The 6 Principles of True Success
1-23-09

Today is about what you can change. How can you develop the behavior of a winner? Over the next few weeks, I want to share with you the six principles which define true success in hopes that I can help you better understand that all the decisions you make ultimately lead to your legacy. Remember, if you don’t have discipline, you don’t have self worth.

The six principles are Opportunity, Significance, Uniqueness, Readiness, Contribution and Experience.

The Opportunity Principle: Make your commitment to your future bigger and better than your past. Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.

Someone I truly care about once gave me the following poem, which I keep in the inside cover of my personal journal to this day:

Beginnings

Endings are the seeds to beginnings.
Tomorrow will come in time.
Even in hopelessness lies a seed of hope,
And even small seeds can climb.

But the little seed has to give up its past
On its voyage to the sprouting tree
Didn’t you ever transcend your life?
Previous visions of who you could be?

Every cloud opens up to the smiling sun,
And the low will soon reach high tide,
Exits and entrances are at the same gate.
Moving through is your ticket to pride.

And two triangles have to surrender themselves
to ever become a square.
And every simple discovery in life makes you give up
What you thought was there.

Caterpillars will butterfly off the ground.
Give up your past to be king.
Horses run best when not looking back.
Let go to reach higher things.

You have to give up your discomforts to ever soar in flight.
But isn’t the end of something that’s wrong
The beginning of something that’s right?

So, you stand at the spot where endings begin,
Handcuffed by the past or freed.
One path will take you to where you have been,
The other will set you free.

So pick yourself up like the rising sun,
like the wind lifting the silent sea.
Plant a hope in your heart like a seedling in spring
And step forward to your new destiny.

There are four keys to embracing Opportunity that you should know:

#1 - Dreams drive your destiny. Eleanor Roosevelt once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

#2 - Dates drive your discipline. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

#3 - Decisions drive your direction. If any of you are familiar with the great Jim Rohn, you’ll remember one of his favorite stances on this subject. He says, “It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.” How do we move from excuses to experiences? How do we take action on our ideas and go beyond tactics to strategy? “Excuse-idis” is the #1 barrier to success. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myDYE49KPlQ

#4 - Handle failure well. None of us do, do we? Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. The Law of the Summit says that your direction is a result of your perception.

If you want to read a great book, pick up Failing Forward by John Maxwell. He offers the following acronym that will help you keep failure in proper perspective and develop a healthy failure strategy:

M: Messages that give us feedback about life
I: Interruptions that should cause us to reflect and think
S: Signposts that direct us to the right path
T: Tests that push us toward greater maturity
A: Awakenings that keep us in the game mentally
K: Keys that we can use to unlock the next door of opportunity
E: Explorations that let us journey where we’ve never been before
S: Statements about our development and progress.

Get excited to fail today. Win your day. Embrace every Opportunity.