Epiphanies come at the oddest times.
A few days ago, I was taking down the Christmas lights in my front yard when the lyrics to “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” lilted through my brain. It suddenly occurred to me that the secrets to Santa’s success were literally spelled out in the lines of this song, written decades ago by J. Fred Coots & Haven Gilliespie:
PRINCIPLE ONE: AVOID WHINING AND WHINERS
You better watch out! You better not cry!
You better not pout! I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin' to town.
The Big Man did not build an acclaimed international gift delivery service by hanging out with nay-sayers. The competition said it couldn’t be done, but Saint Nick proved them wrong by developing a proprietary transport system that allowed him to cover the whole world in just one night. If he hadn’t accepted the challenge, then he might have just been another fat guy puttering around in his workshop during those long Artic nights. But no! Santa’s upbeat, ho-ho-ho personality attracted a crack team of like-hearted visionaries who work together to regularly accomplish the impossible.
So, rather than greeting every unexpected hiccup with sarcasm and cynicism, we can choose to look beyond each problem to the opportunity. If we’ll resist the “culture of complaint” and use our words to for inspiration and ingenuity, this just might be the year we’ll see reindeer fly.
PRINCIPLE TWO: HAVE CLEARLY WRITTEN PLANS
He's making a list and checking it twice.
He's going to find out who's naughty and nice.
Santa Claus Is comin' to town.
With literally billions of children in the world to serve, Santa learned a long time ago it’s better to make good lists than to try to do it all by memory. He not only has to remember which children were naughty or nice, but he’s got to keep track of change of address notifications, which kids have which gaming platforms....not to mention the ever-changing alarm codes on home security systems.
Santa doesn’t leave things to chance and neither should we. Make it a point to use your computer’s task manager, project manager, and address book systems more effectively. Start every workday by prioritizing a list of what you want to accomplish. Make appointments with yourself to focus on specific tasks. Add contacts to your address book as they come in. Deal with emails efficiently rather than letting them linger in your in-box for weeks or months. But most importantly, just set some simple, written goals and work purposefully toward achieving them.
PRINCIPLE THREE: BE VALUES DRIVEN, NOT JUST MONEY-DRIVEN
He sees when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good.
So be good for goodness sake!
Although Saint Nick has a reputation as a strict “law and order” kind of guy, this verse tells us that he’s much more than Big Brother with a Beard. Santa actually wants us to do the right thing for the right reason--for “goodness sake”--even when we think that no one is watching. Because the truth is that someone always is...
Our business reputation is much more about how we work than how much we make. Profit is the by-product of great product and service. At the end of the day, our values create our value to our past, present, and future clients. Our products and services will transform with the changing marketplace, so it is only our reputation for integrity and excellence that will continue to make us competitive.
PRINCIPLE FOUR: LIVE WITH A SENSE OF ANTICIPATION
You better watch out! You better not cry!
You better not pout! I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin' to town.
When we were kids, the days leading up to Christmas were filled with great expectation. Every moment was lived in anticipation that dreams would come true and wishes would be fulfilled. Why can’t we adults embrace the future with such joyful hope? After all, each new day is a gift (which is why my friend says they call it “the present”).
One of my favorite films is Castaway, where Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck Noland, must find the hope to help him survive years on an island after his FedEx plane crashes into the sea. Noland finally realizes that every new ocean wave may bring him the opportunity to return home and this hope transforms him into a man who is no longer marooned—literally or emotionally.
This year, I resolve to keep a sense of joyful anticipation in my family life, my faith, and my career. It is very tempting to make our happiness contingent on our happenstance, but that would be living from the outside in, rather than from the inside out. Let today’s prospects be energizing and satisfying.
Who would have imagined that Santa had so much to teach the contemporary professional?
