Reader;

Enthusiasm gets you started. How you respond to setbacks determines how you finish!

Morning Minute 10.13.26

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What Happens When Enthusiasm Meets Reality? Enthusiasm gets you started. How you respond to setbacks determines how you finish.

Have you ever watched a team just before a big game?

Everyone is excited. Coaches give their instructions.

Everyone believes they will win.

Then the whistle blows.

The other team scores first. A mistake is made. The game plan doesn't work exactly as expected.

​Enthusiasm just met reality.

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Consider a leader welcoming a new employee on her first day.

She arrives early, excited about her opportunity and eager to impress her manager and teammates. The leader believes he hired the right person and looks forward to her success.

Then, she makes a mistake. A customer complains. She struggles with something that should be easy. Her confidence begins to slip.

Enthusiasm just met reality.

Effective leaders recognize this is when leadership begins. New employees make mistakes, encounter setbacks, and occasionally lose confidence.

Instead of waiting for these, they prepare for them ahead of time.

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The same principle exists on every battlefield.

Before battle, soldiers prepare, plans are shared, equipment is checked.

Leaders give final instructions.

Then the shooting starts.

Confusion replaces certainty. Fear becomes real. Fighters quickly discover that preparation and enthusiasm are just the beginning.

Enthusiasm just met reality.

That's when discipline, training, judgment, teamwork, and courage become essential.

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Life and leadership are similar.

Starting is exciting.

When excitement disappears…that's where character develops.

A new business encounters a competitive threat.

A manager makes an unpopular decision, or an employee makes a mistake.

A new relationship encounters a disagreement.

Setbacks don't necessarily mean you're failing.

They mean enthusiasm is no longer enough.

The question isn't whether reality will interrupt your enthusiasm.

It will.

The better question is:

What will you do when it happens?

That's why successful teams prepare for setbacks, anticipate mistakes, and develop contingency plans.

Preparation doesn't prevent setbacks.

It enables us to respond to them.

So, when reality arrives:

​Accept…reality.

​Analyze…what happened.

​Adapt…your approach.

​Keep…moving forward.

That's when discipline, competence, and resilience determine how far you go—and how you finish.

Today's Morning Minute Challenge:

What is something you're enthusiastic about right now?

Ask yourself:

What could go wrong—what will I do when it does?

Pre-planning for anticipated setbacks maintains your momentum when reality arrives.

Enthusiasm gets you started.

Character keeps you going.

Keep Learning. Keep Leading.

And remember, Information without transformation is wasted energy!

That is today's Morning Minute.

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Today's memorable quote is from VIKTOR FRANKL​

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by a lack of meaning and purpose.”

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Here are some recent Morning Minutes you may have missed with actionable ideas, useful instruction, and step-by-step methods to help you, your family, and/or your team to be more, do more, and achieve more.

​"What Does Your Team Need from YOU?" Discover the 6 functions that develop people, improve performance, and create winning teams. Learn how that your function as a coach, a teacher, a teacher, an instigator, a disciplinarian, and organizer, and a mentor are critical to building a world-class team. Take the challenge to improve your leadership skills as you continue to develop your team!

​"What Are You Doing With Your FREEDOM?" Freedom creates opportunities. Character determines what we do with it. Discover the true story of how America saved 2-3 million Russian lives after the Russian revolution in the 1920s. Learn how that freedom creates opportunity; opportunity creates prosperity, and prosperity gives us the capacity to help others.

​"You Made a Mistake...Now What?" What happens next is just as important as what just happened! Discover 3 examples of mistakes: one injured an employee; one damaged a team; & one disappointed customers and cost sales. Watch this short video to learn the 4 steps to handling mistakes and preventing them in the future.

​"Experience or Excellence; Which Matters More?" Experience where you've been for how long. Excellence reveals what you have accomplished. Discover how that experience displays where some one has been and how long. Excellence displays what someone has accomplished in their various roles. Both employers and applicants can learn how to use these to their advantage.

​"There OUGHTA Be a Law!" Laws cannot take the place of personal responsibility or self-discipline. Discover the symptoms, situations, and expectations that we encounter as we make decisions. Learn how that we have been given an example of how to take responsibility for the gifts and talents we have been given. Discover the the benefits of deciding what to do and having the self-discipline to do it.

​"Stop Trying to Transform Everything!" Big changes are accomplished via small incremental improvements. Discover how you know when it is time for a transformation. Learn the six steps to create a successful transformation. And most importantly, become the transformation you asking others to make,

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(published by the Bonorato Creative Group, LLC; all rights reserved)