The Law of Numbers

The Law of Large Numbers is a pivotal success secret in as much as it says:

1. Do enough of anything and you’ll succeed;

2. do more and you’ll prosper; and

3. outdo even that amount, and you’ll become a legend.

We’ve seen how this operates in all walks of life.

As with so many success principles, the LLN seems particularly apt in sports. Just yesterday, I read this quote from mighty basketball great Michael Jordan:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

If you don’t try, you can’t win. Try more and more and even more than that, and you’ll become a performer whose feats are celebrated forever.

You Don’t Have To Love It

Somebody said you have to love what you do, but that’s not necessarily true. What is true, is that you have to love the opportunity. The opportunity to build a life, future, health, success and fortune. Knocking on someone’s door may not be something you love to do, but you love the opportunity of what might be behind that door.

For example, a guy says, “I’m digging ditches. Should I love digging ditches?” The answer is no, you don’t have to love digging ditches, but if it is your first step onto the ladder of success, you say, “I’m glad somebody gave me the opportunity to dig ditches and I’m going to do it so well, I won’t be here long.”

You can be inspired by having found something; even though you are making mistakes in the beginning and even though it can be difficult taking on and learning new disciplines. You don’t have to love it, you just have to learn to appreciate your changing your life, appreciate OurGV and appreciate the person who brought you the good news.

It’s easy when you know the basics!

Success is easy to achieve once you know the basics – simple things that you need to focus on daily that will lead you consistently closer to the life of your dreams. The good thing is there are only a handful of these things. Your challenge is to find out what those handful of things are, and then spend most of your time doing them.

Most people try to find out the simple secrets to success by themselves, through painful trial and error. However, you don’t have to because there is a shortcut.

Pay attention to those who profit from your success!  Study harder than you have ever in your life, aren’t your goals worth that?

Appreciate the person who believed in you before you believed in yourself.  Appreciate the person who said, “Hey, if I can do it, you can do it.”

If you will embrace the disciplines associated with OurGV, you will soon find that your self-confidence starts to grow, and that you go from being a skeptic to being a believer. And soon when you go out talking from person to person, you will find it to be the most thrilling opportunity in the world. Every person you meet - who could it be? A great shopper, a future MDC member, someone responsible for 1,000 non-profits, and who knows what else! Maybe even a friend for life.  Sometimes in the beginning when we are just getting started, we don’t always see how big it can be. So, before you are tempted to give up or get discouraged, remember all success is based on long term commitment, faith, discipline, attitude and a few stepping stones along the way. You might not like the stone you are on right now, but it’s sure to be one of the stones that lead to great success in the future.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I don’t know how many of you have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, but in the book Pirsig cites one of his great little parables.  The hero is trying to learn how to write very distinctively, very descriptively, and very efficiently.  So he says, “What’s more efficient than a manual for putting a machine together?”  So, he looks into screw “a” and bolt “b”, and he can’t get it.  So he goes to a Japanese bicycle manual and he opens it up and it says, “In assemblage of Japanese bicycle, rule number one, be of serene mind.” And everyone who’s listening to him laughs, and then he says, I get it.  If I’m not of serene mind, if I don’t have peace of mind, I will build my own problems into the product itself.  Quality of mind is the key because the state of my mind is what will determine the state of my reality, and state of mind determines state of results.

People Get What They Work For

Gradually I discovered that there is a golden thread that runs through all teachings and makes them work for those who sincerely accept and apply them.  That thread can be named in a single word-BELIEF.  Belief,  is this same element of factor which causes people to be cured by mental healing, enables others to climb the latter of success, and gets great results for all who accept it.  

Most leave their desires vague so they get vague outcomes. Virtually anything can be yours  and you can be anything, if you are able to develop a “knowing” about it that you don’t ever need to question. Our belief power is found in the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious. The subconscious continually expresses our deepest beliefs and desires. It is our servant that renews and guides, but to get the most out of it requires great respect for and faith in what it can do. Imagery helps guide it, so we must feed it mental pictures of what we desire. It can then go to work to make that image true. Somehow the subconscious is connected to all other parts of our mind, and through the law of attraction it will attract events and people that will assist us in helping the vision become a reality. The belief has to become part of us, settled in the subconscious as fact. Repetition will help it get in there. This is why we spend so much time working on goal setting.

You Will Make It!

They say that “everybody’s a critic,” and that never seems more true than when you’re pursuing a dream. There will always be well-meaning people who want to “protect” you from your “unrealistic fantasies.”  Critics tried to discourage everyone who every accomplished anything and often we are our worst critics.  Why would your goals and dreams be any different?  Everyone ignored the negative input and achieved their goals.  Follow their lead, and you too will be UNSTOPPABLE!

1. The timing is all wrong. In 1987, prior to accepting Paramount’s offer to host a late-night talk show, Arsenio Hall was told by everyone: “It’s too hard to crack into the late-night ratings. Television isn’t ready for a black talk show host. This is America, and you can forget it.”

2. Why don’t you get a real job? Not understanding his desire to become Mr. Universe, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s family pleaded with him, saying: “How long will you go on training all day in a gymnasium and living in a dream world?”

3. It’ll never work, you’ll lose everything. Weeks before she opened her first store, cosmetic tycoon Mary Kay Ash’s attorney said: “Liquidate the business right now and recoup whatever cash you can. If you don’t, you’ll end up penniless.”

4. Don’t rock the boat. In response to Muriel Siebertís application to be the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, officials responded: “The language on the floor is too rough and there’s no ladies’ room.”  She bought a seat anyway and remained the only woman there for nine years.

5. It’s never been done before. Upon applying for a job after graduation from Columbia University, announcers for NBC Radio responded to Sally Jessy Raphael: “You have the perfect voice for broadcasting, but you should get a job as a secretary. We’re not using women.”

6. You don’t have enough talent. Responding to his desire to become a recording artist, Ray Charles’ teachers said: “You can’t play the piano, and God knows you can’t sing. You’d better learn how to weave chairs so you can support yourself.”

7. Don’t even try, you’ll just be disappointed. When auditioning for a part in a high school musical, a teacher rejected Diana Ross saying: “You have a nice voice, but it’s nothing special.”

8. You don’t fit the mold OR you’re not the right “type.” Trying to convince her she didn’t have the right look, fashion photographer Richard Avedon told Cher: “You will never make the cover of Vogue because you don’t have blond hair or blue eyes.”  When she did make the cover, Vogue sold more copies than it had ever sold before.

9. Don’t give up your day job. Commenting on the first manuscript of an unpublished author, a New York publisher told James Michener: “You’re a good editor with a promising future in the business. Why would you want to throw it all away to try to be a writer? I read your book. Frankly, it’s not really that good.” Michener’s first book, Tales of the South Pacific, later won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted for stage and screen as South Pacific.

10. There’s no market for it. When hearing his plans to launch Perrier in the United States, several consulting firms advised Gustave Leven: “You’re foolish to try to sell sparkling water in the land of Coca-Cola drinkers.”

The only opinion about your dream that really counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations — not yours. There is nothing unrealistic about a dream that aligns with your purpose, ignites your passion, and inspires you to plan and persevere until you attain it. On the contrary, it’s unrealistic to expect a person with such drive and commitment not to succeed.  YOU WILL MAKE IT!!!!

You Lead You

Leadership is about change. If you do not need to change, you do not need a leader.  In times of change, people are seeking out more and better leaders.  In this day and age, it is not hard to find someone that wants a change.  People are seeking a change in their bank account, job, future, car, freedom, self-esteem, and countless other areas.  As you begin to handle these things better in your own life, you’ll help people more than you can ever imagine. 

Those successful sought-out leaders embrace the following thought: “The best leaders the world has ever known are those who began with themselves.”  Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must be the change that we envision.” Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

The following comments are about personal change:

1. One person cannot change another person.
When I first became a leader, I thought that a leader could change the people and boy did I work at it.  I said, “All right, I’m going to give them thoughts, ideas, and principles and I’m going to change people.”

After several years, I awakened to the thought that the only person who can change himself or herself is himself or herself. You can change yourself, but I cannot change you. You see, I am responsible to you but I am not responsible for you, and there is a world of difference between the two. I am responsible for teaching you good leadership. I am responsible for sharing things that can help add value to your life.  However, you are the only one who can take the responsibility to change yourself.

2. Most people need to look at the way they look at change.
How many times have you heard somebody say, “I sure hope things will change.”  However, the only way things will change for me is when I change. It has nothing to do with hope. You can’t just say, “Well, I just hope things will change around me,” and expect results. The only way that things will change for me is when I change.

I have also heard this before, “I don’t know why I’m this way.”  Well, you are the way you are because that is the way you want to be.  Let’s expose it for what it really is.  Some of you reading this are not moving in the right direction because you like it this way.  Some of you are moving in the right direction, and it’s no accident.  You are making it happen.

3. When you make the right personal changes, other things begin to turn out right.
So when people say, “I’d like things to turn out better for me, I’d like things to turn out right, I’d like things to turn out better in the organization, or in my family,” I say to them, “Start by making personal changes.”