The final step to getting what you want is to learn and own your leadership attributes. If you read the biographies of successful people, you’ll come across these messages often:
1. You cannot give up.
2. You have to believe in yourself.
3. You must possess determination, the desire to succeed, tenacity, conviction, belief and stamina.
4. You will make mistakes and experience failures before you succeed – and even after you hit the jackpot.
5. You must and will stay the course.
A wonderful example of keeping your eye on the prize that I came across during my research for this book comes from Vince Poscente. Poscente was an Olympic speed skier who went from having the desire to becoming a speed skier to making the Olympic team in only four years.
Vince wrote a book about his quest, The Age Of Speed. In the chapter “Racing Across A Tightrope,” he describes how he learned through his Olympic training to stay the course while keeping his eye on the goal.
Here is his story:
“The coach challenged us to walk from one end of a tightrope to the other as fast as we could without falling. One after the other, each of us stared across the tightrope, believing we could win. And one after the other, each of us failed. We’d hold out arms out to our sides, keep our eyes on the rope, and carefully place one foot in front of the other. We’d concentrate all our energy on going fast and not falling – but then we’d fall. Again and again. Once we had accumulated enough bruising and humiliation, the coach let us in on the secret…To go fast, stop focusing on the rope, and start focusing on the destination. One after another, we climbed to the starting point of the tightrope course and took a deep breath. We paused for a moment, and then looked up to find a focus point at the end of the course. We shifted our weight forward and started racing across the rope, never taking our eyes off the target. One after the other we got across the tightrope without falling – and with great speed. Once the target was clear and we stayed focused on it, the path and the process were simple – we were balanced and fast.”
Women have not been traditionally raised to be the first ones in anything; to be winners. I remember being taught how to be a nice girl, and to make sure I behaved a certain way so that someone would want to be my friend, and so that others would like me. Some of my friends were luckier; their moms told them that they could achieve anything they put their mind to. It is up to us to raise our daughters knowing that they can go places where no one else has been before – without the guilt of neglecting traditional female roles.
Jack Canfield is a master of the overcoming-it-all attribute. When you listen to his story about how he and Mark Victor Hansen became authors of the Chicken Soup for The Soul series, you get an understanding of what kind of effort it takes to become successful. They determined what they wanted to do and they did what it took to get there. I recommend Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles. In it, Canfield takes the reader through every method there is to achieving success, step by step, to teach you how to own and live these attitudes for yourself.
Your success and your ability to achieve what you want depend on two things only: YOU and your desire to succeed.
Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. I challenge you to think you can. Change that one thing today so you can have a different outcome tomorrow. Change the way you think about your future. Think big, see yourself clearly and be very specific about what “having it all” means for you. Cut out pictures of what you want, glue them on the wall, look at them every day. Overcome your conditioning and determine what it is that you want, and then work toward that goal. Do not become paralyzed by the enormity of the project; chip away at it one day at a time. And please, tell me about what your goal is – and the first step you’re taking to get there. I’d love to know. Thanks for sharing!