Choose Discipline or Regret

Today I'm going to touch on discipline one more time this week because I think it's so important to our success - in everything.

Getting ourselves to take consistent action, even when we don't want to, can be tough. No question. But it's been said that the top 10% of the folks at the top are there because they are willing to do the things the rest of the folks don't want to do.

Being disciplined challenges most folks.

I keep this quote in my head all the time:

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” -Jim Rohn

I think most of us would agree that we regret far more things that we didn't do, than things we did do.

We've got to force ourselves to take action. The more action the better. More of it and more often.

Just think of how much time you waste in a day. I know if I fail to write out tomorrow's activities before I go to bed, I'll be far less productive than if I have a written plan in place. Far less.

Try it for one week and you'll see just how much more you can do. And while you're at it fix your "time" problem.

People are always impressed by how much I accomplish. I owe my success in that to two things. Having a full plan written out for the day (even if I don't get everything on it done everyday) and I've fixed my "time" problem.

How do you fix your time problem? You do it by changing your perception of how long something will take to do. Most folks go around saying they "don't have enough time". And since that is their belief, sure enough they prove themselves right. I suggest changing your belief. Instead, say to yourself, "Oh, I have time for that."

You'll find you get a whole lot more done with that attitude. Instead of wasting all those little bits of time during the day "in between things" you'll start using those times to get more done. With that belief (whose correctness your subconscious will try to justify) you'll automatically speed up and accomplish more. Getting more done will become a personal challenge - one that you'll win time and again.

One of my favorite mentors, Dan Kennedy, who I quote often in my book put it this way, "It's not the specific actions you take that make you successful as much as it is that you take lots of actions."

Discipline and action 
are critical components of your prosperity.


What can you accomplish with discipline and action? Almost anything I believe. I don't know your particular and unique set of skills, but here are just a few things I have done with not a whole lot more than you have, if anything:

• Located and purchased my first dream sports car in less than 48 hours using less than $1000 cash out of pocket.
• Planned and executed my wife's dream "Garden Wedding" in the middle of a snowy Buffalo winter, IN JUST 8 DAYS! Many guests commented that it was the classiest wedding they'd ever been to. It even included a  scale replica of Niagara Falls, indoors, and the water flowed all night long amongst the flower gardens and live tall trees at Rich's Renaissance Atrium. I received a personal thank you note from billionaire owner, Robert E. Rich, Jr. too!
  
• Took the next 30 days and wrote my first book, telling exactly how you could do that too. It was called, "Plan and Enjoy Your Perfect Wedding, In Just 8 Days!" It was a hit at all the local bridal shows.
• As a marketing representative, in less than 4 months, took an unknown Asian gem merchant from a position of not being able to get a visa to the USA, to sharing a booth with the founder of one of the world's most famous American gem shows, interviewed and published by a renowned gem testing authority, and sold more than $60,000 worth of gemstones - at wholesale price - in her first week here in the U.S..
• Most recently, assembled, photographed and published all the material for "Building Blocks of Prosperity" in just 30 days, including website and sales material...and got it's name out to more than 450,000 qualified prospects!
  

You'll really be surprised just how much you can do when you let action and discipline become your habit.

As it happens, one of my favorite authors, Robert Ringer just had a column published on discipline. Funny how that topic always comes up this time of year as we start dropping all those great New Years plans. You can read his excellent column on discipline here:
http://www.earlytorise.com/2010/01/13/be-relentlessness-in-pursuit-of-your-dreams.html

Robert Schwarztrauber

A Winning Strategy for 2010

For the military generals and strategists of the world, "Divide and Conquer" has been one of the most familiar battle cries for 100's and 100's of years. The reason that strategy endures to this day is because it works.

Instead of facing a full-on attack, divide your enemy into several disorganized and disconnected fragments and you'll stand a much better chance of victory.

Divide and Conquer is a very basic, winning strategy used by the military. Many corporate negotiators use this strategy as well. Anytime you're up against an opponent who has many faces (could be actual physical people, or even one person with multiple agendas, or a whole group of people with separate agendas) you'll have a far better chance of getting your way if you can take one big problem and break it into several smaller ones.

But what if you're the problem?

What if the battle you face every day is with yourself?

If you're not getting what you want in life - if you'd like to be, have or do something different but haven't gotten there yet - it's quite likely the face you see in the mirror each morning represents the toughest opponent you'll ever face.

You've probably heard the phrase, "He's his own worst enemy." It means that for whatever reason a person just cannot get himself to do the things he should. He's stuck. He lacks a strategy for success.

The cause of this very common inner battle for most people is indecision. They simply cannot make up their minds what to do. They ask their friends for advice. They ask their family for advice. They search online. They buy courses and programs and books to search for the answer to their problem. And boy,  they find lots of  answers! Often, too many.

"A confused mind does nothing."

With so much information available now, they get confused, they overload themselves. They hear about one action to take that will solve their problem, but then they read about another that could work equally well. Now they have to decide. But to decide means to commit to one while leaving the other behind. So rather than commit they keep searching. Ultimately putting off making any decision. It's a self-fulfilling cycle.

Most times, actually taking any one of the options he finds and working it would bring him success. But so often he'll dabble a bit with one, then hop on over to try another because it might be easier. But a half-hearted effort never wins the prize.

Ultimately, the best strategy for claiming victory over your own inner struggles is: "DECIDE and CONQUER!"

Throughout history you will find that the people who can make decisions quickly and ACT on them succeed to a far greater extent than all the other 90% of the population combined.

Let "DECIDE and CONQUER!" be your battle cry this year.

Get the facts but then trust your instinct. The human mind was designed for survival. Unless you're psychotic, you'll come up with the correct answer instinctively more than you'll come up with the wrong one. Stop second guessing yourself.

Decide, which does I'm afraid mean commit to one, and take whatever action you need to in order to acheive the success and prosperity you desire this year.

"DECIDE AND CONQUER!"

More helpful information on decision making, along with the full-color image shown above, can be found on pages 13 and 14 of "Building Blocks of Prosperity"  Let me leave you with one final quote,  by one of my favorites,  Jim Rohn...

"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."

Tribute to a Mentor

Although not in the spirit one usually expects to find at the launch of a book, I feel it appropriate at this time to pay tribute to a man who has influenced my life, this book, and my work greatly. That man is Jim Rohn, appropriately known as America's Foremost Business Philosopher.

Saddly, on December 5th of this year, Jim was called home, to a better place in heaven.

Though the photograph above did not make it into Book 1, I am happy to present it here in tribute to a man who worked so hard at helping people take down the walls that keep them from prosperity. Jim always had a way of stating things simply. He said things that were simple, yet profound when you really thought about it. You found yourself saying, "Yeah, that's right. Why didn't I think of that." He presented ideas that were common sense, but not common practice.

Fortunately for me, my walls were open to Jim Rohn. Having his words come into my life have made a difference that can't possibly be measured. Luckily, because we live in these modern times where recorded materials are available, anyone can still enjoy and learn from his words through the materials he's recorded and written. And I encourage everyone to do so.
There is a link in the credit below for those interested.

Thank you Jim, for making this world a better place for me and millions of others!

NOTE: Although the quote in the photo above did not make it into Book 1, several other quotes by Jim Rohn did. Click on the image below to view more by Jim Rohn.

This quote is by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine, go to www.jimrohn.com Excerpted from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. Copyright © 1994-2008 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide.