Leaders Do More Than Expected

Actions really do speak much louder than words ever will. It is not what someone claims they can do that makes a difference…it is what they actually do that makes the difference. Great leaders don’t make excuses, but rather they capitalize on opportunities. It’s their discipline to action that sets them apart from everyone else.

I heard a great story about a shoe manufacturing plant that sent a representative to Arica to sell shoes. After arriving in Africa he realized that everyone was barefooted, so he returned home and said, “It’s no use. No one there wears shoes.” Later, the company sent another man to Africa. Shortly after his arrival He wrote back, “What a wonderful market! Everyone here needs shoes!”

The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people lies not in what they know, but in what they are willing to do. What sets high achievers apart from everyone else is their defining courage that causes them to abandon excuses, take risks, and move towards results. Successful people see opportunity where others see obstacles. They see what could be, not what isn’t. Coach Wooden put it this way, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” Indecision to action kills opportunity.

The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people lies not in what they know, but in what they are willing to do.

If you want to raise your influence you have to become a doer. There is a big difference between doers and don’ters.

Doers make things happen, and are people of extreme action.

Don’ters make up reasons for why things didn’t happen, and are people of extreme excuses.

President Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.”

Don’ters are whiners, not winners. They constantly whine about the amount of effort it takes to get something done. Don’ters don’t want to win, they simply want to survive. The path of least resistance and least energy is what they continually think about. Don’ters usually pick out every possible scenario as to why something will never work and then play it over and over again in their minds. They are stuck in the paralysis of analysis, never stepping out to do more than expected. But doers want to win. They can’t settle for average. They are willing to put in the extra work to succeed. In fact, doers put in the extra work causing something ordinary to become extraordinary. They think through every possible scenario to make things excellent. Leaders do more than expected causing them to be more than expected.