Simon says, “People are constants, problems are variables.”
Simon is not saying people never change, are always the same. You need only hang around most anyone for a while to know people are very changeable. Were that not true, things would get very boring and most of the world’s serious problems would never get solved.
The people you deal with through your success business have some characteristics that stay fairly stable over time. Traits not changing much include things like attitudes, approaches to doing business, interpersonal style, beliefs, values, general mood and demeanor, cooperativeness, and most everything else mattering in the context of your success. This is enough of a fact of life you are well-served by simply assuming people are constants, they are not going to change, at least not much in any ways making any difference for you.
Making this assumption puts you onto the right track with people and problems: you will,
•Deal with people and work on problems.
If the people change in positive ways, all the better; but you are not counting on it and are not investing much time in trying to get them to change. You want to see what people are doing right, since you likely can get them to do more of whatever it is; but you cannot concern yourself much with what they are doing wrong. You might get them to do less of it but not a lot less any time soon. Your goal is to encourage people to do more of what they are already doing right, with the hope they will have less time and energy for doing things wrong. If you are very successful with this approach, the right things will become so habitual the wrong things gradually just drop away, although it can take years, if you have the free time to devote to the task.
If your time is more limited and you do not have years to get significant problems solved, be clear about;
•What people are doing,
•What you want them to do,
•What the difference has to do with your success.
If you know exactly what you want people to do and they are doing it, you are on a success roll. If instead, there are things you want them to do which they are not doing, you have a problem. Your first step is to carefully analyze whether the things they are not doing actually have anything material to do with your success. You may be surprised to find out at least some of the things you have on the list are not affecting your success one way or the other. They would be nice but are not necessary. Your goal here is to determine specifically what you “have to” have done you want someone to do.
Focus on your to-do list of things people are not doing that really need done and then personally ask them to do them. It is easy to overlook the fact you usually do not get what you do not ask for.
If they say, “No,” then ask them why they will not do what you want them to do. They likely will be happy to tell you; and when they do, you have a problem you can actually solve. You can either work out whatever is keeping them from doing what you need done or figure out some other way to get it done. Just remember it has to get done; it was a “have to have” kind of thing.
Now that people have done what you wanted them to do or you have developed an alternative source for what you need, what comes next? Too often, less successful people are at somewhat of a loss at this point. They have spent so much energy getting what they wanted, they have not thought through what they will do now they have it. They have gotten so task oriented they have lost track of their goal.
You say this could never happen to you. Simon, your sensitive success coach, just wants to point out to you it can and does happen to everyone at times. It can happen to you too. Your best preventative is to be sure you know what you will do after people have done what you want them to do and then make sure you remind yourself about what you will do next, at least once a day, every day. Your success goals are too important to ever let them slip your mind.