Overcome these Challenges to Your Intention today, and you'll Achieve your Success tomorrow.

“Intention is the seed you sow today,
that will grow into the desired success you will reap tomorrow."
Don E. Smith

Why is success, for some people, as easy as getting out of bed, while for the rest of the world it is a constant, uphill struggle?

Would you like to be a success?

Who wouldn’t!

Have you ever asked yourself, “What does it take to become a success?”

Believe it or not, the answer to achieving success relies as much on how you think about the success process as it does on what you do to reach your goal. In many respects, you can’t have one without the other. If this confounds you, the question you might want to ask yourself is, “What is success?”

Success is defined as, “The achievement of an intent.”

So, right off the bat, this tells you two things about success. 1) you cannot achieve Success without Intent and 2). Success is never an accident. If you achieve your desire by either accident or chance, it’s called “Luck” and that’s rarely controllable or repeatable.

YOUR INTENTION TO SUCCEED

Success is all about Intention. Another way to put it is, “Intention is the seed you sow today, that will grow into the desired success you will reap tomorrow."

DESIRE + INTENTION = SUCCESS

But success is not without its challenges.

On every road you travel during a journey from intent to success you encounter three daunting challenges you will need to surpass. Each of these challenges is as deadly to the pursuit of your intent and ultimate success as the lack of water is to plants in a garden.

The Three Challenges to Success are Inertia, Entropy and Apathy.

Let’s examine each.

INERTIA

My Dad had his greatest business successes as an insurance agent. His passion to “do right by my clients” when offering them the best insurance and protection they could afford was the foundation of his sales philosophy. But, it wasn’t always easy. Very often, despite his client’s desire to own a successful insurance protection policy, they struggled to make the “buy” decision.

At that critical point in the sales meeting, my Dad would say, “To not decide, is to decide to do nothing.” Boy, was he right.

Many people seeking to become a success at attaining a skill or reaching a goal are deterred at the outset by their inability to move in any direction. This is a perfect example of Inertia.

Inertia is a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged. Albert Einstein once said, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.”

Making the commitment to take bold action or to shed all doubt and fear is a critical part of becoming successful. What you know, have and believe now is “safe” to you. It’s the Status Quo.

The best way to shake off the Status Quo, move toward the intent of your desire, and overcome a tendency toward Inertia is to build some “Trust” muscle. This muscle, like all muscle, will respond and strengthen through repeated flexing and testing. It’s all in your mind.

Following these steps will help you build your trust muscle:

1. Imagine the goal of your desire.

2. What is the smallest step you can take now?

3. Take it and pause.

4. How does it make you feel?

5. Are you feeling confident?

6. Great. You’re flexing and strengthening your trust muscle.

7. Think about the next step, maybe a little bigger than the last, and take it.

8. Continue and repeat each step as above and you will continually overcome Inertia.

One warning, however, Inertia can pop up at any time, especially when an interim success has been reached. It questions whether you are willing to give up the comfort of what you have just attained for the prospect of something new but unknown; something you’ve only dreamed about but have yet to experience. If this happens to you, refer to step one above.

Staying ahead of Inertia is a great way to build the enthusiastic momentum that will help you stave off Entropy.

ENTROPY

I first became aware of this success challenge while listening to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer’s “The Power of Intention” lecture. I was so completely enlightened by his explanation of entropy, that this concept has become one of the most essential elements in the success coaching I do for organizations, leaders, and speakers.

Entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, states that things have a universal tendency toward deterioration. I define it this way: No matter how much energy or enthusiasm you have at the start of something it will not be enough to sustain you to the finish line. In order to sustain and reach the desired success of your intention you will need to apply increasing amounts of energy (psychological and physical) to your current effort to overcome the natural tendency toward deterioration. If you don’t, you will run out of energy, lose focus, spiral down and fall short.

If I were to chart the declining effects of entropy, it might look like this:

The best way for you to overcome the obstacle of Entropy is to follow these steps:

1. Find ways to celebrate the small successes you will have along the way to the desire of your intention.

2. Make something out of these successes.

3. Do not let them go unnoticed or unrecognized.

4. But, do not rest on this interim success or think of it as your end-point.

5. Use this “waypoint” success to “pat” yourself on the back and recognize where you are and how far you have come in your success journey.

6. Keep entropy at bay by continuously increasing your enthusiasm and energy for the desired intention.

Otherwise, you may just find yourself fishing for a dream.

Speaking of “Goin’ Fishing”, let’s look at the obstacle that will surface if you don’t overcome Entropy, Apathy.

APATHY

Years ago, I was president of an organization in desperate need of additional funds to pay for a special program. One day the organization was offered a “godsend” opportunity to host an event doing something it already did once a year that would have solved its special funds need. When I put it to a vote of my executive committee, my two VP’s of Ways and Means (a fancy name for fund raising) said “they did want to work that hard” and withdrew their support of the motion. The motion failed, and the money never came.

I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a bad volunteer, and I don’t fault these people for feeling the way they did. I am just serving this up as a perfect example of Apathy.

Apathy is a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern for something. It could be a goal, a relationship or a cause. All it means is that you have given up and surrendered your influence on the outcome without quitting altogether.

In this photo below, the fisherman hasn’t quit fishing, but he has detached himself from the active process. Technically, the two sticks in the water are doing the fishing because they are holding the fishing pole. If he catches a fish, it will be mostly by accident or as just a random result of his intention. Not quite Luck, but definitely a whole lot of Hoping.

The best way to overcome Apathy is to follow these steps:

1. Reevaluate the desire of your intention.

2. Determine if it still drives you with a sense of urgency.

3. Chart the progress you have made to date.

4. Analyze how far you have to go.

5. Imagine what it will be like to achieve the desire of your intention.

6. Challenge any on-setting feelings of Inertia you might be experiencing by taking one more, small step forward.

Remember, you are the master of your success. No one else will give it to you.

THE SWEET SENSE OF SUCCESS

Success is a wonderful feeling. It tickles the senses. Think of how people refer to success. The sweet taste of success or the sweet smell of success.

Success signals the end point of a journey of enriching experience, steadfast determination and reliable internal trust. Success achieved means you have overcome Inertia, Entropy and Apathy; the three obstacles everyone encounters on the way from a dream (desired intention) toward achievement.

Remember, every journey toward success, every project, every organizational initiative, every presentation, every relationship is challenged by these three obstacles. The degree to which you can control your success will be greatly enhanced when you learn how to take bold steps and break the status quo, harness your enthusiasm by adding new levels of celebration and reward, and focus on staying in the game by climbing back up the horse after a fall.

Intention is the seed you will use to grow the success of your desired intention. You hold that seed in your hands. Plant it, nurture it and harvest it and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

I trust you read this blog with the maximum amount of Intention and that it will help you understand the nature of success and how to have more of it in your personal and professional life. I appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I welcome any comment on this post or suggestions you might have in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

What are you really saying when you offer an apology for your work?

“No good apology ever included the words, “if” or “but”.
Anna Silk as Bo Dennis in Lost Girl

Years ago, there was a friend of mine that was so used to apologizing even the license plate on her car read “I’M SORRY”.

I always felt a little sad for her because she was and still is a really great person, with a shining personality, genuine self-esteem, and as faithful to her word as a saint. She truly had little to apologize for even after life dealt her some incredibly hard blows. In the face of these tragic occurrences, she never made excuses. Instead, she just dug down deep inside her well of persistent determination and gave it everything she had.

My friend saw the world as such a sunny place, that I am sure it was the reason she was always so “Sorry” for everything that happened, whether she had a hand in it or not. Perhaps we should be grateful there are good people in this world who really want the world to be a better place, even to the extent of taking the blame for its shortfalls.

I believe most people offer an apology from a sincere heart. In fact, I have operated on this principle most of my life. But lately, I have been subjected to a string of heartless apologies from insincere companies and professionals that makes me question the value and sincerity of a 21st century apology.

WHY DO WE APOLOGIZE?

In today’s world of business, the act of offering an apology has been strategically hi-jacked. Companies readily offer apologies for everything from a missed appointment to outright failure to perform. Most of these apologies are offered as a way of sounding sincere with the expectation of taking the bite out of the bark of a disappointed customer. The apology given as a corporate strategy with little or no intent to cure an error is about as empty an apology as you can find.

I’m not saying it is the wrong to apologize, I just believe it is pointless to apologize without a promise of action.

I can only think of two reasons why anyone should ever offer an apology.

• Reason #1: As the result of an action in order to establish terms for a redress of the aggrieved party.

• Reason #2: As a means of accepting responsibility while asking for foregiveness for a promise you could not keep.

WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SAYING WHEN YOU APOLOGIZE?

When you enter into a relationship with someone, whether personal or business, there exists an expectation of performance based on something called an “implied contract”. Whether you know it or not, you move in and out of these implied contracts all day long. Implied contracts are based on an expectation of intention. When you pump gas into your car, you are allowed to do so under the intention that you will pay for it. You are willing to pay for the gas because you have an expectation of performance based on the brand’s reputation or octane rating. That is the implied contract. It is an informal type of promise. Promises are the bedrock of Trust; hard to earn, easy to lose.

When you apologize for not keeping a promise, what are you really saying about yourself or your business:

•  “I overstated my ability to deliver on the promise I made to you.”

• “I made this promise to you out of desperation without considering how you might react if I could not fulfill my promise.”

• “I made this promise to you, but I figured if I could not keep my promise to you I could just apologize, and you would forgive me.”

• “It’s easier for me to apologize and inconvenience you, than it is for me to get it right the first time.”

•  “I make promises all the time with no intention of keeping them because that’s just how things are.”

•  “I specialize in empty promises.”

None of the above are acceptable responses under any conditions. If you are a leader or run a business, accept that you will, at some point, need to apologize for some shortfall of your team or business. When you do, be sincere and have a plan for erasing the bad taste of a promise broken.

HOW TO AVOID EMPTY APOLOGIES

• Do not offer an apology without a plan to make things not only right, but better.

• Do not apologize without having the intent to double down on future efforts to win back lost trust.

• If you make an apology, insist that you understand its acceptance will be performance based.

• Never include the words “if” or “but” in your apology.

In an apology, the injured party holds all of the chips. After failing to perform, an apology should not include any conditional language. A sincere apology cannot be made according to the giver’s terms. The giver of an apology has no right to dictate or negotiate its terms.

WHEN SPEAKERS SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT APOLOGIZE

Speakers tend to apologize for a lot of things including skipping a section, forgetting their place, having a cold, and so on. I once heard a speaker apologize for being boring. But, the number one thing I hear speakers make an apology for is not being “perfect.”

Remember, your speaker’s credibility is the foundation of the trust an audience confers on you. The relationship between a speaker and an audience is a fragile implied contract in which one party offers their focused attention in exchange for valuable information, motivation, and enjoyment.

That said, every speaker has the right not to be perfect. No audience has the right to expect perfection from a speaker.

Whatever you think you need to apologize for as a speaker, think about what you might be saying to your audience when you do. Are you saying:

• “I lost my place because I did not put enough preparation in to this effort.”

• “I left out that section because it was probably not that important.”

• “I’m not that excited to be here talking about this stuff.”

• “I was up all last night getting plastered at the hotel bar.”

When you speak, only apologize for those things beyond your control. Everything else, the stuff within your control, requires your full intention in order to deliver on the promise of your speech. How you fulfill this promise is up to you.

I will make no apologies for this blog’s content. I trust you enjoyed it and it will help you to avoid making future empty apologies in your personal and professional life. I appreciate your support as a reader of my blog and I welcome any comment on this post or suggestions you might have in the comments section below. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

A Simple Way You Can Create a Positive Mindset by Exchanging One Simple Word for Another

"Getting to Have what you Need is much better than
Having to Get what you Want.”
Don E. Smith

I often encounter articles extolling me to have “An Attitude of Gratitude.” Perhaps you do as well.

Gratitude is a powerful life-force. It is the verbal equivalent of chicken soup. If you use it in your life, it cannot hurt. I cannot think of a single instance in my life when someone expressed their gratitude to me and it did not have a positive effect, and vice versa. Gratitude is what we share with others when we are pleased by what they have done. You can convey your gratitude to someone for a job well done, a favor performed, or steadfast support of what matters to you. But, I’d like to challenge the habit of having “An Attitude of Gratitude” when we speak to ourselves.

The practice of positive self-talk is a critical element in any success strategy. If you tell yourself you are grateful for something you have done, acquired or achieved you are basically thanking yourself for doing something for yourself. I call this Appreciation because it recognizes your unique value.

Throughout my coaching practice, I have used a simple word switch technique to help my clients make a shift from Gratitude to Appreciation. By simply exchanging two words, “Have” and “Get” they have been able to eliminate stress and anxiety while increasing their energy and enthusiasm for leading and speaking.

While Gratitude and Appreciation are closely aligned they can be distinguished by how they align with your Wants & Needs.

THE 411 ON WANTS AND NEEDS

Back in 1969, The Rolling Stones shared with us this highly enlightened piece of philosophy:

“You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

There is so much wisdom in this line. I only wish I understood it’s value when I first heard it. To complicate matters even more, it’s highly unusual for you to have what you want until you get what you need. It’s even harder to keep it.

Every coaching relationship I have, whether for leadership or speaking, begins with an assessment of three things: 1) what does the client want to achieve, 2) what current assets and resources does the client currently have, and 3) what does the client need to get in order to fill the gap between the two.

Every person who has taken a class or has a passing interest in psychology knows about Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In its most simple view, it tells us that you cannot rise to the level above until you get what is needed in the level you currently occupy.

In terms of priorities, Needs always trumps Wants. The less you need to get, the easier it is to have what you want.

Wants are Haves and Needs are Gets.

“I want to have a vacation in the Caribbean, but I need to get more money and time to take it.”

THE BURDEN OF HAVING

Believe it or not, Having (wanting) is part of our Gratitude mindset. We are grateful for the things we have. If someone gives you a gift, you now “have” it and you must show your gratitude to them for giving it to you. Because they don’t “have” to give it to you, the burden is on you to make sure they know you are thankful. Gifts come with the responsibility to show how grateful you are for the gift by using it and taking care of it.

There is an old joke that goes like this. A mother asks her son, “What do you want for your birthday?” The young man says, “I want a new tie Ma.” On the day of his birthday his mother gives her son not one, but two ties as a present. The next day he comes downstairs for breakfast wearing one of the ties. His mother looks him over quizzically and then asks him, “What’s the matter… you didn’t like the other tie?”

Want to Have to Responsibility, I couldn’t have said it better.

Think of all of the things you have wanted that you know have. Do these “haves” tend to weigh you down. You want to own a house, but you have to maintain it. You want a job to help pay the mortgage, but you have to work it.

THE BLESSING OF GETTING

Let’s play my little word switching game. Here are a series of responsibilities. When you read them, can you feel them weighing you down?

I have to pay my mortgage.
I have to paint my house.
I have pick up my kids.
I have pick up my cleaning.
I have to work late.
I have to call my mom.

Now let’s switch the word Get for the word Have in each of these sentences.

I get to pay my mortgage.
I get to paint my house.
I get pick up my kids.
I get pick up my cleaning.
I get to work late.
I get to call my mom.

As you read each of these statements, do they make you feel more appreciative of the things in your life? Appreciation is a positive mindset that celebrates Opportunity. You may not like your lousy job with your over-bearing, clueless boss, but at least you get to work.

The formulas looks like this:

(Want + Have) * Gratitude = Responsibility
(Need + Get) * Appreciation = Opportunity

GETTING TO LEAD & SPEAK

I am always amused when someone tells me they have to give a speech, run a meeting, or address an industry gathering. The last time I looked, I don’t remember any of these things being done under threat of physical harm.

Speaking and leading are getting things. They are unique Opportunities, ripe with potential and unlimited possibility. They should be embraced with wide open arms, abundant enthusiasm, and focused intention. They are special things to be fully appreciated upon both receiving and completing. Perhaps more people would step up to seize theses unique moments if they could make the shift from having a daunting responsibility to getting an unbridled opportunity.

The next time you feel you have to do something because you feel a responsibility to do it, practice some positive self-talk and switch the word get for have. It will help you eliminate stress and anxiety while increasing your energy and enthusiasm. You will be better positioned to seize the opportunity before you with full appreciation for the reward it brings as both a leader and speaker. When you do, you will see that “Getting to Have what you Need is much better than Having to Get what you Want.”

I am delighted that I get to share this blog with you and I am grateful for your support. Remember, you don’t have to leave a comment on this post or suggestions in the comments section below, but you get to do so with my sincere gratitude. As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Can you afford to ignore the value in the hidden segments of diversity when leading or speaking?

Why does the word “diversity” provoke so much fear and passion in today’s world? More importantly, why is diversity so often misunderstood or misappropriated?

From the classroom to the boardroom to the factory floor to virtually every corner of our modern world everyone is clamoring for more and more diversity. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I have developed, managed and facilitated diversity programs and training. While doing so, I have seen both its benevolent and malevolent sides. While I continue to applaud diversity, as both a business and social strategy, I do so with a profoundly deeper understanding today than I did several years ago.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE “DIVERSITY”?

Ask most people what they think diversity is and they will most like say, “It is a program that aims at creating a balance of people within a group based on race, gender, and religion.” Some may go so far as to add education, age and ethnic origin to the mix. The business case for diversity is much more than the affirmative action, gender equality and identity issues most people think it is.

The truth is, based on information from the Society for Human Resources (SHRM) these characteristics are just the tip of the iceberg.

Look at this graphic from SHRM.

The chart helps you see that diversity traits are both visible and invisible. Whether you are leading or speaking to a group, you can be assured that there will be people in your group filling a multiple of these traits most of which are invisible.

DIVERSITY AND THE SPEAKER

As a speaker, you must do your research before you speak. Ask the organizers of your speaking opportunity to provide you with data regarding the composition of your audience. Once armed with this information you can use it to craft your presentation to be more inclusive both in terms of content and language selection. Possessing this information will make you a better speaker, providing you with insights that will help you deeply connect with your audience.

DIVERSITY AND THE LEADER

True diversity in the workplace allows leaders opportunities to create a complex composition of individuals who can be given a seat at “the table”. The more diverse the individual traits represented at “the table”, the greater the opportunity for gaining new insights into a variety of business-critical issues from product development to process improvement to employee engagement. When you are leading a team, think beyond the obvious visible traits that tend to placate most drivers of diversity. Think, “How can I best serve my customers, employees and company by pursuing the most diverse range of thinking I can assemble.”

THE HIDDEN VALUE

The hidden values in diversity are by-products of its practice. When you think diversely and seek diverse opinions you strengthen your own sense of what you know, why you choose one option over another, and why it’s okay for people to disagree while working together to build a consensus and strategy for progress and growth.

For a leader this means developing an understanding of how people think and express themselves when given the opportunity to freely contribute to the “conversation”.

For a speaker this means learning to listen not only to what you are saying but to what others are saying about those topics near and dear to your heart. Avoiding isolated thinking is a powerful way for a speaker to connect and make an impact.

In the end, diversity really is about the art of thinking independently together. It is no secret that no one ever achieves success alone. Increasing the diversity of your thinking, research, and experiences is the strongest case for practicing diversity in everything you do. Diversity forces us to seek the most common ground. And, it’s on the common ground where the most bonds of goodwill, cooperation and understanding are initially forged and tend to endure.

As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. I appreciate a diversity of ideas and comments as well, so please share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

How to achieve success with the genius of “The Three Principles”.

In most crimes, the solution rests on three things; means, motive and opportunity. There is no greater mystery than the unfolding of your life. And just like a good mystery, it also centers itself around means, motive and opportunity. Every human being who has ever desired to change the future, improve their skills, or build their self-esteem has confronted these three things by engaging the “The Three Principles of Success”.

The Three Principles of Success

Have you ever watched an infant begin to take its first steps?

If you have, you’ve probably noticed how quickly they get back up after they have fallen? That’s because, whether they know it or not, they are acting on their encoded secret plan to achieve success.

Do you want to know what the secret is?

It’s “The Three Principles of Success”.

The Three Principles are:

1. The Principle of Purpose

2. The Principle of Passion and

3. The Principle of Persistency

Defining Your Purpose

Perhaps the most common question people ask is, “What is my Purpose in life?”

In order to answer that question, it is necessary to answer these questions first, “What do I Want?”, “What do I Have?”, and “What do I Need?”.

A Want or a Need are the objective goals that compel you to seek and begin change in your life. Wants and Needs are assessment tools that help you determine the abundance and priority of What you have as a means to your end.

Defining your Purpose is first step in solving your life’s mystery. A Purpose is a What, a means. Purpose along with its cousin Passion create the vision of the destination you seek to achieve. Your Purpose is personal. It is impossible to succeed at achieving someone else’s Purpose. You cannot and will not succeed at it unless you make it your own unwavering Purpose.

It might take you time to clearly define the Purpose of your life. But be careful. Many people often define Purpose through short term thinking.

“I need to make enough money to take a vacation.”

Making money is a means to an end, but not the Purpose. The Purpose is the end, the vacation. The Purpose is the value exchange you will receive from the vacation you will take. The scope of your Purpose might change as you expand the range of your vision. A weekend at the shore may be immediately achievable but sailing around the world may take a little more planning. Both are clearly achievable goals, requiring varying degrees of unwavering Purpose.

Defining your Purpose is your first step in achieving a desired success. Take some time to flesh it out. Allow it to mature. Study it. Question it. Investigate it. If, after all of your probing research is done, you still feel the same burning Purpose and Passion for the end result, it is rightfully yours to own and achieve.

Discovering Your Passion

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is noted for saying, “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why.”

Your passion is your “why”.

Passion addresses the “Why” or “Motive” of your crime.

Your Passion is as unique to you as your fingerprints. No two passions are alike.

But, understand this one basic rule, “You cannot succeed at someone else’s passion.”

No matter what desires others may have for you, what dreams they hold and hopes they desire, They are not yours, unless to totally intend to make them so.

Think deeply about your Passion. Does it truly answer your deepest “Why”?

Designing Your Persistency

Developing Persistency requires continual “gut-checking”. Intestinal fortitude will tell you if you have a stomach for what you may have to swallow on the journey to your destination. I call this developing a “Capacity for Tenacity”.

Running a marathon requires more than just showing up for the starting gun. Hour upon hour of training through all types of weather and terrain is required. Alterations to diet, conditioning, sleep, communal time, etc. all fall victim to the desires of the long-distance runner. Being a “long-distance” runner is a metaphor for whatever desire you pursue. It will take time, energy, talent and treasure to reach your goal. Getting there requires tenacity, an unyielding Persistence.

But what happens when you become drained, depleted of all resources, and run out of gas?

What happens when you are at the end of your rope?

What to Do When You’re at the End of Your R.O.P.E.

Get more R.O.P.E.!

When you hit a “wall” of resistance, that is the time to step back, assess your progress and dig in with unyielding Persistence. Access your R.O.P.E.

R.O.P.E. is your Reserve Of Persistent Energy. Persistent Energy is your resolution to succeed. No matter how much someone may want something for you, they cannot do it for you. If they do, it is not yours, it is theirs. You may have it, use it, and abuse it. But, you will never truly own it. It will always be a gift replete with all of the encumbrances of a gift including the gratitude and responsibility associated with accepting it.

If you want to own your achievements, R.O.P.E. is a controllable way to get there.

The Four Horsemen of Failure

Distractions, Obstacles, Limitations, and Entropy. These are the “Four Horsemen of Failure”.

Very often, when beginning on a quest, you find yourself facing a daunting journey. Why not? If it were easy everybody would be doing it.

Let’s say you need a paper clip. You have two choices. Make one or buy one. Making a paper clip and buying a paper clip are two totally different experiences. One is possible given degrees of application in time, talent and money. The other is simply a shopping task. Or a quick trip to the next cubicle. But let’s suppose for a moment that you live in a pre-paper clip world. Would you have enough tenacity to bring it all together?

Well, we all live in a “pre” something world. If we don’t have it, haven’t done it, or haven’t seen it, it is all imagined. But, you can plot the course before you “set sail” on your journey by designing a set of unbreakable Persistency that will enable you to reach your destination.

Persistence is the “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition”. We sometimes call this “single-mindedness” or “extreme focus”. There is nothing wrong with having this behavioral trait. But, like all good things in life, it must find its place in the life-balance continuum.

This Persistency will make up your “Won’t Power.” Your Persistency will include promises that you are not willing to break. If you do they have a considerable ability to undermine your success. As a start, let your unbreakable Persistency address the Four Horsemen of Failure.

Distractions. Design a set of promises that specifically address the circumstance under which you will allow yourself to be distracted from your goal. Accept these as being OK, and everything else as forbidden.

Obstacles. Make a list of the obstacles you see on your journey and design promises with strategies for how you will confront and surmount these impediments to progress. Don’t back down. Be firm. Have your own back.

Limitations. These are the things you need to achieve your goal that you do not currently have. Design promises that with set you on a path toward acquiring the things you need to succeed. Realize they may not be immediately acquirable but certainly attainable given time, talent and treasure.

Entropy. No matter how much energy you have at the start of your journey, you will continually need ever increasing amounts of energy to stay the course until you reach your goal. This is not your fault. This is the Universe at work. Entropy is the universal law that says everything has a tendency towards deterioration. Gravity wins. Friction slows you down. Design some promises that will help you get tough when the going gets rough.

There is genius and simple wisdom in this practice. If you build the palace of your desires on the Three Principles of Success you will find is has footing on a solid, proven base of beliefs, behaviors, and shared genius of countless successful people.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Do you know how to think about success?

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
Winston Churchill

When you were a child, I bet you learned more about success than you remember as an adult. 

I know I did. I guess it’s kind of the reverse on the old saying, “If I only knew then what I know now.” Because (and follow me here) when we are small, each and every advance we make in learning a skill from walking to tying a shoe to speaking to hitting a ball or braiding one’s hair is filled with the rudimentary knowledge required for all of our future successes.

If I Only Know Now What I Knew Then

The picture of the ball and jacks accompanying this article is a metaphor for a way we should all think about our pursuit of success. I can still remember the first time I tried to play this “simple” game. Oh, the frustration! My tiny hands could either hold four jacks alone or the ball and two jacks. But, not four jacks and the ball. I would play for hours never getting past four. But I never gave up. And gradually, with enthusiastic persistence and application I made it to five and the ball, and then six and the ball. I can't recall if I ever managed to get all of the jacks and the ball, before I outgrew the game, but I know I never quit playing while it mattered.

And that is the biggest lesson about success we learn when we are young. When being successful at something really matters, “Never Quit!”

The Brotherhood of Success and Failure

As adults, we tend to approach tasks and goals in a finite space, usually allowing for one of two outcomes – Success or Failure. What a universe to live in! Who made up that rule?

Sure, this outcome relationship works great in a laboratory. But only if you can control all of the variables. Usually this requires vast amounts of time and money. And still it is no guarantee of Success. In fact, Failure is more often the result than Success. But that’s not a problem. That is a good thing.

Humans are organic beings. We live in a constant state of flux, adding one experience to the another gathered from countless endeavors. Some of our efforts result in modest achievements others bear unnoticeable results, while others may astonish the whole world. We don’t always learn from Success as much as we learn from Failure.

Failure is not the opposite of success. It is its brother.

I contend, that without Failure most Successes would not endure, amaze or inspire. We celebrate those who reach the pinnacle mostly because they rose over those who tried but did not succeed. Many of those who do succeed, do so because of what they have learned from others who tried but came up short. So, in a way, we can learn more from failing than we can from succeeding.

Knowledge is Power if Shared

I don’t think anyone would argue with me that knowledge is a good thing. Knowledge is the result of learning either through experience or by observation. Knowledge is an essential component in the pursuit of Success. Therefore, learning from one’s mistakes or failures is a way of acquiring knowledge. It is the way you can turn failure into success.

Unfortunately, some people turn their back on failed attempts not wishing to be associated with the aroma. When they do this, they miss out on a significant opportunity to assess their current knowledge and experience and learn from the event how to do it better. Knowledge from failure is power, but only if you share it with yourself.

Thinking Success

For the last several years, I have been moving clients and audiences away from the negative mindset associated with failure. I’m not saying you should pursue failure as a goal. Of course not. What I am saying is, failure is not the “Big Bad Wolf” we’ve been taught to fear. Failure is the learning spike that can boost your next attempt to the successful plateau of your desire.

To do this, I encourage you to stop thinking of Failure as a result. You can’t rest on Success, so stop being stymied by Failure. Confront your shortfalls. Examine what went wrong. Take the insights you discover and apply them toward changes in your strategy that will fuel your next attempt.

This process is what I call, “The Cycle of Success” that sits atop the Hierarchy of Success.

In this cycle, once you’ve observed the insights from your last attempt, you take action to achieve your intended result. After your attempt you react to the result of what you did. You reframe your action based on this knowledge and then you process it for your next attempt. Rinse and repeat.

Think of the first time you tried to make a paper airplane fly successfully. Lots of attempts and lots of changes until you got your desired result. You’ve been doing this since you were a kid.

Just like an enthusiastic child playing Jacks. With each attempt you’ll discover new ways of approaching your problem. On your journey to success you’ll gather great knowledge and experience. Much of this can and will be applied to other endeavors if fulfillment of your most precious dreams and desires.

Like Mr. Churchill said, Success is all about enthusiasm.

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Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer