Your Record Speaks for Itself

Former NY Jets Coach and Hall-of-Famer Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Now, this was playing off the notion of making excuses and having unlucky bounces in a football game, but the same idea applies to business and being an entrepreneur. No matter how you plan, or how good your intentions may be, at the end of the day, the numbers don’t lie.

Every day it feels like people are giving me excuses as to why Facebook or Snapchat won, or why they themselves didn’t end up building that billion or million dollar business. But, just like football, you are what your record says you are. You may think that you’re 8 and 8, but if you’re 4–11–1 (I like throwing ties in there), that’s where you end up being. No matter what your plan was, or if you fumbled at the last second or had the unlucky bounce, in the end, you’re 4–11–1.

And that’s why I love business so much. No matter what the outside world may say, your successes speak for themselves. And yes, I may think that I should have a lot more money or successes under my belt, but at the end of the day, I am what I am, and I have what I have.

Now, there are other wins in life often more important — your relationships, the legacy you leave, the way you treat others etc. — but the truth is, in the business world, dollars and cents are what keeps the score, leaving entrepreneurship and business to be the ultimate game.

So, stopping making excuses why you don’t have it, and stop trying to justify why you do have it, because at the end of the day, “you are what your record says you are.”

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