How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

WHY YOU SHOULD ENJOY THE RETURN OF BOTTOM-LINE
THINKING
If you’re accustomed to thinking of the bottom line only as it relates to
financial matters, then you may be missing some things crucial to you and your
organization. Instead, think of the bottom line as the end, the takeaway, the
desired result. Every activity has its own unique bottom line. If you have a job,
your work has a bottom line. If you serve in your church, your activity has a
bottom line. So does your effort as a parent, or spouse, if you are one.
As you explore the concept of bottom-line thinking, recognize that it can help
you in many ways:

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1. Bottom-Line Thinking Provides Great Clarity
What’s the difference between bowling and work? When bowling, it takes
only three seconds to know how you’ve done! That’s one reason people love
sports so much. There’s no waiting and no guessing about the outcome.
Bottom-line thinking makes it possible for you to measure outcomes more
quickly and easily. It gives you a benchmark by which to measure activity. It can
be used as a focused way of ensuring that all your little activities are purposeful
and line up to achieve a larger goal.

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2. Bottom-Line Thinking Helps You Assess Every
Situation
When you know your bottom line, it becomes much easier to know how
you’re doing in any given area. When Frances Hesselbein began running the Girl
Scouts, for example, she measured everything against the organization’s goal of
helping a girl reach her highest potential—from the organization’s management
structure (which she changed from a hierarchy to a hub) down to what badges
the girls could earn. There’s no better measurement tool than the bottom line.

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