CHAPTER 12

EAT More

If you wish to know the road up the mountain, ask
the man who goes back and forth on it.
—ZENRIN

Can you eat more and become indispensable? Sure, you can—as long as you EAT the right stuff.

No, we’re not talking more fruits, vegetables, and grains here. The right stuff for anyone becoming indispensable is being an eager learner who is action oriented and thankful for the opportunities ahead—no matter what.

EAGER LEARNER

The Indispensable person is usually someone who has developed an insatiable appetite for learning. He is eager to learn from his own experiences, other people, and from the books he reads.

Do you think it is coincidental that, in most cases, the bigger the house, the bigger the library inside the house? Check it out when you visit other people’s homes. See what kinds of books they have on their bookshelves. You can tell a lot about people by the books they read. Show me their library, and that library will show me their philosophy and values.

Chief executive officers of major organizations are said to read four books a month, yet most American workers do not read four books in a lifetime. That makes no sense to me. How could a CEO invest the time to read four books a month while the average employee will not read one book a year? No wonder the CEOs appear to have more knowledge. They do! But the knowledge they apply at work probably did not come from the knowledge they learned in college. It came from the exact same place you can get it—from a bookcase.

Most people say that they do not have the time to become eager learners. That is simply not true.

You can choose to be in the top 1 percent of all readers by reading a book each month. A book per month is about half a chapter a day, maybe 10 minutes. Be part of the top 1 percent for an investment of 10 minutes a day? What a deal! Think about it. If you read a book a month for one year, you would have read 12 books about your chosen field. In five years, you would have read 60! If you had read 60 books when your competitors for the job had read 3, don’t you think that you would have a better chance to be indispensable for the job you are pursuing?

Your challenge is not finding the time. Your challenge is creating personal discipline. If you can develop the discipline to block off at least 10 minutes every day and devote that time to learning, it will separate you from competitors who are also pursuing the next opportunity.

The benefit is that the more you learn, the more you will be able to earn. You will become more valuable to your organization because of your knowledge. You are cheating yourself if you go through a day without learning something new.

The good news is that there is an abundance of books available to teach you or inform you about any subject you are interested in, and there is a direct correlation between the books you read and the success you achieve. Here’s a challenge. Read one book that applies to your profession. Just one. You will find that learning is contagious and you will want to learn more.

A friend and wise counsel of mine always said, “You are today what you’ll be five years from now, except for the people you meet and the books you read.” Think about that. In five years, you can be completely different or just like you are right now. It is your choice.

ACTION ORIENTED

The Indispensable person is someone who has the courage to take action.

Through the years, I have seen hundreds of people who have had the talent, ability, and even the desire to move forward. Yet, because of their inability to take action, they became paralyzed. They waffled on decisions. Their values were constantly changing. And they were swayed by the latest political correctness.

I once saw a movie filmed in South Africa. Two families were killed, and only a boy and girl survived. While attempting to cross the Sahara, they came across a bushman. The bushman began to lead them across the Sahara, but about halfway across, the boy began to quit. He sat down and looked at the three tracks of footprints they had made as they walked across the desert. The bushman came up to him and said, “Unless that is your future, I would not focus on it for very long. You must focus on what you can control and then keep moving.”

Don’t let your past eat your future. When you focus on things outside your control, you lose control.

Taking action involves clearly defining your personal values and standing up for those values. Are you willing to take a risk to accomplish your goals? Are you willing to address negativity and resolve issues before they become bigger issues?

Remember: negativity, worry, and anger can shut down your ability to take action.

The Indispensable person is ready to take action, seize control, and move forward pursuing the issues and goals that really matter.

THANKFUL

OK, life is not always a bowl of cherries. But there is a profound truth in this Pollyanna attitude: look for the good, and you will find it. Look for the bad, and you will find it. It is your choice to make.

One person said that the only reason the grass always looks greener “over there” is because you are not there—and the people who live “over there” know how to hide the manure better. True or not, the more time you can spend looking to improve where you are, instead of looking where you think you should be, the more successful you will be.

I have seen hundreds of very talented people during my career who kept waiting, waiting, and waiting for the exact right time to dedicate themselves to improvement. They were stuck on “Someday Isle.” Someday I’ll be committed. Someday I’ll begin to set goals. Someday I’ll help others achieve their goals. They never escaped from the Someday Isle.

Someday Isle is full of good, honest people who are not willing to escape. The people on the isle keep looking for the perfect situation, which rarely comes to anyone on Someday Isle. The people who move forward and get ahead leave Someday Isle and do something every day to escape the comfort of Someday Isle. Don’t be paralyzed by Someday Isle and wake up to see that your opportunity has passed!

Spending time improving where you are, instead of looking where you think you should be, is the key to escaping Someday Isle.

A friend of mine is a sports psychologist who works with several professional golfers. He says that in every round of golf, there are three or four things that are going to happen that are not deserved. You may hit a ball in the middle of the fairway, and it lands in a sand divot. Or as soon as you hit, the wind gusts up sending your well-struck ball into the bunker in front of the green. Or you may hit a sprinkler head that sends the ball into the rough. Three or four undeserved “somethings” will happen. He says that what separates the champions in golf is how they react to those undeserved situations.

Becoming indispensable at work is no different. The question is not, “Are things going to happen that you do not deserve?” Of course they will. Look for them, and work through them. The unknown question is, “How will you react?”

Do you react like a champion and focus on the future? Or do you focus on whom to blame for the situation you are now facing?

The Indispensable person learns to be thankful, “no matter what,” by focusing on where she is—not on where she thinks she should be. Focus on the facts of your situation, take control, and accept responsibility to make it better.

Take Action

• Read at least one nonfiction book per month that will help you in your career.

• Start a book club at work—learning will become contagious.

• Confront negativity, and take action for improvement.

• Focus on making things better, no matter what circumstances come along.

The Indispensable person is an eager learner, action oriented, and thankful for the opportunities ahead.