Why Genghis Khan Never Lost a Battle
OK, one of the dark secrets (well, it's not really such a secret: anyone who knows me well knows about it) is my interest in Mongolia. Get me started about that beautiful land, and I am not responsible for your having to hear all about it. : )
Mongolia is the northeast Asian country sandwiched between China and Russia. And while Mongolia isn't what you would call a world power in 2006, it once was: about 800 years ago.
That was when their then-president Temujin (OK, so he wasn't president ... they called him "genghis khan," which means "great king" and that's how we've come to know him) conquered most of the civilized world. If your skin is white, I can virtually guarantee that you have ancestors who were once terrified of this brutal general.
But Genghis Khan never lost a battle. Not one. And he had a simple trick that made sure of that. And that little trick can help you in your career.
He'd sit up on his horse, on a hill overlooking a battle scene, watching his soldiers. And when the battle began to go well in one area, he put all of his power and soldiers and horses into that spot. In other words, he concentrated on what was working for him.
We often do it differently. We concentrate on our weaknesses. We think about them. Ponder them. "Work" on them.
But Genghis Khan, evil man that he was, knew better. He didn't think about his weaknesses. He just played into his strengths. You can, too. And just maybe you'll begin to win a few more battles.
It's like this. We all have weak areas. Deficiencies. Whatever you want to call them. Just try hard not to think about them a lot. Build on your strong areas. Build on your skills. Do what you're good at. And be ruthless in trying to ignore what you're not good at.
So if you're in a job setting that you hate, and you're not good at the skills needed there, and it's just not working, you have 2 choices.
You can try to like your job. You can work hard at improving your skills. And try to make it work.
Or you can go somewhere that you think you'll like better. Where you have skills. And where the work just seems to flow.
Which isn't to say that you shouldn't try to get better. It's just recognizing that you have certain areas and skills and talents that fit you. And some you don't have. Isn't it better to use what God gave you, rather than trying to do what He didn't?
Mongolia is the northeast Asian country sandwiched between China and Russia. And while Mongolia isn't what you would call a world power in 2006, it once was: about 800 years ago.
That was when their then-president Temujin (OK, so he wasn't president ... they called him "genghis khan," which means "great king" and that's how we've come to know him) conquered most of the civilized world. If your skin is white, I can virtually guarantee that you have ancestors who were once terrified of this brutal general.
But Genghis Khan never lost a battle. Not one. And he had a simple trick that made sure of that. And that little trick can help you in your career.
He'd sit up on his horse, on a hill overlooking a battle scene, watching his soldiers. And when the battle began to go well in one area, he put all of his power and soldiers and horses into that spot. In other words, he concentrated on what was working for him.
We often do it differently. We concentrate on our weaknesses. We think about them. Ponder them. "Work" on them.
But Genghis Khan, evil man that he was, knew better. He didn't think about his weaknesses. He just played into his strengths. You can, too. And just maybe you'll begin to win a few more battles.
It's like this. We all have weak areas. Deficiencies. Whatever you want to call them. Just try hard not to think about them a lot. Build on your strong areas. Build on your skills. Do what you're good at. And be ruthless in trying to ignore what you're not good at.
So if you're in a job setting that you hate, and you're not good at the skills needed there, and it's just not working, you have 2 choices.
You can try to like your job. You can work hard at improving your skills. And try to make it work.
Or you can go somewhere that you think you'll like better. Where you have skills. And where the work just seems to flow.
Which isn't to say that you shouldn't try to get better. It's just recognizing that you have certain areas and skills and talents that fit you. And some you don't have. Isn't it better to use what God gave you, rather than trying to do what He didn't?
