The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I can’t believe we have the technology that allows me to get swept up in a different world while I’m 30,000 feet in the air.  Movies on airplanes … what a thing!

Of course, most of the time, the movies are so bad that I want to get up and walk out — but I can’t … because like I already told you, I’m 30,000 feet in the air.

Luckily, this was not the case on my recent trip back from Copenhagen. I saw a great movie called "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". What a great film. It had a terrific cast of seasoned actors, and it even had a Dame in it. (Dame Judy Dench).

Dev Patel, one of the young actors, said something in the film that struck me as very profound and worthy of thought.

“Everything will be alright in the end. If things are not alright, it is not the end.”  

Wow. Let that blow your mind for a few minutes.

I dug a little deeper and discovered this was a Rudyard Kipling quote. (Dude! Someone tell Rudy that Dev is lifting his material!)

At any rate, there are two ways to look at this profoundly optimistic view of the universe:

    You can actively seek that “alright end”; or

    You may choose to passively participate in the anticipated possible future.

Some people think that if you just wait long enough, things will work out. If you just sit back and wait, hopefully money will come to you. Hopefully happiness will come to you and the secrets of life will simply fall into your lap. Hopefully.

Wandering around aimlessly in life may work for some. In my experience, however, it works that way for very few of us. Anticipating a specific set of goals and knowing why those goals are important is probably the most important first step you can make.

But understand that the course you set toward that goal may not always turn in the direction you expect. Be flexible. That unexpected direction may be fantastically positive. Remember that everything will be alright.

It is those times when we trend toward the negative that separates the winners from everyone else. Consider yourself a winner when an unexpected negative result appears. Assess where you are NOW. You are alive. You are breathing. Come to your senses and ADJUST! You thrive with what life throws at you. You already know the end result. Everything will be A-OK. Move again towards your goal and modify your actions as the situation dictates.

You’re a sailor sailing the seas of your life. Sailors zig and zag to their final destination. Mid-course corrections and interim plans are part of the path of business and life. We are here to LIVE.  

Those who are active planners have a vision. If, during the course of the journey towards that plan, things are not alright, then you are NOT at the end.  

You see, in the end, things will be alright.

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The Dirty Word

I’m about to say a dirty word—probably the dirtiest word in our society. If you are reading this aloud and children are within earshot, please cover their ears.

Here goes …

Accountability.

Accountability is a dirty word because we live in a victim society. The folks that wrote the book The OZ Principle call the victim-mentality “living below the line.”

The line to which they refer is the line that separates the failures, stagnators, and blamers from the explorers, originators, and the innovators.

Like it or not, success is never bestowed on you. It is earned. (That is, unless you are one of the Kardashians, in which case we know the dark arts are involved.)

Let me use myself as an example. Now, I have been the King of Excuses in what I will call the “before” time. During “before” time, I could easily find reasons why things did not turn out the way I wanted them to turn out.

It’s always easy to find excuses when you exclude yourself from the equation. During “before” time, I was never the chief culprit. That would have been insanity!

I was always saying things like: “If only they did this. They were supposed to take care of that! They are so incompetent.”

Do you have a “they” in your life? Is your “they” as lazy, horrible, and despicable as mine was? If so, you might be living below the line.

One day, I decided I wanted an “above the line” life. The only way I could do this would be to hold myself accountable. I had to fire “they” and take it’s place. (Normally, it is hard to fire people, but “they” were so lazy, horrible, and despicable that it was pretty easy.)

I had to make a commitment. And by the way, you don’t attempt to make a commitment. You are either committed or you aren’t. In living above the line, you are accountable when you hold yourself responsible for results that you commit to. It does not mean you will always actually succeed. Repeat it with me: Success is not guaranteed (unless you are a Kardashian).

But the magic of commitment and accountability is that they get you half the way there.

In fact, the magic formula for success is to learn from your less-than-desirable results. Learning, adjusting, adapting, and modifying commitments in the face of adversity creates success 90 percent of the time.

I’m not sure what the other 10 percent would be called. Maybe we can call it (cover kids’ ears) “sh*t happens” or (keep covering) “Kardashian?”

(I get paid 10 cents in ad revenue every time I use their name!)

How do YOU live about the line? As my friend Kathy Kolbe says, “Commit! But to very little.”

That is the first step. Understand your role, make adjustments, keep moving forward, and congratulate yourself for the distance you have come. Quantify your commitments. Put a number, date, or numerical frequency to those things you want to accomplish. Enlist the help of supporters. Keep away from the detractors. And finally, resist the victim excuses.

Whether you are or are not successful, you only have one person to blame: YOU!

(And the Kardashians).

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