You have to Start with a Penny

To accomplish anything worth accomplishing, to achieve your dreams and or goals, to create success, you don’t have to do impossible, extraordinary, superhuman things. But you have to do something. You have to start with a penny.

Success doesn’t come from nowhere, it can’t be fabricated or pretended out of thin air. It comes from a very small, tiny beginning-but there has to be a beginning. That beginning is the thing people miss, the thing they don’t see. And they don’t see it because it’s so tiny, it’s almost invisible.

A dead-broke, struggling young English teacher named Stephen had started writing a story about a troubled high-school girl. Within a handful of pages, he realized the story was not working out and tossed the pages in the trash. He asked himself, why add yet one more to his large and growing stack of rejection notices?

The next day, as Stephen’s wife was doing some straightening up, she bent down to empty his trash basket and happened to notice the warped little bunch of papers. She straightened them out and read them and took them to Stephen. She thought he maybe had something worth finishing.

She was right. He did finish it, and the paperback rights sold nearly a half a million dollars. What’s more, his story of the troubled school girl named Carrie launched Stephen King’s career: he became the most successful writer in the twentieth century.

What Tabitha King recognized in the trash may have been a tarnished penny, but still, it was a penny.

One cold day in December 1955, an unknown forty-two year old seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama decided she’d had enough. She was tired after a long day’s work. Most of all, she was tired of being treated the way she was and tired of every other person of her color being treated that way, too. So when she was told to give up her bus seat to white passenger, she refused – even when the bus driver threatened her with arrest.

It was no idle warning; she was arrested, then convicted and fined for violating a city ordinance. Her case was a catalyst for the formation of a new civil rights organization. On the same day of the woman’s hearing, the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association elected a young and relatively unknown minister named Martin Luther King Jr., to be its spokesperson, launching a movement that over the next decade abolished legal segregation and radically transformed the face of the nation.

Rosa Parks was a penny.

A Penny for your Thoughts…

What if you were able to improve yourself, today, just three-tenths of one percent? That’s a 0.003 improvement – a very small effort indeed. So slight, in fact, you might have a hard time even knowing how to measure it.

Now, what if you did that again tomorrow, and the next day, and kept it up everyday for the next year? Remember, you’re just adding on another three-tenths of one percent each day. And here’s what will happen. The first day you’ll improve by 0.003, so little it will probably be impossible to notice. The second day, your improvement will be 0.006; the next day, 0.003, almost a full one percent. And by the end of the year, you will have improved by one hundred percent.

Doubled.

You will be twice what you are today – twice as fit, twice as wealthy, twice as skilled, twice as happy… twice as whatever it is you’ve been working on, in what ever areas you apply your daily three-tenths-percent effort. Twice the you, in just one year!

If you give yourself a year to do it, you can become twice the person you are today. Imagine having twice the net worth, twice the personal relationships, twice the health. Making twice the positive impact on the world. Having twice as much fun and enjoying twice the quality of life.

How could you possibly accomplish this? By trying twice as hard? Working twice as many hours? Have twice as positive an attitude? No – by improving three-tenths of one percent at a time.

Every day, in every moment, you get to exercise choices that will determine whether or not you will become a great person, living a great life. Greatness is not something predetermined, pre-destined or carved into your fate by forces beyond your control. Greatness is always in the moment of the decision.

But you have to start with a penny. And that’s the great and tragic irony of it, the sad and terrible tale of the ninety-five percent: that little penny seems so insignificant, so small, so silly… why even bother to bend over and pick it up? After all…

Can you imagine walking into your bank to deposit a single penny into a savings account? Can you imagine looking in your savings account, deposit box or piggy bank, and finding a balance of $0.01? it might as well be a balance of zero, right? How much different is there, right? I mean, we’re talking about one penny! What could you buy with a penny?

You just might be able to buy financial freedom for the rest of your life.

What do you think?

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Developing our Belief System.

Take Immediate Action

Your actions reflect your beliefs, and it is what you do that demonstrates what you believe. By taking even the smallest steps, you are communicating to yourself and to the world that you believe in yourself and your dream. By taking consistent action, you will generate the feeling until eventually you are confident, down to the bottom of your soul. Every action you take raises your self-esteem and confidence. You’re no longer sitting around waiting and hoping for something magical to happen. You’re the creator of that “magic”. With your growing self-esteem, you realize your dream is possible. If you want to be succeed, show to the world that you believe in yourself. Act confident, act with conviction. -Write down one action you can take immediately that will put your dream into motion. Do it now Acknowledge Your Untapped Potential. It is commonly agreed that the average person uses only a fraction of his/her potential mental capacity.

• Make a realistic assessment of your current abilities. Now imagine that your abilities have increase by 10%. What would you be doing if you immediately possessed 10% more abilities, skills, and talents.

“Everything is possible for him who believes.” Mark 9:23

Watch Your Internal Language.
Whatever you think about constantly, you will achieve. If you’re continually focusing on how difficult your goal is, you will never achieve it. You can overcome negative thoughts by focusing on the possibilities. Example. Think of challenging goal and then say to yourself, How on earth did I think I could ever accomplish my goal? It’s too big, too difficult. It’s impossible! What was I thinking? When those thoughts come to mind, immediately replace them with the following type of mental conversation: I know my goal is achievable because others have accomplished it before me. I am absolutely committed to make it happen and I am willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve my true heart’s desire.

• List some of the negative self-talk in which you routinely engage. Think how you could modify that dialog to have a positive effect on your thinking and on the results. Example. Instead of asking yourself, why me? Or why I can’t? Ask yourself, what can I do to make things better, to turn my life around, to improve the situation, to achieve what I long for? These questions instantly change your focus and empower you.

Neutralize Fear and Risk.
Fear is a natural reaction to change. It’s probably the number one reason people hesitate to start anything new and opt instead for the way things are – safe, comfortable, and familiar. Fear is a natural and physiological response designed to alert us to the fact that we need to prepare to cope or we need to escape. However, the difference between successful and unsuccessful people is their response to fear. Successful people acknowledge fear and manage it by confronting the cause and determining how they can prepare for the challenge ahead. They decide on certain actions that will enable them to feel as competent and confident as possible. To overcome fear, we must plunge/force ourselves into the very thing we fear most. Only then, by taking risks, can we build our confidence. Don’t let fear create the same regrets for you. Acknowledge fear. Prepare for it. Then act.

• Identify one fear that is stopping you from achieving your goals. Neutralize it by deciding what you can do to prepare yourself for the challenge. Then make the commitment to do so. If the outcome isn’t what you planned, congratulate yourself for your courage and consider what you’ve learned from the experience. Modify your plan and take action again.
  

Visualize Success.
To visualize all that could be is not just to think about it but to actively see it. This process of imagination, when directed, is known as visualization. Visualizing what you want before it happens is one of the most powerful strategies of achievers, thousands of whom use visualization to rekindle their passion, clarify their goals, and strengthen their faith. When you have developed a goal, visualize it with as much detail and imagery as you can, exactly as you want and expect it to happen.

• Identify a specific goal that support your purpose and passion. Imagine yourself achieving that goal in every detail. Think about where you are at that moment, what you are wearing, who is with you, what the temperature is, and what kind of feelings you’re experiencing. Create the most compelling and exciting vision you can imagine. Then write down what you have visualized. Read your description every single day. As you do, your belief and confidence will grow.

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start seeing yourself as a success.”
Dr. Joyse Brothers

Practice Affirmations.
Napoleon Hill, author of the best-selling Think and Grow Rich, suggests that repeating positive affirmations/confirmations to your subconscious mind is an excellent method for developing faith. After continually repeating an affirmation to oneself, eventually you come to believe it.

• Make a list or write a statement of exactly what you want to accomplish. Go to a quiet spot where you can close your eyes and repeat aloud your written statement. As you repeat your statement, envision yourself having accomplished your goal. Repeat your statement morning and night and you will find yourself getting closer and closer to your goal. Place a written copy of your goal where you can see it morning and night.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

Find Others to Believe with You.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to eliminate all the negative people from your life. Your mother or father, a business associate, a best friend, church brothers/sisters, or even your spouse might be a negative influence. And since many of these people have known you for years, they probably think of you in terms of your past experiences and not in terms of who you are today or a person you can become.

Sometimes it’s easier to find support from a complete stranger. A stranger doesn’t carry preconceived/predefined ideas about what you can or cannot do. The message at this point is that everyone needs someone to believe in him or her, and those who are closest to you may not be the best people to fill that role. The key is to find someone who does.

• Take an inventory of the people in your life. Identify one or two individuals who are supportive and can provide encouragement. In the initial stages of implementing your dream, share it only with supportive people. As your dream takes shape and you become stronger in your belief, you’ll be able to handle the multitude of naysayer who will inevitably/unavoidably cross your path.
  

“Negativity works like poison in the bloodstream: if you give into its power, it will weaken your confidence and kill your dream.”

Your goals are simply too important to let that happen!

Draw Strength from a Higher Power.
So many of the unstoppable individuals we read about drew strength from God. By relying on Him, they were able to overcome profound/thoughtful obstacle and self-doubt. I have drawn strength from adopting two beliefs. The 1st is that God loves me. The 2nd is that everything happens for a reason and ultimately that reason will serve me.

• “God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Acknowledge that God is with you and nothing can defeat you. Believe that you receive power from your Creator. By stating an affirmation such as this several times each day and visualizing God’s presence, your faith will deepen.
  

Dealing with Critic and Rejection.

“I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.” Henry Ford

They say that “everybody’s a critic,” and that never seems more true than when you’re pursuing a dream and trying to enlist support. There will always be well-meaning people who want to “protect” you from your “unrealistic fantasies.”


The only opinion about your dream that really counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations – not yours. There is nothing unrealistic about a dream that aligns with your purpose, ignites your passion, and inspires you to plan and persevere until you attain it. On the contrary, it is unrealistic to expect a person with such drive and commitment not to succeed.

• The most effective way to counter negativity is to learn all you can about what you want to accomplish. Identify the primary challenges you will face while pursuing your goal. Formulate strategies for overcoming each one. Armed with knowledge and a plan, you will be in a much stronger position and more confident when your critics offer unwanted advice.

Critics Corner ·

• “How long will you go on training all day in a gymnasium and living in a dream world?” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s family’s pleas for him to get a “respectable” job, not understanding his desire to become Mr. Universe ·
  
• “Liquidate the business right now and recoup whatever cash you can. If you don’t, you’ll end up penniless.” The attorney of cosmetic tycoon Mary Kay Ash, weeks before she opened her first store. ·
  
• “It’s a cutthroat/competitive business and you’ve got no chance of success.” Accountant for Estee Lauder, founder of a multibillion dollar cosmetic empire. ·
  
• “You have a nice voice, but it’s nothing special.” What a teacher said when rejecting Diana Ross after she auditioned for a part in a high school musical. ·
  
• “You will never make the cover of Vogue because you don’t have blond hair or blue eyes.” A remark to Cher by photographer Richard Avedon. When Cher did appear on the cover, Vogue sold more copies than it had ever sold before.

Dealing with Experts.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki, Scholar

Another type of critic, a little different from naysayer – and certainly more threatening – is the “expert”. Webster’s defines an expert as one who is “knowledgeable through training and experience.” An expert can certainly be more intimidating than your Uncle Joe who knows nothing about your field but everything about what you should do in it.

Experts can offer insight and be a great resource. However, consider the following:

• Expert knowledge is based on past experience; it may not apply to an innovative idea for the future.
  
• Expert are seldom known for their creativity and imagination. Pioneers and innovators use their intuitions; experts use data. That data may apply to past models and have no relevance whatsoever to present or future models. Peter Drucker, one of the most respected voices in the business world wrote, “market research does not work. One cannot do market research on something that does not exist.” The dreamer’s domain/field is that of the unproven and the possible, and that domain is alien territory for the expert.
• Experts have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. Gene Landrum offers this insight in his book, Profiles of Genius. “A major problem with expert opinion is the tendency of the expert to have a strong desire to preserve and validate the present way of things.

Actual expert opinions offered to visionary entrepreneurs.

• “No one will stand in front of a TV screen and play a game with no physical action, like pinball.” Executive’s comment after viewing an early demonstration of Pong, the first video game by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.
• “No one will buy a tape player that doesn’t record.” Opinion of market researchers at Sony when chairman Akio Morita first proposed the Walkman.
  
• “It’s a huge risk, and it will never fly.” Aeronautical engineer’s evaluation of Bill Lear’s design for a jet.
  
• “Personal computers are a hobbyist fad.” Prediction of IBM, Intel, HP, Atari, and countless other electronics companies.
  
• “People will rent videotapes, but they’ll never buy them.” Opinion of media experts who were later proven wrong by Jane Fonda’s exercise tapes.
• “A global, twenty-four-hour news network will never work.” Network executives response to Ted Turner’s plans for CNN.
• “There’s no market for it. If there were, major airlines would already be offering it. You won’t be able to find reliable couriers.” Conclusion of advisors to Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express.
  

The next time an “expert” attacks your dream, take comfort in realizing that people who achieved some of the greatest accomplishments of humankind were also told their goals were not possible. Trust your intuition and your inner heart’s desire, and continue forward. Your confidence will grow every time you take risk and overcome the fear of the unknown.

Being determined has little to do with evaluations of experts, past experience, industry pedigrees, or IQs. Intellect and reason do not propel your dream forward; intuition, imagination, and faith do. The boldness of faith is so powerful that it will leave critics and experts astounded/amazed at your results.

“Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.”

How about you? How do you rate yourself?

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Cure Yourself of Excuses Disease -The Failure Disease

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."

“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.”

Excuses appears in a wide variety of forms, but the worst types of this disease are: health excuses, intelligence excuses, age excuses and luck excuses.

Vaccinate ourselves against excuses:

1. “But My Health Isn’t Good”

Health excuses ranges all the way from the chronic “I don’t feel good” to the more specific “I’ve got such-and-such wrong with me”, bad health in a thousand different forms, is used as an excuse for failing to do what a person wants to do.

Four things you can do to defeat health excuses:

• Refuse to talk about your health. The more you talk about an ailment, even the common cold, and the worst it seems to get. Talking about bad health is like putting fertilizer on weeds. Success-minded people defeat the natural tendency to talk about their bad health.

• Refuse to worry about your health.

• Be genuinely grateful that your health is as good as it is. There’s an old saying, “I felt sorry for myself because I had a ragged shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

• Remind yourself often “It’s better to wear out than rust out” Life is yours to enjoy. Don’t waste it

2. “But You’ve Got to Have Brains to Succeed”

Intelligence excuses or “I lack brains” is common (95% of people). Not many people will admit openly that they think they lack adequate intelligence, rather, they feel it deep down inside.

Most of us make two basic errors with respect to intelligence.

• We under estimate our own brain power.

• We over estimate the other fellow’s brain power.

What really matters is not how much intelligence you have but how you use what you do have. The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have. Interest, enthusiasm is the critical factor.

Three Ways to Cure Intelligence Excuses.

• Never underestimate your own intelligence and never overestimate the intelligence of others. Remember, it’s not how many brains you’ve got that matters, it’s how you use your brains that counts.
• Remind yourself several times daily “My attitudes are more important than my intelligence.”

• Remember that the ability to think is of much greater value than the ability to memorize facts.

3. “It’s No Use. I’m Too Old (or Too Young)”

Cure for age Excuses is:

• Look at your present age positively.

• Compute how much productive time you have left.

• Invest future time in doing what you really want to do.

It’s too late only when you let your mind go negative and think it’s too late. Stop thinking “I should have started years ago.” That’s failure thinking, Instead think “I’m going to start now, my best years are still ahead of me” that’s the way successful people think.

4. “But My Case Is Different, I Attract Bad Luck.”

Two Ways to conquer this Excuses:

• Accept the law of cause and effect,

• Don’t be a wishful thinker, Instead, just concentrate on developing those qualities in yourself that will make you a winner.

How about you? What are your excuses not to succeed in your endeavors in life?

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Lead yourself and Empower Others

“Every time you teach someone else how to do something new and they follow your lead, you free yourself from that activity and increase your productivity”

“When you start devoting more of your prime time to your priorities, you’ll discover that you won’t have time to do most of the time-filler things you used to do. A lot of them were simply avoidance items – some of which others may do or, perhaps, don’t need to be done at all.”

“The greatest desire in the world to be a positive producer is of no value if a person’s work is simply wheel spinning business rather than forward-moving productivity.”

Leading Yourself and Empowering Others – How Do You Rate? Do you…

• Start the day or evening by thinking through, and writing down what you need to do to further yourself toward achieving your dreams and goals? Think through a task before staring it.
• Complete tasks to the best of your ability rather than leaving them partially done?
• Do the most important tasks first even if they are more challenging?
• Inspire and encourage people to pursue their dreams, accomplish their goals, and achieve their own success?
• Empower people to keep stretching beyond what they’ve done before?
• Say no if someone asks you to do something that would interfere with your priorities?
• Do you use a machine or computer when it’s more effective than doing things manually?
• Leverage well by inspiring and empowering others to do things themselves rather than trying to do everything yourself?
• Regularly venture out and do new things toward achieving your dreams and goals?
• Have an open mind doing things differently rather than being held back by your old ways of thinking?
• Redirect yourself if you go off on a tangent and get off track, for example, by starting projects you have little interest in or know you probably will not finish?
• Teach others, first of all, how to accomplish easy short term goals to help them build their confidence?
• Operate by preventive planning instead of waiting until a crisis occurs?
• Put people first by handling associates’ and clients’ concerns as soon as reasonably possible?
• Refuse to socialize either in person or on the phone with friends or family during a time when you need to be productive?
• Do you avoid being distracted during times of potential positive productivity by such things as newspapers, magazines, TV, friends, hobby activities, sports, playing on the computer, low priority voice mail or email, mail, and other non-productive activity?
• Group errands efficiently together rather than making several individual trip?
• Ask for help from your leader or mentor about ways to become more of a positive producer?
• Always focus on the best use of every minute of every day and help others to do the same?

"Control over attitude is one of the Secret of Winner.”

Leverage Your Time and Empower Others to Do What You’ve Been Doing


Four Questions about what you’re doing in your career or business:

• Is what I’m doing part of the system of success I’ve been taught for the business or industry that I’m in? (Am I empowering or distracting with my example?)
• Is it duplicatable? (Can my associates easily do what I’m doing?)
• What do I need to do next to teach my associates how to move on more effectively to achieve their dreams and goals?
• Is there someone more knowledgeable and experienced than I am who could help me better leverage myself?

“To be an effective positive producer, you need to invest your time and energy wisely by consciously leading yourself and empowering others to do the same. Continually ask yourself, ‘How much return on my investment of this hour am I getting right now? Am I doing the highest priority task in the best way possible? Am I doing whatever it takes?’”

“If you’re excited about building a business, don’t let anyone – especially yourself – slow you down. The reason you became an independent business owner, to begin with, was because you have a dream or goal and you like the challenge and excitement of the work. Right? Stay psyched-up. It’ll keep the stress away and keep you energized through the challenges.”

“Few people during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.” By Richard E. Bryd

Challenge Are Opportunities for Growth – Welcome Them with Open Arms. It is in the overcoming and teaching others to overcome that we grow and become the best we can be. The bigger the challenge, the bigger opportunity for growth.
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Brilliance isn’t a Qualification.

Too often we fall into the trap of labeling people. We look at someone’s degrees and label them brilliant. We applaud people based on their diplomas, degrees and certificates. You can have more degrees than a thermometer, but be as cold as ice when it comes to important things like relationships, love, commitment, understanding…

“People don’t care how much we know, they care how much we care about them. They are about what is really important, like helping them achieve their goals.”

Brilliance isn’t found in a diploma or an award, it’s found in your heart. The word brilliance means ‘great brightness; radiance/sparkle.’ The word brilliant in French means ‘to shine’ Why don’t you decide today to go out and shine some light in someone’s life.

Brilliance is not about diplomas on walls. It is about get-up-and-go, intuition, instinct, perception, initiative, enthusiasm, a ‘can do’ attitude, and an ability to see things that can be done, without complaining about what can’t be done. Don’t be concerned about the brilliance you may or may not have as far as an education is concerned. If you have a hunger to learn, then you are going to be brilliant.

Challenge: Think about the things in your life that are your strengths. Write them down. What are the characteristics of your life that make you brilliant and unique? It is easy to find the negatives, but I want you to make a conscious effort to find the positives and list them.

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