#827 BE...DO...HAVE
I live with a BE DO HAVE philosophy. In order to get anything I desire I have to BE the kind of person who achieves what it is I desire. Then I have to DO the work needed, until finally I can HAVE what I want.
You can shuffle this around in a number of ways but if you do they will be unsuccessful.
The most common errant shuffling of this philosophy is trying to start with HAVE first. The most famous of the HAVE first philosophy are names you know like Michael Milken and Bernie Madoff but there are thousands of less famous amoral hustlers abusing their sales ability to HAVE before they put in the work.
To HAVE; before BE and DO requires lying, stealing, and cheating or at the very least; amassing debt. You can certainly overcharge unwitting customers and make large, illicit profits to support a lifestyle you really haven’t earned but in the end, lying, cheating, and stealing usually get exposed and all is lost. Besides, isn’t it exhausting to keep up a lie or an illegal business? Am I the only one who watched Breaking Bad?
Debt is debilitating as well. It seems like it’s OK to make those payments you really can’t quite afford but eventually the stress borrowing from Peter to pay Paul will get the best of you. It’s like holding a one pound weight in front of you. It seems fine and easy for 30 seconds or even for a minute or two but try holding it out in front of you for a few hours and the weight becomes overwhelming; it takes all of your energy and focus to keep it from falling. Big debt is like that. It occupies far too much or your conscious thought and crowds out the space needed to think creatively.
BE must be first by means of becoming; growing and changing, not imitating. Imitation is false. It’s putting on airs. I was always enamored of this Emerson quote; “Envy is ignorance, and imitation is suicide.” It reminds us of the importance of authenticity and to appreciate what we have and who we are even as we strive to improve.
Modeling is a great thing and not to be confused with imitating. Learning how someone did something you’d like to do and then modeling their success is a great way to achieve. That’s quite different from imitating isn’t it? In modeling you learn the BE and DO steps that the successful person employed and work them to achieve the same HAVE.
In the end, shortcuts will pull you up short. It may be in this life or it may be in the next. It may be in the way you’re thought of now or the way you’re remembered later but make no mistake leading with HAVE will create a tarnished legacy. HAVE without the BE and DO is like eating pizza dough with no tomato sauce, spices or cheese. It will fill you up but it won’t taste good. Unless you’re a trust fund kid or a multimillion dollar lottery winner, BE, DO HAVE is the only formula for success.
Own your sales gene…