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I Do Read Every E-Mail Sent To Me ... Just In Case
You're Wondering
And lots of you wrote and asked me to repeat my tele-seminar on "Take This Job
And Love It! How To Keep Your Balance In A Stressed-Out World." I offered it in
December, but that was a bad time for a lot of you. And besides that, you
couldn't have gotten in anyway. It was sold out.
So BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND, I'm repeating that tele-seminar on February 25 at
2:00 EST (1:00 CST, 12:00 noon MST, and 11:00 a.m. PST).
As you well know, there's too much stress and too little balance in our personal
and professional lives. And just about everyone knows that too much stress costs
a lot. It shows up in the cost of health care benefits, in the cost of lowered
productivity, and in the cost of strained relationships on and off the job.
That's why I'm repeating the "Take This Job and Love It" tele-seminar on
February 25 at 2:00 p.m. EST. It will be packed with 24 simple strategies that
are guaranteed to reduce your stress, increase your energy, and help you live a
more effective life ... filled with work-life balance. In fact, the 60 minutes
you spend with me on this tele-seminar will pay off for years to come.
To sign up, Click Here
P. S.: Even though it's 2010, I'm offering this tele-seminar at my old, low 2000
price of only $39 ... or quite a bit less if a group of you signs up.
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February 9, 2010
Tip #504:
You make your own luck.
Have you ever noticed that highly successful people will
accomplish as much in two or three years as the average person accomplishes in
ten or twenty? I certainly have.
And have you ever noticed that when some people accomplish a great deal, the
so-called "average" people will talk about them? They'll often say those highly
successful people were just plain "lucky."
Well, those so-called "average" people have their terms all mixed up. They've
confused "luck" with "chance." And they're very different phenomena.
"Chance" is like a game of blackjack or roulette ... or buying a lottery ticket.
The outcome is totally unpredictable. Whatever happened in the last game or last
drawing has no connection whatsoever as to what will happen the next time
around. Your winnings or losings have nothing to do with luck. It's all a matter
of chance.
By contrast, "luck" is predictable. Luck is the result of doing certain things
so you are prepared to seize any good, exciting, and positive opportunity that
comes your way.
That's what one lady did. And I'll never forget her keynote address in 1980. The
auditorium was packed, and the walls were lined with people, applauding her as
she moved to the platform. People were excited to see the first black woman to
ever give a keynote address at this esteemed meeting.
Once on stage, she looked from left to right. She scanned the audience and then
said, "My mother is a deaf mute. I do not know who my father was or is. My first
job was picking cotton. And I stand before you this day as Treasurer of the
United States. My name is Azzie Taylor Morton."
Morton went on to say that nobody has to stay the way they are if they don't
want to. She said, "The next time you say you can't do it, take out a dollar
bill. You'll see my signature." And for years, that's exactly what I did. I
would often glance at a dollar bill, see her signature in the lower left-hand
corner, and tell myself she was one of the "lucky" ones ... because she had
prepared herself for the success she enjoyed.
If you want to get lucky, it's simply a matter of engaging in the same 7
behaviors that all "lucky" people do.
1. Get some clarity
In other words, figure out what you want. Some researchers even say that 80% of
luck is getting clear about your goals and desires. Or as I say in my seminar on
"Taking Charge: Motivating Yourself To Achieve More Than Ever," you can't hit a
target you can't see.
To read the outline,
Click Here
The great American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau said it more elegantly. He
said, "It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is, what are
we busy about?" And the same goes for you. Are you very, very clear about what
you want?
2. Ramp up your activity.
Lucky people are always engaged in high levels of activity. They do a lot or try
a lot of things. And that alone increases their probability of doing the right
thing, at the right time, in the right way.
The novelist Greg Evans took that approach. He noted, "I do not have superior
intelligence or faultless looks. I do not captivate a room or run a mile under
six minutes. I only succeeded because I was still working after everyone else
went to sleep."
Unfortunately for so many people ... for the unlucky ones ... they're stuck in
procrastination. Their activity level is close to zero. That's why humorist Will
Rogers said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just
sit there."
And there's no better time to ramp up your activity level than right now ...
when the economy is challenging. It will dramatically improve your luck.
Let me explain by contrasting two people entering the job market. The first
person gets a good job with wonderful opportunities to use his skills to the
very best of his ability. As a result, he accomplishes a lot, is promoted
rapidly, is paid more, and eventually moves into a senior position in his
company. He often comments on how "lucky" he was to find this job.
By contrast, the second person gets a job that he doesn't particularly like ...
a job that doesn't seem to go anywhere. But it pays the bills, so he sticks it
out. He often comments on his bad luck.
But were their outcomes merely a matter of chance ... or good luck versus bad
luck? Absolutely not! The first person, who built a wonderful career for
himself, spent countless hours studying his industry while the second person was
at home watching television. The first person read everything he could get his
hands on. He analyzed his own likes and dislikes, skills, and abilities. He set
clear goals for himself and for where he wanted to be five and ten years out.
The second person was too busy socializing with his friends in the evenings and
on the weekends to waste time on such activities.
The first person hit the ground running with a clear career path in mind. He was
focused on moving upward and onward as quickly as possible. The second person
did whatever he was asked to do, but he always looked for ways to do as little
as possible. The first person started a little earlier, worked a little harder,
and stayed a little later. The second person saw his job as a 9-to-5 experience
and never came in earlier or stayed later.
As author Brian Tracy concluded, "Ten years later, the success of the first
person compared with the relative failure of the second person had nothing
whatsoever to do with chance. In each case, each of the two made their own luck
and ultimately had to live with results of their own choices."
So ramp up your activity level, and then ...
3. Master something.
As we left the 20th century and entered the 21st century, the world of success
moved from manpower to mindpower. And so your level of knowledge and skill in
your chosen field will have a tremendous impact on your luck and success in that
field.
4. Proceed with energy.
The best-selling motivational author Og Mandino commented on that. He wrote, "To
do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of
the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I
can."
He's so right. Successful people invariably exhibit more energy than
unsuccessful people. They get up earlier in the morning, and they put more hours
into their work. They invest some of their own time and money into developing
their careers by reading educational books, listening to motivational CDs, and
attending growth-producing seminars. So it's no wonder they're so lucky.
5. Practice niceness.
As best-selling author Brian Tracy points out, "The word most commonly used to
describe successful people is the word nice." They're more positive, optimistic,
and cheerful than unsuccessful people; so other people naturally want to be
around them as well as help them in any way possible.
Of course, the cynics might say, "Well, yeah sure. It's easy for them to be
happy. They don't have the problems I have."
But take it from a person who had lots of problems but was "lucky" enough to
overcome all of them. The opera singer Beverly Sills used to say, "I'm not
happy. I'm cheerful. There's a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A
cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them."
Luck is partly the product of niceness ... not nastiness. The movie star W.C.
Fields put it this way: " A dead fish can float downstream but it takes a live
one to swim up."
6. Be honest.
In the final analysis, people want to do business with people they like and
trust. And when you become known as a person of honor, truth, and integrity, you
will attract luck into your life the way honey attracts bees.
Finally ...
7. Persist.
Lucky people tend to be purpose-driven and incredibly persistent. Unlucky people
tend to be excuse-driven and incredibly quick to quit.
When I teach salespeople, I urge them to be persistent. I quote Marilyn Van
Derbur. Marilyn was a former Miss America and years later a master salesperson
who made it to the Hall of Fame. She discovered that 50% of all salespeople will
go to a prospect, present their idea or product, but if they don't sell that
prospect, they'll go on to someone else. 30% of all salespeople will call on the
same prospect two, three, or four times. But only 20% of all salespeople will
call on the same prospect five or more times, and those 20% make 80% of all
sales.
When you stack yourself up against those figures, you might ask yourself where
you fit in. And don't say you're not in sales. EVERYBODY is in sales ... even
your kids and grandkids. They're trying to get "lucky," selling you on a later
bedtime or just one more TV show.
How many times do you go back and try to sell your idea to the same audience
before you give up? Abraham Lincoln tried to "sell" himself to the political
world 11 times. He only made 2 sales. But those 2 sales have reverberated around
the world ever since.
There you have it ... the 7 behaviors that ensure your luck. And the good news
... the really good news ... is each of these behaviors are fully learnable by
you. Each of these behaviors can be quickly incorporated into your life and can
literally double your effectiveness and your results in a short period of time.
Action:
Chances are ... you're pretty good at some of the 7 behaviors of
luck. Celebrate those. And spend one month beefing up your skills in one area
that needs improvement. Watch your luck soar!
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Make it a GREAT week!
Dr. Alan Zimmerman
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