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On Winning

FROM SUCCESS

John Maxwell: How Can You Keep on Winning?

Learn to make it a habit.

Your morning cup of coffee: habit. Bedtime stories for your kids: habit. Daily perusal of favorite websites: habit. Early morning jog: habit. Success in life: habit.

Wait a minute. What? Yes, you heard right: Success is a habit, just like all those other routines. Sure, it takes a little more work to cultivate this one than, say, filing your paperwork before it overwhelms your desk; but nonetheless, if you train yourself right, you can experience that “I did it!” feeling over and over again.

Robert Ringer, author of Million Dollar Habits, explains it well: “The world is saturated with intelligent, highly educated, extraordinarily skilled people who experience ongoing frustration because of their lack of success. Millions of others spend their lives working hard, long hours only to die broke.… Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success.”

The secret to your success can be found in your daily agenda. Let’s look at five tendencies you need to become a habitual winner.


1. Winners are passionate about what they do.

OK, I’m fudging my definition a little bit. I’m not sure passion is a “habit,” but I have to start there because it’s the cornerstone for everything else. Passion is the fuel and energy of life. It is the catalyst for self-discipline. It puts the fun in working. It’s impossible to succeed without it.

Here’s the common mistake: People look for outside influences to motivate them and fuel their passions. People ask me all the time, “John, who motivates you?” It’s the wrong question. They should ask what motivates me.

If you have to wait for someone else to motivate you, you’ll spend a lot of time waiting. What gets you excited? What fires you up so much you have a hard time sleeping? What can you do that uniquely adds value to the world?

So why, then, do so many of us ignore our passions and chase money? Money isn’t a motivator for most people, no matter how often we equate achievement with wealth.

I remember taking a job at a church in San Diego. I was there about a week and a half when the comptroller came to me and said, “I’m bothered by something. You don’t know how much money you’re making.” I didn’t know and it didn’t matter. I went to that church because I had a passion for the job, not for the money I’d earn.

If your work matches your passion, then it isn’t work at all. I like to say I’m a “workafrolic,” not a workaholic. It’s true—I can hardly distinguish work time from playtime. You can become one, too. If you make money at it, great; if not, then at least you’ve dedicated your life to something meaningful.


2. Winners value the process of winning.

People in the habit of losing overvalue victories and undervalue the process required to win. They want the thrill of the breakthrough, not the toil that comes before it. People in the habit of winning are the opposite: They find value and satisfaction in the preparation process.

Several years ago I led a group of friends and donors on a two-week trip to South and Central America. At the time I was working on my book Talent Is Never Enough. Since I knew I would spend many hours on the plane, I made copies of the outline and asked everyone for his or her input. We discussed what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved.

When we got home, one friend said, “John, we worked for you this entire trip! It was a lot of fun discussing ideas and contributing to your book. But more than that, I learned something important.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You got all the work done because you were prepared. I’m never going on a trip again without having a plan.”


3. Winners focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses.

If you want to be successful, you’ve got to work on your weaknesses, right?

Wrong! If you want to develop a habit of winning, you need to cultivate your strengths. Everybody does a lot of things badly, but everyone can be the world’s best at something. The trick is to find that something.

Now, there is one important question you must ask: What weakness is blocking my potential? Focus on the traits you can correct, such as developing a positive attitude, improving self-discipline or acting with more integrity.

When it comes to skills, you don’t have much say—you’re naturally good at some things and not others. So focus on your strengths and stop obsessing over your weaknesses. Otherwise, you will be clawing your way up to average. Nobody pays for average. Nobody wins with average.


4. Winners focus on winning on the inside more than the outside.

If you want to win, you need to work on the inner you, not the exterior self you show the world. Remember this: If your inner core is weak, your outer self will eventually crumble, too. If it’s strong, that inner fortitude will shine through.

You can start by developing these three attributes:

Trustworthiness: You cannot win without earning the trust of those around you.

Discipline: The greatest competition you’ll ever experience will be between your disciplined and undisciplined minds.

Attitude: Believe you will win and you make it possible to win. Believe you will lose and you make it impossible to win.


5. Winners persist on their path toward success.

Quit, and you’re guaranteed to lose. Persist, and you’re on your way to finding success. You have to persist on the right path, however. If you refuse to quit that high-salary, low-satisfaction job, well, we’ve already addressed that mistake.

I remember the first time I spoke before an audience. It was 1966 and I was 19 years old. I knew right away that speaking was one of my strengths—I could tell people liked me and there was a good chemistry, but I had a long way to go to become good.

So I worked at improving. I withstood my critics. I moved past rejection. I learned from my fumbles and failures. And when I found something that worked, I focused on improving it. How long did it take me to nail the art of public speaking? Ten years!

We seem to love stories of overnight successes, but the truth is there aren’t any. If you want to be a consistent winner, you’ve got to work at it every day. Success comes from developing the habits of winning. 

On Goals

Celebrate More Victories

The secret? Think small, says Jason Dorsey

There is nothing like setting big goals on New Year’s Eve. You’re celebrating with old friends—or 100,000 strangers on TV. Brightly colored fireworks pop in the air. White confetti dances with gravity. Adrenaline races through your body. So you dream. You dream big. You reach for the nearest piece of paper and boldly write your 2013 goals:

• Goal 1: Lose those stubborn 20 pounds.

• Goal 2: Double my income with less work.

• Goal 3: Learn to speak a new language.

Now fast-forward. The confetti is gone. The pounds are still here. Thanks to the holidays, you have more outgo than income. You even settled on text messaging as your new foreign language. What happened? Life did. But maybe not in the way you think.

It’s not that you’re simply busier. You have always had lots to do. It’s not that you’re suddenly less intelligent. In fact, you have more life experience now than when you set your goals. The truth is that when you give up on big goals early, it’s likely your goals were simply too big in the first place.

Now hold on a minute.

Before you say I’ve lost my mind or that “Jason Dorsey must no longer be a motivational speaker,” hear me out. Big goals are good. In fact, they’re great. I get it. But most people never reach their biggest goals because they can’t stick to them in the beginning. That’s the part I’m talking about: the all-important first 30 or 60 days. That’s the period when the magic happens. That is when you put in the hard work to get to a new or different result. In fact, you have to put in twice the work in the beginning, because you’re starting a new habit and breaking an old one at the same time. This is where I can help.

In my work with leaders around the world, I’ve learned a powerful truth: Old habits are the enemies of new goals. For example, getting in shape sounds great until you nearly pass out in your first Zumba class. Doubling your income sounds wonderful until you have to face your fears about starting a new business. And learning a new language sounds amazing until a friend’s 4-year-old makes you look like a slow learner. No problem. I’ve got the answer. The key is to start small, win fast and build forward.

When you set small goals, three powerful things happen:

1. You achieve goals on your list right away.

2. You see yourself making progress every day.

3. You gain the courage necessary to pursue bigger goals.

I realize that crafting small goals may not seem as inspiring as big goals, but that’s because you pursue them with less fear. The reason: You know you’re going to achieve them. So you do. This soon puts bigger goals within reach—and ultimately makes reaching them a series of small goals that you conquer.

If you’re still not convinced, give small goals a try. In fact, make setting a small goal your first goal. Maybe something like: Lose 2 pounds and keep them off for a month. Invest 10 minutes a day researching business opportunities. Or try learning one new word in a foreign language every day.

Trust me. In my work I’ve seen just about every goal-setting technique you can imagine: visualizing, painting, dancing and even singing. All these techniques add value in their own way. But the most consistent one I’ve ever seen to reach big goals after an uninspiring start is to restart with smaller goals. This way you spend next New Year’s sharing how you lost all that weight. Did I mention how good you look in the future? 

On Habits

Forbes: Twelve Time Management Habits to Master in 2013

Pat Brans, Contributor
 
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nearly three hundred years ago,Benjamin Franklin came up with an approach to changing habits that has yet to be surpassed. A young adult seeking to straighten out his act, Franklin developed a list of thirteen virtues, jotting down a brief definition of each. These were character traits he took to be important, but in which he found himself lacking. He knew that nurturing these habits would bring about positive change in his life.

Starting at the top of the list, Franklin spent one week working on each virtue. In the morning he thought about how he would reinforce the new habit throughout the day. During the day he looked at his notes to remind himself of the new habit. At the end of the day, he counted how many times he fell back into the old habit.

Modern psychologists recognize three key elements in Franklin’s three-hundred-year-old procedure for changing habits:While Franklin was surprised at first to see how “faulty” his behavior was, he was so resolved that he pressed on, working through the entire list in a thirteen-week cycle, and completing four such cycles in a year. As for results, he noted in his autobiography that while perfection was unattainable, he could see big improvements.

  1. He started out committed to the new behavior.
  2. He worked on only one habit at a time.
  3. He put in place visual reminders.

Applying Benjamin Franklin’s Method

Here are 12 time management habits for the new year. Tailor these as you like, but whatever you do, work on one each week using Benjamin Franklin’s method:

Habit 1: Strive to be authentic. Be as honest with yourself as you can about what you want and why you do what you do.

Habit 2: Favor trusting relationships. Put your efforts into building relationships with people you can trust and count on, and make sure those same people can trust and count on you.

Habit 3: Maintain a lifestyle that will give you maximum energy. Work your way up to doing aerobic exercise at least three times a week, eating a light lunch, and getting enough sleep.

Habit 4: Listen to your biorhythms and organize your day accordingly. Make it a habit to pay attention to regular fluctuations in your physical and mental energy levels throughout the day; and based on what you learn, make adjustments to how you schedule tasks.

Habit 5: Set very few priorities and stick to them. Select a maximum of two things that are your highest priority, and plan time to work on them.

Habit 6: Turn down things that are inconsistent with your priorities. Get good at saying no to other people, and do so frequently.

Habit 7: Set aside time for focused effort.Schedule time every day to work on just one thing.

Habit 8: Always look for ways of doing things better and faster. Be on the lookout for tasks you do over and over again, and look for ways of improving how you do them.

Habit 9: Build solid processes. Set up processes that last and that run without your attention.

Habit 10: Spot trouble ahead and solve problems immediately. Set aside time to think about what lies ahead, and face all problems as soon as you can.

Habit 11: Break your goals into small units of work, and think only about one unit at a time. Spend most of your time working on the task in front of you, and avoid dreaming too much about the big goal.

Habit 12: Finish what’s important and stop doing what’s no longer worthwhile. Don’t stop doing what you considered worth starting unless there’s a good reason to give it up.

On General Schwarzkopf

Forbes

Kevin Kruse, Contributor

Norman Schwarzkopf: 10 Quotes on Leadership and War

Norman Schwarzkopf died today at age 78. Born in Trenton, NJ, Schwarzkopf graduated from West Point and rose through the ranks of the US Army eventually becoming a four-star General. Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, successfully driving out Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. While he was known to many as “Stormin Normin”, the men under his command simply called Schwarzkopf “The Bear”.

August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012

Below are 10 quotes from Gen. Schwarzkopf that encapsulate his views on leadership and war.

10) “Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good.”

9) “You learn far more from negative leadership than positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it.”

8) “War is a profane thing.”

7) “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

6) “True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that’s what courage is.”

5) “It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.”

4) “When placed in command, take charge.”

3) “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in battle.”

2) “Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar; and still there are things worth fighting for.”

1) “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy.”

On Potential

Excerpts  from his book: John Maxwell, “15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”

“Potential is one of the most wonderful words in any language. It looks forward with optimism. It is filled with hope. It promises success. It implies fulfillment. It hints at greatness. Potential is a word based on possibilities.”

“You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.”

“Bruce Springsteen commented, “A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be.” No one improves by accident. Personal growth doesn’t just happen on its own. And once you’re done with your formal education, you must take complete ownership of the growth process, because nobody else will do it for you… If you want your life to improve, you must improve yourself.”