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Address Small Weaknesses For Big Gains
By A. Harrison Barnes

Several months ago I was trying to sell a commercial property and had the most ridiculous time contacting the agent who was selling the property for me. I would get a call that would go something like this:

“Hi, I have an offer on the property. Please call me back to discuss.” These calls would typically come at 7:00 am or 9:00 pm, during which I was generally unreachable.

Excited about the offer I would then pick up the phone and start calling the agent back. I would try him two or three times throughout the day and never reach him. This process would go on and on for days. In one case, I could not reach him for over one week.

Although I do not like to go into detail about people’s strengths and weaknesses, I can say with confidence that this particular agent had enough business at the time that he should not have been using a cell phone to run his business. Instead, he should have had a secretary scheduling all of his calls or at least forwarding him his messages.

One time, after over a week of trying to reach this guy I finally tracked down the agent’s brother and explained to him that I could not reach the agent and needed to speak with him immediately. The agent’s brother was also an agent in the same real estate firm. Around 15 minutes later my real estate agent called me back:

“Who the hell are you to be calling my brother? He does not need to know when I am returning my calls and not doing so.”

“You called me 10 days ago and said you had an offer,” I told my agent. “I have another offer on the property and need to know whether to take it or not.”

“I do not care! You should not be calling my business partner!”

“Listen, you need to stop running your business from a cell phone,” I told him.

“You have no idea what you are talking about. I have probably the best reputation of any real estate agent around here. I run my business the right way.”

“No you don’t. You need a secretary. No one should have to spend over a week trying to get in touch with you. It makes no sense.”

The agent then hung up the phone on me. It would be two more days before I would know the details of the sketchy offer his client was proposing.

A few weeks ago I learned that this agent was under investigation from the state for various reasons. Among these reasons was not having renewed his real estate license and operating his business without a license. This detail, like the cell phone, may seem like a small one, but life and our jobs are often in the details.

So many people’s careers are stalled and in many cases derailed because they refuse to look at various forms of advice to improve themselves. People often believe at some point that they have “succeeded” and any subsequent advice they receive is something that is unnecessary.

Many people will do one annoying thing in their job over and over again and do not realize that this one small thing may sabotage their entire future. Eventually people notice and this causes their careers to stall again and again.

One of the hardest things for all of us to do is to be aware of our weaknesses and take the appropriate action in response. The thing is, very few of us even make the reasoned decision to take the appropriate action and fix the issues which are causing us problems. Instead, we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and never fix these mistakes. Fixing the mistakes that people are bringing to our attention is something that very few of us have the ability to do.

People often succeed for very simple reasons. For example, one of the most common causes of success that people have is the ability to practice something over and over again. Another reason for success is an uncanny ability to network or get along with people. Just as people succeed for the smallest reasons, so, too, do they fail for the smallest reasons.

Several years ago I was working with a very intelligent, well-tested young man who was working for me while applying to law schools. Because he seemed to have a good amount of potential, I started seeing if there were other areas inside the company I could use him. We had recently launched a company and I asked him to come up with “The Top 101 Reasons” someone should be using the company. The reason I felt this was important was due to the fact that often when someone encounters a business it is important that they are given reasons to use the company.

After a week I met with him and he had only come up with 15 reasons. I was very surprised but told him to come back the next week with 101 reasons.

This guy proceeded like many people out there to come up with one explanation or another about why he could not do this. I listened and then told him that was fine but I wanted 101 reasons and anyone interested in being a lawyer should be able to come up with 101 reasons to use something quite easily.

The next week he came back and he had about 40 reasons but many of the reasons were duplicative of the 15 he had listed originally (just phrased a different way). I gave him a 15 minute lecture about the importance of applying yourself and doing good work and being creative. The next week he came back with about 60 reasons and said for the life of him he could not come up with additional reasons. Over the next 10 minutes or so with him sitting in front of me I quickly listed an additional 41 reasons. All I needed to do was use my mind, and it was quite simple.

Despite getting a 99% on the Law School Admissions Test and graduating from a good college with an “A” average this guy still did not know how to be creative.

“What are you going to do if you are defending a client in court?” I asked him. “How are you possibly going to be able to defend someone if you cannot think on your feet? You need to be able to argue a point with convincing reasons all day long.”

“I don’t know.” He told me.

This guy ended up going to law school and getting a job with a good law firm. I wish him the best. I never in a million years would want to use him as my attorney, though. This one weakness is something he needs to improve upon. It is one thing that literally could hold him back permanently and take down what could otherwise be an illustrious career.

This particular guy could not apply himself creatively. He could probably do a lot of things very well but could simply not apply himself creatively. This is a huge weakness if you want to be an attorney. This is the sort of weakness that could literally stop him in his tracks. When he gets into a law firm and starts being called upon to be creative and create arguments, his inability to do so will likely be a real turn off to the people he is working for. These same people will stop giving him work and may then give the work to others. Pretty soon no one may want to work with this guy. He will then need to find another job. This process could go on for a couple of decades unless the guy deals with the situation.

Small weaknesses have a major impact on us unless we address them.

I hope this guy fixes his. If he fixes this particular weakness he will do very well.

One of my first legal jobs required me to be a very good proofreader. While I could proofread things very well when I had to, my real interest was always in making in-depth legal arguments. The problem was I was writing legal opinions for a judge and in this sort of environment punctuation and proofreading was extremely important. I learned and, after a couple of very stern lectures, I fixed this weakness. When I got into private practice and worked for a law firm I never had a problem with this. However, over the past several years I no longer carefully proofread my work and now have others do it. Recently I read something one of my former employees posted online about how I am a terrible writer and stupid because my work is not well-proofed when I give it to the proofreaders in our company. Here is an example of my weakness coming back to haunt me. Our weaknesses will always come back to haunt us and people will always call us on these weaknesses.

About a year ago I was deluged with venture capitalists trying to give money to my business and I (I never took any money by the way.) Due to their sudden interest in giving me money, I started reading books about venture capital because I did not even know what it was. I am someone who helps people get jobs and not someone who understands high finance. I remember reading one book and it was by a venture capitalist talking about stuff that he looks for in the Chief Executive Officer of the company when he is making an investment. I read this long chapter in a book whose name I now forget that recounted how the venture capitalist came very close to making a $100,00,000 investment in a company but pulled out at the last minute. The reason? He pulled out because the CEO had the habit of coming into work and staying in his office. He never left his office and walked around the company. This one thing was viewed as a huge fault because no one in the company ever saw him. Apparently this was something that he had also been criticized for throughout his career. Due to this one personality foible, the venture capitalist did not make the investment. Who knows what ended up happening to the company due to this decision.

When many of us are confronted by our employers with various weaknesses we react in a manner that is not appropriate. We try and blame the person who is giving us feedback and find reasons they are wrong. We may provide them with a series of ridiculous justifications and explanations as to whey they are wrong and not making any sense. We may point to someone else who has the issue they are bringing to our attention. This is a huge mistake. If someone is going out of their way to bring a weakness to your attention, you need to do everything within your power to make sure that you pay attention. You often do not get a second chance to address a weakness. You need to always do what you can to address your weaknesses because one small thing could hold you back.

Not having a secretary and running a big business by cell phone.

Not proofreading your work carefully enough.

Not leaving your office to talk to people.

Not pushing yourself to be creative in a profession where it is required.

You have weaknesses–I am confident of this. All of us have weaknesses. What are yours? Fix them! If you cannot fix your weaknesses, then find a profession where these weaknesses do not matter at all and people do not care about them. If you are in a profession where these weaknesses are holding you back then they need to be rapidly addressed.

Many people know their weaknesses and they have been reminded of them again and again throughout their careers. They will often deny to themselves that their weakness is an issue. They will continually find reasons to justify the fact that what is going on is not a weakness–otherwise they would not be doing well. This can happen in your personal life or your work life. Many people simply cannot address their weaknesses.

I know a guy who is in his late 30s who has never had a girlfriend for more than two weeks. He is a good- looking guy and successful. He has a good personality and is very easy to talk to. He does not have any major personality weaknesses or other weaknesses except one: he is incredibly cheap.

A gorgeous girl could walk up to him and start talking to him and he might get her phone number. He will then go over to her house and pick her up for a dinner date. Typically the girl will be all dressed up and excited to be going out with such a seemingly great guy. She will be in for a surprise. He will take her to a restaurant like Burger King for dinner. In the car he will explain to her that he always likes to “go Dutch” on his first few dates. The woman will be astonished not only because she was taken to a fast food restaurant, but also because she was forced to pay her share of the meal.

It gets worse, however.

In the car he may bring up the fact that he really likes the girl and there is no reason she should have to share the expense of the gas required to get to Burger King. Once he gets to the restaurant, he will only order something like french fries because he will have eaten a peanut butter sandwich or something before going out on the date to save money. If he manages to ever get a girl to his apartment, they will be astonished to find that he is an attorney living in a 300 square foot studio apartment in a bad neighborhood with furniture that looks like it was purchased at a garage sale.

I have no idea what this guy does with all his money. He does not use drugs and he does not support his parents. I think he just has an aversion to spending a single cent. I remember about 10 years ago a girl I was dating at the time sat him down to have a conversation with him about this because she thought the entire thing was so bizarre. He is a good-looking successful guy with a good personality and girls would go out with him and date him in a second were it not for this. She tried everything she could to show him the error of his ways. I tried this before and at least one other person I know tried this.

“Are you kidding? Girls love me! I do not need to do anything differently,” he always said. He is still denying this is an issue with him today. He could fix this. I do not know if it would require therapy, but he could fix it. Once he fixes it his life will change. He will know more people and have a different life. This one thing is holding him back, and he is in denial that this is the reason his is so alone. It is very sad but it would be easy to fix.

Is there anything you are doing that you are in denial about? You never want to be in denial about anything that can be improved and would change your life for the better. You need to do everything within your power to address small weaknesses that may be holding you back.

The worst thing we can possibly do is be delusional about our small weaknesses. When most people are confronted with a weaknesses they may choose to ignore them and not pay attention. Pay attention to your small weaknesses.

The worst possible thing that we can do when someone confronts us with our small weaknesses is to lash out and attack them. Many of us will discredit the messenger and tell them that there is something wrong with them. It is not our fault; there is something wrong with the messenger.

One of the most astonishing things that ever happened to me was several years ago when I was living with a woman I am no longer involved with. Up until about five years ago I always liked to go to 7-11 in the morning and get a Big Gulp Diet Coke which I would proceed to drink when driving to work. One day I went to the 7-11 and as I was driving to work I realized that the Diet Coke was not chilly enough and did not have enough ice. Since I was driving close by my house, I decided to stop by my house and put some more ice in the Diet Coke. I must have been very quiet when I went into the house because when I finished putting ice in the Diet Coke I could hear my significant other in the back yard talking on a cordless phone.

“I just want Harrison to go out of town,” I heard my significant other say. “I am sick of having to meet in hotel rooms for illicit sex with my other boyfriend during the day when Harrison is not home. I want to spend some quality time together sipping wine and just getting to know him. I cannot do this when Harrison is around.”

This particular person had been through a series of relationships that always ended because she could not commit. I thought that this history was behind her and we could have a relationship. I was wrong.

I continued to listen to her conversation for the next 30 minutes which went into quite vivid detail about how my significant other was having a full-on affair with someone else. I was absolutely astonished at what I was hearing and I remember my knees going weak and my body sinking to the floor.

My significant other eventually ended the conversation and walked into the kitchen where I was collapsed on the floor, my heart racing and feelings of extreme confusion, and anger engulfing me.

“Why aren’t you at work?” she asked.

“I just heard your entire conversation,” I said. “I’m sorry. I came home to get some ice and did not mean to but I overheard you talking on the phone. I’m in a state of shock.”

My significant other stared at me for about 15 seconds without saying a word.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said. “I was talking to my mother about the dog. You must have been hearing things.”

This was one of the more astonishing episodes of my life. Here someone was confronted with uncontrovertible evidence of philandering and they simply denied that they had said anything that they said. They turned around the evidence and tried to say that I had literally heard a conversation in my head that was not actually spoken. In this case, the messenger of this information was me and I was attacked. Had it been someone else who had overheard this I am confident his or her reliability would have been attacked as well. When many people feel criticized they attack the messenger instead of facing head on the problem or weakness. As far as I know, this person is still unable to commit. Who knows how this is affecting her life. I imagine if she could address this one weakness she would be much happier.

Despite whatever success you have had, there is a good chance that there is a weakness you have that is holding you back. Do not blow this weakness off. If someone brings the weakness to your attention, address it and do not attack the messenger. Our greatest improvements come when we fix small things that are holding us back.

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