TrevorNelDailyOnline

Zig believes the answer is simple but not easy: “You cannot control the circumstances in your life, but there are many things you can do to control your mental attitude as you deal with those circumstances!”

“You begin by understanding this: You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind, and you can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind. In short, you choose what you read, listen to, and view”.

What Zig means is that you are right now experiencing results in your life that are a direct result of all the information that has gone into your mind. If you are not happy with the way your life has gone, or is currently going, then you have the power to change the input that goes into your mind.

He understands that many people are so angry with their present situation that they look to blame others for the misery and problems they’ve suffered in their lifetime. And he understands that it is okay to blame others for all of the negative input they’ve stirred. But once the blame is apportioned to others for your problems, forgive them for whatever they’ve done.

He maintains that “...forgiving is not necessarily forgetting. Archibald Hart, a Christian psychologist, defines forgiveness as ‘giving up your right to hurt someone back’. When you forgive someone you agree to forfeit any revenge that you previously felt needed to be exacted. You may remember the deed, but you release it’s power to control you, and you release your desire to hurt the doer of the deed.” Really powerful stuff!

But, now that blame has been apportioned on others for your past and you have forgiven them, says Zig, “you must accept responsibility for your future. Until you accept responsibility for your future, you’re going to relive your past and make the same mistakes”.

I am always reminded, on reading this, of Dan Kennedy’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same things over and over again, but expecting different results!” Isn’t it amazing just how many people refuse to change what they’ve been doing, although they admit to being really unhappy with their lives?

But what if you really have tried something new and different... and failed?

More tomorrow:

Today, before Zig walks on to a public platform to address an audience he admits: “I ask God to make me a P.C. Merrell in the life of each person there”.

Through his many books and tape recordings he tries to convey this personal message to the reader and listener:

“You, (insert your name here) _________ , are rare; you’re special, unique and important. You can make a difference in the lives of other people. Over ten billion people have walked the earth, but there is not now, there never has been, and there never will be another one quite like you. Your voice pattern is different from any other voice on earth; your fingerprints are different; your very genes leave their trail of identifying marks completely different from any human being who has ever lived. You’re a special individual. Develop your uniqueness; apply it by utilising the principles we’ve been discussing, and make a real effort to be a difference maker in other lives.”

I’m sure you’re getting to feel why I rate this man so highly, he just seems to have his finger so firmly on the pulse of the meaning of life. I must also share with you the fact that Zig Ziglar appears to have changed his life through following a very simple philosophy: “We learn most when we are teaching”.

He went out to learn what it takes to make a difference in people’s lives, and changed his life in the process of passing this information on to others. The basis of his research is founded on the statement by psychologist Dr William James, who said, “The most important discovery of our time is the realisation that we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes.”

He strives to get people to realise that you cannot separate personal, family, and business life. What happens at home will affect your performance at work, and what happens at work will have a definite impact on relationships at home.

Zig quotes “an article in the January 8, 1990, USA Today stated that in companies of one hundred people or less, marital difficulty was the number one cause of productivity decline on the job; alcohol was in second place, and drugs were third”.

So just how can the ordinary person become more pleasant in their relationships with family and friends, especially after a tough day at work? And, how can one become more pleasant and acceptable at work after a particularly trying week-end at home? We’ve all asked this question of ourselves in some way or other.

Zig believes the answer is simple but not easy:

More tomorrow:

Zig recalls the event that changed his life. He had attended Day One of a sales-training session at which he admits he never learnt a thing.

After a late-night sales demonstration and a baby keeping him awake most of the night, he remembers the “alarm clock” (today he calls it an ‘opportunity clock’) going off at 5:30 a.m. to get him off to Day Two of the training session. He looked out of bed, saw the snow, and “I decided to do what most intelligent human beings would do - I got back in bed”.

But the words of his mother wouldn't allow him to get back to sleep. He kept hearing: “Son, if you’re in something, get in it. If you’re not in it, get out. If you’re not giving your best effort you’re not being fair to the man you’re working for, and you’re not being fair to yourself”. He rolled out of bed and that day met a man who turned his life around.

His hero was a Mr. P.C. Merrell, a man who had broken all company sales records, and who was in charge of this second day. At the end of it he approached Zig and said, “Zig, I’ve watched you for over two and a half years, and I’ve never seen such a waste”.

Now, that will get anyone’s attention! He went on to point out how he believed Zig had all the potential qualities of a champion, if only Zig would learn to believe in himself. Zig maintains that he had always felt that he was never really going to amount to much, and... “Now, however, a man in whom I had complete TRUST and FAITH, a man whose INTEGRITY and CHARACTER were beyond question, was telling me that I could be a national champion. I believed him.”

Zig went from that meeting to become the youngest divisional supervisor in the 66-year history of that company and set some selling records that stand till this day.

Today, before Zig walks on to a public platform to address an audience he admits: “I ask God to make me a P.C. Merrell in the life of each person there”.

More tomorrow:

“I know how it feels to be spiritually adrift in my relationship with God and wondering what really would happen when I closed my eyes that last time. I know how it feels to be broke. I’ve walked in those shoes many times over the years. I know how it is to feel despondent and ‘down in the dumps’. I know how it is to feel you have no purpose and no future.”

“I believe I have been as deeply in debt, as broke, and as concerned as 99.9 percent of the people (who read his books). Yes, for many of you I have walked in your shoes.”

“I share this information because chances are excellent that those of you who have read my books, or heard me speak, or listened to my tapes have gotten the idea that somehow I just picked up a pen and wrote books, grabbed a microphone and made speeches, and turned on the recorder and made recordings. Such is not the case. If I have skills in those areas, it is because I have taken whatever gifts God gave me in those areas and invested a tremendous amount of time, effort, and research to develop those talents.”

“I have spoken for no fee to every size and conceivable kind of organisation - the Lion’s Club, Rotary Club, and Jaycees, not to mention the schools, churches, prisons, drug rehab centres, and a host of other nonprofit organisations including the Salvation Army and branches of the military. I’ve spoken to sales meetings at automobile dealerships, cookware franchises, vacuum cleaner organisations, real estate companies, and countless other groups. I’ve driven fifty miles, a hundred miles, and on three different occasions two hundred miles at my expense to speak to a group of a dozen people and then of necessity driven home that night because I did not have enough money to pay a motel bill.”

“I mention these things because I want you to know as you commit yourself to your career (and your future) that it might not necessarily be easy, but I believe that with persistent physical, mental, and spiritual effort you can learn the skills you need to develop to reach your objectives.”

“Obviously, some of you have more talent than others, but undeveloped or sparingly applied talent simply will not get the job done... in today’s marketplace.”

Zig recalls the event that changed his life. He had attended Day One of a sales-training session at which he admits he never learnt a thing.

More tomorrow:

First published February 1996. Review update by Trevor Nel – 20 September 2000

As an avid student of inspirational autobiographies I am often asked which author has had the most profound effect on my life. Well, many come to mind, but one seems to stand out above the rest... Zig Ziglar.

I feel as if I have grown successful in parallel with Zig Ziglar as I have followed his writings and personal insights from his very first book - See You At The Top - written in July 1974.

His philosophy for life has been that we continue our earthly journey “... by learning, living and looking: learning from the past without living there; living in the present by seizing each vital moment of every single day; and looking to the future with hope, optimism and education”.

Zig Ziglar’s personal story begins like most people. He married his college sweetheart and set out to conquer the world and become super-successful by working hard. Yet at age 45, after working desperately hard for all of his prior working life, he was “stone broke and in debt”.

He recalls how at this time in his life he was filled with anger and frustration. He knew what it was like to be filled with despondency, bankrupt, in debt, scared, anxious, down in the dumps, and totally negative about life.

Today, Zig Ziglar is chairman of the Zig Ziglar Corporation, which is committed to helping people more fully utilise their physical, mental, and spiritual resources. He became a full-time public speaker in 1970 and was soon one of the most sought after speakers in the country.

Today he travels the world over, delivering his message of hope, humour, and enthusiasm to audiences of all kinds and sizes. He has appeared on the platform with such outstanding Americans as former President Ronald Reagan, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Paul Harvey, Art Linkletter, and Dr. Robert Schuller, as well as many U.S. congressmen and governors.

Knowing this background it is refreshing to read the humility with which Zig delivers his message. His early books make it quite clear that he could never walk in the shoes of three types of people.

The first being of those who have suffered through any kind of serious physical or mental illness. “I’ve always been blessed with incredibly good health in both departments, so I can’t honestly say I know how you feel”.

The second pair of shoes are of those who have lost a mate or child through either death or divorce. “I’ve been most fortunate in those areas and have four strong, healthy children and a beautiful loving wife of over 45 years”. (Although, sadly, I am led to believe that Zig lost his daughter recently - Feb 96)

And, the third pair being of those who have never really been loved. “I have been more than blessed with love all my life”.

His message to these three kinds of people is “I can say to you I know how you feel, but in reality there is no way I really can”.

All of which introduces a very real credibility for when he does indeed share with his readers the many shoes in which he has walked.

More tomorrow:

“Remember that the easiest thing to find on God’s green earth is someone to tell you all the things you cannot do. Someone will always be eager to point out to you - perhaps merely with a look or a tone of voice - that anything new or daring is hopelessly doomed to failure. Don’t listen to them! If you have a dream, whatever it is, dare to believe it and to try it. If you have that flame of a dream down inside you somewhere, thank God for it, and do something about it. And don’t let anyone else blow it out. Believe you can, and you’ll find that you can!”

Bibliography:

DeVos. Richard M. ‘Believe!’ Revell 1975.

Conn. Charles P. ‘The Possible Dream’ Berkley Books 1977.

Points to Ponder

1) People whose aim is always low generally hit what they shoot at.

2) One of the most powerful forces in the world is the will of the man who believes in himself, who dares to aim high, to go confidently after the things he wants from life.

3) One never knows what he might accomplish until he tries.

4) Almost anyone can do whatever he really believes he can do. There are no areas of life which are immune to the combination of faith and effort.

5) Give things a chance to happen! It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle.

6) Do it. Try it. Quit talking about it and do it.

7) If you have a dream, whatever it is, dare to believe it and to try it.

8) Believe you can, and you’ll find that you can!

“What does all this say?” says Rich, “Give things a chance to happen! It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle. No life is more tragic than that of the individual who nurses a dream, an ambition, always wishing and hoping, but never giving it a chance to happen.”

“Millions of people are that way about having a second income, or owning their own business.”

“There are millions more who nurture private, almost secret dreams in other areas: the schoolteacher who wants to go back for the master’s degree; the couple who has intended to make that trip to Europe; the housewife whose ambition is to write short stories for the freelance market. The list could go on and on. People dreaming but never daring, never willing to say, ‘I can,’ never trusting their dreams to the real world of action and effort - people, in short, who are so afraid of failure that they fail.”

“For the individual in that position, there is only one thing left after all the arguments are weighed and all the costs measured. Do it. Try it. Quit talking about it and do it. How will you ever know if you can paint that picture, run that business, sell that vacuum cleaner, earn that degree, hold that office, make that speech, win that game, marry that girl, write that book, bake that soufflé, build that house - unless you try it!”

Wow! So simple. So powerful. And so true.

So why do the vast majority of people allow their dreams to waste away untried and unlived?

Why do so many people go to their graves unfulfilled?

“The biggest reason, I suppose,” ponders Rich, “...is the negative, cynical attitudes of other people. They are friends, even family members. Our friends - if they are naysayers, constantly punching holes in our dreams with a cynical smile here, a put-down there, a constant stream of negative vibrations - our friends can kill us.”

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people are living other peoples lives. People I have met who have said they really seriously want to become wealthy and successful doing what I do. But the moment they get home they talk to their neighbours - who are as poor as church-mice and deep in debt - who say it can’t be done, its got to be a rip-off, it can’t be that simple. And they prefer to follow the advice of their poor friends and neighbours. It’s really so sad.

Rich comments: “He lets one five-minute spiel of negativism or ridicule or just plain disbelief from a dream-nothing, do-nothing neighbour take the steam right out of his engine. Friends like that can do more damage than a dozen enemies.”

“Remember that the easiest thing to find on God’s green earth is someone to tell you all the things you cannot do. Someone will always be eager to point out to you - perhaps merely with a look or a tone of voice - that anything new or daring is hopelessly doomed to failure. Don’t listen to them! If you have a dream, whatever it is, dare to believe it and to try it. If you have that flame of a dream down inside you somewhere, thank God for it, and do something about it. And don’t let anyone else blow it out. Believe you can, and you’ll find that you can!”

How can anyone top that simple inspiring insight. That is why I love reading the thoughts and insights of super-successful people. They understand that life is simple, and that business is simple, and they tell it like it is.

I love that..! Don’t you..?

Wrap Up tomorrow:

People spend their time pontificating, over-analysing, identifying all the reasons why it might not work, talking till the cows come home.

I have yet to come across a concept or idea that could not have been totally trashed from the beginning because of the negative sentiment of others who were asked for their comment. In fact, this observation has led me to distrust the input of others who have never displayed a commitment to something truly challenging in their own lives.

Besides, those who have never started a business of their own, with their own money on the line, have not yet learnt from real-life experience that no business is plain sailing.

Despite all the planning, despite the greatest business plans, market research and specialist consultants, something, somewhere, some problem, always presents itself at the most inopportune time to test your personal faith and conviction in your business concept.

If you do not have a total realistic belief in what you are doing, you won’t survive. And that is true for anything you do in life in general.

Says Rich:”I am often asked... ’What makes some people succeed when others fail?’ I do have a firm conviction that almost anyone can do whatever he really believes he can do. There are no areas of life which are immune to the combination of faith and effort.”

He recalls a restaurant venture that he and his partner entered into that turned out to be a mediocre, but going, venture.

“One day Jay would cook while I hopped cars; the next day we would reverse roles. (It was a terrible way to make a living!) But the important thing is that we put our minds to doing the thing we had set out to do, instead of just sitting around and talking about it. We could have talked about it for years. we could have worried about all the problems and reflected on the obstacles and never gotten around to doing it. So we would never have known whether or not we could succeed in the restaurant business.”

This is what concerns me in South Africa. We have so many people who have magnificent dreams for themselves, for their businesses, for their families, but they never give themselves a chance to experience their dreams. So many people die, never having tried to live the life of their dreams.

Why? Because we didn’t have the money, some say. Nonsense!

Money alone does not ensure business success. Just look at the many businesses that have gone into liquidation despite millions being thrown at them.

Because we didn’t have the opportunity, others say. Nonsense!

We now far have too many success stories in our world-wide library archives confirming that opportunity exists for everybody, everywhere. In the most unlikely of places. Opportunities in abundance that have been snapped up by the most unlikely of people. People who had no money, sick people, desperate people, people with disabilities, old people, every type of person - even someone just like you and me - has succeeded against “normal” odds because they believed and were prepared to try.

“What does all this say?” says Rich, “Give things a chance to happen! It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle. No life is more tragic than that of the individual who nurses a dream, an ambition, always wishing and hoping, but never giving it a chance to happen.”

“Millions of people are that way about having a second income, or owning their own business.”

More Tomorrow:

He recalls being motivated by just one focus in life: “My goal was to succeed in my own business and I believed that I could do it.”

Before he and his partner, Jay Van Andel, began their Amway business back in 1959, Rich remembers how they decided to start an aviation business. He and Jay were convinced that, after World War 2, everyone would own an airplane. So they bought a Piper Cub and opened a flying school.

There was only one problem - neither of them could fly!

And, they didn’t have a runway to land their plane on. Nor did they have a building for their office.

So they bought a chicken coop from a farmer, washed it, and stuck a sign on the door. They were in business! They bought pontoon floats for their plane and and hired flying instructors to take off from the river nearby.

“The end of that story is that we built a thriving business, bought a dozen airplanes, and eventually had one of the biggest aviation services in town. But we made it only because from the very start, we believed in ourselves.”

“We felt in our bones that we could do it, and we did, despite those early roadblocks. If we had launched the project half-heartedly, not quite believing in it, always looking for an excuse to lie down and quit, the first plane would never had made the first flight.”

“The story illustrates a basic point: one never knows what he might accomplish until he tries.”

As Zig Ziglar once said: “Great truths are simple truths!”

This statement by Rich DeVos is so simple in it’s logic and truth that most people don’t recognise it. In South Africa I see people coming up with great ideas, but the vast majority of them never ever see the light of day because of a lack of commitment to making the idea succeed. A lack of belief!

People spend their time pontificating, over-analysing, identifying all the reasons why it might not work, talking till the cows come home.

More tomorrow:

There is nothing much sadder than the individual approaching his or her twilight years who thinks back and says... “If only I hadda...” or “I really shoulda...” or “I wonder what woulda happened if I’d..?“.

The sad truth of life is that most people are living precisely the lifestyle they aimed for. “Those people whose aim is always low generally hit what they shoot at: they aim for nothing and they hit it” says Rich de Vos, Chairman and Founder of Amway Corporation.

He continues, “Life need not be lived that way. I believe that one of the most powerful forces in the world is the will of the man who believes in himself, who dares to aim high, to go confidently after the things he wants from life.”

Like Zig Ziglar, Rich DeVos was born and raised on the most powerful statement in the world: “I Can!”.

Born in 1926, in the depression years, Rich grew up in a typical struggling home of the era. “I peddled newspapers, worked in a gas station, that sort of thing. No big deal. Everybody did it. We may have been poor, but we certainly had no sense of being put down. We were no poorer than anybody else in those days.”

Rich DeVos penned a publication entitled ‘Believe!’ in 1975 in which he shares some of his humble beginnings and his powerful “I Can” philosophy that turned into the multi-billion dollar Amway Corporation (albeit a company that received more than a fair share of negative publicity for its pioneering network marketing distribution methods in its first 50 years).

More tomorrow:

Yes, success is whatever you want it to be, as long as it makes you happy!

Bibliography:

Whitman, H. “Success Is Within You” Doubleday & Co. 1956
Strobel, L. “What Jesus Would Say...” Zondervan Publ. 1994


Points To Ponder

1. Do I believe I am a success?

2. If so, why? If not, why not?

3. What would make me feel really successful?

4. Am I working towards this purpose right now?

5. Does this fit God’s purpose for me?


Action Program

In order to find out your true purpose in life you need to open your mind and find out why you were created. I suggest that you read ‘Mere Christianity’ by C.S. Lewis for starters. Then get a copy of “Confessions of a Happy Christian” by Zig Ziglar. I did and my life changed dramatically as I grew in this knowledge.

Lee Strobel of the exciting Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, puts it like this: “Some people trade their entire life for a drawer full of shopping receipts, or a wall full of plaques, or a bedpost full of notches, or a bankbook full of numbers. Is it really a fair trade?”

“What’s really important in life probably will get sorted out during our last moments on earth. My guess is that many will look back and ask, ‘Did I accumulate a lot of stuff that I can’t take with me, or did I lay up treasures for myself in heaven?”

“Did I take time to develop a relationship with God that will last forever? Did I leave a mark on people that’s going to fade, or did I leave a mark that’s eternal? Did I spend my life building things that will erode or corrode over time, or did I invest in the lives of individuals who will endure into eternity? When God nudged me to take a spiritual risk, did I trust Him or play it safe?’”

I love the spirit of adventure implied in seeking to work to God’s plan.

“Jesus put it this way in Luke 9:25: ‘What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?’”

Strobel continues: “...I think Jesus would tell Donald Trump and everyone else on the success track: ‘For your own sake, make the hard choice to follow My game plan. I designed you; it makes sense that I know what’s best for you. My game plan works when you put Me first, your family second, and you keep your life in balance as you pursue excellence and success. And you know I’m always here to coach you through.’”

He continues: “The Bible’s game plan describes how to make God the centre of our life, and then how to let Him help us build family relationships and meaningful friendships, as well as maintain a balance of introspection, rejuvenation, and accountability.”

He points to the disturbing commentary made by business management gurus Tom Peters (Author: In Search Of Excellence) and Nancy Austin who wrote:

“The cost of excellence is the giving up of family vacations, Little League games, birthday dinners, evenings, weekends, lunch hours, gardening, reading, movies, and most other past-times. We have a number of friends whose marriages and partnerships crumbled under the weight of their devotion to a dream. We are frequently asked if it is possible ‘to have it all’ - a fully satisfying personal life and a fully satisfying hard working one. Our answer is no.”

Isn’t that a shame!

How I wish they could see how I operate.

Let me confirm that it is very simple to generate well over R100 000 per month from your own home-based business environment in South Africa while having an absolute ball with your family.

It’s not easy, but it is very simple when you know your true purpose in life and plan to work towards your purpose.

Maybe they should come to the land of opportunity! South Africa.

Lee Strobel concludes: “Friends, a success that sacrifices our family and our physical and emotional well-being is a snare that’s poised to spring shut and destroy us.”

I totally agree!

And Howard Whitman concludes: “Success is no straitjacket. It is no mould into which all must be poured. It is no rigid stamp. It is as individual as our fingerprints or the look in our eyes. All we need is the courage to be - and realise - ourselves.”

Yes, success is whatever you want it to be, as long as it makes you happy!

Credits tomorrow:

“A final basic element of success is spirituality. It is hard to imagine anyone feeling successful without also feeling related somehow to the greater purposes of life and to the Author of those purposes.”

Whitman shares his belief that if one “...is to sense the full bouquet of success, then he must have a conviction, however subtle, that he is in tune with God. He must sense somehow the pervasive currents of God’s existence and recognise his own existence in those currents, too.”

It is refreshing to find an author touching on this most critical criteria of success.

However, I believe he could have stressed the importance of this criteria even more forcefully in his introduction where he could perhaps have written:

“There are (two) three main criteria of success:

Do others think you are a success?

2. Do you think so?

3. Will God think you are a success?”

Now, if that doesn’t get you thinking about your purpose in life and searching for some answers, then what will?

“A fourth essential ingredient, without which success is not success, is satisfaction. One man’s meat is, of course, another man’s poison, and so satisfaction to one man may stem from the amassing of a fortune, while to another man it may come from the writing of a poem. But certainly neither man can claim success at all if there is no satisfaction in either the fortune or the poem.”

“Success must be enjoyed. This has become one of the strange anomalies of our time: that so many have all the outward trappings of success without the inner trappings of it. They don’t feel success. Instead of warmth inside there is barrenness. ‘I’ve worked and slaved and knocked myself out - for what?’ has become the refrain.”

What is it about your work and your life that will satisfy you? What are you doing to achieve that satisfaction?

“A third constant ingredient of success is the price of it. There is no success for free.”

Whitman believes there is no joy or success due to any person in life without a lot of effort first put in to achieve it.

He believes that we all have a “constitutional inability to enjoy what we have not earned.”

This is why the thief, the ‘rip-off’ artist, the fraudster, is destined to be unhappy in life.

How often do we hear people saying: “To be successful you’ve have got to pay the price!”… implying that you should be ready to borrow many R100 000’s to get into business - particularly the business opportunity they’re offering!

Whitman reminds us that the price that must be paid can be measured in either money and/or time and/or effort. You can choose the resource, or combination thereof, that best suits you.

I am also reminded of the fantastic insight of Zig Ziglar who says you don’t look at it as “paying the price” for what you want, but rather as the price you are prepared to pay for “enjoying the benefits” of what you want.

More tomorrow:

From yesterday: “The first constant factor is purpose. One must know that in whatever he does he is moving towards a goal. Aimlessness is the worst enemy of success.”

Today:

This is the common thread that links all of the great men and woman of significance who have ever lived.

They have all had a sense of pupose about their lives... a sense of destiny... of knowing why they are on God’s earth and what they are going to do to make it a better place for others to live on.

Do you have such a purpose for your life?

Are you working every day with your life’s purpose in mind?

Are you happy with your life?

You will come to realise that these three questions are intricately related. A ‘no’ to one is a ‘no’ to all.

How can you ever get to know your true purpose in life without understanding God’s true purpose for you?

“Secondly, success has the intrinsic character of a batting average. It is not all of a piece; not every hour nor every day is uniformly successful. Rather there are upturns in success separated by valleys of failure.”

“A successful life will have its days or even years of failure. It will certainly have its moments of utter washout. These are not blights upon such a life but merely the inevitable failings which bear testimony to the fact that life isn’t easy.”

What he is saying is that you have got to try things, you’ve got to take a chance, you’ve got to be prepared to try new challenges.

And you’ve got to be prepared to fail!

And the more you try, you can bet your bottom dollar, the more you will fail..!

“In growing up each of us must learn sooner or later that every day isn’t Christmas, and so in courting success we must learn, too, that every effort cannot be crowned with glory.”

But the fact is that you will have succeeded more times than those who never bother to try new challenges.

In fact, for me, the saddest thing in life is the person who has a fear of failure, a desire to be absolutely perfect in everything they do.

They never, ever fail because they never, ever try!

Even worse, in my book, is the critic who sits in his armchair criticising or denigrating those who have the courage to try new challenges.

Nothing is more destructive in our society as a critic who gloats over the failure of triers, especially honest entrepreneurs.

More tomorrow:

Whitman reported on a famous letter written in the mid-nineteenth century by George Sand giving a simple definition of success:

“One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and above all a clear conscience.”

“Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. By the proper use of experience and thought one can draw much from oneself, by determination and patience one can even restore one’s health... so let us live life as it is, and not be ungrateful.”

150 years later, and with tons of research behind us, we know this statement to be right on the button.

Whitman believes that thoughtful people will conclude: “...that personal success must exist inside if it is to exist at all”.

He discusses the few material possessions owned by Mahatma Gandhi when he died: “...a pair of spectacles, a pair of sandals, a few simple garments, a spinning wheel, and a book. Yet the world knew that here had passed one of the richest of men.”

He feels that this is perhaps what Henry David Thoreau was alluding to when he said: “A man is as rich as the things he can let alone.”

For me, this is not to say that poverty is the objective, but rather that the person who has the wherewithall to purchase non-essential things that may be nice and impressive to own, but who decides not to because they are not essential to his or her needs, experiences an inner satisfaction which few ever get to feel in their lives.

Says Whitman, “There are certain constant factors to be found in true success. These are the essential factors, independent of wealth or achievement, poverty or asceticism (defn. one who denies themselves all bodily pleasures and appetites; voluntary pursuit of an austere, frugal life). These are the dynamic factors in success, the very bone and sinew of it.”

“The first constant factor is purpose. One must know that in whatever he does he is moving towards a goal. Aimlessness is the worst enemy of success.”

More tomorrow:

I well remember my early real own-business experience of establishing a Stock Market Investment College franchise in Durban.

Being newly-married and building our first home I was very wary of borrowing money for a new car. So I borrowed my brother-in-law’s utility bakkie for three months to drive to my potential clients.

My first call was to a retired banker in the classy area of La Lucia where I parked the bakkie a half-a-kilometre from the prospects house and took a leisurely stroll to his front door.

I am sure that I must have bought into the argument that first-impressions ARE important… so I took a common-sense decision to work smart with what I had… and left the bakkie around the corner - just-in-case it created a negative impression in his mind.

I suppose it is called… being streetsmart!

Now here’s my observation - he bought because he wanted our product and not because I drove up his driveway in a fancy car.

But more important, he was not negatively affected by any perception he might have had about my borrowed bakkie because he did not get to see it.

He was rich and happy and I was poor and happy, but I was making a profit in my own debt-free business and on my way to becoming wealthy!

Perhaps sales trainers should be saying: “To be successful, you should strive to look professional without getting into debt to do it.”

To heck with what the rest of the world thinks about you and how successful they perceive you to be.

That’s all as worthless as the straw in an empty glass, according to Whitman.

"Too often we conform to the outside world in our success patterns without thought or analysis, just as we conform in other departments of living. But a few brave ones among us have had the courage to think on this and have occasionally spelled out patterns of success which are at once honest, courageous, and individual."

The crux of the matter is: Do you think you are a success?

More tomorrow:

Howard Whitman gave some thought to this subject in his book written in 1956: ‘Success Is Within You’.

In a chapter entitled ‘Success Is A Personal Thing’, he writes: “There are two main criteria of success:

1. Do others think you are a success?
2. Do you think so? ”

He compares these two criteria to an ice-cream soda with a straw.

The ice-cream soda without the straw can still be enjoyed. But the straw without the ice-cream soda gives no enjoyment at all.


“It is quite worthless, and futile too, to have the whole world thinking that you are a success if you do not think so yourself.”

Forty years after Whitman wrote this observation, what do we see all around us?

People living beyond their means, driving fancy cars, and living in palatial homes - all owned by their nervous bank managers.

People are getting deeper and deeper into debt because they want to make a good impression on their work colleagues and their customers.

Ever heard a sales trainer saying: “If you want to be successful, you’ve got to look successful.”

What is this trainer saying?

Should you seriously hock your house and home and risk your family’s security just to look good to your customers?

How can you ever become successful if in your heart you know you are living a lie?

Personally, I believe it is this ill-conceived advice that results in 95% of all sales-people failing in sales.

The vast majority of these people drop out of sales because they cannot handle the burden of ever-increasing debt.

I have noticed this particularly within the insurance industry where new entrants, within weeks, begin dressing in Oscar Award Winning suits every day and drive around in top-of-the-range German-model luxury cars to look like the top three successful salespeople in their organisation.

There is something very wrong with this approach. To me… it is akin to putting the cart before the horse.

Surely the way to become successful lies in being happy in doing what you do, by learning to get what you want in life through helping others get what they want.

More tomorrow: