I've done all I can....

What a lesson to be learnt from the All Blacks last night. They looked all gone and dusted. However when it seemed like they had given it all they dug deeper and gave a bit more. This reminded me of the Japanese word Kazian. It means continious improvement.

I want to introduce you to something I call "The Principle of 1 Percent." Simply stated, any endeavor to which you apply yourself, you can improve your abilities in that area 100% in 100 days by simply becoming 1% better every day.

Now, the principle of 1 percent is best applied to one area of your life at a time. It is also very important to write down your actions for the next 100 days, otherwise you will find yourself trying to get 7% better in a single day at the end of the week, and that simply does not work. We are targeting very small improvements on a daily basis here, so keep that in mind as you create your action plan.

Let's say you are a sales person, and thus have chosen to improve your sales skill 100% in 100 days. You would start by defining your "Why." It is important that you know exactly why you want this improvement, not why others want it. This why will drive you to follow through on a daily 1% improvement.

After you have determined your why, you must prepare your action plan. First you would visit the book store and get books and CDs on the subject of selling. You need to get enough to last at least the first 30 days of the program. You can go restock after that, but 30 days is enough to firmly establish a good habit. These books and CDs will replace TV when you are at home, and the radio when you are driving. Over the 100 days, your time will be used effectively, and it is important to remove these other distractions.

Now that you have your books and CDs, choose a successful person in your organization. Write that person an email and ask if it is ok to call for some tips and tricks. If they say no (which almost never happens) find another one. On the phone call, also establish a relationship that will allow you to be in contact with this person on a regular basis, either face to face or over the phone. Maintain this relationship throughout the 100 days and beyond.

Additional activities you may schedule yourself could include some visits to Toastmasters, a chamber of commerce event, a local professionals event, or a seminar or workshop, just to name a few.

This is just a preliminary outline, but think of how much can be accomplished in 100 days! One of the easiest ways to stay on track the whole time is to start the day, right when you wake up reading something positive. You don't need to read much, just 2-4 pages, but it will start you off great (you can find suggested reading in several of my blog entries). Follow that up with reading something in your field, then review your schedule for the day.

By writing out your plan, and having a great "Why" to drive it, you are well on your way to having and incredible experience in only 100 days. Whatever you choose to improve, you will be thankful you did. If anyone tries this out, and has great success, please email me your story.

Its not just the All Blacks that have pressed on when they thought it was all done....so too do you.

Be one percent better every day and watch your life be transformed day by day.

THINK AND GROW RICH-NAPOLEON HILL

Every 3 months I read the Classic Book-Think and Grow Rich.
What amazes me is that no matter how many times I read and reread the book I glean ideas and tips that help me move further ahead. Each time I read it is like I have opened it for the first time. The book has writings in the margin and dates as I glean ideas and thoughts of where I am when I read it at that time.
It shows you that no matter how well we know something that we always have things to learn.
Its exciting to learn and glean new insights as I reread. This lastest read has highlighted the importance of action. Nothing happens unless we act on the hunches and insights we get. We can cultivate the imagination and build our desire till we are burning hot with desire:

The method by which the desire for riches can be transmuted into actual riches consists of six steps:

1.Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is insufficient merely to say, “I want plenty of money”.

2.Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. “Something for nothing” is a misconception.

3.Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money.

4.Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.

5.Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.

6.Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night and once after arising in the morning. You must believe that you are already in possession of that money.

If you have got an idea and or a hunch to do something....act on it and you will find that you can think and grow rich....

Habits are the key to success

All too often Habits are seen as bad things that must be broken. However lets explore what they are and how they can be useful.
If you were look and ask every successful person you will find somewhere in the conversation the word Habit would appear. Through doing the same thing day in and day day out has helped people attain greatness. Until recently a great example would be Tiger Woods. What about Compound Interest. By havling little sums added often helps generate the increases of compound interest.
Our thoughts and and feelings are driven by our values and beliefs. These cause us to do what we do. It is an important thing to explore what we value and what we believe.
It is time to stop blamming failure on this and or that. Rather than look at theings and say I wish....turn it AROUND and ask what would that look like if I were doing it now.
Then simply start doing the small things that are needed....Habit
Habits and powerful whent hey are the ones we want and need.
Make it a great day

Have you hit a road block....feeling stuck?

The other day I mentioned the need for keeping on keeping on. Some days we feel down and like we are doing the same old same old.
Darren Hardy just wrote a great piece which I wanted to share:

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.

This 6-speed, F140 Aluminum V12, 4700cc engine with 660hp was built to go 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and race at 217 miles an hour (2010 specs). But here it is… stuck.

I see this absurdity every day.

But not only in the streets—in office cubicles, conference rooms, huddled behind computer screens, and dragging luggage through airports.

People who were specially engineered and designed with special talents, skills and abilities who are traveling down the wrong road, with their potential stuck in first gear; trapped and unable to race.

That is not what their creator had envisioned for them either.

Are you…

1. Stuck. Traveling down the wrong road? Are you in a job, company or business that has you boxed in on the slow lane? Is it keeping you from being able to get out of first gear and challenge your greater abilities?

Sometimes it’s not the car; it’s the road the car is on.

2. Traveling with Pintos? Are you going slow because you are keeping pace with ordinary cars, when you were designed for racing?

Sometimes it’s not the car; it’s the cars it travels with.

3. Are you even aware that you are a race car? You were specially engineered and designed for speed… to race. You were built for greatness. I’m not kidding. You are a miracle of machinery. Yes, you… the one reading this. It’s likely you have never even experienced half of what your top speed is.

Sometimes it’s not the car; it’s the one given the responsibility to drive it.

If you ever really gripped the wheel, braced your neck and punched the pedal with all your might… the awesomeness of your innate potential will shock and exhilarate you.

Punch it. NOW!

Its time to refresh ourseleves and get in alignment with the desires in our heart and as a result the passion will start flowing again.

Get up and eat for the journey is long

Its been one of those weeks where it seems like everything has been by have to...It reminded me of the ability to get one self in the right head space is the most important thing we have:

We can all persevere even when we think we can’t.

Therefore, how to increase determination and maximize motivation

We can face issues like:

•facing illness;

•keeping a family together;

•facing massive life changes after divorce;

•making a business work;

•doing a degree;

•getting into peak physical shape; or

•going for the kind of life you feel you must live;

we all need to be iron-gritted in our determination sometimes.

In the articles 7 Self-Discipline Techniques and Boost Your Self-Motivation Today, It mentions how important it is not to fall into the trap of having to constantly feel emotionally rewarded by stuff you do in order to actually get on with it.

Here are some tips for hanging in their

Tip 1: Draw inspiration from others

Actually, whilst it can be useful to draw inspiration from extraordinary individuals, research shows we draw more inspiration from reading, seeing, or thinking about a type of person rather than a one-off ‘outlier’. We become cleverer (in tests) if we see photos of ‘clever-looking people’ rather than, say, a picture of a ‘one-off genius’ like Einstein.

So consider that:

•Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.

•Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.

•Ancient Australian aboriginals threw hardwood spears 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48m) (3).

•Most people in history have had to survive without healthcare, social security, or modern medicine.

•Most people in history have had to educate themselves if they wanted to improve.

Tip 2: Don’t think; just act

Thinking is vital and much of human folly happens because we don’t think. We can think ourselves out of problems, around situations, into solutions - but also out of doing what we should. “I can’t go on” is a thought that may be useful or it may be self-deception. If you have to keep on, then start to ignore these kinds of thoughts. When times are tough, sometimes we need to just keep on without thinking until the ‘nose down to the grindstone’ times have passed.

Tip 3: Strengthen your will by exercising it

I have a lazy friend. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a lovely guy, but he’s so unaccustomed to work or exertion that if you ask him to do anything, it’s a major deal. It’s much harder for him to do anything than most people. He’s healthy and fit enough, but he’s not used to work - and it shows.

Recent research showed that willpower, like a muscle, gets stronger the more you use it. So remember that even when it feels tough, it will get easier. The more you exercise your will and determination, the more naturally motivated you will begin to feel.

Tip 4: Think about what you really want

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernhard Shaw

What do you want your life to be like? Are you happy living the way you are living? Take two sheets of paper. On one sheet, write down how you’d like to be living. Now take the second sheet and write down all the things you need to do to make your life as it is now more like the life you’d like to have. Every detail counts. This will be your initial blueprint. Remember that you can update this blueprint as you go. But if it seems too unreasonable to you…it might not be at all.

Tip 5: Imagine an iron centre within you

Sometimes life calls for you to be irrepressible, unassailable, resolute, and super-focused. I remember when I was a child distinctly feeling on occasion a palpable, almost physical, determination within me; a sense that my determination was a thing I could feel. Today I’ll use self-hypnosis to recapture that and get that real ‘iron core’ feeling when I really need it.

Tip 6: Never give up!

The night is always darkest just before dawn. You just don’t know how close you are to a breakthrough. If your intentions are good and you keep working, something will happen - even if it’s not exactly what you had planned. If you do nothing, nothing happens.

Dieter Dengler could have stopped walking in the jungle, Helen Keller could have stopped learning to communicate, Edmund Hillary could have stopped climbing Everest, and Thomas Edison could have given up on the light bulb.

Don’t stop.

Keep on keeping on...this is my day this is your day

Choices

For so long I have been wondering what to do...do I go this way or that....

However I have been working with my clients and they have reminded me of the importance of making a decision and sticking with it. There is not right of wrong. The world is nutural and it is only our responce to it. I am spoilt for choice. I just need to make one and follow it through. Just make it happen. I attract success in all I do. I demand the best. I will get the open doors. I will get the clients. I will get the backing by the investors. I will get my desires. I will get the goal. In order to get it I simply just need to make the choice and make it happen. Moses had to step into the Red Sea before it was parted. He had to strike the rock before it shot out water. So Bill gates needed to start before he got the windfall he did.

POV Continued

Still thinking of our point of view


The Power of a Paradigm Shift
Covey has the best example of a paradigm shift: he was traveling in a subway, a man gets in with his two sons, the sons are running all over the place bothering the people, this continues, so he finally gets irritated enough to ask the father why he doesn't do something to control his kids. The father replies, "We just got back from the hospital where their mother died. I don't know how to handle it and I guess they don't either."

Suddenly you see the everything differently. That is the power of a paradigm shift. They are the same kids yelling and screaming in the subway, but you look at them and understand them in a different way.

I was at the swimming pool the other day and saw a family of three leaving out the door. The little boy suddenly stopped and stood looking through the glass at the swimmers in the pool who were still swimming. The father yelled back to him, "Come on, what are you doing, just staring at things again? Let's go!" I thought about the paradigm that the father had of his son: "stupid, slow kid who's always doing something he isn't supposed to." Now what if the school conselor were to call the father up the next day and tell him, "We have just received the test results back from your son and have discovered that he has impressively high IQ. He is a genius." The next time his kid stood staring at something, I wonder if the father wouldn't go back to him inquisitively and say, "Tell me what you are thinking about son. What do you see?"

Our behavior results from our paradigms of the world. The classic example of the old woman/young woman picture which Covey includes in the book is a good example. You can look at the picture and see an old woman or you can look at the picture and see a young woman. Depending on what you see is what you are going to say about "that picture."

The Principle-Centered Paradigm
In this book, Covey wants to express to us how we can base our behavior on a paradigm of the world which is centered on our unchanging principles instead of being centered on what happens in the world, what others do, what we do, how we feel, how others feel, the stock market, and the vicissitudes of life.

The Way We See the Problem Is the Problem
If you have a problem, the actual problem is that you are looking at it as a problem. It could be something else, such as an opportunity. When it rains lemons, make lemonade. You just need a paradigm shift.