Believing You Can is Half the Battle

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. ~Napoleon Hill

If you have a desire to accomplish anything, you have to genuinely believe it is achievable. You have to be able to imagine it. If you can envision yourself doing whatever it is, that is, making it so realistic in your mind's eye that it feels as though you have already accomplished it, you are halfway there.

On the other hand, if you imagine yourself longing for whatever it is you dream about doing, and you picture one stumbling block after another, you have already lost.

What Napoleon Hill was teaching us was this: If you have an idea, say an invention for example, and you believe that it is not only possible to achieve, but you are the one to make it happen, you CAN do it. You might have to do some research. You might have to experiment a bit. You might even have to backtrack and rethink some elements of the project, but, if you persist and continue to believe it is attainable, you will succeed.

Henry Ford's V8 engine was one such project. His engineers said that it couldn't be done. Henry said it could. He told them to keep trying. A couple years later, they finally had a working model and went into production.

Visualization Is A Powerful Tool

Every great invention began with a single idea. A visionary sees a need. That same individual creates a rough sketch to share the concept with another individual. The design then is used to create a working model. That's how things get made. It worked with Philo Farnsworth (He invented the television).

It all starts with a single idea.

Indeed, if you can picture it in your mind, and believe that it can be done, you just might be the one to do it.

What Ever You Do, Do it with Passion

What e'er you do in this life, do it with passion.

Love without passion is empty. It is reduced to the fulfillment of physical urges and nothing more.

Work without passion is just something you do for a paycheck and results in mediocre performance at best.

Recreation without passion is just going through the motions and often leads to boredom.

You need passion in life. Passion brings out the best in people. It gives you the energy and determination to succeed. It motivates you to be the best that you can be. It gives you joy in what you are doing. Work becomes play when you are doing what you love.

It's alright if you have more than one passion. I have several passions. I am a singer-songwriter. I am an author. I am a photographer. I sketch in charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, and I paint watercolor. I am a poet. 

My circle of dear friends includes more than one who would be considered a renaissance man. 

There is Will Daskal, painter, sketch artist, author, teacher, fly fishing guru, and all around wonderful guy.

There is Jeremy dePrisco, songwriter, performing artist, writer, who plays more musical instruments than I can recite here. He never ceases to amaze me.

Will and Jeremy have passion and they both pour it into much of what they do.

FIND YOUR PASSION

If you can identify your passions and pursue them, you will love life and make the most of it. Seek and you shall find.

The year is still young. Make it a point to find your passion by a mid-summer night's eve and run in pursuit. Let 2016 be the year of your discovery. Don't let the politics of the day distract you. Brush it aside and look to the road ahead.

As for those politicians, what fools these mortals be...

Thanks Wm Shakespeare. And thank you friends for enriching my life.

Expect Failure and Lose, Expect Success and Win

A person who sets his or her mind on the dark side of life, who lives over and over the misfortunes and disappointments of the past, prays for similar misfortunes and disappointments in the future. If you will see nothing but ill luck in the future, you are praying for such ill luck and will surely get it. ~Prentice Mulford

I have met many people who live with the expectation of failure. No matter what they try to accomplish, their own thoughts betray them.

You cannot go into any new venture with the expectation that it will fail and succeed. You have to anticipate success and believe it is attainable. If not, then why even bother? If you expect failure it is a foregone conclusion.

If you are unsure of yourself, arm yourself with information. Ask yourself this: "What do I need to make this happen?"

A little research can often help you prepare for any new challenges or opportunities that come along. Then, you have to decide that you really want to succeed and prepare yourself mentally.

Visualization is the great secret of success. ~Genevieve Behrend 

Most people use visualization without even realizing it. The problem is that they are envisioning failure because the fear of it paints vivid images in their mind. It is as though they will it upon themselves. To avoid this, you must learn to visualize yourself succeeding rather than failing.

Picture a job well done. Picture winning the race. Picture all the joy and happiness, the achievement and the reward for your success.

Now, Go for it! 

What You Think, Your Become

The mind is everything; what you think, you become. ~Socrates

You really are the sum total of your thoughts.

Whether you know it or not your personality is a reflection of what is happening between your ears. If you are not satisfied in life, you cannot hide it for long. Happiness starts on the inside and works its way outward from there. When you are not happy it, too, starts on the inside.

I have said many times that happiness is a state of mind, not a state of being. It seems that the average person spends most of his or her time complaining. In fact, I would venture a guess that most people have minds cluttered with negative thoughts.

If you start the work week dreading Mondays, you are starting on the wrong foot. Why not wake up to the idea that it's Monday, the start of a new week and new opportunities. Why not say to yourself that it's a great day. Then, make a list of about twenty things for which you are grateful. If you lose enthusiasm at any point of your day, read the list and picture yourself enjoying those blessings.

If you are not happy in your relationships, write down the things you really love about your spouse and read it every morning and every evening. Then, be grateful for those blessings.

Life is what you make of it and that typically depends on whether or not you pursue your dreams. If you are not satisfied, do you wonder why? Make a list of the things you really want in life. Make those your goals.

Take that list of things for which you are grateful and read them first thing in the morning and again at night-- just before going to bed. Doing this, you are improving your mindset by auto-suggestion. Focusing on your blessings is one of the easiest ways of changing how you see the world.

When you feel grateful for the things you have in life, accomplishing your goals is much easier.


 

Success Comes to Those Who DO

The most important thing about setting a goal is taking action. ~Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone

Setting goals is important-- but don't stop there.

It is amazing how many people say that they have a goal in life, they want to do this or that, and they are still talking about it years later. I hear it a lot from people who would love to have their own business. They talk about it, but they never do anything to make it happen.

I have written, previously, about the benefits of putting your goals on paper. Writing them down is a kind of commitment to them. It is a great starting point. From there, making an actual plan to get started is the next step. In creating the plan, you might need to do some research. What is required? Do you need a vendor's license? Do you need some sort of certification? Do you need some sort of training? These are all good questions.

Would-be writers are one of the most common examples of people who talk and never take that first step. I attribute it to fear of failure.

Oddly, the people I have known who actually started writing for a living were often laid-off professionals who were pretty good writers and never tried to go into business on their own until circumstances almost required that they do it. Many of those same people are now highly successful as writers.

Sometimes it takes drastic measures, like trying something new because of a job lay-off or some life-changing event forces your hand. If that is the catalyst one needs to stop talking and start actually doing something about those dreams, then it's a good thing.

If you daydream about what you'd really like to do in life, but you have been reluctant to start, write it down and start working on a plan to give it a test drive, while you are still working your regular job. You just might surprise yourself.

Success comes to those who DO, no those who simply talk about it.

Work Hard, Play Hard

As passionate as I am about working, I am even more passionate about playing-- here's why: Work has its ups and downs. If your job is stressful, or you have the kind of job where you are at a desk most of the day, play time can give you a chance to blow-off steam and keep fit.

I have met lots of people in the forty years that I have worked. I worked myself into business management early in my career and I've had to direct a lot of people. I always make it a point to get to know them. I see their strengths and weaknesses and I can work with their strengths and strengthen their weaknesses. They become more productive and feel better about themselves.

It amazes me how many of those people with whom I have worked over the years had no hobbies or interests. The older ones watched sports on television. The younger ones seemed to spend most of their time off work playing video games.

I've witnessed countless times when an employee joined a gym with the idea of working out and getting in shape to look like they did when they played football in college or something similar. After a short time and a few trips to the gym, they are into their old routine and just as out-of-shape as ever. What they need is a good healthy hobby that will get them in shape and keep them that way-- like cycling.

The perfect recreational activity is one that burns off excess weight and entertains you at the same time. Why? Because working out is too much like work. People quit working out as fast as they decided to start.

Of course, the best way to get in shape is eat right-- good, nutritional food in modest portions. Get plenty of exercise, like cycling, hiking, swimming, or other physical activity that serves as recreation and a work out. Get enough sleep for your body. Some people require more sleep than others, but too much is not good.

Protect your heart by cutting sodium intake. As much as possible, eat fresh produce and whole grains and stay away from processed food. Make sure that you take a good multi-vitamin.

Get lots of healthy sunshine, early and late in the day is better than the heat of day. Drink plenty of water. And SMILE.

Thoughts on Fear or Failure

No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your endeavors and make success impossible. ~Robert Collier

If you really want to achieve success in life you have to start by believing in yourself. That means, you must cast fear aside and convince yourself that you have what it takes to accomplish what it is that you are trying to do.

Fear hinders everything you attempt to do. It's like paving your path with speed-bumps and rumble strips. The former slows you down and the latter aggravates you to the point of sheer frustration. What you want is a road to success that rivals the autobahn-- nothing but silky smoothness.

In reality, you cannot expect your road to success to be as smooth as glass. In fact, that would have negative consequences. You need some resistance in order to build resilience and determination-- they make you stronger. You want to prove you have what it takes when faced with adversity. Those are the sorts of challenges that build character and wisdom.

There is an old saying: "Wisdom is what you get from experience. Experience is what you get from a lack of wisdom." I am not sure who first said it, but, it is so true.

As you confront issues and overcome them you become better equipped to deal with the day-to-day problems that business people face. You handle people better. You develop good judgment and insights that you can one-day pass along to others.

Don't fear challenges, they make you better and stronger. So, cast fear aside and get moving. Your success awaits you.

I Wonder Therefore I Am

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. ~Socrates

 Ah, Socrates, smart fellow.

What always fascinated me about little kids is that they are sponges. They come into this world having no hair, or little of it, no teeth, naked, unable to fend for themselves, tied to their mother with a cord-- and curious about everything. Literally, every minute of every day is a learning experience for a newborn.

When I was a small child I wanted to see how everything worked. I had an insatiable appetite for understanding. I was curious about everything I saw in nature. I learned about mechanical things by taking them apart and putting them together again, and I was good at it, too.

When I got older I started observing people and learning what makes them tick. It is THAT curiosity that made me a better business manager. It is that same curiosity that makes great sales people. It is that same quality that turns someone into a great marketer. It all starts with curiosity.

The more you know and understand people, the better your changes of becoming a success in this world.

People are strange. Some remain curious their whole life. Some have no sense of curiosity when they reach adulthood. My guess is that the people who remain forever curious are the ones most likely to succeed. They are the explorers, the scientists, the entrepreneurs. They are the marketing geniuses and the sales gurus. They are the leaders who inspire an entire nation.

Be Curious. Don't ever lose that child-like enthusiasm for learning.

Find Satisfaction In Your Work

No matter what your job may be, you owe it to yourself to find satisfaction in it as long as you have it. ~Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone

I know one guy that no matter what comes in a work day, good or bad, he is never satisfied.

Perhaps your job is not exactly what you had hoped it would be. Perhaps the perks you expected never came to pass. Perhaps there is little likelihood of ever seeing a promotion or pay increase. Is there anything that you can find to like about it? I hope so.

Here's Why:

When you feel anxiety or animosity toward your employer or work situation, it shows. You can never completely hide it. There are some people known as HSP (Highly Sensitive People), they have a much higher level of empathy than most. The actual scientific term for this is sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). The esoteric teachings of Japan's ninja warriors actually taught people how to increase their SPS with a series of mental exercises that I learned when I was in my early twenties. I was already empathic, but my empathy increased tenfold.

Highly Sensitive People can detect your dissatisfaction with the job in an instant. Other people can, too, if you are really emotional about it-- even when you try to hide it.

Attitude of Gratitude Alternative

Rather than feeling anger or disappointment with your job, find those things of redeeming value and be grateful for them. Focus on the things you DO like about the job and even praise the employer for it. When you are positive and grateful about your work situation more of those good things will come your way. If you apply for another job, think about the things you do like in your present situation and be grateful for them. By focusing on the good things you will not be giving off negative vibes to anyone who might be receptive to those signals.

Believe it or not, this stuff works. We only use an estimated 10 percent of the brain's functions in a conscious state. There are all sorts of subliminal messages that are perceived while we have no clue. Those subliminal signals have a basis in physical reality. They have even been used in advertising in time past. Now, the practice is illegal, but movie theaters used to insert images of snack foods into the film to make people crave them during movies. That practice has been banned in America. I don't know about other countries, but here, it has not been done in a long time.

Just remember, you project your feelings whether you know it or not. Some people most assuredly can detect those feelings. By focusing on the positive things rather than the negative things in your current situation, you have the power to change your situation.

So, the old saying: "It's all in your head" just might be true.

Change your thinking, change your life.

You Get from Life What You Put Into It

You get from life what you put into it. ~Mickey Maguire

There is a theological theory called the "Cat Theology" which teaches that religion is like a little kitten sitting there minding its own business when along comes mama kitty and picks the little one up by the scruff of the neck and drags it off somewhere to care and provide for it and eventually takes it to paradise.

Many people think that life is that way.

Rubbish!

You get from religion and from life what you put into them. With religion, you decide to live your life by the tenets of a particular "way" and you are at least sincere in your belief. With life, if you sit like a bump on a log, you will not get much from it, period.

I have seen this sort of thing with Internet dating sites while studying human behavior. Lots of people go into various singles sites, religion-based, secular, it doesn't matter. They chat away for endless hours looking for someone, but, they don't get out and try to get involved with people and places where singles meet in their own town. Why? Because sitting at a computer and chatting away with no hope of ever meeting someone who is sitting at a computer 3,000 miles away is safer than going out the front door and trying to meet someone face to face.

If you want to truly enjoy life, you need PASSION. The ideal scenario is loving your job and being the best you can be-- work is literally play. But, if your job is high, steady income and you don't really love it (don't hate it, either), then you need diversions for which you are passionate.

You need passion in love, too.


Love, in Greek, is defined by three words: eros, porneos, and agape (see the image to the right). Their meanings are passion, physical love, and brotherly love– also called “The love of God.” Our primary interest is eros, the passion of love.


Without passion, love is empty and becomes a simple, biological function. It is unrewarding and after a short time the thrill is gone. That explains why so many marriages fail within five years. Quite frankly, people get bored with it.

If you want rewarding, fulfilling love, you have to pour your passion into it. If you want a rewarding, fulfilling life, you have to pour your passion into it.

If you don't find your passion in life you will never find true happiness.

The Power of Dreams

A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities. ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien started working on his book, The Hobbit, in 1919 and continued writing the story from there. In 1963, he completed the "Lord of the Rings" as it is now known. For a while afterward, he tweaked it and corrected a few things.

As J.R.R. Tolkien explains: "...the story grew in the telling..."

Like every great storyteller, Tolkien envisioned the story unfolding in his head and put it all to paper. The end result, much to the horror of Oxford, is a literary classic.

Dreams are like that. They grow in the telling.

When you daydream, do so with a purpose. If you can imagine it, you can make it happen. So, dreams are a great tool to bring good things to life.

Write your dreams in a "dream book" or journal set aside for that purpose and don't neglect it. Let the story grow in the telling. Add to it. Refine it. Expand it. 

Bill Gates once asked the question: "Where would you like to go today?" as a marketing tool for Windows and Internet Explorer. I'll borrow that.

Where would you like to go today? 

It you could be anything you want to be, go anywhere you want to go, do anything you want to do, and money is no object... What would it be, where would you go, what would you do?

Can you imagine it? If you can, you can make it happen. Now, imagine how you are going to make it happen and how long it will take you to get there.

Daydreams are like a window with a view of your future. Use your daydreams wisely. You never know where they might lead you... or maybe you do.

Life Is What You Make It

You get from life what you put into it. ~Mickey Maguire

Lots of people don't like to hear this; but, YOU are the captain of your own destiny. YOU create your own circumstances through the choices you make in life. Make good choices and good things happen. Make bad choices and bad things happen.

If you don't like your circumstances it is possible that you have been making bad choices.

A young man worked where I do. He was moved around a bit in an attempt to find where he could fit in the best. He was finally dismissed because he just didn't meet expectations in any particular function. It seemed that he had no interest in the job.

Just last week, we all heard that he ensnared himself in two criminal activities. He was passing around counterfeit money and he actually tried to make a drug deal with it. Some how, the young man was shot in a confrontation and is now dead. His own bad choices not only cost him his job, they cost him his life.

Had this young man not been killed, he would have gone to prison for a long time. Alas, his own choices were his doom.

Most people will never find themselves in that big a mess, but, bad choices can destroy marriages. Bad choices cost people jobs. Bad choices cost people friendships.

Life is the journey, not the destination. There are many roads to travel and man possible destinations. Which you choose is entirely up to you. Even a child makes choices-- although limited. In a way, our choices define us. So, choose wisely.

Do you like your path? If not, choose another. Do you feel disappointed? There are other paths. Each one presents you with different opportunities. If you could see down every path that lies before you, life would be easier and might even be boring. 

The real test of time is not whether you chose the right path. The real test of time is not how you overcame adversity. The real test of time is whether or not you are happy with what you've become as a result of your choices.

 

Aim High

"The higher you set your goals, the greater will be your achievements."

W. Clement Stone was a great teacher. He was a self-made millionaire and shared his insights on motivation and positive thinking with the world. He made speaking tours with his co-author, Napoleon Hill, and mentored countless people, including Earl Nightingale.

I am a firm believer in aiming high...

When I first entered the fly fishing business I told people that I wanted to be the best fly tyer living in the world today. To lots of people I was egotistical for even saying such a thing. Why is that? Did they expect me to settle for mediocrity?

If you truly want to be all that you can be-- achieve all that you are capable of achieving-- set your goals high.

If you shoot for number one, you might not make it; but, I will guarantee you that you'll go a lot farther than just being a "good" ____________ (fill in the blank).

It is vital to create goals for yourself. You need to have long-term goals and short-term goals that serve as stepping stones along the way. I cannot emphasize this enough.

If you don't set goals for yourself you will never reach your full potential. It's as simple as that.

So, what would you like to accomplish today?

One Goal At A Time

One goal at a time-- That's important. That is where most people unwittingly make their mistake. They don't concentrate on a single goal-- at a time-- long enough to reach it before they're off on another track, then another, with the result that they achieve nothing. ~Earl Nightingale

It is important to realize you will never reach success without creating goals. I am a big advocate of writing your goals on paper. When you have done that, it is also important that you concentrate on completing your goals one at a time.

There are countless studies that show multi-tasking is not an effective way to get things done. If you need multiple things done concurrently, delegate responsibility to those capable of doing the job. Yes, that takes manpower. In reality, I see flawed work every day in business because people are being pulled in too many different directions. Things are more likely to slip through the cracks. So many things are left incomplete or never even get off the ground because of this.

Earl Nightingale was a smart fellow. His advice is that we work on our goals one at a time in order to actually complete them. It takes determination, endurance, discipline, and patience.

In my business management experience I have seen more companies in recent years become inefficient as a result of increased multi-tasking. Cutting the workforce can be good, if you remove non-essential people. When you cut a workforce to save money and it hinders productivity, there is a problem.

For the freelancer, you must be able to keep your pipeline full of projects; however, there comes a time when you cannot take any more work unless the client is willing to wait in line. If you have reached that level of fame-- that is, people are willing to wait for you-- you won't lose anything by working on one project at a time through completion.

If you must do more, surround yourself with talented people with whom you can coordinate efforts and draw up a nice contract agreement to protect all parties involved, then go for it. If not, then you must learn to say "no" before you bite off more than you can chew.

One goal at a time is your ticket to success.

Success Starts With Setting Goals

Without clearly established goals, there can be no clear successes. ~Mickey Maguire

The first step in becoming a success in life is establishing goals. Stumbling through life without setting goals for yourself is like setting sail without a compass or a sextant. Sure, you can do it, but you'll never find your way without dumb luck or divine intervention.

If you have a dream of being a writer, for example, then make a goal of writing a book and commit that goal to paper. Put it in a diary or journal. Read it daily.

If a book seems overwhelming, fine, break the goal into interim steps-- the first of which is writing an article and getting it published. Of course, you want to choose a topic of interest to you-- something to do with a hobby you enjoy or something from work-related experience.

Goals are funny things. Most people say that they'd like to do this or that and after it is said, it is pretty much forgotten but for a fleeting moment here or there. That is not the way to accomplish anything. That is why you need to commit those goals to paper.

W. Clement Stone said that the best way to get things done is to do it now. That is true. If you drag your feet, all you'll have to show for it is scuffed toes on your shoes. Well, the solution is easy: JUST DO IT!

Start writing your goals on paper today. Then, read them first thing in the morning and again before you go to bed. Then, take a moment to imagine yourself completing your goals and reaping the reward for it.

Now, write them down and visualize them when you read them; because, thoughts become things. The more you visualize your goals coming to fruition the better your chances of making them happen.

Why Are So Many People Under-Achievers?

Mediocrity is the result of anything one is doing with no genuine interest. ~Mickey Maguire

I wrote the statement above in another article long ago. Perhaps it explains why so many people don't perform well on the job. It is worse now than ever before.

I believe when people are passionate about what it is they do for a living they will pour their heart into it. They will become one of the best in their field. But when someone pursues a career path for the "money" or prestige that it brings, they will never achieve the kind of success, nor the level of performance, that they should.

I have met a lot of people over the years who became doctors because they wanted to make a lot of money. I've been told countless times that they would rather have my job. At the time, I was teaching fly fishing for a living. The money was less than I could have made in other businesses, but it wasn't bad. I loved what I was doing.

In business management, I have worked with lots of rank and file employees. I have seen great performers, but they are rare. Most people just work for a paycheck. That leads me to conclude that if someone has no genuine interest in what they are doing-- the job just pays the bills-- they will never achieve excellence.

It is sad that our educational system is not designed to discover what kids talents are and cultivate those. Granted, it takes time to really get to know your students and see their interests. Most student to teacher ratios in schools across the USA make that sort of thing difficult if not impossible. Colleges are even worse.

Parents could help their kids determine what they'd really like to do based on their passions, but most parents these days are too busy with their own lives to really get to know their kids the way they should. Left to their own devices, kids often spend their time amusing themselves rather than planning for the future. 

No matter what the cause, if you are working just for a paycheck and you don't love your job, you are in the wrong field. It's never too late to change; but, that's entirely up to you.

Success Is A Habit

Success must be continually practiced, or it will take wings and fly away. ~Kenneth Harmon

Sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. ~William James

If you want to be a success at anything in life you must continually think of yourself as being successful and must constantly nurture and feed it. If you stop, it is only a matter of time before the embers cool and the flame goes out.

The best way to maintain success, then, is to simply make it a habit.

Let's put this in a modern-day perspective. Say you want to become a freelance writer. You go online and join several job sites. You post on Craig's List for your area. You start joining writer forums and even put up a website. Then what?

You are looking for work. Great news-- you get a gig... you get another... hey, this is easy! You are enthusiastic and seem to have hit the ground running. You are busy writing.

The first project is done... you start on the second. Oh, the first guy needs a revision or two-- no problem. Done. The second is completed. Great!

Two weeks come and go and there is no more work. Now you wait... waiting... waiting... waiting... sound familiar?

To be a success, you have to keep the work flowing. You need to look at workflow as a pipeline. Once the pipeline is primed and the work is flowing, you have to keep adding more work to the back end or the flow stops and you are at square one again.

That's how things work in the life of a freelance writer. The same holds true with graphics, illustration, web design, and other freelance work. It is also why lots of freelancers maintain a regular job for at least thirty-two hours a week until they have built a solid foundation. That steady paycheck gives them a little comfort until their business is really moving.

You need to keep your pipeline full. If squeeze pages, landing pages, and all the trendy buzz words and ideas don't bring people clamoring then you have to work on getting your name out there.

Don't stop. Marketing is a never-ending process. If you want to keep your pipeline full, then you have to keep your name out there. Network in your home town. Hit the forums and job sites. Write a book or two. You need name recognition.

Whatever you do, don't stop believing. Never give up.

Patience Is An Essential Life Skill

Most people live a life of quiet mediocrity and never achieve the success they truly desire because they get impatient. ~Earl Nightingale

Patience is lost in modern society. People want everything instantly. What started with fast food and microwave ovens has spread to other facets of life. Take cell phones, for example. Thanks to cell phones people now expect instant availability any hour of the day or night.

When I was a young child I lived in New Jersey. On Sunday you could not buy anything except food in stores where I was at that time. Sunday was a day of rest and if you did not plan your schedule around that, you just had to wait for Monday to conduct business as usual.

What does this have to do with patience?

There are many things in life that take time. There are many skills that will never be mastered in an instant. Ask any great musician about all the hard work it took to become a virtuoso-- whether or not it was worth the effort-- the answer will always be... absolutely.

Maturity Comes with the Passage of Time

If you want to advance beyond mediocrity you have to decide that your time and effort will be worth it. Ask yourself this: "How much time am I willing to give toward the completion of my goals?"

Do you want to settle on being average?
Do you want to be a master in your chosen field?
Do you want to be remembered as truly exceptional?

If you want to be remembered as one of the all-time greats of your field, then you must set your goals and work to complete them one-by-one. It takes determination, patience, and a belief in yourself.

Your are in the driver's seat. You are in control. If you can imagine it, you can make it happen; but, it won't happen over night.

Without patience you will never achieve greatness.

The Art of Persuasion

Whether you are managing people, selling goods or services, or writing advertising copy, there is power in the art of persuasion.

It's easy to understand that in sales or marketing your goal is persuasion. You want your customer to turn over his or her hard-earned money for your products or services. Success or failure depends on just how convincing your ad copy or sales pitch is.

Management is, in many ways, the same thing. You must persuade people that doing a great job and dedicating themselves to quality work is not only in their best interest, but, their future success depends on how much energy they put into becoming the best that they can be. If you are convincing, your workers will understand that they are not working for you, they are working for themselves.

In the past, I have said that the difference between a boss and a leader is that bosses are a dime a dozen and it takes no special talent to boss people around. But a leader inspires people.

Genuine Leadership Brings Out the Best in People

The art of persuasion can turn an organized and efficient "boss" into a great leader and mentor. If you master the craft you will have people eager to work for you so that they can learn from you. In fact, working for the right leader is a far greater learning experience than attending a prestigious university.

If you want to achieve success in business and management master the art of persuasion.