What every entrepreneur, startup, and CEO needs to know to create a no-excuses brand.
Today’s One Minute Wednesday tackles whether something you’re progressing toward remains an obstacle or becomes an excuse. The fate of an obstacle rests with you.
It’s become quite popular to talk about no excuses amongst thought leaders.
Here’s my take in today’s One Minute Wednesday:
But first, let’s talk about chicken or fast food in general.
And one company that’s breaking all the rules and all the records.
The No-excuses Approach That’s Deep Frying the Competition
- They earn more per restaurant than any other chain in the industry
- They rate an astonishing 87 (out of a possible 100) by customers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index
- They’re closed on Sundays
- Even at 6 days a week, they outperform KFC and Chipotle combined
- For the third year in a row, consumers named it the nation’s favorite fast-food restaurant.
- They’re the 8th largest fast-food company in sales
- And, to prove it all, they added $1 billion to their revenue last year totaling $9 billion in sales.
The company? Chick-Fil-A.
No Excuses = No Obstacles
If you ever wanted an excuse, you could pick the fast food industry with a “people-get-what-they-pay-for” attitude (or any other way of excusing sloppiness, slower-than-needed service, or inconsistency).
But you know me and the vital factor of exceeding expectations.
Chick-Fil-A has a culture, a standard of performance, and a pride that operates on a no-excuses basis.
Hell, the odds of being accepted for a franchise, you almost have better luck winning the lottery.
Yet, they are rapidly approaching toppling the top three fast food chains.
How to Adopt a No-excuses Approach and Win
- Have your goal clearly defined. Otherwise, you have no path and will end up as the famous baseball legend Yogi Berra put it: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there…”
- Recognize that every path of progress will have obstacles. Could be time, distance, internal politics, impossible circumstances, and more.
- Get over it. It’s not you. It’s this: life. As long as you have people, time, goals, etc., you’ll encounter obstacles.
- Persist despite obstacles.
- The moment you decide an obstacle’s “bigger than you,” it’s become your master. Outlast any obstacle.
- Be willing to endure whatever comes your way. By being willing to, you’re not “backing off” relying on things “going your way.”
- By deciding you won’t quit, that obstacle will eventually be overcome (provided you’re resourceful, persistent, stubbornly inventive, and resilient).
- Rinse and repeat as you progress to your known goal.
The fate of every obstacle is in your hands.
It only becomes an excuse with your permission.