I saw a tweet @johnmaxwellco today that asked, “What’s one dream you would love to see come true?”. My first thought was… To win the lottery! My next thought was it might be difficult to win being that I don’t buy lottery tickets. The odds are pretty low to win the lottery but it’s impossible to win if I’m not even participating.
All this got me thinking about work and careers and how many employees, managers and even leaders are just not participating. According to the Gallup organization, employee engagement is around 17%. This means that roughly 83% of employees, managers and leaders are not participating. This is pretty sad when you think about it.
Here’s the thought for the day… Are you part of the 83%? Are you participating or are you hoping to win the lottery without buying a ticket? When we speak of success, we’re not talking about hitting a goal set by your organization or some quota put on you by a boss that has no clue that quota’s are worthless. We’re talking about being remarkable. We’re talking about hitting personal goals that are much greater than any goal your organization could give you. So if you want to be successful you’re going to have to participate. You’re going to have to get in the game. If you’re struggling with this it might be time to find a new team (in other words a new job) or you might need to find a new game (in other words a new industry or career). If you believe you’re on the right team and in the right career then what’s keeping you from remarkable? Be careful how you answer. Excuses and blame are not good answers. Control what you can control and you’ll have your answer. Hint… it has something to do with participation. And one last point. When participating in the lottery you’re still not likely to win, but if you participate in your organization your almost always assured to win.
