Tag Archives: Success

DON’T CONFUSE BULLIES WITH LEADERS

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#leaders #bullies #leadership #success
Leaders don’t have to know everything.
They only have to know what they don’t know, find people who do know and create a space/atmosphere for them to do their best work.
A leader doesn’t have to be an expert in the company/agency he or she is leading. He or she has to make sure the people he or she is leading – the actual experts – have what they need to do their best work. The leader also may have to defend and support the work being done in the company or agency.
A leader also has to embrace the mission of the company/agency he or she is leading.
Bullies, on the other hand, do not lead. They tear things down. They denigrate the people within the company or agency. They don’t embrace the agency’s or company’s mission. In fact, they want the agency or company to do the opposite of what it is supposed to do.
Strong leaders don’t always show their strength. They often exercise strength behind the scenes, and always in an effort to help those they are leading.
Bullies want their “strength” on display. They often deploy their “strength” by acting against those whom they are supposed to lead. In such a situation, people usually get hurt and the company or agency crumbles.
Leaders know their success doesn’t come strictly on their efforts. They know it takes a team to pull off success, and are eager to credit that team with the success. If there are failures along the way, leaders take the blame themselves, and take responsibility for the repairs.
Bullies believe they are the only ones who can achieve success, and those under them merely do as they say. They credit no one but themselves for success, and only blame others for failures.
While the leaders work diligently to help others succeed, bullies work only to help others fail, so they can claim success.
Leaders lift people up. Bullies beat people down, to paraphrase a campaign theme from the recent U.S. election.
Bullies are skilled at breaking things. They are less skilled at building, or rebuilding, things.
Leaders try not to break anything, but, instead try to build or rebuild with existing structures, materials and people.
Indeed, some things must be torn down to rebuild. Bullies do that for sport. Leaders do that only when necessary, to try to save as much of what was there as possible.
Most of us have worked for leaders. Some of us have worked for bullies. If you are an aspiring leader working for a bully, you may have to cut your losses and find a leader(s) to work for. You’ll learn from a bully how not to be, and learn from a leader how to be.
The bully’s apparent “strength” hides overwhelming weakness. Over that so-called muscle is very thin skin.
Bullies have to look over their shoulders constantly, lest they be sabotaged. Leaders have to observe their teams constantly so they can learn more, support more and advocate more.
If you are put in charge of something, choose to be a leader. It’s safer for you and better for your organization.
In golf, the player lets the club do most, if not all, the work, while providing the best swing possible.  In leadership, the leader lets the team do most, if not all, the work, while providing the best atmosphere possible.

Peter

DON’T ROLL OVER; KEEP ROLLING

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#RollOver #KeepRolling #circumstances #goals #success
Roll over!
You may ask a dog to do that as a “trick.”
You may applaud an infant for doing that, as he or she shows his or her first sign of independence.
But when adults “roll over,” they are seen as giving in or, worse, giving up.
Instead of rolling over, keep rolling.
We are often tempted to roll over. Those who wish to dominate us want us to roll over.
They will frustrate us to the point that we, indeed, want to roll over.
If you must tolerate the frustration others impose on you, tolerate it without rolling over.
If you don’t have to tolerate the frustration, find a situation from which the frustration disappears, and you can do what’s best for you without interference.
Alas, it’s so much easier to just roll over. However, successful people don’t look for the easy thing. Instead, they face the hard thing head on. They may indeed roll with the punches, but they do not roll over.
They may not find success instantly. For some, it may take 40 years or more to become an overnight success. In all that time, they did not roll over. They kept rolling.
Todd Beamer told his fellow airline passengers on Flight 93 Sept. 11, 2001: “let’s roll.” The passengers stood up to the hijackers. The plane crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. But their actions prevented the plane from crashing into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. All those passengers, including Beamer and the flight crew, died. But they did not roll over. They rolled.
Sometimes, circumstances prevail. Sometimes, all the fight and effort we can muster does not get us the results we want. Sometimes, we do not outlive our obstacles.
Still, that does not mean we should PRESUME circumstances will always win. Instead, we keep rolling in the right direction. We roll toward the goal. We don’t stop. We don’t roll over.
Those who want to dominate us – get us to roll over – will insert more obstacles in our way, to the best of their ability.
Some of those obstacles may stop us temporarily. They may tempt us to roll over. But, with every fiber of our beings, we keep rolling.
On some days, we may have to look for the strength to keep rolling. We do that by telling ourselves that every slammed door eventually will take us to an open one. We hope to remain upright to the cause or goal. If we get knocked down, we get up.
To paraphrase an old adage: You will find me either at the top of the mountain, or dead on the side. But I will not go back to the bottom.
In short, don’t roll over. Keep rolling.
Peter

VILLAGES AND SUCCESS

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#ItTakesAVillage #success #BuildingNetworks #PeopleHelpingPeople
“It Takes A Village to Raise a Child.”
That’s the title of a book by Hillary Clinton some years back.
If it takes a village to raise a child, does it take a village for one to become successful?
There are many who say no, they can do it on their own. Certainly, one’s own effort is crucial to success. But few can be a success with no help at all.
Where does that help come from? If you have employees, that’s your No. 1 source of help for success.
If you have a team, those may be what you would lean on during your success journey.
Of course, customers and/or clients can be of crucial help to you.
Friends, family and others close to you can be yet another source of help.
As you journey toward success, do you acknowledge the help you are getting? Do you reward it?
More importantly, are you returning that help to them, as they move on their success journeys?
We all want success for ourselves. Some of us want success solely for ourselves, but not necessarily for those who are helping us.
Others don’t feel successful unless they are helping others be successful.
Perhaps that describes you.
. If so, as you pursue your version of success, take time to not only acknowledge those who help you, but also to help them in return.
If people help people, everyone involved can succeed. As you pursue your journey, you may find helpers you had not known before.
As you look for ways to succeed , you may find people you hadn’t met previously waiting to help you.
They will extend your network of friends to amazing levels. These friends may bring in others who will contribute to your success.
That’s how one creates his or her village. As people within the village succeed, eventually the entire village will succeed, presuming everyone inside puts in the required effort.
Raising children and becoming successful often take a village. How are you assembling yours?
Peter

SUCCESS NOT A MATTER OF LUCK

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#success #luck #BadLuck #opportunity #effort
Have you ever met someone who is envious of a successful person?

They are so lucky, that person thinks.

Then, they wish they had the same luck.

Not knowing anything about what the person had to do to become successful, they just presume the person was just lucky.

And they, of course, are unlucky for not achieving the same success.

Success, no matter how one defines it, is available to anyone.

The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is a combination of opportunity – not luck – and effort.

Opportunity is not something that comes by accident. Opportunity is sought. In other words, the luck comes to those who prepare for it by taking an opportunity that is presented to him or her.

Certainly, one has to know an opportunity when he or she sees it. The successful person will always look for an opportunity. The unsuccessful person will usually pass on an opportunity for various reasons including: too much work, too much to invest, they would never do such a thing, they would never consider such a thing etc.

These are excuses, for lack of a better term. If an opportunity is good enough, the successful person will overcome all of those hurdles mentioned above and find a way to get in.

Certainly, not every opportunity is for everyone. But if the desire for success is inside you, you will look at all opportunities until you find the right one for you.

In fact, someone you know, or perhaps someone you don’t know, may present something to you that you may have never considered before. If your desire for success is strong enough, you will check it out anyway.

Those who don’t look for opportunities have reached a stage of contentment with their lives. Whether they are indeed content may be debatable, but they don’t want to do what they would need to do to advance their lives further.

Still others are not content with their lives, but blame circumstances for their hardship. These folks “know their place” in life, and are envious of others who’ve achieved more. They blame others, or things, for their lack of achievement.

In short, everyone has the ability to be successful. Your education, experience or background may not matter, unless your idea of success involves a bunch of education and experience.

If you have the ambition, and are not the type to blame someone or something for your lack of achievement, there are opportunities out there for the taking.

You just have to be open-minded enough to look for them

Peter

GRIT VS. GRIFT

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#grit #grift #success #dreams
There are some who succeed because of grit.
Others use grift to fein success.
One is an honest pursuit.
The other, not so much.
When one has grit, he or she goes for success honestly, often taking others with him or her.
When one uses grift, whatever success he or she attains is at the expense of others.
If you have, or cultivate, grit, you can do most anything your God-given talents will allow you to. Even without much talent, there are ways to achieve success simply through grit.
Some of those success methods depend upon you helping others.
Others involve using your talents to help, or entertain, others.
Grit involves giving and getting.
Grift involves only taking.
Some see no harm in a little grift. Others would never think of being a grifter.
Grift, coincidentally, rhymes with drift. Grifters drift from thing to thing looking for grift.
Both grit and grift involve determination. Grit involves determination worthy of human endeavor. Grift involves a more sinister determination.
So, are you going through life with grit, or are you grifting?
If the former applies, and you are eager for a way to apply your grit, there are many vehicles out there that, regardless of education, experience or background, can allow you to achieve the success your determination desires.
To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
If you are a grifter, there is no place for you among these programs.
If you haven’t already, learn to cultivate grit. Regardless of your circumstances, desires and goals, grit will allow you to achieve what you want. Grit helps you grow as a person.
Of course, you can try to attain those results through grift, but you’ll be much less of a person for doing so.
So use your grit to cut through the grind. Find what might work as a method of achieving your dreams.
Don’t have dreams? Find some. Then, cultivate the grit to go after them.
Peter

NO SECRET TO SUCCESS

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#success #WantingVsWishing #PersonalGrowth #WorkEthic
Many books talk about the “secret” to success.
Despite the title of the Earl Nightingale’s book, “The Strangest Secret,” there is no secret to success.
It’s all about desire, dedication and doing whatever it takes to be successful.
It’s simple, but not easy.
It has to start with WANTING something. That’s not just WISHING for something. The difference is the willingness to do what you need to do to get it. If you are willing to do what you need to do, you WANT something. Otherwise, you are just wishing for something.
Yes, there are things you may not be able to do. For instance, without the God-given talent and training, you may never become part of the Metropolitan Opera, no matter how badly you want to or how hard you are willing to work.
But there are other forms of success that are achievable. After you decide you want something, and that want is powerful enough for you to do whatever it takes to get it, you have to be willing to look for the right way to get it.
That requires an open mind. You may not be able to get what you want, doing what you are doing now. You may have to look outside your current box.
It’s like planning a big trip. You have to first decide where you want to go, figure out the best way to get there, then decide what you are going to do once you arrive.
Now that you want something, and you’ve decided to look for the best way to get it, then you have to commit to the right vehicle once you find it.
There are many vehicles out there that will get you to success. You just have to know where to look for them. To check out one of the best, message me.
Along with the wanting, looking and doing comes the growing.
Success is tangible, but achieving it also involves working on YOU.
It’s been said by many experts that if you grow as a person, through reading the right things, hanging around and listening to the right people and doing things that will improve you personally, success will find you.
Certainly, the path to success does not ascend in a straight line. There will be setbacks, there will be failures and there will be bad circumstances along the way.
That’s why the path to success may seem simple, but very likely will not be easy.
Your personal growth and the desire to get what you want will enable you to deal with those setbacks, because you are dedicated to the big prize.
So how do you define success for you? It shouldn’t be money alone. It should be based on what you can do with money, presuming money is in the equation.
If you have the talent and training to excel in the arts, music etc., money may just be a byproduct of your success.
Whatever you call success, much of your shot at getting it is how you train your mind. Desire, tenacity and work ethic are all part of your mental well-being.
So work on you as you work your success plan. A better you can be the difference between achieving success and not.
Peter

SUCCESS IS FLEETING; YOURS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE

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#success #FleetingSuccess #TemporarySuccess #fortune #failure
Today’s success is tomorrow’s failure.
Or, so it seems that way.
We can all recall some person, entity, corporation etc. that was a huge success, but now is failing.
Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, took on this topic in a column for USA Today. It was also published Feb. 4, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The most recent example Fisher cites is Sears, America’s biggest retailer 50 years ago that is now all but dissolved.
He also talks about lottery winners upon whom the “curse” hits, and they are broke and miserable years later. That seems less like a curse, and more like a lack of personal wisdom or common sense.
In today’s world, success is indeed fleeting. The world is changing at such a rapid pace that the latest “big thing” is pushed out almost immediately by “the next big thing.”
American companies, as an example, in many cases can’t see the next big thing coming. Or, if they can, cannot gear up fast enough to latch onto it. Or, if they are fortunate enough to foresee it, latch onto it too soon, and suffer a period of stagnation awaiting the growth that is to come.
And, as fortune would have it, that “thing” the company foresaw and geared up for is soon displaced by something else.
Decades ago, when Sears reigned supreme in retail, progress didn’t move as quickly. Online shopping was not even a twinkle in some inventor’s eye. The Big 3 automakers churned out big, gas-guzzling cars until, well, foreign economy cars began to displace them. Who knew at the time that electric and self-driving vehicles were just down the road?
Yes, success is fleeting. But personal success doesn’t have to be. Instead of waiting to be part of “the next big thing,” work hard, save some of what you earn every week, sock it away, invest properly as your nest egg builds and move into your elder years without worry.
Easier said than done? Perhaps. But it may hinge on the life decisions you make, large and small, every day.
Think before you spend. What you don’t spend you can save.
Also, don’t presume the situation you may have now will stay the same, or improve. Remember, your employer may be looking for the next big thing and may or may not find it. Or, they may find it too late. Or, they may not change fast enough.
In any case, you, as the employee, will be affected, and usually not for your betterment.
Therefore, you must create your own success. How? There are many ways out there for a person to spend a few, off-work, part-time hours a week creating a potential stream of income that will enable him or her to roll with the punches at work with much more ease. You just have to be willing to look at new ideas that may be presented to you.
If you are willing to check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Fisher talks about making yourself indispensible to your employer. Even the most indispensible people get reorganized, laid off or their job changes to an untenable degree.
It may be better to work at your job, and look for other ways to ensure your own success and, perhaps, the success of those willing to join you.
Peter

SELF-MADE: HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?

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#SelfMade #CollegeAdmissionsScandal #FameFromBirth
“What does it mean to be a ‘self-made’ person of great wealth?”
Mary Sanchez, columnist for the Kansas City Star, posed that question in a recent column, also published March 12, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sanchez was referring to Kylie Jenner, whom Forbes magazine proclaimed to be the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire, at age 21, from her cosmetics business.
Jenner is a member of the Kardashian-Jenner blended family. She didn’t exactly launch her business from her garage at night after working a full-time job all day, Sanchez points out.
Actually, she’s been quite savvy at leveraging her birthright fame, Sanchez says.
Alas, most of us aren’t blessed with the gift of fame from birth.
For most of us, if we want to achieve success, we have to do it gradually, over time, and many never get there.
Many of us don’t have the discipline to build wealth over time by saving more, spending less and investing properly.
Many of us never get introduced to a program that would allow us to build wealth by spending a few part-time hours off work – not unlike the folks who build a company in their garages. But, unlike the companies that start in a garage, you can build wealth by helping others do the same.
How? There are many such vehicles out there to allow you build wealth by leveraging your off-work time without taking a second, W-2 job. To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
Sanchez ‘s column was also published at a time when famous people are paying to get their children into prestigious colleges. They are not doing it by donating money to those schools. They are bribing coaches to “recruit” students to their teams who have not played the sport in question.
They are also paying others to take college entrance exams on behalf of their children – in other words, helping the children cheat their way to success. In turn, that means hard-working students who do things the right way are deprived of admission to those schools.
The whole scandal brings to mind how one defines success.
A big part of a successful life is doing everything the right way. That usually means hard work and tenacity. It also means either innovating – filling a need no one else has filled – or following a system that has created success for many others. To put that another way, it means duplicating what other successful people have done.
The college admission scandal has also brought to mind another axiom: if you cheat your way to the top, you will eventually get caught.
So how do you define success? Different people may see success in different forms. Part of defining success is knowing why you are doing something.
Good whys motivate the wise.
And when the wise are motivated, regardless of what they are doing, success will come. When success comes, wealth usually follows.
Success doesn’t come just to the lucky, though any successful person undoubtedly would say he or she has been blessed. One must put himself in the position for good fortune to come.
Kylie Jenner was helped by who she is. Most of us don’t have that advantage. But we all can put ourselves in position for success to strike. It may take some out-of-the-box thinking, but anyone can do it.
Peter

WORKING TO HELP OTHERS WILL ULTIMATELY ENRICH YOU

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#success #HelpingOthers #BecomeWhatYouThink
It’s been said that one may be in business for himself, but not by himself.
In almost everything we do, others play a part.
We can choose to USE others for our own gain, to their detriment. Or, we can choose to help others succeed, hence we succeed.
“In helping others, we shall help ourselves. For whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us,” says Flora Edwards, a South African-born industrialist.
Edwards’ words are among the array of wisdom nuggets in the book, “The Power of Positive Doing: Getting Good at Getting Results,” by BJ Gallagher, with a forward by Ken Blanchard.
Too many of us have worked for people who depended on our success, but were indifferent about us. We, in essence, were a tool in their toolbox. THEIR success was all that mattered to them. If we became successful in the process, so be it. If we didn’t (read: we did the work but didn’t get paid what we deserved), it was of no matter to them.
Like any tool, if we left, or broke beyond repair, they replaced us.
The true situation we would all like to be in was working WITH someone who had a vested interest in our success. They would have so much of a vested interest, in fact, that they would do whatever they had to do to ensure our success.
Those folks, it seems, are few and far between.
But, as a person, one cannot focus on what others may do to you, or for you.
One must focus more on what one can do for others. Whom do you want to help? Whom do you want to succeed? If you begin to think that way, success will come to you in good time.
Success may not be instantaneous. Favors may not be overtly returned immediately. But the right attitude and subsequent action by you will bring the eventual results you are looking for.
OK, it’s nice to think that way, but, as a practical matter, how does one achieve what he thinks about?
Perhaps your current job doesn’t allow you the flexibility to help the people you want to be successful.
There are several vehicles out there that, with a little part-time effort outside of your job, you can help others achieve success, and you, in turn, can be successful. To check out one of the best, message me.
Gallagher’s book focuses on not just thinking right, but taking the action needed to make what you are thinking happen.
Too many folks have the right ideas, but are afraid to act on them because, for example, they were raised to look for security, rather than take bold steps toward their dream.
Others fail to act out of fear of what others may think of them. As most successful people will tell you, being successful may require you to be different from the rest.
So, go forth and help others. Your rewards may not be immediate or obvious, but eventually, they will come in abundance.
Peter

WHAT WILL YOU DO IN YOUR DASH?

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#TheDash #YourDash #YourLife
Your birth year, or date, and your death year, or date, will likely be engraved on your tombstone.
Between the two years, or dates, will likely be a dash. It could be a fancy dash, or just plain.
But that dash represents what you did between your birth and death.
Linda Ellis has written a poem titled, “The Dash.” The poem is a basis for the book, “The Dash: Making a Difference With Your Life,” written by Ellis and Mac Anderson.
“For it matters not, how much we own, the cars … the house … the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash,” the poem reads in part.
The book also includes testimonials of how the poem has inspired people who have read it.
When someone is speaking at your funeral, how would you like them to remember you? Most of us would probably like to be remembered as one who helped others. We also would like to be remembered, perhaps, as one who was successful.
We all define success differently, but if we can become successful by helping others be successful, we would probably say we hit a home run with our dash.
The verse also talks about change. “So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.”
Are there things in life that YOU can change? Perhaps not some circumstances, but certainly how you react to them.
Are you doing enough to make others successful? If you are looking for a way you could better bring success to others, and, as a result, to yourself, there are many such vehicles out there. To learn about one of the best, message me.
We may also look at life as a dash, meaning a sprint. The poem looks at it differently: “If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way people feel.”
Yet, a testimonial by Michelle Landahl, included in the book, says, “It’s important not to save all your energy for the final lap; live your dash so hard it will be impossible to forget.”
Often, it’s the little things that will be most meaningful in life, the poet and many readers say.
So, don’t forget those little things as you, perhaps, pursue bigger things. Between your birth and death, make your dash the best you can make it.
One would rather make a life than a living. The life you make is your dash. Let those who would remember you speak of you as one who inspires them, and perhaps others.
As you inspire others, you will enrich yourself in so many ways. As much as we’d like our dash to be more of a marathon than a sprint, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. We can’t do much about that.
But we can make the most of the time we have. Live your dash to the fullest.
Peter