The Next Three Keys To Extraordinary
Personal Achievement
Within one week of using my system for re-invigorating her self-esteem, defining her purpose, transforming her mind-set and setting her goals, Dr. Marilyn Joyce was asked to contribute to four major books and contribute to 7 magazines.
That might not seem like a big deal to you, but for Marilyn it was huge. After all, she was in a business where 85% of the folks don’t make it. And she’d been struggling for years to get the national attention like that to not only keep her business afloat … but to get it sailing onward and upward.
These keys flat-out work. And I’m so glad I can say that to you, because that’s been my lifelong mission … to discover the secrets of success … to find the things that work. It’s one of the cardinal reasons I left my university teaching job: I wanted results, not theories.
With that, let’s get right into…
4th Key To The Extraordinary:
Positive Attitude
There’s been a lot of “rah-rah” hype written about the importance of having a positive attitude. But rarely does anyone deliver any concrete ideas about how to create and maintain a positive attitude.
After all, when things get hairy, either at home or at the office, (or both), the last thing you need is someone telling you to “cheer up” or have a better attitude. Besides being ineffective, it’s almost insulting.
When I hit rock bottom, when my attitude literally stunk, I got a well deserved slap in the face from a friend and teacher named, Mr. Nelson. He taught me “the fuel principle” and got me off my pity pot.
He told me that I could have the most expensive car in the world, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the car wouldn’t go an inch without fuel.
And in a similar manner, Mr. Nelson said I could have a number of degrees, and a lot of knowledge, but if I didn’t have a positive attitude to “fuel” the use of that knowledge, I would never achieve extraordinary success.
That made a lot of sense to me, but I told Mr. Nelson I’d had too many setbacks in life. I could never become a truly positive person. Besides that, I had no idea how or where to get the “fuel” he talked about.
It was then that Mr. Nelson taught me the “action principle.” He quoted a verse from the Bible (of all places). It read,
“This is the day the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
He said most people miss the point. They think IF they’re glad, THEN they’ll rejoice. Wrong!
Mr. Nelson said that’s not the way it works. He told me to look carefully at the order of the words. They contained a hidden secret that could forever change my attitude and my life.
The verse says you must FIRST “rejoice,” and THEN you’ll be “glad.” First comes action, and then comes feeling.
If I waited for my life to improve, if I waited for my feelings to change, if I waited for a more positive attitude to come along, I would wait forever. But if I took “action,” I could create the “fuel” that would move mountains.
So I went on another journey. A journey to discover the kinds of actions that would give me a positive attitude… all the time… no matter what. And I found 8 simple, powerful actions that changed my attitude around… for good.
They changed every aspect of my life and work (and the lives of 1000’s of others once I started sharing them). I’ll go into more detail on those 8 attitude-changing actions later in the course. And I assure you, they will work for you as well.
Of course, some of the things I learned were initially outside my “comfort zone.” As a university professor, I was trained to look for the facts and check out the numbers. The “positive attitude” key seemed pretty touchy-feely to me at first. But I wanted results and BIG changes in my life, so I decided to take a risk and give it a try.
When I did, miracles began to happen in my life!
The same goes for you. Some of the things I have to share with you may be outside your comfort zone too. But you’re never going to get dramatically better results… in any part of your life or career… if you refuse to leave your comfort zone. You’ve got to take a risk… which leads us to the…
5th Key To The Extraordinary:
Risk Taking
At this point in my Journey to the Extraordinary, I had to get gut honest with myself. I’d learned a great deal about the first four keys of Self-Esteem, Purpose, Goals, and Positive Attitude. And as I used those keys and applied their secrets, I was doing better. In fact I was doing better than I’d ever done before. But I had to admit that my life was still focused on “surviving” instead of “thriving.”
That’s when I discovered the fifth key… risk taking. And that’s when I learned that taking risks is central to everything worthwhile in life. Without taking risks, you can’t make real gains, develop power, earn respect, or experience success. There’s simply no way you can grow without taking chances.
Unfortunately, most of us today have been conditioned to fear risk. We’ve allowed ourselves to think “Oh, I’m not a risk taker.” This is dead wrong. We all take risks. And the more calculated risks you take, the bigger your rewards will be.
What Style Of Risk-Taker Are You?
- The Avoider: Habitually dodging any and all risk
- The Postponer: Waiting until everything is perfect before you try anything new
- The Once-In-A-Whiler: Taking small occasional risks, if it doesn’t rock the boat
- The Dream Maker: Having a strong vision, a commitment to that vision and taking healthy risks that will make a positive difference in your life as well as the lives of others
Unfortunately, 85% of people fall into one of the first three categories: Avoiders, Postponers, and Once-In-A-Whilers.
The Avoiders have an excuse that keeps them away from every possible risk. The Postponers wait for the perfect time before they make a move – which, of course, never comes. And the Once-In-A-Whilers would rather “fit in” and “go along” than “ruffle any feathers.”
You may fall into one of those first three categories. Most people do. And that’s a shame … because those people miss the BIGGEST rewards in life.
The really big rewards go to the Dream Makers. They’re the ones who have discovered what I call “The Golden Formula” — and they’re the ones who have learned how to apply it to their lives.
When I discovered The Golden Formula, the levels of my personal and professional success rose even higher. In essence, The Golden Formula says:
Vision + Passion + Constructive Risk = Dream Making
In my own Journey to the Extraordinary, I realized I was doing pretty well with the elements of Vision and Passion. But the missing link was Constructive Risk. I needed to take the right kind of risks — in the right kind of way, at the right kind of time — to win and win big.
Now you know the formula that distinguishes Avoiders, Postponers, and Once-In-A-Whilers from the Dream Makers. But do you know which style you tend to be? Later in this course I’ll give you a test so you can figure it out.
And do you know the Constructive Risks you need to take to ensure your own Journey To The Extraordinary? I’ll also outline those steps for you.
Which brings us to the sixth key…
6th Key To The Extraordinary:
Balance
Boy, did I need to know this key!
With all my research, new-found knowledge, and practical action steps, I was soaring and scoring… according to the world’s standards. My Self-Esteem was in great shape; my Purpose was clear; my Goals were set and the proper languaging for affirmations was in place; my Attitude was positive, and my Risk-Taking was making my dreams come true.
I was making more money in a week than I used to make in a year. My phone was ringing off the hook with people begging me to speak at their next conference or on-site meeting.
They all wanted to know the secrets I’d learned and how they could use those secrets to transform their lives, their relationships, their careers, their finances, their business, etc.
Of course, I was eager to help them. So I accepted their invitations. And for a long time I was delivering 150 to 200 programs a year, all across the world… in businesses, health care settings, government organizations, educational institutions, and association conferences.
Then it hit me. I was making a living, but I didn’t have a life. In fact, if I kept on going at the pace I was going, I knew that I’d end up in great financial shape, but sick, dead, or divorced. I didn’t like those odds one bit.
I needed to get a healthier definition of success. I needed more than achievements, riches and fame. I needed more than “market share,” a strong “balance sheet,” and a recognizable “brand.”
So my research continued. I wanted to find that one final missing link that pulled it all together. And most of the books and most of the training I found were dismally inadequate. They taught people how to “manage stress,” which was simply a fancy way of showing people how to juggle a dozen balls or fight a dozen tigers at once. Their solutions sounded worse than the problem.
The True Definition Of Success…
Then I discovered the true definition of success. It was something much deeper and broader than “making money” or “getting ahead.” It was balance… with mastery.
It was a matter of paying attention to and being effective in ALL 8 dimensions of life — Physical, Recreational, Financial, Occupational, Mental, Social, Emotional, and Spiritual — not just two or three of them.
When I applied this balance-with-mastery concept, I found myself becoming the kind of person I wanted to be, having the life I wanted to have, and getting the results I’d like to achieve. All without stress and burnout.
Of course, I had to get specific. I had to go beyond the academic concept of balance. I had to find some nitty gritty, hit-the-road-running kinds of strategies that would turn the concept of balance into a reality.
I ultimately found 3 strategies for each of the 8 dimensions, 24 strategies in all. Better yet, I found that even though those strategies were easy to understand and implement, they still had the power to transform my life — as well as the lives of all the others I taught them to.
24 strategies that create balance-with-mastery. Does that sound intimidating to you? Does that sound like too much? That you could never do it? On top of all the other secrets and steps I’ve shared with you, I could see how you might feel that way.
But let me assure you there’s no need to worry about that. My entire professional life has been focused on finding strategies that work… and work quickly. I know how to do it. I know how to make it easy for you, no matter how difficult it sounds.
Later I’ll reveal how you can access and apply these 24 strategies. And quite honestly, I’m very excited about sharing these strategies with you. Why? Because everyone seems to be running, running, running these days.
Everyone seems to have too much work to do and not enough time to do it. Well it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have a great life at the same time you’re making a great living.
Of course, to truly live an extraordinary life, you need to harness the power of cooperation and teamwork. You’ll discover the tools to help you do that when you…
