The Key to Success
I have been getting a lot of emails from people talking about the downsizing economy and horror stories of people closing their business and loosing their jobs due to the recession. Everywhere I turn I hear nothing but bad news. I make a conscious effort to stay plugged in to positive sources and successful people. I am surprised by how many sources are selling the bad news and giving you just enough information to freak out but not enough to actually make it a non-issue.
Even what I call the “success sellers” are choosing to focus you on the bad economy and techniques that they say will build your business and make you “recession proof”. In my humble yet professional opinion they are not focusing you on the REAL problem. They are offering to treat your symptoms instead of teaching you the secret skill that will make their techniques work for YOU in your life with your current circumstances.
Reality check
Now, before I go any further, let me say that I firmly believe in education and investing in yourself and your business. I have been learning more to benefit myself for the past twenty years. I have built three businesses during recessionary times and if it was not for my education and willingness to learn I would not be the success that I am. What really confuses me is that I don’t see people investing enough time and capital on the one skill REQUIRED for you to take action on all these wonderful techniques.
Here’s what happened to me…
On our wedding day in 2006 we found out our real estate coach and mentor embezzled all our money and put 2.6 million dollars of our real estate in to foreclosure. Despite the news we found a way to have the most wonderful and magical day of our lives. It was the next day that I did what any rational human being would do….freak out!
A week later my new husband and I jumped on a plane to California with my American Express Card to spend a week with self made millionaires to learn how to rebuild ourselves instead of going on a honey moon. I had never been in debt for 2.6 million dollars before. We were alone and way out of our comfort zone. I lost my focus and confidence about what I thought I knew. I needed help.
One of our teachers in California was Bill Bartmann, self made billionaire, listed once as the 25th richest man in America. He has an amazing story and personally has experienced the true challenges of life. He made my life story look like a fairy tale.
Bill Bartmann told us he could sum up the key to success to just one thing, something which he had identified at a young age.
“All the successful people I knew in life had high self-esteem and all the losers had low self-esteem.” – Bill Bartmann
Were you expecting something more profound? We often unnecessarily complicate things. Why make life more difficult, but that’s what we end up doing to ourselves.
Our self-image drives everything that we do and our self-image is inexorably linked to our self-esteem and self-confidence. Improve your self-esteem and improvements in your life will naturally follow.
Having high self-esteem is indeed the key to success.
When Bartmann was growing up his self-esteem was low. He gave credit to his childhood sweetheart, Kathy, for opening his eyes to this fact. It is as Barbara D’Angelis says,
“Until you’re aware of what you’re doing, you have no choice but to continue doing it.” – Barbara D’Angelis
I almost fell off of my chair when I heard him tell me his secret to success.. I felt as if I was “Dorothy” in the Wizard of Oz was hearing “Glenda the Good Witch” say “you have always had the ability to go home. The power has been inside of you all along.”
I got the final confirmation I needed. What I teach and focus on is right on track and very relevant to business. I have something very valuable to share with those who desire to live a successful life and be financially free. What I was missing was the confidence to trust what I knew and apply it to the current situation. What I learned is that I am NOT my experience. What I choose to be true for me is true.
I Can Help You
For over 10 years I have been coaching people who before working with me have been to every seminar under the sun. Like me they have invested in there future and success. Some of them come to me with over a $100,000 of debt just from flying the country from seminar to seminar. I call them affectionately “Unopened Libraries”. Full of information but no one is using it. When they first meet me they are panicked, broke, frustrated because despite all that they learned, they end up doing the same things they did before the seminars. By having them focus on what I call the “foundation of success” and self-esteem, they immediately and naturally get off the hamster wheel and see the results that they were searching for.
In this economy I speak with so many people who are paralyzed with fear or frantically subscribing to trade-technique based programs as if taking these courses will “magically” fix what isn’t working in their life and business. They are good people who are tired and working really hard for very little. They are stressed out and panicked about their future and retirement. They say they desire success and go to seminar after seminar hoping to find out the answer to take away their pain. They fail to take action on what they learned so what do they do…take another seminar.
To all my fellow seminar junkies, I respectfully say to you: “If brains were bucks we would ALL be BIGGER than Bill Gates.” “There is a hidden secret is inside of you and you are missing it…”
Being a collector of seminars and strategies without practical and expedient application is a recipe for personal and financial bankruptcy. Without high levels of self-esteem you are investing in a car without an engine to run it. You and the way you feel about your self drives your car (your life). Studying strategies will not make you rich or successful. You feel successful and get rich by building your self esteem so that you can take action beyond your comfort zone.
Without YOU all the techniques you are investing in will not work. Taking the time to make sure your personal needs are met and that your life is set up to take action on what you are learning is essential if you plan on making money with what you learn at seminars.
Here are some tips to Jump Start Your Self-Esteem and take action:
Be Aware
Like Bill Bartmann said if you cannot change what you are not aware of. Take some time every day to acknowledge what you did well. Take some time each day to review your strategies and track what is working and what is not. When you find something that is not working immediately….
Focus on What You Want To Happen
Most people when faced with a challenge is to focus on the obstacle. That is a bad strategy because whatever you focus on expands. So, shift your focus on what you would like to experience so that your mind will automatically begin to develop a solution to give you what you asked for.
Do What You Love Every Day
Have you ever heard the old adage, “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow”? It is true. When you do what you love you build self-esteem and what I call your “success signal.” Your success signal is what attracts things to you. You can only receive what your signal can attract. If you need more success spend time making your success signal strong.
Create a Plan
Now that you have identified what isn’t working and what you would like instead it is important that you have a plan. I recommend beginning with a personal plan because until you can take care of yourself you really can’t effectively run a business or take care of others. You can not give from an empty well. So if you have a lot to do you must give a lot to yourself.
Take Consistent Action
Once you have a plan, show up and take action daily. Small steps each day build momentum and before you know it you are moving quickly and seeing results.
