I am smarter than I was yesterday, I have better ideas than I had yesterday, and I am more valuable to my company than I was yesterday.

Did my brain grow overnight? Was I the subject of a new government “smart drug” study? Did aliens kidnap me and inject me with massive amounts of knowledge using their telepathic powers?

Nope. I read a book last night.

In these interesting times, you may be trying to figure out how to successfully weather this storm. This marketplace seems to be demanding change so it is a good time to ask tough questions. Let me add a few questions to add to your list.

It has been 30 years since I last watched “Old Yeller,” the gut-wrenching story of a yellow lab that works his way into the hearts of a frontier family.

You remember what happens, don’t you? That dumb, happy mutt develops rabies and poor Travis, the teenage boy who bonds with the dog the most, has to put him down with a shotgun.

Excuse me while I choke up a little even now. Darn you, Walt Disney!

I finally found a reason why my wife should do all the laundry:

I can no longer distinguish between my wife’s and my daughter’s clothes.

If it is pink, red, or girly in any way, there’s a high likelihood that I will sort it into the wrong pile. This results in a kind smile from my wife. It’s the same smile she gives to babies and puppies that are cute but helpless. It also results in a head-cocked, eye-rolling, “how-dumb-are-you?” look from my daughter. She’s eight. Going on sixteen.

The biggest reason we don’t accomplish what we want in our businesses (and, in our personal lives) is we’re not always willing to change when we should. It’s easy for us to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s habit. It’s comfortable. It’s known. Our brains are hardwired this way for some very good reasons.

But this can also be an obstacle to growth and improvement.

This would be ideal: simply want something really bad and you’ll get it.

Want to lose weight, earn more money, stop smoking, be a better parent or build a successful business? Just want it really bad and you’ll get it.

Sounds silly doesn’t it? It is.

The issue is never how bad you want something — everyone raises their hand when asked if they’d like to be successful. The issue many hate to face is the fact wanting success isn’t the secret to getting it — the secret is doing what it takes to be successful.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know things have changed in the world of business. As customers, we are smarter than ever. We know we have more options. We know we deserve to do business with companies that help us accomplish our goals.

And we understand it’s okay to expect companies that will work WITH us as partners rather than adversaries.

Companies that ignore this will

We hear a lot of talk about how the recession has caused companies to improve their customer service.  In fact, this assertion is almost cliche. And we know why. In a recession, there are fewer dollars chasing the good and services available. This creates much more competition for customers. So businesses need to attract them by making changes. This usually  means lowering prices and or offering more value.

We like to say the “smart businesses” sharpen their customer service edge during a recession. And maybe this is so. But maybe not.

The smart businesses have been offering good customer service long before this recession. They will continue to do so. And they’ll come out of this downturn stronger than ever.

The others fall into three groups.

“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.”

-Stephen Covey

Author of: The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything

Here’s an easy formula to bring positive change to your life:

(DVP) x (BA) = Change

D = Dissatisfaction (with a current situation or condition)
V = Vision (for how you would like things to be)
P = Plan (actions and strategies needed move you toward your vision)
B = Belief (the genuine belief and faith that you can make your vision happen)
A = Action (actions you actually take to move toward the change you want)

I’m starting to sound like an old man because I find myself saying things only old men say. Things like, “Get off my lawn!”, “Slow down you little punk!” and “If you can’t do something well, why are you doing it at all?”

Case in point: my recent lunch at Buca di Beppo. Buca is a chain of very colorful, slightly irreverent, highly tasty Italian restaurants. For a chain, the food is really pretty good. But this isn’t about the food.

In my work, I spend a fair amount of time helping people bring change to their companies. That’s what improving customer service is all about. The companies that make a substantial and permanent improvement in how they serve their customers have discovered how to change their organizations.

Seth Godin has some useful things to say about this. Here’s a great example  from his latest book, Tribes: