Outlook
Adam loved junk food and hated getting off the couch. Ate pizza and burgers and fries every chance he got. Chased it with Dr. Pepper and cookies and brownies and ice cream. Adam's only goal was to sit still and satisfy his belly.
So his belly got huge. Then his health got bad. Looked and felt terrible. His limited outlook got him into trouble.
Bill liked junk food, but what he wanted even more was to look and feel good and have good health. So he decided to eat well, exercise regularly, and cut out unhealthy food. Early on, the exercise made him sore, and he missed the snacks he used to enjoy several days a week. But he kept going, and eventually he looked and felt better. The longer he lived this way, the better he looked and felt, and the better his health got.
Bill's broader outlook and ultimate goals led him to make decisions that weren't a lot of fun early on, but after a while they brought great rewards.
Cliff wanted to make a lot of money quickly. So he emptied his savings account and took $10,000 to Las Vegas for a weekend of fun and profit. Three days later, he returned home with just $900 of his savings intact. His short-term outlook left him wishing he'd done something else.
Darrel wanted to make a lot of money, but he spoke to an investment advisor and then put $10,000 from his savings into an index fund. Even though money got tight, Darrel contributed a little of his paycheck to that fund every month.
Growth was slow at first. Barely noticeable, in fact. But he kept at it, contributing to his fund every single month, without fail. The gains got larger and his fund began growing by bigger amounts. He was well on his way to something exciting for the future.
Edward owned a business and wanted to grow his sales immediately. For one month he ran ads enthusiastically telling everyone what he sold and how hard he worked to make customers happy. Sales didn't increase.
So Edward decided to try it for another month. He ran another ad that cranked up the enthusiasm, listed even more products than before, and guaranteed that his service simply could not be beat. Sales didn't increase, so Edward decided that advertising didn't work.
Frank owned a business and wanted to grow his company until he retired. Week after week that first year, he ran ads that revealed things about himself and his company. He showed who he was and what his company stood for. Sales didn't grow at first, but at the end of 3 months, he noticed new faces in the store and increased traffic on his website. As he finished his first year, sales had risen nicely.
Frank kept going every week with his messages about real life situations and how lives were being made better by what the company offered. More and more people were bonding with Frank and his company. More and more people were visiting his website and his store. By the end of the second year, sales had grown significantly.
Our outlook and what we want to accomplish determine the approach we take to life. Short-term thinking leads to short-term actions that often produce bad long-term results. What do you want to accomplish, and what will you do to get there?
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