CREATE THAT WINNING FEELING by Bob Proctor

I believe we would all agree that having a winning feeling is prerequisite to achieving outstanding results. A person can’t possibly expect to win if they’re constantly focusing on failure! The real secret here is to capture that winning feeling of success as often as you can to create the environment necessary to succeed.

If you’ve been a little down in the dumps, feeling insecure or perhaps not feeling as confident in your ability as you’d like, I have a great tip for you. My suggestion to anyone looking for a success track to run on, or to a person who is looking to get back on one, is to start capitalizing on short-term victories. That means specifically focus on tasks you can achieve daily. The principle is to start with an adversity over which you can succeed, and gradually take on more and more difficult tasks. Nothing succeeds like success.

Another technique used by many people in developing or maintaining a winning feeling is what we call the reflection method. Think back during a time where you were really successful at something… we all have times to which we can relate. It could have been a sale, a particular speech, a school play, or standing up to the town bully. Each one of us can reflect back on a moment in time to recapture that winning feeling.

Professional sports coaches often replay winning games of the past for their team prior to a big game to stimulate and create a winning feeling!

Years ago, a good friend of mine had left his job and a company that he had worked with for many years. He was one of the top VPs with his company and had done extremely well. He had left because he wanted to start his own business. I told him he could use one of our offices until such time as he was ready to open up his own office.

In any event, I happened to be in the office one afternoon and Grant, who normally was very upbeat and positive, was really having a difficult time. After a few moments of small talk, it became apparent what the problem was. Grant had hit the terror barrier and the possibility of starting his own company was overwhelming him… he just didn’t think he could do it. Here’s a man who had risen to the top of his field, made a high six-figure income for years… and yet was still having doubts as to his ability to start his own company.

I asked Grant to go home, get a notebook and start to write down all of his accomplishments, as far back as he could remember. The look on his face was priceless – I’m sure he thought I’d lost my mind. I told him that the accomplishment could be small or large… it didn’t really matter. The point was to focus on something positive. I still remember him asking, “Well, what if I only fill half a page.” I just smiled and asked him to do his best and start writing.

Monday morning came and Grant was back in the office with a notebook full of accomplishments. I smiled and said, “You must have been fairly confident, you picked up a good sized notebook!” We both had a good laugh. Grant went on to build a multi-million dollar financial planning company and later franchised the operation to extend across Canada and the US!

This is a great exercise for anyone needing a bit of a boost. What would give you a winning feeling of pride and satisfaction? Remember… a winning feeling is a confident feeling and one that forgets misses, and reinforces successful attempts.

Success Traits

Ever wish someone would make a "short list" of success traits key to developing your leadership skills? Well, this week's Last Word offering is exactly that, so in the spirit of keeping it short... Here are Seven Character Traits of Successful People! -- CW

1. They are hard working. There is no such thing as easy money. Success takes hard work and people who are willing to do it.

2. They are honest. Those who are successful long-term are the honest ones. Dishonest people may get the first sale, but honest people will get all the rest!

3. They persevere. How many success stories will go untold because they never happened? And all because someone quit. Successful people outlast everybody else.

4. They are friendly. Have you noticed that most successful people are friendly and people oriented? This endears them to others and enables them to lead others to accomplish the task.

5. They are lifelong learners. Successful people are people who stretch themselves and grow continually, learning from all areas of life, including from their mistakes.

6. They over-deliver. The old statement of under-promise and over-deliver became famous because it made a lot of people successful, including the richest man in the world - Bill Gates.

7. They seek solutions in the face of problems. Problems are opportunities to do the impossible, not just complain. Successful people are the ones who find solutions.

Soar

People who soar are those who refuse to sit back and wish things would change.

SKILLS/SALES by Jim Rohn

Don't wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.

You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.

You can cut down a tree with a hammer, but it takes about 30 days. If you trade the hammer for an axe, you can cut it down in about 30 minutes. The difference between 30 days and 30 minutes is skills.

The key to life is to become skillful enough to be able to do rewarding things.

Learn to hide your need and show your skill.

To succeed in sales, simply talk to lots of people every day. And here's what's exciting – there are lots of people!

Practice is just as valuable as a sale. The sale will make you a living; the skill will make you a fortune.

Selling is a person-to-person business. You cannot send the sales manual out to make the sale. Sales manuals have no legs and no voice.

In the sales profession the real work begins after the sale is made.

Sales people should take lessons from their kids. What does the word “no“ mean to a child? Almost nothing.

Even if you are new in sales, you can make up in numbers what you lack in skills.

A river

A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.

Courage That Changes Your Life

"The scars you acquire while exercising courage will never make you feel inferior." -- D.A. Battista

"Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared." -- David Ben-Gurion

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers." -- Dorothy Bernard


Courage. It is a word that conjures up images of great and dramatic actions. And yet I realize that we all have the opportunity to be courageous every day, in small and large ways. And it is when we choose to be courageous that we change our lives and the lives of those around us.

Can you name anything of any significance that did not emanate from some sort of courageous decision? I can't. Think of the changes that we have experienced in the last few decades and trace them back to their initial decision. Chances are, someone exhibited courage.

So what is courage? It is simply acting on what we know we should do, regardless of any fear we may have. It is the choice to disregard worry. It is the choice to do right, to pursue our dreams, to be successful people, to lead the way for others.

Courage changes lives. Yes, it changes lives.

First, the day you begin to stare down your fears and worries, and instead act courageously, your life will change. You will be set free to fly like you never have before. You will accomplish things you once only dreamed of. You will experience things you thought were only for others - the courageous ones. You will realize that your fears were baseless and just paper tigers, a mirage. You will begin to live your dreams. You will become a person of character!

You will also change the lives of others. Simply put, courageous people pull others along with them. Everybody benefits from courageous people. I have a friend who I admire greatly. A little over a year ago he decided to leave a lucrative career and pursue a dream. All obstacles were thrown his way. The day he left his company, he found out that his wife had cancer. He went into a great deal of debt to finance his dream. He raised millions of dollars, putting his name and reputation on the line. He acted courageously. A year later, he has over fifty employees and growing monthly. Those employees are reaping the benefit of his courage! And his wife, who beat cancer, is acting courageously with him!

Here are some quick tips for acting courageously:

Know what you want. Courage is about choice. If you are to act courageously, you need to know what the right choice is. Be clear about your dream and vision.

Do not worry. I heard recently that worry is the wrong use of the imagination. That is perhaps the best definition I have ever heard. Worry is just thinking about all of the bad possibilities, isn't it? Well, courage is just thinking about all the great possibilities and then acting upon them!

Do your homework. It helps to get the facts. It helps because then you can make an informed decision that will put your heart and mind to rest. There will probably be a downside but we understand it, choose alternatives, and act decisively instead of those.

Act. There is no substitute for the first step. Do you know what you want? Have you thought of the possibilities? Have you done your homework? The next step is to take the first step, and ACT!

Belief - Write this down in BIG letters and read it every day

If you believe you can, you probably can.

If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't.

Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

People

People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

A boomerang world

As I was sitting outside this morning sipping my Tea, I looked down and saw a curved stick on the ground that reminded me of a boomerang. Suddenly I was caught up in memories of me as a kid playing for hours on end in my grandfather's backyard with a small wooden boomerang he had given to me as a gift.

Remember when you were a kid, how fascinated you were with boomerangs? (At least I was!) You take this flat, curved piece of wood and throw it and then watch in amazement as it curves around in the air and comes right back to you.

As "miraculous" as that seemed when we were kids, I've found that most of our life is like that. Whatever we "throw" out there, comes back to us.

We live in a "boomerang" world.

Let me explain:

If you smile at someone, in almost every case, they will smile back.

Try it now with someone nearby and see if it works.

If you're kind toward someone, they will usually be kind in return.

Of course, this also works in the other direction.

If you complain to someone, they will "share" their complaints with you. (In fact, you may quickly find yourself in a subtle competition to see who is more miserable.)

If you get angry at someone, they will usually get angry with you.

And so on.

The fact is, whatever you decide to "throw" out into the world will usually circle around and land right back at your feet. (Much like the boomerangs we played with as kids.)

Here's what struck me this morning .

I have a CHOICE about what I decide to "throw" out into my world. I have a CHOICE about what I WANT to land at my feet?

If you want more JOY ... Throw it out there.

If you want more HAPPINESS . Throw some happiness out there to someone else and watch it "miraculously" come back to you.

It even works with money. Need money? Give some away. (Spiritual leaders from the beginning of time have been telling us this, but most of us are afraid to believe it.)

It works in just about every area of our life. When we give something away. When we "throw" it out there. It comes back to us.

But here's the good news. . (And this is really the "miraculous" part.) . We actually get MORE back than what we throw out there. Plant a seed and you don't just get one seed back. You get HUNDREDS (maybe even THOUSANDS!)

So today (and for as many days afterwards as you want), make a conscious CHOICE about what you want to "throw" out into the world. By doing this, you will be making a choice about what is going to come back and land at your feet.

Remember the boomerang. Whatever you "throw" out there WILL come back to you (many times over).

FACING THE ENEMY WITHIN by Jim Rohn

We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some of our fears are brought on by your own experiences, by what someone has told you, by what you've read in the papers. Some fears are valid, like walking alone in a bad part of town at two o'clock in the morning. But once you learn to avoid that situation, you won't need to live in fear of it.

Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy our ambitions. Fear can destroy fortunes. Fear can destroy relationships. Fear, if left unchecked, can destroy our lives. Fear is one of the many enemies lurking inside us.

Let me tell you about five of the other enemies we face from within. The first enemy that you've got to destroy before it destroys you is indifference. What a tragic disease this is. "Ho-hum, let it slide. I'll just drift along." Here's one problem with drifting: you can't drift your way to the top of the mountain.

The second enemy we face is indecision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future. Take a sword to this enemy.

Measure of a man

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Martin Luther King, Jr.