Have you ever stopped to think…

What makes the difference between ordinary and extraordinary…

Between average and exceptional…

Between mediocre and superb?

Is it family background? Are achievers born into wealth? Are there better opportunities for certain people?

Opportunity is a strange thing. Two people with similar gifts, talents and resources can look at the same situation. One person will see tremendous opportunity, while the other is negative and skeptical.

One man’s junk is another man’s jewel.

Yes… opportunity is like beauty. It’s in the eye of the beholder.

Is achievement gained because of hardship or because of lack of hardship?

Is it high morals?

How about a higher education?

Perhaps here lies the great secret. The bottom line that separates those who achieve from those who don’t is different perceptions and responses to what many people consider failure. Nothing else has such a dramatic impact on a person’s ability to achieve whatever they set out to accomplish.

There are literally thousands of ways to become a winner, but the sure way to stay average is to fail and not investigate what you gained from the apparent failure. Through trial and error, I eventually taught myself how to view failure differently. I taught myself that everything happens for a reason.

And you can teach your self to do the same.

When a situation or a circumstance happens and it doesn’t appear favorable at that moment, you have to learn to detach and pull back, instead of overreacting to it.

There are many situations you cannot change, but you can definitely change how you view them…

…especially related to what most people perceive to be failure.

 

What Does Failure Really Mean?

When people say they’ve failed, I ask them, “Have you really failed?” Then I ask them these questions: “What did you gain from this experience, who did you meet, how did it develop character, what happened because of the situation?”

I thoroughly believe that for every door that closes, a new window opens.

Let’s look at free enterprise, direct sales and entrepreneurship. These all have the potential to completely set you free, provided you learn the thoughts, actions and simple disciplines required for you to become successful.

I have seen many average people who have never had success in any other endeavors have fantastic success in direct sales, free enterprise or in any kind of small business. I have also seen many people who have success in a corporate environment fail miserably as an entrepreneur.

To a large extent, the reason the failure rate is so high in free enterprise is that we, as a society, are not prepared and not mentally conditioned to deal with the inevitable emotional roller coaster of entrepreneurship.

We are taught through education, training, college and on-the-job training to become good employees. We end up learning job skills…

…not the free thinking skills that lead to success as an entrepreneur.

Most of all, we are not taught how to look at our mistakes and failures properly. Once again, I believe there is no such thing as failure. Every blade of grass we walk upon brings us to this moment which is called the now, the present, or officially “Now o’clock.”

I have personally attended hundreds of seminars, rallies and conventions in my career and have heard many stories and testimonies of people who have succeeded. It often looks easy from the audience’s perspective to make a $10,000 per month check or have a $100,000 year.

In my early career, I would see these people and say to myself, “If they can do it, so can I. They are no different from me.” That was true, except the difference between them and me was a few key points that I had to learn in the journey.

I required skills such as developing a belief, understanding how to market myself, how to be consistent and how to be self-motivated over time to create compounding. Internal compounding creates the difference between being average and being exceptional.

Internal compounding really begins with you becoming comfortable with yourself—becoming the person you deserve to be, really having a belief in yourself, a sense of certainty that no matter what obstacles, what roadblocks, what challenges, or what hurdles arrive in your way, you will begin to turn roadblocks into building blocks.

 

The Heart of Success

With simple disciplines learned, acquired and then diligently and consistently applied over a period of time, you will start to release yourself from the attachment to what most people consider failure.

This is personal growth coupled with a plan of action.

You’ll take diligent, consistent action to produce results not only in yourself, but with others, too. Having the heart of a champion means developing heart, rather than just relying on your talent.

Do not compare yourself to others. You never know the price someone else has paid to get to their promised land, and they did pay it at one time or another. Even the statement “paying the price” is not accurate. A good friend and motivational speaker once said to me, “Jeff, it’s not a price, it’s a privilege.”

Indeed, my friends!

This is a whole different perspective. Are you really paying a price or is it a privilege to be going through the process that you are going through? It is imperative that you start to view your past failures differently and change how you view challenges and obstacles that face you today and in the future.

One of the most common challenges I see in free enterprise and entrepreneurship is that people quit too soon. Not only do they quit too soon or too easily… they never even start. They then go back to what wasn’t working for them, usually a job, and give up on their dreams.

If you don’t have dreams, you end up working for people who do. In a job, typically, you’re creating someone else’s dream. That’s not to say that jobs are bad, but will you ever get to your promised land by producing results for someone else in their dream?

Interesting question, isn’t it?

Success isn’t always easy, is it? And success is definitely not a sprint. It’s a marathon.

In free enterprise, most people quit in their first 90 days, first six months or first year. They don’t stay in the game long enough to learn the survival skills required to win the game of life.

They dabble, they give it a shot, they try, they wish, they hope, they’d like to, they think about it, they take a little action, they get their feelings hurt, they test the water. Most of all, they treat it like a hobby, then when it costs them enough money, they quit and say, “It didn’t work for me,” or “I got burned.”

Free enterprise is about going through mind shifts, evolutions of new consciousness, getting out of the box, off the sidelines, in the game, playing offense rather than defense, learning life skills so that you can get paid what you are worth. It is the opportunity to win the game of life on your terms, in your time frame.

Quitters never win and winners never quit.

Winners learn how to fail more intelligently. Isn’t it time you learned how to treat failure differently? Isn’t it time you changed how you’ve been changing?

I want you to stop and think…

AND not only to think about change, but to stop and feel—how, why and when.

Stop long enough to design and upgrade your life experience. Allow yourself to view past events in your life not as a victim, but from a position where everything you go through is a learning experience.

Take these ideas, concepts, realities, and solutions that will enhance your ability to experience future life challenges, not from the typical cause and effect standpoint, but from an increased ability to create a really great life.

 

Time For Change

Here’s what I want you to consider…

…Are you willing to change the way you’ve been changing?

Can you choose fast personal growth for fast personal results? I am talking about accelerating through change. Growth plus action equals results. It comes from hunger, desire and an insatiable quest to have what is yours by divine right. The question you must ask yourself at some point in your journey is “Why not me, why not now?”

This is the heart of a champion.

This is what I’m talking about, having heart. Having heart allows you to flow through any obstacle. Having heart allows you in the moment to realize that you are the leader people are looking for. Having heart allows you to know you will reach your destination in the journey no matter what is required. This is what separates average from excellent.

You have to be open and hungry enough to put yourself in a position for that to happen. Successful people are successful because they have been on a quest to create change. This is a paradigm shift.

Frequently this begins with a mentor, a coach, a trainer or a system of principles that have been methodically applied. Then this new information is integrated into daily life and used to produce large results in certain targeted areas. This is what a paradigm shift is.

So… are you ready for a shift? Isn’t it time you step to the plate and change how you’ve been changing?

Like success, failure, too, is a process.

It is not an event.

It is how you deal with life along the way. No one is really ever a failure until they admit it. The jury is always out until you throw in the towel. Failure is only determined by you… not by what others think.

Learn to turn pain into gain.

Take a look at your weaknesses and begin to develop strength in those areas

Understand that you’re not perfect.

Understand that there is no such thing as failure. As you change your perception, you’ll understand that failure is really a challenging experience, and it’s a privilege to be able to take on challenges.