How Arguments Can Move a Business Forward

My thoughts about productivity sometimes come out of virtually anywhere -- even from the movieThe Bourne Ultimatum.

Two weeks agoI watched this movie sitting in seat 6D on an American Airlines flight from New York City to Los Angeles. Early in the movie, Jason Bourne is being chased by Russian police officers. When Bourne turns the tables on one of his pursuants, the officer says, "please don't kill me."

Bourne replies, "My argument is not with you."

I pressed the pause button, took out my journal and started writing. That's how powerful the quote seemed at that moment.

Reflecting on it, I started to reconsider the arguments (really discussions) that I have had over the last month. I started to think about the true focus of those arguments.

For example, a month ago I met with a mentor, the CEO of an investment bank in New York City, to strategize about how togrow mybusiness in the next two years. She said sagely if you want to grow the business, you're going to have to do things differently.

She spent the next 40 minutes questioning my need for certain daily routines and workflow habits. I argued for keeping the routines I'dbecomecomfortable with over the last several years of running my business, traveling the world and offering workshops.

She told me that my achievements thus far had resulted from habits I had developed from experimentsyears ago. She said thatif I wantedto experience new levels of success and business growth in the coming months, I'd have to start doing something different.

I continued to argue for keeping my current routines, keeping myself in my comfort zone. These activities had led me toresults. There must be benefits to working comfortably, after all.

Yet, in the end I finally agreedwith her.She asked, How are you going to connect more deeply with the people you already have connections with?

Around that same time a mentor of mine, Marshall Goldsmith, also suggested that I should adopt new routines. He said, “What got you here, won’t get you there.”

I am seeing that the arguments of an entrepreneur can help shapehis dream, hisreality, how much he gets done and where he takes hiscompany. 58003

As a result of these arguments-discussions with my mentors, for over a month now I’ve been switching up one routine at a time.I experiment with a new habit for five days.

Here are my two most recent five-day experiments:

1.Write a thank youcard the first thing in the morningwhen I arrive at my desk.

2. Read a minimum of one chapter of a book (any one) before I fall asleep.

I now realize from all my recent arguments that the real argument hereis the one I've been having with myself. I'mnow mulling this: Am I willing to revise what I used to think I wanted so I can dream even bigger?

My most important role as a CEO, a co-founder, a husband and a community member is to identify my own raison d’être and live my “why?” to my fullest potential. It’s my job to clarify the most current version of the best vision of my life. What I'm experiencing right now is the result of only the last vision I had created.

Jason Bourne was beat up, bloodied and sleep deprived but knew very clearly the person his argument was not with. In order to do that, he had to do the premeditation necessary. He had a vision of what he wanted to be true and took massive action after massive action to make it so.

你呢？ Are you ready to argue and create a life of purposeful engagement?