Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 31-01-2012 | 
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During the media tour launching The Compound Effect, CNN asked me to submit an article for their website. So, what do I have to say to CNN? Below is the article I submitted to my PR team. Even after they begged me to neuter it, to refocus it on 24/7 news (not just CNN and not just the Wolf man), CNN still didn't have the backbone to publish the critical commentary. So I publish it here.
(CNN-) Disaster. Crisis. Failure. Scandal. Tragic. Devastation. Danger. Emergency. Threat. Crash… just a few words spoken by Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room" within only a five-minute span. If you listen to The Wolf, the world is coming to an end… every five minutes. And we wonder why people feel hopeless (giving up the belief that a job even exists), fearful (pessimistic about the future) and lack confidence (market and otherwise) when you have The Wolf & Friends spreading the gospel of fear, worry, danger and anxiety in our family rooms, offices, cars and airports 24/7.
The damage these constant and repeated messages have on our consciousness and creative potential is "devastating."
What controls your attention controls your life.
Where your attention goes, energy flows and so goes your life. When I interviewed racecar-driving legend Mario Andretti, I asked him for the No. 1 success tip to racecar driving. His answer, "Don't look at the wall." He explained, "Your car goes where your eyes go." If you are a tightrope walker, what's the one thing you never do? Right, look down. Why? Your body will follow your eyes. Your body (your life) also follows your eyes (your attention). If you point your eyes at Constant Negative News (there's an acronym for that), your life will also go in that direction.
Your mind is like an empty glass. It will hold anything you put into it. You put in sensational news, salacious headlines and talk show rants and you are pouring dirty water into your...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 24-01-2012 |
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Those were the words of Italian Coast Guard Gregorio de Falco to Captain Francesco Schettino while he was abandoning his ship, leaving 4,200 people on board to perish (at least 12 died).
When you "mess up" and difficulty strikes, how do you handle it?
Do you take responsibility, do whatever it takes to make it right, step up and take action (like the Coast Guard)… or do you shirk responsibility, leave the scene of the disaster you created and start looking for someone else to blame (like the Captain)?
The translated exchange between the Captain and Coast Guard is transcribed below. In parenthesis are examples of excuses we might use in our daily lives for not taking responsibility for common failures.
(This isn't what I envisioned for my life. But I don't really want to change, please…)
Captain: Please …
Coast Guard: There is no 'please' about it. Get back on board.
(But I send out résumés, I leave messages for my prospects, I mail letters…)
Captain: I am here to coordinate the rescue.
Coast Guard (interrupting): What are you coordinating there! Get on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board!
(It's not my job, the president is supposed to fix it, when Monday comes…)
Captain: (inaudible)… there is another lifeboat…
Coast Guard (interrupting, yelling): You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board, dammit! Is that clear? Don't you hear me?
Captain: I am going aboard.
(The market is down, no one is hiring, our industry is in a recession…)
Captain: Look, chief, I want to go aboard but the other lifeboat here has stopped and is drifting. I have called …
Coast Guard (interrupting): You have been telling me this for an hour! Now, go aboard! Get on board!
The Captain never returned to the ship. According to the harbor master's office, which notes the final exchange as occurring at 1:46 a.m., Capt. Schettino sought refuge on a rock at 12:30 a.m....
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 17-01-2012 |
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What matters most in making your business successful? (It might not be what you expect)
We are mid-stroke the first month of 2012. How you doing?
There is really only one barrier that can stop you from accomplishing every wildly ambitious and outrageous goal you have for 2012. Do you know where that barrier is?
Let me give you a hint—it's above your neck and between your ears. Yes, it's your own mind. If you want to achieve more this year than you have ever been able to achieve in previous years, then we need to first get your head straight.
I want to help you cultivate what I call an achievers mindset.
If you were to guess what I am going to teach you on how to cultivate an achievers mindset, what would you guess?
You are probably thinking things like: doing affirmations, or creative visualizations or guided meditations, or putting your goals on a post-it note and sticking them to your mirror or a vision board or listening to a recorded version of yourself saying, "I am happy, I am healthy, I am terrific.
No while all those things are fine and well (but weird), in my opinion they have nothing to do with achievement.
Note that I am talking about an Achievers Mindset. Not the 'Happy Mindset' or the Make-Yourself-Feel-Good-Mindset'. We are after the mindset that produces results.
To have an Achievers Mindset is to have the mental discipline to push yourself through the long, sometimes grueling and sometimes painfully, hard work it takes to achieve. And really the only thing keeping you from doing it, and the only thing that will ultimately power you through it—your mind.
As my Spin instructor says repeatedly, "Your legs can go harder, faster and longer than you think… all that is keeping them from doing so is your mind."
Thus you need an achievers mindset to push yourself to do the things necessary to achieve the big goals you have set for 2012 (you do have big goals for 2012, don't you?)
Let me give you a brilliant example...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Marketing, SUCCESS, sales | Posted on 10-01-2012 |
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What matters most in making your business successful? (It might not be what you expect)
If a genie popped out of a bottle and granted you instant “best-in-your-industry” status in just one of four categories, which would you choose?:
best management
best margins
best marketing
best product
While all these contribute to your business success, only one factor matters most.
PRODUCT?
It’s often assumed that the highest-quality and best product wins. Not true. What’s the No. 1 restaurant in the world? McDonald’s. What’s the No. 1 wine? Franzia (the stuff that comes in a box!).
MANAGEMENT?
The next assumption is that management makes the competitive difference. Countless “dream teams” have failed miserably (think Enron, the movie Oceans 12 and the 2004 Olympic basketball team, comprising nothing but NBA stars, ending up third, losing to Lithuania. Ouch.).
MARGINS?
Certainly your accountant and CFO would wish for the highest margins. Tell'em margins don’t matter at all if the product never sells. Ultimately, like it or not, the one thing that matters most in determining whether your business succeeds or fails miserably is... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 03-01-2012 |
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In the movie City Slickers, Curly explains to Billy Crystal’s character that the secret to life is “one thing.” When he asks what the “one thing” is Curly says, “That’s what you have to figure out.”
When it comes to making 2012 the best year of your life, the secret is the same, figure out the “one thing” that if you achieved it, would change your life so dramatically that it would make for the best year of your life.
Identification
In my Living Your Best Year Ever program (you have it right??) I take you through a process that vets out your entire life: your core values, strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, fears, purpose and inner most passion to try and help you discover your Top 10, then Big 3 and then the ONE.
Action: That’s your first challenge: figure out your ONE THING that if you achieved it would make this your best year ever.
Now let me help you achieve your one thing…
Motivation
You will be tested. You will encounter obstacles. You will experience pain. It will suck at times. You will want to quit. So, you need a significant reason WHY you want to forge ahead and continue to pursue and persist through the pain, obstacles and sucky stuff. (resource: watch this video or read pg 3 of this article: Finding Your Mojo-Your Why-Power)
Action: Figure out your unique WhyPower.
Execution
Behavior
In the LBYE program I also reveal my Massive Transformation Formula. One of the steps in that process is: List the one key behavior most important to accomplishing your goal, your “one thing.” You are one key behavior away from a massive transformation in any area of your life.
Think about it: Improving your marriage could need just a few consistent behavior changes to transform your current connection and intimacy. Your sales results? A few consistent behaviors could massively transform your...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, Uncategorized | Posted on 27-12-2011 |
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For those of you who keep in touch with me on facebook, over this past year you have witnessed me logging sunsets I have captured from many corners of the globe. Many have wondered why. It’s actually a very powerful goal achieving tactic. I’ll let you in on it now and report the results.
The goal wasn’t about sunsets at all. It was actually a tactic for me to gain leverage over me and my weaker tendencies.
I am a self-afflicted workaholic. I’d rather be working than doing most anything else. I don’t consider this a bad thing (good for you too since I’m usually working on something you’ll benefit from!). However gaining some separation, getting away from the constant busyness, calming the frenetic energy and quieting the mind is an important productivity component. But I am an addict.
So the real goal was to spend 30minutes a few times a week just quiet and still. Well that lasted about 8minutes once.
That’s when I brought in the first goal achieving strategy...
ANCHOR: I needed a goal that wasn’t the goal, but would be something tied to the goal that would force me to do the goal. Documenting sunsets was the anchor. A sunset happens at a particular time each day. To actually catch it at the right time you will usually spend 30 minutes or more watching it. THAT is when I spent my 30minutes of calm, uninterrupted, quiet time.
Then I brought in THE most powerful tactic to all goal achieving...Click Here to Continue Reading this Post and See Pics of My Favorite Sunsets...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 20-12-2011 |
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The gap is widening. Which will you be?
We are standing on the precipice of 2012. Still at the beginning of one of the greatest periods of opportunity ever in human history. While there has always been opportunity, the sea of changes we've experienced over the past few years have unearthed possibilities unlike anything ever seen before — particularly for the budding entrepreneur.
As Industrial Age corporate structures and monolithic systems begin to crumble, those who once maintained unquestioned power have been dethroned, and everything — I mean, everything — is up for grabs.
This, combined with recent technological innovations, has changed the game forever. Today, we are all wired directly to each other. No one has exclusive access to markets or distribution channels.
Your local community is no longer your only marketplace — the entire world is, instantly, 24/7. The world has been made flat, and so has the playing field of opportunity.
Fifty years from now your children and children's children will look back with envy — wishing they were you, right here, right now, in 2012, when this new frontier was still unclaimed.
But be forewarned. This newly leveled playing field also brings unrivaled competition — not just from the business down the street or members of your local chamber of commerce. Your new competition is...Click Here to Continue Reading this Post...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 15-11-2011 |
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Walk into any restaurant, airport, park, or even a child’s school play or Little League game and you will see many people who aren’t even there.
While their bodies are there, their minds and spirits are trafficking in another world—on email, Facebook, Twitter, Farmville, Second Life, Amazon, eBay, Angry Birds, Yahoo News or any number of alternative virtual worlds.
Scott Campbell of the University of Michigan has said, “[Plugging in] can be a good thing. But I also see new ways the traditional social fabric is getting virtually torn apart.” I assume the pun was intended.
We all know you cannot really be in two places at one time. When you switch your attention to a device you leave your surroundings… and the people in it. Even just having your mobile device on and having it ding, ring, buzz or f lash teleports your mind, removing you from the world in front of you to the wonderment of some virtual land.
Some people argue that the always-on wireless world has allowed us to stay more connected and closer to each other. Yet I have observed (and felt) it has also allowed us to keep each other at an emotional distance.
In her book Alone Together, MIT professor Sherry Turkle points out that we are increasingly looking to technology for ways to be in relationships while also using technology to protect ourselves from those relationships. Are our virtual worlds stunting our ability to truly connect in the physical world?
Love to a child used to be spelled T-I-M-E— which is the key ingredient to cultivating any human relationship. Technology has changed the game. Today, I think the key ingredient to fostering real human relationships is... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, SUCCESS Magazine | Posted on 08-11-2011 |
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…and the successful become more and more successful.
I have to confess something to you. While you can definitely glean ideas, tips and important distinctions that will accelerate your progress, there are a few advantages that do separate the superachievers from everyone else that are not easily accessible.
Advantages you cannot simply find in a magazine, book or CD/DVD program, unfortunately.
These three advantages are access to Counsel, Connections and Strategies.
Let me explain briefly.
Counsel—The best in the world have the best in the world advising, consulting and coaching them. It is one of the greatest ways they gain advantage over their competitors.
The best golfer, tennis player, baseball pitcher, singer, even surgeon, CEO and top entrepreneur all invest in highly paid advisors and coaches. Why? This is a massively critical point about high performance.
There is a phenomenon called unconscious incompetence, meaning, you don’t even know when you aren’t doing something correctly or to the best of your ability. It takes someone outside of you to observe, identify, prod and counsel you in order to bring awareness to the adjustments needed take your performance to the next level.
A top CEO once said to me, “You can never pay too much to rent someone’s eyes, mind and experience.”
If you want to take your life to the next level, you, too, will want to seek out the best advisors and coaches to help get you there.
Connections—It is not just who the top achievers in the world know and have access to; what’s far more critically valuable is the high-achieving reference group this provides them. As human beings we raise or lower our performance to match the expectations and performance level of our reference group. As
Stephen Covey pointed out, if you take a walk with someone whose pace is quicker than yours, it...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, SUCCESS Magazine | Posted on 11-10-2011 |
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In this age of information and technology, we have a world of resources at our fingertips.
Much of human knowledge has been scanned, transcribed, recited and digitized for immediate Google access. Today there are more teachers, preachers, coaches, consultants, mentors and "experts" at your disposal than ever. But the most overlooked, underutilized and divinely powerful resource of them all is you—your own inner voice, intuition and instinct.
I think many people have lost contact with their inner resource.
We live in an era in which everyone around us is telling us what we should do—the government, religious authorities, academic leaders, news media, commercial marketers, our bosses, our parents and now hundreds of friends on Facebook and Twitter every day.
I believe the deluge of all these available resources, ideas and opinions can overwhelm us, put us into a bit of a stupor and make us lazy. As Albert Einstein once said, "Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." You cannot simply study the wisdom of others.
You have to think through ideas yourself and tap your own inner wisdom.
Too often we are consumed by some epic hunt for the Holy Grail. We're looking for someone else's secret, answer, formula or big idea in order to get where we want to go.
Over time, and through practice, I have found that the answers to life's most vexing questions don't exist on Ask.com, YouTube or Wikipedia, but reside within us. The Holy Grail, as it were, isn't out there to be found, but lies within us, waiting to be discovered.
As you know, I interview people for a living. It's true that incredible insights, inspiration and distinctions can be found by interviewing and studying people who have already been where you wish to go. But when it comes to the big issues—to those vexing questions and momentous decisions of...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, persuasion | Posted on 04-10-2011 |
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"Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion." —Aristotle
The final level of persuasion uses ETHOS, a concept from which we derive the word ethics.
ETHOS requires integrity, character, wholeness, consistency and discernment. In essence, ethical people are a living example of the truth behind their arguments. They don't just say what they believe; they live what they believe. Their arguments and opinions speak for themselves, in the actions they choose to take. The consequences of their actions prove the truth behind their opinions.
To ME this is the most powerful form of persuasion. This is what persuades me to put people into SUCCESS or to interview for the CD that goes into the magazine—those who walk their talk. Those who are DOING and have DONE (at an extraordinary level) what they will advise us we need to do.
This is also how I try to live—you can listen to me or you can just watch me, either way you will get exactly the same message. I recommend this as your most powerful tool of persuasion and influence as well.
The best way to practice or use this tool of influence in your sales or business life is this... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, persuasion | Posted on 27-09-2011 |
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"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." —Aristotle
Aristotle's second level of persuasion is PATHOS—which means using emotion: passion, empathy and feelings to build emotional discontent and to motivate people toward change.
PATHOS is used to gain individual attention, to disgruntle large groups, create mass movement, advertise products, start revolutions and win elections.
Both sides of the emotional spectrum are used, and both are as equally persuasive.
Positive emotions like: pride, joy, fulfillment, meaningful contribution, recognition, love, compassion and honor.
Negative emotions like: prejudice, fear, uncertainly, doubt, greed, hate, desperation, shame and guilt.
I remember Brian Tracy asking an audience, "What percentage of human decision making is rational and what percentage is emotional?" Most answered "80/20" or "90/10". Brian then pointed out that we are 100 percent emotional.
Human beings, including you, decide emotionally and then justify logically.
Whether people use negative emotions to persuade, or positive emotions to persuade, both are extremely powerful. Look at how people were persuaded by Hitler, Churchill, Jim Jones, Gandhi, Napoleon, Cesar Chavez, Mussolini, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, Stalin, and every other persuasive and influential leader. Whether leaders use positive emotions to empower you, or negative emotions to imprison you, they all use the power of PATHOS persuasion.
Which type of emotions should you use to build and empower? Certainly I have a strong preference. As you make your choice always remember this... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, persuasion | Posted on 20-09-2011 |
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"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness." —Aristotle
No discussion on the topic of influence and persuasion is complete without a few words on Aristotle's famous dialectic on what he calls the three levels of persuasion: LOGOS, PATHOS and ETHOS.
In each installment I will boil it down to a single action item for you to walk away with in order to make this new knowledge have power in your own ability to persuade and influence others.
Let's start with LOGOS—which can be understood as simply logic.
So the first form of persuasion has to do with convincing others through the use of logic. I interviewed Dave Lakhani recently (grew up in a cult, now best-selling author of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want). Here is how he put it: "Persuasion is helping people come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be one we share." He goes on to say, "Persuasion is about being a more effective communicator and getting the best outcome for everyone involved."
"Persuasion is helping people come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be one we share."
So, in LOGOS, we use logic and reasoning to persuade others to see things in a new way.
Let me give you an example; this is how I lay out the argument for why someone should... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, persuasion | Posted on 13-09-2011 |
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Eat or be eaten. Influence or be influenced. Someone is always selling and someone is always buying (consciously or not).
If you open up your medicine cabinet, or your dresser drawers, your pantry or your garage… or just look around the room you are standing in right now, each item you see is a war trophy, representing somebody’s or some company’s victory—who got you to trade your hard-earned money for their product.
How did they do that? What tools did they use?
That is what I will teach you in this four-part blog series—the all-important skill of influence and persuasion.
Make no mistake. There are legions of influence agents operating around you everywhere, all day. Sometimes it’s in the form of a TV commercial, or a phone solicitation, or grocery store announcement, bus bench or billboard, and other times it’s in the form of a solicitation or request by a child, spouse, employer, priest, friend or co-worker.
A friend of mine once tried to count the number of direct attempts to control his thoughts and behavior that he encountered in a single day. This included people requesting him to do things, forcing him to do things, asking him to buy things, telling him to pay for things, showing him where to stop and when to go, suggesting how he should think about things, offering him slogans to repeat, songs to remember, attitudes to change, and ideologies to believe. He doesn’t even read the newspaper, listen to radio or watch TV! He gave up by 10:30 a.m., as he lost count somewhere around 500. Research calculates that the average person receives more than... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 09-09-2011 |
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I am humbled and excited to tell you that because The Compound Effect has had such phenomenal viral success (without ever being available in a bookstore) a big N.Y. publisher came romancing us wanting to publish it to a worldwide retail market in November.
They (and we) are going to spend a truckload of dough marketing the book everywhere. In my opinion, the best way to tell the story of The Compound Effect is to tell YOUR STORY.
If you have read the book and have had some significant “ah-ha’s” surface or if it has a direct impact on your life in some way, I’d like to share that story with audiences of people all over the world. It could be your story that changes the story of someone who hears it forever.
Here is what I would LOVE for you to do: Record a video of you telling your story (or if you are more comfortable, you can send via email). Instructions on how to submit your video or email below.
Story telling outline: C.A.R.
C=Challenge: what particular challenge were you dealing with? What were the circumstances of your life when you first got a hold of SUCCESS magazine, The Compound Effect or Living Your Best Year Ever?
A=Answer: what was the answer, inspiration or ah-ha you discovered that triggered a defining moment… that started to turn it around.
R=Resolution/Result: What has happened since? What are the results? How is your life different now because of what you learned and implemented from The Compound Effect? Ideally, under 3 minutes.
I know what you are thinking… my story isn’t that important, riveting or awe-inspiring. To someone who is dealing with what you dealt with and overcame, changed or improved, it could be the most important story of his or her life.
Don’t prejudge, just tell your story using the C.A.R. outline. Remember the more specific the details and the greater the emotion, the more impactful and memorable it is. Your courage, your...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, SUCCESS Magazine | Posted on 06-09-2011 |
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As a society, I think we often misunderstand the word success. Our society celebrates those who obtain fame, wealth, power and celebrity, no matter the means—ethical or not—and we call them successful. Success is often equated to an achieved status, rather than to a measure of value or contribution.
We are taught early in life to strive for success, to achieve the status—win the trophy, get the notable degree, land the big position, win the impressive title, acquire the bigger house, bring back the enviable vacation photos and collect the cars, boats, jewels and big bank account. And when we are waving from the mountaintop, having finally achieved these trappings of "success," we often feel a stark emptiness inside. What's wrong?
We might have acquired everything we ever wanted, except the one thing that really matters—significance. We want to know that our lives meant something, that we've had a positive impact on the lives of others. And only significance provides that; success by itself cannot.
The interesting thing is you can be successful and not significant, but you cannot be significant without being successful.
In 2007, when we took over the stewardship of this legendary magazine, we decided not to change the name. Instead we have attempted to change the definition of success. We see success as... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, SUCCESS Magazine | Posted on 30-08-2011 |
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Why do you want to learn how to be a loser? you ask. We learn from both examples and warnings. This post provides you both.
It’s good to know how to be a loser so, 1) you could do the opposite and 2) you can check to be sure you aren’t doing those things yourself.
I remember Jim Rohn saying that it’s too bad failures don’t give seminars. He would say, “If you meet a guy who has messed up his life for forty years, you’ve just got to say, ‘John, if I bring my journal and promise to take good notes, would you spend a day with me? Tell me how a good-looking guy like you with a beautiful family, everything going for him messed up his life so bad. What did you do? What do you read? What do you eat? What type of people do you hang out with? What do you do with your free time? What TV programs, newspapers, and radio programs do you spend time with? Wouldn’t that information be valuable? Find out and then DON’T DO those things.” Great strategy.
Here’s some loser training tips to get you started:
Take it day by day. Don’t bother with setting goals, making plans and preparing. Just wake up each morning and figure out what you want to do then.
Seek comfort. Growth and progress requires work, stress and struggle. Forget it. Stay comfy instead.
Don’t believe in anything. It’s easier to be... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 23-08-2011 |
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I want to issue you a challenge.
One that can make a profound difference on your year… and your life.
How do I know? Because it did on mine… and now hundreds of others (that I know about) who have emailed, posted on Facebook, tweeted or told me at an event how much this simple activity totally transformed their marriage, relationship with a child, parent, friend, boss or colleague.
Tomorrow (Aug. 24) is exactly 3mos until Thanksgiving 2011 (Nov. 24). If you start tomorrow (Friday at latest!), you can collect 90 days of thanks-giving thoughts about someone you care about… and then you can give them the collection of thoughts and gratitude on Thanksgiving Day. I promise that it will be one of the most special gifts they will ever receive.
Below is pulled directly from my book The Compound Effect
Thanksgiving Year-Round
It’s easy to point fingers at others, isn’t it? “I’m not getting ahead because of my lame boss.” “I would have gotten that promotion if it hadn’t been for that backstabbing co-worker.” “I’m always in a bad mood because my kids are driving me crazy.” And we’re particularly gifted in the finger-pointing department when it comes to our romantic relationships—you know, where the other person is the one who needs to change.
A few years back, a friend of mine was complaining about his wife. From my observation, she was a terrific lady, and he was lucky to have her. I told him as much, but he continued to point out all the ways she was responsible for his unhappiness. That’s when I shared an experience that had literally changed my marriage... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 16-08-2011 |
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Refueling the jets… Learning to Value Time Off
By the time you read this I am off on my 10-year wedding anniversary vacation trip through the South of France and Italy. In that honor I am republishing an article I wrote on high-performance productivity a few years back. Enjoy!
How does America regain its supremacy in the productive world?
How do YOU improve your personal productivity?
ANSWER: Go on vacation.
438 million. That is the number of vacation days Americans failed to take in 2007, according to Harris Interactive research group—more than any other industrialized nation.
Here is the result: America ranks No. 1 in depression and mental health problems. Americans are experiencing burnout, reduced productivity, diminished creativity, failed relationships, stress or stress-related ailments such as depression, heart disease or stomach ulcers in record levels. Our entrenched puritanical conditioning, being valued on how “hard” we work, fear of being replaced or left behind, and our addiction to always being “busy” are actually not only destroying our mental and physical health, but also destroying our creative productivity.
This is especially true in our new global economy, where our advantage and future is... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 09-08-2011 |
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"I'm going to give you a little advice. There's a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen and be the ball."
That was actually a quote from Ty Webb, played by Chevy Chase, in the movie Caddyshack. (I've always wanted to use a Caddyshack quote in one of my letters!)
Welcome to our special Comebacks issue of SUCCESS, which features those companies, entrepreneurs and leaders who have experienced a bit of a fall from grace. When down and out, they could have easily stayed there, given up hope, given up on their dreams and given up on themselves, but they didn't. Instead of collapsing, they bounced. And they came back stronger, better and and more equipped to achieve greatness than ever before.
That is why I want you to "be the ball." In this metaphor, however, I want you to be the tennis ball. You see, life will smack you around like a tennis ball in a match point between Nadal and Federer. To win in the game of life you will need to "be the ball" and learn The Bounce.
To bounce: To fall rapidly, hit bottom suddenly with impact and rebound decisively.
According to that definition, there are four distinct phases of The Bounce... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 02-08-2011 |
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Just joining us? Be sure to read Installment #1 and #2 and #3
WARNING: There is kryptonite all around you!
There are great traps you will have to overcome to execute and stick to your five-point plan each day. These are three great warnings to look out for.
WARNING No. 1—“Yes” You will have to become a master at saying “no.” This is one of the greatest distinguishing features of superachievers—not what they do, but more important what they don’t do. Their ability to keep the main thing, in fact, the main thing and not get mired in weeds of minor tasks is their genius. They major in the major issues and don’t major in minors, as many of the rest of us tend to do.
As Brian Tracy said, you need to develop “Won’t Power.” The power to declare and stick to all the things you won’t do, in order for you to stay focused on the things that matter the most to the accomplishment of your BIG hairy audacious goals.
WARNING No. 2—Being reactive instead of creative
Monitor and calculate your time between being reactive (reacting to communications, inquiries, requests and needs of others) and being proactive or creative—the time you are spending being productive and on target with your key priorities, not the priorities of others. Think about it: email, texts, the phone… you are mostly reacting when you are on these devices. Don’t let them yank you around all day as if you were on the end of a string where someone else is your puppet master. Instead, be sure the lion’s share of your time is spent being creative and focused on YOUR few and high-value priorities.
WARNING No. 3... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, plan | Posted on 26-07-2011 |
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Just joining us? Be sure to read Installment #1 and #2
Here is a simple (but don’t let the simplicity fool you!) but PROFOUND plan to immediately multiply your productive output many times over your current rate. I’m not talking about activity (more work, more time). I said productivity (results, money, accomplishment, goal attainment)… all the while, living much more stress free and carefree existence (more time for family, fun and hobbies!).
Let me outline a 5-point Superachiever Productivity Plan for you… this is what I do.
No. 1—Plan tomorrow today. Jim Rohn taught me, “Don’t start your day until it is finished on paper.” And the best time to do this is the day before.
This is an important and many times not so easy-to-keep discipline. The last thing I do before I shut down for the day, by routine, is to review and complete the plan for the following day. The entire process takes less than 10 minutes. What you don’t want to do is wake up and then figure out what you should be doing—it’s way too late by then. Chances are the rest of the world will have decided what it wants you to do and it will control your day, instead of you. You will be reacting instead of creating.
Let me take you through that simple planning process, since the key to brilliant execution is always brilliant planning.... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Remez Sasson | Posted in SUCCESS, tips | Posted on 26-07-2011 |
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By Remez Sasson
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, Stress | Posted on 19-07-2011 |
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If you want to know what we’re up to, be sure to read Installment #1.
After interviewing hundreds of superachievers, many of whom you have seen grace the cover of SUCCESS magazine, I have found about a half-dozen key distinctions of superachievers.
In this series I will outline one of the BIG strategies and a 5-point plan to dramatically increase your productive output, while significantly lowering your stress and schedule burdens.
Superachiever Distinction No. 1: It’s NOT what the superachievers DO that separates them from everyone else…
I am constantly asked, “What do Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet and the like DO that makes them so successful, productive and wealthy?”
What’s supremely interesting is that what they DO has little to do with their extraordinary success. It has more to do with what they DON’T DO.
Steve Jobs: When asked what is the thing he is most proud of what he and Apple has created, this was his answer: “I'm as proud of what we DON’T do as I am of what we do.”
Warren Buffet: When asked for the No. 1 key to his success, this is his consistent answer, “For every 100 great opportunities that are brought to me, I say ‘NO’ 99 times.”
Isn’t that interesting?! You see, saying “yes” is easy.
Yes I have a minute
Yes I’ll take the call
Yes I’ll take on that project
Yes I’ll come out for happy hour
Yes I’ll have another drink
Yes I’ll have dessert too
Saying “no” is much harder.
And I have learned it is the master skill of the superachievers and... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 12-07-2011 |
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If busyness, long hours and hard work equaled success—I’d be wealthier and more successful than Richard Branson, Tony Hawk and Donald Trump.
I KNOW I put in more hours, take fewer vacations, play less golf, get in less beach time and spend far less time with kids, family and friends than they do.
And yet, in a world where all four of us have exactly the same 24/7/365, I produce nowhere near the results they do. What’s worse, I am not even allowing myself to enjoy as many non-work-related joys of life as they are.
I have to confess, this really ticks me off!
And the only person I have to be mad at… is me. All four of us started out this journey relatively the same—a couple of them in much more difficult circumstances than me—and yet, I’m getting my butt kicked.
I think I’ve finally figured it out a critical distinction of how they are accomplishing so much more than me… and probably you too.
Overachiever
You see, I have always been an overachiever. If you read The Compound Effect you know I was raised by a university football coach, single dad. And the way you got love and an ‘atta-boy’ in our house was to achieve. Do well in school; you get to go to the ice-cream parlor to celebrate. Don’t do well and you’re left home. Hit a home run at Little League and we stopped at the pizza parlor on the way home. Collect a day of strike-outs and it was a cold, quiet car ride—straight home.
Looking back, this is why I think I am such an achievement addict—or as it is commonly known as in polite society, an overachiever. In fact I have worn this title as a badge of honor. I was proud that I could outwork most anyone.
But I now understand the massive difference between an overachiever and a superachiever. They kind of sound the same, don’t they? Yeah, that’s what I thought. But they are worlds apart—or you can...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 01-07-2011 |
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…For Better or Worse
What do Jesus Christ, Charles Darwin, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King Jr. and Vladimir Lenin have in common? Each is deemed one of the 100 Most Influential Persons in History in Michael Hart's 1978 book. Interesting, isn't it?
You don't have to like what their influence was or what they influenced people to do—that's beside the point, and well, also the point. Each of these people influenced millions of others to do as they envisioned and directed.
The key point is: Influence is powerful, and the same qualities and charisma that can influence people toward human enlightenment can also be used to influence people to destruction and great inhumanity.
Another vital understanding of influence is: You don't have to be standing on a mountaintop speaking profound parables or pumping your fists on a lectern while shouting madly into a microphone in front of legions of people to be influential.
It is crucially important to know that we are all, at all times, influencing people and the environment around us.
We are energetic beings. As we enter every room, mix with any group or converse with any other living being, we are either bringing enlightenment or we are darkening the world around us.
Additionally, we come to understand ourselves by... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, choices | Posted on 28-06-2011 |
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In The Compound Effect I explain how the results in your life are rooted in one single factor—your choices.
Like it or not, good or bad, your accumulated choices have added up to your current waistline, business success, relationship strength and bank balance.
Your choices created your problems and the only way out of them is to start, and stick to, making new choices.
But then you ask, How do I know what the right choices are?
Here's a simple formula:
When in doubt, just do what you don't want to do—that's usually exactly what you should do. Take the path of MOST resistance.
Put it this way: If you are disappointed in any area of your life, whatever choices you have been making aren't working.
Definition of insanity:
Doing the same things you've always done and expecting different results.
Here is the force you are fighting: You and your brain are creatures of habit. You simply talk yourself into taking the easy, low resistance and comfortable route. Like the pull of a rushing river, your unconscious habits continue to take you downstream in the wrong direction. To change your direction you will need to... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, sales | Posted on 21-06-2011 |
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Millennials, also known as Gen Y-ers (80 million, born between 1980 and 1995), were raised by overly doting parents who coddled their self-esteem like fragile Fabergé eggs. They played in little leagues where the score wasn't kept and where everyone was a winner and everyone got a trophy for just showing up.
Having hired, worked with and trained many, I had concluded that millennials were simply lazy, undisciplined, unmotivated, over-entitled and disengaged, with the attention span of goldfish.
Then I joined the Board of Directors of an organization called Invisible Children, founded by and made up entirely of millennials. I was quickly humbled to the fact that it is not that they are unmotivated, inattentive or disengaged—they were just unmotivated, inattentive and disengaged in working for ME!
The three leaders behind Invisible Children and their mostly volunteer army of incredibly motivated, hard-working and passionately engaged millennials have pulled off achievements in the last half dozen years that even SUCCESS hasn't in the last 116 years. They have organized marches on Washington, simultaneous overnight rallies of millions of people in over 100 cities worldwide and pulled off wild stunts to get themselves on the Oprah show (which they did three times!). They even wrote a bill that they personally pushed through the Senate and Congress all the way to the Oval Office and stood there while the President of the United States signed it. You cannot tell me this is an unmotivated, lazy and unfocused generation anymore.
Having seen the talent, passion and capabilities of the millennials up-close, I now believe they pose one of the greatest strategic opportunities for companies today, if... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Remez Sasson | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 20-06-2011 |
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By Remez Sasson Do you think it is difficult to think positively? When you try to think positively, do all kinds of negative thoughts fill your mind? Do you find it difficult to wish yourself good things? Do you find it difficult to wish yourself success and happiness? Does your mind refuse to think positively? [...]
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 14-06-2011 |
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This past week my wife Georgia and I spent some time touring the 116-year-old Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. This 175,000-square-foot home on 8,000 acres still emanates its founder's--George Washington Vanderbilt's--illustrious grandeur... and it remains (remarkably) privately owned.
Of course my inquiring SUCCESS mind wanted to figure out how. Although much of the robber-baron wealth of his grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt (earned through shipping and railroads in early 1800s) has dissipated through his heirs, Biltmore Estate continues to thrive because it was founded on a vision of sustainability. While many of the Gilded Age estates have been reduced to rubble, taken over by the state or sold to nonprofit entities, Biltmore remains a privately owned, for-profit working estate.
Sustainability is the capacity to endure; to be diverse and productive over time; exhibiting the potential for long-term maintenance and well-being.
George Vanderbilt's vision wasn't only to build the largest private home in America (which it is still today 100+ years later) but to also have it be self-supporting.
In addition to the grand estate, George also had built the Biltmore School, scientific forestry programs, poultry farms, cattle farms, hog farms and a dairy. He also built the Biltmore Village for all those who would work on the estate, complete with a church.
Today the enterprise is not only a profitable historical tourist attraction but also a worldwide brand that includes a furniture line, housewares and it's own winery, which today is the most visited winery in North America (yes, more than those in Napa Valley!), shipping more than 120,000 cases a year (some of it quite good I might add).
Three Lessons Learned on Sustainable Success: ... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Remez Sasson | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 09-06-2011 |
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By Kenneth McRae There are many people who believe that wealth and financial freedom comes only through accidents of birth or by being in the right place at the right time with the right business idea and then being lucky enough to be able to successfully see that business idea through to fruition. With regard [...]
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS, SUCCESS Magazine | Posted on 07-06-2011 |
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The revelation is this: The way we were… is over.
As you know, we are living through an era of unprecedented change. Over the last decade, we began hearing the death rattle of a bygone era. The corporate structure and system has begun to crumble. The global marketplace has been flattened. Innovative, fast-moving and nimble competition has risen from nearly all corners of the planet. Technology has wired us all directly to each other. Now every manufacturer or marketer has immediate and direct access to everyone, everywhere, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels.
All this deconstruction and loss of control by the few, the behemoths, the entrenched, spells freedom… and opportunity for the rest of us.
As entrepreneurs and individual achievers, it is our time to thrive!
But you also have to adapt. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has been deconstructed as well. The path to the high-paying job you needed and desired used to involve getting the highest academic degree you could obtain, along with some specific technical job skills. Today, if those jobs still exist, certainly the rules of those jobs have changed and will continue to do so.
With the mind-blowing velocity of change and the throng of competition, the skills needed for 21st century success are less about academic or industrial or technical training, and more about what might be called the "soft skills": emotional intelligence, adaptability and resiliency; networking, interpersonal and relationship-development skills; self-motivation, accountability and productivity skills; personal branding, social marketing and persuasive communication skills; along with leadership, recruiting and people-building skills.
So, to stay relevant, if not gain the advantage, in today's ever-changing and fast-evolving marketplace, where do you go to gain these critical skills? You won't...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 31-05-2011 |
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…Usually not both (particularly in your marriage).
It was Friday night (Date Night!) and I was flying home after a long exhausting week on the road. My wife, Georgia was picking me up from the airport and she had made reservations for us at this new restaurant in downtown San Diego we were excited to try.
To make it special, earlier in the week I called ahead to see if they stocked our favorite French champagne. They did not, so I arranged to have a bottle shipped to the sommelier at the restaurant to be presented at the table as a surprise (along with another small gift I picked up on the road).
Georgia had arranged a surprise as well, knowing I would be coming off a long flight she had bought me a new shirt, had it pressed and waiting in the car when she picked me up. Oh boy, this was going to be a good night!
Even though they had people spilling out the front door, the hostess greeted us with a big smile and immediately whisked us to the best table in the house (apparently we had made an impression with the sommelier!). Halfway through the heavenly champagne (in other words, we are feeling the magic!) our meals arrived. They were delicious. I offered a bite of my dish to Georgia and she commented on the taste of curry in the dish. I insisted it was turmeric and not curry. She said no it was definitely curry. I ranted on about how wrong she was and threw down a bet that I was right (by my scorecard I am like 1,258,932-to-0 in winning our bets).
I started trying to search for the recipe online from my iPhone in the middle of our meal (I know, super lame). I couldn’t find it so I called over the waitress and asked her to settle our score. She was uncertain, but then (‘make the dumb man happy’ she probably thought) she decided to side with me.
I won! I was right! I did a little victory dance in my chair and gloated a bit longer. However, I now experienced that I had won the battle...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 24-05-2011 |
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We have been discussing the critical importance of recruiting great people (read Part 1, Part 2), no matter if you lead a small sales team, a charity, a sports team or if you are the leader of a big enterprise.
Organizations with the best people win. Get good at recruiting.
In this installment I’d like to give away one of the greatest strategies on how to get people to tell you how to sell them.
This is by not selling, but asking. Not by talking, but by listening.
People will tell you what is important to them, what they are looking for in life, what their hopes, dreams and aspirations are—if you let them. But one thing is for sure: You won’t learn this by moving your mouth.
The question acronym outline I use to this day is FORM:
F=Family and Friends
O=Occupation
R=Recreation
M=Money and Meaning
Recruiting
Script Example
A conversation might go something like this (O): “What do you do?” Whatever their answer, my response is, “Oh, you must LOVE that!” People are contrarians by nature, if you suggest they must love it, then they will tell you everything they hate about it.
If you would have said, “Oh, that sounds tough or terrible.” They will then tell you everything the like about it.So even if they tell you what they don’t like, ask, “What aspects of it do you like?” They are there for a reason, there is some value or need it is filling, it is important to discover that.
Then ask, “What are some of the things you like the least or wish were different or you could change?” Now they will tell you all their needs, wishes and desires.
Then if we are on the business conversation I will jump to M and say, “Well you must make a ton of money doing that.” They will now tell you what? Yes, all their financial dissatisfaction.I’ll follow up, “Is this something you always wanted to do; was it an aspiration since you were young?” 99 times out of 100 it isn’t.
Then I ask, “What was it you wanted to do when you were young...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 17-05-2011 |
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In Part 1 of Recruiting Great People, we talked about key philosophies when it comes to recruiting. Now we'll discuss the finding the ideal match.
As a leader I believe you have three main functions:
1) Think. Set the vision. Architect the strategy. Make decisions.
2) Recruit and retain (culture development) the BEST talent you can.
3) Inspect what you expect – keep your eye on the vital signs of the organization.
And really, if you only master No. 2, the rest will probably get done too.
That makes recruiting and retaining talent your most important job as a business owner, entrepreneur and leader; thus, worthy for us to spend some quality time on it here.
Finding Your “Ideal Match”
I interviewed one of the most successful professional executive recruiters in the country today, Harry Joiner, to pick his brain and take a look into his grab bag of tricks on the topic. Harry used the analogy that we should approach recruiting like dating.
First, ask yourself the questions to determine what your “ideal match” would look like. He also said to know the key initiatives for your new team member needs BEFORE you look for them so you know how to qualify your “ideal match.”
Four key questions to identify the criteria of your “ideal match”
1. What’s the role?
2. How will success be measured?
3. What attributes are needed to succeed?
4. What attributes are needed to gel with rest of team and culture?
Here is what I have always done.
When I am looking to recruit someone, the first thing I do is...CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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We need to rally together and do something about this!
I heard this statistic and tweeted about it yesterday:
@DARRENHARDY Get this stat:@end of this mo. 3M kids will graduate college-2.4M will be moving in with their parents!! They need SUCCESS!! Help me!
I got flooded with people saying the want to help, but asked how.
So, I asked my SUCCESS team to perform a fire drill to come up with a solution we could collectively use.
This is the problem we are trying to impact:
Of the 3 million college students who will graduate this month, nearly 85% (2.4 million) of them have to move back in with their mom and dad!
The unemployment rate for the under-25 group is as high as 54%!
The U.S. Bureau of Labor reports 12.8 million young people (under age 30) are either unemployed, working part time or working at a job that doesn't require a college degree, after spending tens of thousands to obtain one!
Rick Raymond, of the College Parents of America, notes, "Graduates are not the first to be hired when the job markets begins to improve. We're seeing shocking numbers of people with undergraduate degrees who can't get work."
Sum Report finds that young adults without a college degree have been pushed out of the labor market entirely and are finding work at a lower rate than anytime since the end of World War II!
What can we do about this? We can help them separate from everyone else by developing the success mindset, habits, actions and persistence it's going to take to have them take personal accountability and control of their future. Whether they want to compete for their dream job or (better yet) take their ambition and initiate an entrepreneurial endeavor, they are going to need the inspiration, support, positive role models and mentors to help them realize their dreams.
There is NO better way to deliver all that to them than through a subscription to SUCCESS magazine and the personal mentorship of me and my mentor Jim Rohn. This is what I had my team put...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 10-05-2011 |
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Any business or organization is simply a group of human beings that have joined together to accomplish an objective. Whether that objective is to sell a product, win a game or even defeat an enemy and win a war.
The success of the organization is strictly dependent on the quality and caliber of the people in it.
The number one asset of any organization or business and the greatest determining factor of success or failure to the organization are quality of the people involved. That is why your ability to recruit great people is paramount to a business, organization, association, charity, team or any entity that requires more than one person to succeed.
What the über-successful attribute their success to:
As you know, I have had the opportunity to meet, sit down with and spend time with many of today’s most admired super-achievers. When asked what they attribute the success of their business to, invariably, they will say it is the great people they have surrounded themselves with. We all know no one climbs to the top of the mountain alone—it requires a great team. Many of these extraordinary achievers will readily confess that most of their team is smarter, more talented and more skilled than they are… in fact they will tell you that is always their objective.
The CEO of a billion-dollar company told me recently that it is his ardent goal to always... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, Health, SUCCESS | Posted on 03-05-2011 |
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What do you think causes more deaths in the United States each year?
Car crashes
Drug overdoses
Alcoholism
Firearm accidents
All of those combined don't total a third of this insidious instrument of death: food.
We are literally eating our way into the grave.
Obesity (caused by bad diet and lack of exercise) kills some 400,000 people in this country every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Only smoking-related diseases account for more deaths, with a total of 435,000 annually, the CDC reports.
A staggering 129.6 million Americans are overweight or obese—that's two out of every three people in this country. Think about it. While our ancestors battled disease, famine and other deprivations, we are killing ourselves—with excess.
On top of that, we no longer have to chase down and kill our own food. Instead, we chase the world while sitting in front of a computer screen all day, every day, often neglecting to schedule in some form of physical activity.
A recent article in The New York Times cited several studies showing that sitting for extended periods—at a desk, in front of the TV, etc.—leads to weight gain and increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and early death.
Author Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist, detailed how the body shuts down following prolonged periods of sitting, causing a metabolic disaster of such proportions that even getting a full hour of exercise each day can't offset the impact.
We DO have a healthcare problem, and most of it is SELF-inflicted. We aren't taking proper care of our own health. We need a new healthcare policy, and I don't mean one enacted by Washington—but one enacted by you. You are the only one responsible for what you put into your mouth and how often you move your body.
The June issue of SUCCESS is focused around the...
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We have been talking about how to become a ‘rock star’ presenter (Part 1, Part 2).
Let me now give you the all-so-important bread around the meat of your presentation…
The (not so) Secret Rock Concert Formula
Every rock star knows the secret to a great performance is to START and END with their very best songs to create a shock-and-awe opening and a knockout close.
Power Opening: They know if you are disappointed in their first song, it is likely they will have lost you for the entire concert. At best, it will take several songs and some pretty spectacular stunts to win you back if your first impression is a letdown. They have (at most) 5 minutes to spellbind, ‘WOW’, stun and amaze you.
Memorable, Awe-Inspiring Close: They also know that it will be the last impression and last song that you will sing on your way out and will play as an endless loop in your head as you drive home, sleep and get up the next morning. They know it better be good and they better make you feel something to keep your connection to them long after the show has folded up its tents.
What I described above is (also) YOUR formula for a memorable, effective and awe-inspiring presentation.
OPENING
Use (a form of) Pyrotechnics to Grab Your Audience’s Attention
While you (probably) cannot blow something up onstage to get your audience’s attention (although that would be cool!), there are other ways you can detonate the mind and attention of your audience right up front in your presentation—and that is with your opening headline.
I recently interviewed Hall of Fame presenter Patricia Fripp and she put it this way, “A strong opening powers the rest of the presentation.”
You, too, have only a few minutes to make that critical first impression and deliver your attention-grabbing opening statement. Just as in TV bumpers, magazine or newspaper articles, or direct response...
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Bill Gates releases mosquitoes during his
presentation to illustrate his point about malaria.
First of all, thank you for all your contributions to the discussion in Part 1 of this series. Some great ideas were shared, some of which I added to my own notes. Well done!
I interviewed Carmine Gallo recently, who wrote the book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. One of the many great insights I picked up from our one-on-one time together was the importance of turning your presentations into theatrics—simply meaning the use of multisensory outputs (visuals, video, audio), demonstrations, attention interrupts every 10 minutes, etc., and stories with villains and heroes, for you to introduce their problems (similar to the audience's) and your solutions.
To narrow the heart of this post I suggest we focus on one key point Carmine made, which is, "No one cares about your product; they only care about themselves."
In that vein I'd like to reiterate some advice I gave on the SUCCESS magazine CD inside our May 2011 issue on the art of connecting…
I was asked a few months back to consult on a presentation an executive group had prepared to deliver to their staff at what they call their 'State of the Union' address. When I looked over the slide deck my counsel was twofold… and I recommend you filter your presentations through these same guiding principles. Here is how I put it to the executive team:
Principle No. 1:
"What matters to you, doesn't necessarily matter to them." Don't look at your presentation from the viewpoint of what you want to tell them. Instead throw all that out and ask yourself: What do THEY want to hear? What's important to them? What problems, concerns, worries, frustrations, needs or desires do they have? What is going to give them hope, comfort, security, meaning and be exciting to...
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Success in today’s world comes down to your ability to sell your ideas, expand your influence and enroll others into a worthy mission or cause. That means you need to learn to present. In this 3-part series I will outline some key ideas to help you become a ‘rock star’ at it.
By the way, EVERYBODY is a public speaker. Maybe you’re presenting your ideas at an office meeting, interviewing for a new job, pitching your argument for why a new piece of office equipment is needed or trying to convince your friends which movie should win the Oscar. Whatever the situation, being able to speak effectively in public is essential to success.
A recent survey conducted by Distinction discovered that, of the executives and entrepreneurs surveyed, more than 86 percent said being able to present effectively has a significant impact on their income and success.
How to be Death-Defying
According to most studies, people’s No. 1 fear is public speaking. No. 2 is death. Doesn’t that sound insane? People would rather die than speak in public. That means if you go to a funeral, more people would rather climb into the casket than give the eulogy!
First off, let’s put this into proper perspective: No one has ever died giving a bad presentation… Well, except for President William Henry Harrison—he developed pneumonia after giving the longest inaugural address in U. S. history. Which I guess is our first lesson on giving a presentation—keep it short… or you might die… or at least kill the attention span of your audience.
Why we think speaking in public is an act of suicide—We come by this fear through our crazy ancestral brain wiring. You have to remember we have been walking erect for more than 4 million years. Even if you call “modern man” 6,000 years old, we have some long-living, deep-seated survival brain wiring that is really overinflated for our modern...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 08-04-2011 |
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On the CD inside our May issue of SUCCESS you will find two fantastic interviews. One is with our 1-on-1 expert Peter Guber, who I have written about before (read here). The other is with social media maven Mari Smith. During our interview I asked her to follow up our interview with her 10 most favorite social media marketing resources, and she generously followed through. Below is her list. Additional articles on social media you might be interested in:
8 Shocking (and Hilarious) Social Media Gaffes
No. 1 Skill for the 21st Century (Part 3 of 3)
No. 1 Skill for the 21st Century (Part 2 of 3)
Networking With New Media
To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Expert Tips about Using Social Media
Small Business and Social Media
Mari Smith's Top 10 Favorite Social Media Marketing Resources
There are many online tools I use every day to manage my social media marketing effectiveness. In my recent interview with Darren Hardy for the May 2011 issue of SUCCESS magazine, I talked about many of these tools. Darren asked me if I would put together my top 10 list for readers of SUCCESS. Here they are!
HootSuite.com—a fantastic free online tool for managing multiple social media profiles, pre-scheduling updates for specific days and times, monitoring keywords and analyzing statistics. Plus, check and reply to saved searches, Twitter lists, trending topics, @ mentions, Direct Mentions and more. Also available as a mobile app, which provides an excellent way to pre-schedule your social updates on the fly. Paid version also available with additional features. (See also TweetDeck.com—an alternative tool to try that is equally popular.)
Bit.ly—the top link shortening service, ideal for Twitter but equally useful for Facebook and even email marketing to track clicks. Copy your long link and paste into your bit.ly account. Easily make custom links and track how many clicks you get. For...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 05-04-2011 |
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It seems the networking series really seemed to connect with many of you. To continue the discussion and to introduce you to our May issue of SUCCESS with the social network star Mark Zuckerberg on the cover, below is my Publisher's Letter from the issue. They key point is, you don't need 1,000 'friends' or even 100... see how many below...
I communicate a lot—on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. I also process around 300-400 emails a day and who knows how many text messages.
But recently I spent some time sorting and categorizing my database of more than 10,000 "contacts," and I had a startling realization. While I might be communicating with tens of thousands of people every day, outside of encounters with my immediate family and business team, I am not really connecting or fostering very many real relationships at all. I'm what's called a mile wide and an inch deep, and that's not how you strike oil! I've been mistaking communication for connection.
Since having this epiphany, I've noticed how many other people suffer from this same affliction, mistaking the time they spend transmitting and receiving information with time spent making meaningful connections. Don't get me wrong—both communication and connection are essential today, but one simply does not equate to the other.
With the pace of business and life today, it's so easy to fall victim to this way of thinking; we must move quickly and convey as much information as quickly as possible to stay competitive, or so we think. With all the opportunities technology provides—enabling us to work from just about anywhere and to expand our reach, quite literally, around the globe—it also has become a crutch in some ways. I think true connection happens... CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
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We've established how critically important learning to effectively network your way to key relationships will be to your future (Part 1). I gave you the most important principle in endearing yourself to those key relationships (Part 2). Now, I don't want to wrap up this series without leaving you with a plan of action and a road map you can use to dramatically expand the reach and depth of your networking results.
Admittedly, the practice and discipline of consistent networking is something I had to work on. I get a chance to meet lots of people… important people… and people I really like and enjoy, but after our initial encounter, life and business tends gets in the way and I look up and a couple months have gone by and I have not kept in touch.
I made a plan to remedy this. I organized my relationships into four categories of 25-30 people each. On Sunday when planning my week, I block out 3 chunks of time where I will stop what I am doing and reach out to those contacts and find ways to make deposits into our relationship account. No agenda, besides the thrill of making deposits and watching my relationship equity grow.
The 3-15-5-1 Plan
Because I am trying to run an entire enterprise and often travelling, the networking program I have created is a per week objective of 3-15-5-1. Theses are meetings and conversations OUTSIDE of my normal business interactions. These are contacts solely for my no agenda driven networking… besides the agenda to give and deposit that is.
3 In-person meetings: Taking a page from Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone, these 3 face-to-face get-togethers are usually over breakfast, lunch, dinner or coffee.
15 written communications: Via email or even touches on Facebook or comments on their blog or handwritten communications.
5 phone calls: Direct, just keep-in-touch phone calls.
1 gift: That is where I send a gift to at least one person a week. This might be a book I think they would really benefit from based on what...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 22-03-2011 |
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Since in Part 1 we challenged you to start networking toward your Big Kahuna prospective relationship, let me share some key ideas in doing so. The most important idea I can give you is: Give first.
As you can imagine I am contacted dozen of times throughout every day by someone who wants something—an endorsement for a book, to get an article in SUCCESS, solicitation for business investment, board advisement, request for mentoring, etc.
99.9% of the time the communication is solely fixed on their agenda, what they need and what they want from me.
As Jim Rohn said, “Don’t come with your need, come with your seed.” Every once in a while someone will come to me with their seed—a seed of unsolicited assistance, a seed of a good idea, a seed of a great connection, a seed of some promotional support, with no (initial) ROI expectation.
I’ll give you an example. I was on Larry Benet’s target list (come to learn later). When we first met he didn’t pitch me on what he wanted from me. He asked what I was working on and then he found a way to assist in a variety of unsolicited ways. To this day, regularly, he is introducing people, ideas or resources to me that he thinks might be valuable… and many of them are. And all these ovations are unsolicited; he is proactively and intentionally going out of his way to be valuable.
Now, I will tell you what this has caused—a great gratitude and a great psychic debt. I don’t like imbalanced relationships so I go out of my way to try and be of value back to him… and if he asks, which is rarely, for a favor, I am eager to comply so I can pay some debt back.
What this is really is the law of reciprocation in action. If you do for others, they are psychically compelled to want to do for you. I’m not saying reciprocation is always one-to-one... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 15-03-2011 |
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As we discussed in Leadership for a Changing World, technology, knowledge and change are expanding exponentially. Technology and globalization will continually challenge entrepreneurs to stay relevant and competitive.
The top 10 jobs of 2010 didn’t even exist in 2004.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by age 38.Besides your continual and never-ending practice of learning and self-improvement, what will be your No. 1 asset during these expanding and fast-changing times? Unequivocally, it will be the relationships you can build.
If we want to calculate your potential for increased wealth, we would not look at your current bank balance, cars or property inventory; we would look at the inventory of your quality and high-caliber relationships.Therefore, the No. 1 skill you will want to hone, practice and master will be your ability to NETWORK. Your ability to get to, connect with and establish relationships with important and purposeful people with will be your gateway to any goal, destination or aspiration you have.
In this post, I want to pull the curtain open on one of the most spellbinding and fear-gripping illusions there are about networking and connecting with your “Big Kahuna” or dream targets.
Just like in the classic book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, people build up a front about who they are. You will remember that Oz did his best to portray himself as mysterious, powerful and frightening, appearing once as a giant head, once as a beautiful fairy, once as a ball of fire and once as a horrible monster and then at last when he finally grants an audience to Dorothy and her friends he is invisible—nothing but a disembodied voice.
But when the curtain is finally pulled back it is found that Oz is actually none of these things, but rather a kind, ordinary man from Omaha, Nebraska, who has been using a lot of elaborate magic tricks and props to make himself appear great and powerful to the...
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 08-03-2011 |
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There are only a few certainties in life: death, taxes… and change.
And the rate of change is speeding up—rapidly.
Several factors are causing this acceleration: the expansion of technology and knowledge, globalization and the changing demographic majority. Let’s take a look at how these factors are impacting the landscape of leadership.
Technology: Ray Kurzweil, in his 2001 essay “The Law of Accelerating Returns,” asserts that technology won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).
Knowledge: By 1900, it had taken 150 years to double all human knowledge. Today it takes only one or two years, and by 2020, knowledge will double every 72 days, according to estimates.
Globalization: The competition for talent, resources and attention doesn’t just come from the other members of your local chamber of commerce; it now comes from every high-rise, second bedroom and basement in the world.
Changing Demographic: The millennial generation (those born in the 1980s and 1990s) are the largest to enter the workforce since the baby boomer generation. Nurtured through a different era, this generation has a different value system, and they will play a key role in the changing nature of workplace dynamics.
Leadership over the past 50 years has been based on the premise that the organization is purely an economic entity. The priority was to develop structures, set controls and leverage capital as effectively as possible. This was accomplished through pyramids of hierarchies performing rigidly narrow tasks within clear guidelines.
Today, the speed of change demands a completely different leader: one who... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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Finishing up our series on what you do when you take one to the kisser, knocking you on your rump… (read part 1, 2, 3)
Here is Point No. 3: Turn obstacles into opportunities. Ask any great achiever who has achieved despite great obstacles, if they could go back and avoid the obstacle, would they, and the answer invariably is “no.” Even our friend Roger (born handicapped with only three fingers, one foot and three toes), if given the opportunity to have perfectly formed arms, legs, hands and feet, would chose to be born the same way he was.
This is true for Lance Armstrong and his battle with cancer. It wasn’t until after he fought and beat cancer that he developed the strength to beat everyone in the world, seven times, in one of the most grueling and punishing sport contests there is—The Tour de France.
Ask the woman heralded as the “fastest women on earth” in the 1960 Olympics, Wilma Rudolph, if she would go back and wish not to have suffered measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough and be born with polio, twisting her left leg so bad that it required a brace. It was BECAUSE of those obstacles that she had to dig up her deeper and greater potential and drive. It required her to work harder, longer and with more determination than any would-be competitor. That character, forged through difficulty, is what created the extraordinary achievements and opportunities she realized. As Albert Mensah said so eloquently to me in a recent interview, “Opportunities are cloaked in obstacles.”
In fact, to take this one step further, I have learned to see obstacles, failure and pain as positive and necessary for growth. I learned this early on from my dad, whose mantra in life was... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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Posted by Remez Sasson | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 27-02-2011 |
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Dr. Philip E. Humbert There is perhaps no more important decision than to take charge of your own financial future. We live in a world of opportunity, and yet most Americans are buried in credit card and other debt. We are surrounded by people who are getting rich, but most of us are running in [...]
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Continuing our series of what you do when life gives you a roundhouse kick in the head and you suddenly end up sprawled out on the canvas… (read part 1 and 2)
Here is point No. 2: Focus on what’s good, right and possible. Stop dwelling on the obstacle.
As Roger Crawford said in our interview together, “Focus on what you CAN do instead of what you CAN’T do.”
Think about it, if you had disfigured limbs from the elbows and knees down and only three fingers… total and three toes total… on only one complete leg, it would be pretty difficult not to think about all that you couldn’t do versus what you could do.
Now look down at your hands and toes. Imagine what you can do, IF… you only focus on what you CAN do, given whatever limitations or obstacles you have, or think you have, instead of repeatedly focusing on all you cannot do. Please take this message to heart… and to your focus. As Roger said, “Problems in life are really possibilities, depending on what we choose to dwell on.”
I also have an important warning to offer you regarding this point:
Be sure the obstacle is not SERVING you.
It could be serving as a convenient excuse as to why you are not doing better or trying harder. Take notice of what you talk about. Do you continually talk about the obstacles you are facing or the positive progress you are making without even a mention of obstacles? Do you relish in lamenting, whining or even joking about the tragicomedy of your day? Or do your stories focus on the comeback, the hopefulness and the victory?
This is a key point: If you like talking about ‘woe is me,'... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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This story describes a journey. The beginning of following Jesus Christ, and putting it into the terms of “shoes”. My prayer is that you will find yourself somewhere on this path, and that you will seek out His friendship and get…… NEW SHOES I have an old pair of shoes. I have [...]
Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 17-02-2011 |
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Continuing our series on what you do when you get knocked on your keister, let me lay out a four-point plan you can use to overcome any obstacle you will ever face in life—a plan to turn any tragedy or setback into triumph.
Here is No. 1: I interviewed Roger Crawford recently, who was born with a physical handicap that affected all four of his limbs from the elbows down and from the knees down, leaving him with two fingers on his left wrist on one on his right, a partially developed right leg with three toes, and his left leg from the knee down was amputated. But he became a world-class tennis player, recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the most accomplished athletes in history.
During our interview Roger made this very profound statement: “We are, often times, the one who...
Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 17-02-2011 |
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Continuing our series on what you do when you get knocked on your keister, let me lay out a four-point plan you can use to overcome any obstacle you will ever face in life—a plan to turn any tragedy or setback into triumph.
Here is No. 1: I interviewed Roger Crawford recently, who was born with a physical handicap that affected all four of his limbs from the elbows down and from the knees down, leaving him with two fingers on his left wrist on one on his right, a partially developed right leg with three toes, and his left leg from the knee down was amputated. But he became a world-class tennis player, recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the most accomplished athletes in history.
During our interview Roger made this very profound statement: “We are, often times, the one who creates our own handicaps.” Meaning, many times our obstacles are self-induced. Or, even real obstacles continue to have a hold on us because of these mental handicaps. I think we lose proper perspective. So true.
This might help you gain perspective…
A few nights ago my wife was feeling a bit stressed and down about a project that had not gone according to plan. She left the house in a bummed out mood and came back a transformed human being. I asked her what the heck happened and she told me the story of Jimmy…
Jimmy always has a big giant smile on his face. Jimmy cleans people’s fingernails and toenails for a living. Georgia, curious why this man is always so happy, asked how he grew up. Jimmy explained he was one of nine from a very large Vietnamese family. Jimmy’s father had been loyal to the American military during the Vietnam War. He was ordered to pay restitution, which was promised to be an imprisonment term of 2 1/2 weeks. Three and a half years later, weak, starving and brutalized in what turned out to be a labor camp, his father was released.
With his release, Jimmy’s father was determined to leave Vietnam and take his wife and nine children to the United...
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If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I like to point your attention and creative imagination toward what’s positive and what’s possible in the world—to look for and see the abundance, potential and opportunities of life.
And that is a good thing… and a very necessary thing if we want to move our lives in a positive direction and toward that greater abundance.
BUT, what do you do when you get knocked down. And you will. This is LIFE we are talking about. It is not always blue skies, singing birds and pretty rainbows outside. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it even storms and sometimes it even comes with the added drama (and potential pain) of lightening and thunder. What do you do then, Mr. Sunshine?
That is what we are going to address in this four-part series: When you get knocked on your tush in life, how do you get back up so you are not knocked OUT?
The interesting thing is, during the times of strife, struggle and challenge that the true achievers are born. Never mind the analogy of the true birth experience, having to overcome the incredible obstacles involved in literally being born. But after that first trying experience—and the slap of the doctor and your first cry—it is during the other challenges and obstacles of life when achievers are born.
Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.” It is only when we are presented with those challenges that we get to separate ourselves from other men and women.
Imagine this: You are at the very top of your game. Let’s say that game is in one of the most competitive and rivaled fields in the entire world. After decades of painful discipline, sacrifice and relentless commitment, you finally rise to the top, the very top in fact, and then tragedy strikes….CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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To God all sin is sin. We must have right relationship with God and man. The Spirit of god which is the holy spirit convicts people of their sin , also comforts, speaks truth and testifies about Jesus Christ, brings righteousness corrects, reproves and instructs .The holy spirit has the ability to draw the sinner [...]
Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 08-02-2011 |
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Now that the Super Bowl is over, it’s time to get out of the stands and into the game of YOUR life.
Now I’m all for the spirit, entertainment and release that goes along with cheering on a sports team. At the same time, I do find it odd that many people spend time following and studying the lives of other people more than they do their own.
Again, catching a sporting event when it is on is all good fun; I watched the Super Bowl too (cost me money – lost a bet with my 'cheese head' editor in chief). What I’m talking about is the investment some people give to the sports and careers other people are playing and living.
Think about it: What if the time you spend…
reading the sports page, you read a self-improvement book?
listening to sports talk radio, you listen to an instructional CD?
watching ESPN or Sports Center, you watch a seminar DVD or read a book?
talking about sports scores and players, you talk about your goals and plans to achieve them?
playing fantasy sports, you role-play your key skills training?
How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make YOU victorious… and far happier.
Oh, and let’s not leave out the non-sports fans. What if the time you spend…
reading People magazine and other gossip rags, you read SUCCESS magazine?
watching E! Entertainment, TMZ or Access Hollywood, you watched a seminar DVD or read a book?
watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, or Jersey Shore, you read a book about YOUR reality?
talking (or gossiping) about other people’s lives and foibles, you talked about your lessons learned in life and plans for growth?
How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make you victorious, and far happier.
What's the primary difference between the 5% who are wealthy and the rest of the 95% who are not? CLICK HERE TO READ
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 03-02-2011 |
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I'm at my publishing office in Dallas this week helping close out the upcoming April issue of SUCCESS (Starbuck's returning white knight CEO Howard Shultz on the cover - fantastic issue!).
Anyway, the Super Bowl fever here is at an almost hysterical pitch. Reminds me of one of the favorite Super Bowl stories...
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Joe Montana/Bill Walsh 49ers dynasty years. There is a famous story about Joe Montana who earned the name 'Joe Cool' that I love and in it lies a fantastic success lesson.
It was Super Bowl XXIII. The San Francisco 49ers are playing the Cincinnati Bengals. The 49ers are down 16-13. They have only one possession left. They have to drive 92 yards if they hope to win. At the start of this crucial drive Joe exclaims to tackle Harris Brown, "Hey, check it out, in the stands, near the exit ramp, there's John Candy". Harris grabs the tight end John Frank and points out Candy to him too, "Hey, John. There's John Candy". Fifteen seconds later Joe claps his hands in the huddle and says, "You guys want it? Let's go." 11 plays and 92 yards later, Joe Cool leads his team to a touchdown with only 34 seconds left, winning Super Bowl XXIII 49ers 20, Bengals 16.
During crucial and critical times, that is when you need to be most cool. If you are going to lead people, YOU have to be the eye of the storm. You have to bring calm to the situation, you have to be cool... Joe Cool. So the next time you get into a crucial moment, take some time to look around, you just might see John Candy.
Enjoy the Super Bowl. Who are you rooting for? CLICK HERE GIVE YOUR SHOUT OUT IN THE COMMENTS
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Posted by Darren Hardy | Posted in Darren Hardy, SUCCESS | Posted on 01-02-2011 |
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Whether or not the title on your business card labels you as a “salesperson,” I bet you have had several sales conversations already today.
Maybe you sold a friend on seeing the great movie you just saw or trying a new restaurant you recently enjoyed. If you’re a parent, you may have sold your kids on the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast or doing well in school today. Or perhaps you sold your boss on why you need a day off, promotion or raise. The list goes on and on. All day, every day we are selling someone on something.
If you aren’t good at sales, life will be more difficult for you. It’s that simple. Selling is not just a business skill; it’s an essential life skill. But selling really isn’t as complicated or mysterious as we make it out to be. Selling is simply about influencing an outcome.
If you’re stuck in the mindset that you’re not good at selling, it’s time to shift your perspective.
Start by stopping selling. Cross out the word sell and replace it with H-E-L-P.
An early mentor of mine helped me gain proper perspective on selling when I was in real estate. I showed him my “hit list” of target prospects. He said, “Hit list! Who wants to be your next hit?! These are real people, real families, who will be going through one of the most emotional transactions of their life involving probably the most valuable asset they own—their home. Until this list is considered the list of those families whom you will help, protect and fight for next, they will not be interested in what you have to say.”
What great advice! It wasn’t just a change of word; it was an entirely different philosophy, mindset and emotional approach to every conversation and interaction. Instead of pitching, I was inquiring about their dreams, hopes, fears and worries… and listening. Then I looked for all sorts of ways I could help them, not only with their real estate needs, but in their lives. The byproduct was that I became a valued and trusted partner....
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Shining Perspective I opened the door and my son yells from upstairs, “Hi Momma! Come up here!” Intrigued by the excitement, I drop my bags and head up the stairs. He continues, “I got on BLUE today! And look, I got this!” (Let me take a moment to explain that since school resumed from the [...]
Posted by Lisa Ocker | Posted in SUCCESS | Posted on 28-01-2011 |
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by Lisa Ocker
So much in life hinges on these things: relationship-building, persistence and resourcefulness. Paul Scott Adamo, SUCCESS talent executive, knows this very well.
Since the early issues following SUCCESS magazine’s re-launch in 2008, Paul has helped book interviews with celebrities, prominent businesspeople, entrepreneurs and sports figures. Based in New York, Paul has more than 10 years’ experience as a producer, talent executive and casting director for television, radio and print.
Increasingly, publicists come to Paul with requests for SUCCESS stories on their clients. But more often, it takes months or years of Paul’s persistent follow-ups to land the interview. But there’s more to Paul’s job than following up; he looks for opportunities—such as new movies, books,...
