Newsletter for March 2006:
A Commitment to Excellence
Contents:
- This Months Thought
- A Commitment to Excellence
- Quotes of the Month
- Strictly Business: Use Strengths, Eliminate Weaknesses
- Humor: Student Insight!
This Months Thought
Many people have observed that if you do the things that winners do, you will get the results that winners get. Attend a workshop. Read the books. Listen to the tapes. Take your personal development seriously and invest in yourself, in your business, and in creating the life you truly want. In the end, small differences make all the difference and one idea, one insight, one comment can open doors you've been knocking on for years.
A Commitment to Excellence
When we understand how to place ourselves in a position to win, success often comes quickly and with amazing ease.
I read recently about a business conference where some amazing things happened. Within 24 hours, one participant sold her business in order to focus on building a new business with greater long-range potential. During an exercise, another participant exclaimed that he had just learned a strategy that was worth the cost of the seminar, airfare and hotel, all by itself!
The truth is there are principles and strategies that work, and when we understand them, and use them, we can achieve more in a short time than other people do in a life-time of struggle, effort and confusion. The key is placing ourselves in a position to win.
There seems to be a few basic principles that make all the difference for high achievers. Here are three that might make sense to you:
- Birds of a feather do flock together. Highly successful people spend time with and learn from other high achievers. They attend the workshops and retreats, and build relationships with experts. Unfortunately, most of us tend to "flock" with people who are very much like ourselves, and that can limit us. Learn from the best. Spend time with the top people in your field or profession.
- Commit to excellence. Why start a business or enter a profession unless you are determined to be the best? Invest in skills, education, technology and systems that put you ahead of your competition. There is never a "recession" for the leaders in any field. They have plenty of work, because everyone wants to work with the best.
- Small differences make all the difference. In a horse race, the winner earns far more than the second-place horse, but does that mean the winner is ten times faster? Of course not. The winner may only be a fraction of a second faster, but that is enough. Winners know that one skill, one idea, or one insight can make all the difference between success and failure.
What seemed most apparent about the people who I read about that attended that business conference was their determination to be the best and their willingness to invest in excellence.
Another article I read recently pointed out most Americans never read a single book after they finish school, and only a small percentage have read a book this year. Similarly, most business leaders attend few seminars or workshops other than those required for their profession, and that's a shame.
To achieve superior results, you need an edge. You need superior skills, insights, or leadership. To achieve extraordinary things you need to place yourself in a position to win, and fortunately, this is not difficult.
Like the horse that is just slightly faster, major rewards go to those who invest, to those who read, to those who network with the best minds and highest achievers in their field. If you desire to attract the results that others attract, learn how they do it, and copy them!
Many people have observed that if you do the things that winners do, you will get the results that winners get. Attend a workshop. Read the books. Listen to the tapes. Take your personal development seriously and invest in yourself, in your business, and in creating the life you truly want. In the end, small differences make all the difference and one idea, one insight, one comment can open doors you've been knocking on for years.
Quotes of the Month
"One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar." -- Helen Keller
"Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so." -- Belva Davis
"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." -- Elinor Smith
"If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten." -- Steven Covey
Strictly Business: Use Strengths, Eliminate Weaknesses
In the article about the business conference, two principles came through clearly. High achievers use their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses.
Winners know what they do best, and they focus on it. They understand their market, their resources and their talents, and they deploy their assets to maximum advantage. In business, you always want an "unfair" advantage by doing something that sets you apart from your competitors that gives your customers unique value, and identifies you as the very best in your field.
Focus on and specialize in your strengths. Use them to your advantage every day, in every way possible.
Similarly, winners know and accept their limitations. They do not struggle or "try" to do things that do not interest them. They are not defensive or embarrassed about this, they simply acknowledge that they cannot serve everyone and turn that "weakness" to their strategic advantage.
Never spend time doing things that do not interest you, or for which you have no talent or skill. If you can, simply don't do them at all. If they must be done, delegate them. Hire someone to do it for you, or form an alliance with another business to your mutual advantage.
Profitable businesses know what they do best. They get very good at it and charge a premium for the quality they deliver, and they never, never drown in the swamp of low quality, high-cost frustration. Do what you do best and eliminate the rest.
Humor: Student Insight!
The following questions and answers were (supposedly) collated from a 2002 SAT tests given in a state close to Texas, I will not state which one here, to 16 year old students! You gotta be kidding!
Q: Name the four seasons. A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.
Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink. A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.
Q: How is dew formed? A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q: What is a planet? A: A body of earth surrounded by sky.
Q: What causes the tides in the oceans? A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.
Q: What are steroids? A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.
Q: What happens to your body as you age? A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.
Q; Name a major disease associated with cigarettes. A: Premature death.
Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? A: Keep it in the cow.
Q: What is the Fibula A: A small lie.
Q: What does "varicose" mean? A: Nearby.
Q: What is a seizure? A: A Roman emperor.
Q: What is a terminal illness? A: When you are sick at the airport.
Q: Give an example of a fungus. What is its characteristic feature? A: Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.
Q: What does the word "benign" mean? A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.
Q: What is a turbine? A: Something an Arab wears on his head.
Q: What is a Hindu? A: It lays eggs.
Rodger Blaker works with executives, small business owners and professionals who want to grow in their business and create an extraordinary life! For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com or call me at 214-485-2238.
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