelwix, the former Head of
the Highland High School rugby team. His team won 418 games with only
10 losses in over 36 years. One of the key questions he challenged his
players to ask was “What’s important now?" He didn't want his players
getting distracted with what the other team was doing. He wanted them to
play their own game.
Last week I took a tour of the Kennedy Presidential Library in
Boston, Massachusetts. One of the quotes there grabbed my attention.
John F. Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not
the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent,
persuasive and unrealistic."
The myth here is celebrated in modern culture: it’s someone who is
capable, driven and wants to win and be popular. They have been rewarded
for their willingness to take it all on, fit it all in and just make it
happen. They believe doing more is better than doing less. I call this
type of person a Nonessentialist.
Still, there is a new hero in our story. She asks, “What is
essential?” and is willing to eliminate everything else. He says no to
the less important activities so they can give themselves fully to the
few things that really matter. It is a path that takes courage. It may
require making the tradeoff between short-term popularity and long-term
respect. It leads to a greater sense of control and even joy. But as an
added benefit it also seems to be the thing that distinguishes the
successful from the very successful.