It’s true. I really am a simple guy. I believe that everything it takes to become more successful either personally or professionally is simple. Idiot simple, in fact.
Want to lose weight? Eat less — exercise more. Simple.
Want more money? Earn more — spend less. Simple.
Want to be more successful? Stop doing the things that keep you from being successful. Again, simple.
Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years. They have been interviewed extensively to determine what it is they do and how they think that enables them to accomplish so much more than the average person.
In this article we’ll discuss one of the most important single factor of long-term success and how you can build it into your personality and your attitude. You learn how to virtually guarantee yourself a great future.
The Harvard Discovery on Success
In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted.
Benjamin Franklin said, “You may delay, but time will not.”
All of us at times are guilty of procrastination. We put things off, and delay the inevitable. The word procrastinate actually means to move something forward to another day.
It reminds me of a story about a WWII veteran. He was looking in his attic one day and saw his old army duffle bag. He opened it up and decided to put on his uniform. The uniform was a little tighter than it once was but he looked in the mirror and remembered the feeling of being a soldier out on the battlefield.
Listening to the reports about what’s presently going on in the economy I’m reminded of a time, a number of years ago, when we were going through what many people are going through now.
The end of the month was approaching and we were experiencing a cash flow challenge. It was, in all honesty, one of the greatest tests of faith I had experienced in a very long time.
Interestingly enough, I stayed positive throughout, knowing somehow that it would all work out for the best.
During the last week or two of the month my resolve was tested several times.
Does this really surprise you? At this point in your life do you actually still believe that people are telling you the truth? Please! Business writers and success gurus are not telling you the truth about what it really takes to be successful. They don’t care whether you are successful or not. They want to sell books and will say what it takes to do it– even when what they are saying makes no sense at all.
No more effort or energy is required in order to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty. The difference between the two lies in your level of awareness.
The information I’m about to share with you is extremely powerful and, in many cases, could set you free from the constraints that keep you from realizing your full potential and release you into the freedom and all of the good you desire. Yet you cannot be free until you know exactly what it is that governs, shapes, and directs your behavior and ultimately, your results. If you’re not careful, your thinking and results can be controlled by your paradigms.
Early in my career, I worked in what is now referred to as the first dotcom bubble. When I think back to those days, I remember it being incredibly fun, hectic, creative and exciting. I also remember working around the clock and feeling like I had no life. In many ways, it was the modern-day equivalent of the Wild West with industry people hoping to strike gold.
People were starting new companies daily. Some of the companies became brief success stories, many went out of business and a few are still around today. What characterized the majority of these companies was that they were looking to grow fast and then exit with a big payout in the form of an acquisition or an IPO.
I used to love listening to music on vinyl records, except the hissing and popping and scratching was really annoying.
Then they invented the 8-track, and then the cassette deck. The hissing and popping and scratching was history – and I thought it doesn’t get any better than this.
But then they invented the compact disc that never got torn and tangled in the player – and I thought it doesn’t get any better than this.
But then they invented the MP3 player that actually fit inside a headphone and played music while I worked out – at least until it stopped working – and I thought it doesn’t get any better than this.
Have you ever wondered how children can sit through replays of their favorite Lion King or Little Mermaid video? It amazes me that they’ll watch the same show every day without a single complaint or request for something new.
What’s more amazing, though, is that adults do the very same thing with their days. The majority of men and women play “movies” in their heads, day after day, relentlessly focusing on past events, most of which are unpleasant and disturbing experiences. If they’re actually able to stop their contemplation of past events, then they allow impressions of their current surroundings and recent results to govern their thoughts.
We already know the past. What we have yet to discover is the future.
The single best way for creating your future is through a process called Strategic Questioning.
Strategic questioning is a process whereby you ask yourself, bigger, better, and bolder questions that initiate an internal dialog and which draws you into a more exciting future with new possibilities.
Throughout my coaching and training engagements, I have used this process to help people rip the lid off their current way of thinking and open up their minds to a whole new future.
Here are a few of those questions: