Repeat What Works!

The question is often asked, “How do I become truly successful on a personal level as well as on a financial level?” The simple answer is: repeat what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

Last night on the evening news, after the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, the journalists were scurrying through the crowd of people down on the Mall looking for sound bites to expose the collective feeling in and around the area. One such sound bite caught my attention. It was from a young African American man, probably fourteen or fifteen years old. He said to the reporter, “Now I want to be President someday!” Then he clarified, “I WILL be President someday”. The inspiration that has been disseminated from this event is surely great. Let’s look at this at a deeper level for a moment.

I was thinking to myself this morning – what would that young man need to do to accomplish such a dream? Then came the simple answer: just follow the path of success that has already been paved. Time and time again we see this answer in every aspect of life:

• Professional Baseball Players train constantly, spending hours in the batting cage to mold that perfect swing into their muscle memory


• Businesses set up project management guidelines to ensure every project has a higher success rate


• Farmers till their fields and plant the crops within certain parameters every year


• Scientists build on the successful portions of their experiments and remove the failing parts


• Lawyers frame their cases and prepare their closing arguments inclusive of adjustments from what worked last time


• Fishermen know their quarry and use bait that is attractive to the sought after species and they fish in the correct habitat of that species


• Sons and daughters use Mom’s “famous” recipe to please the dinner crowd

People everywhere know this instinctively – this is how we have grown as a people. We have built our cultures and our technologies on what we have learned from past successes and failures, and more importantly, building on what works and removing what doesn’t work.

So as we forge ahead in our own lives, and for that young man who was inspired by the new President of the United States, to increase our own success rate at any endeavor, we must continue to repeat what works or what has worked in the past and discard what did not work.

Whatever your goals, dreams or major purpose in life, the most effective and efficient way to reach it is to find out how someone else with a similar objective reached their success. People are happy to share successful techniques in life. This is why there are endless titles of “how to” books for sale (another good source for learning what works).

And, speaking from experience, if you know of a person who has reached a goal similar to one that you have in mind, chances are you can call them and ask them for an “informational interview”. Be sincere and tell them about your aspirations and ask if they would be willing to share some insight with you.

Most people understand that what you give comes back “tenfold”, so I will bet they will be more than willing to share their experiences with you. Remember, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Find someone great to imitate and you, too, will be on the path of success.

http://www.goal-link.com

Happy New Year – Now Own It!

The New Year brings new hope for a better tomorrow. It brings new opportunities for new successes. But, as Bob Proctor (a notable motivational speaker and teacher) once said, “To change your life, you have to… change your life!”.

We all know the old adage that the “definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results”. Well, Bob was correct. For us to really change our lives for the better, we have to change what we are doing and how we are doing it.

No matter how much we may want someone else to do the work for us – we have to own it. It’s our life; it’s our health; it’s our money; it’s our spirituality. It belongs to us and only we can make the change. You have a choice really: You can always make excuses or, you can make a change.

If you have any new aspirations, goals, or New Year’s resolutions, only You can achieve them. You have to write them down, and build out a plan for attaining them. You have to visualize yourself achieving them each and every day, and you have to make forward progress toward each and every goal. It’s simple science really and the good news is, you own it. You own the work and you own all the success that will follow.

For some reason, we tend to forget that we are each still in charge of our own life. We cannot blame the negativism of the mass media any longer. We can no longer afford to be lulled into believing how far off track we are as a nation because of some government or corporate scandal or crisis. We have to own a belief in our future that things can be better. We can make mindful choices in every aspect of our lives.

Zig Ziglar once made a comment about a time in his life when he chose to be overweight. He paused after his comment and looked at his audience and said – “Oh yes….I chose to be overweight because I chose to eat everything I put in my mouth!” The comment got a good laugh but drives home the point that no matter what happens around us, it’s still our life and we are the ones who are making the ultimate decisions that affect us every minute of every day.

It’s all about attitude.
As a former U.S. Marine, I can tell you that many people have asked me the same question about Marine Boot Camp – “Was it tough?” The U.S. Marines are known world-wide to have the toughest initial training to accomplish their goal of having the toughest warriors in the world. When most people think of a Marine Drill Instructor, they picture a 6’4”, 230 pound angry, solid mass of muscle, screaming at the top of his lungs to move his troops in the direction he wants.

I can share with you that this vision is correct. The yelling, the screaming, the countless pushups, the endurance runs, climbing up walls and crawling through mud - face first…. all in the hot, humid, 95 degree heat of the South Carolina swamp land… Well, it’s all very real and very true. But, the question still stands, “Was it tough?”

The answer? Not if you choose to own it. I quickly saw, the way The Drill Instructors had a particular way of handling those who would fail at a certain task due to a lack of physical ability. Watching this, I quickly learned that this game had nothing to do with the strongest kid on the block or the toughest fighter, etc.

It was all about our mental attitude and how we would handle the adversity. For those of us who owned the challenge, even if we failed at a certain task, we succeeded. Because it is never the obstacle that brings us failure – it is our choice as to whether we accept defeat or see it as a learning opportunity and grow forward.

Think of this:
“….the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any give set of circumstances”

Viktor Frankl – a Nazi prison camp survivor who’s wife, mother and father were all murdered in the Nazi camps.

At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to our higher-power, to ourselves, to our families and to society, to take ownership for our emotional and physical health, our financial success, our spirituality and our philanthropic endeavors. We own it all and that’s the good news. It’s not up to the media or the government or corporate America; it’s up to us as individuals to take ownership of it all and create our own success in life.

Happy New Year – Now go make it a great one!


http://www.goal-link.com/