Here it is Monday morning and my commitment to have an article out every Monday is in jeopardy. Usually the mind is going all week on potential ideas and by Friday evening it’s formulated and written by Saturday and definitely by Sunday morning.

 

For what ever reason there were too many distractions and suddenly its Monday early AM. (this ever happen to you?)

 

So early Monday AM the keys start to rattle because it’s a commitment to a group of people and it is a habit that I have worked to develop.

 

Then comes Kevin Hogan’s Coffee and his article on willpower this morning and gives me a new idea on what to give you today.

 

If you are not getting Kevin’s Coffee I would suggest you sign on, he gives you more than enough to chew on! (link at end of article)

 

The question is why do we hear stories about people who come to this country, do not speak the language, have nothing with them and yet become successful and become part of the top 10%? What do they have that we do not? How can we get it? …..

 

It doesn’t matter what self-improvement or motivational book or disc you read or listen to, they will have a story about someone overcoming great odds to reach their goals and a better life.

 

So what is the secret to their ability to overcome the obstacles in their path?

 

Here are some thoughts:

 

“I can’t be like that!” comment needs to be killed quickly! You’re right, you can not be someone else nor do you want to. What you do want is to emulate the characteristics that set that successful person apart and figure out how to make those characteristics yours!

 

In our training we ask participants to simply list the behaviors they see in others without filtering the observations though their personal beliefs or prejudices.

 

When they do this, the results comes back as “I really see them differently now, I see more strengths that were not noted before.”

 

When you look for the disciplines that make others successful you can now determine how to adapt them to your life on a daily basis.

 

Successful people do this all the time. They adapt an idea, discipline themselves to work at it daily and very quickly it becomes part of them.

 

“I’d rather be happy than rich.” Is what we call the Excuse justification. We can all find a justification for what ever we do or don’t do.

 

This is one of my personal challenges on a daily basis. Everyday some old belief comes up and tries to justify why it can’t be.

 

Why can’t one be health, happy and rich all at the same time? I know many people that are examples of having all of this. I also know many that are examples of Excuse and can justify why it can’t be!

 

The comment that has stuck in my head for years is;

 “The definition of an excuse is the skin of reason stuffed with a lie; the lie being to yourself!”

 

So the challenge becomes to discipline yourself every time an excuse comes up in your head or out of your mouth. Is it a real reason or is it a justification and excuse?

 

It’s called being honest with yourself! Not always easy, yet necessary.

 

“I don’t want to loose what I have!” is perhaps one of the biggest challenges in this country. Even the poor have a pretty good life compared to others in different parts of the world.

 

When I’ve talked to people about what they have and are willing to give up to get more, there are very few that are willing to take the risk. We all seem to have this comfort level and once we get there, it gets hard to move on.

 

Even when asked to invest time and money in themselves for training many resist because they will have to give something up and might have to change.

 

This means they might loose something and the fear of loss is far greater a motivator than the promise of gain! Check your own decision making and determine which motivates you more, loss or gain. You might be surprised!

 

To overcome this, reframe what you might gain as a potential loss. Instead of, this will mean risking what I have, frame it this way, if I do not take this action what will I lose in the future, it could move you forward.

 

Consider that immigrant coming in on a raft with nothing! How do they look at loss? What are they willing to give up to move forward? Can we think more like an immigrant?

 

“I just don’t get it done!” is another comment that needs to be eliminated. Willpower means we do what is needed to get the results we set out for.

 

That does not mean at any cost to others, we need to keep ourselves accountable for what we can control and not allow the excuses.

 

My youngest daughter set a goal to own a business before she was 21. She did but unfortunately with way too much debt and struggled for a few years and finally closed it.

 

So what is she doing now? She has formulated a plan that could have her and her family financially independent in another 10-15 years. Is she there yet? No.

 

What she is doing is everyday working on some aspect of the plan. Researching and strategizing on what could be done next. Every choice they make takes the goal into consideration.

 

Right now they are as comfortable as most families are, but they have a larger picture and discipline themselves more than most.

 

A financer she is working with indicated his surprise at the aggressive goals after such a recent loss. “Most would never try again.” was his comment. 

 

Her response, “It’s only stuff, if I loose it there is always more.”

 

What is your reaction to this? It might give you some insight to your own barriers.

 

 

OK, enough ranting on you about being honest with yourself.

 

The real key is to have a few specific goals or actions that are acted on each day. These are not huge bigger than life things, rather small disciplines you do each day and soon they become part of your life and things have moved forward for you.

 

The simple question, do you want a million dollars or a penny doubled each day for a month? On the surface most would say the million. The fact is the penny doubled each day for a month comes out to multiple millions!

 

The same with your daily habits! Take each small change (penny) and simply do it each day. Soon you will find it is just part of you and your will power is significantly stronger than a month ago!

 

To read Dr. Hogan’s nine page rant on this topic follow this.

 

So this early Monday morning I read some, writes some and follow the discipline that was set out. The results, an article that brings some value to your day and life.

To your continued success!

Harlan Goerger, National Director of Training

 

 

© Harlan Goerger, 6/2007