THE SUCCESS SERIES

compete. Some people use competitionnas an excuse not to do it. They say, "I just can't compete with those people,nthere's no use in trying." What keeps people from putting their plans intonaction? The big reason is: FEAR. It paralyzes, it saps your energy, itncreates imaginary difficulties. Even when you're doing something you likento do, the fear of what you are putting off is always there in the backnof your mind. In "Think and Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill said, "Do the thingsnyou fear, and the death of fear is certain." The key is "in the doing". To conquer fear, some experts suggest making a list of ten things you absolutelyndo not want to do, but things that you know would help your business (ornyour life, health, or well-being), then do them. Once you get started,nonce you check off a few of those dreaded, unfavorite things, once younsee how easy some of those things actually are - - you're taking actionnto change your life for the better. A favorite slogan of winners is "DOnIT NOW." When I first saw the phrase, I wondered what "it" was. I couldn'tnfigure out why motivators advised people to "do it now", but never definednwhat it was or told exactly how to do it. I asked, "What does it mean? Do what? Do I have to do it myself? Can't somebody else do it for me? It'snfrustrating because nobody can give you the answer. No one knows the detailsnconce ing someone else's IT. The "it" in "DO IT NOW" isn't any one thing. When you do it, you just go out there and do whatever it takes for younto win. A lot of people spend their lives just dreaming about doing it. Other will try to do it. Almost everyone wants to do it, many will almostndo it. The winners in this world do whatever it takes to get the job done. And, always do more. Pete Rose said, "You have to give 110% at anythingnyou do because if you only give 100%, the guy you're playing against mightnbe giving 100% and it's going to be a standoff. If you give an extra 10%,nyou've got a chance to win." Get started now; take the first step. Getnover that big hurdle of inactivity. You have to risk making a mistake tondo something, but the person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing,nand is nothing.n
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THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS STRATEGY

Most people would agree that the "essential" businessnsuccess strategies are a combination of goal setting, a positive attitude,nproper motivation, teamwork, high ideals, and hard, no, SMART work. In evaluating success strategies it seems to me that I have missed probablynone of the more difficult ones: RISK. In business dealings, in relationships,nin just about every aspect of our lives that we deem important, there'snalways an element of risk. As old clichés tell us, "Nothing ventured,n...." or "No Pain, ...." When we don't take chances, our progress and personalngrowth do not seem as monumental as when we do. The stakes may seem highnif we fail, BUT calculated risk multiplies geometrically the rewards whennwe succeed. A redeeming aspect of Risk is that we can usually calculatenthe success or failure factors prior to our pursuing the risk. We ask ourselves: What will happen if? Do I chance losing something, for example, monetaryn(the easiest risk because it is replaceable), or respect, credibility,nlove, trust, or health, at the possibility of gain? Some of these thingsnif lost may not be as easy to regain. Yet, the older I get (or should I say the "more mature get") I seem to find that respect, credibility,nlove and trust are not as vulnerable to loss as I once thought, when ournbasic character has a strong foundation. We can, for example, express annopinion knowing that it may not be popular, when we feel in our heart thatnour opinion, belief or action is right AND we trust our motives and judgment,nthe risk of offending a few or "going against the flow" is an acceptablenrisk. So, now I want to share with you my ultimate success strategy. With everything I have achieved and acquired and become in my 30 -somethingnyears of life, I have had help. I have not done any of it alone. Call it God or Yahweh, or Jesus, Mohammed or Buddha, or The Universal Mind or your Higher Self, it is a Power or Spirit much greater than any of us and it'sna power for good and it is a source there fo
everyone for the asking. We all must stand for and believe innsomething. We must believe in our higher Self. Trust in the good and thenpositive. Why do casinos here in Las Vegas make money? Because the oddsnare in their favor. Just as life is in your favor. Ask to win, Plan tonwin, Trust to win! Where Are Those Goals? We're past the firstnquarter of the new year - and one fourth the way to accomplishing our goalsnfor the year. Are you doing everything you set out to do earlier in thenyear? There's still plenty of time to reach your goals. Goals? Youndid set goals, didn't you? Without goals we have no way of measuring orngaging our productivity. Look through the stack of paperwork on your desknand check your briefcase, your goals must ben
there somewhere. What, you didn't write them down? Without anclear, precise game plan, without a desired outcome in writing, our destinationnis obscured. How can you hit a target if you cannot see it? We need tonreview our goals everyday to stay focused. I have not read a successnstory or met a successful person who did not have goals written down. Writtenngoals describe clearly and concisely where we want to go, what we wantnto do, and how we want to do it. There is truth in the simple phrase: "Ifnyou can see it and believe it, you can achieve it!" And we "see it" dailynthrough our written goals. Knowing this, why would anyone not writendown their goals? Fear of failure? There may be many "failures" asnwe work toward our goals. Yet, failure is not a dead-end nor a defeat,nit is just a roadblock. A highly motivated, successful person uses roadblocksnas stepping stones or learning experiences, each one placing them close to their goal. The life stories of great men and women are testimoniesnto overcoming great obstacles on the road to success. Do we remember Thomas Edison's experiments that failed (and there were thousands of them), orndo we appreciate his phonograph, light bulb, and motion pictures? Do wenremember Lincoln's failed business attempts, his numerous election losses,nhis nervous breakdown, or do we remember his Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, and preservation of the Union? Is Margaret Sange judged by her arrests fo
distributing "pornography" and her failure to change laws as she promotednbirth control methods in inner city slums, or for her legacy that evolvedninto the Planned Parenthood organization? There may be "failures"non the road to your own personal success. But with clearly defined writtenngoals you can overcome these obstacles and turn them into stepping stonesnfor success. Let's Do It Now!n
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PLEASE CHECK YOUR EXCUSES AT THE DOOR

In 1991, I was new to "sales" and not very disciplined. If I didn't have a good sales week, I would tell Larry Taylor, my National Marketing Director, all my excuses why I didn't write much business. Larrynnever got upset at my lack of production, but he always had that look innhis eye, a look like he knew better. I would always think to myself,nwell the baby was sick and I did have a flat tire. I even had some goodnexcuses, like my mom was just diagnosed with terminal cancer or my dadn
died. No matter the excuse, Larry's look never varied. It wasn'tnuntil I became a manager and my agents came to me with their excuses, that I remembered, and I chuckled to myself. The faces changed but the excusesnremained the same. It didn't matter what a sales agent said she could do,nbut how determined she was at showing me what she could do. We have allnheard that "talk is cheap". The bottom line is: If you don't want to donsomething, the reason doesn't really matter. There were some agentsn
who would say: "I wrote business this week because my car was broken,nor how else can I pay for this rental?" and, "I wrote business this weeknbecause the baby's sick, or how else can I pay the doctor?" There'snthe story of the farmer who went to his neighbor's dairy farm to borrowna rope and his neighbor said, "No, I'm using the rope to tie up the cow'snmilk." The other farmer said, "You can't use a rope to tie up milk." Andnthe dairy farmer said, "Well, if you don't want to do something, then
excuse doesn't really matter. Is that piece of granite in you path a stumbling block or a stepping stone? It's all up to you. No onenwants to hear your excuses if you didn't do your best. You know it andnso does everyone who knows of your capacity for greatness. Don'tncompromise your ability and integrity by making excuses. Don't sell you success short by a lack of ambition, a lack of determination or a lacknof discipline. Decide that you want to be the very best in sales, thenn. .n
.just do it !