I just got back from our end of season celebration for 3rd grade basketball. As the coach, I wanted to pass something of value on to the kids that they could take into next season and make applicable to life. I know, they're 8 and 9 year olds, so I tried not to make it too deep, but the sooner we start building the right mindset in our kids the better off they'll be. We struggled this season, with a team of kids that largely hadn't played much, if any, basketball in the past. Most of the other teams started the season way ahead of us in that sense. But the kids all worked hard and improved a ton, which was fun to see.
When I was passing out their season end awards, I made sure to point out the phrase I had added to their trophies. "Hard Work Beats Talent". I wanted to encourage them that, although there may be other players that might have more natural ability than them, if they were willing to put in the effort and work hard, they could do better than the kids that just rely on their talent to carry them. We see this in sports all the time. Kids in college who are super talented get arrogant or complacent, and instead of dominating in the professional world, they dive right off the cliff and are out of the league. Especially at that high of a level where everyone is working so hard to beat you, you can't just rely on talent.
If you rest on your talent alone and expect it to carry you, it never will. If you use the talent and abilities you have wisely, you can accomplish great things. It's something that's a truth not just in sports, but in business, as well as everything else in life. You can never be of the mindset that your natural abilities will carry you. You must have a learning and growth mentality - that you'll never know it all and that you can always be improving yourself. Not only that, if you are willing to put in that extra effort and have the right mindset, you'll not only be able to reach great heights, but you'll even be able to surpass those that might have an "advantage" over you at first glance. Just look at the big businesses that get lazy with their place in the market, only to later find themselves struggling to stay on top with the introduction of a new competitor that has the drive and the hustle to get it done. They may not have the smartest group of leaders, they may not have the capital, but what they do to dig deep and just make it happen makes up for any of those disadvantages. Again, many examples can be found in sports as well, where the obviously dominant team is beaten by the underdogs who have less talent, but more heart and work harder in preparation and during the game.
Hustle and hard work will always beat straight talent. Use your talents wisely. Develop them and don't take them for granted. Work just as hard even if you do have the natural abilities. If you don't, know that just going all-out and working as hard as you can will beat out the majority, since most won't give it that kind of effort. You can control how hard you work, which means you have the ability to achieve anything you desire if you're willing to go and get it.
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
When the Day Just Doesn't Go as Planned
Sometimes days just don't go our way. We start out with a plan, with the whole day outlined of what we're going to do and when, and all the things we're going to get done. It's of course possible to set yourself up for success and have a day go just as planned. But the question is, what do you do when that doesn't happen? How do you respond when something unexpected happens, or when your day gets completely thrown off by something you didn't see coming? What do you do when your entire calendar for the day blows up and you have to completely change your day?
The common reaction is to get frustrated, throw up your hands and count the day as lost; to think about all the things you needed to get done but weren't able to because of whatever came up and stole that time. It's also easy to start pointing fingers. However, none of these reactions are going to do anything to improve your results or change the situation. In fact, all it does is increase your stress and frustration. So, since we know it will happen, what can we do to be prepared for it when it does, and how should be respond?
The common reaction is to get frustrated, throw up your hands and count the day as lost; to think about all the things you needed to get done but weren't able to because of whatever came up and stole that time. It's also easy to start pointing fingers. However, none of these reactions are going to do anything to improve your results or change the situation. In fact, all it does is increase your stress and frustration. So, since we know it will happen, what can we do to be prepared for it when it does, and how should be respond?
- Don't Overschedule Your Day - I'm certainly not advocating giving less than your best effort, but one of the ways to minimize the possibility, or at least the impact, of something not going exactly as planned is to have some flexibility in your day. If every single minute is planned out and needs to be 100% productive on specifically set tasks, that leaves no room for the dynamics of life and business. Leave some margin in your day to deal with any necessary changes in focus or direction.
- When Something Does Interrupt or Change Your Day, Deal With It - Ignoring it won't make it go away. If you need to change your focus for a minute, or your schedule changed because of something out of your control (or even something in your control), accept it and deal with it.
- Don't Stress - Stressing out about it won't help make the situation better. It will only make you more frustrated and less effective in getting the rest of your day finished out on the right track.
- Learn From It - What could you do in the future to avoid a similar situation from happening? Could you be better prepared or pay more attention to detail to avoid a mistake that cost you time? Could you reprioritize your schedule to make more sense with the natural flow of your day? Figure out what changes or adjustments you can make to lower the chances of a similar interruption in the future.
Don't Plan, Just Go
Planning, preparing and setting a course is a great thing to do. It's important to have a clear idea of what it is you're after and what you're trying to accomplish. After all, how can you have intentional action towards achieving something if you don't even know what that is? You also need to know what steps it will take to get there. Having a plan is important and definitely has it's place as a necessity to achievement.
However, it's easy to get caught up in the planning, to the point where we get so focused on the plan that we fail to leave room for anything outside of that plan. It's not that you don't want to be committed to the plan and follow it through. What you have to remember though is that life and business are dynamic. They're always changing. There is no way to completely plan out your course ahead of time. You want to stay on course as best you can, but you have to be willing to adjust your sails along the way. Technology, systems, laws, economies - everything is changing constantly. If you can't adapt and change along with it, if you're too set in your predetermined path and step-by-step plan, you'll just get frustrated and you'll never make the progress you could have otherwise. Those that plan but can adjust are those that will be most successful.
Life itself is dynamic. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. Again, you need to be able to flex with the changes and keep moving forward. Not only do life circumstances change, but we change as we stretch and grow. The thing we set out to do 5 years ago that was all we could think about doing may not end up being what we ultimately want to do those 5 years later. If we're unwilling to divert from the plan, we'll be stuck continuing to move forward at something we no longer have our passion in, simply because it was "part of the plan".
It's also easy to get so stuck in planning mode that you fail to take any action. A plan is no good if you never take the first step! If you're going to wait until the plan is perfect, and every little detail is worked out, you'll never move forward. Remember, everything is going to change along the way, so no matter how perfectly you plan out the entire process, it will never turn out exactly the way you planned it anyway.
Plan, prepare, set out a roadmap and detailed steps to get there. But don't get so caught up in getting down every single detail before you move forward, and don't be so rigid that you can't adjust when something doesn't go exactly as planned. You can plan well, but you can only plan so much. Forever planning without taking action will get you nowhere, and having no flexibility in the plan will mean disappointment and an inability to adapt to the inevitable changes, whether those changes are something out in the world or something within yourself.
However, it's easy to get caught up in the planning, to the point where we get so focused on the plan that we fail to leave room for anything outside of that plan. It's not that you don't want to be committed to the plan and follow it through. What you have to remember though is that life and business are dynamic. They're always changing. There is no way to completely plan out your course ahead of time. You want to stay on course as best you can, but you have to be willing to adjust your sails along the way. Technology, systems, laws, economies - everything is changing constantly. If you can't adapt and change along with it, if you're too set in your predetermined path and step-by-step plan, you'll just get frustrated and you'll never make the progress you could have otherwise. Those that plan but can adjust are those that will be most successful.
Life itself is dynamic. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. Again, you need to be able to flex with the changes and keep moving forward. Not only do life circumstances change, but we change as we stretch and grow. The thing we set out to do 5 years ago that was all we could think about doing may not end up being what we ultimately want to do those 5 years later. If we're unwilling to divert from the plan, we'll be stuck continuing to move forward at something we no longer have our passion in, simply because it was "part of the plan".
It's also easy to get so stuck in planning mode that you fail to take any action. A plan is no good if you never take the first step! If you're going to wait until the plan is perfect, and every little detail is worked out, you'll never move forward. Remember, everything is going to change along the way, so no matter how perfectly you plan out the entire process, it will never turn out exactly the way you planned it anyway.
Plan, prepare, set out a roadmap and detailed steps to get there. But don't get so caught up in getting down every single detail before you move forward, and don't be so rigid that you can't adjust when something doesn't go exactly as planned. You can plan well, but you can only plan so much. Forever planning without taking action will get you nowhere, and having no flexibility in the plan will mean disappointment and an inability to adapt to the inevitable changes, whether those changes are something out in the world or something within yourself.
Taking Time to Reflect
I just spent part of this morning doing something that would, to most people, seem like a waste of time. I went for a walk in the woods. With so many other things to do, with such a long list of things to get done, why would I take the time to do this? The answer is right in the question. It's because of all the things I need to do that I take the time to step back every once in a while, get in a quiet and peaceful place, and spend some time in thought and reflection.
Life is extremely busy. We're all pulled in so many different directions, with so many things we need to get done, that it's easy to get lost in the grind and forget what we're working towards. It's easy to just keep your head down trying to keep up with all the demands of your business and your family. While taking an hour or so out of your crazy schedule may seem counterproductive, let me tell you why it's an extremely important ritual you need to incorporate into your calendar on a regular basis, starting today.
Here are some tips to make the most of your time of reflection.
Life is extremely busy. We're all pulled in so many different directions, with so many things we need to get done, that it's easy to get lost in the grind and forget what we're working towards. It's easy to just keep your head down trying to keep up with all the demands of your business and your family. While taking an hour or so out of your crazy schedule may seem counterproductive, let me tell you why it's an extremely important ritual you need to incorporate into your calendar on a regular basis, starting today.
- Time to breathe - As I said, life is crazy busy. Stepping back from the chaos is a necessity to clear your mind and just be able to breathe and not be trying to accomplish or think about a million things at once.
- Reflection - When you're alone with your own thoughts, without the distractions of all the things you need to do, you can gain a lot of perspective on where you are in your life, and where you'd like to be headed. Being so busy and always having so many things to think about means we don't really ever have time to look at what it is we're really trying to accomplish and what we're spending our time and energy on. Time to reflect just doesn't happen unless we intentionally create the time and space to do it. Too often we get so caught up in trying to keep up that we don't even pay attention to if what we're doing is even what we want to be doing or if it's getting us any closer to our objectives. When is the last time you asked yourself if what you're doing day to do is what you really want to be doing, or if what you're spending your time on is helping you reach the goals you've set out to achieve? If you don't take time to reflect on this, you can waste years of your life only to finally look back and realize you spent all that time on something you either didn't enjoy or that didn't help you in your quest to reach your goals and pursue your passions.
- Reconnect with your "why" - This is a perfect time to remind yourself and think on what your "why" is. Remember why you're working so hard, what it is you're trying to accomplish. When things are busy we can lose touch with what that is for us as it gets drowned out by the noise of our daily lives. Get away from the day-to-day "what" you do and re-focus on why it is you're doing it. Go even deeper if you can. Is your currently defined "why" still your why, or have you or your business changed to the point where you need to redefine it? Do you even have a "why"? Have you ever even thought about it? These are the tough questions that you need to ask yourself to challenge or confirm if you're on the right path.
- Adjust your path - It may not be during the first time you do this, but if you keep the ritual, you will discover things about yourself, gain perspectives you didn't think about before, and think of new ideas or paths for your business or personal life. Don't just have these moments and forget about them! If it's something you can make an adjustment on now, do it today. If it requires some additional preparation or planning, set some tasks up and put things in motion right away to head in that new direction. I always have a journal with me so I can log my thoughts as soon as they enter my mind.
Here are some tips to make the most of your time of reflection.
- Plan in advance - Decide where you will go, what setting you will be in, and some of the things you want to think on during your time. This isn't set in stone. For goodness sakes don't bring a "to do" list with you! However, having a general idea of what you want to be thinking on will help direct your thoughts towards those things. That said, sometimes it's good just to go, clear your mind of the clutter, and see where your thoughts go. It's also good to be open to spontaneity and just finding a place nearby, especially if you travel a lot.
- Find a quiet place that speaks to you - What speaks to you and what helps you think deeper and more clearly? For me it's usually going for a walk in a wooded area or spending time somewhere in nature, but it could be anywhere you are comfortable, feel inspired and won't be distracted.
- Eliminate all distractions - Turn off your cell phone, get away from the conversations around you and get off by yourself. You need to get away from all of these things to give yourself time to get into your own head and listen to your own thoughts. Your phone ringing or dinging at you will completely disrupt your flow of thought and won't give you the opportunity to get truly into deep thinking.
- Let things go - Your time won't be well spent and you won't get anything out of it if you're just thinking about the work you "should" be doing instead. Let those things completely go. They can wait for an hour.
Leverage Your Time
Deciding what to do with your time is only half of the battle. You must also figure out and clearly decide what not to do. We all have so many different ways we could be spending our time. We're all asked to help with this, to volunteer for that, or to pitch in here, on top of our business and family obligations. Worse, if you're a typical entrepreneur, often times it's hard to let go of business responsibilities for fear of giving up control. The problem is, we can only do so much. There's only so much time in the day and only so much energy we can give. You can't possibly get it all done or fulfill all of your commitments if you say "yes" every time someone asks you to do something, or if you insist on being involved in every aspect of your business and do it all yourself. Even worse is if you try to do it all in your business and your personal life. If you do, your life and your business will always be limited to that which you can accomplish with your own single effort. You need to be able to leverage your time to create maximum results.
Here are a few tips to take some of this stress off your back and free up your time.
Here are a few tips to take some of this stress off your back and free up your time.
- Decide what tasks you really should be doing - What is it that you excel at? What are the main tasks and activities in your business that honestly only you can do? These are the things that you really can't hand off and are the heartbeat of your business. They're likely also the things you enjoy the most and that give you the most energy when you're doing them. Why would you do anything besides these things anyway?
- Decide what tasks you should not be doing - What can you hire out or delegate? What are you not as good at that you can easily hand off to someone that will do a better job. Even if you are good at it, if it's not essential that you personally be the one to do it, and if you can hire someone else that can do it well, for a reasonable cost, and it will free up your time, than do it.
- Let it go - Don't just decide what you shouldn't be doing. Decide, hand it off, and let it go. The worst thing you can do is hand something off and then micromanage it. Not only is this counterproductive (how can you be saving time by handing something off if you're just going to babysit it anyway?), but you'll frustrate yourself and the person who you handed it off to. Trust them to do it and let it go.
- Hire the right people - This helps immensely with the trust side of handing things off. If you hire good, competent people, you'll be more likely to give them greater responsibility and trust them to do it. It will be a lot easier to let it go if you know it's in good hands. If you try to be cheap and just hire anybody for as little as possible, you'll get what you pay for and spend more time training or re-doing or checking in on what they've been doing for you. You need to be able to let them take it off your plate completely and have them get it done right and effectively or it's not accomplishing what you've set out to do.
- Keep trying, reviewing and adjusting - It takes time to figure out exactly what you should and shouldn't be doing, and who you should be handing the other things off to. Start with the obvious, and constantly be analyzing and looking back to see if you should take a task back (but not because you're being a control freak), hand an additional task off or delegate it to someone else. They point is to start recognizing you can't and shouldn't be doing everything, and to start surrounding yourself with the right team to help maximize your time.
The Real Definition of Sales
We've all heard it said of someone before, whether they were talking about themselves or someone they know. "He could sell ice to an eskimo!", suggesting they are the ultimate salesperson. That no matter the obstacles, they can make the sale. On the surface this sounds great, right? In your organization, you need top performers. You need those that can close the deal. Closing the deal is what brings in the revenue. But let's step back and take a look at what sales really is all about.
Sales is the process of leading a buyer to making a buying decision that is for their benefit.
Sales is first and foremost a process, not an event. But beyond that, it is about what's good for the customer, not what's good for the salesperson or the company. The second part of that definition of sales is the last three words - "for their benefit". Take a look at that common phrase we started with. If you're selling ice to an eskimo, or in other words getting someone to buy something they have no use for, then you're not a salesperson - you're a con artist. Sales is not about manipulation or convincing someone to buy something they don't want or need. It's about identifying the person's or organization's needs, helping them to also see that need, and leading them to a decision that will help them fulfill that need. It's about creating solutions for the customer, not about notching another order at someone else's expense.
Sure, you can probably get away with the former version of "sales" for a while. You might even do very well. You may be taking that approach right now and think I'm full of it. But eventually your funnel of business will run dry, because now you're looking for the next "victim" as you leave a trail of destruction behind you, instead of building something long-term by providing a service that people will remember, repeat and refer. The short cut version is short lived. The longer, building brick-by-brick version is the sustainable path. People appreciate and remember someone who helps them through the entire sales process and isn't just looking for a signature on the order form.
Invest in yourself to increase your knowledge and your ability to negotiate and persuade others to make a decision that is the right choice for them. Sales is a skill, and you can learn and improve upon it daily. Take the longer - but also longer-term - path of providing value and being a salesperson of integrity. You won't regret it, and you will reap huge rewards in not only your business, but in the relationships you create along the way.
--If you haven't read Zig Ziglar's "Secrets of Closing the Sale", it's a must ready for anyone in sales of any kind and has a ton of examples and techniques for honing your skills as a salesperson with this same perspective of serving first, identifying needs and leading to a decision that's good for the buyer. See the "Success Resources" tab and pick up a copy today. $10 is nothing to invest with all the wealth of knowledge in that book--
Sales is the process of leading a buyer to making a buying decision that is for their benefit.
Sales is first and foremost a process, not an event. But beyond that, it is about what's good for the customer, not what's good for the salesperson or the company. The second part of that definition of sales is the last three words - "for their benefit". Take a look at that common phrase we started with. If you're selling ice to an eskimo, or in other words getting someone to buy something they have no use for, then you're not a salesperson - you're a con artist. Sales is not about manipulation or convincing someone to buy something they don't want or need. It's about identifying the person's or organization's needs, helping them to also see that need, and leading them to a decision that will help them fulfill that need. It's about creating solutions for the customer, not about notching another order at someone else's expense.
Sure, you can probably get away with the former version of "sales" for a while. You might even do very well. You may be taking that approach right now and think I'm full of it. But eventually your funnel of business will run dry, because now you're looking for the next "victim" as you leave a trail of destruction behind you, instead of building something long-term by providing a service that people will remember, repeat and refer. The short cut version is short lived. The longer, building brick-by-brick version is the sustainable path. People appreciate and remember someone who helps them through the entire sales process and isn't just looking for a signature on the order form.
Invest in yourself to increase your knowledge and your ability to negotiate and persuade others to make a decision that is the right choice for them. Sales is a skill, and you can learn and improve upon it daily. Take the longer - but also longer-term - path of providing value and being a salesperson of integrity. You won't regret it, and you will reap huge rewards in not only your business, but in the relationships you create along the way.
--If you haven't read Zig Ziglar's "Secrets of Closing the Sale", it's a must ready for anyone in sales of any kind and has a ton of examples and techniques for honing your skills as a salesperson with this same perspective of serving first, identifying needs and leading to a decision that's good for the buyer. See the "Success Resources" tab and pick up a copy today. $10 is nothing to invest with all the wealth of knowledge in that book--
What You Deserve vs What You Need
Wrapping up this series on mind shifts is a thought that comes from a comment Jim Rohn made in his "Challenge to Succeed" seminar. That comment is that life is not designed to give you what you need, it's designed to give you what you deserve. This is an extremely powerful statement. Falling into the opposite mindset of this is asking for disaster!
We live in a society where people are constantly talking and complaining that their needs are not being met, and that they don't have enough to live on. The "answer" is often in the form of increased social programs, increased minimum wage and all these other programs to try to make sure everyone has what they need. While I'm not saying there aren't some real issues that we need to address, there is one big philosophical error surrounding most of the arguments and the actions that are typically taken to resolve this. Life does not give you what you need; it's designed to give you what you deserve for the value you create. If you are only providing the minimum amount of value that you can, whether that's because you don't know how to provide more or because you just choose not to, you will be and should be compensated the minimum amount regardless of whether it's a sustainable amount to live on. The value you create to the marketplace does not have anything to do with the value you need to survive! Why would the market reward you more for providing less, simply because the "less" is not enough to meet what you feel are your "needs"? The marketplace rewards when value is provided, and according to the amount of value they feel was provided.
So if the market determines how much to compensate you based on the value you provide, what does that mean for you? Here's the positive side of the equation, and it gets exciting when you start making this shift in your philosophy. If life gives you what you deserve, there's a simple solution. Deserve more. How do you do that? By becoming more valuable and contributing more. Why is it that some people are making minimum wage at a fast food restaurant, while others are making millions working as CEOs of huge corporations? What about the customer service representative versus the surgeon? Is it because society is unfair? No! It's because they're delivering more value to deserve that difference in compensations. The value you create will be rewarded, and the market will tell you when you're providing something they see as valuable by increasing what you get. You want to increase the amount of what you get for the exchange for your time? Seek to become more valuable first and it will come.
You get to choose how much value you create! We don't need a $15/hour national minimum wage. Do you know why? As Rohn would say, "it's already on the ladder." You can already make that much! Nobody is stopping you from doing that. The key is you need to first figure out how to create enough value to deserve it. We don't need legislation to tell us that, and you can't legislate value creation. If you're goal is to stay at the bottom or your entire life, then maybe we do need an increase in minimum wage. But what kind of a life is that? Become more valuable and there are no limits. Forget $15 per hour. If you so choose, you can provide enough value to make $1000 per hour. Or more! That's the amazing thing about the time we live in and the opportunities before us. The only limits we have are those that we place on ourselves.
We as a society are stuck in this rut of thinking we should only provide as much value as we are paid for. I would agree with Jim Rohn and would argue that you should go out of your way to provide more value than you are paid for. Don't wait until you're compensated for the extra value; create the extra value first. Doing so will not only help you stand out as an exceptional employee or businessperson, but it will also increase your own skills and abilities, making you even more valuable. Lead with value, and provide it with the right intentions, and the rewards will follow.
We're all compensated for the amount of value we bring to the marketplace. Learn more skills, gain more knowledge, and you will become more valuable. As you do so and you provide that value, you will deserve more in exchange. If you choose not to, your value and therefore what you get in exchange will continue to be less than what it could. It's up to you to decide to increase your value, and you'll deserve the increased exchange you get for doing so. Don't give away your power by falling into a victim mindset. Better yourself, figure out where you can create value, and go out and increase the amount you deserve out of life. We're so fortunate to be in a position to be able to do that and you have literally no ceiling as to what you can do and what life can give you. All you have to do is go out there, increase your value, and make it happen for yourself.
We live in a society where people are constantly talking and complaining that their needs are not being met, and that they don't have enough to live on. The "answer" is often in the form of increased social programs, increased minimum wage and all these other programs to try to make sure everyone has what they need. While I'm not saying there aren't some real issues that we need to address, there is one big philosophical error surrounding most of the arguments and the actions that are typically taken to resolve this. Life does not give you what you need; it's designed to give you what you deserve for the value you create. If you are only providing the minimum amount of value that you can, whether that's because you don't know how to provide more or because you just choose not to, you will be and should be compensated the minimum amount regardless of whether it's a sustainable amount to live on. The value you create to the marketplace does not have anything to do with the value you need to survive! Why would the market reward you more for providing less, simply because the "less" is not enough to meet what you feel are your "needs"? The marketplace rewards when value is provided, and according to the amount of value they feel was provided.
So if the market determines how much to compensate you based on the value you provide, what does that mean for you? Here's the positive side of the equation, and it gets exciting when you start making this shift in your philosophy. If life gives you what you deserve, there's a simple solution. Deserve more. How do you do that? By becoming more valuable and contributing more. Why is it that some people are making minimum wage at a fast food restaurant, while others are making millions working as CEOs of huge corporations? What about the customer service representative versus the surgeon? Is it because society is unfair? No! It's because they're delivering more value to deserve that difference in compensations. The value you create will be rewarded, and the market will tell you when you're providing something they see as valuable by increasing what you get. You want to increase the amount of what you get for the exchange for your time? Seek to become more valuable first and it will come.
You get to choose how much value you create! We don't need a $15/hour national minimum wage. Do you know why? As Rohn would say, "it's already on the ladder." You can already make that much! Nobody is stopping you from doing that. The key is you need to first figure out how to create enough value to deserve it. We don't need legislation to tell us that, and you can't legislate value creation. If you're goal is to stay at the bottom or your entire life, then maybe we do need an increase in minimum wage. But what kind of a life is that? Become more valuable and there are no limits. Forget $15 per hour. If you so choose, you can provide enough value to make $1000 per hour. Or more! That's the amazing thing about the time we live in and the opportunities before us. The only limits we have are those that we place on ourselves.
We as a society are stuck in this rut of thinking we should only provide as much value as we are paid for. I would agree with Jim Rohn and would argue that you should go out of your way to provide more value than you are paid for. Don't wait until you're compensated for the extra value; create the extra value first. Doing so will not only help you stand out as an exceptional employee or businessperson, but it will also increase your own skills and abilities, making you even more valuable. Lead with value, and provide it with the right intentions, and the rewards will follow.
We're all compensated for the amount of value we bring to the marketplace. Learn more skills, gain more knowledge, and you will become more valuable. As you do so and you provide that value, you will deserve more in exchange. If you choose not to, your value and therefore what you get in exchange will continue to be less than what it could. It's up to you to decide to increase your value, and you'll deserve the increased exchange you get for doing so. Don't give away your power by falling into a victim mindset. Better yourself, figure out where you can create value, and go out and increase the amount you deserve out of life. We're so fortunate to be in a position to be able to do that and you have literally no ceiling as to what you can do and what life can give you. All you have to do is go out there, increase your value, and make it happen for yourself.
Abundance
Abundance mindset. This is another critical mind shift you need to make that will significantly increase your results, because it completely changes your perspective, as well as your interactions and attitude when dealing with people.
Let's start with looking at the opposite of abundance - scarcity. Scarcity says "there's not enough to go around". It implies that, for you to get something, someone else has to give something up, or at the very least that it's taking from a pool of limited supply that won't leave as much for someone else. It says someone has to be the loser and someone has to be the winner; that someone else has to miss out. You see what the problem is with this mindset? Especially if you're working from an ethical standpoint, if you really believe that this is true, then you're going to have a very hard time convincing yourself to get a win on your end if you believe someone else, even if it's not someone directly involved at the moment, has to be on the losing end of it. How can you negotiate a win for you when you feel like someone else is getting a less than desirable result on their end?
On the other hand, abundance says "there's more than enough to go around for everyone to be able to benefit". This mindset believes you can always create win-win-win solutions; that there doesn't have to be a loser. This means negotiating deal doesn't have to mean you getting what you want and the other person getting the raw end of the deal. It means there's always a solution that will result in both sides getting what they want, if you take the time to figure out that solution. Sure there will be some give and take on both sides, some negotiation, but that doesn't mean one side or the other loses. That's just part of making a deal. An expert negotiator will find a way to make everyone happy, and if they're really good the other side wont eve know it's a win-win. All they'll know is that they got what they wanted, even though it may be exactly what the other person wanted as well. In your thinking on negotiation, shift from thinking about being on opposite sides of the table, fighting against each other for different outcomes, to being on the same side of the table, working together to find a solution that works for everyone.
Scarcity is a fear mentality. Often those that are of a scarcity mindset are afraid to lose what they have. They're afraid that if they share their resources, they'll lose out, so they hoard their money and their knowledge and try to keep it from other people, thinking that keeping that to themselves will prevent others from gaining that expertise. They think this gives them an "edge", because they have something someone else does not. Here's the problem. First, pretty much anything you want to find out these days is free access to anyone. If someone wants to know something or find a resource, all they need to do is "google it" and there are literally thousands upon thousands of resources available to learn whatever it is you want to learn. You're not hiding anything from anyone or keeping anything to yourself; it's already out there! Second, how in the world to you think you're going to achieve any results when you're trying to hide what you know or are trying to do under a rock? Having a scarcity mindset and being afraid of someone else doing what you're going to do means you'll always be afraid to talk about it, and how can you get the word out to the world about your business or your goals if you don't tell people about it? Even better, how can you expect to have healthy business relationships (let alone find anyone to work with you in the first place) if you're not willing to openly share and work together. A lot of times a scarcity mindset is also rooted in a self-esteem issue. They're afraid that if someone else knows, they will be edged out because they're not up for the competition or don't believe they can stand up in a crowd. They're not confident in their own abilities, so the answer is to make sure no one else has the opportunity. Here's the real answer to that - GET BETTER. If you're not improving yourself, your declining, especially in today's rapidly changing world. If you're putting in the work to improve yourself and always growing in your knowledge and abilities, you will always have opportunity. If you're lazy and stop learning...well, that's another story.
Here's another example of an abundance mindset. I am involved with a group of real estate investors that meets on a regular basis to discuss everything from the current market to investment strategy to marketing to specific deal or business issues. Here's the thing - we all invest in the same market. We're competitors, yet we're collaborating together to learn from each other and become better at our craft. It goes beyond that even. We all genuinely want each and every person in that group to succeed. How can competitors share what they're doing in their business, and feel free to give honest feedback to another investor? Someone that very well could come across the same potential deal as they do? Abundance mindset. Not only that, but it actually provides opportunity to work together, whether it's just talking through an idea to get a deal together, or fully partnering to take something down that would be too much or too difficult for one of us. Without the abundance mindset and openness, those opportunities would be lost. Sure we push each other and there is a level of competitiveness, but it's far from the cutthroat "it me or you" scarcity mindset.
Zig Ziglar said it best when he said "You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want." This is exactly what the abundance mindset is all about. Helping other people as a priority, doing what you can to share your knowledge and recourse to help them succeed, and ultimately you will reap the benefits of success on your end as well.
Check your mindset. Be someone of abundance. Believe there is a way to work together to create solutions. Don't hide your resources or your knowledge. Share it with others who need it and I promise you'll see the rewards.
Let's start with looking at the opposite of abundance - scarcity. Scarcity says "there's not enough to go around". It implies that, for you to get something, someone else has to give something up, or at the very least that it's taking from a pool of limited supply that won't leave as much for someone else. It says someone has to be the loser and someone has to be the winner; that someone else has to miss out. You see what the problem is with this mindset? Especially if you're working from an ethical standpoint, if you really believe that this is true, then you're going to have a very hard time convincing yourself to get a win on your end if you believe someone else, even if it's not someone directly involved at the moment, has to be on the losing end of it. How can you negotiate a win for you when you feel like someone else is getting a less than desirable result on their end?
On the other hand, abundance says "there's more than enough to go around for everyone to be able to benefit". This mindset believes you can always create win-win-win solutions; that there doesn't have to be a loser. This means negotiating deal doesn't have to mean you getting what you want and the other person getting the raw end of the deal. It means there's always a solution that will result in both sides getting what they want, if you take the time to figure out that solution. Sure there will be some give and take on both sides, some negotiation, but that doesn't mean one side or the other loses. That's just part of making a deal. An expert negotiator will find a way to make everyone happy, and if they're really good the other side wont eve know it's a win-win. All they'll know is that they got what they wanted, even though it may be exactly what the other person wanted as well. In your thinking on negotiation, shift from thinking about being on opposite sides of the table, fighting against each other for different outcomes, to being on the same side of the table, working together to find a solution that works for everyone.
Scarcity is a fear mentality. Often those that are of a scarcity mindset are afraid to lose what they have. They're afraid that if they share their resources, they'll lose out, so they hoard their money and their knowledge and try to keep it from other people, thinking that keeping that to themselves will prevent others from gaining that expertise. They think this gives them an "edge", because they have something someone else does not. Here's the problem. First, pretty much anything you want to find out these days is free access to anyone. If someone wants to know something or find a resource, all they need to do is "google it" and there are literally thousands upon thousands of resources available to learn whatever it is you want to learn. You're not hiding anything from anyone or keeping anything to yourself; it's already out there! Second, how in the world to you think you're going to achieve any results when you're trying to hide what you know or are trying to do under a rock? Having a scarcity mindset and being afraid of someone else doing what you're going to do means you'll always be afraid to talk about it, and how can you get the word out to the world about your business or your goals if you don't tell people about it? Even better, how can you expect to have healthy business relationships (let alone find anyone to work with you in the first place) if you're not willing to openly share and work together. A lot of times a scarcity mindset is also rooted in a self-esteem issue. They're afraid that if someone else knows, they will be edged out because they're not up for the competition or don't believe they can stand up in a crowd. They're not confident in their own abilities, so the answer is to make sure no one else has the opportunity. Here's the real answer to that - GET BETTER. If you're not improving yourself, your declining, especially in today's rapidly changing world. If you're putting in the work to improve yourself and always growing in your knowledge and abilities, you will always have opportunity. If you're lazy and stop learning...well, that's another story.
Here's another example of an abundance mindset. I am involved with a group of real estate investors that meets on a regular basis to discuss everything from the current market to investment strategy to marketing to specific deal or business issues. Here's the thing - we all invest in the same market. We're competitors, yet we're collaborating together to learn from each other and become better at our craft. It goes beyond that even. We all genuinely want each and every person in that group to succeed. How can competitors share what they're doing in their business, and feel free to give honest feedback to another investor? Someone that very well could come across the same potential deal as they do? Abundance mindset. Not only that, but it actually provides opportunity to work together, whether it's just talking through an idea to get a deal together, or fully partnering to take something down that would be too much or too difficult for one of us. Without the abundance mindset and openness, those opportunities would be lost. Sure we push each other and there is a level of competitiveness, but it's far from the cutthroat "it me or you" scarcity mindset.
Zig Ziglar said it best when he said "You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want." This is exactly what the abundance mindset is all about. Helping other people as a priority, doing what you can to share your knowledge and recourse to help them succeed, and ultimately you will reap the benefits of success on your end as well.
Check your mindset. Be someone of abundance. Believe there is a way to work together to create solutions. Don't hide your resources or your knowledge. Share it with others who need it and I promise you'll see the rewards.
Failure
Failure. The word brings negative thoughts and feelings to the majority of those who think on it. After all, who wants to fail at something? Who wants to try, to give their effort and their heart, and not succeed? Who wants to look like they don't know what they're doing or take a hit to their self esteem? But, if you're going to achieve anything significant, you need to get past these feelings and shift how you feel about failure.
One of my mentors has a great philosophy he shares of "success upon delivery", meaning that your definition of success should not be rooted in whether or not someone accepts your proposal. The outcome is not a factor in whether you have succeeded or not. The fact that you delivered your message, you did what you showed up to do, is what matters. Why this is so important, especially in a sales or business environment, is because it takes the power away from the person you are making the proposition to and puts it fully in your hands. You can do your best, learn negotiation and sales skills and so forth, but the other person is still ultimately in control of their decision, not you. If success or failure depends on their acceptance or rejection, you're never really in control of whether you succeed or not. Not only that, but with this change in perspective, since winning is just delivering the message and asking the question, you succeed every time you do that. Think about how much of an impact that can make on your outlook and your attitude throughout the day. If all you get all day is "no", you still succeeded because you followed through on your end and you asked the question. If your definition of success is someone saying "yes", you'll be getting beaten down all day long and by the end of the day you'll be feeling completely drained instead of energized and positive.
Failure is also a learning experience. We figure out what doesn't work, and we can change our approach and be better next time. Without failure and the feedback we receive from it, we can't make those necessary adjustments to become better at our craft. Failure is a key component of becoming more successful and learning what to do, and not to do, in the future. The important part is that you need to take the time to reflect on the failure so you can take the lesson from it. Don't dwell on it. But do analyze what happened, figure out how to avoid it in the future, make the adjustment and move on.
Let's face it, if you're not failing at something, you're not trying very hard. You're also not doing anything that stretches your ability. Anything worthwhile is worth doing poorly at first, until you learn from experience; and you can't learn from experience unless you jump in and try it, knowing you'll probably mess up at some point! We're all human and we all make mistakes. You can't live life in fear of failing, or you'll never try anything new.
Challenge your thinking and your relationship with failure. Do you see it as a positive or a negative? If most of your thoughts and feelings are on the negative side, work at shifting to more positive ideas around the word. Remember the "success upon delivery" formula, and that half the battle is just getting out there and taking action. The more you try, the more you fail, and the more you ultimately will succeed. Get out there and fail a bunch, learn, adjust and move forward with confidence.
One of my mentors has a great philosophy he shares of "success upon delivery", meaning that your definition of success should not be rooted in whether or not someone accepts your proposal. The outcome is not a factor in whether you have succeeded or not. The fact that you delivered your message, you did what you showed up to do, is what matters. Why this is so important, especially in a sales or business environment, is because it takes the power away from the person you are making the proposition to and puts it fully in your hands. You can do your best, learn negotiation and sales skills and so forth, but the other person is still ultimately in control of their decision, not you. If success or failure depends on their acceptance or rejection, you're never really in control of whether you succeed or not. Not only that, but with this change in perspective, since winning is just delivering the message and asking the question, you succeed every time you do that. Think about how much of an impact that can make on your outlook and your attitude throughout the day. If all you get all day is "no", you still succeeded because you followed through on your end and you asked the question. If your definition of success is someone saying "yes", you'll be getting beaten down all day long and by the end of the day you'll be feeling completely drained instead of energized and positive.
Failure is also a learning experience. We figure out what doesn't work, and we can change our approach and be better next time. Without failure and the feedback we receive from it, we can't make those necessary adjustments to become better at our craft. Failure is a key component of becoming more successful and learning what to do, and not to do, in the future. The important part is that you need to take the time to reflect on the failure so you can take the lesson from it. Don't dwell on it. But do analyze what happened, figure out how to avoid it in the future, make the adjustment and move on.
Let's face it, if you're not failing at something, you're not trying very hard. You're also not doing anything that stretches your ability. Anything worthwhile is worth doing poorly at first, until you learn from experience; and you can't learn from experience unless you jump in and try it, knowing you'll probably mess up at some point! We're all human and we all make mistakes. You can't live life in fear of failing, or you'll never try anything new.
Challenge your thinking and your relationship with failure. Do you see it as a positive or a negative? If most of your thoughts and feelings are on the negative side, work at shifting to more positive ideas around the word. Remember the "success upon delivery" formula, and that half the battle is just getting out there and taking action. The more you try, the more you fail, and the more you ultimately will succeed. Get out there and fail a bunch, learn, adjust and move forward with confidence.
How One Word Can Make the Difference in Your Results
Ok back to the "mind shifts" series, and the second mind shift you need to make to increase your results exponentially. Like a lot of these, this one goes back to your wiring. What you believe is often rooted in how you were taught or brought up as a child, or the experiences you had along the way. It could also just be part of your personality. But regardless of why it's there, we need to examine these installed beliefs to make sure they are serving us and not holding us back. This one, for me personally, was huge.
Here's the mind shift we're going to look at today:
You can have anything in life that you want, and that you're willing to work hard and ethically for.
I want you to pay close attention to the "want" part of this philosophy. A lot of people get trapped with a similar, but very different philosophy, just by changing that one word from "want" to "need". Let's take a closer look at how this makes such a big a difference. Let's say you're building a business, and you need $100,000 in gross revenues to pay your business overhead and your minimum personal living expenses. This is just an example; use whatever number makes sense for your situation, business or demographic. Now, here's the key. If that's what you need, and your philosophy says you can have anything you need, you're already subconsciously deciding that's what you should make and no more than that. You don't need $200,000 gross revenue, and you certainly don't need $1 million gross revenue. You also don't need the freedom that could grant you, or the nicer home you could buy, or the extra vacation you could take. What you need is what it takes to survive and take care of your basic needs. What you want, if you're trying to grow and achieve bigger results and significance, is very different than that.
Take a close look at your own thinking behind this one piece of philosophy. Do you believe you should have what you want? Or are you wired to believe you should only have what you need? I'm telling you right now, if you believe you should only have what you need, and you're trying to accomplish anything large scale or grow your business or your resources, you'll constantly struggle because your beliefs are in conflict with your goals. Challenge your current beliefs on this and make sure they are serving you and your purpose.
Here's the mind shift we're going to look at today:
You can have anything in life that you want, and that you're willing to work hard and ethically for.
I want you to pay close attention to the "want" part of this philosophy. A lot of people get trapped with a similar, but very different philosophy, just by changing that one word from "want" to "need". Let's take a closer look at how this makes such a big a difference. Let's say you're building a business, and you need $100,000 in gross revenues to pay your business overhead and your minimum personal living expenses. This is just an example; use whatever number makes sense for your situation, business or demographic. Now, here's the key. If that's what you need, and your philosophy says you can have anything you need, you're already subconsciously deciding that's what you should make and no more than that. You don't need $200,000 gross revenue, and you certainly don't need $1 million gross revenue. You also don't need the freedom that could grant you, or the nicer home you could buy, or the extra vacation you could take. What you need is what it takes to survive and take care of your basic needs. What you want, if you're trying to grow and achieve bigger results and significance, is very different than that.
Take a close look at your own thinking behind this one piece of philosophy. Do you believe you should have what you want? Or are you wired to believe you should only have what you need? I'm telling you right now, if you believe you should only have what you need, and you're trying to accomplish anything large scale or grow your business or your resources, you'll constantly struggle because your beliefs are in conflict with your goals. Challenge your current beliefs on this and make sure they are serving you and your purpose.
New Year, Fresh Start
2016 is here and under way. While you can hit the proverbial "reset" button at any point in your life or during the year, this is typically the time of year most of us reflect on the past 12 months, and look forward to the next 12 and beyond. We plan, prepare, write out goals and on paper make our next 12 months the best we've had yet. And then life happens, we get distracted or other things come up, and we lose sight of what our plans were; lost until we look back at the end of the next year, only then to see we fell off the track half way through January. Here are a few tips to keep that from happening to you.
- Start With Clarity - Be completely clear about what you want to achieve this year (and beyond). Vague ideas will only confuse you and you'll let yourself get pulled in a million different directions. Know what you want, clearly define it, and make a plan as to how you'll get there. Only then can you get focused and get to work.
- Set Realistic Goals - What I'm not saying here is to set the bar low so you won't be disappointed. What I am saying is be realistic on what you can accomplish in a year. Absolutely you can make a ton of progress in a year. But you need to fully evaluate your current situation. What is your knowledge base and does it need to increase in certain areas? What are your available resources? What is your available time? What does your current job or business look like? If you currently work 60 hours a week making $40,000 for the year, you're probably not being realistic in setting a goal to be a millionaire by the end of the year. Your goals should stretch the limits of what you think is possible, but still be in that realm of what is likely, and more importantly what you think can be done. Remember, you're not motivated to work towards something if you don't actually think you'll achieve it. And as you achieve, the definition of what you think is possible will grow and expand as well, leading to bigger goals and possibilities.
- Give Yourself Realistic Daily and Weekly Tasks - Again, the key is realistic. We all have way too many items on our "to do" list, so simply acknowledge that and know they won't all get done. The key is to prioritize the tasks that are necessary to your job or business (outsource or hire out the easier tasks if at all possible), as well as the highest impact tasks. The rest can wait until later. Log your thoughts and tasks in an organized way so they're not clogging up your brain while you're trying to focus on your current tasks. Don't overbook your schedule or just try to cram them all in on your calendar. Just because they're all on your calendar doesn't mean you'll have the time to get them all done, and you'll be stressed out all the time trying to do so. Be realistic about how long each task will take, and book enough time. If it doesn't fit for today, or for this week, it needs to wait, and you have to be ok with that.
- Track Your Progress - Again, you're not going to be one of those who looks back in 12 months and wonders what happened. The way to avoid that is to continually be tracking your progress towards your goals. I review my goals every morning before I start my day. As I hit certain milestones or achieve certain tasks, I log it and it's impact on my larger goal. I personally use Goals On Track to track my progress, in addition to a couple apps on my IPhone to track some of my daily or weekly tasks I need to perform.
- Don't Give Up if You Fall Behind - Let's be honest. We're all super busy, and likely at some point you'll fall behind in at least one aspect of your goals (and you'll know that, because you're tracking and reviewing it on a regular basis, right?). Don't kick yourself and get down that you're not keeping up. Evaluate what could be causing it, adjust, and continue forward. Continually reviewing and adjusting is part of the game. Don't give up just because you're lagging behind. Also remember, if you're a business owner, likely you have some up and down trends, so lagging behind on an annual revenue goal, for instance, could just mean you need to really focus and produce during an upcoming busy period.
My Dozen "Must Read" Book List for 2016
Going into 2016, I'm picking a dozen books that are must reads for me this year. I thought I'd share my list in hopes there might be some that would be good reads for you as well, or at least to inspire you to make a list of your own. Reading is imperative if you want to learn and grow, and to become better at your craft, whatever that might be.
Here's my list:
Here's my list:
- "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason - A classic that I've read multiple times, but always a great, easy read as a refresher on the basics of building wealth.
- "What to Do When There's Too Much to Do" by Laura Stack - One of my focuses this year is getting more organized!
- "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss - It's been on my list for too long. Getting it done 1st quarter 2016.
- "Start With Why" by Simon Sinek - If the book is anything close to his TED talk this will be an amazing read.
- "Awaken the Giant Within" by Anthony Robbins - I've started this book a number of times and it's super interesting, but because of the detail and length I've fizzled out each time. Not this time.
- "The Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy - Another shorter and easier read, but with great concepts and insight.
- "Bringing up Boys" by Dr. James Dobson - I've got two of my own, so learning how to be a better dad is always a must!
- "Losing My Virginity" by Richard Branson - One of the most inspirational entrepreneurs of our time.
- "Trump: The Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump with Tony Schwartz - Another one I've been meaning to read. How can you not learn something from one of the greatest real estate entrepreneurs?
- "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin - With multiple businesses, it's important not to get stagnant and to stay focused on standing out by being unique and remarkable.
- "Brain Rules" by John Medina - I've heard awesome things about this book. Breaking down how our brains work. Learning more about how we're wired will not only show you where you can personally make changes for the better, but will also increase your ability to interact with and understand other people. Since we all work, live and do business with people, it's a "no-brainer".
- "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh - When one of the best companies to work for and one of the most successful online stores started by selling shoes, of all things, tells how he did it...you read it. Customers and employees are become more demanding about how a business is run, what their motivation is the work for or buy from them, and what impact they're making. All good things, and with the trend in that thought process, you want to be ahead of the game in running your business in a similar way.
Expectation
I'm going to spend some time with the next few topics covering 5 key mind shifts that you need to make to increase your success. Some of them will seem fairly basic at first glance, but I challenge you to really think and consider your personal thoughts and philosophy around each topic we cover. The small changes in the way we think often produce the largest changes in our results. Our philosophy about life is what determines most of outcomes. Many times if you're not making the progress you want to be, it's because there's an underlying conflict somewhere in your philosophy. Unless we take the time to analyze our thinking and challenge our current beliefs, we may never uncover those issues and it will be a constant struggle. We need to uncover those areas and see if there needs to be a change in philosophy that will propel you towards your goals. Lets' get started with the first mind shift we need to evaluate.
We don't get what we want. We get what we expect.
Let's explore this a bit.
Think about what you want to get out of life; what you want to accomplish. Think about the big things you've set out to do, especially the ones you keep aiming for but seem to consistently be falling short - maybe even way short. Think also about those you know that have dreams and goals, but for whatever reason aren't reaching them. I would strongly suggest that, if you really dig deep (and you may not really have to dig that deep at all), at the root of the problem is likely this one piece of philosophy. Here's why I say that. What we want, and what we expect, can be and often are two separate things. Plenty of people want to be a millionaire. In fact, if you asked 100 people on the street if they wanted to be a millionaire, if I were a betting man, I'd say your chances of all of them giving you a "yes" answer are pretty darn good. So, why aren't they? It's because, while they may want that, they don't expect it to happen to them.
Now of course there's more to it than that. Obviously there's the effort you need to make, the education and knowledge base you need to build, and so forth. You can't just expect something to happen and have it happen. That's called ignorance. The point is, if you don't expect something, it won't happen, regardless of the efforts. You can have all the knowledge, you can take all the steps that should be taking you where you're trying to go, but without this key piece of actually expecting the results, you will never get anywhere. You'll continue running in place, expending a ton of energy without any real results. You may make some small progress, but you'll never achieve your full potential. Everything you do starts with expectation and belief! It's the foundation of any endeavor, large or small. You simply cannot achieve something if you don't expect it to actually be fulfilled.
Think about it. You will not put in your full effort to something you don't believe will actually happen. Why would you? What's the point if you don't really think you'll get there? Really examine this in your own life. Spend some good, focused time just writing out what you want and seeing if you truly believe and expect that in your life. Dig deep. You may think you believe and expect what you're striving for to happen, but when you start really challenging yourself and looking closely at each of your goals, you may be surprised at what gets flushed out. Be honest with yourself. If you don't have the expectation or belief, it's ok! Telling yourself you do when you really don't will not help get you past it. You need to identify what you do and do not have expectation of so that you can make a deliberate adjustment to your mindset. If you ignore it, it won't change. But if you acknowledge it, you can make the choice to rewire your thinking to that of expectation and belief.
I was listening to a sermon recently, and the pastor made an observation on a passage that had never occurred to me before. In the story of the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth are old, and have not been able to have a child. They are in a state of waiting. An angel appears to Zechariah, and tells him he will have a child, even in their old age. Though at first he does not believe, we look further and, later in the story (Luke 1:24) it says he returned home from his service at the temple, and "soon afterward his wife became pregnant". This is not to be crass, it's simply an observation that once he believed, he was filled with expectation, and expectation, in turn, leads to action. Without the belief and the expectation of good things in your life, of achieving what you've set out to do, you will not take the action steps to make it happen.
I challenge you to really explore the expectation and belief in your life. Do you really expect the results you say you want? Or do you need to go to work on changing your philosophy, changing your wiring, so you do in fact expect those things and believe they can and will happen in your life. Only then can you move to effective action and massively increased results, and start seeing the things you want in your life come to be. Your only limits are those that are self-imposed in your own mind.
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." -Napoleon Hill
We don't get what we want. We get what we expect.
Let's explore this a bit.
Think about what you want to get out of life; what you want to accomplish. Think about the big things you've set out to do, especially the ones you keep aiming for but seem to consistently be falling short - maybe even way short. Think also about those you know that have dreams and goals, but for whatever reason aren't reaching them. I would strongly suggest that, if you really dig deep (and you may not really have to dig that deep at all), at the root of the problem is likely this one piece of philosophy. Here's why I say that. What we want, and what we expect, can be and often are two separate things. Plenty of people want to be a millionaire. In fact, if you asked 100 people on the street if they wanted to be a millionaire, if I were a betting man, I'd say your chances of all of them giving you a "yes" answer are pretty darn good. So, why aren't they? It's because, while they may want that, they don't expect it to happen to them.
Now of course there's more to it than that. Obviously there's the effort you need to make, the education and knowledge base you need to build, and so forth. You can't just expect something to happen and have it happen. That's called ignorance. The point is, if you don't expect something, it won't happen, regardless of the efforts. You can have all the knowledge, you can take all the steps that should be taking you where you're trying to go, but without this key piece of actually expecting the results, you will never get anywhere. You'll continue running in place, expending a ton of energy without any real results. You may make some small progress, but you'll never achieve your full potential. Everything you do starts with expectation and belief! It's the foundation of any endeavor, large or small. You simply cannot achieve something if you don't expect it to actually be fulfilled.
Think about it. You will not put in your full effort to something you don't believe will actually happen. Why would you? What's the point if you don't really think you'll get there? Really examine this in your own life. Spend some good, focused time just writing out what you want and seeing if you truly believe and expect that in your life. Dig deep. You may think you believe and expect what you're striving for to happen, but when you start really challenging yourself and looking closely at each of your goals, you may be surprised at what gets flushed out. Be honest with yourself. If you don't have the expectation or belief, it's ok! Telling yourself you do when you really don't will not help get you past it. You need to identify what you do and do not have expectation of so that you can make a deliberate adjustment to your mindset. If you ignore it, it won't change. But if you acknowledge it, you can make the choice to rewire your thinking to that of expectation and belief.
I was listening to a sermon recently, and the pastor made an observation on a passage that had never occurred to me before. In the story of the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth are old, and have not been able to have a child. They are in a state of waiting. An angel appears to Zechariah, and tells him he will have a child, even in their old age. Though at first he does not believe, we look further and, later in the story (Luke 1:24) it says he returned home from his service at the temple, and "soon afterward his wife became pregnant". This is not to be crass, it's simply an observation that once he believed, he was filled with expectation, and expectation, in turn, leads to action. Without the belief and the expectation of good things in your life, of achieving what you've set out to do, you will not take the action steps to make it happen.
I challenge you to really explore the expectation and belief in your life. Do you really expect the results you say you want? Or do you need to go to work on changing your philosophy, changing your wiring, so you do in fact expect those things and believe they can and will happen in your life. Only then can you move to effective action and massively increased results, and start seeing the things you want in your life come to be. Your only limits are those that are self-imposed in your own mind.
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." -Napoleon Hill
5 Things to Reflect on Going Into 2016
Believe it or not, 2016 is just a couple weeks away. If you're like me, you're shocked at how quickly this past year has gone by. Regardless, here it is, and as we head into the new year everyone, or at least everyone who has a sense of wanting to improve themselves and their performance this past year, is reflecting on the last 12 months and looking at what they can do to improve and do even better in 2016. Here are 5 areas that you need to include in your reflection.
In every area, I encourage you to do the following:
- Personal Development - What one area do you want to massively improve upon this year? Pick one and only one. This doesn't mean you can't read or study other topics, but picking one thing you're going to master this year will help you focus and create huge results in that area. What's the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life and business? Is it increasing productivity or organization? Is it your relationships? Is it negotiation? Leadership? Whatever will make the biggest impact, identify that and make that your main study for the new year. Commit to mastery.
- Health - Are you healthy? Did your quality of health increase or decrease this last year? What can you do in 2016 to do better in this area? If your body is not running to the best of it's ability, every other area of your life will not be as effective as it could be.
- Relationships - Are your relationships what they could be, or could they be better? Are your closest relationships deep, or are they all shallow and surface-level? Evaluate the relationships you have. Choose the ones you want to deepen, and identify any that are toxic or counterproductive and limit or eliminate them. You become who you spend time with. Make sure those you're spending time with are who you want to be like. Make sure those you love the most know that. Show them and tell them daily, and make them a priority.
- Contribution & Service - Are you making a positive impact on the community and world around you? Do you leave things better than they were, or do you leave a trail of negativity and destruction in your wake? Are you involved in anything bigger than yourself? Life without contribution and making a difference, with only living for yourself, is empty.
- Your Environment - This is everything you're surrounded with day to day. From your neighborhood to the car you drive, from the people you're with daily to the weather and climate where you live. Are these things what you want? Most people take a lot of these things as they come without even thinking about it. You know what? If you don't like the cold, and you live in a cold climate...MOVE. If you don't like the people you work with, figure out a way to get out, whether it's finding a new job or starting your own business. We all have the ability to change our environment. We're not stuck wherever we are right now. If it's not what you want, figure out a way to change it.
In every area, I encourage you to do the following:
- Identify what was good this year, and what needs to change. Be specific
- Come up with a structured plan of what you're going to do this year. This includes daily, weekly or monthly tasks. Pick the specific things you will do this year that will create the most results. Make sure you can measure your progress, and make sure you do so on a regular basis. Schedule check-in points up front.
- Find accountability - Find a friend or colleague that will you trust and can be honest with, and who will hold you accountable. Make it clear that it's ok to call you out when you're not performing or accomplishing what you said you would, and that you won't hold it against them when they do. And then let them.
Be a Rubber Ball - Bouncing Back After Setbacks
Setbacks and disappointments are guaranteed to happen. It's a part of life, especially if you're pushing yourself and striving for bigger accomplishments. It's inevitable. But it's not the fact that they happen that's important, it's what you do when those situations arise that matters. You can let it stop you in your tracks, or you can be like a rubber ball and bounce back. You need to have some "give", some flexibility, in order to be able to bounce back. Just like the rubber ball gives in when it hits the concrete and prepares itself for the launch back up. And that's exactly what can happen with the right mindset and proper redirection after a setback; you can launch yourself to even greater heights. Here are a few thoughts on bouncing back:
- Get the Lesson - What did you learn from the setback or disappointment? Debrief what went wrong, why and what you can do to avoid a similar mistake in the future. Don't dwell on it. Look back, analyze, adjust and move on.
- Seek Advise - Talk to people in your field or just other people you trust and who's opinion you respect. Ask them for their take on what happened and listen to their words of wisdom.
- Know You're Not Alone - Everyone faces setback. Sometimes just knowing you're not the only one going through it can help you push forward.
- Set Up a Game Plan - Come up with a plan of how you're going to move forward from here. Don't let the setback stop your movement. Come up with a plan to keep going and implement it right away.
Gaining by Eliminating
Ok, I'm taking a page from my mentor's book here, so credit given where it's due this is based on a coaching cd by Greg Pinneo that I recently listened to. S.I.S.E., or "Sh** I Should Eliminate" - what should we remove from our lives to be more effective, to move closer to our goals and grow to live our potential? To live a healthier, more fulfilling life? If you ask people that are very successful, especially those that seem to get more done in a day than seems possible, most of them will tell you that it's not just about what they do that is the key; it's more about what they don't do. Here's few to get you started on thinking about what you should eliminate in your own life. Some are a spin off the cd by Pinneo, and some are my own thoughts.
-Comment, let me know your thoughts and what you need to eliminate on twitter - www.twitter.com/invest4cashflow
- Distractions - We are so distracted in our culture today it's ridiculous. Between the ads we see and hear constantly and the constant "ding" of the 30 different alerts set on our phones, we are almost always distracted in some way. It's so bad we even have a phrase to describe it: Continuous Partial Attention. If you're not acutely aware of your own distractedness, it's very easy to get sucked in. It's all around us. When you're in a state of Continuous Partial Attention, you are never truly focused on the task at hand. You not only get less done, but you're never in the moment. You rob yourself of the full experience of so many great things in life if you're never fully present in anything you do.
- Vagueness - Who wants to live a life where at the end you, or anyone else who was around you, couldn't really say what it was you did? What if they couldn't say what you stood for, what you believed in, or what you set out to accomplish? A vague life is a life without direction. Be clear on who you are, what you stand for, what you will not tolerate in your life, and what you want to accomplish. Know what legacy you want to leave. If the picture of what you want is vague, the results will be as well.
- Negative People - These come in all types, from those who are just "takers" who will never give anything from their end, to those who make you feel less of yourself just from being around them, to those who just have an overall negative attitude, to those who try to shatter your dreams with their own limiting belief of possibility. Here's an easy tip - don't hang around these people. We become like those we hang around. No matter how mentally tough you think you are, if you spend your time around people like this, it will affect your own attitude. Not to mention the fact that many of these types of people are time suckers and will use your time without hesitation or apology - before you know it you've been on the phone with them for 45 minutes, haven't said more than two words on your end, and have just been thrown up on with all of their problems and their negative spin. You know it's true, because it's happened to you before.
- Shallow Conversation - No more "how's the weather?" talk. Let's talk deeper. Let's talk life, philosophy, goals and aspirations. Let's talk life experiences. When we talk deeper, we build deeper relationships, we challenge our own thoughts, and we become better people.
- Worry - Worry has no place in your life. Think about it - has worrying about anything, whatever the outcome, ever helped in a situation? Ever? Of course not. Worrying does nothing but cause stress and make you wonder about things that are either out of your control or will never happen. Worry is a mentally draining, time wasting activity that has absolutely zero chance of having a positive return. If you tend to worry, sit down and make a list of all the things you're worried about. Then go through the list. The things you can do something about, do something about it, and the things you can't do anything about, let it go! We can't control the government, we can't control inflation, we can't control whether we get hit by a bus today or whether we're going to get cancer. Sure, we can do things to stay healthy and we can pay attention when we cross the street. But worrying about something that may or may not happen is worthless and has no place in your life. Control what you can, let go of what you can't. Now go make your list; seriously, right now.
- Apathy - I would go so far as to say this is one of the single biggest problems in our world today. Do not settle for less than what you're capable of. Don't be complacent and stop growing and becoming better. The opposite of apathy is passion. Get involved in whatever you can do with passion and that lights your fire. Then pursue it with everything you've got.
- Exhaustion - Staying up super late and getting up ridiculously early doesn't make you a martyr for your business; it makes you less effective. You're body can't function without proper sleep. You can actually get more done in less time if you're properly rested. Yes, there are times when you need to grind it out and push through, but if you're living every day of your life without enough sleep, you're asking for your body to crash. And it will. Don't burn yourself out.
-Comment, let me know your thoughts and what you need to eliminate on twitter - www.twitter.com/invest4cashflow
Make This Your Year of Change
It's that time again. A year ends and another one begins. Along with it comes setting aside the past, and looking toward the new year with hope and anticipation. "This is going to be the year" everyone tells themselves. Sadly, but the middle of January, most have already given up on what they've set out to change. Don't let that happen to you! Not this time! Here are a few simple pointers to go into 2015 and make progress on your goals and ambitions.
Have Complete Clarity - You can't reach a goal or hit a mark if it's vague. You must be perfectly clear about what you're setting out to accomplish.
Have a "Why" Bigger Than the Goal Itself - Don't just try to hit a number. Know what hitting that number will do for you, your life and those you love. Focus on that reason and you're motivation will continue.
What is Your "One Thing"? - Don't set too many goals! At the beginning of the year, people tend to set a long list of what they want to change. Financial goals, health goals, family goals, and on and on. You want to have goals for every aspect of your life, and you absolutely want to be balanced. However, you can't expect to make progress without focus. Pick the one thing you want to change most first, focus on that, make some new habits around that change, and add something else. Don't overwhelm yourself with too much, or you'll just give up on all of it.
Find Accountability - Ask someone you trust, and who will be honest with you and hold your feet to the fire, to hold you accountable. Tell them exactly what you want to accomplish, by when, and check in with them often with progress reports.
Do Something Every Day - Do something every single day that will make progress towards your biggest goals. It may be something that doesn't even feel like it's moving you much closer at all, but it's the little, daily things added up over time that get you up the mountain. If you do something every day, you'll look back months from now and be shocked at how far you've gone.
Simple, yes. But also effective. It's the little things that make the difference in whether your 2015 will be a year of achieving what you've set out to do, or if you'll be sitting in the same place you are now when you're reflecting on 2015 come January 1st 2016. You get to choose. Make it happen!
Have Complete Clarity - You can't reach a goal or hit a mark if it's vague. You must be perfectly clear about what you're setting out to accomplish.
Have a "Why" Bigger Than the Goal Itself - Don't just try to hit a number. Know what hitting that number will do for you, your life and those you love. Focus on that reason and you're motivation will continue.
What is Your "One Thing"? - Don't set too many goals! At the beginning of the year, people tend to set a long list of what they want to change. Financial goals, health goals, family goals, and on and on. You want to have goals for every aspect of your life, and you absolutely want to be balanced. However, you can't expect to make progress without focus. Pick the one thing you want to change most first, focus on that, make some new habits around that change, and add something else. Don't overwhelm yourself with too much, or you'll just give up on all of it.
Find Accountability - Ask someone you trust, and who will be honest with you and hold your feet to the fire, to hold you accountable. Tell them exactly what you want to accomplish, by when, and check in with them often with progress reports.
Do Something Every Day - Do something every single day that will make progress towards your biggest goals. It may be something that doesn't even feel like it's moving you much closer at all, but it's the little, daily things added up over time that get you up the mountain. If you do something every day, you'll look back months from now and be shocked at how far you've gone.
Simple, yes. But also effective. It's the little things that make the difference in whether your 2015 will be a year of achieving what you've set out to do, or if you'll be sitting in the same place you are now when you're reflecting on 2015 come January 1st 2016. You get to choose. Make it happen!
Facing Setbacks
We've all been there before. Things are looking up, you're making progress and gaining some ground towards your goals, and out of nowhere something changes. Your momentum and the ground you've gained is threatened by an event, a change in circumstances; perhaps something that is even completely outside of your control. Now you've got a choice to make: are you going to let this setback get the best of you, or are you going to get the best of it?
It's a simple decision really. Too many people in our society play the victim. You know what? Even if you are right, and you are the one who got the raw end of the deal, playing the victim and placing blame isn't going to make the situation any better. By doing that, all you do is give the negative side a bigger victory. The best thing you can do is stay positive, learn from whatever the experience is, and move on. Use the setback to fuel you.
Whatever setbacks you may be facing, remember that they temporary and that you can and will get past it, and be better for it. Failure and defeat only get the best of us if we let them. Life is about the experience, and if you're out there living, things are going to happen. You're going to get bumps and bruises along the way. It's these bumps, these challenges, that force us to grow; to become better. A life well lived is a life with both victories and defeats. But where there is defeat there is opportunity. At the very least we can take the experience and what we've learned from it and use it in the future, to make ourselves a better person, a better business owner and a better member of the community.
-BJN
"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." Napoleon Hill
It's a simple decision really. Too many people in our society play the victim. You know what? Even if you are right, and you are the one who got the raw end of the deal, playing the victim and placing blame isn't going to make the situation any better. By doing that, all you do is give the negative side a bigger victory. The best thing you can do is stay positive, learn from whatever the experience is, and move on. Use the setback to fuel you.
Whatever setbacks you may be facing, remember that they temporary and that you can and will get past it, and be better for it. Failure and defeat only get the best of us if we let them. Life is about the experience, and if you're out there living, things are going to happen. You're going to get bumps and bruises along the way. It's these bumps, these challenges, that force us to grow; to become better. A life well lived is a life with both victories and defeats. But where there is defeat there is opportunity. At the very least we can take the experience and what we've learned from it and use it in the future, to make ourselves a better person, a better business owner and a better member of the community.
-BJN
"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." Napoleon Hill
Using Fear as Motivation
Fear. We all experience it. When something new, unknown or unexpected comes into our lives, often times we have a sense of fear involved. Our mind goes through all kinds of "what if" scenarios, most of which don't have even the slightest possibility of coming to pass. But that doesn't seem to keep us from sometimes letting those thoughts get the best of us, preventing us from moving forward. The key to overcoming this is to put fear in a new perspective.
First, take a step back and look at what the fear is. Is it the fear of failure, or the fear of rejection? Maybe it's the fear of not knowing what next steps to take once you take that first big one to get the ball rolling. Whatever it is, ask yourself this: If I don't try, even though I'm afraid, will I regret not having given it a shot? Ah, the fear of regret. It can certainly be a great motivating tool. I'm not saying it should be your only source of motivation; not by any means. However, if you find yourself frozen and unable to move forward, stop and picture a couple things. First picture yourself having moved forward, and having succeeded in doing so. What have you accomplished by moving forward with success? What goals are you closer to now? What does your life look like having taken that step in spite of the fear that may have stopped you? Now picture what it would look like if you didn't move forward on it. What would your life look like this time? Here's the big question: Looking back, will you regret not having at least tried?
I come back to Theodore Roosevelt's quote a lot, but it's so applicable to this that I need to bring it up again. Roosevelt said, "The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena...who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be among cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat". Those are some powerful words. If you never take risk, sure you'll never know defeat; but you'll also never know victory. Worst of all, you could find yourself at the end of your life, never knowing what you could have done, or what kind of an impact you could have made. You'll only know what you could have tried but didn't, and wonder what your life would have been if only you had. Don't let yourself get to the end of your life, with the haunting question running through your mind - "what if I had...". Instead, step out, move forward, face your fears, and one day you can look back and say "I did".
--"We must all suffer one of two things: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." -Jim Rohn--
First, take a step back and look at what the fear is. Is it the fear of failure, or the fear of rejection? Maybe it's the fear of not knowing what next steps to take once you take that first big one to get the ball rolling. Whatever it is, ask yourself this: If I don't try, even though I'm afraid, will I regret not having given it a shot? Ah, the fear of regret. It can certainly be a great motivating tool. I'm not saying it should be your only source of motivation; not by any means. However, if you find yourself frozen and unable to move forward, stop and picture a couple things. First picture yourself having moved forward, and having succeeded in doing so. What have you accomplished by moving forward with success? What goals are you closer to now? What does your life look like having taken that step in spite of the fear that may have stopped you? Now picture what it would look like if you didn't move forward on it. What would your life look like this time? Here's the big question: Looking back, will you regret not having at least tried?
I come back to Theodore Roosevelt's quote a lot, but it's so applicable to this that I need to bring it up again. Roosevelt said, "The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena...who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be among cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat". Those are some powerful words. If you never take risk, sure you'll never know defeat; but you'll also never know victory. Worst of all, you could find yourself at the end of your life, never knowing what you could have done, or what kind of an impact you could have made. You'll only know what you could have tried but didn't, and wonder what your life would have been if only you had. Don't let yourself get to the end of your life, with the haunting question running through your mind - "what if I had...". Instead, step out, move forward, face your fears, and one day you can look back and say "I did".
--"We must all suffer one of two things: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." -Jim Rohn--
How to Create Positive Change in Your Life
From my own experience and my observation of others, I've discovered a few different things about what steps are necessary to move from being in a place you don't want to be in your life to pursuing and achieving exactly what you want.
The first and most important thing you need to do is to know what you want. It doesn't do any good to chase a dream if you discover at the end that it wasn't even your dream! Make sure your goals are yours and not someone else's, and not what you think they should be, but what you want. Too many people don't know what they want, so they spend their lives chasing one thing after another, thinking each new thing will be the one that makes them happy. I'm not sure what is worse - not making the effort to chase anything, or chasing something your whole life only to discover it's not what you wanted! Take the time to sit down and really think out what it is that you want out of life. Go through each area of your life and write out what you want it to look like. You must know exactly what it is you want out of each of those areas. Only then can you take the steps to achieve the results you truly want.
Often times if you feel low or depressed, it is because you are not doing what you know you should be doing. I've discovered this in myself in the past. I've also heard comments from others around me about their lives, and the root of it is based on this. They know they should be taking action on something, but they're not. They know they have the capability to do better, to do more with their lives, but they're not. When you know you should be doing better or doing more to pursue what you want, when you know you are not meeting what you are capable of, you beat yourself up mentally over it. The solution is simply to start taking action on those things. It may be something small or simple at first, such as making a phone call you've been avoiding, or it could be starting your business plan. Whatever it is, it just needs to be something that is taking you in the direction that you know you should be working harder to get to. It doesn't have to be huge, it just needs to be action. Stop putting it off. And trust me, when you start taking these small steps you will feel relief, as well as start building your confidence and sense of worth. Once that happens, the next steps are easier and it creates momentum toward your goals.
The last part of the equation is consistency. Writing out what you want and then taking the first step is great, and will start you on the right path, but the right path can't take you to its destination if you are not taking additional steps. This is not an escalator, this is a stairway. You don't get to take one step and sit back and think you will keep making progress. You have to keep taking action. Consistent action is necessary to keep things moving, or you will find yourself right back at the previous step; knowing you should and can be doing more. Don't let that happen! Once the ball gets rolling it's easier to keep it rolling. But when it stops, it's hard to get it started again. Don't let it stop; keep taking steps every day that help you get closer to the life you want. You deserve that life, and don't let anyone tell you any different.
I encourage you to take these steps seriously and go through them one by one. I promise you it will change your direction and change your life. Keep your goals, what you want your life to look like, in front of you on a daily basis. Remind yourself what you are pressing towards. Know what you want, take action on those things, and do it consistently and you will discover abundance.
The first and most important thing you need to do is to know what you want. It doesn't do any good to chase a dream if you discover at the end that it wasn't even your dream! Make sure your goals are yours and not someone else's, and not what you think they should be, but what you want. Too many people don't know what they want, so they spend their lives chasing one thing after another, thinking each new thing will be the one that makes them happy. I'm not sure what is worse - not making the effort to chase anything, or chasing something your whole life only to discover it's not what you wanted! Take the time to sit down and really think out what it is that you want out of life. Go through each area of your life and write out what you want it to look like. You must know exactly what it is you want out of each of those areas. Only then can you take the steps to achieve the results you truly want.
Often times if you feel low or depressed, it is because you are not doing what you know you should be doing. I've discovered this in myself in the past. I've also heard comments from others around me about their lives, and the root of it is based on this. They know they should be taking action on something, but they're not. They know they have the capability to do better, to do more with their lives, but they're not. When you know you should be doing better or doing more to pursue what you want, when you know you are not meeting what you are capable of, you beat yourself up mentally over it. The solution is simply to start taking action on those things. It may be something small or simple at first, such as making a phone call you've been avoiding, or it could be starting your business plan. Whatever it is, it just needs to be something that is taking you in the direction that you know you should be working harder to get to. It doesn't have to be huge, it just needs to be action. Stop putting it off. And trust me, when you start taking these small steps you will feel relief, as well as start building your confidence and sense of worth. Once that happens, the next steps are easier and it creates momentum toward your goals.
The last part of the equation is consistency. Writing out what you want and then taking the first step is great, and will start you on the right path, but the right path can't take you to its destination if you are not taking additional steps. This is not an escalator, this is a stairway. You don't get to take one step and sit back and think you will keep making progress. You have to keep taking action. Consistent action is necessary to keep things moving, or you will find yourself right back at the previous step; knowing you should and can be doing more. Don't let that happen! Once the ball gets rolling it's easier to keep it rolling. But when it stops, it's hard to get it started again. Don't let it stop; keep taking steps every day that help you get closer to the life you want. You deserve that life, and don't let anyone tell you any different.
I encourage you to take these steps seriously and go through them one by one. I promise you it will change your direction and change your life. Keep your goals, what you want your life to look like, in front of you on a daily basis. Remind yourself what you are pressing towards. Know what you want, take action on those things, and do it consistently and you will discover abundance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)