It’s No Big Deal

You may feel this way about things that are easy for you—it’s no big deal; anyone could do it. Be careful of the wrong thinking. The things that you find are “not a big deal” are things you earned because of:

1. Hard Work: You spent the hours probing, exploring and figuring out how something works. This may be learning how to navigate your computer, mastering your camera, building gadgets, or dissecting financial statements. The repetition and frequency is something you have done over time to gain an efficiency and mastery.

2. Passion: Do you know what most people are doing this evening? They are in front of the TV. My guess is that you are doing something you are passionate about. Do you know what I am doing? I am learning. I love learning. I am passionate about it. I am not passionate about vegging for Read more

Born Not Made

I see the frustration every day. It comes from people believing a myth. The myth is, “If I just keep working harder at it, I can master it.”

It is the American ethos which sounds noble, but it is a lie. There are many things that we all can work very hard at and the best we can hope for is mediocrity. If there were a scale ranging from 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, you land somewhere on that scale in various areas of your life. You can only move up 2 points on that scale with hard work.

For example, if you are a 4 at jumping, then working hard will make you a 6. People will not show up to watch you high jump. You will become obscure. However, if you were a 7 at throwing, hard work will help you become a 9. Throwing a ball may lead to a major league career. People pay for a 9. Read more

999 Ways to Success

I have spent the last week working with my team on various systems we are implementing for our clients. The process is rigorous yet fulfilling. I enjoy it greatly because it embodies what our culture and message is about – passion.

We always believe there is an answer to problems. When we try daring things, we inherently will face a proportional amount of problems. We say, bring it on. Each solved problem separates us from our competition. It is what the same mentality Thomas Edison had when answering a person who wondered if he was frustrated about a thousand failed light bulb experiments. Read more

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

In our last ezine article we wrote about how to outlast your competition. Some of our readers found a discretionary point in the content. The idea of luck may or may not resound with you. Let me take this opportunity to talk about the idea of luck.

I share the same definition as Oprah on this one: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” Some people believe it is all preparation; others believe it is all about opportunity. I think it is the convergence of both.

It is likely that you missed a lot of opportunities in the last 30 days because you were not prepared to take advantage of them. It is also likely that you have prepared and may have had a “build it and they will come” mentality. The problem is, you may have built it for the wrong opportunity. Read more