9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People - How Inc.com Got It Wrong!
9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People, an article recently published on Inc.com, attempts to identify what it takes to be a successful person through identifying the common beliefs held by successful people. For all its well-intentioned information, the article is fundamentally flawed.
9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People should be titled 9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful Assets. Somewhere, somehow, people have been reduced to workers exclusively. Their value is measured in productivity, value for time invested, and revenue generated. And while all this is true, this alone does not make for successful and valuable people. It merely makes for successful and valuable assets to organizations, communities, families, and governments.
People have intrinsic value. You cannot make one more valuable than the other. Once you do, you change the dynamic of people to assets. People can do immeasurably more than mere assets.
People are successful when they contribute to society to be certain, however one cannot truly be successful as a person until they have success in five areas of life:
Personal: Are you living a life that is pleasing to you? Are you living out your purpose? Have you reached a point in life where you realize that what you do matters and that you live in accordance with principles that are to your liking? Do you have rich, mutually rewarding relationships with others that bring joy to your life? Do you have a positive impact on society by giving of yourself through service?
Financial: Like it or not, money matters. Financially, are you living a life that is pleasing to you and financially positive for those around you? Are you financially independent and if not have you set in motion those things that will provide financial independence? Do you give to others financial gifts or tithes? Are you living within your means or are you financed to the hilt? Of course there are things you’d like to possess and experiences you’d like to have that are out of your financial ability, are you at peace with that?
Achievements: Everyone has a desire to achieve, to strive for something they deem worthy. Are you happy with those things you’ve achieved in your life? Have you achieved success in your family life? Are you an exceptional leader? Are you a tireless volunteer? Did you graduate from school and if not, did you overcome this hurdle? Have you experienced remarkable difficulty and persevered?
Health: One cannot be truly successful as a person unless they are healthy enough to engage in life. Are you physically fit or barely rolling out of bed in the morning? If you have a handicap, have you found a way to overcome it or live at peace with it? Health is as much physical as it is mental. Are you mentally tough enough to overcome a health obstacle?
Spiritual: Call it nature or call it God, to deny we have a spiritual existence is fool-hearty. Have you come to the realization that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself? Have you found that spiritual connection that gives you comfort in knowing that, while we have freewill, someone or something is beyond our existence? I believe in God. What do you believe in?
The questions above and others you will undoubtedly uncover in each of the five categories are just the beginning of the journey. And that’s exactly how it should be. Each person must decide where he or she is going before setting a course to successfully arrive at the destination. Decide who you believe you should be and ask the questions necessary to arrive at the destination of your life’s choosing. Be purposeful.
Earl Nightingale said, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” To be successful as a person you must decide what you want in each area of your life and make your life the pursuit of purpose.
For the record, there are 3 Beliefs of Successful People. They believe in a higher power. They believe they are a part of something bigger than themselves. And successful people believe and understand that what they do matters, even if they choose to do nothing. These beliefs are the beliefs of successful people because they ultimately determine all actions of their lives.
The First Fifty: Grateful and Expectant
Grateful
I am grateful to live on a planet filled with wonder and beauty. I am awestruck by God’s creation and magnificence. There are not words to convey how grateful I am for this place we call Earth and the privilege of living. Thank you Lord.
I am grateful to be living in what is arguably the most interesting time mankind has experienced. The truly amazing things we have and will have in the remainder of my life thanks to those incredible people who take risks and have a vision enrich my life every day. Can you imagine what tomorrow will bring? Very exciting stuff.
I am grateful to live in the greatest nation ever conceived by man and blessed by God. Freedom isn’t free and I take it for granted every day. Thank you to the men and women who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so that I may, at my choosing, risk everything to start a new endeavor or just sit my lazy butt down and do nothing. We are given the gift of choice in this most favored land. Thanks to you for providing me that gift.
I am grateful that I have been blessed with amazing people who have come (and some have stayed) into my life. With far too many to mention please know how much you mean to me. I only hope that I have enriched your lives as you have mine.
I am grateful that I was born into an extended family of loving people who never let me wonder if I was loved. I have always known I am loved and it means everything to me. I love all of you.
I am grateful that I found the love of my life at a young age and actually lost her for a time. This experience gave me perspective to understand just how damn lucky I am to have her. Again, I know I am loved. Thank you Tammy. You too are loved.
I am grateful to have two unbelievable children (now young men) who continue to amaze and astound me. If I could have chosen the perfect children it would have been the two of you. Grant and Carson, you have made me a great father. I love you. Thanks.
I am grateful to have known success and failure and to have always had interesting and challenging work. Success is a gift. Work is a gift. So are challenges and difficulty. I’ve never had a shortage of any of these and I am grateful.
I am thankful that I have been able to forgive and that others have forgiven me. I am eternally grateful that Jesus died for my sins. I really needed (and continue to need) His grace. Undeserving. So undeserving but endeavoring to improve. Thank you Lord.
I am grateful that people who mean so much to me in life won’t feel left out if they aren’t mentioned individually here. I have done my best to demonstrate that you mean a lot to me, not just to declare it. Never think that you aren’t important because if you are in my life you are vitally important to me. You are all loved.
Expectant
I expect the best in life and have usually found it. I also expect that challenges will come and I have found them as well. I am endeavoring to expect more of the best and less of the challenges.
I expect that the first fifty have been preparation for the next fifty. I expect that any joy, disappointment, success, failure, love, indifference, and other experience I have had was preparation for a future experience. I expect that I will benefit from the implementation of knowledge gleaned in the first fifty.
I expect that I will be better as a person in the next fifty years than I have been in the first fifty. After all, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and a lot of great choices. I have learned from both and will implement that knowledge.
I expect that I will continue to learn and grow. You’re either growing or dying. When I go I expect to be in full stride.
I expect that I will have a positive impact. We have all been granted gifts and abilities beyond our measure. I expect that I will use more of mine in the years to come and that I will help others use more of theirs as well.
I expect that life will mean more to me in the next fifty than in the previous. I have learned that we take life and death for granted. While each day brings me closer to death, each day also brings me great opportunity and experience. I appreciate that.
I also expect that I have been given, free and clear, the greatest resource any man can have. I have a brain that works and I expect that in the next fifty years I will use it more effectively than I did in the first fifty years.
I expect that very few people will ever read, much less care about, what I expect and that’s fine. I expect I wrote this for myself and the few people who do read it will benefit in some way as well.
I expect that the best is just around the corner. I used to think that be best goals were ones that were set just out of reach but not out of sight. What a disappointing way to live. Always having what you want just out of reach but never out of your sight. Everything I want that I currently don’t have isn’t out of reach, it’s just conveniently tucked behind a corner. I expect that I will turn more corners in the next fifty years.
I expect that I get what I expect. I expect the next fifty years will be incredible. And yes, I expect to be given the privilege of writing about the second fifty years of my life.
Your Prospect Isn't Thinking It Over - Ask For The Business!
When was the last time your sales call ended in a “No”? Before you answer, think about it very carefully because most sales calls don’t end in “No”. Most sales calls end in no decision.
I attended an opportunity meeting for a network-marketed product last night. After the presentation and questions, the host simply asked, “Who wants to get started?” While no one did, I smiled when he asked because I knew we were coming to a conclusion.
No decision endings frustrate you and your prospect. You continue to mistakenly believe that someday your prospect will say, “Yes”. Your prospect continues to dread running into you because you can’t bring yourself to help him or her make a decision. And the cycle continues.
Your goal as a sales professional is to get to a decision. While you want that decision to be “Yes” for your product or service, “No” can be just as valuable. Think about the countless calls you have made on a prospect who eventually said “No” and the time and effort you wasted. Getting to “No” can be a time and money saver. There are three reasons why salespeople fail to get decisions from their prospects.
1. They don’t have a plan. Simply put they don’t plan to ask for the business so they never do. This happens most often. Salespeople get so wrapped up in the presentation, the product or service, the objections, the questions, and the discussion that they fail to plan to ask for the business. The salesperson gets sidetracked and never finds the close. It’s nearly impossible to arrive at a destination that you haven’t planned to.
2. They don’t believe in what they are selling. This is an alarming fact. If you believe in what you are selling, if you truly feel that what you have will improve the lives of your prospects and customers; why wouldn’t you ask for the business? You would be doing your prospect a favor. Everyone likes to do favors for others. Yes, if you don’t ask for the business you probably don’t believe in the value of your product or service.
3. They just don’t have the stomach for another “No”. This reason is a part of the previous two. Salespeople begin to believe they will get a “No” so they just don’t ask for the business. They mistakenly believe that no decision is better than a “No”.
Closing is a must in sales. Here’s some help if you have been avoiding “No”. Determine how many prospect you called on last month. Then divide the number prospects you called on into the total number of sales or commissions you earned. For example, if you called on 100 prospects last month and made $5000.00 in commissions, you would find that each prospect call you made was worth $50.00 regardless of outcome. Each “Yes” and each “No” was worth $50.00. When each call is worth $50.00 you no longer have to fear the result. At the end of each call you will say to yourself, “Thank you for the $50.00!”
Now when you make a sales call you know it will be profitable. Getting to an answer is all you really want to do. Remember, if you have to go back to the same prospect to get an answer, you have cost yourself $25.00. That’s because each prospect is worth $50.00. If it takes you five calls to get to an answer with one prospect, you have made each call worth $10.00. That’s not a very good return on investment.
“But if I get a no from a prospect it’s over, isn’t it?” Not really. “No” doesn’t mean “never”, it just means “not now”. And besides, some of your prospects will gladly say yes if you’ll just show them how confident you are in your product or service by asking for the business. You’ll get better at it too! Try this technique and let me know how it works for you. The worst thing is not knowing. Get a decision.
New Year's Resolutions Are So Last Century!
Today and for the next few weeks you can look most anywhere and find out about New Year’s Resolutions. This is the time when we take a good look at the past and plan for a better future. And if you’re interested in how to make them, how to keep them, or the purpose or history of New Year’s Resolutions, there are literally hundreds of thousands of resources at your disposal. This is not one of them.
This writing serves notice that New Year’s Resolutions are passé. New Year’s Resolutions were implemented in a time when everyone moved at a much slower pace and change was not as ubiquitous as it is today. Simply put, people looked at New Year’s Day as the day when all things could start over, hopefully for the better.
People spent more time in the process of living in days past and they were more dependent on circumstances. Farmers woke before dawn and worked until the sun set and still all their efforts could be thwarted by poor weather or other uncontrollable circumstances. There was no time to plan change nor was there much thought of it. When you were born on a farm you were likely to be a farmer.
Today we can change almost overnight. A young boy born on a farm has the choice to become anything he chooses, including being a farmer. And he can do so quickly. Access to information has provided these options.
But options are what often keep us stymied. We have so many choices in life we often find ourselves as kids in the candy store. Mesmerized by the wonderful choices, we stand still and look up 365 days later only to find we didn’t even reach for one. We never chose because the choices were too great.
Unfortunately time chooses for us. Just as our parents would soon whisk us out of the candy store without our favorite candy, time pushes us to a new year without our having chosen how we wish to spend it.
We fail to choose what we want for our lives because there are too many choices. We see what we want but quickly see something else, only to be distracted again. In the end we become confused and a confused mind does nothing.
Which brings us back to why New Year’s Resolutions are so last century. Today we move at such a rapid pace and we are faced with so many options, we must resolve and choose more strategically. This means we must resolve regularly. A year is too long a time to wait.
And besides, we are exposed to so much each day that what we think we want for our lives this year on January 1 may become obsolete by January 15th. Of course our desire may wane as well. It’s best to keep things short-term.
This year, resolve to choose monthly, weekly, or even daily goals to achieve. Long-term goals have their place and should be a part of the destination of your short-term goals, but don’t be so locked into them that you find them obsolete before you even get started. Just because everyone else recognizes January 1 as New Year’s Day doesn’t mean it is the only day to start anew. A new year for you can begin any day.
Are You Willingly Giving Away Your Freedom?
As we celebrate our nation’s 233rd birthday this July 4, it is important to remember that our freedom came at a heavy price. Men and women who personally sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to provide us with liberty should be thanked and remembered in reflective thought and prayer. We are truly blessed to live in this most favored nation.
Yet every day we continue to sacrifice the freedom we have been so graciously provided. While each day we debate how current or past political climes have diminished our freedom, it is not the purpose of this writing. It is time to take a serious look at our individual freedom and how we willingly give it away when we become dependent upon a job. According to a recent article Why Americans hate their jobs, “A majority of Americans now say they are unhappy at work.” (The Week January 7, 2010)
The greatest loss of freedom in America happens on Monday morning. Millions of people climb into their cars and funnel into the rat race. There they fight and struggle to maintain a lifestyle they have built based on the income provided by the job they have selected. Whether by ignorance, influence, or indifference, most employees have built an invisible yet totally effective cage they now live in. They are imprisoned by their jobs, trapped by the need to provide for a family and maintain a lifestyle.
The idea that each person is free is long forgotten. Each week many will fear the loss of “their job” not realizing it isn’t theirs, it belongs to the employer and he or she has full control over who will own “their job”. Sadly, many will find that even their employer has little or no control over who will stay and who will go as companies we never imagined would go out of business disappear from the landscape. Circuit City went from good to great to gone leaving thousands unemployed.
There is hope. We still enjoy individual freedom in this country and we should exercise our freedom with great vigor. We are free to choose where and if we will work and we’re free to create our own work should we choose. Here are four steps to ensure you maintain your freedom:
- Find your passion. What is it that you were uniquely designed to do? Many will have to spend hours sifting through the years of work they have done for the money to get to the essence of who they really are. Everyone has a purpose. What is yours?
- Remember that you are the CEO of your own personal services corporation. You have the option to choose to sell your services to one client (your employer) or to open up your own shop to serve many. Entrepreneurship is the single greatest tool to ensure independence. The first step is to realize that you are already in business for yourself. Who do you choose as your customer?
- Examine your current line of work to find an opportunity. While you may not believe your current work is your passion, there is likely a good reason you chose to work in the field you are in. Is there a place where your passion and your experience intersect? That’s where opportunity lies!
- Exercise your freedom. Don’t remain trapped by the current situation. Think of the countless hours you likely waste each week that could be put to good use developing your own business that will provide added income, opportunity, and freedom.
Every person in the United States (the world for that matter) should approach his or her work as a business owner. How well are you using the resources you currently possess? Everyone has time, talent, knowledge, experience, expertise, passion, and property they can leverage to create greater value for their customer(s). That may mean becoming more valuable at your current job or opening a small business to serve others.
Honor the sacrifice made on your behalf by those men and women who provided you with freedom by approaching your work as a business owner. When you work at a job for one employer, give it your very best. No one ever created a better life by giving it anything less. You made the choice to work where you work. Remember that you are selling your services to your employer. You receive both money and experience as payment for your services. Learn how to do your work better than before and your services will be more valuable to your current employer, future employers, and future clients.
Treat your work as a business, and treat your business as an opportunity. Entrepreneurship is the greatest exercise of freedom.