It was September 11th 2002, one year on from the Twin Towers attack . I was in my London office and had to drive to a meeting across town on the other side of the River Thames. Saying the traffic was bad would be an understatement. It’s usually difficult getting around on the roads in the centre of London at the best of times, but this was something else.

To make things worse, my usual route, which takes me past St Paul’s Cathedral, was blocked off by the police. There was to be a big remembrance service there later in the day so I was diverted along an unfamiliar route.

Having finally reached my destination a little late and got my meeting over with, I then had to get back. I tried three different routes never managing to get within even one mile of Shoreditch and my office. The roads were grid locked and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was also low on petrol and  was concerned about my tank reaching empty while I was still in the jam.

In normal circumstances, I suppose I’d have reacted like most other drivers, cursing my predicament and every brainless idiot trying to jump the queue of traffic, slowly boiling away inside trying to set a new blood pressure record. But I didn’t, surprisingly I stayed reasonably calm and rational. I concluded that I was wasting my time trying to get to my office any time soon, so changed my plan. I headed off for an early lunch and the nearest petrol station.

So what was different this time?

Well on this occasion, I couldn’t help thinking about what was causing the situation, the many remembrance events around the city to mark what had happened 12 months before. Pondering those events really didn’t make my predicament seem that important in the scheme of things.

Why is it that sometimes a normally annoying situation can be calmly accepted, or more simply an apparent negative situation can be regarded as positive?

It all depends on your perspective on a particular situation! And of course, your perspective is determined by your attitude.

Attitude a little thing that makes a big difference!

Your attitude is just as important in determining the success of your business endeavours as it is the more trivial personal situations you find yourself in, such as the one I describe above.

The single most fundamental thing you can do to almost guarantee success in anything you choose to do or be is to have the right attitude. Good attitude is about being positive, confident and having self-belief.

There is no big secret or magic formula that will ensure your success. There is only you! You are the single most important factor in the equation.

The only way you will succeed in anything is through your own hard work and persistence. But to drive you on through any adversity day after day, you need the right mental attitude.

With the right attitude you simply can have or be anything you really want.

Be successful!

Technorati Tags: attitude, self-belief

I had a long drive ahead of me…

I set off at the crack of dawn to avoid the rush hour traffic and get to my destination as early as possible. There were very few cars on the local roads at that time in the morning and no pedestrians that I noticed. The road I was on seemed almost deserted, except for when I reached a straight section of tree-lined avenue not far from home.

There in the centre of the road ahead sat a little grey squirrel.

I suspect that the little chap was quite surprised to see my car. He jumped up in surprise and began rapidly looking this way and that. Then he began what could have been mistaken for a little dance. A few steps to the left, a few steps to the right, and repeat. He really couldn’t make his mind up which way to run to escape. Should he go left or should he go right?

In fact, he was moving back and forth so much, I had to swerve several times before I managed to hit him!

OK, cheap laugh! Well, it made me laugh anyway. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. Must be my warped sense of humour.

I promise you, I never ran him down I slowed down enough to let him safely escape. The last time I saw him he was fit and well, and running up a tree. Honest your honour!

The little critter knew he had to do something to survive, he just couldn’t decide which direction to go.

I heard a news report on the radio a few days later. Apparently far fewer hedgehogs are being killed on our roads. They’ve learnt that when a car is coming it’s foolhardy to roll into a ball. Instead, the instinct to just run for it as fast as they can is now being passed through the generations. Hedgehogs are learning through evolution that standing still is not good for their future.

Enough already, what has this got to do with me?

Well if you haven’t worked it out yet, it’s all about having some direction in your life. You’ve got to have something to aim for right? Without direction you’ll just be running in circles, or back and forth like our little squirrel friend. You simply must have some direction if you want to move your life forward, get it?

OK clever whatsit, how do I create direction?

The easiest way is by setting yourself some goals. I won’t go into detail here about the finer points of goal setting, that’s for another article. I just want you to make the decision to set yourself at least one. Make sure it’s achievable, write it down, read and visualise it regularly using all of your senses so it becomes real to you.

Believe me, setting goals works! All successful people have been setting goals for themselves for years. So if you want to emulate them and achieve success for yourself, in whatever sphere, you must set yourself some goals.

So how d’you square up?

Are you a squirrel who has no direction in life, or are you a hedgehog who gets his head down and goes for it?

Be successful!

Over in the corner of my kitchen, just to the left of the back door, sits a fish tank. It’s not a particularly big tank, probably no more than about two foot wide by a foot deep. This tank is home to my pet goldfish. There’s a picture of it that I’ve just taken over there on the left.

What’s his name?

Don’t be stupid! You don’t give goldfish names. I mean, they’re hardly likely to come when you call, or roll over and play dead on command are they?

But now you come to mention it, he does always seemed pleased to see me. Always up at the corner of the glass wiggling with excitement he is, whenever I come home.

OK, I know what you’re thinking, “get a grip you moron! It’s only because he wants feeding! Get to the point will you? We’re all busy people here you know!”

Sorry, it’s just that thinking about my goldfish made me remember something that I think you might find interesting.

Have you ever heard of the Fish Tank Theory?

Well let me tell you about it!

The Fish Tank Theory simply says that fish can only grow as big as their tank allows. If you put a fish that appears to have grown full-size into a bigger tank it will then grow some more to accommodate the new tank.

So how does this affect you?

Well, if you think about it, the Fish Tank Theory also works with people just like you and me. What do you do when you feel you’ve outgrown your current situation? You plan a change or move of some sort, don’t you?

Planning the next move in your business or personal life can be just like designing a new and bigger fish tank. To help achieve this you need a vision of your future the way you want it to be after the change. Without such a vision it’s very difficult to move forward.

So, when designing your new ‘fish tank’ you create a picture in your mind that you want to grow into. The more vivid you make this picture, the more likely you are to achieve it.

So why can’t you just design the biggest tank you can imagine, and avoid all the lesser moves in between?

The reason is that you simply have to be realistic! If you design a massive new all singing and dancing tank with all the bells and whistles, when you jump in you’ll surely drown. You see the size of your new tank is directly proportional to the risk of moving into it.

Big tank = big risk, and small tank = small risk. Get the picture?

Designing your new tank is all about planning your future. You probably won’t be able to move into your new fish tank right away. So you’ll have to plan the steps and timescales for reaching it. You may need short, medium and long-term goals to enable you to fully visualise. And of course they should be specific, the more specific the better!

So, if you’re currently feeling constrained and frustrated about the future, you may have outgrown your fish tank. You need to sit down and think about designing a new one.

Be successful!

Technorati Tags: fish tank theory, goal setting, planning your future

A small agricultural community was suffering from a severe drought. If the rains didn’t come soon the crops would be ruined and the farmers and their families would most likely starve. The people turned to their preacher for a solution.

The preacher told them all to “come to church on Sunday”, when they would all join together and pray for rain.

Sunday came and the whole community turned out for the church service. There was hushed quiet as the preacher climbed up to the pulpit to speak.

He looked around the expectant faces of the congregation and studied them pensively. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak: “I suggest that you all go home” he said “there will be no rain today.”

The congregation were aghast. “But you promised us rain” they cried.

The preacher turned to address them again and said: “I see that not one of you has brought an umbrella or a raincoat with you today. How can you hope to pray for rain, if in your hearts you have no faith that it will come?”

Think about that message for a moment. How can you hope to achieve anything, if in your heart you have no faith that you’ll actually achieve it?

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definitions for the word ‘faith’:

– trust, things believed, loyalty, fidelity, confidence.

Well these cover all the angles!

To succeed with anything you first need to trust in your own ability to succeed and be loyal to that trust. By that I mean don’t go changing your mind every five minutes. You know the drill ” Yes I know I can achieve that!” one minute and then “Well now I’m not so sure!” the next.

Stepping on from this you also need the confidence and self belief to see the thing through to its completion.

Let me paint another image of faith for you, again involving the rain.

You’ve probably heard stories of the legendary ‘rain dance’ carried out by the American Indians. Apparently they could dance to make it rain.

“But!” I hear you cry, “They just danced until it began to rain. There’s nothing mystical about that!”

No my friend you’re right. But they had the faith to continue dancing, knowing that if they danced long enough the rain would come.

Take a look in the mirror. Do you have enough faith to continue ‘dancing’ until you achieve the dreams you desire?

Do you have enough faith to ‘carry your umbrella’ even though your associates may have fallen by the wayside. Certain in the knowledge that good fortune will rain down upon you?

If you don’t have faith in yourself and your ability to succeed, then you’re sunk even before you launch your boat. Faith is a very powerful emotion that can conjure up all sorts of amazing phenomena. Remember, that faith requires trust, self-belief, loyalty to yourself and above all confidence in your own abilities. If you’re ‘packing’ all those weapons then you’re really a force to be reckoned with.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: confidence, faith, loyalty, self-belief, trust

One of my favourite soul singers called Beverly Knight recorded a great song a couple of years back. It was called “Would’a, Could’a, Should’a” and was played a lot on the radio at the time.

The last line of the chorus goes something like…

“Would’a, could’a, should’a are the last words of a fool!”

That’s a sentiment I agree with entirely! I promised myself a long time ago that when I get to the point of having one foot in the grave with the other following swiftly, I wouldn’t regret not having tried or achieved anything specific in my life.

Would I have succeeded at ……?

Could I have been good at ……?

Should I have tried my hand at ……?

Trust me, these are three questions I won’t be asking myself in my dying breath.

Why? Because if I ever get an inkling or a desire to try something new, I get up and go for it! The more radical it is the more motivated I become.

If I were to sit down and write down everything I’ve done this far in my life that Mr. Average most probably hasn’t, it would be a very long list. I’m telling you this not to try and impress you, but to make the point that you don’t know what you can achieve until you try.

Some of the things I’ve tried have provoked incredulous responses from others. Some people think I’m just plain crazy. But hey, I wouldn’t swap my life experiences with theirs in a million years. When I look back upon my life I know I’ll have lived every second of it. “Life ain’t no rehearsal” as they say.

I recently caught the end of an interview with Anthony Robbins on TV. The interviewer was asking Tony how he made decisions on what path to take in his own life. He referred to a test he uses, which he called “The Rocking Chair Test”. He apparently applies this test whenever he needs to make a “Yes” or “No” decision about a new opportunity that presents itself to him.

To apply the test, he imagines himself in his eighties sitting in a rocking-chair and looking back over his life. He then considers whether he’d regret saying “No” rather than “Yes” to a particular opportunity.

At the end of the interview Tony emphasised an important point – You don’t receive or achieve much in your life whenever you say “No!”

So stop saying “No” and start saying “Yes!”

Do you have a burning desire to try something new? If you do, then go right out and do it!

Won’t it be great? Trust me, it will be better than you can imagine!

If you follow this approach you’ll truly surprise yourself every day. You’ll learn so much more about yourself. Why? Because you’ll be provoking reactions, thoughts and feelings that you never would have had otherwise.

There are some amazing things waiting to be discovered only by you, but only if you go looking for them. Remember, “life ain’t no rehearsal!” So make the most of the precious time you have on this earth. You owe it to yourself!

Don’t be the fool whose last words are “would’a, could’a, should’a!”

Be successful!

Technorati Tags: achievement, adventure, fear, living life, procrastination, say yes

There are so many opportunities lying around. They arrive with my post, they arrive with my email and they accost me whenever I’m surfing online. If you’re the same, once you’ve discounted the scams how are you ever going to decide which opportunity may be worth a try?

My wife tells me: “If it sounds too good to be true in probably is!” Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don’t. Is it just me, or is selective hearing a skill that every married man develops over time? As much as I love her, Janet is no judge of a good business opportunity. So who is?

If you have this dilemma here’s a self-test. Use it to determine whether you really should label yourself as an entrepreneur, and whether you should give that bizopp a try.

Time:

A – how much time do you have available to devote to a business opportunity?

B – how much time will your opportunity honestly require?

If A minus B is greater than zero then move on. If A is less than zero and you’re not prepared to change the equation, you’re not cut out for this, so go back to sleep and carry on dreaming.

Money:

A – how much money are you prepared to invest in yourself?

B – how much investment will your opportunity require?

Hey, it’s the same equation! If A minus B is greater than zero then move on. However, if either A or B falls in the bracket of ‘not much at all’ then sound the ‘cheapskate’ alert.

Unless you’re extremely talented or endowed with the most amazing luck, you’re unlikely to build a successful business on the cheap no matter what the opportunity’s sales copy will have you believe. So go buy your lottery ticket and carry on dreaming.

Motivation and attitude:

What are you going to do about that opportunity once you’ve signed up? Are you the little terrier who sinks his teeth in and never let go, or simply a quitter?

Do you have the strength of character to do what the opportunity requires, and stick with it when the going gets tough? Or do you hop off to catch another ’success train’ as soon as that next great opportunity comes along hooting and blowing and strutting its stuff, trying its best to look wonderful and original?

If you’re not ready to take action and maintain that action with a positive mental attitude then forget it and carry on dreaming. Hey, Mr Entrepreneur, do you dream in colour?

Likes and dislikes:

Does the business opportunity represent something that you’re going to enjoy doing? I mean, does it really ‘float your boat’?

That’s the optimum solution for success – find something you love doing and do it for the rest of your life. Shangri-La!

However wonderful the business opportunity and however large the sum they say you’ll make, if you don’t enjoy the work then eventually you’ll stop doing it. My sincerest apologies for mentioning the ‘W’ word. “You mean I’ll actually have to do some work?” snorts Mr Entrepreneur in his restless sleep.

Dreams and desires:

OK, so I’ve been poking fun at dreamers. As the saying goes: “Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while a few stay awake and achieve them.” But the truth is, you must have a dream to begin with; a spark to light your fire. I’m talking about vertical dreams here, not horizontal ones brought about by the use of a mattress and a pillow.

Can you really see yourself succeeding in your chosen business opportunity? Truly, madly, deeply? Can you visualise your own success with your chosen business, and will you, often?

If you got this far then you passed the test. Best of luck with your new business and I’ll see you at the top. But before you go there’s one last thing you need to know; the two ‘real secrets of success’. And here they are:

Secret #1- Never tell anyone all your secrets!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: biz opp, business opportunity, entrepreneur, opportunities