Click Below for Articles
Are You Ready?
A Work in
Progress
Cultivating a Burning Desire to Succeed
The World Doesn't
Owe you Anything, Stop Whining
Don't Be a Quitter
Whatever It
Takes
The
Unlimited Realm of the 5 year-old
Wanna Get Lucky?
Limiting Greatness
Seize the Moment
Are You Surrounded
By Success?
EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT -
PROFESSIONAL BANK ACCOUNT
Keep Rollin’
Do or Do Not
Is it real?
Crank it Up in 3 Steps
Steps to Go from Ordinary to Extraordinary
Pain of
Discipline vs. Pain of Regret
Commitment,
Do You Have What it Takes?
The Three Laws of
Human Influence
1/20th of a Second
Are you ready?
Anybody can achieve anything. Do you believe that?
I do.
But there is a caveat that must be made. Those who
succeed are those who walk through the door of opportunity when it swings
open. That we know. But what is the secret to getting through the door of
opportunity?
The secret is being ready outside the door when it
swings open.
As the story goes, Frank Sinatra got his big break
while working as a waiter. One day, as he was waiting tables, who does he
see sitting in the restaurant, but one of the biggest names in the music
industry. Old Blue Eyes did the unbelievable: He cleared off a table next to
the gentleman and got up on it and sang! He knew he was done at the
restaurant for doing so, but how many times would this door of opportunity
open up? Needless to say, the rest is history.
You see, you never know when the door of
opportunity is going to open wide. For some, the big break comes early in
life and for others later on. But for all of those who become successful,
there is one key similarity: They were ready. And for every one of those who
were ready, there were thousands more who weren’t.
So, the principle for us is: Be ready!
Are you ready? Here are some thoughts for you to
consider.
Are your skills as sharp as they could be? Are
they strong enough so when your shot comes you can perform? What are you
doing on a daily basis to keep your skills at a top level?
Is your character deep enough to handle success?
Let’s face it; you don’t want big success if your character won’t be able to
handle it. What are you doing on a daily basis to strengthen your character?
Are you working hard to position yourself now?
While waiting for the door of opportunity to open, you need to develop your
skills and your character so that you can be in a position to get through
that door before it closes. Lucky people are generally the people that are
most prepared to be lucky. Do you have goals? Are you tracking
your goals? Are you doing something every day to help you get a little
better at what you do? Do you have a plan for your career, for your
life, for your goals? Are you working that plan daily, weekly,
monthly?
Your door will open someday. It opens for
everyone. It may only open once or it may open many times. It is different
for everyone and life just isn’t fair that way. But everybody gets a shot.
When that huge door of opportunity opens up, will you be able to walk boldly
through it? Will you be ready?
Do everything you can to be ready. Don’t just sit
and wish and dream. Be proactive and make sure that you are the most
qualified when the door opens. Make sure that you are the hardest worker.
Make sure you are the closest to the door. When it opens – Be Ready!
Shhh. Do you hear that? Hinges creaking! It is the
sound of the door opening. Your door of opportunity! Are you ready?
A Work in Progress
I was sifting through the material
littering my desk the other day when I came across a quote I printed from an
email.
"We are all works in progress," the email
said said.
I received the email from a friend, and I
thought it was interesting, so I printed it, but promptly misplaced it.
This is one of the marvelous byproducts
of having a cluttered desk -- you're always finding interesting things.
Anyway, thinking about the message
brought today's topic to mind.
How many of us are the absolute best we
can be?
I'd venture to say few, if any of us fall
into that category. We are usually partially there, but rarely moving at our
absolute best.
Sadly enough, most of us are happy enough
with a mere shadow of what we could accomplish.
Most of us are happy enough to reach our
sales or booking quota (and maybe a little bit beyond), or reach that
all-important deadline (maybe a little bit early), or work just enough (but
maybe just a little bit harder). We are content to do just enough to get by,
with an occasional push to do a little bit more.
Sadly enough, we're cheating our
families, our businesses, our customers, and most of all, we're cheating
ourselves -- all by just doing what's expected, even if we do a little bit
more.
When you get right down to it, pushing
ourselves farther than we ever realized we could go is the only way to make
real progress.
That brings us to the email.
"We are all works in progress." I have
conveniently forgotten the context in which it was sent -- but it points out
that the wise person never really chooses a stopping point in his or her
progression. He or she continually becomes better through learning, growing,
and gaining additional experience and wisdom.
Our lives must be continually managed for
growth and renewal.
Perhaps you're familiar with an
instrument biologists use to measure the age of trees. The instrument is
driven into the heart of the tree, and then removed to count the rings the
tree has grown. This core sample will show some years where drought and fire
besought the tree, and other years where nourishment was plentiful. The tree
exists through those years, continually growing and adjusting. Some years it
grows more than others, but it grows until it reaches the end of its life.
That tree does not remain a seedling, nor does it decide suddenly that it's
grown enough.
In our lives, though, many people seem to
decide they have progressed enough, and they stop becoming better. As years
go on, they become like a living snapshot -- frozen in time, no longer
relevant, no longer useful.
By a simple matter of giving up, they
actually do become their "best self" -- the best they will ever become --
but it's only a shadow of what they could have become. Their motto is the
old bureaucrat's byword: "Good enough."
High achievers, however, always strive to
become better. By continually progressing, even if, like the tree, they have
occasional problems, they continually get better, wiser, happier. They never
stop progressing, and never cease getting better. The high achiever keeps
striving to become better, and as a result, continually improves on the idea
of "best self." The high achiever's motto is the leader's byword: "Expect
the best -- and find it."
To the high achiever, "best" is always a
moving target, "excellence" is a minimum requirement, and "extraordinary" is
a way of life.
High achievers live their lives wisely
and well. High achievers never accept second best, never "settle" for less
than their best, never lose sight of their mark. They continually grow and
learn, plan and produce, move and dream.
Can you become your best self? If you're
not currently better than you ever have been in your life, you've got a bit
of work to do. Each day you should be better than the day before.
Each day, you should work to be better
than you have ever been in your life. Continually growing, continually
learning, continually best.
Cultivating a Burning Desire to Succeed
During an interview a
few years ago, a reporter asked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger how he
managed to reach the top as a professional Bodybuilder and Movie Star. Governor
Schwarzenegger replied with one single word, “Drive!”
All great success ultimately begins with an idea, but
what makes ideas become reality is the fuel of human desire. An idea by itself
can give you a temporary feeling of inspiration, but burning desire is what gets
you through all the perspiration necessary to overcome the inevitable obstacles
along the way.
Take a
moment to think about the goals you've set for yourself. How committed are you
to achieving these goals? Under what conditions would you give up? What if you
could significantly increase your desire to achieve these goals? What if you
wanted them so badly that you knew with absolute certainty that you would
absolutely, positively never ever give up? When you are truly 100% committed to
reaching your goals, you move from hoping to knowing. If you want something
badly enough, then quitting is simply not an option. You either find a way or
make one. You pay the price, whatever it takes.
Those
with an intense, burning desire to achieve their goals are often referred to as
being "driven." But is this special quality reserved only for a privileged few?
Certainly not! With the right approach, anyone can cultivate a deep, burning
desire within themselves and move to a state of total commitment, knowing with
certainty that success is as inevitable as the sunrise.
So how
do you cultivate burning desire? You begin with an outside-in approach, altering
your environment in ways that will strengthen your resolve while eliminating
doubt. If you take the time to do it right, you'll establish a positive feedback
cycle, such that your desire will continue to increase on a daily basis.
Here
are eight steps you can take to cultivate burning desire to achieve any goal you
set for yourself:
1. Make a Real
Commitment
I'm not
going to pull any punches with this one. If your goals are really important
enough to you, then you can start by burning the proverbial ships, such that you
have no choice but to press on. For instance, if you are a Business Owner
(Agency, Publicist, Production Company, Distributor, etc...), an Executive, a
Sales Manager, etc...and you want to improve your sales process, you can begin by
making the commitment to tracking your sales staff, doing daily one-on-one
coaching, training and teaching the staff how to get to a professional level,
and requiring that your process is followed. Write a letter to your boss
stating that you are going to do these things by a certain date, and if you
don’t have these things implemented/changed by the stated date that you will
tender your resignation. Put it in a stamped envelope and mail it to your
boss. If you are an actor, and you want to improve your career, make
a commitment to do whatever it takes- invest in your career, be aggressive, help
your agent and management team, most importantly, stop making excuses and
blaming everything and everyone else for your lack of success. Do
something about it. Write the afore mentioned letter to your family or
close friends. But a deadline on implementing change!
One Las
Vegas casino manager made the decision to quit smoking. He didn't feel he had
the personal willpower to do it alone, so he took out a billboard on the Las
Vegas Strip with his photo on it along with the words, "If you catch me smoking,
I'll pay you $100,000!" Was he able to quit smoking? You bet! (Ok, bad pun.)
This is called willpower leveraging. You use a small bit of willpower to
establish a consequence that will virtually compel you to keep your commitment.
As Andrew Carnagie once said, "Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch
that basket!"
In the
classic book The Art of War, Sun Tzu notes that soldiers fight the most
ferociously when they believe they're fighting to the death. A good general
knows that when attacking an opposing force, it's important to create the
illusion of a potential escape route for the enemy, so they won't fight as hard.
What escape routes are you keeping open that are causing you not to fight as
hard?
If you
don't burn those ships, you are sending the message to your subconscious mind
that it's ok to quit. And when the going gets tough, as it inevitably does for
any worthwhile goal, you will quit. If you really want to achieve your goals,
then you've got to burn those ships to the ground, and scatter the ashes. If
you're thinking that the average person won't do this, you're right -- that's
why they're average.
2. Use positive
visuals as constant reminders
Let's
say one of your important goals is to lose weight. Get some poster board, and
make your own posters that say, "I weigh X pounds," where X is your goal weight,
and put them up around your house. Change your screensaver to a text message
that says the same thing (or to some equally motivational imagery). Get some
magazines, cut out pictures of people who have bodies similar to what you'd like
to have, and put them up around your house. Cut out pictures of healthy food
that looks good to you, and post those around your kitchen. If you work in an
office, then alter your office in the same manner. Don't worry about what your
coworkers will think, and just do it! They may poke a little fun at you at
first, but they'll also begin to see how committed you are.
3. Keep yourself
surrounded with positive people.
Make
friends with people who will encourage you on the path to your goals, and find
ways to spend more time with them. Share your goals only with people who will
support you, not those who will respond with cynicism or indifference. If you
want to lose weight, for instance, get yourself into a gym, and start
befriending those who are already in great shape. You'll find that their
attitudes become infectious, and you'll start believing that you can do it too.
Meeting people who've lost one hundred pounds or more can be extremely
motivating. If you want to become a top salesperson, become friends with the top
salesperson in your market. If you want to become a great manager, hire a
coachand join management groups. If you want to be a successful actor,
learn what the real successful people do to become successful (not the really
lucky one's or the actors that received their success through birthright).
You'll find that many of the actors that really made it didn't just make it on
their talent alone, there's a lot of talented people in the industry; they made
it with tenacity, hard work, focus, talent, and a willingness to do whatever it
takes to succeed. Do whatever it takes to make new friends
who will help you keep your commitment.
Although this can be difficult for some people, you also need to fire the
negative people from your life. I once read that you can see your future just by
looking at the six people with whom you spend the most time. If you don't like
what you see, then change those people. There's no honor in remaining loyal to
people who expect you to fail. One of the reasons automobile salespeople fail to
become top producers, for instance, is that they spend most of their time
associating with other average or below average salespeople. The way out of this
trap is to start spending a lot more time associating with top salespeople, managers,
actors, directors, etc... Mindsets are contagious. So
spend your time with people whose mindsets are worth catching.
4. Feed your mind
with positive information on a daily basis.
Inspirational books and audio programs are one of the best fuel sources for
cultivating desire. If you want to quit smoking, read a dozen books written by
ex-smokers on how to quit the habit. If you want to start a business, then start
devouring business books. Go to seminars on occasion. I advise that you feed
your mind with some form of motivational material (books, articles, audio
programs) for at least fifteen minutes a day. This will continually recharge
your batteries and keep your desire impenetrably strong.
When
you absorb material created by an extremely passionate person, you'll often find
yourself feeling more passionate as well. A great book I read was Pour Your
Heart Into It by Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. As I read the book, I was
absolutely amazed at how someone could be so fanatically enthusiastic about
coffee. Other enthusiasm-building authors/speakers I highly recommend are Harvey
Mackay, Og Mandino, and Zig Ziglar.
5. Replace sources of
negative energy with positive energy.
Take an
inventory of all the sensory inputs into your life that affect your attitude --
what you read, what you watch on TV, the cleanliness of your home, etc. Note
which inputs influence you negatively, and strive to replace them with positive
inputs. I'll give you some good places to start. First, avoid watching TV news
-- it's overwhelmingly negative. Do you really need to hear about the woman who
was mauled to death by her neighbor's dog? Fill that time with positive inputs
instead, like motivational and educational audio programs. Spend more time
laughing and less time worrying. If you have a messy desk, clean it up! If you
have young kids or grandkids, spend some time playing with them. Some of this
may sound a bit corny, but it will really help increase your overall motivation.
If you have a hard time motivating yourself, chances are that your life is
overflowing with too many sources of negativity. It's far better to happily
achieve than it is to feel you must achieve in order to be happy.
6. Dress for success.
Whenever you pass by a mirror, which is probably several times a day, you get an
instant dose of image reinforcement. So what image are you currently
reinforcing? Would you dress any differently if your goals were already
achieved? Would you sport a different hairstyle? Would you shower a bit more
often?
Although for years I enjoyed the ripped jeans and T-shirt look, I noted that
when I visualized myself in the future, having achieved certain goals, I was
dressed a lot more nicely. With some experimentation I found a style of clothing
that looks professional and is also comfortable. So I gradually donated my old
clothes to charity and replaced my wardrobe with clothes that fit the new
identity I was growing into. I learned this idea from an ex-Navy Rear Admiral,
who stressed to me the importance of taking pride in your appearance, and I can
say with certainty that it makes a noticeable difference. So make sure the
clothes you wear each day are consistent with your new self-image.
7. Use mental
programming.
This is
a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique that will help you associate
strong positive emotions to whatever goal you're working to achieve. Find some
music that really energizes and inspires you. Put on your headphones and listen
to it for fifteen to twenty minutes, and as you do this, form a clear mental
picture of yourself having already achieved the results you want. Make your
imagery big, bright, vivid, colorful, three-dimensional, panoramic, and
animated. Picture the scene as if looking through your own eyes (this is very
important). This will help you form a neuro-association between the positive
emotions elicited by the music and the goal you want to achieve, thus
strengthening your desire. This is a great way to begin each day, and you can
even do it while lying in bed when you first awaken if you set things up the
night before. You should cycle the music periodically, since the emotional
charge you get will tend to diminish if you listen to the same songs each time.
Keep in
mind that this form of mental programming is already being used on you by
advertisers. Watch a fast-food TV commercial, and you'll note that the food is
big, bright, and animated -- spinning burgers, lettuce flying through a splash
of water, ripe tomatoes being sliced -- and don't forget the catchy tune. So
instead of letting others program your desires for you, take charge and mentally
reprogram yourself.
8. Take immediate
action.
Once
you set a goal for yourself, act immediately. As you begin working on a fresh
new goal, don't worry so much about making detailed long-term plans. Too often
people get stuck in the state of analysis paralysis and never reach the action
stage. You can develop your plan later, but get moving first. Just identify the
very first physical action you need to take, and then do it. For instance, if
you've decided to lose weight, go straight to your refrigerator, and throw out
all the junk food. Don't think about it. Don't ponder the consequences. Just do
it immediately.
One of
the secrets to success is recognizing that motivation follows action. The
momentum of continuous action fuels motivation, while procrastination kills
motivation. So act boldly, as if it's impossible to fail. If you keep adding
fuel to your desire, you will reach the point of knowing that you'll never quit,
and ultimate success will be nothing more than a matter of time.
If you
apply these eight strategies, you'll add so much fuel to your desire that the
fire will never burn out. You'll move towards your goals like a guided missile
to its target, and you'll enjoy the process because you'll be so focused on the
positive rewards instead of the difficulty of the tasks. If you get enough
positive energy flowing into you, you'll soon have positive results flowing out
of you. And you'll quickly become the kind of person that others refer to as
"driven."
The World Doesn't Owe You Anything, Stop Whining
Me, Personally, I've been knocked down hard, many times. As
a matter of fact, I've been knocked down recently. So what!
It's all about how you react to it. Getting up and not
giving up was always my only option. I never whine. Nobody
wants to listen to it anyway. Nobody wants to hang with
whiners except other whiners. Whiners attract other whiners
but they never listen to each other. Whining is a one-way
communication.
If your life has become reduced to a series of insignificant
incidents, which are constantly blown out of proportion,
then you'll never really get the big picture. If you're ever
going to have all of those things you say you really want
out of life, then it's important to get your thought
processes in order. Wealthy prosperous people think
differently. They see situations from alternative
perspectives. Affluent people tend to be realists.
People who are not successful and moving forward in life
have their priorities out of order. They waste valuable
productive energy on nonproductive things, spending
countless hours obsessing about unimportant molehills until
they become mountains and kill their spirits.
Let me ask you to stop and think about something for a
moment. If what you were extremely upset about yesterday
cannot even be remembered today, then it was probably never
important in the first place and it drained away your time
and energy needlessly. Can you recall a recent major crisis
that took you totally out of your game and caused you to
lose a lot of productivity? The question is, did it really
have a major ongoing effect on the rest of your life? Or,
most probably, did it actually have very little lasting
consequence on what's happening now? The key is realizing
the insignificance of the event as part of the big picture
as its happening. Don’t let it cost you more than a couple
of minutes of your day.
If you have someone or something in your life that is
constantly whining or feeding you negatives, get it out of
your life. I recently had to disassociate with someone
that I really cared for, someone I tried to help have a
better life, because this person was constantly whining,
negative, and always looking for the worst in every
situation. Not only did this person bring my attitude down
on a consistent basis, it was also tremendously time
consuming. You see, whiners want to whine all the time, and
they will eat away at your valuable time. It hurt me
personally to sever that relationship, but my life is more
at peace and I now have more time for positive focus on
family, friends, and projects that need my attention. More
importantly, my attitude stays positive, and when attitudes
are positive many great things can happen.
Here’s my message to the Whiners, Crybabies, Losers, and
Wimps that bring people down:
The world doesn't
owe you a living, much less prosperity.
The United States of
America only guarantees Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness. Happiness is not a constitutional right; you only
have the right to be allowed to go for it. Nobody owes you
happiness or success. And, if you're a failure, it's neither
my fault nor is it my responsibility. Don't stack your wimpy
baggage on my doorstep.
Road kill is strewn
across life's highway! Yes, the highways of our lives are
spattered with flattened carcasses of wimps and whiners and
other varieties of assorted losers who will envy your
successes and automatically assume they've got a right to
what you've legitimately earned. Remember this; you have a
constitutional right to be successful, happy and prosperous.
There's always going be those nasty small-minded crabs
lurking in the shadows of life waiting for an opportunity to
take a shot at you. They don't want to succeed themselves or
to better their own lives. It is their sole purpose and
primary mission to drag you down. Misery loves company.
I'm sincerely sorry
that so many people find solace and security in the excuses
they've manufactured as to why it is okay to fail because
life has dealt them a bad hand. I'm amazed to see so many
people have given up and accepted less than they deserve out
of life because they believe the world has conspired against
them. I see all of the excuse-makers who've justified their
failures and shortcomings. They take comfort in the flawed
thinking that it's impossible for them to succeed because of
factors they perceive to be beyond their control. Some
people's bad attitudes predestine them to be stuck at the
bottom of every pile and the end of every line. I am sick of
catering to life's losers, whiners and professional victims.
It appears as if some people might actually enjoy whining
more than winning.
Yes, I agree,
there's discrimination, prejudice and injustice in the world
and it's wrong. There's so many people out there filled with
mindless hate and jealousy. But just because some people are
mean spirited and bigoted is no excuse for you to wallow in
your own self-pity. Don't justify your failures because of
something you perceive the world's doing to you. The
prejudice of others may be an obstacle but you should never
allow it to become an unbreakable barrier. That would then
be your choice. Some people have been festering
inside, wallowing in self-pity and justifying their failures
for so long they may never find their way back.
When I talk about
losers, whiners, wimps and crybabies, I'm describing people
who justify failure by blaming external forces in their
lives. I am talking directly about and directly to those
people who believe they have a right to give up and lay down
because they think life isn't fair.
Why would anyone go
through life hiding behind built in excuses telling everyone
why their life isn't working? If someone can justify all of
their failures and non-accomplishments with the pride of
knowing it's not their fault, then what's the point? If any
of these things sound familiar, stop blaming your problems
and failures on other people, circumstances, and those
things that are beyond your control. One thing prosperous
people have in common is they've taken charge of their
lives. No excuses!
Don't Be a Quitter
Are you a quitter?
No, of course not! Not you. Never! No way!
Nobody likes to think of themselves as a quitter. The word
implies "loser" and no one wants to be categorized as a
loser. Yet, statistics show the majority of people tend to
give up and quit. This has vast implications for those of us
in the entertainment industry. Being an Actor, Writer,
Producer, Director, etc… is a profession where quitting can
be easy. I am amazed every month by some of the things that
happen in our industry. I see actors, that with a little
focus and persistence could transform their career for the
better, but many fail to take action. Why?
This month we are going to take a closer look at the
phenomenon called quitting. We will look at why we quit and
what we can do about it. Treat this article introspectively.
Look at yourself and see if you have the tendency to give
up. If so, resolve to change your behavior and watch what it
does to your sales results.
We Fail Because We Quit
I was reading some old articles by time management expert
Harold Taylor. He quotes a startling statistic provided by
Lewis R. Timberlake in an article entitled, "It's Always Too
Soon to Quit." Timberlake states:
Only 10% of people actually succeed at what they set out to
accomplish
Another 10% accept defeat and try to resolve their feelings
of anger and desperation by turning to drugs, alcohol and
other obsessions
Finally, 80% of the population simply "endures" their
frustration and blame the lack of success on circumstances.
Timberlake was not specifically referring to the
entertainment industry, but rather to major goals in life.
But I suspect there is a strong parallel to the
entertainment world, at least when it comes to those who
"endure" their frustration and blame their lack of success
on circumstances such as Hollywood nepotism, bad agent, bad
manager, bad luck, and the list goes on.
5 Reasons Why We Quit
We quit because it is easy to quit. We simply stop the
effort. Quitting is the path of least resistance while
perseverance takes hard work, elbow grease, effort.
We quit because it is rewarding. Think about it: when we
stop an activity (such as going to acting class, investing
in our career, staying in shape, making those pitch calls),
that which causes us discomfort or grief stops immediately.
We are, in effect, rewarded: no more frustration, no more
rejection.
3. We quit because there are no immediate consequences.
Quitting tends to be a personal and silent thing. Usually no
one sees or hears us quitting. We don't get an immediate
reprimand. We just kind of let things go away.
4. We quit because taking action often means change. Change
is uncomfortable. It creates uncertainty. It makes us self
conscious. Change means leaving our comfort zone and rather
than leave that comfort zone, we quit.
5. We quit because we don't know how to proceed. Sometimes
it is hard to take the next step in a task because we don't
know what to do. We feel we have exhausted our options and
we are too proud to ask for help.
How to Combat Quitting - Taking Action
Timberlake states we fail not because of bad breaks and
circumstances but because we don't take decisive actions
that will do something about the predicament.
This is a powerful statement.
We fail because we don't take action. We become
victims. We let events and circumstances overwhelm us. We
watch and wait for someone else to take control of the
situation. When nothing happens, when the situation does not
change, we become discouraged. No wonder we quit.
To avoid being a quitter, here are some actions you can
take:
Action #1: Avoid Quitters. Quitters have a tendency to hang
out together, at the coffee pot, at lunch and after work.
Quitters look for others to support and excuse their
inactivity. They band together and discuss their woes,
complain, infect others and feed the ever consuming fire of
despair and discouragement. It gets easy to toss in the
towel when those around you have already surrendered. By the
way, who do you spend your time with?
Action #2: Hang Out with Winners. It is easier to hang in
there when you are surrounded by those who have a more
positive attitude. You will recognize them. For the most
part, they are the top performers or the up-and-comers. They
tend to look for solutions. They tend to be creative. These
people don't quit. Seek them out. Spend your time with them.
Action #3: Seek Wise Counsel. I am surprised more people in
our business don’t seek outside assistance. You need to
actively search for coaches, mentors, experts... anyone who
can help. It might be your manager at the agency, a
successful actor you recently worked with, etc... Go and ask
for coaching and advice. Take the initiative. If you are
struggling, ask for help. Find others in and out of field
that you can lean on for advice, tips, and suggestions. Find
experts. Squeeze them for ideas, strategies, tips and
tactics. Utilize them. The real point is you don't have to
go it alone!
Action #4: Educate Yourself. Be honest here: when was the
last time you bought a book on acting, producing, sales or
did a little research? When was the last time you invested
some of your OWN money on tapes or seminars or newsletters?
You have to take responsibility to build and hone your skill
set too. Wise counsel is great but don't leave it at that.
Action #5: Learn to Analyze- The MBA Approach. Many MBA
schools teach ‘case study analysis.' Case study teaches you
to analyze all your options. Here's a neat technique: Draw a
long line on a sheet of white paper. Identify the two
extremes of your situation. On the left side of the line jot
down the words, "Do Nothing." That's your first extreme.
This means you will leave the situation as it is and
‘endure.' At the other end of the line, jot the words,
"Quit." This is the other extreme. This means you will give
up the fight completely and run away. Now take a look at
your spectrum. In essence, you have bracketed your
situation. This gives immediate perspective. It graphically
reveals the scope of the situation. Now, weigh the pros and
cons of each extreme. For instance, doing nothing usually
means nothing will change; not a great option. Quitting is
even more drastic; not a great option either. Look at the
line again. Between the two extremes you will see a lot of
empty space. This is telling you that other options are
available which lie somewhere on the spectrum. Now, THINK!
What else can you do? Can you get help somewhere? Maybe your
boss can help. Maybe your boss's boss can help. Maybe your
agent, maybe a friend, maybe a peer. What have others done?
Can you put a spin on the situation? Think out of the box.
Be zany if you have to. Don't quit, THINK. Push yourself. Go
the extra step. Don't crumble.
Summary
Let's be candid: of course there are times when quitting is
the best option. Pig headed, obsessive persistence can be
destructive. But the real issue here is that quitting is
done far too often and far too quickly in the entertainment
industry. You know it and I know it.
The trouble with quitting too fast and too often is that it
becomes addictive. It gets to be a habit and that's where
the problems occur. Learn NOT quit so soon! Think, explore
options, push a little harder and a little longer.
Take action and "never, ever quit."
Whatever it Takes
As we get closer to the end of the year it is a good time
to reflect back on our goals and aspirations as we plan for
the New Year. Can you look back on the past month, the past
year or even the past decade and say that you really did
what it took despite the obstacles that were thrown in your
path?
I’m reminded of the story I read about John Stephen
Akhwari of Tanzania in the 1968 Olympics. He started the
26.2 marathon course with all the other runners, but he
finished it all alone. With only a handful of spectators
left in the stadium, John crossed the finish line, bandaged
and bloodied, long after the winner broke the finish line
tape. A reporter asked Akhwari why he didn’t quit. To which
he answered, “My country did not send me to Mexico City to
start the race. They sent me here to finish.”
Akhwari’s story is poignant because we’ve all been there.
We’ve all been battered and beaten; often knowing that we’ve
lost the race of the day. But we also realize that if we
keep going, we will be able to run the race better and
stronger the next time. The key is learning and growing from
the experience and actually reveling in it.
Stories like Akhwari’s are compelling because they
provide real-life examples of man conquering his obstacles.
In fact, authors and screenwriters understand the power of
creating a story line where the hero has to deal with
seemingly insurmountable odds. The more the character has
been beaten down, the more we cheer his success in the end.
Hollywood has made a fortune on the triumph of the underdog.
Yet, in real life, we usually don’t have the same vantage
point. We’re not able to see the whole story unfold; we’re
not able to see the ending. We often just see the obstacles
and the failures. Instead of being celebrated for pushing
on, we’re often second-guessed or made to feel unworthy when
we stumble.
In his book, A Long Obedience In The Same Direction,
Eugene Peterson states it well. “We live in a time when
everyone’s goal is to be perpetually healthy and constantly
happy. If any of us fails to live up to the standards that
are advertised as normative, we are labeled as a problem to
be solved, and a host of well-intentioned people rush to try
out various cures on us.”
We’ve become a culture seeking immediate gratification
and happiness. Often, we’re judged as a winner or loser
before we’ve finished our race. Everyone loves the winner,
few befriend the loser. Peterson also quotes Ivan Illich who
said, “You know, there is an American myth that denies
suffering and the sense of pain. It acts as if they should
not be, and hence it devalues the experience of suffering.
But this myth denies our encounter with reality.”
And the reality is usually that the goals that will
stretch and inspire us will come with a price. The price is
that it won’t always be easy; important things rarely are.
The price is that we may slip and fall along the way. We may
become battered and bruised. But will we get up, dust
ourselves off and keep going when no one is cheering us on?
Will we persevere when others are labeling us a failure and
moving on without us, because they don’t know the ending to
our story? Will we keep going when the ending is no longer
clear to us?
Like the marathon runner, we make choices every day. Do
we finish the race? Do we gut it out when no one is cheering
us on? Or do we give up, stop or move on to something less
difficult? Are we willing to do whatever it takes?
The Unlimited Realm of the 5 year-old
This
morning I was thinking of the apple of my eye, my little
girl. Well, actually not so little now, she’s 18, but
will always be Daddy’s little girl. My thoughts turned to a
time when she was 5 years old and had a group of girls from
her Gymnastics class over for a sleepover. I remember
listening to the conversations of these little girls,
talking about what they could do and what they would become-
Olympic Champions, Movie Stars, Pop Stars, etc… I was amazed
at the confidence of youth.
If we
were to conduct a poll among the readers of this article to
determine how many of you could sing or dance, I fear that
we would receive the overwhelming message that the vast
majority of adults feel they have no talent in these areas.
On the other hand, if we were to conduct the same poll among
5-year-olds, we would find that virtually all of them are
convinced they can sing, and virtually all of them have
confidence in their ability to dance.
Most of the 5-year-olds have little or no real talent, but,
instead, they are endowed with incredible confidence in
their own potential. This confidence, or certainty of
success, is something we were all born with but we later
traded in for a strong dose of what we call realism.
Shortly after we reach school age, we are taught lessons
about the world that revolves around us, limiting our vision
and becoming realistic. I defy you to find a statue or a
monument ever erected to anyone because they were realistic.
All dreamers, all achievers, all great people kept their
child-like faith in their own dream and their ability to
carry it out, and these great people had an inordinate gift
to disregard the world’s cries for reality.
I recently had an experience with a person that was so dosed
with “reality” that he actually destroyed what was probably
going to be the best thing that ever happened to him.
Don’t let this happen to you, don’t let negativity control
your life; don’t kill your dreams and aspirations. Don’t
let “realism” drive you to a life that makes you miserable
or unfulfilled.
I challenge you to go through a single day exploring every
aspect, not from what is realistic, but instead from what is
possible. If we can master this, we will begin to revert
backwards and live our lives in the unlimited realm of the
successful 5-year-old.
Announcing our New Location
Our New Offices will open Nov. 15, 2006 at 1 p.m.
Please make note of the new information:
Result Talent Group
RTG Productions
468 N. Camden Drive,
Suite 300J
Beverly Hills, CA
90210
(310) 601-3186
Fax: (310) 388-3121
Wanna Get
Lucky?
Are most successful people lucky? Yes, they are, but most
of them create their luck. I decided to write about this
topic because of a conversation I overheard between two
actors. This week I visited the set of a film that one of
my clients was shooting (a client that creates her own
luck). Just outside of her dressing room was the holding
area for the extras. While waiting by the door of her
dressing room, I heard two of the extras, which I assume
were actors that would like to be something more than
extras, talking. They were having a conversation about Eva
Longoria. One of the actors said, “I’ve figured out that to
be successful in this business you just have to be lucky.”
“You have to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Look at Eva Longoria.” “She’s not that talented, she was
just lucky- In the right place at the right time.” The
second actor agreed and both rambled on about, and seemingly
committed to the belief, that they only way you are going to
be successful in show business is to be lucky. Well, I
disagree with them on a couple of points, first, I think Eva
Longoria is extremely talented, and the networks, studios,
directors and producers seem to support this theory.
Second, since Eva is a fellow Native Texan, I have read many
articles and interviews regarding her path. Eva was lucky,
but she was lucky because she out worked, out hustled, out
planned, and out executed most of her peers. Eva knew what
she wanted and committed to get it.
If you want to be “lucky” like Eva. You have to have goals
and a plan to reach those goals. I’m going to give you are
great seven step guide to help you “get lucky.”
Most
people start out with only a goal and totally miss the other
six planning and management strategies. Setting goals is the
very last thing you do and only after you have checked your
intent, are prepared to pay the cost and have a clear vision
of the results you want.
Here’s the seven step guide:
1) Get
Clear About the Results You Desire
The
first step to achieving any significant result is to define
what you specifically want. Make a written list of your
desired results. If you feel confused coming up with a list
of results, answer two questions:
-
What do I want
more of in my life (or business)?
-
What do I want
less of in my life?
Then when you feel clearer about the results you want,
review them using these questions:
-
What do I want?
(focus on defining your end results)
-
What is the real
issue, problem or challenge that is preventing you from
moving forward?
-
What judgments
have you made? (your abilities, opportunity, resources,
motivation, capabilities etc.) Are they appropriate?
2)
Deal with Unresolved Issues
Approach dealing with the issues or problems you identified
from the last question with sense of urgency. When you
identify roadblocks, beliefs, and attitudes that have been
holding you back, deal with those before you go any further.
Whenever, you identify roadblocks deal with them within 72
hours by completing it, planning it, set a date to deal with
it, delegate or dump it.
Moving forward before resolving roadblocks and problems is
not wise because it will waste precious time, energy, and
resources. Wait until you resolve all unresolved issues and
potential roadblocks.
3)
Assess the Risk
Every major decision has implications and a cost associated
with pursuing the goal. To remain congruent make sure you
understand the risk and who will be affected by the actions
you take. Ask yourself the following questions:
-
Why do I want
this?
-
What will I
experience more of in my life as a result of
achieving/doing this?
-
How is/will this
decision/action affect me, my family, company and all
those involved? Is this satisfactory?
-
Who has
successfully done this before that I can learn from?
-
Who can I share
this with immediately to get positive support, and
feedback?
4)
Examine Your Intent
Remember, the content of your intent becomes the content of
your results. Maintaining a brutally honest perspective by
maintaining agreement and harmony with yourself will create
a powerful force, the force is called congruency. You can
try and lie to yourself but the results you create do not
lie. Answer the following questions:
-
What is my
intent?
-
What is driving
me?
-
Do I really
intend to do this?
-
Is this
consistent with my values and beliefs?
If
you find anything that makes you feel uncomfortable examine
what is behind that feeling. If you get stuck, go back up to
the previous question and expand on your answers. As you
rework your answers look for any conflicts or mismatches to
the risk of pursuing the result identified.
5)
Cost
It
is easy to start a project but it can become very difficult
to stay with the project- to give 100% and actually finish
what you start.
-
What is the cost
associated with getting the result you want?
-
Does this fit
into my overall focus or will this simply be a strategy
to divert my focus and attention?
-
When should I
start paying the price?
-
Is this
something I really want?
-
What are my
reasons for pursuing this? Am I listening to my own
voice or someone else’s? Am I thinking for myself?
-
What is my
investment in the goal?
-
Are my heart,
mind and priorities in harmony?
-
Am I willing to
pay the price?
6)
Vision
Take the time to create a picture with words of the end
result and how much it will mean to you upon completion.
Your vision is how you see yourself or your business
executing your goals and implementing your ideas.
-
Do you have a
clear vision of where you want to be?
-
What you will
create and what you will become?
-
Who you or your
business can help?
-
How you will
make a difference?
A
business plan is the best tool I know of to create a
comprehensive plan that minimizes risk and maximizes your
rate of return. A business plan is simply an organized way
of setting goals, and making sure that you have the
resources to achieve them.
7)
Goals
Now
is the time to put your plan together. At this point you
should be a lot clearer about what it will take to achieve
the results you want. You will have dealt with any “stinkin’
thinkin’ “ and you will be sure this is what you want. All
that is left is to define the goals that will need to be
achieved to produce the result you want and need.
-
What specific
steps will have to be achieved to accomplish this?
-
Am I applying
the most basic concepts that I know work? Am I making
this project more complicated than it needs to be?
-
Is there
something that you will need to change or learn to
accomplish your goals?
-
What current
strengths can you apply that will ensure the successful
completion of your goals?
Don’t be fooled, there is still a lot of work ahead to
achieve the results you defined in the beginning. What I can
tell you is that by spending the time on this process you
will have increased the odds you will actually achieve those
results, you are congruent, in harmony with your skills,
abilities, and opportunities. Now, you are ready to be
lucky.
Limiting Greatness
It has been said
by many people smarter than I, that “the only limitations we encounter in
life are those self-limiting ones we place on ourselves.” If this is true
(and at this point I am neither agreeing nor disagreeing with this premise),
why then do so few people reach their full potential? Why do so many people
feel stuck, out of control and without hope in their lives? Why do so many
people give up, quit, settle, resign themselves or operate out of blame,
anger, guilt, resentment and self-pity in regards to the quality of their
life?
If this question
were answered in a book by the same title, it would never sell. Why? Because
the very people we are talking about here do not want to take the
responsibility for their lives. They insist on pointing a finger toward
something or someone else for the cause of their station or circumstances in
life.
I have been at the
bottom of the barrel a few times in my life. I have also reached the
mountaintop. I have met thousands of people who believe they do not have any
choices. They are stuck: in a job, business, relationship, way of life,
neighborhood, climate or career. You and I are not trees. We can change what
we do not like. Then why don’t we?
…fear, comfort,
procrastination, wrong motives or reasons, other’s emotional manipulation of
us and our acceptance of it.
The truth is – and
I didn’t just invent it or discover it – each of us came into this world
headed for greatness in some way. We were engineered for success at birth
and conditioned for failure along the way. We have forgotten our heritage.
We have the most magnificent organ ever created in our skull – a mind that
can create whatever it chooses. There is nothing we cannot do. The skeptics
out there are thinking, “Sure, Darren. I can fly.”
I do not have the
time or the interest to deal with skeptics or critics. If that is their
attitude, I will bet they take it into other areas of their life as well.
This is not about you or me flying, but realizing we can do whatever we put
our minds to, as long as we put action into our dreams. Certainly there are
physical limitations in many areas or with some people. My only point here
is that we could do more if we would only learn that most of our ceilings
are self-imposed.
I will give you a
few examples. This first one is very recent. As a matter of fact, it is
the one of the headline articles in the October 9 news section of my
website. One of my clients, Jennifer Sciole, recently booked a role in a
feature film. She wanted to be in the film because she really likes the
producer and the cast. The only role that was available for a female
was one for a very tall, large breasted, funny woman with an eye contact
problem. Jennifer doesn’t fit the tall or large breasted categories,
but she is funny. She actually found out the role was available,
called me and said, submit me, and tell them I can cross one eye. Many
actors wouldn’t have even tried to get the part. Jennifer knew what
she wanted and went after it- and booked it! I have to respect her for
that. I wish I had 100 clients like her.
I’ll use myself as
the second example. Growing up, my family was very poor, very blue
collar, and very fixed on what your station in life should be. I was
born destined, according to my family, to work in the Texas Oil Patch at one
of the refineries or chemical plants. But for me, I felt that was not
the life I wanted, I wanted something else. When I took a sales job to
work my way through college, my friends and family consistently let me know
that I was wasting my time, and why didn’t I just go ahead and get “a real
job.” After college, when I made my first six-figure paycheck in
sales, my family and friends still insisted, “it won’t last, you should
settle down and go ahead and take that real job.” They would say,
“it’s too hard to be successful in sales.” When I went to work as a
trainer for a Fortune 100 Company, during my first week I gave my boss my 5
year career goals. After reading them, he saw that one of my goals was
to be a Regional Manager in one year. He told me, “there’s no way.
No one makes Regional Manager in less than 5 years, and normally it’s ten.”
I made it in eight months. When I became Regional Manager, one of my
goals was to be National Manager in two years, and again I was told, “It
can’t be done.” It was done in six months. The same scenario
happened throughout my career. I was told that it would take twenty
years for me to become a Vice President; I did it in five. The reason
I bring all of this up, is I know there were 20 people that started with the
company at about the same time as I, and most of them were smarter, better
looking, taller, etc… but they all put limitations on themselves; they all
bought in to what other told them they couldn’t do. They all laughed
at “crazy ol’ Darrens” goals and dreams. But I knew that the only
thing that could hold me back was me, and I didn’t let that happen.
What inner mental
images are you holding in your consciousness that may be holding you back?
Is it the fear of failure or success? Is it the fear of rejection or public
scorn? Is it an inner feeling of unworthiness? Or is it some other emotional
issue or scar that you have failed to recognize or deal with? Whatever
it is, get rid of it! Program your mind with the attitude that “if it
is to be, it’s up to me” and take action.
Seize the Moment
New
Season- New Opportunities- New Plan! It’s September, time
for a lot of things new; new schools, new television season,
time to start thinking about a new year. How big can you
plan for you, your future and your family? My client and I
were sitting on a plane a couple of weeks ago figuring out
exactly what we will create the rest of this year, where we
are going, how we want to live not just this year but into
the future. I asked her, “do you want to be rich, famous or
happy?” and she said all three! I love that answer!
You will either set your goals and make them come true or
you will spend the next year and the rest of your life a
slave making someone else's goals and dreams coming true! If
I am going to make someone's dreams come true I want them be
mine! Which will you do?
This is a good time to really get clear about what you want
in life! Now is the time to decide what you want out of life
and do whatever it takes to make sure you get it! Either
that, or you will spend your life helping someone else get
what they want. Don't kid yourself by thinking you can't do
it, you aren't meant to be rich, you don't know enough, you
aren't lucky, or whatever…anyone can do it if they want it
and have a plan. Here is the hard cold truth of life! You
are going to spend 1/3 of your life involved in your career
and that won't change, no matter how much or how little you
want! If you make ten thousand dollars a year you will spend
as much time at work as someone that makes ten million a
year, maybe more!
I recently read that the average American spends 109 dollars
for every 100 dollars he earns. God Bless America, God Bless
the American Consumer and God Bless Credit! The issue here
is not how much people spend; the issue is that they don't
produce enough! If you do as the "masses" do, you will be
treated as the masses are treated. History would suggest
that the masses of people typically don't do very well in
life! You know, it takes masses of people to make a handful
of people very rich. If you don't come up with a plan about
why you go to work and what you will do with the money you
produce, then you will spend your life simply making others
rich! Some people would suggest that these people should
spend less money. I would suggest they just produce more!
You will never save your way into wealth, and even if you
could, by the time you have enough to produce some financial
freedom; you will be so old you won't be able to enjoy it.
The only way to financial freedom is to PRODUCE and INVEST
the money, and then produce and invest again! Quit making
100 and spending 109. You are paying everyone except the
most important person- you! Make 240 spend 109 with the bill
collectors AND INVEST the 131 in you. And make sure the 131
is paid to you first not last! I have actors tell me all
the time, “I can’t afford new headshots,” “I can’t afford a
good reel,” “I can’t afford a class,” “I can’t afford…,”
then I see them charging up the credit card at department
stores, night clubs, etc… Come on, get real! As soon as I
find an actor that not willing to invest in themselves
first, I drop them!
This is how I created my financial situation! I didn't have
money to start with. I didn't come from money! First, I
maximized my production as a sales person everyday I went to
work. I didn't think in terms of a commission I thought in
terms of each commission putting me in a position to make
good investments down the line. Secondly, I set up accounts
that were SACRED where money went each month that was set
aside for investments in the future. This money could not be
touched or used for anything other than investments. When I
was paid each month the first thing I did was pay my
investment account, then with whatever was left over I paid
my bills. I enjoyed myself and produced enough so that every
month I saved more than I spent! But no matter what, I paid
myself first! I go to work for me not for the bill
collectors! It's insane that people go to work everyday and
all they ever do is just pay the gas, electric, bank, visa
card, and the IRS. What about yourself?
This is what I did: If it cost me five thousand a month to
live, I made sure I produced enough so that I could put away
at least what I spent plus forty percent. If you are a
commission person or salary with bonus based on production
you have the ability to do this! Do you know what 7000 a
month invested over the next ten years is worth? $840,000 in
just principal- not including interest or appreciation.
I could then take that money and make a down payment on an
office building worth over four to five million dollars
and have the tenants pay the debt off over the next
twenty-five years. I didn't buy a house, I bought something
where I could receive income. Twenty-five years from
now the building would be worth fifteen to twenty million
and I only put 850k down on it!
After twenty-five years the renters have paid off the bank
and I continue to receive income from each office that is
rented! What did the building really cost me?
a) 4 million
b) 850,000
c) None of the above
The correct answer is none of the above. My customers paid
for the building! The money I put aside each month came from
the money I earned through my business. You have one person
working for a commission and another guy across town
thinking that every sale gets him a little closer to
25million dollars. Who is the stronger, more motivated, more
inspired, more tenacious and more persistent! You don't have
a chance against a sales person, business man, actor,
producer, or anyone that thinks like that!
As a talent manager, as a salesperson, as a business owner,
I never considered a customer/client as a commission but
rather as someone who was going to put me in a situation to
have an incredible life. Every person who I have made even
the smallest commission on has contributed to the life I
have today. Quit thinking about just the deal in front of
you or the month! Create a life for yourself. Plan out what
it would take you to have an incredible life and then do
whatever it takes.
Anyone can create financial independence; it only takes
desire, a commitment, a plan and some discipline! These are
the steps:
1) Determine what it cost you to live comfortably each month
without sacrificing.
2) Produce enough each month so that you can save an amount
greater than what you spend. So if you spend 5000, you have
to save at least 6,000 and that is in addition to your
taxes!
3) Pay yourself first each month no matter what!
4) Do whatever it takes to produce the amount necessary each
month! ACT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!
5) Treat this surplus of money as though it were sacred and
do not use it, no matter what, until you are ready to make
your move. Take as much time as you need, continue to
accumulate the cash and the perfect investment will show up
when the time is right.
6) Look for investments
-
Where you can
buy something that will increase in value,
-
That you can
personally control
-
That generates
cash while you own it
-
Where your down
payment can buy something worth 4-5 times more than the
money you have, and someone else will pay off the debt.
7)
Stay focused on your goal and write it down each day before
you go to work. And don't kid yourself, it’s better to be
rich than to be poor! I was born poor, and it’s no fun.
Somebody is going to have the money, it just soon be you!
Are You
Surrounded By Success?
One
of the secrets to being a successful manager, actor,
agent, professional, business owner, etc... is to
surround yourself with the right people. When I was the
Vice President of a division that generated over 100
million dollars per year in profit for a big company, I
made sure to surround myself with a management team made
up of people that I felt were better managers than me,
or had the potential to be a better manager than me.
I noticed that most of my peers, were insecure about
their positions, and hired people that could not replace
them or trained their management team to be dependent on
them. As a manager, my goal was to find the best people,
provide them with the best training possible, and get
them promoted as soon as they were ready.
At no time was I ever worried about job security or
being replaced by someone I hired and trained. After
all, if I could find and produce the most talented
managers for the company, I knew that I would be
considered a valuable asset and a top executive. In
fact, with this philosophy I went on to be one of the
top producers in a company with thousands of employees.
Considering the fact that I was with the company for
only 5 years and 32 years old at the time, and earning
more than all of the other Vice Presidents (the majority
of them being much older than me), this was quite an
achievement.
I can thank one of my early mentors for the advice that
he gave me early in life. Bill told me, "if you hang
around dumb people - you tend to do dumb things, and
people will look at you as a dummy. But if you hang
around smart people - you tend to act smarter, and
people will treat you as such. So hang around smart
people!"
I was just a kid when I learned that lesson, and that
piece of advice has helped me succeed in my business and
personal life. What kind of people do you surround
yourself with? How do you want to be looked at? As the
mediocre manager with a mediocre management team and
mediocre staff, or the great manager with a great
management team and a great staff? As a mediocre actor
with mediocre friends and coaches that tell you how
great you are; or great actors and great coaches that
push you to get to their level?
BOTTOM LINE:
If you want to be one of the GREATS, then surround
yourself with great people.
EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT - PROFESSIONAL BANK ACCOUNT
Chances are you have a checking account. In order for you to write checks,
you must make deposits into your account. The more deposits you make, the
larger the balance you will have. If you don't make deposits yet continue to
write checks and make withdrawals, eventually your account will have a
negative balance. If you continue to write checks even if your balance
cannot cover the checks you write, the bank will eventually close out your
account.
In your professional life, you have a professional bank account with the
people you work with. When one of your employees takes initiative and does
his job well, that employee is making a deposit into his professional bank
account with you. If that employee continues to do his job well and
continually makes deposits into his professional bank account with you,
chances are you will reward this employee with bonuses, raises, paid
vacation time, etc.
However if your employee shows up late for work or doesn't meet a deadline,
that employee is making a withdrawal from his professional bank account with
you. If that employee continues to make withdrawals and neglects to make the
proper amount of deposits, eventually his professional bank account will be
in the negative and the possibility exists that you will have to close his
account and terminate him.
In your personal life, you have an emotional bank account with your spouse.
When you do nice things for your spouse, you are making a deposit. When your
spouse does something nice for you, then your spouse is making a deposit.
When you give your spouse a sincere compliment, you are making a deposit.
When you come home late from a night out with your friends and your spouse
is upset, you are making a withdrawal.
BOTTOM LINE:
Always make sure that you have high balances in your checking accounts, your
professional accounts, and your emotional accounts. Failure to make the
appropriate deposits will result in closed accounts.
Keep Rollin’
This
morning during my regular workout, I was thinking about
an actor I spoke to last week. When I spoke to him, he
told me about what he perceives to be a dire situation
in the entertainment industry. He said that he has
great skills as an actor, and in another time he would
be booking series regular roles on episodics. However,
because so many “movie stars” are now moving to
television, and because the networks do so many reality
programs, and because CAA, ICM, William Morris, UTA, and
the other big agencies have such a lock on everything,
that’s there’s no way he can make it- a little talent
group like mine can’t get through the doors of
Hollywood, and he can’t break through them as an unknown
actor. He told me that he was basically going to be out
of the business, and he was planning for it. Get that?
He was planning to stop doing the one thing in life he
said he loves, he was planning for failure. He has
literally thrown his hands up and said, “I surrender, I
give up.” Why? I just don’t understand it. As I was
thinking about it, I became disgusted, and it was
affecting my working out so I turned on the ipod. Of
course, the first song made me think about it more.
This song will never be a great social classic, however
it sent a message to me. As Limp Bizkit sang “what you
gonna do now? Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’” I thought,
you know, that’s what this actor should be thinking- “no
matter what, I’m going to keep rollin’”
He
was making a self fulfilling prophecy. While you may
not always get what you want, you will always get what
you expect! Surprisingly, the power of belief and
expectation work just as effectively on your feelings of
self-doubt and limitation as they do on your thoughts of
success and achievement. Think thoughts of defeat or
failure and you are bound to be discouraged. Belief is
an incredibly powerful state of mind. Your belief system
not only defines and shapes who you are, but it also
determines your potential. Henry Ford was correct when
he said, "Whether you think you can or think you can't -
you are right." Your belief system, like your computer,
doesn't judge what you input; it simply accepts it as
the truth. Earl Nightingale, co-founder of the
Nightingale-Conant Corporation, concluded that life's
strangest secret is that you become what you think about
all day long. If you want to know where your predominant
thoughts lie and what you believe, look at what you are
experiencing in your life. Your thoughts are creative by
nature and express themselves through your emotions,
which in turn, drive your actions. Everything you say,
both positive and negative, is literally an affirmation.
"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your
words, for they become actions. Understand your actions,
for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will
become your character. Develop your character, for it
becomes your destiny."
- Anonymous
Many
years ago, I heard about an eager, new insurance agent
who had just received his license and was looking for
prospects. He met with a successful businessman who had
agreed to provide him with referrals. As the businessman
handed the insurance agent ten referrals, he asked him
to contact the prospects immediately and get back to him
with the results. Two weeks later, the enthusiastic
salesman dropped by the businessman's office to give him
feedback and ask for more referrals. The insurance agent
was pleased to announce that he had been very
successful! He proudly stated that he had already
contacted and sold insurance policies to seven of the
referrals and was still attempting to contact the other
three. After thanking the businessman for giving him the
ten prospects, he asked him if he had thought of any
other referrals. The businessman smiled and said that he
was very busy at the moment and surprised the insurance
agent by handing him a phonebook. The businessman
informed him that the previous ten prospects were not
his personal contacts, but rather names that he had
selected at random out of the phonebook. He suggested
that the salesman go ahead and get the next ten
prospects out of the phonebook himself!
The
astute businessman taught the new salesman an extremely
valuable lesson in the power of belief and expectation.
The salesman had made those sales on the belief that he
had been given ten preferred prospects. Therefore, he
was confident and eager to contact those leads and
expected to make the sales with little or no difficulty.
What is your belief about your market and what
expectations do you have for your success? Yes, belief
is indeed a very powerful state of mind!
The
actor I mentioned above should be thinking “we are going
to push and sell myself as an actor, I’m going to become
a self marketing, self promoting macine, and grow, not
matter what!” “I am going to find a way to succeed, not
matter what it takes!” “I am going to maximize every
opportunity, every audition, and I am going to create
more opportunities. I am going to train better,
implement better, and execute better than I ever have
before!” “I will succeed in difficult times!” “This is
going to be the best thing that ever happened to me!”
And you know what? If that is his mindset, there’s a
real good chance that it will be right. How many of you
remember what the economy was like from 1988 – 1992? I
do. I ran a division of a big corporation that was
really suffering. If I would have said, “well, the
economy is bad, sales are down, I just need to figure
out how to live on nothing”, you would probably find me
living under some bridge with a blanket and bottle
today. However, I decided that I was going to be
successful and my division was going to be successful,
that there was a way to excel in a difficult market, and
I was willing to do whatever needed to be done. Guess
what, I was right, there was a way. Right now, this may
not be a great market for some of you, your brand may be
giving up market share, your local economy may stink,
and a number of other things may be negative. How it
affects you and your income is up to you. You can plan
for the worst and it will happen, or you can plan for
growth and success and it will come.
Do or Do Not
Indecision and a lack of commitment will derail your
success. That's not to say that you have to commit to
everything that comes down the pike, quite the contrary.
What it does mean, however, is that you have to
determine what you need to accomplish and be 100%
dedicated to do what you need to do to accomplish it.
Forget the half-hearted attempts; the results will be
disappointing at best.
In the film,
"The Empire Strikes Back," there is a great scene
between Yoda and Luke Skywalker. Yoda is in the early
stages of mentoring Luke to see if he can become a great
Jedi warrior. Luke is struggling with the mental
toughness and focus he needs to move objects with the
"powers of the force." Yoda instructs Luke to raise his
sunken spacecraft from the murky swamp with his mental
focus.
Skeptical of
his ability, Luke says, "I'll give it a try." Without
hesitation, Yoda snaps back, "No! Try not. Do or do not.
There is no try."
How often do
you say, "I'll try" and what does that really mean?
"Try" is a weasel-word like "maybe." It's what we say
when we aren't willing to fully commit to a yes or no
answer. It's actually ok to say "no." In fact, I would
argue that it is far better than saying "I'll try" or
"Let me think it over."
So before you
utter "I'll try," think about what you really mean to
say. Are you willing to commit or not? Are you willing
to do what it takes or not? There is no try!
Is it real?
If you are an actor,
producer, director, studio executive, agent, manager,
casting director, or anyone involved in the
entertainment industry, I would like for you to ask
yourself the following question about your goals:
My goals are:
A. Something I would
like to achieve
B. A Guideline
C. A Target
D. Mandatory
Think about it, which
definition is most applicable to your company or your
personal goals? We’ve found that only nine percent of
people perceive their goals to be mandatory, and therein
lies a commitment problem- their goals are not real. If
you’ve ever wondered why most people don’t reach their
goals, it’s because their goals are not real, they are
just dreams and wishes. It takes a lot more than a
dream or a wish to become successful.
About seven years ago I
made a decision stop making the big bucks for the big
boys in Corporate America and start making them for
myself; so I started my first business. I remember a
friend of mine being very concerned and saying “Good
Luck. You know, you make a lot of money now, it’s
really hard to start a business, and a lot of them
fail. But I guess you’ll be o.k. If it does fail, you
could just go back to working for one of the Fortune 100
Companies; they love you.” Without thinking and
without hesitation I immediately responded that “being
successful is not an option- I have to succeed.” I
felt that I had put over 20 years of work and training,
plus most of my savings into opening the business, and I
could never walk away without achieving my goals.
Think about how your
people respond to your goals and your leadership. I had
the opportunity to work for a great leader at one time;
the kind of leader that I would follow into any battle.
Today, I still try to imitate his example. He set a
goal for our sales division to add 200 new customers in
1998 so that we could take our a division of the company
public before the year 2000. As the Vice President in
charge of the sales division, our goal was not an
option, it was mandatory. There was no way that I was
going to let my leader, my team, or my company down.
Because the goal was mandatory, there was no question of
“if,” the only question was “what will it take and how
we were going to do it?” Our entire sales team was
committed, failure was not an option. We added over 500
new customers that year, more than double the goal.
The next time you travel
by airplane, upon boarding ask the pilot how he feels
about the goal of getting the aircraft safely to the
destination city. Is it a guideline, a target, or
something the airline would like him to do? If the pilot
fails to immediately respond, "its Mandatory" - get off
that airplane! A professional pilot knows that despite
the weather, maintenance deficiencies, or other crises,
he must land safely. The commitment is to make it
happen.
That same commitment is
needed for people in the entertainment business- in
spite of the weather, the economy, the competition; we
must find a way to attain our objective. It’s our
responsibility. In the entertainment industry we often
minimize the commitment that is required to hit our
goals by finding one of thousands of possible excuses
for not achieving our goals. I hear people say all of
the time, “I would probably book more jobs if I sent out
thank you cards, made follow-up calls, you know,
following the normal process.” I also hear managers of
companies say, "we have a sales process, and if everyone
followed the process we would sell more, but they
don't." I find myself thinking, “this is ridiculous.”
“If you have a process, and the process will make you
successful, the why don’t you make it mandatory?” The
goal of following a good process shouldn’t be a
guideline or something you would like to see happen, it
absolutely must happen in order for your career or
company to thrive! Successful people don’t stay
successful when the commitment to winning, to achieving,
to meeting goals wanes. Successful companies and people
remain successful when their mentality is “if it is to
be, it is up to me.”
It has been said that the
difference between a successful person and others is not
a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather
a lack of will- a lack of commitment. Success in the
entertainment business, not just today, but in the
future, requires that you make reaching your goals
mandatory.
Crank it Up in 3 Steps
Do you want to
achieve more? Do you want to crank it up a notch? There
are three easy steps to do just that.
1. Know More
2. Do More
3. Become More
Sounds simple
enough, doesn't it. While it may not be as simple as it
sounds, there are some easy steps you can implement
immediately by focusing on the right things. Let's look
at the three items more closely.
Know More - If
you want to be more successful, you have to learn and
grow. Things change so rapidly that you can't stay still
for long without being left behind or run over. So ask
yourself, what do I need to learn to become an expert in
my field, to be the best in my field? Then, do what you
have to do to acquire the knowledge. Read, listen to
tapes, go to seminars, attend classes, interview the
experts; do whatever it takes to learn more. Key
phrase; “Whatever it Takes!” I recommend
starting with a book that really change my life, “The
Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino.
Do More -
Knowledge alone is not enough. You have to actually do
something with the knowledge. You have to "do more." How
are you going to apply the knowledge and skills that you
already have? What actions are you going to take? What
goals are you going to achieve. You have to become the
valuable resource that you are capable of becoming.
Remember knowledge is not power; APPLIED knowledge is
power.
Become More - To
become more, you have to be more. You may have heard
that people are paid what they are worth. If you want to
be paid more, you have to be worth more. You have to
bring more value to the table. The other morning I was
going through my normal routine of self-improvement and
evaluation. One of the things I do before I leave to
face the day is look in a mirror, reflect on my mission
and repeat a mantra that I have been repeating every day
for 24 years. On this day when I looked in the mirror I
thought about what I have become. The day before I had
done a speaking engagement that generated $43,000. I
was worth $43,000 for one day of work. Next month, it
will be $60,000. To get to that level I had | |
