The Five Dollar Desk

“Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution. A great strategy alone won’t win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling.”   Naveen K. Jain

My parents find it at a local yard sale. It is an old chester drawers.  The cost is five dollars.

I am going to college and living at home with my parents in Birmingham, Alabama. The intention for the old cabinet is to create a study desk for me. A few modifications are needed, so my father, the perfect hands-on artisan, recruits my assistance for the conversion.

We remove some of the drawers in the center, and then build shelves on the top surface where my college textbooks will rest. Reconfigured, sanded and painted, a whole new look and special purpose emerge.

A lamp is put on the desk. Late at night, the old chester drawers is now the essential place of study. A place also for dreams of life ahead.

After college, that desk follows me into my marriage with Carol, becoming the central strategy station for important business decisions.

The classroom studies that become an important part of the initial framework of business knowledge were made at this special desk. The pivotal decisions for our fledging business in the early years would be made at that same desk.

Now, years later, having served in multiple purposes,  the $5.00 desk departs in the same manner as it arrived in my life– a yard sale.

You can do a lot with a little. In today’s world, despite increased sophistication amid changing technology, you can still create a website for little cost, allowing you to compete with giant companies. A number of highly successful companies started exactly this way. A very basic website and a dream.

This reminds me of a recent conversation with a fishing friend. He was questioning the soundness of a particular ‘rod n reel combination, which had an economical price tag. A family member, listening in on our conversation, defended my purchase by asserting,  “The fish don’t know what kind of rod ‘n reel you are using.”

For the most part, I  agree with my fishing friend on the concept of  ‘getting what you pay for.’ I like quality because I believe it does matter. However, what matters even more than the quality that goes into the tools we purchase is what is inside you, and what you do with what is inside.

Does it matter whether my desk is $5 or $500? Maybe. Maybe not.  But, one thing we do know is that what we know matters. And, what we do with what we know matters.

Do you have the knowledge needed for your success? Have you acted on that knowledge, which represents potential power? Using  my specially-redesigned desk I pursued necessary knowledge to ensure success in collegiate testing. Until I took those tests and passed them, that knowledge was unused.  Similarly,  important and astute  knowledge was critically essential in the beginning of our transportation business. Until applied in the world with real customers, it was only potential. Just a dream.

What you know matters. Acting on what you know matters.

Action!. On the football field, coaches call it ‘execution.’ All game plans are only talk – Xs and Os – until applied on the playing field. Your knowledge, combined with your action, is critical to your success in life.

It will never matter if you have a $5 desk or $500 desk if you do not act on what you already know.

Today —

I already have knowledge that can help me to do . . .

I will take action by . . .