"Whatever it takes. No excuses."

[poltr1]

(Based on a Facebook post from a few months ago.)

One of my mantras has been "Whatever it takes. No excuses." That is what I demanded of myself, and expected of others. Where did I lean this? I'm not quite sure, but I've given some thought as to where I might have learned it.


20+ years ago, I attended a business seminar given by someone who was quite successful in their business, and looking for a few people to help him expand it. It might have been a sales pitch for Primerica, a multi-level financial services company. I remember some of the quotes the presenter had around his desk, or delivered in his presentation.
* "You can make money or you can make excuses. You can't do both."
* "Either you do it, or you don't."
* "Whatever it takes!"
* "110%"
* "Mind over matter"
So, what this told me -- or the takeaway -- is that if I want to be successful, I have to think like him and make these sayings a way of life. And if I don't follow these, I won't be successful.

In retrospect, this man was an overachiever. That personality type is common in sales, athletics, and in the military. People who had to dig deep within themselves and find the strength they didn't know they have to overcome adversity. But not everyone is cut out to do sales, excel in athletics, or be a soldier.

I know I've tried to be that type of person, as a way of motivating myself. I'm a "can-do" person. But it's unreasonable for me to expect others to be that way. It's turned me into an uncaring, unfeeling, task-oriented, ruthless tyrant. All that matters are the completion of the tasks. I've thought, heard, and perhaps said quotes such as "The mission is more important than the man.", "I expect results, not excuses.", or "If you can't do this job, I'll find someone who can." Is this someone I want to be, or need to be? I know I'd rather be a leader and roll up my sleeves and work alongside my team, instead of a boss who does nothing more than order his people around.

Comments

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

One of the mixed blessings of language is that it's very easy to coin and utter phrases which, while completely nonsensical, *sound* as though they ought to mean something. The concept of a hundred and ten per cent is meaningless, but sounds like something one could at least aim for--in practice, nobody can give even a hundred per cent to their jobs, for the very simple reason that they have lives outside their jobs and must give at least some of their effort and energy to them. But these compelling-sounding nonsense phrases, in the mouths of managers and consultants and gurus of all kinds, have plagued ordinary workers for decades, guilting and shaming them into stress-related illnesses, overwork and ultimately unemployment because they didn't "measure up." I suppose the fad for "demotivational" posters could be seen as a kind of pushback against that, but I personally find those just as depressing as the originals they parody.