Winners Are Doers - Are You Winning by Doing?

In February 2001, just as he was getting used to the new job he had been promoted into six months earlier (having only returned from a six week International course in the UK in late 2000), Oyat Edabgalos found himself sitting in front of the Operations Manger - Ydna R. Senoj - who informed him that he had been nominated to relieve the Production Manager - Sicnarf Rohalnobga - as head of the department he had just been promoted out of!

To say he was speechless would be a gross understatement. He was flabbergasted. But for a totally different reason than that on the minds of the senior managers who looked at him, as the message sank in (They probably assumed he was thinking it was too early, and that he was "too young" to do a job two steps above that from which he had been as a brewer - being only six years old in the company).

The truth was that he had at that time already begun to put things in place for a quiet run down to December, and his planned resignation from the company to start his own business. The last thing he needed (he thought to myself) was an assignment that could "color" people's memory of his career achievements in the company.

But of course there was no going back. The Senior Managers had chosen him - over some others, including people who were 10 to 15 years ahead of him on the job. Some who had actually trained him as a green horned brewer would now report to him for all of five weeks. "What a nightmare!" he thought to myself. But he knew there was nothing else to do but to prepare well and DO his best not to let down those decision makers who'd put their faith in him.

Getting home that day Oyat told his wife to "forget he existed" for the 5 week duration of the secondment. He vowed to work round the clock if necessary to ensure the success of the many planned capital projects to be implemented during his stay as Production Manager. And he kept that promise to myself.

On one occasion, at about 7.30 pm, while he stood watching progress on the Mash Filter trough replacement being done by external contractors, Ydna Senoj suddenly appeared beside him, and commented lightly "Oyat, are you still here?". Oyat told him YES, and explained why: He had noticed some of the contractors personnel were trying to laze around during the brewer's absence, despite the fact that they were running behind schedule. So, he decided to stick around until the brewer returned.

Ydna later left saying "Go home and get some rest, okay?". Oyat nodded and said goodnight. However, something told him to stay on a little longer. So he returned to the office, and began reading through his brewing reports. An hour passed and he decided to check progress of work at the Mash Filter. He was stupefied by what he saw: There was NOT ONE SOUL in sight around the filter trough!

The duty brewer had apparently gone across to other process areas to supervise operations, and the contractor's men had seized the opportunity to disperse as soon as he left, leaving work far from finished. Oyat was livid. He got the process men to round them up, read them the riot act, and made them resume work. By this time, he needed no one to tell him to stay overnight. The need to do so was glaring.

By 6.30 am the next day, he was relieved to see that work was nearing completion. Not long after, as he stood watching the progress, Ydna appeared, spoke briefly to him, looked around, and left. Oyat could not recall for certain if Ydna asked him whether or not he went home, but Ydna told the audience at the send-forth ceremony organised for Oyat that "Oyat simply refuses to fail".

At the end of that year (his last) in the company, he scored a 2 (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = Excellent) in his appraisal, just as he had in the previous year. As overall site head, Ydna wrote the following comments in Oyat's appraisal report: "A very good year in which Oyat used his initiative to good effect in overcoming certain barriers. Performed very well when relieving the Production Manager. Well done". He did not stop there. His handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards to Oyat were as follows:

"Oyat, I honestly believe you are one of those who will succeed at anything he does. Your commitment and effort has been outstanding....Thanks for all your hard work since I've been here - you will be sorely missed. I don't need to wish you good luck, you have the ability to make your own luck. - Ydna"

What Made Ydna So Sure About Oyat?

Ydna, having arrived in January 2001, had ONLY 11 months to observe Oyat work as newly promoted Technical Training and Development Manager(TTDM) and Acting Production Manager. Yet he stuck his neck out to volunteer unsolicited testimonials about Oyat's abilities verbally and in writing before others. The BIG question is what did he see that made him so convinced? I believe he saw Oyat's single minded, unequivocal commitment to DOING what was required to get EVERY job done and deliver the desired results. And Oyat was like THAT ALL through his stay in that company.

What About YOU? Are YOU Winning By Doing?

The intention here is to show that it is one thing to aspire to become successful at ANYTHING you do, and quite another thing to DILIGENTLY take ACTION to achieve that which you aspire to, repeatedly and consistently UNTIL you get there.

Not keeping the foregoing in mind makes very MANY people fail to become WINNERS in life, even though they KNOW they CAN be! By failing to DO that which is required to achieve, they fail to WIN.

FINAL WORDS

If YOU want to achieve ANY goal(s) you set for yourself in life, I urge you to DEVELOP the HABIT of finding out - and DOING - everything required to succeed. To be the best Personal Assistant or Student. To excel in business. To become a partner in your firm. To get promoted to the next Executive position in your company. To get picked to be the CEO. In short, to become No. 1, YOU MUST become a results-focussed DOER!

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist - Tayo Solagbade - devotes his time to exploring new frontiers of Self-Development Education, especially as it relates to showing people what they can do by themselves, for themselves to achieve their set goals - DESPITE the limitations of their circumstances or environment.