Chapter 64
Success Leaves Clues
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Today's Empowering Quote
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"He who seeks advice seldom errs."
- Philippine proverb
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Today's Empowering Question
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"Who would know - where should I look for the answer?
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Today's Fast Session
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The old cliché "Success leaves clues" is possibly the most
ignored pathway to achievement I know of.
Why?
In addition to not wanting to look unknowledgeable, I
think, a big reason is because getting advice and answers
often either costs money, which people don't want to
invest, or time, which even fewer want to invest.
I say invest because whenever you "spend" time or money on
learning, you've given yourself the chance to grow and
become better now and in the future at whatever you
invested your time or money in. And if you are better at
something as a result of your "spending" then you've made a
wise "investment."
The average person jumps head first into most situations
without knowing a thing about what they're doing.
A great example of this is a story my uncle Dave told me
this past weekend.
You see, he and a friend took a fishing trip to Canada a
few weeks ago. Every guest in the lodge they were staying
in was there for the same reason... great fishing.
Most of the guys there were fairly experienced fisherman.
And that was their biggest problem.
They were just going to go up there and catch more fish
than they ever did before. Man, those fish were just going
to jump in the boat. We'll just drop our line in and pull
out the fish.
Right.
My uncle and his friend, also very experienced fishermen,
took a slightly different view.
They'd never fished that area before.
So, for $150 [$75 apiece], they hired a guide for the
first two entire days of their trip.
What they got was the experience of a 71-year-old man
who'd been fishing in that area his entire life. He was an
expert in that area. He showed them which lakes, where on
each lake to fish, why, which lures, you name it.
Their results?
Well, consider this...
In a virtual fishing paradise, one guest in the lodge that
week caught just 6 fish all week long.
My uncle, with the advice of the guide, caught 294
Walleyed Pike during the same week fishing the same
lakes... more than any of the other guests.
He told everyone about the guide.
So did anyone else hire a guide that week? Nope. He told
me that no one even asked him what he was doing to catch so
much. I guess they all just thought he was getting lucky.
Big egos.
This is a perfect parallel to how 97+% of all people treat
all aspects of their lives.
I see it every day. Everywhere. In all settings.
Obvious solutions to problems are just ignored.
If you want to reach an important goal in your life, if
you want to beat your competitors, if you want to have
great relationships...If you want to excel at everything you do.
...Then you absolutely MUST get direction from someone
who's been there before, wherever "there" might be.
Buy books and read them.
Ask experienced people for solutions and listen.
You might have already known 90% of the answer. So what
you have to listen for and hold dear is the 10% you didn't
know.
And use it.
I love going to amazon.com and reading the reviews people
post for books. So many people give bad reviews because in
their opinion, there was "nothing new." What they don't
say is that all the "old" stuff, what now is generally
accepted, they don't even use that.
There is nothing wrong with hearing the same old stuff.
Because unless you use what you've heard or read, you don't
really "know" it.
Most tasks look easy on the outside, and they are... IF
you know what you're doing.
I wouldn't even dream, for instance, of trying to put
something together or learning a new piece of software
without having the instructions at my side. But most
people ignore them. And their results show it.
Look, you may have an I.Q. in the stratosphere. But if
you aren't constantly looking to learn what you MUST know
to get your tasks done quickly and effectively in EVERY
part of your life, then you are creating a destiny of
almost doing a good job, of coming close to finding
happiness but not quite getting there, of being known by
everyone including yourself as undependable. And with that
comes a poor self-image.
My purpose in writing this is for you to become more and
more of a person who is passionate about learning what you
MUST learn in order to set and reach the little and big
benchmarks on the way to your dreams.
You just can't do it any other way. This isn't my
opinion. It's an immutable principle of life. To deny
this is to guarantee a high failure rate at many things you
attempt.
You don't want that. I know it.
So do this...
Make a list of your To-Do's for the next week. Look at
each item and ask yourself the question, "Am I really good
at doing this?" If the answer is no, then before you
start, write down all the things you need to know and do to
prepare before you start. If you need some information,
get it.
And get excited. Smile. Laugh. Because when you get
that info, when you learn the thing you didn't know before
and when you achieve your outcome easier and with more joy
than you ever did before, you have expanded your knowledge,
your capabilities and your value to yourself and others
from that moment on.
Whenever you learn something new, no matter how small, you
just taught yourself that you can achieve the largest of
goals... the most amazing of accomplishments... because
what are big accomplishments? Aren't they just many little
ones all piled up?
It's funny, huh?
Success at just about anything is amazingly simple when
you look behind the curtain. My uncle was a high school
drop out. He didn't even go for weeks at a time.
But when he changed his view about learning, he got his
GED, went to college at night, got his degree and
ultimately became the highest paid civilian employee in
Central New York in the NYS prison system.
In the process, he learned that learning is fun and that
in every single experience he has, there is something he
can take away from it to help him make smarter decisions in
the future... like hiring a fishing guide when no one else
would.
So, how many "fish" are YOU going to catch in the next week?
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Today's Winning Beliefs
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-- I love learning
-- Every experience I have gives me new lessons for living
-- I have my eyes open to the learning opportunities all
around me
-- I see the value in every lesson I learn
-- I learn something new from everyone I meet
-- I'm effective because I learn what I need to know to do
the best job I can
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