The following is a story of unknown origin dating back to possibly a reference by Orson Welles in 1954. It was most probably based upon an ancient Sanskrit story of a scorpion and a turtle.
I share this story as we sometimes forget that promises can be broken, and we need to consider the consequences we face regarding our decisions.
The Scorpion and the Frog
One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn’t see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
“Hellooo Mr. Frog!” called the scorpion across the water, “Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?”
“Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?” asked the frog hesitantly.
“Because,” the scorpion replied, “If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!”
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. “What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!”
“This is true,” agreed the scorpion, “But then I wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the river!”
“Alright then…how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?” said the frog.
“Ahh…,” crooned the scorpion, “Because you see, once you’ve taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!”
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog’s soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog’s back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog’s back.
“I could not help myself. It is my nature.”
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
I pride myself on being punctual — actually I pride myself on being ahead of schedule when I am meeting with clients or attending a meeting. Are you always late? Are you on time? If you’re always late you are, in effect, disrespecting the person with whom you’re meeting, the other attendees at a meeting you’re attending and it is, frankly, in bad form.
Why are you always late? Does time truly get away from you? Do you forget to write appointments down in your virtual or paper calendar? Do you need to set a timer or alarm in order to get yourself to meetings on time? Do you have an assistant who could be called upon to remind you of pending meetings and to get you out the door in time?
It’s thought that people who are always late are “creative and/or artistic types.” Even if you work in a creative field, being late is disrespectful to the person with whom you’re meeting. Don’t fall into the cliche of the “absent minded professor.” Don’t become known as, “John, he’s always late.”
Set a timer on your computer, your smart phone or use an actual timer for 15 minutes before you have to leave for a meeting. Give yourself that 15-minute window to wrap up the task you’re working on and get out the door.
Set another alarm to remind you to get out the door.
If you know you have a meeting coming up in an hour, don’t get involved in a time consuming task that will be hard to break away from.
Give yourself breathing room in your schedule. Build in a buffer for calls that take longer than you planned for, projects that were more time consuming than you’d imagined.
Enlist someone in your office to remind you of your appointments and get you out the door in time.
Are you always late? What is your reason for being late? Can you determine what it is? If you can pinpoint it, you can work to address it in the future.
As an entrepreneur have you ever wondered what ways your business can give back to the community? It is a thought that many entrepreneurs have, especially at the end of the year. What can you do to help the community without breaking the bank and your business budget?
Here are a few ways you, your business and your employees can give back:
Host a company wide food donation or clothing donation drive. Shelters are in need of food and clothing donations year round, but especially at the holidays. You could also ask employees to donate new, unwrapped toys that a shelter could give away to children. Choose a charitable organization to donate to, set up a donation center and let the giving begin.
Find a worthy cause that your employees can embrace and set up a cash donation fund for them. Have employees donate their “coffee money” for a month. Collect loose change. Find a donation that has an online way to contribute and ask employees to donate in your company name.
Collect items to send to the troops overseas. Contact a local Veterans administration office and ask what items are on a soldier’s wishlist and set up a collection box.
Organize a company-wide blood drive.
Take a day off for volunteerism. If you or your staff supports a local organization, take a day off and volunteer at that organization.
Giving Tuesday (November 29) is a way in which anyone, across the country, can get involved and give to the charity of their choice.
Remember, your employees should know that any of this giving is optional. We’ll bet you and your staff will feel great for having donated or volunteered this holiday season for those less fortunate. Do you have ways in which you and your business give back? We’d love to hear about it.
Use LinkedIn For Business Prospecting, it’s a great way to connect with like-minded business people, potential partners and potential clients. If you haven’t tapped into the power of LinkedIn you could be missing a potential landmine of ways to grow your business.
LinkedIn is considered to be a more professional atmosphere than Facebook. You don’t usually find too many memes or funny cat or dog videos on LinkedIn. The business professionals and entrepreneurs who use LinkedIn are using it to share their expertise, learn from other experts and connect with potential business partners and clients.
Use LinkedIn For Business Prospecting, here are some tips for doing just that:
Join groups or start your own. Look for professional groups that are of interest to you and into which you could provide value. Remember, a group is not the place to go and simply announce, “I have something to sell.” Get involved by answering questions. Ask questions. Offer advice. Be a valuable, go-to resource for others in the group.
Make sure your profile is 100%. If there are gaps in the profile (LinkedIn shows you when you log in how complete your profile is) complete it. Update it if you have learned new skills, gained new certifications or changed jobs.
Respond to people to message you. LinkedIn shares with your followers when you have a birthday, a new job, or a work anniversary. When this happens and your in box is full of congratulations and good wishes, respond to those who reached out.
Nurture the relationships you have on LinkedIn. When you’re connecting with new business people on the site make certain you personalize the invitation and let the potential connection know how and where you met.
Are you using LinkedIn? Are you using the publishing tool on LinkedIn? It’s an ideal way to get your post in front of your followers.
What Makes A Good Strategy? Would you know if you had a good strategy in place in your business? Having a business plan or a strategic plan for running your business just makes sense. The strategic plan is born from the assessments you make of your business and its operation from finance to employees to your marketing strategy to how you purchase office supplies.
Your financials. Gather profit and loss information. Income and expenses. Look at those metrics first to get a starting point.
Does the strategy that you have in place contain a metric by which success can be measured?
Is there a definition of what means success? Is it units sold? Dollars brought in?
Does the strategy you have in place contain a guiding principle? Does the strategy have steps in place to help you overcome obstacles or improve boundaries?
Does your strategy contain a set of measurable actions that can carry the business forward? You need to have a road map of where you need to be and how you will get there.
If you have a business plan or a strategic plan in place, when is the last time you’ve looked at it to see if you’re on track? It should be a living document, one that is called into action when you are looking to change direction, add new staff or a new product or service. You should look at the strategic plan when making a decision on expansion, or closing a site.
Do you have a strategic plan in place? Is your business plan serving your business? What do you need to do to make your business more viable and thrive to higher levels of success as we enter the new year? Are you ready to review what you’ve accomplished and reach for higher success in 2017? If you are unsure or unclear, we can help!
Is there something, or more than one thing you can to do help assure you have a successful day? I think that your morning routineslead to success throughout the day. For those of you who aren’t “morning people” and your “morning” starts in the afternoon, consider these afternoon routines that can lead to success.
Get up early. If you normally get up at 6 am (or noon) get up an hour earlier. Set that time aside to work on your own personal projects or to get a work out in. Look at that hour as a gift you’re giving yourself.
Check the news in your industry. Read through trade journals, listen to podcasts, catch up on the ezines you subscribe to but rarely read. Staying on top of the trends in your niche will keep you competitive.
Strategize. Pull out your calendar — whether paper or virtual — and make notes of the calls you have to take or return, what one project you want to finish today, what three things you can do to move your business ever forward and help you attain higher success.
Organize. Use time blocking techniques to help you get more done. Set aside X number of hours (or minutes) to chip away at a big project. Set aside a couple of hours to tackle regular daily work chores. Writing down what you need to accomplish will hold you to task.
Check your work email after you’ve planned your day and have you’ve strategized. Don’t use the additional hour you’re giving yourself to plunge into email or social media. That hour should be electronic-free (unless you’re using your FitBit to track your steps during your morning workout!)
What routines do you have that help you get and keep focused and keep you moving toward success?
