Success

Automate your success by putting your brain to work with the principle of planned auto-response. Repeated actions, practiced over and over again, create neuro-pathways in the brain, nerves and muscles. Over time these neuro-pathways become stronger and virtually bypass your conscious mind to synchronize your senses, brain, nerves, and muscles together like direct links, streamlining a specific task. Thus trained, the body reacts promptly on cue, with perfect accuracy and poise, and without any conscious thought at all.

Recently, I saw a sign while I was at an amusement park with my kids that made me think. It said simply, “please do not sit on the fence.” I thought, isn’t this the biggest problem we have in our business and personal lives? Wouldn’t it be great if we all took these instructions to heart? We are a society of fence sitters: we vacillate, we avoid commitment, we procrastinate, and we put off important decisions.

No one can give you success. No one can force you to achieve. No one can do the preparation, planning, and the work for you. If we are to achieve true excellence, we must take responsibility for our own success and do the work to make it happen. Here are four steps to help each of us in our quest for success: Plan, Prepare, Perform, Persist.

You can learn a lot about life by hiking in the mountains and I am struck with the many similarities between a mountain hike and our journey to success. Here are a few simple lessons we can learn: plan ahead, pay attention, adjust for obstacles, don't compare yourself to others, and keep going.

What does the word "discipline" mean? It means freedom! It's not putting yourself in a box; it's putting yourself on top of the box, giving yourself a structure that can support you. The box is not a trap, a confinement, or a prison cell. It's a platform, a solid step that affords you a higher vantage point from which to view your possibilities.