Feeding Your Spirit For Success
August 30, 2006
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If you are looking for some quick, pop a pill, stick it in the microwave, pay at the pump, drive through, instant messaging, Blackberry, magic ingredient for success, then let me save you some time. Hit the back button on your browser now. It doesn’t exist.
Even Jesus Christ himself, whose followers believe was the person of God come down to earth, took 30 years to prepare for his mission. And if God took 30 years getting ready is it reasonable for you to think you can somehow stand under someone’s magic wand and get success in an instant?
Of course not.
Shortcutting Success
There are millions of people out there Read more
Success Principle #5 - Successful People are Readers
August 29, 2006
I have enjoyed reading as far back as I can remember. I grew up as an only child and was one of those geeky kids who read The Hobbit
So when I heard motivational speakers say things like “Leaders are Readers” it was easy for me to buy in. I would think to myself, “See. I love to read.Therefore I must be a leader.”
Well that logic is fundamentally flawed. And what about the folks out there who really don’t much like reading? Can they ever be successful?
I don’t think it is likely
While it is true that there are some exceptional and very successful folks out there who are not in the habit of reading, for the rest of us reading may be our one and only ticket out of the vast masses of mediocrity and into success.
Here’s why:
Six Ways to Make People Like You
August 28, 2006
Most of us want to be liked by others.
The trouble that the vast masses of humanity have with this is that they run smack into their own selfishness. Because of their own self-fixation, they end up repelling the very people they want to like them. Sometimes that selfishness comes out in down right rudeness. But more often it is more a case that they bore people to death.
Did you know you can even be a very exciting speaker and still bore people to death? People who are successful in their relationships know it.
Successful people who relate well with others have learned a simple truth. And that is this: People are more interested in themselves than any other subject.
If you want to have more success in your relationships here are six simple things you can do.
One Simple Change That Will Increase Your Financial Success
August 26, 2006
One of the biggest differences between people who are financially successful and the vast majority of the rest of the masses of people just making it living paycheck to pay check is that financially successful people know where there money is coming from and where it is going.
The equation is simple. It looks like this:
Income - Expenses = Cash Flow
If our Expenses are greater than our Income then our cash flow will be negative and we gradually slide deeper into debt.
If our Income is bigger then we accumulate money and we have extra to save and invest toward our financial success.
Most folks have a reasonably good handle on the first part. They know they get paid on Fridays. They know they make so much an hour or so much a year.
But often that is as far as it goes.
Success Principle #4 - Successful People are Leaders
August 25, 2006
One of the things you’ll notice if you start to study successful people is that they are leaders. They go their own way. They sometimes take risks that others see as foolish. And in the process they achieve success.
If you want to be successful, there will come a time when you will have to make a break from the crowd. The masses of humanity are shuffling their way to mediocrity. But you are destined for something more.
It may not even seem big to you at fist. But that initial turn from the herd is vastly significant.
And it will be uncomfortable, especially at first. Staying in the crowd feels safe. It feels right. But the truth is achievers are leaders.They make their own calls and squarely face the consequences of their actions.
I’ve heard it said that the way to tell if you are a leader or not is to look and see who is following you. If there is no one following, that line of reasoning goes, then by definition you are not leading.
I think that is only partly true.
Success Principle #3 - Your Integrity is NOT For Sale
August 24, 2006
I’ve been in negotiations on something for several months. If it works out the way I envision it would be quite lucrative for me.
Negotiations are not an area where I have extensive expertise so it has been a long process. I’ve moving ahead cautiously considering each step. Activity. Pause. Activity. Pause.
We are nearing the end, perhaps in a matter of days even. It is an exciting time. I can almost smell pay day approaching.
But I just got a whiff of something else that didn’t smell quite as good.
Something transpired that gave me pause. It hinted at a possible ethical dilemma down the road.
It could be just a simple misunderstanding.
Or it could be a hint of something serious that has been hidden up to this point.
Either way it seems to be a sign to ask some questions and dig a little deeper.
The tempting thing would be to Read more
Success Principle #2 - Keep On In Spite of the Obstacles
August 23, 2006
Yesterday morning I decided that it was time to get started here in spite of the fact that everything is not completely set up and pretty yet. So I sat down and wrote what I thought became a good launch post explaining what I was up to.
I was in a bit of a hurry as I had to drive a couple hours away down to Jacksonville, FL for work (I live in Savannah, GA) and wouldn’t be home until later in the evening. Because I was in a hurry I decided not to take the time to set up my off line post writing software. I just went ahead and wrote what I had to say on line directly into the web site.
“Save early and save often” has been my mantra for years when doing anything with computers but apparently I’ve gotten a little spoiled by with the editing software I use. It automatically saves what I have done as I go along without having to manually do anything.
Of course it could have just been that I was in a hurry and forgot to save my work.
Regardless of the reason, I didn’t even try to save a draft of my work until I had it completely written. And then, at the moment I hit save, my server crashed. I lost the whole thing. No chance of recovery.
And I knew better.
Success Principle #1 - Get Started!
August 23, 2006
Well the plan was to get everything all polished up before launching this ship. But then in the shower this morning I had a thought. (And you probably should know that I do some of my best thinking in the shower for some reason.)
The thought was this: One of the first things you have to do if you are going to realize success is simply get started. Get into action.
My natural bent is to get everything organized and spend a lot of time figuring out all the gritty little details. I want to plan to the N-th degree. Sometimes I even suffer from analysis-paralysis. (”Say it isn’t so, Chris!”)
I can’t tell you how many great ideas I’ve had over the years that have been completely wasted energy. They never got enough momentum to actually launch and achieve escape velocity. Because they were never even started.
