Since this is a time of adjustment for me and a time for me to renew my dreams of what I want to accomplish in life and business, I want to share a few thoughts on achieving your dreams.
It is never too late to dream or renew your dream for a better life. The real question though, is how do we achieve a dream? Well, here are some thought that will help you answer that question!
When it comes to books about networking, building relationships and working with people, the undisputed classic is “How To Win Friends and Influence People.” Dale Carnegie wrote the book in 1936 and it has been read by millions of people since.
One of the great realizations in the book is that although some people are more extroverted or affable, working with people is a learned skill that anyone can master.
In the second section of the book, Carnegie offers what he calls “Six Ways To Make People Like You.” These are simple suggestions that can make a huge difference in the way you work with people.
I met Kenton Worthington seven years ago. He’s one of the most successful young entrepreneurs I know.
I remember coming home the day we were introduced and telling my wife I’d just met one of the most charismatic people I’d ever known. She said what does that mean? And I sat there trying to figure out what charismatic meant. Why would I describe him as charismatic?
Anytime you are making ground and moving toward success, there will inevitably be the opportunity for conflict. That is just a fact of life. You put two people or more in a group and there is potential for conflict – and conflict, improperly handled, can destroy your ability to continue on and achieve your goals.
This is true in many areas of life, from the boardroom to the schoolroom. It can happen in marriage and it can happen between friends and business associates. And when conflict goes bad, success doesn’t happen.
Get ready to sail the Seven C’s – the Seven C’s of Success that is. Learn to navigate your ship of destiny in these seven “C’s” if you want to be a total success. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
1. Caring – I believe that to be a true success in this world we must have a bigger vision than simply accomplishing a goal for ourselves or simply lining our own pockets. I believe that successful people have a deep care for others. Yes, they are aggressive, but they are not aggressive to the point that they run roughshod over others.
Where are you “making it hard” to create success? Can you identify the struggle? What are your beliefs about work?
We have sayings like, “She works like a dog.” “He’s a workhorse.” “They work like a machine”…
We watch someone rush into the coffee shop holding a briefcase, talking on their cell phone and barking their order to the Barista and we think, “That person’s successful.”
Ha! We have it all wrong!
We have conversations about the joy of retirement and design our entire career around “the day I retire”. Hmmmmm….
Motivation is a contraction of motive and action. An inner force that compels behavior, it comes from within, not from any external circumstance.
You know where you’re going because you have a compelling image inside, not a travel poster on the wall, a financial statement with a big bonus, or a slogan in the hall.
The performance of many externally motivated individuals begins declining as soon as they win contests of one sort or another. I’ve personally witnessed this among Super Bowl champions and World Cup teams that lost the incentive to maintain their excellence after winning the cup, the honors, and the cash.
When was the last time you complained that you had too much time on your hands? You probably cannot remember that far back. The truth is that most of us cannot squeeze into a 24-hour period all the items written on our daily planners. A common mistake most people make is to attempt to find time instead of make time!
How do you MAKE time?
FIRST, define your most important goals:
A burning desire to reach a specific goal motivates you to make time to take the required actions.
Remember when the “experts” told us that the key to success was multi-tasking?
It was a lie!
I bought into the whole philosophy of doing ten things at once. Check my emails while answering the phone, listen to my son while he tells me about his day, write a marketing letter in my head, wonder if I sent that proposal, shoot up a quick prayer, practice the speech I’m presenting next week, return an IM, all while I’m visualizing my dream life!
Ha! It was insanity. And it was keeping me from a breakthrough success.
One of the difficulties we face in our industrialized age is the fact that we’ve lost our sense of seasons.
Unlike the farmer whose priorities change with the seasons, we have become impervious to the natural rhythm of life. As a result, we have our priorities out of balance. Let me illustrate what I mean:
For a farmer, springtime is his most active time. It’s then when he must work around the clock, up before the sun and still toiling at the stroke of midnight. He must keep his equipment running at full capacity because he has but a small window of time for the planting of his crop. Eventually winter comes when there is less for him to do to keep him busy.