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Readers of this weekly Winners’ Wisdom column in newspapers, magazines, and online publications around the world know that my father passed away recently. While it’s sad and difficult, it is gratifying to look back on his 92-year life and know he was happy, healthy, and productive right up to the end. The ensuing months have given me an opportunity to revisit and enjoy many fond memories of him and the profound lessons he taught me.
During my grade school years, my father was the chief executive officer of an organization, in charge of leading and managing over 400 employees. He was a great list-maker and constantly wrote things down that he needed to check on or follow up with. He encouraged all his employees to make lists. He often said, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth writing down. You don’t even go to the grocery store without a list to keep you from forgetting something.”
He gave out hundreds of pocket-sized notebooks for his staff to keep their lists of priorities and tasks. I will never forget that these pocket-sized notebooks all had one of two inscriptions on the cover. Some of the notebooks simply said, “Think,” while others said, “Do it now.”
I assumed he handed them out randomly, but when I asked him about it, he explained that there are two kinds of people. There are those who don’t think before they act. They are prone to knee-jerk reactions that create a lot of errors that must be cleaned up or repaired. These people need to think about each activity and its consequences and alternatives before acting.
The second group of people received my father’s notebook with the inscription on the cover, “Do it now.” These people, as he explained to me, are procrastinators and over-analyzers. They are waiting for all the lights to turn green before they leave the house or for conditions to be perfect. Conditions are never perfect, and we are often called upon to make decisions and act before we have all the information we would like.
My father divided his employees into those who needed to think more before they acted and those who needed to act before they over-analyzed. There’s a little bit of both groups in each of us. If we are to succeed in our personal and professional lives, we must strike a balance between black and white and live in the gray world of consistent compromise.
As you go through your day today, consider everything, but don’t fail to act.
Today’s the day!
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Jim Stovall is the president of the Emmy-award winning Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of more than 50 books—eight of which have been turned into movies. He is also a highly sought-after platform speaker. He may be reached at 5840 South Memorial Drive, Suite 312, Tulsa, OK 74145-9082; by email at Jim@JimStovall.com; or by phone at 918-627-1000.