You Can Win Part 11

Success is failure turned inside out The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far ; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

46*

Fritz Kreisler, the great violinist, was once asked, "How do you play so well? Are you lucky?" He replied, "It is practice. If I don't practice for a month, the audience can tell the difference. If I don't practice for a week, my wife can tell the difference. If I don't practice for a day, I can tell the difference."

Persistence means commitment and determination. There is pleasure in endurance.

Commitment and persistence is a decision. Athletes put in years of practice for a few seconds or minutes of performance.

Persistence is a decision. It is a commitment to finish what you start. When we are exhausted, quitting looks good. But winners endure. Ask a winning athlete. He endures pain and finishes what he started. Lots of failures have begun well but have not concluded anything. Persistence comes from purpose. Life without purpose is drifting. A person who has no purpose will never persevere and will never be fulfilled.

9. Pride of Performance

In today's world, pride in performance has fallen by the wayside because it requires effort and hard work. However, nothing happens unless it is made to happen. When one is discouraged, it is easy to look for shortcuts. However these should be avoided no matter how great the temptation. Pride comes from within, which is what gives the winning edge.

Pride of performance does not represent ego. It represents pleasure with humility. The quality of the work and the quality of the worker are inseparable. Half-hearted effort does not produce half results; it produces no results.

Three people were laying bricks and a pa.s.serby asked them what they were doing. The first one replied, "Don't you see I am making a living?" The second one said, "Don't you see I am laying bricks?" The third one said, "I am building a beautiful monument." Three people doing the same thing gave totally different replies. The question is : did they have different att.i.tudes? And would their att.i.tude affect their performance? The answer is a clear yes.

Excellence comes when the performer takes pride in doing his best. Every job is a self- portrait of the person who does it, regardless of what the job is, whether washing cars, sweeping the floor or painting a house.

Do it right the first time, every time. The best insurance for tomorrow is a job well done today.

Michelangelo was working on a statue for several days and he was taking a long time to retouch every small detail which seemed rather insignificant to a bystander. When asked why he did it, Michelangelo replied, "Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle."

Most people forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well it was done.

If a man is called to be street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

--Martin Luger King, Jr.

47*One cannot compromise on quality and service. It is said that Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, found a fly during one of his visits at a franchise. Two weeks later the franchisee lost his franchise. Ray Kroc said, "You should work for pride and accomplishment. I was brought up to understand that reward will come later."

The feeling of a job well done is a reward in itself. It is better to do small things well than do many things poorly.

10. Be Willing to Be a Student--Get a Mentor

If G.o.d and the teacher (guru) are standing together, who does the student salute first?

According to Indian culture, the answer is the teacher, because without his direction and help, the student could not have met G.o.d.

A mentor or a teacher is a person whose hindsight can become your foresight. Look for someone who can accept you as a mentee or a student. Choose your mentor carefully. A good one will guide and give direction; a bad one will misguide. Show respect. Be an interested student. Teachers like interested students.

The best teachers will not give you something to drink, they will make you thirsty. They will put you on a path to seek answers.

There is a story about a king in ancient times who wanted to honor a person that made the greatest contribution to society. All kinds of people came, including doctors and entrepreneurs, and they all presented their case for receiving the honor. The king wasn't impressed. Finally an elderly person with a glow on his face walked in and said he was a teacher. The king came down from his throne and bowed to honor the teacher. It is the teacher who makes the highest contribution in shaping the future of society.

DO WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE SUCCESSFUL?.

Do all of us have the qualities for success? Some people feel they don't. They stay mediocre and fail. But it doesn't have to be that way. All of us have all of these qualities.

They may not be developed to the level that we want them but they are there. We may not know that they are there, but when we find out, our performance changes.

This is like having a million dollars buried in your backyard and not knowing about it. You wouldn't be able to use it. But the moment you find out, your thinking and behavior will change.

The same thing is true with people. We all have hidden treasures. All we need to do is bring them to the surface and use them.

WHAT IS HOLDING US BACK?.

What would happen if we drove our car with the brakes on? It wouldn't be smart, would it? What would happen to our car? It will never go full speed because the brakes offer resistance. The car will overheat and break down. If it doesn't break down, the resistance will strain the engine. You have two choices. You can either press the accelerator harder and risk damage, or release the brakes to make the car go faster. This is a good parallel to life, because we go through life with our emotional brakes on. What are the brakes?

They are the factors that prevent us from achieving success. The way to release our 48*emotional brakes is by building a positive att.i.tude, high self-esteem and by accepting responsibility.

REASONS FOR FAILURE WHY WE DON'T ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE.

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

--Charles Schultz

1. Unwillingness to Take Risks

Success involves taking calculated risks. Risk taking does not mean gambling foolishly and behaving irresponsibly. People sometimes mistake irresponsible and rash behavior as risk-taking. They end up with negative results and blame it on bad luck.

Risk-taking is relative. The concept of risk varies from person to person and can be a result of training. To both a trained mountain climber and a novice, mountain climbing is risky, but to the trained person it is not irresponsible risk-taking. Responsible risk-taking is based on knowledge, training, careful study, confidence and competence which give a person the courage to act while facing fear. The person who never does anything makes no mistakes. However, he doesn't realize that not doing anything is his biggest mistake.

Many opportunities are lost because of indecision. It is habit-forming and contagious.

Take risks but don't gamble. Risk-takers go with their eyes open. Gamblers shoot in the dark.

Once someone asked a farmer if he had planted wheat for the season. The farmer replied, "No. I was afraid it wouldn't rain." Then the man asked, "Did you plant corn?" The farmer said, "No. I was afraid of insects eating one corn. Then the man asked , " What did you plant ? " The farmer said, "Nothing. I played it safe."

RISKS.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach outfox another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, or live.

Chained by their att.i.tudes, they are slaves, 49*they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

2. Lack of persistence

When problems seem insurmountable, quitting seems to be the easiest way out. It is true for every marriage, job and relationship. Winners are struck but not destroyed. We all have had setbacks in life. Failing does not mean we are failures.

More people fail not because they lack knowledge or talent but because they quit. The total secret of success lies in two words, persistence and resistance. Persist in what must be done and resist what ought not be done.

A man is a hero not because he is braver than anyone else, but because he is brave for ten minutes longer.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. Instant Gratification

We think short term, not long term. That is limited vision. We are living in an age of instant gratification. There is a pill for everything, from waking you up to putting you to sleep. People want to take a pill to get rid of their problems. When people want to be instant millionaires, they take shortcuts and compromise on their integrity.

The desire to make a million overnight has made the lottery a flourishing business.

Remember that instant gratification never thinks of consequences, only of momentary pleasures.

Today's generation defines the ideal diet as one that will take off five pounds for good intentions. These are people who don't want any more birthdays but want all the presents.

4. Lack of Priorities

People make subst.i.tutes where they ought not to. For example, in relationships, they trade money and gifts for affection and time. Some people find it easier to buy things for their children and spouse to compensate for their absence.