Author Archive
Win Big - Monday, January 30, 2012 12:00 - 9 Comments
Darren Hardy: Own Both Your Actions and Reactions in Life
When I was 18 years old, I was invited to a seminar that I believe really flipped on the light switch of my potential. That day, those ideas changed my life forever.
There is one idea in particular I’d like to pass on to you. The seminar topic was responsibility and accountability, and we were discussing relationships in particular. The question was asked, In a relationship, what is the percentage of shared responsibility in making the relationship work? I was 18, so of course I had all the answers, and I blurted out, “50/50!” The look on the instructor’s face made it evident that was incorrect. Someone else said 51/49, and explained you have to be willing to do just a little bit more than the other person. Someone else said 80/20. Finally, the instructor turned to the easel and wrote 100/0 and explained, “You have to be willing to give 100 percent with zero expectation of receiving anything in return. Only when you are willing to take 100 percent responsibility for making the relationship work, will it work. Otherwise, the relationship left to chance will always be vulnerable to disaster.”
This concept is true for every area of your life…
You are always in 100 percent control and have 100 percent responsibility for everything that has occurred in your life as a result of your actions or inactions. And no matter what has happened to you, you still have 100 percent responsibility for your reactions.
When you truly embrace this concept, your life will never be the same. Then, no matter who is president, what happens in the economy, what anybody said, or did or didn’t do, you will still be 100 percent in control. Only then will you truly be liberated from mental and emotional victimhood.
Now is the time to grab life by the reins. Take 100 percent responsibility for where you are today; take 100 percent control of where you and your life go from this page forward…and let SUCCESS magazine help you start your journey to the life you were meant to live.
Enjoy this inspiration from Darren Hardy? Then join us for the SUCCESS Start Small Win Big Entrepreneurial Challenge Jan. 17-April 5, 2012. Read our “Step-By-Step Guide to Amping Up Your Business” for an overview and register at SUCCESS.com/WinBig.
- Winning People Over: Persuasion & Influence (2 of 4)
"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
- Winning People Over: Persuasion & Influence (1 of 4)
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
- I Want to Rename This Magazine
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
- How to Be a Loser
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
- THANKS-Giving Challenge
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
- Your Competitive Advantage: REST
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
- Mastering THE BOUNCE
"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
- The Overachiever vs. The Superachiever (4 of 4)
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
- The Overachiever vs. The Superachiever (3 of 4)
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
- The Overachiever vs. The Superachiever (2 of 4)
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 tooSaying “no” is much harder.
And I have learned it is the… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- The Overachiever vs. The Superachiever (1 of 4)
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… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- You ARE Influential…
…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
- Take the Path of MOST Resistance
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
- Mining the Millennials
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!… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Are You Building SUSTAINABLE Success?
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… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- The Industrial REVELATION: A New Kind of Revolution
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… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- You Can Be Right or Happy…
…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…
- Recruiting Great People (Part 3 of 3)
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 FriendsO=OccupationR=RecreationM=Money and MeaningRecruiting
Script ExampleA 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 or wish you were doing now?” More hopes, dreams and values revealed.Then if I need more there is always, “What do you like to do when you aren’t working? Do you get to do it a lot? Why don’t you?” Etc.On the first encounter I won’t make a recruiting solicitation at all. The mistake most people make is they go around like a hormone filled 18-year-old boy trying to close in the first three minutes of every conversation (you’ll end up like an 18-year-old boy-with bupkis!).In that first encounter, and maybe even a few others after it, all I want to do is to create a relationship and collect information to discover what THEIR wants, needs, pains, frustrations, hopes and desires are.
Then later I will… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST - Recruiting Great People (Part 2 of 3)
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
- Recruiting Great People (Pt 1 of 3)
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
- The No. 2 Instrument of Death
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 theme of… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Be a ROCK STAR Presenter (Pt 3 of 3)
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…CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
- Be a ROCK STAR Presenter (Pt 2 of 3)
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 THEM?
When I looked at their initial 'State of the Union' slide deck it was filled with lists of initiatives, financial detail and organizational process issues (snore). When I asked what the key objective of their presentation was, they said, "To reset and revitalize the culture of the company. To instill confidence in the future and restore meaning, passion and purpose to each person's contribution to the organization's cause." This was NOT going to be accomplished by data dumps of details and lists of what was completed in 2010, and what key projects were planned for 2011. That wasn't what the staff was interested in, what concerns they had or what was going to connect them to the heart and purpose of the organization.
Think about your own presentations. Are you presenting what YOU want to tell or are you sitting in the chair of the audience and determining first what they want to know and what is going to be meaningful and motivating TO THEM? You will only figure it out by talking to people, researching, and asking lots of questions. Before every one of my presentations I do tons of due-diligence prep and inquiry. I’m there to help solve problems and improve their performance, not just to present prefabricated generalities.
Principle No. 2:… CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
- Be a ROCK STAR Presenter (Pt 1 of 3)
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 times. We have learned that predators hunt in packs and their easiest prey are those who stand alone, without a weapon, on a flat area of land where there is no cover. What does that sound like? Yeah, standing on a stage, alone, in front of an audience, with all their eyes fixed on you. Our ancestors, the ones who survived, that is, developed a a fear-response mechanism to these situations. However, these days we are rarely chased by lions or attacked by packs of hyenas, making our fear-response programming out of sync with much of modern life.
You have to ask yourself, What’s the worst that can happen? Certainly death is rarely a consequence, so anything short of that leaves nothing to be afraid of, really.Here’s about the worse that can happen… and it comes from my own chronicles in public speaking (this is tragic… and funny): CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
- Are You Connecting or Just Communicating?
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
- #1 Skill for the 21st Century (Part 3 of 3)
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 they were talking about. It could even be something for… CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
- The #1 Skill for the 21st Century (Part 2 of 3)
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
- The #1 Skill for the 21st Century (Part 1 of 3)
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 people of Oz.This is true about a lot of people who appear to be very imposing and powerful… CLICK HERE TO READ MORE - Knocked on Your Tush (Part 4 of 4)
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…
- Knocked on Your Tush (Part 3 of 4)
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,’ …
- Knocked on Your Tush (Part 2 of 4)
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…
- Hardy: Knocked On Your Tush
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?
- Hardy: Get IN Your Game
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 too – 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.
- Hardy: Sales Is the Other Four-Letter Word
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…
- Now Explode Off the Starting Line
Last week I discussed the half-dozen ways people stumble on their New Year’s resolutions and goals right at the starting line. It generated a healthy discussion and I appreciate everyone’s contribution.
This week I’d like to offer you the half-dozen ways you can explode off the starting blocks and set yourself up to not only stay in the race (this time), but actually finish victorious!
1. Big 3
If you are using Living Your Best Year Ever, it guides you through making several goals in all 8 key areas of life. It then helps you reduce your plethora of goals down to your Big 3. I know you will want to accomplish ALL your goals, but it is critical you reduce it down to just 3 to supremely focus on.
Pick the 3 goals that are most important to you and would have the most dramatic impact on your life and lifestyle. Resist the urge to chase after other shiny objects that come into your field of vision.
2. One Thing
As Curly in City Slickers said, “Find your ‘One Thing’.” In this case, it is the one key behavior that is most important to you accomplishing each of your Big 3 goals…
- Don’t Stumble at the Starting Line
Have you made New Year’s resolutions or set goals before and failed?Have you entered a new year beating your chest and proclaiming your magnificent transformation from every mountaintop only to have it dwindle to a whimper by the time January gets torn off the calendar?
What went wrong?
In my experience, there are about a half a dozen ways you can trip yourself up right at the start. Let me help you avoid these common trip-ups:
1. Too Many, Too Much
You try to tackle too many goals, change too many ingrained behaviors and attempt too much too quickly. Look, you have probably been building, developing and reinforcing a poor habit for 10, 20, 30, maybe even 40-plus years. Breaking one poor habit and trying to install a single new success habit is tough enough (and worth it). If you try to do too many, you won’t do any.
2. Too Tough, Too Soon
Remember Richard from The Compound Effect? He had never worked out in his life, but then started working out 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. I told him to back it down to 45 minutes, 3 days a week—something he could maintain for the next 50 years. He swore up and down he could maintain this and was committed to his new plan. By the time the book went to press, he had just started this program. Guess how long he works out, and how many days a week today? Zero and zero. He set himself up to fail and he did. Don’t be a Richard. (Suggestion: refer to “Ease In” section, page 80 of TCE).
- Hardy: Our Love-Hate Relationship with Money
Money, Money, Money… We want more of it; we love it and all that it affords. Yet it can be the root of some of life’s most devastating experiences—divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure and destitution.However, money isn’t the problem.
Just like guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people, the same misplaced blame is applied to money. Money isn’t your problem; your relationship with money and what you do (or don’t do) with it is the problem.- 2011: How to Live Your Best Year Ever
Are you feeling a little bummed or even disappointed in where you are in life right now? Did you think you would be doing a little bit better and be a little further along in life by now? Are you a little down on yourself about how you have let your body go… or your [...]
- Hardy: How Goal Achieving REALLY Works
I promised you in the last video I would explain the process of how goal setting, and far more important, goal ACHIEVING actually works. This is the mystery of the ‘secret’ REVEALED.
This is how the Law of Attraction really works. It is not some mysterious, esoteric voodoo, as it sometimes sounds like, as it is being described. It’s far simpler and more practical than that.
By the end you will say… “Ah, I get it.” And, “Now… I know how to make it work.”
More good stuff to discover in this video:
- What 3 boys out hiking can teach you about kicking butt in a competition.
- 5 BIG reasons why most goal setting attempts fail, miserably. Don’t make these mistakes. Ouch! And costly.
- Oh, and what Reggie Hammond (as played by Eddie Murphy) can teach you about proclaiming your goals.
- Hardy: Igniting Your Indomitable Inner Power
Editor’s note: Here’s a peek at what SUCCESS publisher Darren Hardy is doing to kick off 2011 with a bang. A special announcement is coming Dec. 28!
Do you remember all the big dreams you had when you were younger?
Dreams so exciting that you could barely wait to grow up so you could pursue them. You had those dreams for a reason—your inner potential was casting a vision of what is possible for you.
Somewhere along the travels, trials and tribulations of life you either forgot your goals, got distracted, or believed others who’d already lost their dream, and convinced yourself that yours wasn’t possible either.I want to help you rekindle those dreams and show you they’re not only possible, but attainable. I want to show you the path that will lead you directly and expeditiously to them.
I also want help you answer some life-changing questions—what’s your grander purpose in life? What really motivates and ignites your passion? What will keep that passion burning long enough for you to achieve your wildest, most outrageous goals?
In the second video (if you missed: video #1) of our Living Your Best Year Ever series, I will discuss those issues as well as:
- A secret I know about you… especially if you finish watching this video!
- Radically speeding up your achievements
- The two most common traits of today’s greatest super-achievers
- A specific plan to multiply your results by 10X
Enjoy the video below!
- Hardy: As Holidays Approach, Get a Sneaky Head Start on 2011
Editor’s note: Here’s a look at what SUCCESS publisher Darren Hardy is doing to kick off 2011 with a bang. Stay tuned to blog.SUCCESS for special updates. WELCOME!
This is the first post in our exclusive 4-part video series on preparing to Live Your Best Year Ever.As I say in the video, I see it as my job to give YOU an unfair advantage in life. If you have chosen to subscribe to SUCCESS magazine and/or this blog, I think that makes you special.
Why?Out of 6+Billion people on the planet, you have self-selected to subscribe and take the time to read, watch, comment and participate in your learning, growth and greater success.
Yes dang-it! That DOES makes you special.Because of that I want to be sure you have a killer advantage over everyone else, so I am going to draw on some of the best (and sneakiest!) strategies I have picked up, practiced and proven freakishly effective during this video blog series.
In this first video I will reveal three strategies you can use to jump your revenue if the final throes of December and get a HUGE head start on 2011 that will aghast and stun your competition. Watch the video below and then share the love with your team.
- Hardy: The Head Games of Happiness
That’s a serious question… maybe one of the most important questions of your life. But did you know most people can’t answer it correctly?In his book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard professor Dan Gilbert explains that most of us think we know what makes us happy, but typically we are wrong.I have found there are three major traps in which you might be unknowingly making yourself unhappy.
The first unhappiness trap is postponing happiness. The “when I (fill in the blank), I will be happy” syndrome. The reality is happiness, isn’t something to be acquired in the future. You are either happy now or not; “then” never arrives. Living and striving for “then” results in a constant state of unhappiness. Now is the only time you have to be happy. If you can’t be happy now, you most certainly will not be happy later.- Hardy: Success is Not About What You DO…
When it comes to comparing superachievers and everyone else, it has less to do with what they do and more to do with what they don’t do.
Saying “yes” is easy; saying “no” is much harder, but it is the master skill of success.
In a world where we are constantly being tugged on from a thousand different directions, your ability to be productive and ultimately achieve your big hairy audacious goals has more to do with all the things you DON’T do versus the things you do.
Put it this way: For everything you say “yes” to you are saying “no” to something else… and you only have so much time. For most people, the ability to do MORE is impossible; you are already overwhelmed and working yourself to exhaustion 24/7.
Doing MORE is not the answer. Doing less is. Saying “no” to more things so you can say “yes” to the right things is the key to…
- Hardy: The Means and the End in Life
What is the most important thing in your life?
If you and I were face to face right now and I asked you that question, you’d probably promptly reply with “my family” or “my children” or “my spouse.”
But are you actually living that way? We say our family and relationships are most important, but our values are demonstrated not by our words, but by our deeds—not by what we say, but what we do.
I have found if you want to know what someone really values most, simply look at their calendar and their checkbook. How a person spends their time and money reveals what they really value most.
Well, no more lip service! It’s time to…
- The Legend Lives On
Friday is the 80th birthday of my mentor, the late Jim Rohn. It is cause for me to pause one more time to offer gratitude for the profound influence this man had on my life (and the lives of millions of others).
I met Jim when I walked into his seminar back in 1994. I wasn’t even there to meet or hear Jim. I was there to meet the promoters of the event. I needed to wait until the event was over so I sat down and listened to this willowy grey haired man with the most fascinating voice and intonations lecture about principles of success.What he said riveted me. The simplicity and purity of his message grabbed my heart. And his teachings challenged and confronted my previous beliefs about obtaining success.I just pulled off my library shelf the journal I had with me that day. In my notes are a few things Jim said that I wrote down, underlined and circled. Those few things forever changed my life.In honor of Jim’s birthday I’d like to pass forward the gift of those words on to you…Jim Rohn asked the audience, “How many people want more…?”I thought, “Yes! I want more… success, money, a better body, more companionship, etc. (I was 23!)” and awaited the instructions of what to do…I had experienced some moderate success already by that time, but I had done it through sheer brute force. I was aggressive and just outworked, out failed and out persisted everyone else to grab my achievements. I did it by doing… do, do, do. But what Jim said next would multiply my income, my goal achievement and my results… and it wasn’t by doing.Jim continued, “If you want to have more… you have to BECOME more.” He said, “Success is not a doing process, it is a becoming process. What you do, what you pursue, will allude you—it can be like chasing butterflies. Success is something you attract by the person you become.”“Wow,” I thought. This was the first time I had heard this twist of perspective, insight and wisdom.Jim continued, “For things to improve, you have to improve. For things to get better, you have to get better. For things to change, you have to change. When you change, everything changes for you.”Those were the keys to the kingdom for me and what launched me on my constant, unrelenting and never-ending journey of continuous personal development.And he was right. The next year I tripled my income to over seven-figures a year and within four years was a self-made multi-millionaire. And I wasn’t doing any more than I had before I met Jim. My doing wasn’t different, but the ‘Who’ I was doing it was… and that made all the difference in the world.I invite you on such a journey—the journey of continuous personal development. If you want anything more in life, this is the yellow brick road to getting there.Studying The Compound Effect (distillation of the best I have ever discovered)Owning the Jim Rohn Library (the material that has launched thousands of successful careers and lives).As part of the 80th birthday celebration of our dear friend and mentor, Jim’s company Jim Rohn International, has created an unprecedented offer by compiling the entire Jim Rohn Library (20-pieces, $1,279) and cut $900 off and are making it available for only $379. I think they are crazy to do that (I told them as much), but appreciate the gesture… and the opportunity to affect more people with the gift of Jim.
I am so pumped up by their gesture that I wanted to add to it myself. I called them and asked to include my Design Your Best Year Ever goal achievement workbook absolutely free for anyone who bought the Jim Rohn Library. This is only for my friends on this blog, facebook fan site or on my twitter feed, you have to use this link to get the Jim Rohn Library $900 off with my book included free.Take advantage of this 80th birthday gesture—it’s not something they are going to do again.As Jim Rohn would tell you: “The best investment you can ever make is in your own personal development.”Remember, “If you want to have more, you have to become more.” This is how. Become more now, learn from the mentor of mentors—Jim Rohn.At Jim’s Tribute Celebration I gave the closing comments, which were the comments I thought Jim Rohn would want to say to everyone celebrating his life. I encourage you to listen to these words (even if you have seen/heard before, it’s great to hear again): CLICK HERE TO SEE- Hardy: Wrestling with ‘The Donald’
No, not WWF McMahon style.This past Sunday our good friends at ACN asked if I would come out totheir convention and interview Donald Trump live on stage in front oftheir 20,000 reps.Donald has a reputation of being a tad bit capricious in his commentary and particularly rough on interviewers. So I was ready, I had my knives sharpened in case he started throwing down. He didn’t. Infact, he was really a sweetheart of a guy.
I was asked afterward what surprised me most about the interview. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, as every time I interview an extraordinary superachiever I walk away with the same realization. There really isn’tanything that extraordinary about them.
What I mean is their answers to all the probing success questions are simple and not extraordinary. What is extraordinary is that they actually DO the simple principles of success—relentlessly, passionately and consistently. And unfortunately that IS extraordinary.
Here are some of Trump’s answers to my questions (These are not direct quotes, as I am pulling from memory on the plane flying back):
Most important advice to a new entrepreneur?
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE- Hardy: The Greatest Goal and Purpose of Life
Whenever I am asked what I believe the goal and purpose of life is, my answer is the same, and it’s the theme of this issue.Of all the great pursuits in life, to me this is the most important. Every virtue, treasure and reward in life is obtained only through this quest. What is it? It is living your potential.Robert Louis Stevenson said it more than a hundred years ago: “To become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life.”
But what is potential? Webster’s dictionary defines potential as possible (as opposed to what’s currently actual) capable of being or becoming or a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed. So potential then is what you can become. It is the best possible version of yourself.The first challenge, I believe, to living our potential—is realizing the greatness that is dormant inside of each of us.Thomas Edison said, “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”Dale Carnegie also taught, “We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.”
Why don’t we then? I think what stops most of us from tapping our inner genius; the hero or heroine inside each of us is fear. We are actually afraid of our greater potential.19th century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said it this way, “There is nothing of which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.”
I know I am constantly challenged by the philosophy espoused by Marianne Williamson when she says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of our highest potential that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”Nelson Mandela echoes this when he says, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”It is said that the greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we are capable of becoming.
But denying your potential isn’t just sad, it’s unhealthy. In fact, psychologists tell us nothing creates internal stress and trauma more than when what you are doing on the outside (your actions and behaviors) is incongruent with your potential on the inside.Abraham Maslow warns, “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”
So where to you start? You start by… CLICK HERE TO READ MORE- Hardy: Never Hurts to Ask
Vanilla Haagen-Dazs… it must be made from angel’s milk. Sheerecstasy. What heaven must be like (please!). I savor each lick until mytaste buds scream in pain for more. And when I reluctantly swallow mylast bite—that’s what hell must be like. I recently allowedmyself to have this sweet-bitter experience at a local Haagen-Dazsstore. While eating, I temporarily awoke from my blissful nirvana tosee (in horror) that I had licked off all the ice-cream on top. I wasnot ready to bite into the cone (that is the beginning of the end!). SoI went back up to the counter with a big milk covered smile (yes,angel’s milk) and said, as charming as I could muster, “for a realpassionate lover of your great product would you kindly add agratuitous small shaving to the top here (holding my topless cone outto her) to help extend my joy… just a little longer?” Even with astrict policy against such allowances, she said, “It would be mypleasure” and plunked another full (albeit hollow) scoop of vanillabliss on my cone. The charm must have worked (or the promise to promotethis story on my blog – I’m kidding!).
When I came back to thetable with my new (free!) scoop my wife couldn’t believe it! One, thatI asked… and two, that she gave it me! I said simply, “it never hurtsto ask.” This is true in most instances, most every day. I’m a big believer that you only get what you ask for. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. So why not ask for everything? The worst possible thing that can happen is they say no.
Ask, and Ye Shall Receive. Ye Have Not, Because Ye Ask Not
Ask your way to wealth
The most money you will ever make (penny saved is a penny earned) is by asking for it. Let me give you an example or two…I was in a retail store recently. I asked the manager, CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Hardy: ‘Giving Starts the Receiving Process’
That is a quote from my mentor Jim Rohn. When I first heard Jim say this, I thought he meant giving created indebtedness on the part of the receiver—that you gave so you could get back. But I had it all wrong. Jim taught me that the real gift—the lasting benefit of giving—is what the act itself does for you. In essence, giving to others is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
Giving feels good, but there’s more to it than that. Helping others incites physical and emotional responses within us. When we direct our energy and focus on meeting others’ needs, we push aside our brooding and negative emotions, especially those that contribute to stress-induced psychological and physical illnesses. Studies reveal that when we help others, we release extra amounts of endorphins into our system, and we get what researchers call a “helper’s high.”
Giving has a direct impact on the body’s neurological, hormonal and immune systems—it can even prolong your life. One study found that older individuals who are actively involved in helping others outlive those who aren’t. The physical benefits of helping others have been shown to have a greater impact on longevity than exercising four times a week, if you can believe that!
The benefits extend beyond the physical, also fostering traits that undergird a successful life. As a result, our careers and relationships often improve when we purposefully seek to make a difference in others’ lives. And studies show that people of all ages who actively help others, even in small ways, feel the happiest.
This September issue of SUCCESS featuring Michael Dell and his wife Susan explores…
- Are You Stuck?
I saw something absurd the other day. A highly engineered and specially designed high-performance race car stuck on a 35-mile-an-hour downtown street.
That is not what that car was made for. That is not what its creator (Enzo Ferrari) envisioned for it.
- Sell Like John Lennon
John Lennon is my real estate agent in South Beach, Miami. Seriously, that is his real name.
John sells exclusively on a single street called South Pointe Drive, located in an exclusive area called SoFi (South of Fifth). His sales territory consists of six über-luxury high-rises along the cruise ship waterway and Miami Beach front.
In the past 15 years, John has sold more than $3 billion in real estate on this street (do the math on 3 percent commission—that’s almost as much as the other John Lennon made!).
John took Georgia and me to lunch a couple days ago to give us an update on our property and the market. I took the opportunity to try and pry out the secret to his extraordinary success.
I found it! And now I will pass it along to you too…
- Hardy: It Doesn’t Just Happen
Last week my wife “crossed over.” She closed the door to her 30s and strode gracefully into her 40s.
Curious what life is like on “the other side,” since I am still a mere adolescent in my 30s (for eight more months), I asked her what newfound wisdom she has gathered from the many best wishes messages, cards and conversations she has had with those already living in “the beyond.”
- There Is Nothing More Pitiful
My mentor Jim Rohn emphasized that one of the first things everyone should work on is their physical health. He said, “How terrible would it be if the mind said, ‘let’s go conquer the world’ and the body said, ‘I can’t even get out of bed’?” It takes your healthy body to carry around your head full of ideas and your heart’s desires.
- Hardy: Power to the Entrepreneur
We know you’re the type of person who wants more out of life; your career isn’t about a paycheck, it’s about creating your best possible life and becoming your best possible self.
- How to Multiply Your Success: The Compound Effect—Revealed!
Today is the birthday of The Compound Effect—Multiplying Your Success. One Simple Step at a Time! Through all the labor pains I’ve endured while creating this book, today is the day!
As a man, I think this is as close as I can ever get to gestating, worrying about and carrying the burden of nurturing a child for nine-plus months, and then, finally (and not without pain), give birth to this thing you have worked so hard to develop and care for.
- Hardy: Listen Up!
Contrary to what many might think (and many practice), the most important job of a leader is not to speak, preach, direct or advise…. The most important job of a leader is to listen.
In a recent interview I did with management guru Tom Peters, he revealed the four most important words in business leadership are
- Expose Your Chest to Daggers
When Les Brown, speaker, speech coach and author of Live Your Dreams, called me to offer his enthusiastic endorsement for my soon-to-be-released (June 1) book, The Compound Effect (I’m very excited about it! The picture is me just having received shipment!), he said something very profound:
“If you are hungry to be successful, this is it. The fundamentals of all the success you ever want to achieve are condensed into one book. Don’t read this—consume it. Study it; make it your operations manual for life. Darren Hardy challenges you to get out of your head and get into your greatness.”
- Hardy: Innovate or Die
Innovate or die? I know that sounds dramatic. And while you might not physically die, your greater hopes and dreams and your chances to accomplish your big goals will. Innovation has always separated leaders from followers, those who succeed and those who just get by. Innovation is what creates progress, and progress is what advances companies and people beyond the competitive herd of the masses, average and the status quo.
- Hardy: It’s Not What You Say That Matters
When it comes to influencing others, recruiting, selling or motivating people to take action, it has very little to do with WHAT you say.Typically, however, this is what most focus on. Having trained many salespeople, recruiters, and even stage speakers, most of them are mostly concerned with what to say… what’s my script, what’s my presentation, what do I say when they have this objection, etc.
I was reminded of this principle because I recently had a colleague reviewing a transcript of a talk from a speaker friend of mine. She was very unimpressed and actually very critical. On paper, his grammar was less than polished, sentences were fragmented and many of his concepts left unfinished. She rated him a terrible speaker and someone of little influence. Then I brought her to one of his talks.She was awestruck! It was the same speech, same words, same grammar and sentence structure, but he delivered it with such feeling, passion, energy and conviction that it moved her—deeply.
What is the difference?
This is wisdom that will forever affect your ability to influence, persuade, motivate and inspire others… Continue- Hardy: Life Isn’t All Great
I did a keynote presentation for a great company last week called Ingram Micro, a $300+ billion, Fortune 100 company. In my keynote, I discussed:
• How these are the most exciting and opportunity-rich times to be an entrepreneur in all of human history (why that is, statistically).
• How technology is leveling the playing field (redistributing the wealth)
- Hardy: Getting Knocked Down
We all get knocked down from time to time—it’s part of what makes life interesting… always keeping us alert and on our toes.
- Fake It Till You Make It
Please don’t.
I just finished writing my commentary for our forthcoming SUCCESS Audio Series issue that is based on developing professional and other relationships. I thought you might enjoy the insight of these thoughts as well. Here are six ways to give you the relationship edge in business and in life.
Here is tip No. 1 and maybe the most important one of all…
- Secure Your Own Oxygen Mask First
Recently, I was on a flight traveling with my 6-year-old goddaughter sitting next to me. To set a good example, I told her to listen carefully to the flight attendant’s safety instructions. While talking about the oxygen masks, one flight attendant made a point to come to me to reiterate: “Make sure you secure yours before helping with hers.” I smiled politely, but inside I sneered, “Yeah right. Think of myself first before helping her? No way.”
- The Root of All Evil
I’m a little disturbed with much of the social commentary around money of late.Europe, Jeb Bush and Michael Moore are all attacking capitalism, CNBC’s American Greed is in its fourth season and the infamous movie Wall Streethas its sequel debut next month. The subtext in all this is money is bad… even evil.
Let’s remember the full text: For the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10)—not money itself.
People (certain few) are the evil ones. Remember, money is nothing but dirty pieces of paper with dead presidents on them. People are the ones who attach emotions, feelings and perplexing behaviors to it.
I have found that money only makes us more of whom we already were, but couldn’t afford to exercise. If you are caring, generous and compassionate, with money now you can do great works. If you are jerk, more money will only make you a more obnoxious, loud and glitzy jerk. Yet, people will point to the money as his source of evil. Not so. Money only funded a spotlight and megaphone for his true nature to shine.
Let’s put accountability back where it belongs—not the system of capitalism, the pursuit of the “American Dream” or with money itself, but with the people who abuse the system and the illicit and criminal pursuit and use of money.Instead, I’m more inclined to believe: the root of all evil is… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- How to Change the World
This article could change the life you experience forever. No joke.
I want to show you how to completely change the world… in an instant.
This might be a bit controversial for many, and even more won’t have the stomach to do what I am suggesting…
- The Unpopular View of Leadership
I have observed that one of the most overlooked but important qualities of great leadership is one’s courage and willingness to do what is unpopular. Unarguably, one of the greatest leaders in history, at the time of his leadership, continually suffered vehement opposition and may have been one of the most unpopular people ever to [...]
- Part 16: ACTION!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 “I think there is something more important than believing: action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.” —W. [...]
- Part 15: How to WIN—Every Time!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 As we head into the final stretch of this incredible journey, I want to offer you one final gift. It’s one of my greatest strategies for creating extraordinary success, and now–if you choose– it can [...]
- Part 14: S-T-R-E-T-C-H Yourself
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13If you are going to achieve goals you have never achieved before, you must be willing to do what you have never done before.
One of those things is to allow, no actually push, yourself to FAIL. And if you want to succeed big, you have to fail big. There is no way around it.
When I was only 20 years old, I got into residential real estate sales. It was the early ’90s, and the real estate market was as tough as it is right now. I knew nothing about the real estate business; I had no prior experience, clientele or even credibility—I wasn’t even old enough to drink! But in just 90 days, I was outselling (new listings and pending escrows) an entire office of 44 veteran agents—combined!
The strategy I am going to reveal to you made that possible and is one of my personal-achievement secret weapons. I now offer it to you…
When I went to my first real estate seminar, I asked the lecturer to lunch. I asked him for his best tip on being successful in real estate. His answer was, “Go fail—a lot.”
“What?!” I said. “I thought the whole idea of success was to avoid failure.” “Quite the opposite,” he said. Then he told me a quote from Tom Watson of IBM: “The key to success is massive failure.” He said, “Your goal is to out-fail your competition. Whoever can fail the most, the fastest and the biggest wins.”
I was still perplexed. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- Part 13: Success Cycles
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12We are human. We cannot be 100 percent 100 percent of the time. We cannot improve every area of our life simultaneously. We cannot do everything at the same time. When we try is when we fail, burn out or blow up.
Nature works in cycles. As with the seasons, there is a time to learn, a time to produce, a time to harvest and a time to rest. Farmers, schoolchildren, and even professional athletes operate in seasons. That approach to life can help you excel, too.
I want to explain an advanced achievement strategy that will help you make greater progress toward your goals—faster. It’s a concept called: Working in Success Cycles.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say you and I are going to race from Los Angeles to New York City. We both have planes. You have a 747, which travels at a cruising speed of 875 mph. I have a mere Learjet, which travels at 400 mph. Now, if I fly straight through, but you have to land and take off in the 10 states in between—taxiing, parking and going through your preflight checklist before taking off again—who is going to win? CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- VIDEO: Final Keynote at Jim Rohn Tribute Event
VIDEO: Darren Hardy’s Final Keynote at Jim Rohn Tribute Event
On Saturday, February 6th, 2010 1,300 people attended a special tribute to celebrate the life and legacy of the renown leader and business philosopher, Mr. Jim Rohn.
Shown in photo: Harvey Mackay, Brian Tracy, Les Brown, Tony Robbins, Darren Hardy, Denis Waitely and Chris Widener
CLICK HERE to watch Darren Hardy’s final keynote to honor and wrap up the tribute to Jim Rohn.- Part 12: Your FUEL for Growth
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11In the previous installment, we reassessed and realigned our “reference group,” or the associations that can help or hurt us in achieving our goals. Now we need to talk about the most powerful influence in your life: the information or input you feed your mind.
If we want to produce different results in life, we have to think differently, to nurture a different mindset. As Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
If your thinking stinks, your results will, too. What you think about, you create. This is why all the monumental classic personal-achievement books have focused on how you think: Think and Grow Rich, As a Man Thinketh, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Magic of Thinking Big, etc.
You are not what you think you are, but what you think… you are!
The most constant influence of conditioning that affects our lives, our results and our ability to achieve is the information we feed our mind. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- Part 11: Building Your SUPPORT Systems
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10So you now have your well-designed goals—fantastic!
You also have your plan of action to achieve them—hooray!
You even have your achievement-management system set to keep you on track with that plan—bravo!
What could possibly get in your way now?
Actually, 6,692,030,277 things (the world’s current population), or at least those people whom you circulate with regularly.
This reminds me of the title for one of Connie Podesta’s books: Life Would Be Easy If It Weren’t for Other People. So true, so true.
Your associations are one of the most powerful influences (I will discuss the most powerful influence on Thursday) that determine whether you will stick to your goals or get forever derailed.
Dr. David McClelland of Harvard University concluded after 25 years of research that the choice of a negative “reference group” was in itself enough to condemn a person to failure and underachievement in life. Whoa! Scary, isn’t it?
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- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 5
Here’s a summary of week five in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where Ianswer your questions and give you a course update.I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you.
- Part 10: Remain F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9
Have you ever heard the adage, “I will accomplish this even if it kills me”? Well, in my early years of goal setting and achieving… I came pretty darn close to “crossing over” just to meet the goals I had set for myself! I also missed a lot of other opportunities along the way.I became so focused, so dogmatic about the goals I had set and my specific plans to achieve them that my blinders kept me from 1) seeing easier and faster routes to my destination, and 2) that some of the goals that were important earlier in the year or at the beginning of the decade were less important than I originally believed.
One of the greatest challenges to success is learning how to stay focused on your goals while remaining flexible enough to adapt to needed change.
Even though we have declared S.M.A.R.T. goals and designed a very specific strategic plan to achieve them, it is equally important to remain open and flexible along the way. If you look back at most of your defining moments, or the pivotal events that transformed your life, I bet most were unplanned and happened unexpectedly. Life is a mystery; you never know what might show up and you can’t be so myopic that you miss opportunities and solutions you couldn’t have even fathomed before.
Murphy’s Law and the T-shirt Philosophy
You know ol’ Murph right? The oh-too familiar friend who always seems to show up at your party at the most embarrassing and worst-possible times. Well Murphy lives to teach us this: If something can go wrong, it will. Don’t be too attached to the route you first charted, as you will undoubtedly be reevaluating and readjusting all along the way. Imagine CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Part 9: Your Achievement Management System
You have your ambitious and appropriate goals that are based on your strengths and opportunities and have been whole-life balanced. You know who you want to become, who you want to serve and you have the strategic plan of action to achieve all your worthy goals.
Now it is time to create an execution system to implement your plan in the real world—your world.
Some of the best of intentions and greatest plans have failed because there wasn’t a system of execution to see them through. When it comes down to it, your new plans, your new actions, your new behavior, have to be implemented into your monthly, weekly and ultimately daily routine. A routine is something you do every day without fail… and eventually without thinking about it.
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- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 4
A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM DARREN HARDY:
Here’s a summary of week four in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where Ianswer your questions and give you a course update.
I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
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- Part 8: Your Strategic Plan of Action
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
The difference between a dream or fantasy and a goal you will achieve is:
1) writing it down (what we have already done) and,
2) outlining a specific plan to achieve the goal (what we will do in this installment).Now it is time to formulate your strategic plan of action.
I explained early on in this series how goals work (you can review here). When you know what you are looking for, it gives your mind a ‘new set of eyes’ to see the world around you. You begin to notice the people, resources and even ideas needed for achieving your goal. But if your goal is defined only by an audacious and distant destination, your mind may be thrown off by elusiveness and ambiguity. It doesn’t know what to look for to help you get there.
The mind operates best with precise instructions. A three-digit lock has 18,333 potential combinations. When you have the specific three numbers in the right sequence, opening the lock is easy. If you don’t have the combination—or precise instructions—opening the lock is almost impossible. Making a specific and strategic plan of action provides the mind with the instructions it needs to get you to your desired destination.
Making a plan to accomplish your goals can be compared to planning a cross-country road trip. If you were going to travel across the country, say, from my hometown in San Diego to Manhattan, you would consider the following: CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Part 7: GIVE what you WANT
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
On your journey to achieving your goals, this one shift in your mindset can radically change how the world around you responds to and receives you.
The process of goal-setting can make you very myopic and ME-focused. If we really want to get what we want, we have to remember one of the oldest success principles: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or as Zig Ziglar puts it: “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
What if that is true?
What if you knew for sure that everything you gave you would receive back tenfold? How much would you give? What would you give? How fast would you give it?What do you want? What attributes do you need to accomplish your goals?
Do you need more courage? Who can you encourage?
Do you need more strength? Who can you help strengthen?
Do you need more belief? Who can you believe in?
Do you need more confidence? Who can you instill confidence in?
Do you need more love? Who can you love?In the last installment we discovered CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 3
Here’s a summary of week three in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where I answer your questions and give you a course update.I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you.
Please watch the video: CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEOIn case you missed any of the worksheet downloads:- Part 6: The MAGIC Factor to Achieving Your Goals
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Typically, the first thought that comes to mind after writing down a goal is, “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” That, unfortunately, is not the right question to ask.
Let me give you an example—When I was single and ready to find my wife and be married, I made a long list of the qualities of the perfect woman (for me). I filled up more than 40 pages describing my wife to be in great detail—her personality, character, key attributes, attitudes and philosophies about life, tastes, interests, even what kind of family she’d come from, culture, and of course physical makeup down to the texture of her hair, etc. I wrote in depth what our life would be like and what we’d do together.
I then had my goal and it was specific, measureable, attainable (I hoped!), relevant and time-sensitive. If I then asked, ‘What do I have to do to find and get this girl?,’ I might still be on that butterfly chase. Jim Rohn taught me, “Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue eludes you. Success is something you attract by the person you become. If you want to have more, you must become more.” So what I did was CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 6
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 5
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 4
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 3
- Part 5 — The GRAND DESIGN!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4
Ready to write (and right) your future?Ready to be bold, dream big and put it (your aspirations) on the line (literally)?Ready to proclaim your BHAGs (Big, Hairy and Audacious Goals)?
This is it. It’s time for the GRAND DESIGN.This is actually the easy part. You knew about goal-setting before this course—how to make a list of what you want to accomplish in the next one to 10 years.The difficult part has been the process we have gone through to get here—figuring out who you really are, assessing how you’ve done in life so far, and most important, what assets, strengths and opportunities you have to work with going forward. We’ll come to another big challenge later in the series when we work on figuring out how to take the dreams, ambitions and big goals from your Grand Design and develop the plan of action to achieve them. But right now we’re going to focus on developing your Grand Design. And as a result, you’ll identify the person, the accomplishments and the life you have always wanted to have. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE- Part 4: Your BALANCE Sheet
[NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE AT DARRENHARDY.SUCCESS.COM IN ORDER TO RECEIVE LINKS TO THE WORKSHEETS THROUGH YOUR RSS FEED] Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, & 3 In the previous installments, we inventoried your current assets, liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. We also looked at your potential opportunities and threats to your [...]
- Part 3: Finding Your Unique Advantage
[NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE AT DARRENHARDY.SUCCESS.COM IN ORDER TO RECEIVE LINKS TO THE WORKSHEETS THROUGH YOUR RSS FEED] Review: INTRO, WHY & HOW, PART 1 and PART 2 We’ve examined your life thus far and have looked into your future and established what direction you want your life to take from this [...]
- Video Update from Darren Hardy
A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM DARREN HARDY: Here’s a summary of week one in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life. Darren Hardy answers your questions and gives you a course update. Please watch the video below: NOTE:In order to access the worksheets/documents, click on the links at the bottom of the [...]
- Why You Exist — Finding and Defining Your Major Purpose
Review: INTRO, HOW and WHY and INSTALLMENT #1 This is one of the most important installments of the process. Here, we will delve into some of the great questions of our humanity and individual lives: Why are you here? What is your life’s purpose? What difference will you make? How will you be remembered? Who [...]
- Review & Gratitude
Ahhhh, smell that? That is the smell of rarified air. Welcome to the top 3 percent! By choosing to participate in this program and go through this process, you have separated yourself from almost everyone else—or at least from the remaining 97 percent of the population that doesn’t give thoughtful contemplation to their life’s desires [...]
- Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life – WHY & HOW…
Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life: Your Personal Strategic Plan for Achieving Lifelong Goals by Darren Hardy Starting January, 5th 2010 Before we get started next week, I wanted to share with you a personal message about WHY I am doing this program… and why for FREE (I always like to know someone’s [...]
- The Life Changing Process of Goal Setting
Next week we start the process of Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life. This program is jam-packed with information to help you unearth your greatest dreams, desires and inner potential. You’ll learn how to accelerate your life faster, go farther and live grander than you ever dared imagine. In fact, we have so [...]
- The Art of Chitchat
I hate chitchat. Hate it. I know I am probably (not probably, definitely am) an overly intense person. I want to be engaged in something that is meaningful and “on purpose” at all times—even when I am “off” and not working. To sit around and shoot-the-(well, you know) and talk about the weather, football scores [...]
- Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life — Introduction
We are entering a brand new decade. Think about where you were 10 years ago, when we began a new millennium, the year 2000. Seems like only yesterday, right? Are you where you’d thought you’d be 10 years later, when you looked forward back then? Are you leading the life you envisioned? Do you have [...]
- What Difference Do You Make?
It’s said you will only be remembered for one of two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create. Abraham Lincoln made a difference that changed the world forever, but so did Hitler. Both men are equally remembered, but for which problems do you want to be remembered? The ones you solved or [...]
- Even the Most Fearsome are Fearful
Ever wonder what drives people to be mean, vicious, violent and cruel? Is it a lack of humanity, “bad genes” or the “the devil” at work? There is a simpler answer: FEAR. I saw the documentary Tyson this weekend. Mike Tyson was once the most feared human being on the planet. What was behind his ferociousness? His own inexorable fear.Tyson grew up on the meanest streets of Brooklyn, where he was robbed, bullied and humiliated by older boys. At the time, he was too scared to fight back, and as he later candidly admitted, “I’m afraid of being that way again.”When a thug gratuitously killed one of his pet pigeons, Tyson went wild and beat the kid up. Once he learned to fight, he was never going to let himself be “bullied” again, “because if anyone tried to humiliate me again, I would kill them.”The director of the film explained in an interview, “Fear was CONTINUED HERE
- FREE Audio Excerpts — Mark Sanborn
This is a continuation (listen to segment #1 here) to the additional audio experts we are releasing from our Mark Sanborn audio interview, originally recorded for our October issue of SUCCESS.
SEGMENT #2 – In this segment Mark discusses why you need to have passion and process in order to be successful. CLICK HERE
SEGMENT #3 –In this segment Mark explains why you need to think beyond your current experiences and influences if you want to achieve greatness. CLICK HERE
- Pinching from Across the Pond
I just returned from several glorious weeks of travel throughout Europe. Like all experiences, I want to observe and assess what I might learn, share and use to enhance my own life and further my insight. Below are a few lessons I gleaned from our jovial kin across the pond. 1. Service is a profession. [...]
- FREE Audio Excerpts: Dr. Rao & Mark Sanborn
This is a continuation (listen to segment #1 and #2 here) to the additional audio experts we are releasing from our Dr. Rao audio interview, originally recorded for our October issue of SUCCESS. Dr. Rao was featured in our September issue and is the former professor who taught a personal-development course at both the Columbia [...]
- Become a Laughingstock
Have you heard the joke about… the guy who wanted to sell water (the stuff we were used to getting for free!) for more money than sodas or even beer? Or how about the one who wanted to start a new airline, the bloodbath of competition, during the dot-com crash? Then there is the one [...]
- FREE Audio Excerpts – Dr. Srikumar Rao
If you read SUCCESS (I hope you do!), you saw Dr. Rao featured in the pages of our September issue. The response was so great that we were compelled to bring him back and interview him live for everyone to hear on the CD inside of the October issue of SUCCESS. Dr. Rao is the [...]
- Rise Up and Take Control
This month we want to help you take control of your life. When I was 18 years old, I was invited to a seminar that I believe really flipped on the light switch of my potential. That day, those ideas changed my life forever. There is one idea in particular I’d like to pass on [...]
- Practicing the Preach
I always find it incredibly ironic and a bit comical when I see a fat fitness instructor, or a financial advisor who drives a Yugo, or a realtor who doesn’t own a house. Warren Buffet once said, “Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those [...]
- Don’t Mess With Texas!
Texas is my dog… my other dog. Lucy was such an inspiration to everyone I thought I would introduce you to the teachings of my other dog, Tex (for short), he is our Jack Russell Terrorist (no, not a misspelling). I went to buy a cowboy hat before going into the rodeo in the stockyards [...]
- I Love Lucy
Lucy is my dog. I want to be more like Lucy. My wife’s friend Marilyn stopped by with her friend Gayle. The visit was intended to be brief as they had been at the hospital nearby all day. Gayle’s husband has had a grueling battle with throat cancer for the past 18 months. Gayle had [...]
- Supercharge Your Creative Power
We are all creative beings. The outcome of our lives is a product of what we have created. Learning how to tap into our creative power is what will allow us to realize our greatest potential and achieve the life of our hearts’ desire. Our September issue of SUCCESS (on newsstands now!) is focused on [...]
- Pick a Fight
The phrase “life balance” is malarkey. Here is another one: “LOVE is all there is.” Ah, no, there is HATE too. Everyone needs an enemy. Luke had Darth Vader. Batman had the Joker. David had Goliath. Twenty-somethings rage against “The Man.” Rush Limbaugh has the liberals. Lance Armstrong has cancer. Apple has Microsoft. Rocky had [...]
- The Hollywood Illusion
It’s my and my wife’s weekly date night, and I think I’m doing pretty well so far so I ask my wife, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank this date night?” (a practice I picked up from Jack Canfield). She says, “An 8.” So I ask, “What would it take [...]
- Unhook Yourself from the Matrix
Do you ever get…? Joint pain Stiff back Dry eyes Runny nose Restless legs Tired in the afternoon Angry while sitting in traffic A craving for chocolate Unruly hair If you experience any of these symptoms, consult your doctor. You may be suffering from—BEING HUMAN! Last night I walked into the kitchen where my wife [...]
- Extreme Leadership–Steve Farber Interview Follow-up
Last month I interviewed bestselling author, speaker and leadership coach Steve Farber for our exclusive SUCCESS Audio Series. The response has been so great that Steve and I decided to offer some free follow-up ideas and material here for everyone to benefit from. During the interview we discussed the concept of Steve’s book: Greater Than [...]
- “Life Balance” is a Crock
What does… A pot of gold at the end of a rainbow A “functional” family And “life balance” … all have in common? They all sound neato, but none of them really exist. As a follow-up to the Forgotten “Secrets” to Success and our decline of hard work ethic, one of the great misnomers I [...]
- FREE BONUS SUCCESS AUDIOS
Interviews between SUCCESSPublisher, Darren Hardy and Jack Canfield For the CD bound into the August issue of SUCCESS I sat down with success expert and bestselling co-author of the billion franchise Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield, to get his insights on a few important topics. These exclusive interviews are usually only available to [...]
- If You Don’t Fall, You Aren’t Getting Better
No Pain, No Gain My dad taught me to snow ski when I was 6 years old. By the time I was 8, I was skiing on my own. At the end of a full ski day, I eagerly announced, “Dad, I didn’t fall once all day!” My dad replied, “If you didn’t fall, you [...]
- The Forgotten “Secrets” to Success
Over the next several posts, I’d like to help clear up some of the very dangerous illusions I think our current culture has created about what it takes to be successful. Hollywood, commercialism and our own decadence has falsified our reality and is leading us into a form of self-destruction. What Ever Happened to HARD [...]
- You Lose One-out-of-Five for Being Too Aggressive
When I was in real estate there was this mega successful mortgage broker named Mari Mahoney. She did more business than any ten “successful” mortgage agents combined.I asked her how she did it; what was her key to success. She rapidly responded with, “I lose one out of five for being too aggressive, but I get the other four!”
This statement, this philosophy, this testimony changed my life.
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 12)
Learn Less. Study More.
As the chief champion of self-education and continual learning, this probably sounds like an odd statement, but here is the conundrum I think we find ourselves in. For any SUCCESS reader, and certainly anyone reading this blog, learning is not what we lack; in fact, it might be what’s bottlenecking us.
Beyond CDs, DVDs and books, we also live in an age of e-zines, blogs, RSS feeds, personalized readers, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, et al. We have a never-ending flow of ideas, tips, quotes, suggestions and advice being constantly pumped at us. Swimming in a sea of infinite information, we paddle like crazy just to keep our nose above water. It can be exhausting, right?
- Go For Bold!
The Perfect Storm: A Trifecta of Opportunity
The new issue of SUCCESS hits newsstand today! This issue features our cover story with Richard Branson on Going for Bold. July is one of our most important issues. This is the month we focus on entrepreneurship, and it couldn’t be at a better time.While it might look like a tough time for the national or global economy, we are actually in the middle of the perfect storm for entrepreneurship. In fact, it is my prediction that 20 to 30 years from now we will look back longingly at these times and call this the greatest window of entrepreneurial opportunity of our lifetime. It is over the next 12-18 months that the wildly successful companies of tomorrow will be born or make their bold move.
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 11)
Refueling the jets… Learning to Value Time Off 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 American’s failed to take in 2007 according to Harris Interactive research group. More than any other industrialized [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 10: How To)
This post is to outline the best practices I have learned in hiring virtual and local assistants to help me stay focused on high-value functions in my unique strength zone.
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 10)
Promote Yourself from Soldier to General of Your Own Life As stated in Step 7 we all have exactly the same number of days in a week and number of hours in a day. Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump and the checker at the grocery store have exactly the same amount of time each [...]
- Winning the Race of Life
The new issue of SUCCESS hits newsstand today! This issue features our cover story with Lance Armstrong on Winning the Race of Life. This issue also focuses on health, not in terms of diets, practices or plans that give short-term solutions, but on health as a philosophy, as an outlook on life.
Like your finances, health is one of those easy measures of how you are doing. It’s easy to see if you are continually building your savings, growing your wealth and securing your future, or if you are constantly overdrawn and becoming bankrupt from overindulgences and poor decisions and practices.
Just as you can look at your bank account and get a good measure of your financial health, you can also take a look in the mirror and get a good measure of your physical health. If you look at your physical health, you get a refl ection of what is going on in your head. Your mindset, your philosophy and your attitude are most often the forces behind your current state of physical health. Your philosophy and mindset are also what produce the health of your fi nances, your relationships and your business.
Think about this: Why do 95 percent of people who go on a diet end up gaining all the weight back? Here is why: READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE HERE: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2009/05/winning-the-race-of-life
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Cheat Sheet)
Do you have this problem, too? As you’ve probably learned by now, I write about what I am working on improving in my life. If you recall from my first post on this subject (January 6th), I admitted to being a card-carrying workaholic and talked about how being one was limiting the potential of my [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 9)
The Secret of Success Compression In a bygone era, which actually isn’t too long ago, you could only be reached by phone, mail or an in-person visit. If you had a task to complete, you could shut your door and have your calls held. Today, we have dozens of communication access points and devices that [...]
- Spring Clean Your Team
Implementing the proper care and feeding of your people “Learn to help people with more than just their jobs; help them with their lives.” —Jim Rohn This is one of my favorite Jim Rohn quotes (among many!) and one I take to heart. How to implant the practice of personal development in your team: At [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 8)
The Sharpening of Your Ax Winning is determined by what happens before the game. Discovering methods to achieve substantially more in your life—in the same or less time—is the purpose of this 12-step program. Each step offers solutions to do more with less effort and stress. In our current work culture, we create so many [...]
- Why We All Need to Embrace Our Inner Woman
I think we could all benefit from embracing our inner woman. In fact, I think the whole world would benefit by mixing more yin into the yin-yang equation. I was raised by a single father, but I had the benefit of a very loving grandmother and the influence of many strong women throughout my life, [...]
- In a Word—WOW! Lessons, Laughs and Key Takeaways from This Weekend’s SUCCESS Symposium
What a sensational event! More than 2,000 people came from all over the world-20 countries in all! What an honor it was to meet and host people from the Netherlands, Australia, England, India, Bulgaria, Norway and Germany, as well as people from all over the United States and Canada who came in just to attend [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous – A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 7)
This step has been called “the greatest secret of the rich.” There is one force in our life that makes everyone equal. You are given the same amount as Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump. How you handle and treat this force is the single most important contributor to the income you will have [...]
- Opportunities of This Economy
Which Industries are Being Born and Booming–and Three Quick Ways to Get in on the Action Over the last several months, I have been campaigning about the great opportunities this economy offers people like you and me – entrepreneurs, progressive achievers. I have promoted the upside of our down economy on dozens of TV and [...]
- Leadership: The Great Calling of Life–The Grand Challenge for Us All
What does it mean to be a leader? Leaders are those who can turn a struggling, ragtag army freezing at Valley Forge into a force that topples an empire. Leaders are people who reach out to friends in pain to help them topple their fears and recapture their confi dence. A leader can take a [...]
- Recession Gives Rise to the NEW Wealthy
Strike while the iron is hot! THIS IS the time of greatest opportunity for entrepreneurs. I am serious – you need to heed this call to action. This is not some Pollyanna, head-in-the-clouds statement – this is a fact of history. “Old money” failures give way to “new money” opportunities: Every so often our capital [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (2nd-Quarter Checkup)
Time for a midcourse review… Have you been enjoying the journey? Have you started to gain some sanity in the chaos of our always “on” culture? Are you producing more with less stress and bigger results? Here is what’s important to assess: It’s not what you know, it’s what you do. Information is not power; [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 6)
In this step I am going to reveal one of my greatest weapons for beating the competition and achieving in every area of life. AND I am going to answer one of life’s greatest age-old questions: How does the tortoise always beat the hare in a race? I used to get frustrated when starting a [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 5)
In Step 4 I reminded you of the importance of being selective with the input you allow to feed your mind. It is a never-ending battle to stand guard against input that can derail your creative potential. Controlling the input that gets into your head has a direct and measurable impact on your productivity and [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 4)
The purpose of this series is to awaken ourselves to the potentially harmful behavior patterns modern society has inflicted upon our psyche and ultimately our lifestyle. Many of these new patterns potentially derail us from the ambitions and achievements we desire. In the next two posts I will discuss the two most powerful influences that [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (1st Quarter Check-up)
First Quarter Check-Up We have finished the first quarter (three steps out of 12) on our journey to workaholic recovery and personal transformation. Now is a good time to ask yourself: How am I doing? Take a moment to assess whether you are just reading along or really integrating these steps into your life. If [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 3)
WARNING… you might be successfully failing! Even a finely tuned and designed Ferrari will fail if driven in the direction of a brick wall. STEP 3 – Separate Efficiency from Effectiveness What if you are doing the WRONG things RIGHT? Here is where we are so far: In Step 1 we figured out the things [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 2)
The speed of life has never been faster than it is today… and it is speeding up exponentially. Consider this: • There is more information in a daily edition of The New York Times than a person experienced in their lifetime in the 18th century. • More information is added to the Internet in one [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous – Your STOP Doing List (Comments from Step 1)
It was difficult to select from your excellent STOP DOING suggestions. Below are 10 great ones with bonus suggestion I particularly like! 1. STOP doing tasks that do not pay me my appropriate hourly rate. 2. STOP trying to make everything perfect. 3. STOP letting my days go on forever. Get a good night’s rest. [...]
- Workaholics Anonymous—A 12-Step Program of Recovery and Personal Transformation (Step 1)
In my last blog post (read here) I took a major step in making this my best year ever: I admitted that I’m a workaholic in need of intervention. I know many of you out there are like me—in constant motion but never quite able to move beyond relative success. So, as promised, I’m going [...]
- Hi. My Name is Darren Hardy and I am an Addict.
My 12-Step Program to Recovery and Life Revival I am a card-carrying workaholic. Don’t get me wrong; I love to work – that’s my problem. I have discovered that my addiction to work is actually costing me achievement. I have recently had some insights into superachievement—several behaviors that separate the hardworking, ambitious-minded person from the [...]
- I Double-Dog Dare You To Try This…
WARNING: This can be very scary and NOT for the faint-of-heart. Do you want to face a real challenge, one that might strip you bare and leave you exposed? How committed are you to your personal growth? Do you want to break out of your rut and take your life to the next level? Try [...]
- 5 Ideas for Making Meaningful Memories This Holiday
Something Jim Rohn taught me is—it’s not the time you invest, it’s the investment you make in the time you spend with those you care about that makes the difference. You can leave creating a great time and wonderful memories to chance, or you can weave the tapestry of a wonderful experience through great design [...]
- Important Video Messages from Darren Hardy
Important Message 1 — Media Madness STOP THE INSANITY! It is time to take back control of your brain. You are continually being pumped with fear, worry and anxiety riddled messages. This could be having a profound impact on your creative potential and hindering you in ways you might not even be aware of. Watch [...]
- ‘Tis the Season for Kicking Butt
While many people mistakenly excuse lack of productivity during the holiday period, NOW is the time when you can get out in front and gain some serious strides on the competition. When I was in real estate, most of my colleagues went into hibernation mode in December. Since many people do not buy or sell [...]
- Creating Your Extraordinary Life
Our January 2009 issue of SUCCESS hits newsstand today! We’re excited to bring you peak performance coach Tony Robbins as the subject of our cover feature. Also in this issue, themed “Designing Your Best Year Ever” we have a terrific lineup of inspiring and insightful articles and columns to help you kickoff 2009. Please take [...]
- The Greatest Day of the Year
Thanksgiving—I love it! To me it’s the best holiday of the year. Why? Thanksgiving doesn’t require you to dress up in pastels and crawl around on your hands and knees looking for rotting eggs. There is no expectation of chocolate, flowers or jewels; no pretension of fireworks; no pomp of caroling, and it doesn’t require [...]
- BIG IDEAS – How to Make Big Money in Bad Times… and More!
I have made several appearances on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch (this month’s SUCCESS cover feature). On the show, we addressed key issues for not only how to survive as an entrepreneur during tough times, but how to actually rise above the competition and make this your time of greatest opportunity. We have compiled [...]
- It Doesn’t Matter Who Is President
Whatever your political affiliation, last week every citizen of the United States (and every citizen of the world) saw the American Dream and the American ideal demonstrated firsthand. Americans proved we actually act and deliver on our declarations. We have claimed that America is the land where anyone, from any background, any race, creed or [...]
- The Revolution of the Mind – Take back your mind and take back control of your life
As an animal, we are pretty weak. Think about it. In a battle—man against lion, tiger or bear—we’re in trouble. As a species we are smaller, slower, weaker and more fragile. We don’t see as well, hear as well and are more vulnerable to the elements. Yet we rule the Earth. How? The one thing [...]
- Success Insights from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Buffett and Maria Shriver
We launched our premier issue of SUCCESS for Women at the California Women’s Conference hosted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver in Long Beach, Calif. last week. The largest one-day Women’s conference in the country, the event had 22,000 attendees, and was certainly the most star-powered single event I have ever attended. [...]
- Don’t Let Your Kids Inherit Your Bad Financial Habits
Six Financial Mistakes You Don’t Want Your Kids to Repeat It is not the government, Wall Street or the greedy mortgage companies that are to blame for your financial crisis. The responsibility lies only with YOU. Let’s use this experience as a learning opportunity so the “sins of the father (and/or mother)” are not repeated [...]
- Stressful Questions: Is stress avoidable? Why are some more “stressed out” than others?
Tips on Avoiding and Preventing Stress A journalist for a national newspaper recently sought my advice on these questions. During these challenging times, and going into the holiday season, we all might need a reminder on how to stress less. 1. In your opinion, is stress an unavoidable consequence of life? DARREN HARDY: Stress is [...]
- What Achiever(s) Think of Today’s Financial Times
If you are going to listen to anyone’s advice, who are you going to listen to – your neighbor, your all-knowing CPA, the headlines of the competing news media… or the most successful stock market investor of all time? Enter the Oracle of Omaha – One Warren Buffet. (#1 on 2008 Forbes List with a [...]
- SUCCESS Wants to Know… How Do YOU Plan to Make 2009 Your Best Year?
In our upcoming issue on Taking Charge of Your Life, several of the blog readers are getting published – along with their photo! Great thing to pass around the office or holiday cocktail parties. For our December newsstand issue themed – How to Have Your Best Year Ever… our SUCCESS editors want to hear from you again. [...]
- All Excuses Abolished – You CAN Achieve Success At Any Age!
I’m too old, too young or too poor. I don’t have the education. I’m not from the right family. I don’t have the connections, etc., ad nauseam. I feel one of our jobs here at SUCCESS is to abolish the excuses we were fed to believe for why we are not living up to our [...]
- Inoculate Yourself from the Recession…
You don’t have to let global affairs, the national economy or the welfare of your industry become your personal reality. You might think this sounds naïve, but it’s true. To survive and even thrive personally, you only need to give your attention and focus to your immediate world, the one you can personally affect – [...]
- Engaging the Universal Law of Getting What You Want
Maybe one of the most powerful laws of the universe is also one of the most counterintuitive, thus for many, the most elusive. If you can embrace this principle, it can liberate the resistance you might have to getting anything you ever wanted in life… What do you want in life? What do you think [...]
- 3-Point Game Plan to (Way More!) Productive Meetings
I was interviewed this week by a journalist seeking input on how to schedule and hold more successful meetings. It is a very important topic, so I share these points with you… I think it would be a frightening statistic to know how much productive life force is squashed in unproductive, rudderless, meandering, ineffective, blathering, [...]
- Success Survival Tactics in Tough Times! Exclusive interviews with David Bach, Zig Ziglar & Dr. Oz!
These days, 24/7 news channels and the political rhetoric are constantly bombarding us with news about the troubling and difficult times we live in. That’s why you’ll find exclusive interviews with Dr. Mehmet Oz, David Bach and Zig Ziglar on the CD side of the DualDisc™ bound into the October 2008 issue of SUCCESS (on [...]
- Finding Your Passion and Purpose in Life
Q: Hey, Darren: I’ve tried many different jobs and careers, and have a varied educational background, so I’ve given lots of different things a shot… but I’ve never really found a career path that felt “right.” How do I discover what my mission is? —Michael Werner A: Michael, this is a great question and one [...]
- Get Published in SUCCESS…
Our next issue of SUCCESS is based on the theme – Take Charge of Your Life Our editors are looking for quotes, ideas and tips proven to work used by readers of SUCCESS. Tell us how you have charted your own course and taken control of aspects of your life, such as your career, health, [...]
- It’s Not Enough to Be Alive – It’s Time to Thrive!
What is health? Do you know and understand it only by its opposite—sickness? How do you really know if you have a healthy business and a healthy life? How do you achieve this health? Those answers, plus an exclusive audio interview clip with Dr. Mehmet Oz, below. Dr. Oz reveals the formula for measuring your healthy [...]
- 5 Keys to Reinventing Yourself
Looking to make a change? Want to start doing what you love, but don’t know where to start? I know how you feel. I have been there myself… several times, in fact. Over the last couple of decades, I have had half a dozen radically different careers and businesses (real estate, television, online media, software, [...]
- Q & A: Getting Funded without Getting Fleeced!
Q. Chris McWillie writes: I am trying to find funding for this idea I been working on with my team. It’s an online service/social platform, but I don’t want to give away 60 percent of my idea to some investor. Advice? A. Having been on both sides of the pitch table (both as an entrepreneur [...]
- Applying Law of Attraction – Really!
I’ve been receiving some great questions recently-here’s one from Arturo Alvarez regarding the Law of Attraction. Q. Hi Darren!! I work in the restaurant business and it takes most of my time, and at this point I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired of it. How do you apply the Law of Attraction [...]
- Here Is How YOU Can Join Me on THE BIG IDEA with Donny Deutsch!
SUCCESS magazine and THE BIG IDEA with Donny Deutsch seem to be cut from the same cloth and part of the “mutual appreciation society”. We are both committed to the same end – helping entrepreneurs achieve more and lead more fulfilling lives. Here is how you can join me on THE BIG IDEA with Donny [...]
- The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch Show This Thursday
Tune in to CNBC, this THURSDAY, 10 p.m. EDST/9 p.m. CDST/7 p.m. PDST (check local listings) to catch me on the Donny Deutsch Show. The show topic is “How to Make Good Money in Bad Times” Plus, get key tips and entrepreneurial ideas about how to recession-proof your income. Their demographics: CNBC airs in 95 [...]
- SUCCESS Symposium II – A Magical Event!
On July 12, over 3,700 achievers from 20 countries gathered in Anaheim, California for the second SUCCESS Symposium. Those in attendance experienced an truly magical day filled with incredibly insightful and powerful messages LIVE from renowned authors, speakers and presenters such as Jim Rohn, John Maxwell, Denis Waitley, Bill Phillips, Ron White and many more. [...]
- 27 Resources To Accelerate Your Success? Some might surprise you!
NEW POLL: Surprising Number of Americans Lack Life Goals From a Mentor to an RSS Feed, SUCCESS Names 27 Resources to Achieve Success New York, NY (June 30, 2008) – A new survey conducted by SUCCESS magazine, the preeminent publication for personal achievement, found that nearly 20 percent of Americans openly admit to living a [...]
- SUCCESS (Aug/Sept) – Donald Trump Cover
The new issue of SUCCESS is on newsstands now! Themed – Tools and Technologies to Accelerate Your Success Read press release You can get a FREE look at many of the articles in the issue in our DIGITAL EDITION This issue also features: USC’s Pete Carroll UCLA legendary basketball coach John Wooden Model and Media [...]
Latest articles from SUCCESS Magazine- Getting the Big Picture: Some Rules of the Road May 15, 2012From speed and direction, to knowing when it is time to refuel or change lanes, the rules you must follow on the road are not dissimilar from the rules you must live by. […]
- Overwhelmed with Choices? May 14, 2012Author Barry Schwartz explores why too many options can make people feel overwhelmed […]
- How I Financed My Business May 14, 2012How Salesforce.com founders Garth Moulton and Chris Halligan got funding for their new startup OtherScreen. […]
- On the Bookshelf: Ch-ch-change May 10, 2012Guides for embracing change in your personal and professional life. […]
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