"What counts can't always be counted;
what can be counted doesn't always count."
-- Albert Einstein
"It's good to have money and the things money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things money can't buy."
-- George Horace Lormier
"To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right."
-- Confucius
One of my very favorite quotes is the Albert Einstein quote above, "what counts can't always be counted; what can be counted doesn't always count." You might write that on a little card and carry it around for a week or so and read it often to let it just settle in nicely. It is such a lovely quote and so powerfully true.
This morning, I am relating that quote to business. For the past 38 years, I have been involved in sales and sales management and those things for most people are all about numbers. Numbers of sales, gross profits, commissions, monthly and annual projections, market share, are just a few of the numbers that come to mind. It seems much of the time as if it is all about what did you do today to put some numbers on the board. No numbers, equals a bad day. Some numbers, equals an okay day. Good numbers, equals a good day. Even if the boss isn't on you about the numbers today, you're on yourself about the numbers because you've been trained so well how important the numbers are.
"What can be counted, doesn't always count."
Here's one example of what I mean by that statement. You're working in sales for a business and you're selling as best you can. The company you work for cares a lot about the numbers. They are spending the money to move the numbers up by advertising and hiring the people. They are sincere about moving the numbers, but, they don't have a larger vision of what they want to do. They want more customers every day to bring in more sales and more profits, but they don't take care of the customers they have. There is no vision or plan for dealing with this. Many of the customers become disgruntled with the company for their lack of caring for their needs and wants. And it goes on every day just like the day before.
"What counts can't always be counted."
This is obviously how a lot of companies go out of business. They don't see a big enough picture and see how some things are so important, though they may not be seen that way today. It is like a small leak in a boat that goes unnoticed and unrepaired until the boat sinks.
Can we relate that to our personal lives? Do we smile at at others and act as if we care about them, love them, are glad to see them? Or, are they just there every day and that is the norm? Do we compliment them and uplift them with encouraging thoughts? Or, do we complain to them about what's not right today and how many things are not right in the world? Do we hug them as if we love them? Or, is it a glance as we move past them?
There is joy in every moment of every day that is available for the accepting of it. Joy is not something you receive from an event or situation, it is something you create out of thin air. Accepting it is powerful enough, but what is the best is sharing it with every one you meet, every day, every where. It counts better than any numbers could.
I'm Throwing Away My Calculator! I Count Differently Now! I Even Use My Fingers and Hands!
Spread Some Joy Today--When you get to work today, sit quietly for a few moments and think of something that makes you smile with your whole face. Hold that thought. Feel that thought. That's a bit of joy. Now share it by having that smile when you greet others today. Find something to compliment them on. People love compliments.
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