Transcript for:
No Excuses by Brian Tracy - The Miracle of Self-Discipline

no excuses by brian tracy read by the author introduction the miracle of self-discipline mark twain said that there are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason why are some people more successful than others why do some people make more money live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority what is the real secret of success often i begin a seminar with a little exercise i ask the audience how many people here would like to double their incomes almost everyone smiles and raises their hands i then ask how many people here would like to lose weight get out of debt achieve financial independence again everyone smiles some people cheer and they all raise their hands then i say wonderful these are great goals that everyone has we all want to make more money spend more time with our families be fit and trim and achieve financial independence not only do we all want the same things but we all know what we have to do to achieve them and we all intend to do those things sometime but before we get started we decide that we need to take a little vacation to a wonderful fantasy place called someday isle we say that someday i'll read that book someday i'll start that exercise program someday i'll upgrade my skills and earn more money someday i'll get my finances under control and get out of debt someday i'll do all the things that i know i need to do to achieve all my goals someday probably eighty percent of the population lives on sunday isle most of the time they think and dream and fantasize about all the things they're going to do someday and who are they surrounded by on someday isle other people on someday aisle and what is the chief topic of conversation on someday oil excuses they all sit around and swap excuses for being on the island why are you here they ask each other and not surprisingly their excuses are largely the same i didn't have a happy childhood i didn't get a good education i don't have any money my boss is really critical my marriage is no good no one appreciates me or the economy is terrible they have come down with the disease of excusitis which is invariably fatal to success they all have good intentions but as everyone knows the road to hell is paved with good intentions the first rule of success is simple vote yourself off the island no more excuses do it or don't do it but don't make excuses stop using your incredible brain to think up elaborate rationalizations and justifications for not taking action do something do anything get on with it repeat to yourself if it's to be it's up to me losers make excuses winners make progress now how can you tell if your favorite excuse is valid or not it's simple look around and ask is there anyone else who has my same excuse who is successful anyway when you ask this question if you're honest you'll have to admit that there are thousands and even millions of people who've had it far worse than you who have gone on to do wonderful things with their lives and what thousands and millions of other people have done you can do as well if you try it's been said that if people put as much energy into achieving their goals as they spend making up excuses for failure they would actually surprise themselves but first you have to vote yourself off the island very few people start off with many advantages personally i did not graduate from high school i worked at laboring jobs for several years i had a limited education limited skills and a limited future and then i began asking that question why are some people more successful than others this question changed my life over the years i've read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement it seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years in every conceivable way one quality that most philosophers teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline discipline is what you must have to resist the lure of excuses it is self-discipline that enables you to vote yourself off the island it is the key to a great life and without it no lasting success is possible the development of self-discipline changed my life and it will change yours as well by continually demanding more from myself i became successful in sales and then in management i caught up on my schooling and took an mba degree in my thirties which required thousands of hours of determined study i imported suzuki vehicles into canada before anyone else set up 65 dealerships and sold 25 million dollars worth of the vehicles and this is all after i had started with no knowledge of the industry what i had however was the discipline and determination to learn what i needed to know and then to apply and do what i needed to do i got into real estate development with no knowledge or experience applied the power of discipline which was then backed by hundreds of hours of work and study i then went on to build shopping centers industrial parks office buildings and residential subdivisions with self-discipline i have built successful businesses in training consulting speaking writing recording and distribution my audio and video programs books seminars and training programs have sold more than 500 million dollars worth in 36 languages in 54 countries over the years i've consulted for more than a thousand companies and trained more than 5 million people in live seminars and talks in every case the practice of self-discipline has been essential to my success i discovered that you can achieve almost any goal you set for yourself if you have the discipline to pay the price to do what you need to do and to never give up so who should read this book this book is written for ambitious determined men and women who want to achieve everything that is possible for them in life it is written for people who are hungry to do more to have more and to be more than they ever have been before perhaps the most important insight of all with regard to success is that to achieve greatly you must become a different person it is not the material things you accomplish or require that matter so much as it is the quality of the person that you must become to accomplish well above the average the development of self-discipline is the high road that makes everything possible for you this book will serve as your step-by-step guide to becoming a remarkable person who is capable of making remarkable achievements a chance encounter reveals the reason for success some years ago i was attending a conference in washington d.c during the lunch break i was eating at a nearby food fair the area was crowded so i sat down at the last open table by myself even though it was a table for four a few minutes later an older gentleman and a younger woman who appeared to be his assistant came along carrying trays of food and obviously looking for a place to sit having lots of room at my table i immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me he was hesitant but i insisted finally he sat down quite thankfully and we began to chat over lunch it turned out that his name was cop copmeyer as it happened i immediately knew who he was he was a legend in the field of success and achievement cop copmeyer had written four best-selling books each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than 50 years of research and study i had read all four books from cover to cover each more than once after we had chatted for a while i asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask of all the 1000 success principles that you have discovered which do you think is the most important he smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye as if he had been asked this question many times and he replied without hesitating the most important success principle of all was stated by albert hubbard one of the most prolific writers in american history at the beginning of the 20th century he said self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do when you should do it whether you feel like it or not he went on to say there are 999 other success principles that i have found in my reading and experience but without self-discipline none of them work with self-discipline they all work thus self-discipline is the key to personal greatness it's the magic quality that opens all doors for you and makes everything else possible with self-discipline the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him but without self-discipline a person with every blessing of background education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity your two worst enemies just as self-discipline is the key to success the lack of self-discipline is the major cause of failure frustration underachievement and unhappiness in life it causes us to make excuses and sell ourselves short perhaps the two biggest enemies of success happiness and personal fulfillment are first the path of least resistance and second the expediency factor the path of least resistance is what causes people to take the easy way in almost every situation they seek shortcuts to everything they arrive at work at the last minute and leave at the first opportunity they look for get rich quick schemes and easy money over time they develop the habit of always seeking an easier faster way to get the things they want rather than doing what is hard but necessary to achieve real success the expediency factor which is an extension of the law of least resistance is even worse when leading people to failure and under achievement this principle says people invariably seek the fastest and easiest way to get the things they want right now with little or no concern for the long-term consequences of their behaviors in other words most people do what is expedient what is fun and easy rather than what is necessary for success every day and every minute of every day there's a battle going on inside of you between doing what is right hard and necessary like the angel on one shoulder or doing what is fun easy and a little or no value like the devil on your other shoulder every minute of every day you must fight and win this battle with the expediency factor and resist the pull of the path of least resistance if you truly desire to become everything you are capable of becoming take control of yourself another definition of self-discipline is self-mastery success is only possible when you can master your own emotions appetites and inclinations people who lack the ability to master their appetites become weak and dissolute as well as unreliable in other things as well self-discipline can also be defined as self-control your ability to control yourself and your actions control what you say and do and ensure that your behaviors are consistent with your long-term goals and objectives is the mark of the superior person discipline has been defined as self-denial this requires that you deny yourself the easy pleasures the temptations that lead so many people astray and instead discipline yourself to do only those things that you know are right for the long term and appropriate for the moment self-discipline requires delayed gratification the ability to put off satisfaction in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term think long term sociologist dr edward banfield of harvard university conducted a 50-year study into the reasons for upward socioeconomic mobility in america he concluded that the most important single attribute of people who achieved great success in life was long time perspective banfield defined time perspective as the amount of time an individual takes into consideration when determining his present actions in other words the most successful people are long-term thinkers they look into the future as far as they can to determine the kind of people they want to become and the goals they want to achieve they then come back to the present and determine the things that they will have to do or not do to achieve their desired futures this practice of long-term thinking applies to work career marriage relationships money and personal conduct each of which is covered in the pages ahead successful people make sure that everything they do in the short term is consistent with where they want to end up in the long term they practice self-discipline at all times perhaps the most important word in long-term thinking is sacrifice superior people have the ability throughout their lives to make sacrifices in the short term both large and small so as to assure greater results and rewards in the long term you see this willingness to sacrifice in people who spend many hours and even years preparing studying and upgrading their skills to make themselves more valuable so that they can have a better life in the future rather than spending most of their time socializing and having fun in the present longfellow once wrote those heights by great men won and kept were not achieved by sudden flight but they while their companions slept were toiling upward in the night your ability to think plan and work hard in the short term and to discipline yourself to do what is right and necessary before you do what is fun and easy is the key to creating a wonderful life for yourself your ability to think long term is a developed skill as you get better at it you become more able to predict with increasing accuracy what is likely to happen to you in the future as the result of your actions in the present this is a quality of the superior thinker short-term gain can cause long-term pain there are two laws that you fall victim to when you fail to practice self-discipline the first is called the law of unintended consequences this law states that the unintended consequences of an action can be far worse than the intended consequences of that behavior because of a lack of long-term thinking the second law is the law of perverse consequences which says that a short-term action aimed at immediate gratification can lead to perverse or the opposite consequences from those at which it was aimed for example you might make an investment of time money or emotion with a desire and intent to be better off and happier as a result but because you acted without carefully thinking or doing your homework the consequences of your behavior turned out to be far worse than if you had done nothing at all every person has had this experience and usually more than once the common denominator of success herbert gray a businessman conducted a long-term study searching for what he called the common denominator of success after 11 years he finally concluded that the common denominator of success was that successful people make a habit of doing the things that unsuccessful people don't like to do and what were these things it turned out that the things that successful people don't like to do are the same things that failures don't like to do either but successful people do them anyway because they know that this is the price they will have to pay if they want to enjoy greater success and rewards in the future what gray found was that successful people are more concerned with pleasing results whereas failures were more concerned about pleasing methods successful happy people were more concerned with the positive long-term consequences of their behaviors whereas unsuccessful people were more concerned with personal enjoyment and immediate gratification motivational speaker dennis waitley has said that the top people were those who were more concerned with activities that were goal achieving whereas average people were more concerned with activities that were tension relieving dinner before dessert the simplest rule in the practice of self-discipline is to eat dinner before dessert in a meal there is a logical order of dishes and dessert comes last first you eat the main courses and clean your plate only then do you have dessert there's a cute but misleading bumper sticker that says life is short eat dessert first just think about what would happen if you came home from work and instead of eating a healthy dinner you ate a large piece of apple pie with ice cream what kind of appetite for healthy nutritious food would you have afterward with all that sugar in your stomach how would you feel would you feel re-energized and eager to do something productive or would you feel tired and sluggish and ready to write off the day is largely finished you get the same results when you go for a drink or two after work and then come home and turn on the television these are simply different forms of dessert that largely eliminate your ability to do anything useful for the rest of the evening perhaps the worst part of all is that whatever you do repeatedly soon becomes a habit and a habit once formed is hard to break the habit of taking the easy way of doing what is fun and enjoyable or eating dessert before dinner becomes stronger and stronger and it leads inevitably to personal weakness under achievement and failure the habit of self-discipline fortunately you can develop the habit of self-discipline the regular practice of disciplining yourself to do what you should do when you should do it whether you feel like it or not becomes stronger and stronger as you practice it you simply refuse to make excuses bad habits are easy to form but hard to live with good habits are hard to form but easy to live with and as good as said everything is hard before it's easy it's hard to form the habits of self-discipline self-mastery and self-control but once you've developed them they become automatic and easy to practice when the habits of self-discipline are firmly entrenched in your behavior you start to feel uncomfortable when you're not behaving in a self-disciplined manner the best news is that all habits are learnable you can learn any habit you need to learn in order to become the kind of person that you want to become you can become an excellent person by practicing self-discipline whenever it's called for every practice of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline unfortunately every weakness in discipline weakens your other disciplines as well to develop the habit of self-discipline you first make a firm decision about how you will behave in a particular area of activity you then refuse to allow exceptions until the habit of self-discipline in that area is firmly established each time you slip as you will you resolve once again to keep practicing self-discipline until it becomes easier for you to behave in a disciplined way than to behave in an undisciplined way the big payoff the payoff for developing high levels of self-discipline is extraordinary there is a direct relationship between self-discipline and self-esteem the more you practice self-mastery and self-control the more you like and value yourself the more you discipline yourself the greater is your sense of self-respect and personal pride the more you practice self-discipline the better is your self-image you see yourself and think about yourself in a more positive way you feel happier and more powerful as a person the development and maintenance of the habit of self-discipline is a lifelong task an ongoing battle it never ends the temptation to follow the path of least resistance and the expediency factor lurk continually in the back of your mind they are always waiting for an opportunity to pounce to lead you astray into doing what is fun easy and unimportant rather than what is hard necessary and life enhancing napoleon hill concluded his best-selling book of the same name by saying that self-discipline is the master key to riches self-discipline is the key to self-esteem self-respect and personal pride the development of self-discipline is your guarantee that you will eventually overcome all your obstacles and create a wonderful life for yourself the ability to practice self-discipline is the real reason why some people are more successful and happy than others how this book is written in the pages ahead i will describe the 21 areas in life in which the practice of self-discipline is vital to fulfilling your full potential and achieving everything that is possible for you this book is divided into three sections for greater ease of use part one is entitled self-discipline and personal success in these seven chapters you will learn how to release more and more of your personal potential by practicing self-discipline in every area of your personal life including setting goals building character accepting responsibility developing courage and backing everything you do with persistence and determination in the seven chapters of part two you will learn how to achieve vastly more than ever before in the areas of business sales and personal finance you learn why and how self-discipline is essential to becoming a leader in your field to operating a business more profitably to making more sales investing more intelligently and managing your time for maximum results finally in the seven chapters of part three you will learn how to apply the miracle of self-discipline to your personal life you will learn how to practice self-discipline in the areas of happiness health fitness marriage children friendship and the attainment of peace of mind you will learn how to enhance the quality of your life in your relationships in every area in each chapter i will show you how you can incorporate higher levels of self-discipline and self-mastery into everything you do in the pages ahead you will learn how to take complete control over your own personal and professional development and how to become a stronger happier more self-confident person in every area of your life that is important to you you will learn how to break old habits that may be holding you back and how to develop the habits of self-reliance self-determination and self-discipline that will enable you to set and achieve any goal you'll learn how to take complete control over your mind your emotions and your future when you master the power of self-discipline you will become unstoppable like a force of nature you will never make excuses for not making progress you will accomplish more in the next few months and years than most people accomplish in a lifetime part one self-discipline and personal success your success in life depends more on the person you become than on the things you do or acquire as aristotle wrote the ultimate end of life is the development of character in these chapters you will learn how to develop and use discipline in order to become an excellent person you'll learn how to develop greater self-esteem self-respect and personal pride you will learn the essential disciplines required for personal greatness and how to build them into your own character and personality chapter 1 self-discipline and success plato wrote the first and best victory is to conquer self why do some people accomplish so much more in their personal and professional lives than others this question has occupied some of the very best minds throughout human history more than 2 300 years ago aristotle wrote that the ultimate aim of human life is to be happy he said that the great question that each of us must answer is how shall we live in order to be happy your ability to ask and answer that question correctly for yourself and then to follow where your answer leads you will largely determine whether you achieve your own happiness and how soon begin with your own personal definition how do you define success if you could wave a magic wand and make your life perfect in every way what would it look like describe your ideal life if your business work and career were ideal in every way what would they look like what would you be doing what sort of a company would you work for what position would you have how much money would you earn what kind of people would you work with and especially what would you need to do more or less of to create your perfect career if your family life were perfect in every way what would it look like where would you live and how would you be living what kind of a lifestyle would you have what sort of things would you want to have and do with the members of your family if you had no limitations and you could wave a magic wand in what ways would you change your family life today if your health were perfect how would you describe it how would you feel how much would you weigh how would your levels of health and fitness be different from what they are today most of all what steps could you take immediately to begin moving toward your ideal levels of health and energy if your financial situation were ideal how much would you have in the bank how much would you be earning each month and each year from your investments if you had enough money so that you never had to worry about finances again how much would that be and what steps could you take starting today to create your ideal financial life do your own thing a popular definition of success is being able to live your life in your own way doing only those things that you want to do with the people who you choose in the situations you desire in each case when you begin to define what success means to you you can immediately see things that you should be doing more of or less of in order to begin creating your ideal life and the biggest thing that holds you back from moving in the direction of your dreams is usually a lack of self-discipline and your favorite excuses it's not that you don't know what to do but rather that you don't have the discipline to make yourself do what you should do whether you feel like it or not join the top 20 percent in our society the top 20 percent of people earn eighty percent of the money and enjoy eighty percent of the riches and rewards this pareto principle has been proven over and over again since it was first formulated in 1895 by vilfredo pareto your first goal in your career should be to get into the top 20 in your chosen field in the 21st century there's a premium on knowledge and skill the more knowledge you acquire and the greater skill that you apply the more competent and valuable you become as you get better at what you do your income earning ability increases like compound interest unfortunately the majority of people the bottom eighty percent make little or no effort to upgrade their skills most people according to jeffrey colvin's 2009 book talent is overrated learn their jobs in the first year of their employment and then they never get any better it is only the top people in every field who are committed to continuous improvement because of this increasing disparity of productive ability based on knowledge skill and hard work the top one percent of people in america today control as much as 33 percent of the financial assets starting with nothing interestingly almost everyone starts out the same in life with little or nothing almost all fortunes in america and worldwide are first generation this means that most individuals started with little or nothing and earn everything they own in their current lifetime the wealthiest people in america are almost all first generation multi-billionaires this is the case with wealthy americans such as bill gates warren buffett larry ellison michael dell and paul allen fully 80 percent of millionaires and multi-millionaires started with little money often penniless and sometimes deeply in debt with few advantages such as sam walton who died worth more than 100 billion dollars why have these people been able to achieve so much when so many have achieved so little in their book the millionaire next door thomas stanley and william danko interviewed more than 500 millionaires and surveyed 11 000 more over a 25-year period they asked them why they felt they had been able to achieve financial independence when most of the people around them who started at the same place were still struggling fully 85 percent of this new generation of millionaires replied by saying something like i didn't have a better education or more intelligence but i was willing to work harder than anyone else hard work is the key the indispensable requirement for hard work is self-discipline success is only possible when you can overcome the natural tendency to cut corners and take the easy way lasting success is only possible when you can discipline yourself to work hard for a long long time as i mentioned in the introduction i started my own life with no money or advantages for years i worked at laboring jobs at which i earned just enough to get from paycheck to paycheck i stumbled into sales when i could no longer find a laboring job where i spun my wheels for many months before i begin asking that question why is it that some people are more successful in selling than others one day a top salesman told me that the top twenty percent of sales people earn eighty percent of the money i had never heard that rule before this meant that the bottom eighty percent of salespeople had to be satisfied with the remaining twenty percent with what was left over after the top people had taken the lion's share i decided then and there that i was going to be in the top 20 and this decision changed my life the great law then i learned the iron law of the universe which made getting into the top 20 percent possible it was the law of cause and effect or sowing and reaping this law says that for every effect there is a specific cause or series of causes this law says that if you want to achieve success in any area you must determine how success is achieved in that area and then practice those skills and activities repeatedly until you achieve the same results here's the rule if you do what other successful people do over and over again nothing can stop you from eventually enjoying the same rewards that they do but if you don't do what successful people do nothing can help you the law of sowing and reaping from the old testament is a variation of the law of cause and effect it says that whatsoever a man soweth that also shall he reap this law says that whatever you put in you get out it also says that whatever you are reaping today is a result of what you have sown in the past so if you're not happy with your current crop it's up to you starting today to plant a new crop to begin doing more of those things that lead to success and to stop engaging in those activities that lead nowhere success is predictable success is not an accident sadly failure is not an accident either you succeed when you do what other successful people do over and over until these behaviors become a habit likewise you fail if you don't do what successful people do in either case nature is neutral nature does not take sides nature doesn't care what happens to you is simply a matter of law the law of cause and effect you can look at yourself as a machine with a default mechanism your default mechanism is the almost irresistible attraction of the expediency factor and the path of least resistance that i described in the introduction in the absence of self-discipline your default mechanism goes off automatically this is the main cause of underachievement and the failure to realize your true potential when you are not working deliberately consciously and continuously to do be and have those things that constitute success for you your default mechanism is at work you end up doing those fun easy and low value things in the short term that lead to frustration financial worries and failure in the long term the great oil man h.l hunt who was at one time the richest self-made billionaire in the world was once asked by a television journalist for his secrets of success he replied there are only three requirements for success first decide exactly what it is you want in life second determine the price that you're going to have to pay to get the things you want and third and this is most important resolve to pay that price one of the most important requirements for success once you have decided what it is that you want is the quality of willingness successful people are willing to pay the price whatever it is and for as long as it takes until they achieve the results they desire everyone wants to be successful everyone wants to be healthy happy thin and rich but most people are not willing to pay the price occasionally they may be willing to pay part of the price but they're not willing to pay the whole price they always hold back they always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals pay the price how can you tell when you have paid the full price of success it's simple look around you there it is you can always tell how much of the price of success you have paid by looking at your current lifestyle and your bank account by the law of correspondence your outer world will like a mirror always reflect the person you are and the price that you have paid on the inside there's an interesting point about the price of success it must always be paid in full and in advance success however you define it is not like a restaurant where you pay after you've enjoyed your meal instead it's like a cafeteria where you can choose whatever you want but you must pay for it before you eat it motivational speaker zig ziglar says the elevator to success is out of order but the stairs are always open learn from the experts cop copmeyer who i mentioned in the introduction also told me that the second most important success principle after self-discipline is that you must learn from the experts he said you will never live long enough to learn it all for yourself if you want to be successful your first job is to learn what you need to learn in order to achieve the success you desire learn from the experts read their books listen to their audio programs attend their seminars write to them or approach them directly and ask for advice sometimes one idea is all you need to change the direction of your life let me give you an example of what i mean some years ago i was referred by a friend to an excellent dentist i learned later that he had a superb reputation he was called the dentist's dentist he was the dentist that the other dentist went to when they needed excellent dental work he told me that he attended every major dental conference that he could when he was there he attended every session listening to dentists from all over the country and all over the world discuss the latest breakthroughs in dental technology one week at great sacrifice and time and money he attended an international dental conference in hong kong at that conference he sat in on a session given by a japanese dentist who discovered a new technology in cosmetic surgery that improved the appearance of teeth and enabled people to look handsome or beautiful indefinitely he returned to san diego and immediately began using the new technique in his practice soon he became excellent in this area and developed a national reputation within a couple of years people were coming to him from all over southwestern united states for this treatment because he had developed this expertise he could raise his fees again and again eventually he had made so much money that he was able to retire at the age of 55 financially independent and able to spend the rest of his life with his family traveling and fulfilling his dreams the point of this story is that by continually seeking out ideas and advice from other experts in his field he came across a new technology that helped him become the leader in his field and saved him 10 years of hard work in order to achieve the same level of financial success this could happen to you as well but only if you become a lifelong student of your craft mental and physical fitness need to be ongoing achieving success is like achieving physical fitness it is like bathing brushing your teeth and eating it is something that you need to do continuously every day once you begin you never stop until your life and career are over and you've achieved all the success you desire not long ago i was giving a seminar in seattle just before the break i encouraged people to buy and listen to my audio programs on sales time management and personal success at the break several people came up to me to ask me questions about the seminar content one salesman pushed his way forward and said loudly when you encourage people to buy your programs you should tell them the whole truth i ask how do you mean he went on to say you are not telling the whole truth about your programs you should tell people that they only work for a certain period of time and then they stop working again i asked him how do you mean he said well i came to your seminar about five years ago and i was completely convinced by your presentation i bought all your programs and began listening to them i read every day in sales and you were right over the next three years i tripled my income and became the top seller in my company but then my income flattened out and has not increased at all over the last two years the fact is that your materials stop working after a certain point i then asked him in front of all these other people what happened to you two years ago when your income flattened out and stopped increasing he searched his memory thought for a while and said well i was selling so much that i was hired away by another company ever since i started my new job my income has remained flat i asked him what did you do differently in your new job in comparison with your previous job he started to answer and then he stopped a shocked look came over his face finally he replied oh my gosh i stopped doing it when i changed jobs i stopped reading in sales i stopped listening to audio programs i stopped attending seminars i stopped doing it he walked away shaking his head muttering to himself i stopped doing it i stopped doing it i stopped doing it becoming an expert in your field continually upgrading your skills which i will talk about in chapter five is like physical fitness if you stop exercising for any period of time you don't maintain your fitness at the same level you begin to decline your body and your muscles become softer and weaker you lose your strength flexibility and stamina in order to maintain them you must keep working at them every day every week and every month become all you can be there's an even more important reason for you to practice the self-discipline that leads onward and upward to the great successes that are possible for you the practice of self-discipline enables you to change your character to become a stronger and better person the exercise of self-discipline has a powerful effect on your mind and emotions developing you into a different person from the one that you would have been without self-discipline imagine yourself in a chemistry lab you mix a series of chemicals in a petri dish and put it over a bunsen burner the bunsen burner heats the chemicals to the point at which they crystallize and become hardened but once you crystallize these chemicals using intense heat they cannot be transformed back into liquid form in the same way your personality begins like a liquid soft fluid and formless but as you apply the heat of self-discipline as you exert yourself to do what is hard and necessary rather than what is fun and easy your personality crystallizes and hardens at a higher level as well the greatest benefit you enjoy from exerting self-discipline in the pursuit of your goals is that you become a different person you become stronger and more resolute you develop greater self-control and determination you actually shape and strengthen your personality and transform yourself into a better person the rule is that to become someone that you have never been before you must do something that you have never done before this means that to develop a superior character you must exert ever higher levels of self-discipline and self-mastery on yourself you must do the things that average people don't like to do another success principle is that to achieve something that you've never achieved before you must learn and practice qualities and skills that you've never had before by practicing self-discipline you become a new person you become better stronger and more clearly defined you develop higher levels of self-esteem self-respect and personal pride you move yourself up the ladder of human evolution and become a person of higher character and resolve success is its own reward the wonderful thing about the achievement of success is that every step in that direction is rewarding in itself each step you take toward becoming a better person and accomplishing more than you ever have before makes you feel happier more confident and more fulfilled you've heard it said that nothing succeeds like success what this means is that the greatest reward of success is not the money you make but rather the excellent person you become in the process of striving towards success and exerting self-discipline every time it's required in the next chapter i will explain to you how you can become the truly excellent person you are capable of becoming now here are some action exercises take out a pen right now and write down your answers to the questions below one if your work life and career were ideal what would they look like what one discipline could you develop would help you to achieve it two if your family life were ideal what would it look like and what one discipline would help you the very most to make it a reality three if your health were perfect in every way what discipline would you have that would make that possible four if your financial situation were ideal today what one discipline would you have that would help you the most five why aren't you already as successful as you would like to be and what one discipline would help you the most to achieve all your goals six what one skill could you develop that would help you to realize more of your goals and seven if you could wave a magic wand and be completely disciplined in any one area which one discipline would have the greatest positive impact on your life chapter 2 self-discipline and character henry ward beecher wrote hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you never excuse yourself never pity yourself be a hard master to yourself and be lenient to everyone else the development of character is the great business of life your ability to develop a reputation as a person of character and honor is the highest achievement of both social and business life ralph waldo emerson wrote what you do speaks so loudly that i cannot hear a word you say the person you are today your innermost character is the sum total of all your choices and decisions in life up to this date each time you have chosen rightly and acted consistently with the very best that you know you have strengthened your character and become a better person the reverse is also true each time you have compromised taken the easy way or behaved in a manner inconsistent with what you knew to be right you have weakened your character and softened your personality the great virtues there are a series of virtues or values that are usually possessed by a person of character these are courage compassion generosity temperance persistence and friendliness among others we'll talk about some of these in part three of this book coming before all these values however is the most important one of all when determining the depth and strength of your character integrity it is your level of integrity living in complete truth with yourself and others that demonstrates more than anything else the quality of your character in a way integrity is actually the value that guarantees all the other values when your level of integrity is higher you are more honest with yourself and more likely to live consistently with all the other values that you admire and respect however it takes tremendous self-discipline to become a person of character it takes considerable willpower to always do the right thing in every situation and it takes both self-discipline and willpower to resist the temptation to cut corners to take the easy way or to act for short-term advantage all of life is a test to see what you are really made of deep down inside wisdom can be developed in private through study and reflection but character can only be developed in the give and take of daily life when you are forced to choose and decide among alternatives and temptations the test of character it is only when you are under pressure when you are forced to choose one way or another to either live consistently with a value or to compromise it that you demonstrate your true character emerson also said guard your integrity as a sacred thing nothing at last is sacred except the integrity of your own mind you are a choosing organism you are constantly making choices one way or the other every choice you make is a statement about your true values and priorities at each moment you choose what is more important or of higher value to you over what is less important or of lesser value the only bulwark against temptation the path of least resistance and the expediency factor is character the only way you can develop your full character is by exerting your willpower in every situation when you are tempted to do what is easy and expedient rather than what is correct and necessary the big payoff the payoff for becoming a person of character for exercising your willpower and self-discipline to live consistently with the very best that you know is tremendous when you choose the higher value over the lower the more difficult over the easy the right over the wrong you feel good about yourself your self-esteem increases you like and respect yourself more you have a greater sense of personal pride in addition to feeling excellent about yourself when you behave with character you also earn the respect and esteem of all the people around you they will look up to you and admire you doors will be open for you people will help you you'll be paid more promoted faster and given even greater responsibilities as you become a person of honor and character opportunities will appear all around you on the other hand you can have all the intelligence talent and ability in the world but if people do not trust you you will never get ahead people will not hire you and if they do they will de-hire you as soon as possible financial institutions will not lend you money because birds of a feather flock together the only associates never friends you will ever have will be other people of questionable character furthermore since the people you associate with have a major effect on your attitude and personality you make or break your entire life with the quality of your character or the lack thereof the development of character aristotle wrote all advancement in society begins with the development of the character of the young this means that advancement in your life begins with the learning and practice of values you learn values in one or all of three ways instruction study and practice let's look at each of these more closely teach your children values one of the chief roles of parenting is to teach children values this requires patient instruction and explaining values to them over and over again as they are growing up once is never enough the value and the importance of living by that value must be explained parents must not only give illustrations but also contrast the adherence to a value especially that of telling the truth with its opposite that of lying or telling half truths children are very susceptible to the lessons they receive from the important people in their lives as they are growing up they accept what you say as their parent as a fact as absolute truth they absorb what you say like a sponge you write your description of values on their souls which are like wet clay so that what you write becomes a permanent part of the way they see the world and relate to life more than anything else as we'll see in chapter 19 you demonstrate your values in your behavior your children watch you and strive to emulate the values that you not only teach and preach but also practice and they are always watching the rockefeller family children were famous for being taught financial values at an early age even though their father was one of the richest men in america the children were giving tasks and chores to perform before they received their allowances they were then instructed on how to spend their allowances how to save how much to give to charity and how much to invest as a result they grew up to become successful businessmen and statesman unlike children who had grown up in wealthy homes who were seldom disciplined in money matters study the values you admire you learn values by studying them closely the law of concentration says that whatever you dwell upon grows and increases in your life what this means is that when you study and read stories about men and women who demonstrated the kind of values that you admire and respect and then think about those stories and that behavior those values sink ever deeper into your mind once these values are programmed into your subconscious they create a propensity within you to behave consistently with those values when the situation requires them for example in military training soldiers are continually told stories of courage obedience discipline and the importance of supporting their fellow soldiers the more they hear these stories discuss them and think about them the more likely they are to behave consistently with these values when they're under the pressure of actual combat the core value or virtue of character is truth whenever you tell the truth however inconvenient it may be at the time you feel better about yourself and you earn the respect of the people around you one of the highest accolades you can pay another person is to say that he or she always tells the truth emulate the people you most admire much of your character is determined by the people you most admire both living and dead who are they looking over your life and history make a list of the people whom you most admire and next to their names write out the virtues or values that they most represent to you if you could spend an afternoon with anyone living or dead what one person would you choose why would you choose that person what would you talk about during your afternoon together what questions would you ask and what would you want to learn consider this as well why would that person want to spend an afternoon with you what are the virtues and values that you have developed that make you a valuable and interesting person what makes you special practice the values you respect you develop values by practicing them whenever they are called for as the roman stoic philosopher epictetus said circumstances do not make the man they merely reveal him to himself when a problem occurs people tend to react automatically based on the highest values that they have developed up to that moment we develop values by repetition by behaving consistently with a particular value over and over again until it becomes a habit and locks in so that we come to practice it automatically men and women with highly developed characters behave in a manner consistent with their highest values and they do so without thought or hesitation there's no question in their minds about whether or not they're doing the right thing the structure of personality the psychology of character involves the three parts of your personality yourself ideal your self-image and your self-esteem your self-ideal is that part of your mind composed of your values virtues ideals goals aspirations and your idea of the very best person that you could possibly be in other words your self-ideal is composed of those values that you most admire in others and most aspire to possess in yourself the most important part of yourself ideal is summarized in the word clarity superior people are those who are absolutely clear about who they are and what they believe they have complete clarity about the values they believe in and what they stand for they are not confused or indecisive they are firm and resolute when it comes to any decision in which a value is involved on the other hand weak and irresolute people are fuzzy and unclear about their values they have only a vague notion of what is right or wrong in any situation as a result they take the path of least resistance and act expediently they do whatever seems to be the fastest and easiest thing to get what they want in the short term giving little or no consideration or concern about the consequences of their acts the evolution of character in biology life forms are categorized from the least to the most complex from single-celled plankton all the way up to the increasingly complex spectrum of life to the human being similarly human beings can be organized along a spectrum as well from the least to the most developed the lowest forms of humans are those with no values virtues or character these people always act expediently and take the path of least resistance in their search for immediate gratification at the highest levels of development of the human race however are those men and women of complete integrity who would never compromise their honesty or their character for anything including the threat of financial loss pain or even death george washington is famous for his honesty which was demonstrated in the story in which he admitted that he had cut down the cherry tree in the same vein the founding fathers of the united states wrote that we hereby pledge our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor to the signing of the declaration of independence in his book trust the social virtues and the creation of prosperity philosopher francis fukuyama observed that societies worldwide can be divided into two kinds high trust and low trust he also argues that the highest trust societies those in which integrity is most admired encouraged and respected are also the most law-abiding free and prosperous at the other end of the societal spectrum however are those societies characterized by tyranny thievery dishonesty and corruption each of these are without exception both undemocratic and poor trust is the key trust is the lubricant of human relationships where there is high trust among and between people economic activity flourishes and there are opportunities for all on the other hand where there is low trust economic resources are squandered in an attempt to protect against thievery and corruption or those resources are not available at all in the united states we have the constitution and bill of rights these documents lay out the rules by which americans agree to live they create the structure of our government and guarantee our rights but they assume that our elected representatives will be men and women of honor committed to protecting and defending those rights they attempt to assure that only men and women of character can thrive and prosper over the long term in our economic political and social system they aim to assure that in most cases only men and women of character can rise to high positions in society although our system is not perfect and people of questionable character occasionally rise to positions of prominence it is seldom for very long the basic demand of americans for honesty and integrity eventually leads to the exposure and censure of dishonest people the demand for men and women of character continues unabated your self-image your inner mirror the second part of your personality is your self-image this is the way we see and think about ourselves especially prior to any event of importance people always tend to behave on the outside consistently with way they see themselves on the inside this is often called our inner mirror into which we appear before we engage in any behavior when you see yourself as calm positive truthful and possessed of high character you behave with greater strength and personal power other people respect you more you feel in control of yourself and the situation what's more whenever you actually behave in a manner that is consistent with your highest values your self-image improves you see and think about yourself in a better light you feel happier and more confident your behavior and outward performance then reflects this increasingly improving inner picture you have of yourself as the very best person you can possibly be people tend to accept you at your own evaluation of yourself at least initially if you see and think of yourself as an excellent person who is possessed of high character you will treat other people with courtesy grace and respect in turn they will likewise treat you as a person of honor and character your self-esteem how much you like yourself the third part of your personality is your self-esteem this is how you feel about yourself your emotional core your self-esteem is defined as how much you like yourself but it's more than only this the more you see yourself as a valuable and important person the more positive and optimistic you will be when you truly consider yourself to be important and valuable you will treat other people as if they are important as well your self-esteem is largely determined by how consistent your self-image which shapes your personal behavior is with your self-ideal or your vision of the very best person you can possibly be whenever you act consistently with who you consider an excellent person to be your self-image improves and your self-esteem increases you like and respect yourself more you feel happy about yourself and others the more you like yourself the more you like others and the more they like you in return by acting with character and in harmony with your highest values you put your whole life internally and externally into an upward spiral in every area of your life things will get better and better for you your role models have a tremendous impact on shaping your character the more you admire a person and his or her qualities the more you strive both consciously and unconsciously to become like that person this is why clarity is so important always behave consistently whenever you act in a way that is consistent with your values you feel good about yourself whenever you compromise your values for any reason you feel bad about yourself this also means that when you compromise your values your self-confidence and self-esteem go down you feel uneasy and inferior inadequate and uncomfortable when you compromise your values deep down inside you feel that something is fundamentally wrong almost all human problems can be solved by a return to your highest values and your innermost convictions when you look back there have probably been situations in your life when you have compromised your values in order to save an investment keep a job preserve a relationship or maintain a friendship in each case you have felt worse and worse until you finally broke it off and walked away and how did you feel when you finally had the strength of character to walk away you felt wonderful whenever you use your willpower and strength of character to return to the values that are most dear to you you are rewarded with a wonderful feeling of happiness and exhilaration you feel energized and free you wonder why you didn't make that decision a long time ago do the right thing in the development of character that is based on self-discipline and willpower long-term thinking is essential the more you think about the long-term consequences of your behavior the more likely it is that you will do the right thing in the short term so when you have to make a choice or decision always ask the magic question what's important here practice the universal maxim of immanuel kant the philosopher he said resolve to behave as though your every act were to become a universal law for all people one of the great questions for the development of character is this what kind of a world would this world be if everyone in it was just like me whenever you slip whenever you do or say something that is inconsistent with your highest values immediately get back on your horse say to yourself this is not like me and resolve that next time you'll do better what you dwell upon grows if you are in a situation today in which you are not living up to your highest values make a decision this very minute to confront the situation and straighten it out the minute you do you will once again feel happy and back in control there's an old indian story on my shoulders are two wolves one is a black wolf evil who continually tempts me to do and say the wrong things on my other shoulder is a white wolf that continually encourages me to live up to my very best a listener asked the old man which of these wolves has the greatest power over you the old man replied the one i feed by the law of concentration whatever you dwell upon grows and increases in your life when you think and talk about the virtues and values that you most admire and respect you therefore program those values deeper and deeper into your subconscious until they begin to operate automatically in every situation whenever you exercise your self-discipline and willpower to live your life consistently with those values that you most aspire to be known for you begin to move rapidly along the path to becoming an excellent person now here are some action exercises for you take out a sheet of paper and write out your answers to these questions one name three people living or dead who you most admire and describe one quality of each of them that you respect two determine the most important virtue or quality in your life that you strive the most to practice or emulate three identify those situations in which you feel the most confident in which you feel like the very best person you could possibly be four what situations give you your greatest feelings of self-esteem and personal worth five if you are already an excellent person in every respect how would you behave differently from today onward six what one quality would you like people to think of when your name is mentioned and what could you do to ensure this happens seven in what one area do you need to be more truthful and practice higher levels of integrity than you do today whatever your answers write them down and then begin to practice them chapter 3 self-discipline and responsibility j paul getty said the individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit he must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires your ability and willingness to discipline yourself to accept personal responsibility for your life is essential to happiness health success achievement and personal leadership accepting responsibility is one of the hardest of all disciplines but without it no success is possible the failure to accept responsibility and the attempt of voiced responsibility for things in your life that make you unhappy onto other people institutions and situations completely distorts cause and effect undermines your character weakens your resolve and diminishes your humanity it leads to making endless excuses my great revelation when i was 21 i was living in a tiny apartment and working as a construction laborer i had to get up at 5 00 am so that i could take three buses to work in order to be there by 8 am i didn't get home until 7 pm tired out from carrying construction materials all day i was making just enough money to get by and i had no car almost no savings and just enough clothes for my needs i had no radio or television it was in the middle of a cold winter with the temperature at minus 35 degrees fahrenheit so i seldom went out in the evening instead if i had enough energy i sat in my small apartment at my little table in my kitchen nook and red one evening late at night as i was sitting there by myself at the table it suddenly dawned on me that this is my life this life was not a rehearsal for something else the game was on and i was the main character as in a play it was like a flash bulb going off in my face i looked at myself and around me at my small apartment and i considered the fact that i had not graduated from high school the only work that i was qualified to do was manual labor i earned just enough money to pay my basic expenses and i had very little left over at the end of the month i suddenly knew that unless i changed nothing else was going to change no one else was going to do it for me in reality no one else really cared i realized at that moment that from that day forward i was completely responsible for my life and for everything that happened to me i was responsible i could no longer blame my situation on my difficult childhood or mistakes i had made in the past i was in charge i was in the driver's seat this was my life and if i didn't do something to change it it would go on like this indefinitely by the simple force of inertia this revelation changed my life i was never the same again from that moment on i accepted more and more responsibility for everything in my life i accepted responsibility for doing my job better than before rather than doing only the minimum that was necessary to avoid getting fired i accepted responsibility for my finances my health and especially my future the very next day i went down to a local bookstore at my lunch break and began the lifelong practice of buying books with information ideas and lessons that could help me i dedicated my life to self-improvement to continuous learning in every way possible for the rest of my business life right up to the present moment whenever i've wanted or needed to learn something to help me i have returned to learning through reading to listening to audio programs and attending courses and seminars i found that you could learn anything you need to learn in order to accomplish any goal you set for yourself over time i learned that fully eighty percent of the population never accepts complete responsibility for their lives they continually complain criticize make excuses and blame other people for things in their lives about which they're not happy the consequences of this way of thinking however can be disastrous they can sabotage all hopes for success and happiness later in life from childhood to maturity when you are growing up from an early age you become conditioned to see yourself as not responsible for your life this is normal and natural when you're a child your parents are in charge they make all your decisions they decide what food you will eat what clothes you will wear what toys you will play with what home you will live in what school you'll attend and what activities you'll engage in during your spare time because you are young innocent and unknowing you do what they want you to do you have little choice or control as you grow up however you begin to make more and more of your own decisions in each of these areas but because of your early programming you are conditioned unconsciously to feel that someone else is still responsible for your life that there's still someone else out there who can or should take care of you most people grow up believing that if something goes wrong someone else is responsible someone else is to blame someone else is guilty someone else is the villain and they are the victim as a result most people make more and more excuses for the things in their lives past and present that make them unhappy get over the mistakes your parents made if your parents criticized you or got angry with you for mistakes you made when you were growing up you began to unconsciously assume that somehow you were at fault if your parents punished you physically or emotionally for doing or not doing something that pleased or displeased them you felt inferior and inadequate when your parents withheld their love to punish you for not doing something they demanded you might have grown up with deep feelings of guilt unworthiness and undeservingness all these negative feelings could then intersect to make you feel like a victim like you are not responsible for yourself or your life once you became an adult the most common feeling that we have as adults if we have been raised in a critical home environment is the feeling that i'm not good enough because of this feeling we compare ourselves unfavorably to others we think that other people who seem to be happier or more confident are better than us we develop feelings of inferiority this can become an emotional trap the fatal fallacy if we think for any reason that others are better than us we unconsciously assume that we must be worse than they are if they are worth more than we are we assume that we must be worth less this feeling of inadequacy or worthlessness lies at the root of most personality problems in our lives as well as most political and social problems in our world both nationally and to escape from these feelings of guilt and worthlessness that have been instilled in us as the result of destructive criticism in childhood we lash out at our world other people and situations in any part of our life with which we are unhappy or discontented our first reaction is to look around and ask who's to blame most religions teach the concept of sin which states that whenever something goes wrong someone is to blame someone has done something bad someone is guilty someone must be punished this whole idea of guilt and punishment leads to ever increasing feelings of anger resentment and irresponsibility an attitude of irresponsibility our courts today are clogged with thousands of people demanding redress and payment for something that went wrong in their lives backed up by ambitious plaintiff lawyers people go to court demanding compensation even if they themselves are completely at fault for what happened especially if they are at fault people don't want to accept responsibility people spill hot coffee on themselves and sue the fast food restaurant that sold them the coffee in the first place people get drunk and drive off the road and then turn around and sue the manufacturer of the 15 year old car they were driving people climb up on a stepladder and lean over too far falling to the ground they then sue the ladder manufacturer for their injury in each case people are attempting to escape responsibility for their own behaviors by blaming someone else making excuses and then demanding compensation eliminating negative emotions the common denominator of all people is the desire to be happy in its simplest terms happiness arises from the absence of negative emotions where there are no negative emotions all that is left is positive emotions therefore the elimination of negative emotions is your great business in life if you truly wish to be happy there are dozens of negative emotions although the most common are guilt resentment envy jealousy fear and hostility they all ultimately boil down to a feeling of anger directed either inward or outward anger is directed inwardly when you bottle it up rather than expressing it constructively to others anger is directed outwardly when you criticize or attack other people psychosomatic illness negative emotions are the major causes of psychosomatic illness this occurs when the mind psycho makes the body soma sick negative emotions especially as expressed in the form of anger weaken your immune system and make you susceptible to colds flu and other diseases uncontrolled bursts of anger can actually bring about heart attacks strokes and nervous breakdowns here's the great discovery all negative emotions especially anger depend for their very existence on your ability to blame someone or something else for something in your life that you're not happy about it takes tremendous self-discipline to refrain from blaming others for our problems it takes enormous self-control to refuse to make excuses it takes tremendous self-discipline for you to accept complete responsibility for everything you are everything you become and everything that happens to you even if you are not directly responsible for something that happens like hurricane katrina you are responsible for your responses for what you do and say from that moment forward it takes tremendous self mastery for you to take complete control of your conscious mind and deliberately choose to think positive constructive thoughts that enhance your life and improve the quality of your relationships and results but the payoff of this form of positive thinking is tremendous blaming is easy by following the path of least resistance the easiest and most mindless behavior of all is for a person to lash out and blame someone else anytime anything goes wrong for any reason people who develop the habit of automatically blaming often become angry at things blaming inanimate objects when they do not function as expected is so silly that it almost becomes a mild form of insanity people become angry at doors that stick they swear at tools that they are using when they themselves make a mistake they get mad when their car doesn't start even if it is an inanimate object if it doesn't work perfectly then the thing must be to blame people will often kick a car that they are mad at or a box that they tripped over the antidote to negative emotions the fastest and most dependable way to eliminate negative emotions is to immediately say i am responsible whenever something happens that triggers anger or negative reaction of any kind quickly neutralize the feelings of negativity by saying i am responsible the law of substitution says that you can substitute a positive thought for a negative one since your mind can only hold one thought at a time when you deliberately choose the positive thought i am responsible you cancel out any other thought or emotion at that moment it is not possible to accept responsibility and remain angry at the same time it's not possible to accept responsibility and experience negative emotions it's not possible to accept responsibility without becoming calm clear positive and focused once more as long as you are blaming someone else for something in your life that you don't like you will remain a mental child you continue to see yourself as small and helpless like a victim you continue to lash out however when you begin to accept responsibility for everything that happens to you you transform yourself into a mental adult you will see yourself as being in charge of your own life and no longer a victim in alcoholics anonymous people who are having problems with drinking attend meetings with others going through the same situation what they have found is that until the individual accepts responsibility for his or her problems both with alcohol and in other areas of life no progress is possible but after the person accepts responsibility everything is possible this is true with almost every difficult situation in life in which you project your unhappiness onto other people or factors outside yourself money and emotions many of our biggest problems and concerns in life have to do with money earning it spending it investing it and especially losing it as a result many of our negative emotions are associated with money in some way however the fact is that you are responsible for your financial life you choose you decide you're in charge you cannot blame your financial problems or situation on other people you are in the driver's seat so it is only when you accept responsibility for your income who chose to accept the job you are working at your bills who spent the money that put you into debt and your investments who made those decisions can you move from becoming an economic child to an economic adult responsibility and control there's a direct relationship between the acceptance of responsibility and the amount of personal control you feel you have over your life this means that the more you accept responsibility the greater sense of control you experience there's also a direct relationship between the amount of control you feel you have and how positive you feel the more you feel that you have a high sense of control in the important areas of your life the more positive and happy you are in everything you do when you accept responsibility you feel strong powerful and purposeful accepting responsibility eliminates the negative emotions that rob you of happiness and contentment in every situation the antidote to negative emotions is to say i am responsible then look into the situation to find the reasons why you are responsible for what happened or for what is going on your intelligence is like a double-edged sword it can cut in either direction you can use your intelligence to rationalize justify and blame other people for things you're not happy about or you can use your intelligence to find reasons why you are responsible for what happened and then take action to solve the problem or resolve the situation you can make excuses or you can make progress you choose even if an accident has occurred such as your car being damaged in the parking lot while you're at work you may not be legally at fault for the accident but you are still responsible for your responses for how you behave as a result of what happened never complain never explain the mark of the leader the truly superior person is that he or she accepts complete responsibility for the situation it's not possible to imagine a true leader who whines and complains rather than taking action when problems and difficulties arise this sense of response ability is the mark of the highly developed personality you take responsibility for your life by resolving in advance that you will not become upset or angry over something that you cannot affect or change just as you do not become angry about the weather you do not become angry over circumstances and situations over which you have no control furthermore you especially do not allow yourself to be angry and unhappy in the present because of unhappy experiences or situations from the past you say what cannot be cured must be endured it's amazing how many people are unhappy today because of a past event even something that happened many years ago each time they think of the negative experience they become angry or depressed once more the good news is that at any time you can stop thinking about discussing and rehashing the past you can let it go and begin thinking instead about your goals and your unlimited future as helen keller said when you turn toward the sunshine the shadows fall behind you self-mastery and self-control any self-discipline self-mastery and self-control begins with taking responsibility for your emotions you take charge of your emotions by accepting 100 responsibility for yourself and for your responses to everything that happens to you you refuse to make excuses complain criticize or blame other people for anything instead you say i am responsible and then you take action of some kind the only antidote is action the only real antidote for anger or worry is purposeful action in the direction of your goals which is the subject of the next chapter before you turn to that however resolve today to first take complete control of your thoughts feelings and actions and then to get so busy working on things that are important to you that you don't have time to think about or express negative emotions to or about anyone for any reason when you exert your self-discipline and willpower in the acceptance of personal responsibility for your life you take complete control of your thoughts and feelings by doing so you become a much more effective happy and positive person in everything you do now here are some action exercises for you one resolve today to accept 100 responsibility for everything you are and for everything you become never complain never explain two look into your past and select the person or incident that still makes you unhappy today instead of justifying your negative feelings look for reasons why you were partially responsible for what happened three select a relationship in your past that made you unhappy and then give three reasons why you were responsible for what occurred four select one person in your past with whom you are still angry and resolve to forgive that person completely for what happened this act will liberate you emotionally five accept complete responsibility for your financial situation and refuse to blame any financial problems on anyone else now what steps are you going to take to resolve that situation 6. accept complete responsibility for your family situation with each person and then take immediate action to improve your relationships wherever there may be problems and number seven accept one hundred percent responsibility for your health resolve today to do or stop doing whatever is necessary for you to attain excellent all-around health chapter 4 self-discipline and goals jim rohn said discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals for yourself and then to work toward them every day will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor you need to have goals to accomplish worthwhile things in life you've probably heard it said that you can't hit a target that you can't see if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there and as wayne gretzky said you miss every shot you don't take the very act of taking the time to decide what you really want in each area of your life can change your life completely the three percent factor it seems that only three percent of adults have written goals and plans and this three percent earn more than all of the other 97 percent put together why is this the simplest answer is that if you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it you therefore have a track to run on every single day instead of being sidetracked by distractions and diversions getting lost or going astray more and more of your time is focused in a straight line from where you are to where you want to go this is why people with goals accomplish so much more than people without them the tragedy is that most people think that they already have goals but what they really have are hopes and wishes however hope is not a strategy for success and a wish has been defined as a goal with no energy behind it goals that are not written down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge people with unwritten goals go through life shooting blanks because they think they already have goals they never engage in the hard disciplined effort of goal setting and this is the master skill of success multiply your chances of success in 2006 usa today reported a study in which researchers selected a large and a number of people who had made new year's resolutions they then divided these people into two categories those who had set new year's resolutions and written them down and those who had set new year's resolutions but had not written them down twelve months later they followed up on the respondents in this study and what they found was astonishing of the people who had set new year's resolutions but had not written them down only four percent had actually followed through on their resolutions but among the group who had written down their new year's resolutions an exercise requiring only a couple of minutes 44 had followed through on them this is a difference of more than 1100 percent in success and it was achieved by the simple act of crystallizing the resolutions on paper the discipline of writing in my experience working with several million people over the past 25 years the disciplined act of writing out goals making plans for accomplishing them and then working on those goals daily increases the likelihood of achieving your goals by ten times or one thousand percent this doesn't mean that writing out your goals guarantees success but rather only that it increases the probability of success by ten times these are very good odds to have working in your favor especially when there is no cost or risk involved in putting pen to paper just a little time writing is called a psychoneuromotor activity the act of writing forces you to think and concentrate it forces you to choose what is more important to you and your future as a result when you write down a goal you impress it into your subconscious mind which then goes to work 24 hours a day to bring your goal to reality sometimes i tell my seminar audiences only three percent of adults have written goals and everyone else works for those people in life you either work to achieve your own goals or you work to achieve the goals of someone else which is it going to be success versus failure mechanisms your brain has both a success mechanism and a failure mechanism the failure mechanism is the temptation to follow the undisciplined path of least resistance to do what is fun and easy rather than what is hard and necessary your failure mechanism operates automatically throughout your life which is the major reason why most people fail to fulfill their individual potentials while your failure mechanism functions automatically your success mechanism is triggered by a goal when you decide on a goal you override your failure mechanism and can help you change the direction of your life you go from being a ship without a rudder drifting with the tide to being a ship with a rudder a compass and a clear destination sailing in a straight direction towards your goal the power of goals a client of mine recently told me an interesting story he said that he had attended one of my seminars in 1994 where i spoke about the importance of writing down goals and making plans for accomplishing them at that time he was 35 years old selling cars for a dealership in nashville and earning about fifty thousand dollars a year he told me that that day changed his life he began writing out his goals and plans and working on them daily twelve years later he was earning more than one million dollars a year and was the president of a fast-growing company that sells services to some of the biggest companies in the country he told me that he could not imagine what his life would have been like if he had not taken out a piece of paper and written down the goals he wanted to achieve in the years ahead take control of your life aristotle wrote that human beings are teleological organisms which simply means that we are purpose driven therefore you only feel happy and in control of your life when you have a clear goal that you aren't working toward each day this also means that this ability to become a lifelong goal setter is one of the most important disciplines you will ever develop in nature the homing pigeon is a remarkable bird it has an uncanny instinct that enables it to fly back to its home roost no matter how far away it starts or in what direction it must go you can take a homing pigeon out of its roost put it in a cage put the cage in a box cover the box with a blanket and put the covered box in the back of a pickup truck you could then drive one thousand miles in any direction open up the truck take out the box take off the blanket open the cage and throw the homing pigeon up into the air the homing pigeon will circle three times get its bearings and then fly straight back to its home roost this is the only creature on earth that has this ability except for human beings except for you you also have this remarkable homing ability within your own brain but with one special difference the homing pigeon seems to know instinctively exactly where its home roost is located it then has the ability to fly directly back to that roost in contrast when human beings program a goal into their minds they can then set out without having any idea where they will go or how they will achieve that goal but by some miracle they will begin to move unerringly toward that goal and the goal will begin to move toward them still many people are hesitant to set goals they say i want to be financially independent but i have no idea how i'm going to get there as a result they don't even set financial success as a goal but the good news is that you don't need to know how to get there you just need to be clear about what you want to accomplish and the goal striving mechanism in your brain will guide you unerringly to your destination for example you can decide that you are going to find your ideal job in which you work for and with people you like and respect and do work that is both challenging enjoyable you take some time to write down an exact description of what your ideal job and workplace would look like and then you go out into the job market and begin searching after a series of interviews you will often walk into the right place at the right time and find yourself in exactly the right job almost everyone has had this experience at one time or another you can have it by design rather than by chance simply by developing absolute clarity about what you really want the seven-step method to achieving your goals there are seven simple steps that you can follow to set and achieve your goals faster there are more complex and detailed goal-achieving methodologies but this seven-step method will enable you to accomplish ten times more than you've ever accomplished before and you will do so far faster than you can currently imagine step one decide exactly what you want be specific if you want to increase your income decide on a specific amount of money rather than to just make more money step two write it down a goal that is not in writing is like cigarette smoke it drifts away and disappears it is vague and insubstantial it has no force effect or power but a written goal becomes something that you can see touch read and modify if necessary step three set a deadline for your goal pick a reasonable time period and write down the date when you want to achieve it if it's a big enough goal set a final deadline and then set sub deadlines or interim steps between where you are today and where you want to be in the future a deadline serves as a forcing system in your brain just as you often get more done when you're under the pressure of a specific deadline your subconscious mind works faster and more efficiently when you have decided that you want to achieve a goal by a specific time the rule is there are no unrealistic goals there are only unrealistic deadlines what do you do if you don't achieve your goal by your deadline simple you set another deadline a deadline is just a guesstimate sometimes you will achieve your goal before the deadline sometimes at the deadlines and sometimes after the deadline when you set your goal it will be within the context of a certain set of external circumstances but these circumstances may change causing you to change your deadline as well be flexible step number four make a list of everything that you could think of that you could possibly do to achieve your goal as henry ford said the biggest goal can be accomplished if you just break it down into enough small steps make a list of the obstacles and difficulties that you will have to overcome both external and internal in order to achieve your goal make a list of the additional knowledge and skills that you will require in order to achieve your goal make a list of the people whose cooperation and support you will require to achieve your goal make a list of everything that you can think of that you will have to do and then add to this list as new tasks and responsibilities occur to you keep writing until your list is complete step five organize your list by both sequence and priority a list of activities organized by sequence requires that you decide what you need to do first what you need to do second and what you need to do later on in addition a list organized by priority enables you to determine what is more important and what is less important sequence and priority are the same but often they are not for example if you want to start a particular kind of business the first item in order of sequence might be for you to purchase a book or enroll in a course on that business but what is most important is your ability to develop a business plan based on complete market research that you can use to gather the resources you need and actually start the business you have in mind step six take action on your plan immediately take the first step and then the second step and the third step get going get busy move quickly don't delay remember procrastination is not only the thief of time it's the thief of life the difference between success and failures in life is simply that winners take the first step they are action oriented as they said in star trek they go boldly where no man has ever gone before winners are willing to take action with no guarantees of success though they're willing to face failure and disappointment they're always willing to take action as well step 7 do something every day that moves you in the direction of your major goal this is the key step that will guarantee your success do something seven days a week 365 days a year do anything that moves you at least one step closer to the goal that is most important to you at that time when you do something every day that moves you in the direction of your goal you develop momentum this momentum this sense of forward motion motivates inspires and energizes you as you develop momentum you'll find it increasingly easy to take more steps towards your goal in no time at all you will have developed the discipline of setting and achieving your goals it will soon become easy and automatic you will soon develop a habit and the discipline of working toward your goals all the time the 10 goal exercise this is one of the most powerful goal achieving methods i have ever discovered i teach it all over the world and i practice it myself almost every day here's how it works take out a clean sheet of paper at the top of the page write the word goals and today's date then discipline yourself to write down 10 goals that you'd like to accomplish in the next 12 months write down financial family goals and fitness goals as well as goals for personal possessions like a house or a car don't worry for the moment about how you're going to achieve these goals just write them down as quickly as you can you can write as many as 15 goals if you like but this exercise requires that you write down a minimum of 10 within three to five minutes select one goal once you've written out your 10 goals imagine for the moment that you can achieve all the goals on your list if you wanted them long enough and hard enough also imagine that you have a magic wand that you can wave that will enable you to achieve any one goal on your list within 24 hours if you could achieve any one goal on your list within 24 hours which one would have the greatest positive impact on your life right now which one goal would change or improve your life more than anything else which one goal if you were to achieve it would help you to achieve more of your other goals than anything else whatever your answer to this question put a circle around this goal and then write it at the top of a clean sheet of paper this goal then becomes your major definite purpose it becomes your focal point and the organizing principle of your future activities make a plan once you've written out this goal clearly and specifically and made it measurable set a deadline on your goal your subconscious mind needs a deadline so that it can focus and concentrate all your mental powers on goal attainment make a list of everything that you could think of that you could do to achieve your goal organize this list by sequence and priority select the most important or logical next step in your plan and take action on it immediately take the first step do something do anything resolve to work on this goal every single day until it's achieved from this moment forward as far as you are concerned failure is not an option once you've decided that this one goal can have the greatest positive impact on your life and you've said it as your major definite purpose resolve that you will work toward this goal as hard as you can as long as you can and that you will never give up until it's achieved this decision alone can change your life use mindstorming to get started here's another technique that you can use to dramatically increase the likelihood that you will achieve your most important goal this is the most powerful creative thinking technique i've ever seen more people have become wealthy using this method than any other way take another clean sheet of paper write out your major definite purpose your number one goal at the top of the page in the form of a question then discipline yourself to write a minimum of 20 answers to the question for example if your goal is to earn a certain amount of money by a certain date you would write the question how can i earn this amount of money by this specific date you then discipline yourself to generate 20 answers to your question this exercise of mindstorming will activate your mind unleash your creativity and give you ideas that you may have never thought of before the first three to five answers will be easy the next five will be difficult and the last ten answers will be harder than you can imagine at least the first time you do this exercise nonetheless you must exert your discipline and willpower to persist until you have written down at least 20 answers once you've generated 20 answers look over your list and select one of those answers to take action on immediately it seems that when you take action on a single idea on your list it triggers more ideas and motivates you to take action on even more of these answers the great law of cause and effect the most important application of the law of cause and effect is that thoughts are causes and conditions are effects your thoughts create the conditions of your life when you change your thinking you change your life your outer world becomes a mirror image reflection of your inner world perhaps the greatest discovery in the history of thought is that you become what you think about most of the time moreover the teacher john boyle said whatever you can think about on a continuing basis you can have napoleon hill author of the success classic think and grow rich which was first published in 1939 and is still selling today said whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve when you think about your goal continually and work on it every day more and more of your mental resources will be concentrated on moving you toward that goal and moving your goal toward you the discipline of daily goal setting will make you a powerful purposeful and irresistible person you'll develop self-esteem self-confidence and self-respect as you feel yourself moving toward your goals faster and faster you will ultimately become unstoppable in the next chapter i'll explain how the use of self-discipline to develop personal excellence is the most powerful step you can take to achieve all your material and emotional goals now here's some action exercises for you one resolve today to switch on your success mechanism and unlock your goal achieving mechanism by deciding exactly what you really want in life two make a list of 10 goals that you want to achieve in the foreseeable future write them down in the present tense as if you had already achieved them three select the one goal that could have the greatest positive impact on your life if you were to achieve it and write it down at the top of another piece of paper four make a list of everything that you could do to achieve this goal organize it by sequence and priority and then take action on it immediately number five practice mindstorming by writing out 20 ideas that could help you to achieve your most important goal and then take action on at least one of these ideas six resolve to do something every day seven days a week to achieve your most important goal until you are successful and number seven continually remind yourself that failure is not an option no matter what resolve to persist until you succeed chapter five self-discipline and personal excellence aristotle wrote we are what we repeatedly do excellence therefore is not an act but a habit you are your most valuable asset your life your potential in your possibilities are the most precious things you have thus your great goal in life should be to fulfill that potential and become everything you are capable of becoming your ability to learn grow and fulfill your potential is unlimited today people are graduating from high school and college in their seventies learning new subjects and developing new capabilities your ability to learn and remember can continue throughout your life if you keep your brain alive alert and functioning at its best your most precious financial asset is your earning ability your ability to work is your primary source of cash throughout your life you could lose your home your car your bank account everything you own but as long as you have your earning ability you can earn it all back and more in the months and years ahead your biggest investment most people don't realize this they take their earning ability for granted but it has taken you your entire life to develop your earning ability every bit of education experience and hard work that you have invested in learning your craft and developing your skills has gone into building this asset your earning ability is very much like a muscle it can increase and strengthen power year by year as a result of regular exercise likewise the opposite is true too if left alone or ignored your earning ability like your muscles can become weaker or even decline because you have simply failed to upgrade it continually in other words your earning ability can be either an appreciating or a depreciating asset an appreciating asset is something that grows in value and cash flow every year as a result of continual investment and improvement a depreciating asset on the other hand is something that loses value over time and finally reaches the point at which it is written off being of little or no further value the choice is yours as to whether your earning ability is increasing or decreasing month by month and year by year see yourself as the president of your own personal services corporation imagine that you were going to take your company public on the stock market would you recommend your company as a growth stock continually increasing its value and earning ability each year or would you describe your company as one that has leveled off in the marketplace that is not really going anywhere in terms of increased value and income would you recommend stock in you inc as an excellent investment why or why not what got you here won't get you any further some people are actually losing value each year declining in earning ability because they are not continually upgrading their knowledge and skills they don't realize that whatever knowledge and skill they have today is rapidly becoming obsolete it's being replaced by new knowledge and skills that if you don't have them and someone else does you will be in danger of being overtaken by your competition join the top twenty percent in chapter one i mentioned that the 80 20 rule applies to income the top 20 of people in our society earn and control 80 of the assets according to forbes fortune business weekend wall street journal and the irs by many estimates the top 1 percent of americans control as much as 33 percent of the assets the most interesting discovery in income inequality is that most millionaires multi-millionaires and billionaires in america are first generation they started with little or nothing and earn all their money by themselves in one lifetime in america there's a high level of income mobility which means that you are able to move from the lower levels of income to the upper levels almost everyone who is in the top twenty percent today started in the bottom twenty percent from that point they began to do something different with their time and their lives and as a result they put themselves squarely onto the upward escalator of financial success no limits on your potential the average income increase in america is about 3 percent a year just about the same as the rate of inflation and cost of living increases people whose income is increasing at three percent a year seldom get ahead they have a job which can also be thought of as an acronym for just over broke but the fact is that no one is better than you and no one is smarter than you if someone is doing better than you are today it is simply proof that they have learned how the law of cause and effect applies to their work and they have begun doing the things that other successful people have also done the application of the law of cause and effect to your personal life is learn and do the achievement of personal excellence is a decision you make or that you fail to make but in the absence of a commitment to excellence in your chosen field you automatically default to average performance or even mediocrity no one becomes excellent accidentally or by just going to work each day excellence requires a definite decision and a lifelong commitment the keys to the 21st century knowledge and skill are the keys to the 21st century becoming the best person you can possibly be and moving to the top of your field requires the application of self-discipline throughout your life mental fitness is like physical fitness if you want to achieve either you must work at it all the time you can never let up you must be continually learning and growing every day week and month throughout your career and in other areas of your life if you're going to join the top 20 percent and stay there to earn more you must learn more abraham lincoln once wrote the fact that some have become wealthy is proof that others may do it as well what others have done you can do as well if you learn how everyone who is at the top was once at the bottom many people who come from average or poor families with average incomes or who grow up in every circumstances have gone on to become some of the most prominent people in their fields and what hundreds of thousands and even millions of other people have done you can do as well the philosopher bertrand russell once wrote the very best proof that something can be done is that someone else has already done it ordinary into extraordinary very often you see people who don't seem to be as intelligent or as talented as you are who are nonetheless accomplishing remarkable things with their lives there's nothing that will make you angrier than to see someone who seems to be dumber than you who's doing better than you how can this be the answer is simple at a certain point in their lives they realize that the key to success was personal and professional growth it was a dedication to lifelong learning that made them successful the good news is that almost every important skill is learnable every business skill is learnable everyone who is proficient in any area of business was at one time completely ignorant in that area every sales skill is learnable every top salesperson was once a beginning salesperson and unable to make a call or close a sale all money making skills are learnable as well almost every wealthy person was once poor you can learn anything you need to learn to achieve any goal you can set for yourself make a decision the starting point if you're moving upward and onward toward becoming one of the most competent most respected and highest-paid people in your field is simple make a decision it's said that every major change in your life comes about when your mind collides with a new idea and then you make a decision to do something different you make a decision to complete your education upgrade your skills or get into a good college you make a decision to start a new business you make a decision to take a particular job or start a particular career you make a decision to invest your money in a particular way and especially you make a decision to be the best in your field many people say that they would like to be happy healthy thin and rich but as discussed in chapter four wishing and hoping is not enough you have to make a firm unequivocal decision that you are going to pay any price and go any distance in order to achieve the goals you have set for yourself you have to make that decision and then burn your mental bridges behind you from that moment on you resolve to continue working on yourself and your craft until you reach the top 20 percent or beyond follow the leaders not the followers when you decide to be one of the best people in your field look around you and identify the people who are already at the top what characteristics do they have in common how do they plan and organize their days how do they dress how do they walk talk and behave with other people what books do they read how do they spend their spare time who do they associate with what courses have they taken what audio programs do they listen to in their cars these are just a few of the questions you should ask in order to find out what successful people are doing that you might also need to do after all you can't hit a target that you can't see your selection of the right role models can have an enormous impact on your future dr david mcclelland of harvard and author of the achieving society concluded that your choice of a reference group can determine as much as 95 percent of your success at achievement in life your reference group is made up of the people who you feel are just like me your natural tendency is to adopt the attitudes styles of dress opinions and lifestyles of the people with whom you identify and associate most of the time fly with the eagles some years ago one of my seminar participants told me his story bob barton said he had started off in his 20s in a large company with about 32 salespeople in his branch it was his first real job and he was starting at the bottom because he was new he hung around with the other junior salespeople as they say birds of a feather flock together after a month or two bob noticed that the top salespeople in the office also associated with each other they did not spend time with the junior sales people they also spent their time differently when bob got into work in the morning the top sales people were already there planning their days and working on the telephone and making appointments bob also noticed that the junior sales people would come in later drink coffee read the newspaper and make excuses for not making sales calls bob decided that he was going to pattern himself after the top sales people in the office he looked at the way they dressed and groomed and he resolved to dress and groom the way they did each morning he would stand in front of his mirror and ask himself do i look like one of the top salespeople in my office if the answer was no he would go back and change his clothes until he felt that he looked as good as the best people he began to come into the office and organize his day before 8 30 a.m so that he was ready to make calls as soon as his customers were available to see him one day bob asked one of the top salespeople if he could recommend a book or audio program that would help him it turns out that top people are always willing to help other people improve when he got the recommendation bob immediately went out and got the book and sent away for the audio program he read the book and listened to the program and then reported back to the top salesman the top salesman gave him some more advice on things to read and listen to all of which bob followed bob asked another salesperson how he planned his day and that salesperson showed him his time management system so bob began to plan and organize his day the way the top sales people did it by using these top sales people as his role models and emulating them whenever possible bob started to make more appointments see more prospects and make more sales within six months he was one of the top salespeople in the office as well by that time the top sales people had invited him for coffee and lunch and he became one of them rather than one of the junior people the next year bob went to the national sales conference where he met a lot of the top people from around the country he deliberately sought them out and asked for their advice what books would they suggest what audio programs would they recommend what seminars said they attended what strategies did they find that were the most effective in building their sales business bob did something that very few people do when he received advice he followed it he immediately took action on the advice and then reported back to the people who had given it to him within four years bob became one of the top sales people in the country his friends and associates were the other top salespeople in his branch and in the other branches his income had increased several times he wore beautiful clothes drove a new car lived in a lovely home and had a wonderful wife and he said that it all came about as a result of asking top salespeople for their input and then following that input and applying it to his sales activities but here's the kicker over and over the top people the ones who had been winning the sales awards year after year told bob the same thing he was the first person who had ever come up to them and asked them for advice no one else had ever sought them out and asked them why they were so successful the answers have all been found here is a great discovery all the answers have been found all the roots to success have been discovered everything you need to learn to move to the top of your field has already been learned by hundreds and even thousands of other people and if you ask them for advice they will give it to you successful people will have their phone calls held cancel other appointments and put their work aside to help other people to be successful but you must ask and then you must follow their advice once they give it to you if you can't ask them directly read their books and attend their talks and seminars listen to audio programs created by successful people sometimes you can send them emails and ask for advice learn from the best set high income as a goal if your goal is to be in the top 20 of money makers in your field the first thing you need to do is to find out what the people in the top 20 are earning today this information is available just ask around check industry statistics go on to google you can find this information if you look for it once you know the income target at which you are aiming write it down as your goal make a plan to achieve this level of income and work on it every day never stop until you reach it the secret to high income in business and sales is quite simple learn and do like jacking up a car you improve one notch at a time each time you learn and practice a new skill you ratchet up your earning ability and it locks in as long as you keep increasing your earning ability you keep ratcheting up to a higher level from which you seldom decline use the three percent formula to invest in yourself to guarantee your lifelong success make a decision today to invest three percent of your income back into yourself this seems to be the magic number for lifelong learning according to the american society for training and development this is the percentage that the most profitable 20 percent of companies in every industry invest in the training and development of their staff decide today to invest three percent of your income into yourself in order to make yourself an appreciating asset to continually increase your earning ability if your annual income goal is fifty thousand dollars resolve to invest three percent of that amount or fifteen hundred dollars back into yourself each year to maintain and upgrade your knowledge and skills if your income goal is one hundred thousand dollars resolve to invest three thousand dollars per year back into yourself to assure that you reach that level of income the payoff is extraordinary i was giving a seminar in detroit a couple of years ago when a young man about 30 years old came up to me at the break he told me that he had first come to my seminar and heard my three percent rule about 10 years ago at that time he had dropped out of college was living at home driving an old car and earning about twenty thousand dollars a year as an office to office salesman he decided after the seminar that he was going to apply the three percent rule to himself and he did so immediately he calculated three percent of his income of twenty thousand dollars would be six hundred dollars he began to buy sales books and read them every day he invested in two audio learning programs on sales and time management he took one sales seminar he invested the entire six hundred dollars in himself in learning to become better that year his income went from twenty thousand to thirty thousand an increase of fifty percent he said he could trace the increase with great accuracy to the things he had learned and applied from the books he had read and the audio programs he had listened to so the following year he invested three percent of thirty thousand dollars a total of nine hundred dollars back into himself that year his income jumped from thirty thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars he began to think if my income goes up at fifty percent per year by investing three percent back into myself what would happen if i invested five percent the next year he invested five percent of his income 2500 into his learning program he took more seminars traveled cross country to a conference bought more audio and video learning programs and even hired a part-time coach and that year his income doubled to a hundred thousand dollars after that like playing texas hold'em he decided to go all in and raise his investment into himself to ten percent per year he told me that he'd been doing this ever since i asked him how is investing 10 of your income back into yourself affected your income he smiled and said i passed a million dollars in personal income last year and i still invest 10 percent of my income in myself every single year i said wow that's a lot of money how do you manage to spend that much money on personal development he said it's hard i have to start spending money on myself in january in order to invest it all by the end of the year i have an image coach a sales coach and a speaking coach i have a large library in my home with every book audio program and video program on sales and personal success i can find i attend conferences both nationally and internationally in my field and my income keeps going up every year there are three simple steps to become the best becoming one of the top people in your field requires discipline and application more than anything else there are three simple steps that you can follow to become the very best in your field one read 60 minutes in your field each day turn off the television and the radio put aside the newspaper and read material about your field for one hour each day before you start working two listen to educational audio programs in your car start them and stop them as you listen so that you can reflect on what you have just heard and think about how you can apply the ideas to your work three attend courses and seminars in your field regularly seek them out take online courses in the convenience of your own home courses that enable you to upgrade your skills and give you important ideas that you can use to be even more successful the power of compound learning like compound interest is quite amazing the more you learn the more you can learn the more you learn the better your brain functions and the smarter you get your memory and retention rate improves the more you learn the more relationships you find between something you learned at one time and something you learn at another time never stop learning and growing the achievement of mastery how long does it take to achieve mastery in your field according to the experts the acquisition of mastery requires about seven years or ten thousand hours of hard work it takes seven years to become a master salesperson it takes seven years to become a successful business person it takes seven years to become an excellent diesel mechanic it takes seven years to become an excellent brain surgeon it seems to take seven years or ten thousand hours of hard work to get to the top of any field so you might as well get started the time is going to pass anyway the starting point of your achieving mastery is for you to commit to excellence i've never met a person who made a decision to get into the top 20 percent in their field who did not eventually achieve it and i never met a person who got there having not made that decision making the decision and then following up with continuous purposeful disciplined action is essential talent is not enough as i mentioned earlier according to jeffrey colvin in his best-selling book talent is overrated most people learn how to do their job in the first year and then they never get any better they just coast in their jobs but the only direction you can coast is downhill many people will work away at a job for many years and never rise above the average they will do their job from eight to five but they never lift a finger to upgrade their skills they will not invest any time learning their craft unless their company pays for the extra training and gives them the time off to take it the average person does only an average job and as a result he earns an average income and worries about money all his life he never realizes that often there is only a thin veil that separates the average person from the excellent person the fact is that if you're not getting better you're getting worse no one stays in the same place for long two hours each day will get you to the top it's been calculated that all you need to invest is about two extra hours per day to move from the average to the superior only two extra hours each day will move you from worrying about money all your life to being one of the highest paid people in your field people immediately ask where am i going to get an extra two hours each day it's simple take a piece of paper and do the following simple calculation calculate the number of hours in a week seven days times 24 hours equals 168 hours if you deduct 40 hours for work and 56 hours for sleep you have 72 hours left over if you deduct 3 hours per day 21 hours for getting ready for and traveling to and from work that leaves you 51 hours of spare time to do with as you please if you invest 2 hours per day back into yourself 14 hours per week you still have 37 hours left over that's an average of more than 5 hours per day of free time all you need to do is devote two hours each day to move you from average performance to superior performance at whatever you choose to do form the habit of continuous learning the best news is that when you begin reading in personal or professional development literature listening to audio programs in your car taking additional courses and upgrading your skills in the evenings and on the weekends rather than watching television you soon get into the habit of continuous learning in no time at all it will become automatic and easy for you to learn grow and upgrade your skills every day and every week the average adult watches about five hours of television each day for some people it is seven or eight hours they turn on the television first thing in the morning and watch it until they leave for work they turn it back on as soon as they get home from work they then watch television until 11 or 12 o'clock at night going to bed without enough time to get a good night's sleep they then get up in the morning drink coffee and watch television for as long as they can before they go off to work once more you can be rich or poor it's your decision your television set can make you rich or poor if you watch it all the time it will make you poor psychologists have shown that the more television you watch the lower are your levels of energy and self-esteem at an unconscious level you don't like or respect yourself as much if you sit there hour after hour watching television people who watch too much television also gain weight and become physically unfit from sitting around too much your television can also make you rich but only if you turn it off when you turn off your television you free up time you can then use to invest in becoming a better smarter or more competent person when you leave your television off when you are with your family you'll find yourself talking sharing communicating and laughing more often when you leave your television off for extended periods of time you break the habit of watching television and you'll hardly miss it at all your television can be an excellent servant but it's a terrible master the choice is yours increase your income one thousand percent there is a simple seven step formula you can use in order to increase your productivity performance and output and income by one thousand percent over the next ten years it works for everyone who tries it it is simple first answer this question is it possible for you to increase your overall productivity performance and output by one tenth of one percent which is one one thousandth in an entire working day your answer will probably be yes if you were to manage your time a little better and work on more valuable tasks you would quite easily increase your output by one one thousandth in a day having done this for the first day could you increase your output by one tenth of one percent the second day and the answer of course is yes having increased your performance by one tenth of one percent on monday and tuesday could you continue to do this for wednesday thursday and friday and again the answer is yes one half of one percent per week one tenth of one percent times five days per week equals one half of one percent per week is it possible for a normal intelligent hard-working individual to increase his or her output by one-half of one percent or one two hundredth in a single week of course it is having done this for the first week could you keep up the same pace of personal development the second week of course you could could you get one one thousandth of one percent better five days a week for an entire month if you could this means that you would be one half of one percent better per week multiplied times four or two percent more productive in an entire month there are thirteen four week months in a year four times thirteen equals fifty two having become two percent better in a month could you repeat that in the second month in the third month the fourth month and so on of course you could by working on yourself a little bit each day learning new skills getting better at your key tasks setting priorities and focusing on higher value activities you can become 26 percent more productive over the course of an entire year having achieved this goal for the first year could you do it for the second year and then the third could you keep it up for 10 years and the answer of course is yes and the best news is that when you continue to work on yourself it becomes easier and easier for you to get better and better as the weeks and months go by by the law of accumulation or the law of incremental improvement by the end of twelve months you would be twenty six percent better if you continue to improve at twenty six percent per year by the end of ten years with compounding you could be one thousand and four percent more productive your income would increase at the same rate this formula works if you do there are seven steps in the one thousand percent formula step one arise two hours before your first appointment or before you have to be at work invest the first hour in yourself by reading something educational motivational or spiritual as henry ward beecher once said the first hour is the rudder of the day when you get up and invest the first hour in yourself you set yourself up mentally to have an excellent day you'll be more positive alert creative and productive all day long when you start your day by investing the first hour in yourself if you read in your field one hour per day that will translate into about one book per week one book per week will translate into about 50 books per year since the average adult reads less than one nonfiction book per year if you were to read 50 books in your field each year do you think that would give you an edge in your profession do you think that it would move you ahead of virtually everyone else in your business of course it would if you read 50 books per year for 10 years this would be 500 books that would help you to improve your productivity performance and income at the very least you would need a bigger house just to hold your books and you'd be able to afford it reading one hour per day in your field will make you a national authority in three to five years this alone can give you your thousand percent increase over the course of your career step two rewrite your goals every day get a spiral notebook and rewrite your major goals in the present tense every morning before you start out without looking back at what you wrote the previous day this writing and rewriting is the process of programming instructions into the guidance mechanism of your mind when you rewrite your 10 goals each morning you will continually see and think of opportunities to achieve those goals all day long you will become more focused channeled and directed you'll be more purposeful and determined and you will achieve your goals much faster than if they were merely wishes floating around in the back of your mind writing and rewriting your goals each day can give you your 1 000 increase in income over ten years step three plan every day in advance make a list and set priorities on your work before you start off your ability to set priorities and to choose the most important thing that you could be doing at every moment is the key to organizing your life and doubling your productivity we'll talk in detail about time management techniques in chapter 12. working on your top priorities can increase your income by one thousand percent over ten years and it is probably impossible to achieve without it step four discipline yourself to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing choose the most important thing that you can do each day then start on it first thing and work on it until it's 100 complete your ability to focus and concentrate when you develop and hone it into a habit all by itself will enable you to double your productivity performance and output in the next month and it will give you your one thousand percent increase over ten years step five listen to educational audio programs in your car the average business person who drives spends 500 to 1 000 hours per year behind the wheel of their car when you turn your car into a university on wheels a mobile classroom you get the educational equivalent of one to two full-time university semesters as you drive around many people have gone from rags to riches by simply listening to educational audio programs in their cars as they drive from place to place you could do the same this alone could give you your one thousand percent increase step number six ask two magic questions after every call or event first ask yourself what did i do right then ask yourself what would i do differently the first question what did i do right forces you to think through and recall all the correct things that you did in that last meeting presentation or event even if it was not successful write them down the second question what would i do differently forces you to think through all the different ways you could improve your performance in a similar situation write these ideas down as well in both cases by reviewing your performance by thinking about what you did right and what you would do differently you program yourself to perform even better the next time this is one of the fastest and most powerful exercises in personal growth and development i have ever discovered this process dramatically speeds up the rate at which you move into the top twenty percent step seven treat every person you meet like a million dollar customer treat each person you meet and work with both at home and in the office as though he or she is the most important person in the world when you treat people as if they are valuable and important they will return the favor by treating you as if you are valuable and important as well they will want to be associated with you work for you buy from you and introduce you to their friends you begin treating people like million dollar customers by starting at home with the members of your family remember they are the most important people in your life so when you start your day well first thing in the morning by making the members of your family feel important and telling them that you love them you'll be more positive relaxed and happier for the rest of the day fully eighty-five percent of your success will be determined by how much people like and respect you especially in business and sales never miss an opportunity to treat people well when you practice these seven steps each day for a month you will see changes and improvements in your life work and income that will astonish you after a month of regular practice you'll have formed a new habit of continuous personal improvement that can carry you onward and upward for the rest of your life be the best lifelong personal development and the commitment to personal excellence requires tremendous dedication discipline and willpower the greatest payoff is that every time you learn and apply something new your brain releases endorphins which make you feel happier and more excited about your future every time you learn and apply something new you'll have a greater sense of personal power your self-esteem self-respect and personal pride will increase you'll feel very much in control of your earning ability which is one of the most important parts of your life in the next chapter we'll talk about the importance of courage of overcoming the fears and doubts that hold most people back it is often the case that we know what we need to do but we lack the courage to take the risks that accompany trying anything new instead we make excuses for inaction now here are some action exercises that you can do number one make a decision today to invest in yourself and getting better as if your future depends on it because it does two identify the most important skills you have that determine the quality and quantity of results you get at your work and make a plan to get better in each one three if you could wave a magic wand and become absolutely excellent in any one skill which one skill would have the greatest impact on your earning ability whatever your answer set that skill as a goal make a plan and work on it every day four set excellent performance in your work as a goal and then determine exactly what you will need to do every day to join the top twenty percent or better in your field five look ahead three to five years and determine the new knowledge and skills you will need in order to lead your field in the future then start acquiring them today six select the top person in your field the one you admire most and use him or her as a role model for your own development and seven commit yourself today to lifelong learning and never let a day go by without getting better in some area chapter six self-discipline and courage mark twain said courage is not absence of fear it is control of fear mastery of fear you need large amounts of self-discipline to deal courageously with all the fear-inducing events of your life this is probably why churchill said courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues for upon it all others depend the fact is that everyone is afraid and usually of many things this is normal and natural often fear is necessary to preserve life prevent injury and guard against financial mistakes so if everyone is afraid what is the difference between the brave person and the coward the only difference is that the brave person disciplines himself to confront deal with and act in spite of the fear in contrast the coward allows himself to be dominated and controlled by the fear someone once said that with regard to warfare although it applies to any situation the difference between the hero and the coward is that the hero sticks in there five minutes longer fortunately all fears are learned no one is born with fears fears can therefore be unlearned by practicing self-discipline repeatedly with regard to fear until it goes away the most common fears that we experience which often sabotage all hopes for success are the fears of failure poverty and loss of money these fears cause people to avoid risk of any kind and to reject opportunity when it's presented to them they're so afraid of failure that they're almost paralyzed when it comes to taking any chances at all there are many other fears that interfere with our happiness people fear the loss of love or the loss of their jobs and their financial security people fear embarrassment or ridicule people fear rejection and criticism of any kind people fear the loss of respect or esteem of others these and many other fears hold us back throughout life fear paralyzes action the most common reaction in a fear situation is the attitude of i can't this is the fear of failure and loss that stops us from taking action it is experienced physically starting in the solar plexus when a person is really afraid their mouth and throat goes dry their heart starts pounding sometimes they breathe shallowly and their stomach turns often they feel like getting up and running to the bathroom these are all physical manifestations of the inhibitive negative habit pattern which we all experience from time to time whenever a person is in the grip of fear he feels like a deer caught in the headlights of a car this fear paralyzes action it often shuts down the brain and causes the individual to revert to the fight or flight reaction fear is a terrible emotion that undermines our happiness and can hold us back throughout our lives do the opposite aristotle described courage as the golden mean between the extremes of cowardice and impetuousness he taught that to develop a quality that you lack act as if you already had that quality in every situation where it is called for in modern terms however we say fake it until you make it you can actually change your behavior by affirming visualizing and acting as if you already have the quality you desire by affirming by repeating the words i can do it emphatically whenever you feel afraid for any reason you can cancel the feeling of i can't every time you repeat the words i can do it with conviction you override your fear and increase your confidence by repeating this affirmation over and over again you can eventually build your courage and confidence to the point where you are unafraid visualize yourself as unafraid by visualizing yourself performing with confidence and confidence in an area where you are fearful your visual image will eventually be accepted by your subconscious mind as instructions for your performance your self-image the way you see yourself and think about yourself is eventually altered by feeding your mind these positive metal pictures of yourself performing at your best by using the act as if method you walk talk and carry yourself exactly as you would if you were completely unafraid in a particular situation you stand up straight smile move quickly and confidently and in every respect act as if you already had the courage that you desire the law of reversibility says that if you feel a certain way you will act in a manner consistent with that feeling but if you act in a manner consistent with that feeling even if you don't feel it the law of reversibility will create the feeling that is consistent with your actions this is one of the greatest breakthroughs in success psychology you develop the courage you desire by disciplining yourself repeatedly to do the thing you fear until that fear eventually disappears and it will blow away the fear when i work with sales organizations they often ask me how to help a salesperson break out of a sales slump especially in a tough economy i give them a simple formula that is guaranteed to work every single time it is called the 100 call method in practicing this method i instruct the salesperson to go out and call on 100 prospects as fast as he can without caring at all whether or not he makes a sale when the salesperson doesn't care if he makes a sale his fear of rejection largely disappears he stops caring if the prospect he is speaking to is interested or not interested he has a single focus it is to make a hundred calls as fast as he possibly can one sales organization i work with has a daily prize for the first salesperson who gets rejected 10 times each morning at 8 30 a.m all the salespeople sit down at their desk and start making calls to try to win the prize by the time the contest is over usually by 10 am everyone's fears of rejection have been blown out of their systems they're ready to call on prospects all day long not caring at all about the reactions they get learn to speak on your feet in 1923 toastmasters international was formed its express purpose was to take people who were terrified of public speaking and help them to become confident and competent when speaking on their feet in front of an audience according to the book of lists 54 percent of adults rate the fear of public speaking ahead of the fear of death but toastmasters international had a solution they created a system based on what psychologists call systematic desensitization once a week at a luncheon or dinner meeting small groups of toastmasters come together each person is required to stand up and give a short talk on a specific subject in front of a group of their peers at the end of each talk the speaker receives applause positive input and comments from the other members at the end of the evening each person is given a grade on their talk even if it was only for 30 or 60 seconds after six months of attending toastmasters meetings the individual will have stood on his feet and spoken 26 times receiving positive applause and feedback each time because of this continuous positive reinforcement his confidence increases dramatically as a result of this process countless toastmasters have gone on to become excellent public speakers and prominent people in their businesses organizations and communities their fears of public speaking are gone forever eliminate two fears at once psychologists have found that certain fears are bundled together in the subconscious mind like wires on the same circuit if you can overcome your fears in one of these areas you will also eliminate other fears on the same circuit the fear of rejection or call reluctance seems to be bundled together with a fear of public speaking when you discipline yourself to join toastmasters or to take a dale carnegie course to learn to speak confidently on your feet your fears of rejection largely disappear as well your level of self-confidence in all your interactions with others increases dramatically your whole life changes in a positive way confront your fears your ability to confront deal with and act in spite of your fears is the key to happiness and success one of the best exercises you can practice is to identify a person or situation in your life of which you are afraid and resolve to deal with that fear situation immediately do not allow it to make you unhappy for another minute resolve to confront the situation or person and put the fear behind you a woman in one of my seminars told me that her boss was a very negative person he was constantly criticizing and berating her about her work even though she was one of the highest rated employees in the organization he was making her life miserable she didn't want to give up her job but she was afraid of confronting him she asked me what she should do i gave her this advice which i've subsequently given to many other people the only reason that one person bullies another is because they feel they can get away with it the only way to deal with a bully is to confront him bullies are actually cowards at heart and they will flee from a confrontation i told her to do this the next time your boss criticizes you for any reason turn to him and say quite firmly i would appreciate it if you not talk to me like that ever again it hurts my feelings and stops me from doing my job the way you want i told her to look him straight in the eye after she had finished making this statement well she had tremendous courage rather than putting up with this situation any longer the next time her boss began to berate her she squared off with him and said those words she wrote to me and told me what had happened just as i had predicted he stopped dead in his tracks he immediately apologized and mumbled and then quickly went back to his office he never criticized her again she told me that she could have ended his bad treatment of her many months before if she had only had the courage to confront him directly the first time it happened as eleanor roosevelt said no one can make you feel inferior without your consent move toward the fear when you identify a fear and discipline yourself to move toward it it grows smaller and more manageable what's more as your fears grow smaller your confidence grows larger soon your fears lose their control over you in contrast when you back away from a fear-inducing situation or person your fear grows larger and larger soon it dominates your thinking and feeling preoccupies you during the day and often keeps you awake at night leaders have two types of courage in leadership the most common quality is that of vision leaders have a clear vision of where they want to take their organizations leaders also have a clear vision of where they want to be sometime in the future in their personal lives the second most common quality of leaders is that of courage leaders have the courage to do whatever is necessary to fulfill their vision they lead from the front and dare to go forward there are two types of courage that you need first you need the courage to launch to take action to take a leap of faith you need the courage to go all in without any guarantee of success and with a high possibility of failure at least in the short term the major feeling that holds most people back is that in spite of all their best intentions they don't have the courage to take the first step the second type of courage that you need is called courageous patience this is the ability to hang in there and continue working and fighting after you've gone all in and before you have yet seen any results or rewards many people can muster up the courage to take action toward a new goal but when they see no immediate result they immediately lose heart and pull back to safety and security they don't have staying power deal with the fear directly the only way to deal with the fear is to address it head on remind yourself that denial is not a river in egypt the natural tendency of many people is to deny that they have a problem caused by a fear of some kind they're afraid of confronting it in turn it becomes a major source of stress unhappiness and psychosomatic illness be willing to deal with the situation or person directly as shakespeare said take arms against the sea of troubles and in so doing and them the companion of fear is worry like twin sisters fear and worry go around together mark twain once wrote i have worried about a lot of things in life and most of them never happened it's been estimated that 99 of the things that you worry about never happen and most of the things that do happen happen so quickly that you didn't have time to worry about them in the first place the disaster report whenever you're worried about something fill out a disaster report on the situation this will destroy your fear and worry almost instantly this is often called the worry buster the disaster report has four parts first define the worry situation clearly what exactly are you worried about very often when you take the time to be completely clear about the worry situation a way to resolve that situation becomes immediately evident second identify the worst possible thing that could happen if this worry situation were to take place would you lose your job would you lose your relationship would you lose your money what's the worst thing that could possibly happen be clear about this in many cases you will see that should the worst occur it would not ruin you it might be inconvenient or uncomfortable but you would eventually recover you will find that it's probably not worth all the worry that you are devoting to it the third step in the disaster report is to resolve to accept the worst possible outcome should it occur say to yourself well if that happens it won't kill me i'll find a way to get along most of the stress of worry comes from denial from not being willing to face the worst possible thing that could happen but once you resolve to accept the worst should it occur all the worry and stress seems to disappear fourth begin immediately to improve on the worst take every step that you possibly can to make sure that the worst possible outcome does not occur take action immediately do something get on with it act quickly get so busy making sure that the worst thing does not happen that you have no time to worry the real antidote in the final analysis the only real cure for fear or worry is disciplined purposeful action in the direction of your goals get so busy working on your goals or the solutions to your problems that you have no time to be afraid or to worry about anything when you practice the self-discipline of courage and force yourself to face any fear-inducing situation in your life your self-esteem goes up your self-respect increases and your sense of personal power grows you eventually reach the point in life where you're not afraid of anything once you've developed the courage to step out in faith you must then develop the self-discipline of persistence which we'll talk about in the next chapter now here are seven action exercises for you one identify your three biggest fears in life right now what are they two determine what you would do in each of these situations if you are guaranteed of complete success what actions would you take three what have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt what would you do differently if you were guaranteed of success four in what three areas of life and work do you most experience the fears of failure and loss what steps could you take immediately to confront and eliminate those fears five in what three areas of life do you most experience the fears of criticism rejection or embarrassment how could you confront these fears and overcome them six what one great goal would you set for yourself if you knew you could not fail and seven what would you do differently in life if you had 20 million dollars in the bank but only 10 years left to live chapter 7 self-discipline and persistence benjamin disraeli wrote beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry one such attempt in ten thousand may succeed these are fearful odds persistence is self-discipline in action your ability to persist in the face of all setbacks and temporary failures is essential to success in life napoleon hill said persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steal the primary reason for success is persistence and likewise the primary reason for failure is lack of persistence or quitting too soon there's a direct link between self-discipline and self-esteem each time you discipline yourself to do what you should do when you should do it whether you feel like it or not your self-esteem increases this is why there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and persistence each time you persist and force yourself to continue on even when you feel like quitting your self-esteem goes up each act of self-discipline strengthens every other act of self-discipline every act of persistence strengthens every other act of persistence when you discipline yourself to persist over and over you like and respect yourself more and more you become stronger and more confident eventually you become unstoppable the reward of persistence persistence is its own reward every time you force yourself to persist on a task whether it is large or small you feel happier and better about yourself when you go the extra mile and do more than you are paid for or more than is expected your self-esteem goes up you feel more powerful and in greater control of your life in your career when you go the extra mile you put yourself on the side of the angels the primary difference between winners and losers in life is simple winners never quit and quitters never win you can increase your ability to persist by talking to yourself positively say these words i am unstoppable before you begin any major undertaking pre-program yourself by telling yourself i never give up before you can achieve anything worthwhile in life you have to pass the persistence test this is usually a snap quiz sprung on you unexpectedly with no warning you suddenly face a major setback problem temporary failure or even a complete disaster when this happens remind yourself that this is the testing time this is when you demonstrate what you are really made of this is when you show yourself and others the strength of your character and your true determination to succeed your ability to respond your ability to respond effectively to setbacks your level of response ability is the measure of your readiness to succeed when you experience a major setback or problem you will feel temporarily stunned this feeling is very much like a punch in the emotional solar plexus you'll be stopped for a few seconds or a few minutes during this period you'll often feel discouraged or experienced self-pity you will say why me however it is not how far you fall that counts but rather how high you bounce your aim is to bounce back as quickly as possible resilience in the face of unexpected reversals is vital to long-term success remember the warriors creed i will lay me down to bleed a while and then rise and fight again don't be surprised shocked or set back when things go wrong your best laid plans will often fall apart instead expect disappointments and setbacks as a part of life take a deep breath pick up the pieces and continue onward optimism gives you resilience the most important quality you need for success and persistence is optimism this is a boundless confidence in yourself and your ability to ultimately succeed to remain optimistic you must control and discipline your thinking when things go wrong refuse to feel sorry for yourself remember you are not a victim you are an adult and you are in charge of your own life you are doing what you have freely chosen to do setbacks come with the territory they are merely speed bumps on the road to success refuse to blame others or make excuses when you complain or blame other people it just makes you feel and sound petty and small and what's worse it takes away your personal power whenever you criticize or complain it makes you feel weaker and reduces your ability to deal effectively with the situation instead greet every setback by repeating i am responsible look for the reasons why you are responsible for what happened rather than trying to pass on the blame to other people no excuses be proactive versus reactive resolve to focus on the solution and what can be done now rather than on what happened and who's to blame think in terms of the actions you can take to resolve the situation rather than what went wrong and who is to blame to remain optimistic look for the good in every situation when you look for something good you'll always find something good furthermore while you're looking for something good because your conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time you'll automatically become positive optimistic and back in full control seek the valuable lesson in every problem or difficulty every setback you face contains one or more lessons that have been sent to you to help you to be more successful in the future the difference between success and failures is simple failures feel sorry for themselves when things go wrong whereas successful people look for the valuable lesson they can learn that will help them in the future look for the gift norman vincent peel used to say when god wants to send you a gift he wraps it up in a problem the bigger the gift that god wants to send you the bigger the problem he wraps it up in instead of concentrating on the problem look for the gift wonderfully enough you will always find it what's more sometimes the gift or valuable lesson can be a far greater value than the cost of the problem itself sometimes one lesson that you learn in dealing with a problem can be the key to your long-term success as napoleon hill wrote within every problem or obstacle lies the seed of an equal or greater opportunity or benefit your job is to find it continually think of yourself as a strong powerful resolute person in the face of adversity in world war one a british general was described by his superiors there he stands like an iron peg driven into the frozen ground immovable let this be an accurate description of you whenever you face difficulties or problems of any kind resolve to stand like an iron peg driven into the frozen ground resolve in advance when you resolve in advance that you will never give up your success is virtually guaranteed in the final analysis nothing can really stop you but yourself in life it doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down all that matters is how many times you get back up if you continue to get back up and press onward you must eventually reach your goal each time you exert yourself disciplined to persist in the face of adversity you also increase your self-esteem and self-confidence then as your self-esteem increases you feel stronger more powerful and more unstoppable when you feel better and stronger you become more capable of persisting the next time and then the time after that by disciplining yourself to persist in the face of all adversity you put your life onto an upward spiral of self-esteem self-discipline and persistence until you eventually become like a force of nature persistence is in action in part two you will learn the specific things you can do to apply these principles to the practical areas of life to achieve greater success in your work and career and to fulfill your potential in the months and years ahead now here are some action exercises for you number one identify one area in your life where you need to persist even harder to achieve your goal and then take action in that area two identify a goal in your life that you did not accomplish because you failed to persist through to completion what steps could you take today to succeed in that area three identify one big goal that you achieved because you persisted and refused to give up no matter how difficult it became four decide on your major definite purpose in life the one goal that if you achieved it would have the greatest positive impact on your life five write down your goal clearly make a detailed plan of action to accomplish it and then tell yourself that failure is not an option six make a decision today that you will persist until you succeed no matter what happens because i am unstoppable seven resolve to set and achieve one important goal overcoming the inevitable difficulties problems and setbacks you will experience and work on it until you succeed repeat this process over and over until persistence becomes a habit part two self-discipline in business sales and finances in this part you will learn how to develop the discipline necessary to join the top 10 percent of people in your field you'll learn how to increase your productivity performance output and results you'll learn how to become one of the most respected and esteemed people in your organization and your industry chapter 8 self-discipline and work vince lombardi said leaders aren't born they are made and they're made just like anything else through hard work and that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal there is perhaps no area of your life where self-discipline has a greater impact on your future than in your work yet if you're like most people from the time you start in the morning and then continuing throughout the day you're surrounded by people and events that draw you away from doing the things that are most important however it is through doing your most important tasks that you move onward and upward quickly and dependably in your career a group of senior executives was asked what are the most important qualities that a person would need to be promoted in your company of these executives 85 percent agree that the most important qualities are one the ability to set priorities and work on high value tasks and two the discipline to get the job done quickly and well it seems that these two qualities are more helpful for career success than anything else a person could do diligent disciplined focused work will enable you to get consistently and predictably more done get paid more and get promoted faster throughout your career than the average person separate the relevant from the irrelevant i've mentioned the pareto principle the 80 20 rule several times in this book and it applies again here fully eighty percent of the value of what you accomplish will come from twenty percent of the things you do your job then is to identify those top twenty percent of your tasks and then concentrate single-mindedly undoing them quickly and well chapter 13 discusses time management in detail but for now let's take a look at the flip side of good time management poor time management according to robert half international the average employee wastes about 50 percent of his or her time on non-work related activities 37 of work time is wasted on idle conversation on personal subjects with co-workers conversations that have nothing whatever to do with the job at hand the other thirteen percent of wasted time is consumed by coming in late or leaving early by long lunches and coffee breaks by surfing the internet reading the newspaper or conducting personal business during the day even worse when people who waste a lot of time actually settle down and get to work they spend too much time on low value tasks and activities as a result they get very little done which then causes them to feel that they are under continual pressure to get caught up unfortunately when you waste time at work your work does not go away it continually builds like an avalanche overhang deadlines come closer and closer stress mounts up until you finally force yourself to do the job usually at the last minute and then you often make expensive mistakes develop an excellent reputation there is nothing that will bring you to the attention of people who can help you faster than for you to develop a reputation for hard disciplined work every hour of every day average employees increase their income at only about three percent per year which is just about the rate of inflation or cost of living increases in other words if you're an average employee you're not really making any more money from year to year rather you're just keeping up with your expenses but the top twenty percent in most fields increase their income anywhere from ten to twenty five percent per year which is also compounded year after year the top twenty percent of people at work earn eighty percent of the money the bottom eighty percent of employees have no choice but to share the twenty percent of the money that is left over they must scramble for the crumbs that fall off the tables of the highly productive people in their fields you can double your income when i say to people in my seminars that you should set a goal to double your income in the months and years ahead people react in different ways often at the break someone will come up to me and say you don't understand my company there's no way that i could double my income at my current company they simply would not pay me that amount of money having heard this before i then ask them the critical question is there anyone at your company who earns twice as much as you do the person that i'm talking to will always agree that yes there are people in my company who earn two or three times as much as i do i then make the key point so your company is quite willing to pay some people twice as much as they pay you they're just not willing to pay you twice as much why is that then suddenly the light goes on the individual realizes that it is not the company that is not willing to pay the money it is the individual who is not contributing enough to be worth that additional money the responsibility is his not the companies the law of three helps you to prioritize when we coach entrepreneurs executives and business owners we take them through an exercise that is designed to help them double their productivity performance and output within 12 months sometimes even within 30 days it's simple here's how it works first make a list of all the things that you do in a week or a month from the time you start work on monday morning through to the end of the week write down everything both small and large including checking your email and returning phone calls then review this list and ask this key question if i could only do one thing on this list all day long which one task or activity contributes the most value to my company as you go over your list the correct answer will probably jump out at you whatever it is put a circle around it then ask the second question if i could only do two things on this list all day long which would be the second task or activity review your list again and identify your second most important task in terms of contribution to your company finally ask the question once more if i could only do three things on this list all day long what would be the third item we call this the law of three the law of three says that there are three primary things that you do that contribute 90 or more of your value to your company or organization your job is to identify those three critical tasks and then discipline yourself to do them all day long all of your other minor tasks will be support tasks complementary tasks enjoyable tasks or useless tasks they will be little things that you've gotten into the habit of doing as a way of unconsciously avoiding the big difficult important tasks that can make a tremendous difference in your work and career calculate your hourly rate another way for you to double your income is for you to use the hourly rate method of calculating your personal value and your time allocation first determine the amount that you earn each hour you do this by dividing your annual income by the number 2000 which is roughly the number of hours that an entrepreneur or executive works each year in our society 40 hours a week times fifty weeks a year for example if you earn fifty thousand dollars a year divided by two thousand your hourly rate would be twenty five dollars if you earn one hundred thousand dollars per year divided by two thousand your hourly rate would be fifty dollars whatever it is from that moment onward resolve to do only those things that pay you your hourly rate or better refuse to do those things that someone else can do at a lower hourly rate than you do not waste your time doing things so low value or no value while your other important tasks are building up get on the same page about what work is most important once you have made a list of all the results you feel you have been hired to accomplish and you have determined your three most important things that you do to justify your hourly rate take your list of key activities to your boss and have your boss organize your job based on his or her priorities you need to do this because you must be sure benjamin trigo co-founder of the kepner trego consulting firm and author of the rational manager once said the very worst use of time is to do very well what need not be done at all yet it is amazing how many people are working hard on tasks that are little or no value to their bosses no matter how well you do an unimportant task it doesn't help you even worse working on low value tasks keep you from working on the most important things you could be doing hard work on the wrong job can actually sabotage your career the happiest days you will have at work will be when you are working on those tasks that your boss considers to be the most important the unhappiest days at work will be when you and your boss are at cross purposes and not getting along primarily because you are not completing the jobs that are most important to him and to his career your goal is to be paid more and promoted faster your goal is to become one of the most valuable and highest paid people in your field your job is first to make yourself valuable and then to make yourself indispensable to your company this requires first and foremost that you are always working on those tasks your boss considers most important work all the time you work the key to doubling your productivity and output and eventually your income is to really work all the time you're at work simply put when you work or work don't waste time don't delay don't chat with co-workers or sit around drinking coffee don't read the newspaper or surf the internet when you come into work in the morning put your head down and then work all day long the biggest time wasters in the world of work are other people who want to talk with you distract you delay you and take up the time that you should be spending on high value tasks when a time waster approaches you and says do you have a minute to talk you reply by saying yes but not now why don't we talk at lunchtime or after work in the meantime i have to get this job finished i have to get back to work when you tell people that you're under the gun that you have to get a task finished for your boss they will usually leave you alone if you do this often enough they will develop the habit of leaving you alone and instead find someone else with whom to waste time keep yourself motivated and focused by talking to yourself in a positive way your mantra from now on should be back to work back to work back to work whenever you find yourself slowing down on a major task begin repeating to yourself those magic words back to work who works hardest the secret survey imagine that an outside company is going to do a study of all the people who work in your organization they're going to give each person a list of all the employees and ask them to rate their fellow employees in terms of who works the hardest the second hardest and so on they're then going to give this list of people organized from the hardest worker down to the laziest to your superiors this list is going to be used to determine who gets paid more and promoted faster than others now imagine that this survey is already being taken but in secret the fact is in any organization everyone knows who works harder than anyone else everyone knows who works less and who does not pull their weight everyone knows it's not a secret at all resolve today that if a survey like this were to be taken one year from today you would win the contest resolve today that you are going to develop the reputation for being the hardest working person in your business this will do more to help you than almost anything else when you are surrounded by time-wasting people in situations it takes tremendous self-discipline to work all the time you're at work you must constantly fight against distractions and interruptions so that you can get back to work the success formula when i began my career working for a large company i was the low man on the totem pole everyone had been there longer than me and was ahead of me in the company pecking order even though i was in my early 30s i still had no idea how to play the game or what to do to get ahead in the cutthroat corporate competition that existed somewhat by accident i stumbled onto the formula that made me successful it was very simple whenever my boss gave me something to do i did it immediately like a dog chasing after a thrown stick i would immediately throw myself at the task completed and hurry back to my boss with a finished jaw initially he would smile and say something like i didn't really need it done that quickly but thank you for getting it done when i was caught up with my work instead of relaxing i would go to my boss and say i'm all caught up i want more work to do i want more responsibility these words became my mantra i want more responsibility again my boss who was preoccupied with an enormous number of projects would say something like okay leave it with me i'll think about what else i can give you to do every day like a broken record i would go to my boss at the end of the day and say i'm all caught up i would like more responsibility bit by bit he began to toss me sticks he would give me a little task to do to keep me busy whatever it was i would go out immediately complete the task and bring in the results i would then say i'm all caught up i want more responsibility within six months he began to see me as the go-to guy whenever he had something he needed done quickly he passed by everyone else and gave it to me he knew that whatever he asked me to do i would do it quickly once my boss asked me to fly to reno to begin development work on a property that the company was purchasing he told me i could go sometime in the next couple of weeks instead i left the next morning i went straight to the lawyer who was handling the transaction and then to the engineer who was in charge of the development work i immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong with this land purchase i didn't know what it was but as i went from person to person asking questions and gathering information by the end of the day just a few hours before this two million dollar transaction was set to close and the money would change hands forever i found that we were about to be sold a piece of land that had no water and was therefore undevelopable because of complex laws and limited riparian rights water rights the property was a worthless piece of ground that could not be developed within the next hundred years if we had proceeded with the purchase we would have lost two million dollars i immediately stopped the transaction demanded that the lawyer cut me a certified check for the 250 000 deposit that was in his trust account and flew home to my boss to tell him the story as you can imagine my boss was very happy with what i had done from that day forward i received more and more responsibilities within another year i was running three divisions of the company and had a staff of 42 people in three cities i later learned that my boss paid me more money than anyone else who ever worked for him and he did so all on the basis of results and profitability this is why whenever people ask me how to succeed in business by really trying i give them the same advice whatever your boss gives you to do do it quickly and well then go and ask for more responsibility and when you get it do the job quickly and well until you get a reputation for being the person who does things fast this will help you advance in your career more than any other reputation you could develop the price here is a simple three-part formula for success at work come in a little earlier work a little harder and stay a little later this will move you so far ahead of your competitors that they will never catch up come into work one hour earlier before anyone else arrives use that time to plan and organize your day and get started on your most important tasks make sure that whatever time your boss comes to work you are always there working before he arrives second work a little harder don't waste time don't chat with co-workers work through lunch time so that you can get on top and stay on top of your main tasks and responsibilities third work one hour later than your co-workers if they leave at five o'clock you leave at six use that extra time to complete your important tasks and get yourself organized for the following day when you come in one hour earlier work through lunch and work one hour later you add three full productive hours to your day because there are no interruptions when you work during these time periods you'll actually accomplish two or three times as much as you would during your other work hours when you're constantly interrupted by other people in telephone calls in fact you can double or even triple your productivity performance and output by simply adding these three hours to your workday the good news is that by coming in earlier and leaving later you don't lose anything you merely avoid the traffic tie-ups and slow downs and most people suffer through on their ways to and from work the 40 plus formula to succeed faster at work use the 40 plus formula this formula says that you can tell where you're going to be five years from now by looking at the number of hours that you put in today in excess of 40 hours per week if all you do is put in the regular 40 hours that everyone else puts in all you will do is survive your annual increases will be three or four percent you will have a job but your income increases will go up at the same rate as everyone else it is when you begin to put in more than 40 hours that you give yourself an advantage over most of the other people in your company and your business make it a habit to do more than what you are paid for discipline yourself to put in more than you take out every hour that you work over 40 hours a week is an investment in your future success the highest paid people in america in every field work 50 to 60 hours per week the average self-made millionaire works 59 hours per week this is equal to five 12-hour days or six 10-hour days most successful people at the beginning of their careers work six days a week sometimes seven moreover they worked all the time they were at work they didn't waste time they realized that in order to reap a great harvest later in their career they had to sow a lot of seeds in the springtime of their career look at the part dress for success finally to succeed at work you need to discipline yourself to look the part remember birds of a feather flock together when it comes to presentation this means that people like to promote others who look like them your bosses are very sensitive to the appearance of their staff they like to promote people who they are proud to introduce to their friends and colleagues be sure that you dress and groom in such a way that your boss would be proud to take you out for lunch and introduce you to others as a representative of his or her company each morning before you go to work look in the mirror and ask yourself do i look like one of the top people in my field if you don't go back and change and keep changing until you look like one of the top people in your business learn how to dress for success read books and articles or ask others for advice look at the most successful people in your business and dress the way they do dress for the job two levels above your current job remember that fully 95 of the first impression you make on other people will be determined by your dress and grooming make sure that that first impression and then the second and third impressions are consistent with the message you want to send many people work their entire lives without realizing that by putting forward a little extra effort working a little harder and focusing on higher value tasks they could become one of the most valuable people in their organizations when you discipline yourself to continually increase the value of your contribution to your company you'll put your career on the fast track and virtually guarantee yourself a wonderful future in the next chapter you will learn that your work behaviors naturally determine your ascension to leadership and you will see how self-discipline is essential to fulfilling your potential as a leader now here are some action exercises for you number one make a decision today that you're going to become one of the top 20 of people in your company and your industry what should you or could you do differently to achieve that goal two make a list of everything you do in your job and then identify the three things that contribute the greatest value to your work and your company three set a new work schedule for yourself and begin to start earlier work harder and stay later until it becomes a habit four identify the most important results you are expected to achieve in your job and then work on those results all day long five determine the person who is the best dressed and groomed in your company and then resolve to use him or her as a role model for your own appearance six decide today that from now on you're going to actually work all the time you're at work and that you are going to develop the reputation for being the hardest working person in your company and seven develop a sense of urgency resolve to move fast when you're given a job or opportunity this can change your life chapter 9 self-discipline and leadership nothing is more harmful to the service than the neglect of discipline for it is discipline more than numbers that gives one army superiority over another george washington leadership and self-discipline go hand in hand it is not possible to imagine an effective leader who lacks self-discipline willpower self-control and self-mastery the overarching characteristic of a leader is that he is in complete control of himself and every situation there seldom been a time in history when leaders were so needed and so much in demand as today we need leaders at every level of society both in the profit and non-profit sectors we need leaders in our families businesses places of worship community organizations and especially politics we need men and women who take their responsibilities seriously and are willing to step forward to take command of the situation fortunately leadership is learnable leaders are developed usually self-developed over time through hard work experience and training as peter drucker once said there may be natural-born leaders but there are so few of them that they make no difference in the great scheme of things four stages of development in your career in business you progress through four levels of activity and attainment first you start off as an employee with limited knowledge and experience then as you grow learn and develop the ability to get results you evolve upward and become a supervisor with responsibility for the performance and results of other people as you continue to move up the scale of supervision improving your ability to get things done through others from directly overseeing the work of employees you become a manager someone who assigns work to people with demonstrated competence in certain areas managers have a larger view and this comes with greater responsibilities as you move up the scale of management becoming more knowledgeable and effective in getting more and better results from more and different people you reach the highest level that of a leader at this stage you are responsible for determining what is to be done rather than how it is to be done it is said that some leaders are made some are born and some people have leadership thrust upon them leaders emerge or are promoted to deal with a situation requiring leadership ability in its simplest terms the role of the leader is to take responsibility for results the primary reason that people are promoted into increasingly higher levels of leadership is because they demonstrate the ability to get the required results at each level the ongoing question of the leader is always what results are expected of me clarity is essential the main reason that some people are not promoted into greater leadership positions or perhaps they are even fired is because of failure to execute they do not do the most important jobs expected of them nor do they get the results demanded of them leaders have vision the first quality of leadership based on 3 300 studies of leaders reviewed by james mcpherson is the quality of vision leaders have vision they have the ability to project forward into the future and develop a clear picture of where they want their organizations to go they then have the ability to share this vision with others and gain others commitment to make this vision a reality you become a leader when you accept responsibility for results you become a leader when you begin to think act and talk like a leader you become a leader when you develop a vision for yourself and for your company your life or your area of responsibility there are hundreds of books written about leadership and the importance of vision yet they can be boiled down to a single principle a military leader has a vision of victory from which he never deviates a business leader has a vision of success for the business based on excellent performance to which he or she is completely committed a leader is a standard bearer the leader sets the standard for the organization or the department it is not possible for anyone in the organization to have a clear vision or to aspire to a higher standard of excellence than the leader for this reason the leader is the role model the one who sets the tone and the morale for everyone in the organization the personality and influence of the leader affects everyone below him in the company organization or department you cannot raise morale in a business it filters down from the top from the leader the behavior of the leader influences and affects the behavior of everyone else if the leader is positive confident and upbeat everyone in the organization will be influenced by his behavior and will be more confident positive and upbeat as well walk the talk when you become a leader you must discipline yourself to be leader like you must walk talk and act the part of a leader you become a different person with different responsibilities than a manager when you are working your way up you are a part of the staff or the sales team when you become a manager you are part of management this means that when you are part of the staff your orientation is upward and sideways but when you become a leader your orientation is downward toward all the people for whom you are responsible perhaps the most important behavior of a leader is for you to discipline yourself to be a role model imagine that everyone is watching you and patterning everything they do and say based on your behavior when you become a leader you no longer have the luxury to let it all hang out from the time you are promoted into leadership you have a special responsibility to discipline and control your words and behaviors in such a way so that you bring about the very best possible results for your organization and for other people set the standards the leader sets the standards for the organization's behavior quality of work personal organization time management and appearance in excellent organizations the leader is the person who everyone looks up to and wants to emulate in most cases the leader works harder than others in the company the leader appears to be more committed more determined more courageous more visionary and more persistent than anyone else the leader sets a tone that everyone wants to emulate the leader also sets the standard for how people are treated in the organization when the leader treats people with courtesy consideration and concern it quickly becomes known that these are the standards to which others must adhere set values and principles in addition to a clear vision for the organization the leader must have a set of values and organizing principles that guide behavior and decision making everyone must know what the leader and the company stands for and believes in the job of the leader then is to articulate this vision of excellent performance within the constraints of high ethical standards at all times he or she must walk the talk and live the values and behaviors he or she teaches the very best standard for a leader is the golden rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you for example when jack welch was the president of general electric he encouraged managers to treat each employee as if that employee might be promoted over his head sometime in the future and he might find himself working under the person who is now working below him this way of thinking assured that managers treated their staff with a high degree of respect and courtesy seven principles of leadership to be an effective leader there are seven principles you must incorporate into your leadership behavior and activities one clarity this is perhaps your most important responsibility you must be absolutely clear about who you are and what you stand for you must be absolutely clear about your vision and where you want to lead your people you must be absolutely clear about the goals and objectives of the organization and how they are to be achieved especially you must be absolutely clear about the values mission and purpose of the organization and what it stands for everyone around you and below you must know exactly why they are doing what they do and what their company has been formed to accomplish two competence as the leader you must set a standard of excellent performance for the organization as well as for every person and function in the company your goal must be for your company to be as good or better than your very best competitor you must be continually seeking ways to improve the quality of your product and services to your customers three commitment the leader is absolutely committed to the success of the organization and believes completely that this organization is the best in the business or will be the best in the future this passionate commitment to the organization and to success and achievement motivates and inspires people to do their best work and put their whole hearts into their jobs four constraints the job of the leader is to identify the constraints or limiting factors that set the speed at which the company achieves its most important goals of revenue and profitability the leader then allocates people and resources to alleviate those constraints and remove the obstacles so it can perform as one of the best in the business five creativity the leader is open to new ideas of all kinds and from all sources the leader is continually encouraging people to find faster better cheaper and easier ways to produce excellent products and services and to take better care of customers number five continuous learning the leader is personally committed to reading listening and upgrading his or her personal knowledge and skills as an executive the leader should attend additional seminars and courses to improve his or her skills and abilities at the same time the leader encourages everyone in the organization to learn and grow as a normal and natural part of business life the leader provides time and resources for training and development the leader knows that the best companies have the best trained people the second best companies have the second best trained people and the third best companies have the least trained people and are on their way out of business number seven is consistency the leader has the self-discipline to be consistent dependable reliable calm and predictable in all situations one of the great comforts of business life is for an employee to know that the leader is completely consistent and reliable an effective leader does not change from day to day the leader is not blown in the wind by each new situation or problem or emergency that arises instead the leader is calm positive and confident especially under pressure the inevitable crisis the only thing that is inevitable in the life of the leader is the crisis when you rise to a position of leadership you will experience crises repeatedly crises that are unpredictable unbidden and often capable of seriously damaging the organization it is in the crisis that the leader demonstrates his competence in times of crisis the leader becomes calm cool objective and completely in control the leader asks questions and gathers information the leader assesses the situation accurately and makes whatever decisions are necessary to minimize the damage or cut the losses great leaders discipline themselves to keep their fears and misgivings private they do not share their concerns with their staffs knowing that this can cause confusion and loss of morale instead the leader asks a lot of questions probes deeply into situations so that he or she understands them thoroughly and keeps his or her feelings private as far as the members of the organization are concerned the leader is always calm positive relaxed and in complete control no matter what is happening self-control and leadership there's a direct relationship between your ability to discipline yourself and your behaviors and your readiness to lead it is only when you prove to others that you are in complete control of yourself that they develop the confidence to put you in a leadership position and keep you there the leader realizes that everything he says to or about another person is magnified the leader therefore praises and encourages people both in their presence and when they are not around he never says anything negative that could be misinterpreted or that could demotivate or offend another person if he has problems with someone he addresses them privately out of sight and earshot of anyone else leadership qualities leaders discipline themselves to plan prepare organize and check every detail they take nothing for granted they ask questions to ensure that they have a complete understanding of a situation problem or difficulty great leaders act as if they own the entire company they accept a high level of personal responsibility the leader never complains makes excuses or blames others for problems leaders are intensely action-oriented they gather information carefully and they make the decisions that are necessary they set measures and standards and hold others to them they insist that the job be done quickly and well leaders rise to the top leaders rise to the top of an organization as cream rises in milk when you accept complete responsibility for getting results concentrate single-mindedly on completing your most important tasks continually upgrade your knowledge and skills as well as your ability to contribute value to your company and treat other people with kindness and consideration you will emerge as a natural leader as you demonstrate your ability to make an increasingly valuable contribution to your organization people above below and on both sides of you will want you to be promoted into leadership and will support you when you reach that position one of your primary aims in life is to walk talk act speak and treat others as a leader would eventually your position will be equal to your performance in the next chapter you will learn how to develop and practice the disciplines necessary to be more successful in your business life and activities now here are seven action exercises that come from this chapter one ask yourself what results are expected of me and then concentrate single-mindedly on getting those results every day two see yourself as the leader of your organization and ask yourself what kind of a company would this company be if everyone in it were just like me number three create a clear exciting vision for yourself and your organization based on success and excellent performance number four identify the most important people in your business world and determine how you will have to behave toward them to get them to perform at their best number five resolve in advance that when the inevitable crisis occurs you will respond in a calm controlled and intelligent manner number six clarify the exact values and principles you believe in and stand for and then share them with the people around you and number seven treat each person around you as if they are competent valuable and important this is the key to gaining the loyalty and commitment that you require as a leader chapter 10 self-discipline and business john viney wrote the quality of self-denial in the pursuit of a longer-term goal and indeed the willpower to maintain that level of self-denial is an excellent training for the boardroom most people will work in or for a business or own a business in the course of their lifetimes the achievement of business success demands high levels of discipline from you in every area of business activity both large or small without self-discipline and self-control in business no success is possible there's no area of activity that demands more self-discipline than starting and operating a successful business in our current economy the first law of economics is scarcity as a rule there is never enough of anything for everyone who wants it specifically there are never enough customers for you to sell everything you want to sell there are never enough sales revenues to help you achieve all your financial goals there are never sufficient profits to enable you to expand as much as you want especially there are never enough good people to work with and for you to help you achieve your business goals the law of competition if the first law of economics is scarcity then the first law of business is competition it requires tremendous focus and discipline to do the things necessary to attract the scarce money of customers toward purchasing your product or service to not only survive but also thrive you must compete continually against all other uses of the same amount of money that you want to charge for what you sell the first discipline of business success is that you offer a product or service that people want need and will pay for at a price they will accept a price that is competitive with every other business that wants the same customer dollar you must be completely honest with your product service mix to ensure that is well suited to the current market this is an area where false assumptions or incorrect conclusions can lead to business failure this answer is continually changing as competition and customer tastes also change the customer is always right every week i speak to business people who are unhappy with their levels of sales and profitability they insist that their product or service is excellent and that people should be buying from them in a much larger quantity in each case i have to gently point out to them that the only proof that their product or service is truly attractive or valuable is that people buy it willingly and then buy it again and tell their friends to buy it as well according to the experts fully seventy percent of your business decisions will turn out to be wrong in the fullness of time this is the average when you're a new business person or starting a new business you'll be wrong even more often than this it's not unusual for an entrepreneur to be wrong ninety percent of the time in the beginning of his or her career it requires tremendous self-discipline and character to face the possibility that you could be wrong in your most cherished assumptions and beliefs nonetheless this discipline is essential if you're going to minimize your mistakes cut your losses and redirect your resources toward offering customers more of the things that they really want need and are willing to pay for all business investment and business startups require a high level of optimism you must believe in the future possibilities of your business along with your new products and services you must have so much confidence in their marketability that you're willing to undertake financial risk and invest many hours weeks and even years to achieve your business goals and you must do all of this with no real guarantee of success at the same time you need discipline to curb your confidence to remain objective and realistic overconfidence in business can lead to business mistakes financial losses and even bankruptcy you must be better because of the aggressive and determined nature of your competition in order to simply survive you must discipline yourself to be equal to or better than your competitors after all your competitors get out of bed every morning thinking about how they can put you out of business they want to take away your customers and your sales they want to get your profits they want as much of your business as they can possibly get to increase your probabilities of success against such competition you must make every effort to out-think them when you start a business or a new venture within a business you require the discipline to do your homework thoroughly in advance you create a complete business plan before you start operations and you continue to update it and revise it every year thereafter the discipline of advanced planning can spell the difference between success and failure challenge your assumptions most business ideas do not work at least in their original form as peter drucker said errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure a major reason for business failure is that the business owner or executive relies on assumptions that are not tested they assume that the product or service is excellent in comparison with others they assume they can sell a sufficient number of those products or services and do so at a profit they further assume that those profits will be substantial enough to make this investment of time and money more attractive than any other use of the same amount of time or funds all of these assumptions must be tested carefully before any irrevocable commitment is made according to the kauffman foundation on entrepreneurship 95 percent of entrepreneurs and small business owners in america earn less than 50 dollars per year why is this it's not because they lack the energy intelligence or ability to earn more the very fact that a person has the courage and resourcefulness to start a new business means that he or she has above average levels of natural talent the reason why so many entrepreneurs underachieve and fail is because they lack discipline they lack the discipline to carefully study every aspect of the business before committing to it they lack the discipline to test their assumptions rather than jumping to conclusions and hoping for the best don't let this happen to you identify your ideal customer you need discipline to identify and determine your ideal customer the exact person who can and will buy your product or service in sufficient quantities and at the price you need to charge in order to justify going into this area of business in the first place you need the discipline based on trial error and persistence to develop a marketing plan that generates a steady and predictable stream of new leads for your business to market effectively you must be clear about your competitive advantage and your unique selling proposition what is it about your product or service that makes it superior and more valuable for a customer than any other similar product or service being offered today you need the discipline to develop a complete sales system from beginning to end that converts qualified leads into solid customers it's amazing how many businesses just assume that the product or service will sell itself whether they have a superior sales system or not know your true costs you need the discipline to determine accurate costs and the proper pricing of your products and services walmart has become the biggest retailer in history largely because of its expertise in this area it's amazing how many businesses are selling products and services at a loss because they've never accurately totaled all the costs of bringing that product or service to market in the first place you've heard the old saying we lose money on every item we sell but we try to make it up on the volume obviously that's not possible you need a quality control system in order to ensure that every product or service that you sell is of such high quality that your customers are so satisfied that they happily buy from you again and tell their friends you need the discipline to develop a customer service policy one in which you treat your customers so well that they become loyal to you and choose you over any of your competitors the purpose of a business is to please your customers what is the purpose of a business the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer in a cost-effective manner profits are not the purpose of a business profits are the result of creating and keeping a sufficient number of customers who yield a sufficient number of profits after all costs what is the key measure of business success the answer is customer satisfaction every effort and activity of your business must be aimed at satisfying customers in a manner that is better than any other competitor what is the measure of customer satisfaction the answer is repeat business it is only when customers buy from you again that you demonstrate that you have fulfilled the promise you made to them when you got them to purchase the first time a resale to a satisfied customer requires one tenth of the time and expense as a sale to a brand new customer all successful businesses rely on repeat business which is only possible with high levels of customer satisfaction this is a real discipline what is the key to long-term profitability the answer is recommendations and referrals the ultimate question that determines the long-term success or failure of your business is based on your experience with us would you recommend us to others you can only survive and thrive when the majority of your customers are so happy with your products and services that they will encourage their friends and associates to buy from you as well since a referral from a satisfied customer is 15 times easier to sell to than a cold call which means it only costs 1 15 as much referral business is the key to your future you require tremendous focus and discipline to develop and maintain customer service policies that cause people to buy from you then buy again and recommend you to their friends set high standards you require the discipline to set standards of excellent performance in every area of your business and then to continually strive to get even better you need to practice the cani formula which stands for continuous and never ending improvement no matter how high your level of quality is today you can never be satisfied you must be continually raising the bar on yourself and on everyone within your area of responsibility you require the self-discipline to work long hard hours for many months and even years to get to the top of your business the average entrepreneur business owner or self-made millionaire in america works 59 hours per week some entrepreneurs even work 70 to 80 hours per week in the first few years of building their businesses you must be prepared to discipline yourself to put in this amount of time and level of hard work if you want to be the best and get to the top of your field think about the solution to succeed in business you need the self-discipline to be proactive rather than reactive you need to focus on solutions rather than problems you need to concentrate on the most important thing you could possibly be doing every hour of every day rather than getting sidetracked by low value or no value tasks and activities above all you need the self-discipline to settle in for the long term to develop a long time perspective in your business life because of the intensity of competition it takes many years of disciplined effort for you to become a business success whether this is in your own business or working for someone else there are no shortcuts there are no easy ways to get to the top there is only one way and that is through hard work discipline and willpower on average it takes about two years to break even in a new business venture it takes another two years of positive cash flow to pay back the money you borrowed in the first two years it then takes another three years before you become truly successful in addition everything costs twice as much and takes three times as long based on these statistics why should you start your own business or embark on a new business venture because the time is going to pass anyway after all five years from now you will be five years older and ten periods from now you will be ten years older at the end of that time you will either be at the top of your field or still down among the eighty percent struggling for every dollar and worrying about money every day the choice is yours discipline is the key in the next chapter you learn the discipline that controls the lifeblood of your business sales in the final analysis as peter drucker said the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer now here are some action exercises for you number one stand back and look at every area of your business as if you were an outside consultant what changes would you recommend two imagine you were starting your business over again today are there any products or services that you would not bring to the current market three identify the twenty percent of your products and services that account for eighty percent of your sales and profits how could you sell more of them four project forward one two and five years in your business what are the trends what will your customers be buying in the future five list three ways you can improve your customer service to ensure that customers buy from you again and tell their friends six list three ways that you could attract more and better qualified leads from your marketing and advertising activities and seven list three ways that you could make more sales to the prospects you attract or that you could attract more and better prospects chapter 11 self-discipline and sales nothing happens until a sale takes place red motley the most important element in business success is selling nothing happens until a sale takes place all the factories businesses offices and producers of goods and services only leap into action when someone somewhere makes a sale to someone selling is one of the hardest professions in america it is also the only profession in which a person can start with limited skills to achieve one of the highest incomes in our economy moving onward and upward in sales is like driving on the autobahn in germany there are no speed limits you can go as far and as fast as you want by stepping on the accelerator of your own ambition and determination to excel in the profession of sales business success or failure thousands of bankrupt or insolvent companies have been analyzed over the years to determine why they failed after all the data was sorted and studied virtually every business failure came down to one reason low sales in contrast whenever a business was succeeding growing yielding profitability increasing its share prices and offering opportunity for more and more people the reason boiled down to one factor high sales everything else was secondary almost everything you do in a business either increases or decreases sales everything either helps or hurts everything either attracts or keeps more customers or drives them away everything counts when it comes to sales the discipline of generating sales whether you are a salesperson or a business owner you require the self-discipline to focus and concentrate on generating sales every hour of every business day a group of researchers interviewed several hundred senior executives and business owners and asked them how important is sales and marketing to your business without exception they all replied sales and marketing is absolutely essential to our survival and growth the researchers then conducted a time and motion study of these same business owners and executives following them around and tracking their time usage over the course of a month at the end of that time they completed their calculations and determined that the average business owner or executive who professed that sales were absolutely essential to survival and growth was spending only 11 percent of his time on sales and marketing the remaining time was spent on meetings discussions paperwork administrative work luncheons and a variety of other activities that contributed nothing to sales generation if you're a sales manager or business owner you must discipline yourself to focus most of your time and attention on getting your salespeople to generate the sales on which your company depends you must spend 75 percent of your time working with your people accompanying them when they visit your customers and make presentations in sales do your paperwork before or after work but during working hours when customers are available to be seen you should dedicate yourself entirely to sales generation how to go broke some years ago i started a new business i developed the product and then began advertising via direct mail radio television and newspaper i allowed myself to be completely overwhelmed with planning paperwork and advertising activities by the end of the year i was out of money and my business was almost broke at that time i realized that i had taken my eye off the ball of sales i then sat down over christmas and designed a complete sales process on january 2nd i picked up the telephone and began making appointments over the next two months of aggressive and focused sales activity i did more business than i had done over the entire previous year i saved my business and my home and i never lost sight of that focus again one of the most important questions you can ask as a salesperson entrepreneur or business owner is whether what i'm doing right now is leading to a sale ask this question of yourself repeatedly throughout the day every time the answer comes up no you must immediately stop whatever you are doing of lower value and turn your attention to sales generation in addition make sure that all the people who are responsible for sales in your company ask and answer this question in the affirmative all day long overcome your fear of rejection assuming that you have an attractive product or service one that is reasonably priced and suited to the current market the biggest problem that telephone sales people and outside sales people face is rejection the fear of rejection does more to sabotage a sales career and undermine sales activities than any other single factor it is the major obstacle to sales success it takes tremendous discipline for salespeople to get up every morning and go out and face the inevitable rejection that they know they're going to receive all day long most people cannot handle this continuous rejection therefore to avoid the emotional pain that comes with rejection many salespeople engage in a series of displacement activities to avoid being rejected first of all they make fewer calls according to columbia university the average salesperson works about 90 minutes per day in other words only about one and a half hours out of an eight-hour day they spend the rest of the time warming up and getting ready shuffling paperwork checking the internet reading the newspaper chatting with co-workers coming in late leaving early and taking extended lunches and coffee breaks as a result by the end of the day on average the salesperson has worked only 90 minutes increase face time with customers and prospects when as a salesperson actually working the salesperson is only working when he or she is ear to ear on the phone or face to face with someone who can and will buy within a reasonable period of time the rule for sales success can be contained in six words spend more time with better prospects there's no other way to generate a high consistent and predictable level of sales results because of the fear of rejection however salespeople procrastinate delay throughout the sales day doing everything possible to avoid getting face-to-face with people who can say no the key to sales success as i learned as a young salesman is to realize that rejection is not personal prospective customers always say things like no i'm not interested or variations of i don't want it i don't need it i can't use it i can't afford it i'm not in the market right now or i'm happy with my existing supplier the professional sales person realized