I have a sign on my office door. It pretty much summarizes my philosophy of life. The sign simply says…..”Whatever it takes.”

Short. Simple. To Point.

“Whatever it takes,” means exactly that. That I will do “whatever it takes” to get what I really want. It is best description that I have ever been able to come up with to summarize entrepreneurial experience.

Decision. Commitment. Result. Something I pretty much had ingrained into my subconscious, playing sports as a kid.

Make Decision. Commit to that outcome. Visualize. Experience that Result.

With my friends and colleagues I abbreviate and say…W.I.T. I’ll often refer to individuals as either having W.I.T or not. Y’know it’s like in Rocky movies…”the eye of tiger.” You can tell when someone has W.I.T and when someone is faking W.I.T.. Or, worse yet when someone doesn’t even know about it!

Walt Disney suffered through a bankruptcy and breakdown. Milton Hershey experienced bankruptcy in his pursuit as “chocolate king.” H.J. Heinz saw his newborn company forced into liquidation. All these individuals understood W.I.T.

It often confounds me though how many people will never understand what “whatever it takes” really means?

It seems that I developed my understanding of this philosophy through hardship. A tough teacher but an effective one nonetheless.

Maybe you can relate.

When I first started my life as an entrepreneur I thought I was pretty focused on what I wanted. Instead I got exact opposite. Working long hours for little or no pay, dealing with creditors, angry customers, unresponsive vendors, indifferent intermediaries, idiotic bankers, erratic sales, loaning money to company, etc. Quite frustrating until I discovered that all of that had been a training ground of sorts that taught me alchemy of turning problems into opportunities. The one characteristic that every great businessperson must possess.

Whatever it takes. Problems into Opportunities.

W.I.T made me understand that it is not what happens to you. W.I.T makes you look at what are you going to do about it?

Before I had discovered W.I.T I had never realized that I had a “BLAME” list that was responsible for my circumstances. There were so many problems standing in way of my success. I was convinced that I needed less problems. “If Only’s” so to speak…. I rationalized that successful people had less problems than I did which allowed them to be successful. LOL! I hate to admit it, but it is true.

“Well you know economy…” “But Government….” “If I only had more money…” “Its all in who you know….”

All of these are huge lies which will prevent you from understanding “W.I.T.”

Everybody has problems. But problems begin to dissolve when you acquire skills. I was guilty of wishing and hoping for less problems. What I needed though was better skills. Without skills your focus gravitates to problem. A very poor focus indeed.

Channel this heightened enthusiasm into achievement of your organization’s goals – whether sales, marketing, customer service, etc. Use it, too, to stimulate a greater sense of patriotism and pride in being an American.

Busche offers these suggestions:

Make your day-to-day office activities and meetings more effective by tying them in with special events, occasions, holidays or seasons. Keep your eye on calendar and news media to see what’s coming up. The uniqueness and popularity of 2004 Summer Olympic Games should spark ideas to take advantage of opportunities which already generate interest, excitement and publicity. Use your imagination and incorporate your own good ideas and activities, too — as well as those of your people.

In planning your overall Olympic Games campaign, give a lot of thought to developing meaningful activities which you can incorporate these characteristics into – traits which serve you well in both office and sports environment. For example: * Knowledge, desire, training * Speed, agility * Desire, mental attitude, focus

Come up with a catchy theme or two that’s customized to your company, its products/services, corporate culture, mission and goals — and use them on banners, posters, T-shirts, etc. Some ideas: * Catch The Olympic Spirit! * [Product Name] Sales Olympics! * Olympic Sales Blitz!