It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Last week I talked about Drucker's "Five Most Important Questions". If you missed it, read the post HERE.
Aaron shared this: "Drucker's brillant and that book is really good. I have used it many times over the years. I really resonated with the quote: "If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old."
Order the book HERE if you missed it.
This past weekend, I picked up a magazine at the airport to ready. Nothing special, except on the cover it had a tagline: "Best Taco's Ever". Of course I purchased the magazine for that information alone.
Yes, this is Russell Wilson’s Arm
While the taco article was interesting (Lamb Tacos in Mexico!), there was a short article about PREDICTIONS around the NFL (National Football League). The article simply made a statement that "they predicted" that one of the leagues leading quarterbacks would "finally fall off a cliff", meaning that they would stop being a leading passer because of their age, because of injury or because of their ability to still throw the ball.
6 hours later, while running through the Chicago airport, I caught on TV one of these quarterbacks getting hurt and pulled out of the game, and the announcer said, "I wonder if this is a career ending injury".
I had just read that article that morning, which had been written weeks before, and here it was being played out right before my eyes.
I then began thinking about predictions. The definition is this: "A statement about what you think will happen."
This statement might be made with facts to back it up or it might must be a "gut feeling". A prediction is simply what you think will happen.
Back to the article... the author was "predicting" that one of the elite quarterbacks would end their career this year. They looked at the facts, weighed the odds, and made a prediction. We don't know if it will come true or not, but it's what one person "thought".
Think about predictions in your life. "What do you think will happen"?
Are you making decisions based on your predictions?
Are you leading your teams based on predictions made by others?
Are you leading cautiously because of someones predictions?
*Predictions can paralyze us because if it's a bad prediction, we live in fear.
*Predictions can motivate us because sometimes they can encourage us to chase a dream.
*Predications can be 100% wrong or they can be right on target.
As leaders we learn as well that not all of our predictions are right. We will make mistakes and wrong assumptions, but sometimes we'll be right.
Here's what I do with predictions, and I combine this word with VISION, with DREAMS, with PLANNING, with GOALS, and with CALLING.
If I make a PREDICTION (a statement about what I think will happen), I then will:
* WORK TOWARDS IT
I'm not going to let anything happen by chance. I'm going to put my best and hardest work into this. Either proving the prediction wrong, or proving it right.
* LEAD THROUGH IT
I am going to motivate other people using the prediction. I want to help others to learn to lead so I'm going to teach through it, model how to handle it, and use my team to address it.
* CELEBRATE IT
If a positive prediction is proven, let's celebrate. If we change things to avoid a negative prediction, let's celebrate.
* LEARN FROM IT
Positive or negative, I can learn something from it. Some things are out of my control, while other things are completely in my control. What can I learn from this? How can I adjust and correct coming out of this.
I don't know if you're in the habit of making bold predictions or if you've had others make predictions about you. These can either motivate you or distract you.
"The more unpredictable the world is the more we rely on predictions"
Steve Rivkin
"Never believe a prediction that does not empower you."
Sean Stephenson
"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
Abraham Lincoln
