'Success, It's Not Rocket Science'  "The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."   -   George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)    I recently had the opportunity of talking with a large group of motivated people – It was a pleasure to spend time with them and give them my views on the interesting topic of 'Success, It's Not Rocket Science'.   I spent an hour talking about what I believed to be the 'essence of success', how to achieve it and what makes the difference between mediocre performance and 'stellar' performance.    A number of people came up to me afterwards and said that they would like me to put all of what I said on paper.  It was good to get that feedback because it meant two things:    1.  People were listening and took the comments in the spirit that they were given;   and    2.  They were interested enough in the comments to want to apply them in their lives – this latter aspect is the more promising and rewarding to  me than any other part of the 'attitude' equation. E.g. having a good attitude is great to talk about  but in the final analysis it is better to apply the principles than simply talk about them.  I am sure you have heard of the saying, 'after all is said and done, more is said than done', isn't this the truth.   I told of a survey that had been conducted by a very large direct marketing company in U.S.  They found that even though all their people had the same PRODUCT, the same TRAINING and the same INCOME PLAN only 20% of them could be said to be successful in their sales and marketing efforts.  The company then conducted interviews to try and establish why this was the case.  In a 'nutshell' they found that it all boiled down to having a GREAT ATTITUDE.  They found that the top 20% were positive, they enjoyed life, they were friendly, they were eager to help, they were considerate of others, they smiled a lot, they were very talkative and finally they were exuberant. Precisely the sort of people that we all enjoy being around - precisely the sort of people that our top distributors generally are.    It's all in our head!  Whatever we are is decided well before we become it!    I worked through the aspects of success with the audience and we produced a    'Recipe for a Successful' ATTITUDE...    1.    Avoid negative people – be empathetic of others but be cautious of 'dumpers'  2.    Look for the good in others - avoid criticising people unless it is with humility and out of constructive necessity  3.    Compliment unconditionally and genuinely - the seeds of your success rest in large part, in others  4.    Look forward to each new day - anticipate Mondays with special eagerness  5.    Don't take yourself too seriously - learn humility and practice it  6.    Learn to love yourself – not in vanity but in appreciation of your worth and value  7.    Looks for ways to serve others freely and voluntarily - only in the service of others will you find your true worth and value  8.    Set achievable goals and take pleasure in exceeding them - enjoy your successes  9.    Associate with positive people and feed off their spirit - they, like you will want to see you succeed  10.  Look to yourself for solutions and results - don't blame external factors for failure     In making my assertions that a fantastic ATTITUDE is the 'essence of success', I, in no way imply that the other fundamentals of business success do not apply.  They do, a great attitude is a fundamental part of the 'success formula' but we also need to KNOW OUR PRODUCT, GIVE GREAT SERVICE, WORK HARD, ATTEND TRAINING MEETINGS, MOTIVATE OUR SUCCESSLINES, PRACTICE HONESTY, PROTECT OUR CASHFLOWS, etc. etc.  But without a 'great attitude' we will always only be at best 'above average' in this industry - if we want to be the best, then we need to heed the principles set out above.    At no other time in the history of mankind is there more potential for success than now.  There are new opportunities everywhere, new challenges, new technologies, new ideas, new needs to satisfy and new marketing opportunities to explore.    The question for each of us is not whether we are going to be successful, it is 'how successful are we going to be!'.   You can achieve all you want in life - you can decide what you want to do - it is up to you and no one else.   Take on a new resolve to be more daring, more adventurous, more determined to be the success that you know you can be.                                                        Fortune Favours the Brave. Back to Inspiration Corner