(excerpt from It Works with Simple Keys
© Self Investment Publishing, all rights reserved)
“What you are accomplishing may seem like
a drop in the ocean.
But if this drop were not in the ocean, it
would be missed.”
~ Mother Theresa ~
In response to why you can't have or can't do what you want, have you ever heard yourself say:
(a) …..I don’t have the education, or I’m not smart enough.
(b) …..I don’t have the money.
(c) …..I’ve always failed in the past.
(d) …..I don’t know how it will be done.
(e) …..I don’t have the time.
(f) ….. I don’t……
(a) If you said ….. I don’t have the education, or I’m not smart enough.
“Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it.”
~Samuel Johnson~
Henry Ford had a long and prosperous career manufacturing automobiles. He personally did not know how to build one, so instead of killing his dream, he found other people who had the knowledge and skills. He surrounded himself with the people who could build his dream cars.
Do you need a more current example?: Les Brown, Successful Entrepreneur, Best Selling Author, Radio and Television Celebrity has had no formal education beyond high school, but with persistence and determination he has initiated and continued a process of unending self-education which has distinguished him as an authority on harnessing human potential. Les Brown's passion to learn and his hunger to realize greatness in himself and others helped him to achieve greatness.
And sometimes admitting to not knowing all the answers is your perfect place to start.
“It is impossible for a person to learn
what they think they already know.”
~ Epictetus ~
“The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.”
~ Malcolm Forbes ~
(b) If you said ….I don’t have the money.
So many people give up on what they DESIRE because they believe a certain amount of money is necessary for its attainment and it is impossible otherwise. By focusing on money as the obstacle to having, you will miss opportunities for support, answers and other creative solutions.
If your LIST includes a thing, such as a car, there are many ways to get a new car without spending a great deal of money, and sometimes no money. Some people go to work for companies that provide new cars for their employees; some people become test drivers for company’s new cars; some people enter contests and involve themselves in projects where a car is the reward.
There are companies that hire people to housesit fine homes and drive the homeowner’s vehicles while the owners are on extended vacations. For other things, mystery shoppers get paid to try products and services.
If your LIST includes attractive clothing, you may find local manufacturers in your area desiring to sell their “sample” display clothes.
Years ago, I met a man who desired to own a clothing store, and didn’t have the funds that he believed were required. He started visiting the Los Angeles Clothing Mart, buying the “samples” and “sales display” items for greatly reduced prices with whatever amount of money he could scrape together.
He then took these purchases to local swap meets and sold them for a little more than he paid for them. He then took this money back to the Mart and bought more clothes. Then back to the swap meet. He did this over and over again; until he had the amount he thought he needed to open a retail store. In the process however, he discovered that he really enjoyed the benefits of his current work schedule of one day at the clothing mart and two days at the swap meet. So instead of opening a retail store in one location, he continued what he was already doing, only on a bigger scale. He now has other people working for him at various swap meets and he spends his time overseeing a very flexible business.
Two other people however, desired to provide internet service for less, in fact, they desired to provide it for free.* They wrote a compelling business plan and showing it to a number of investors, were promptly turned down by all of them. Finally one enterprising investment company saw the potential in their business plan, and provided the financial backing NetZero needed to get started. (*When Net Zero was first introduced they offered internet access for free.)
(c) If you said …I’ve always failed in the past.
“I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.”
~ Thomas Edison ~
Walt Disney had a passionate desire to pursue a career in commercial art, which is how he began his original experiments in animation. He started by producing short animated films for local businesses in Kansas City. By the time Walt had started to create The Alice Comedies, which was about a real girl and her adventures in an animated world, he ran out of money. His company at the time. Laugh-O-Grams went bankrupt.
Instead of giving up, Walt packed his suitcase and with his unfinished print of The Alice Comedies in hand, headed for Hollywood to start a new business. It was Walt Disney’s enthusiasm and faith in himself and others that took him straight to the top of Hollywood society. Walt Disney's dream of a clean and organized amusement park also came true when Disneyland Park in Anaheim opened in 1955.
Wally Amos opened his first Famous Amos store, with cookies based on his aunt's recipe which he baked himself. Within 10 years his sales had grown to more than $10 million. Due to financial troubles, Amos was forced to sell the Famous Amos Company, and trademarked name "Famous Amos".
Turning adversity into opportunity, Amos launched a new cookie venture, The Uncle Noname's Cookie Company. With America's tastes shifting towards healthier foods, the company focused on fat-free, nutritious muffins at that time. Uncle Noname ultimately became Uncle Wally's Muffin Company in 1999. The muffins are sold in more than 3,500 stores nationwide.
Dr. Seuss’ first book was rejected by over 27 publishers. He had a fleeting thought to burn the manuscript. Instead he sent it out one more time.
The authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul were told by numerous publishers that “the title was too stupid” and that their book was “too positive”.
What if you get a different result than you are asking for on your list? When this happens, many people will mistakenly think they are doing something wrong, or worse – that the are wrong; or they can’t have what they are asking for or other destructive thoughts. Every result either takes you directly closer to your DESIRES, or it has an answer for your next step.
See Simple Key – INSPIRED ACTION
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up.”
~ Thomas Edison ~
There are many true stories of how so many successful people have experienced failure and how they bounced back.
To help you motivate yourself through your own failures try these three next simple steps:
Step #1:
Start researching successful people that you know or have heard about. Start with those people that YOU admire.
Read the biographies of these successful people. If they are still alive, find a way to interview them. Find out the details of their journey, especially the details of how they transformed any failure into the next step towards their success.
This is especially helpful when you find someone who has experienced similar challenges as you have.
Start your list here of people you will research:
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are right."
~ Henry Ford ~
Step #2:
(a) Make a LIST of those projects you have started and completed successfully. Start NOW
(b) Make a LIST of those times you exceeded your own expectations. Start NOW
(c) Make a LIST of those things you have REALLY desired in the past, and you received. Start NOW
Step #3:
Find and learn from a mentor(s).
“Don’t wait for someone to take you under their wing.
Find a wing to crawl under.”
~ Dave Thomas ~
Successful people do not have conflict in their lives; they may actually have more, due to the level of their success. They have learned how to use it to their advantage. One of the best ways to learn how to be successful at anything is to surround yourself with people who are already successful and willing to share their information with you.
Find someone who is successful in their business, or in the business you desire to be in and ask if they will mentor you. Many successful people find it a compliment to be asked.
Some of the questions to ask yourself when seeking a mentor:
(1) Why have I selected this person?
(2) What do I already know about this person and their success and failures?
(3) What benefit is it to this person to be my Mentor? What can you offer this person in exchange for being your mentor? What is in it for the Mentor? Some Mentors will require you to prove your commitment and may give you a project to complete, or an accountability plan to follow. Some may require that you pay them for their time or donate to a charity they support. Be prepared to know what you have to offer. Before you say “I have nothing to offer”, STOP, and think about it. Every person has something to offer.
(4) What do I expect to receive from this Mentor?
(5) What do I expect to achieve from working with this Mentor?
Step #4:
Surround yourself with like-minded people, Do your research. Remember the story of the young lady and her “100% supportive friends”. There are also several mentoring programs and Master Mind groups available.
Some of the questions to ask yourself when considering a Master Mind group:
(1) What are the time and financial commitment, and other requirements to be a part of this group?
(2) Who else is in the Group? What are their businesses?
(3) What benefit are these members to me, and what benefit am I to them by participating in this group?
(4) Am I willing to keep ALL the required commitments?
(5) What do I expect to receive, achieve or accomplish from being in this group?
(d) If you said …I don’t know how it will be done or accomplished.
Very few people have all the answers when they set about desiring new things and conditions in their lives. Instead of thinking about how to do it, they focused on it already accomplished.
“Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts
we hold in our minds
and these magnets attract to us the forces, the people,
the circumstances of life which harmonize
with the nature of our dominating thoughts.”
~ Napoleon Hill ~
As you follow The Plan and The Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment you will be impregnating your mind with your DESIRES. The clearer you hold these pictures your mind you will find yourself drawing the people and circumstances to you that you need.
“You have to recognize when the right place and the right time fuse
and take advantage of that opportunity.
There are plenty of opportunities out there. You can't sit back and wait.”
~ Ellen Metcalf ~
(e) If you said …I don’t have the time.
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have,
and only you can determine how it will be spent.”
~ Carl Sandburg ~
If someone offered you all the money you desired if you would only get up 15 minutes earlier – would you get up 15 minutes earlier?
If someone offered you the body you desired if you would give them 15 minutes of your lunch hour – would you give them 15 minutes of your lunch hour ?
If someone offered you what you desired most in life, if you would turn the TV off for 15 minutes at night – would you turn the TV off for 15 minutes at night ?
“How we spend our days is,
of course, how we spend our lives.”
~ Annie Dillard ~
There are many excuses used by people. Only a few of them have been addressed. When you find yourself using one, ask yourself – how badly do I really desire what I say I desire?
“Struggle ends where commitment begins.“ *
~ Sumner Davenport ~
*Voted to be included in the Top 10 Healthy Thoughts of 2007
It Works with Simple Keys
by RHJ and Sumner M. Davenport
available in 3 formats
e-book/paperback combo
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