Happy Sunday Everyone:
I live on a small cul-de-sac. I was coming home from the gym yesterday in the morning and a neighbor a few doors down stopped me. He’s probably 70, retired, really good guy. I roll the window down and he says, “Peter D…” I’m thinking sounds familiar but trying to connect the dots. Peter is a client of mine, lived 20 miles away, we helped he and his wife move 70 miles away. He was also 70, we had some challenges with the loan, but we made everything right, we stayed on it, and he was beyond pleased when we closed. He relayed the same message to my neighbor, said some very kind things about me, and our team. Turns out they all went to college together 50 plus years ago and are still great friends and my neighbor wanted me to know. I was driving away, my neighbor just said, “small world”, I said “it’s a reminder for me to always take care of people, you never know”.
This isn’t a brag, it’s a reminder for me (thankfully on the right side this time) how we conduct ourselves personally and professionally matters. Above all, it’s the right thing to do, but if you need some other motivations, it has an impact on how the world, and the people in it, judge you. Gary, my neighbor, knows me to some degree, and my guess is he likes me, but when you have 3rd party validation, it helps. I’m not worried about being liked by everyone, but I do want to be an asset to anyone I cross paths with. If that sounds idealistic or altruistic, well I’m okay with that. I’m not suggesting I’m over here celebrating my success of being an asset all the time, I also chose not to make one update on Thursday afternoon, by the time I remembered it was 7:00 at night, I was tired, and figured I’d get back to them Friday, 8:00PM, here comes the email asking for the update from the person (I’ll learn at some point). Our team, and my family is probably tired of me saying it, but we’re an asset or a liability in every single decision we make throughout the day. We’re an asset or a liability with how we communicate with others. We’re an asset or a liability with the energy we bring to a meeting. We’re an asset or a liability with how we engage with our kids, with our spouses, our partners, our teams. If I could remind myself 24/7 every decision I make falls into an asset bucket or a liability bucket, I’d be better for it.
I’m not worried about how the doubters/haters/negative people/folks not on my side, or don’t like me, feel about me. I’m highly concerned with how the people who depend on me, who I depend on, who trust me, who care about me, feel about me. Serves as a reminder to me over and over again that how you do anything is how you do everything. I work with so many people who take pride in their name and what they represent, they have chips on their shoulders about being assets, and it’s amazing. I work with a few others who don’t, and it’s not amazing, it’s terrible, they’re also totally unaware of the concept. The point of these thoughts today, BE AWARE, of what you bring to the table in the most simplistic form, asset or liability. The small, little, seemingly insignificant, decisions you make every day, add up, and they put you in one of those two buckets. Make asset-based decisions as much as humanly possible and the world will thank you for it.
Have a great rest of your Sunday!