Welcome to the Success Express

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David works very hard.

He seems to be in the office all the time - he is the first one to get into the office in the morning and he is still around long after all of his colleagues have already gone home.

However, this workaholic and seemingly ‘champion’ of the organisation called David is not the best performing employee. In fact, he is far from it. He is constantly underperforming and has become a liability for his organisation, despite all of his 'hard work'.

David has a problem - he never gets things done. Although he is always working on something, he is only 'always working on something' – he never actually gets anything done.

What an organisation needs is people who always 'deliver something', not people who are always 'just working on something'. After all, it is the finished products that will put food on the table, not the unfinished ones.

The reason why these people seem to work hard but are unable to achieve anything is that their objective may be to just work and occupy themselves, and not on delivering real outcomes. These people will never amount to anything. They will continue to work hard but they will also continue to be under-appreciated.

So be result oriented!

Whatever it is you do, ask yourselves three important questions:

1. What do I want to achieve?
2. How do I achieve it?
3. When will it be achieved?

First, always remember - Whatever you do, do not start before knowing what it is you want to achieve.

There is no point in doing anything if you are not sure what you want to get out of it. To work on something without knowing 'why' and 'what' is the most time wasting endeavour on Earth.

But once you are able to clearly state the 'what', you are ready to move on to step 2, which is about the 'how'. To find out exactly how, you must put on your 'thinking cap' immediately. You must be able to visualise how the project or task is to be done, from top to bottom.

Somebody once said that 'greatness lies in the details'. This is very true indeed. It is not likely that you will be able to accomplish a task successfully if you do not know exactly how it is to be done.

And if you do not know how to do something, just ask. Asking questions is the only way to enable even a total novice to do something intelligently.

Once you know how to do it, move on to Step 3 - the 'when'. Ask yourself what your deadline is, i.e. when it must be finished.

Be absolutely serious about deadlines. If you set a deadline for anything, you must honour it absolutely. If there is no such commitment, why set the deadline in the first place?

So do not accept a deadline if you do not seriously think that it can be delivered. Negotiate the deadlines with whoever is the decision maker, be it your superior or yourself.

Once a deadline has been fixed, embark on the project like a 100m sprinter. Be absolutely no-nonsense about it and execute your ploy with laser-sharp precision. Cut out all the small and trivial 'noises' that will distract you from delivering your outcome.

And like a 100m sprinter, you must focus on the finish-line. Every second counts. Though you could be the only runner on this track, you must be absolutely committed to the race.

It is only when you have reached the finish-line that an evaluation of your achievement becomes possible.

- Did you do well?
- Did you do terrible?
- Do you know what you are doing?
- Are you a genius or a complete fool?

All these questions can now be answered. A glorious and victorious moment is possible if you stay focused and stay absolutely result oriented.

Before you deliver an outcome or before a deadline is up, no conclusion can be drawn about you whatsoever. During this period, you may seem to work slow or fast, aggressive or non-aggressive, laser-sharp or sloppy... these are all but mere assumptions.

But when the deadline is up and the race is finished, where are you?

You may not even be in sight! You could have wandered off the track and forgotten that you were in the race. If this happens, you are not even in the race you were supposed to be in. You are totally irrelevant!

Yes, those who are not result-oriented and do not deliver at the end of the race are certainly totally irrelevant. They are not worthy for any organisation to depend on. These are the people who, no matter how 'hard' they think they have worked, will either get the axe or forever stay insignificant.

Those who successfully finish the race and deliver the outcome are now in the position to be judged and rated.

These people may not necessarily all be heroes, but they will have at least earned themselves a ticket to get onto the Success Express, a fast train which travels to a final destination called 'Success'.

So be result oriented. Do not just work; focus on delivering great results.

Welcome to the Success Express!

“Life is about constantly going beyond limits!”
- Erican Chong