True Things I Cannot Prove

“If the founder of an organization does not empower the next generation of leadership to carry the enterprise forward while he is still viable as a leader, the organization he founded will cease to exist within 10 years after his death.”

I have no recall of how I learned that information, but I have known it for nearly 40 years. My confidence that it is true tells me that I trusted the source.

I was working in an industrial steel fabrication shop in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma for 3 dollars and 35 cents an hour when I learned a second truth I cannot prove, but I remember the episode clearly. The year was 1976, when a million dollars was like ten million dollars today.

I was listening to a radio interview while driving a delivery truck down Lynn Lane. The man on the radio had mailed a survey to a large number of millionaires and a surprisingly high percentage of them had completed that survey and returned it to him.

He was sharing the characteristics of self-made millionaires:

“Do self-made millionaires have a high I.Q.? No. The percentage of self-made millionaires with a high I.Q. is the same as the general population.”

“Is it education? No. Self-made millionaires are no better educated than the rest of us.”

“Is it family money? No. Self-made millionaires are no more likely to come from a wealthy family than you and I.”

“Is it family connections? No.”

“Did they marry someone whose family had money and connections? No.”

“Did they ‘get discovered’? Did they get a big break? No.”

When all of my assumptions had been shattered, he said there were only four things that self-made millionaires tend to have in common:

(4.) Self-made millionaires are more likely to have been fired from a job than the rest of us.

(3.) A high percentage of self-made millionaires have filed bankruptcy at least once.

(2.) Self-made millionaires distrust traditional wisdom and believe there is a better way.

(1.) Self-made millionaires think further ahead than we do. They have a time horizon that isn’t measured in days or weeks or months, but in years.

The invisible man on the radio went on to say that a person’s socio-economic strata is largely determined by how far that person thinks ahead.

The average American has a plan for their next two paychecks. Their upcoming paycheck is fully committed, and they have bills to pay with the paycheck that follows, although that one offers a small opportunity for discretionary spending. The paycheck after our next one gives us a little bit of hope.

Two paychecks ahead is the furthest we dare look. This is what it means to be middle class.

But at least we are not struggling to find the money to buy a new battery for the car so that we can get to work, or trying to borrow money to pay a long-overdue electric bill, or wishing we had enough food in the kitchen to last until payday. These people are struggling, but that is not the bottom. No.

At the bottom of the socio-economic strata are the addicts who can think only of their next drink, their next score, their next fix. Their time horizon is a few hours, at most. Tomorrow doesn’t enter their mind.

Friend, I am convinced you can succeed at anything you choose to do, provided you have the emotional staying power to survive your mistakes.

No matter how hard you try, there are a certain number of mistakes you are going to make. This doesn’t mean you have failed. It means you are learning.

So always keep trying. But above all:

Think ahead.

Roy H. Williams

PS: “The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.”

– Mike Dooley

PPS: When business owners struggle, they often blame everyone but themselves. According to psychotherapist Steve McCready, they should be saying, “It’s not you, it’s me.” As a business coach, McCready spends all day, every day, erasing the root causes of business problems, including feelings of self-doubt and being overwhelmed. So get comfortable and find a psychologically safe space. Steve McCready wants to chat with you at MondayMorningRadio.com.