Reach Up” in Relationships

If it were up to me, this would be a basic course for every year that someone attended school. It would include drills in which people are encouraged to do things that they are not comfortable doing. The successful constantly talk about having people around them who are smarter, brighter, and more creative. It’s unlikely that you’ll hear one of them say, “I got here by surrounding myself with more people just like me.” Yet the average person typically spends his or her time with like-minded people or even those who bring less to the table than they can.

Make a habit of “reaching up” in all of your relationships— toward people who are better connected, better educated, and even more successful. These individuals have much more to share than your supposed “equals.” This habit is connected to their willingness to change, challenge tradition, grow, and do what others can’t fathom. Reach up—never sideways and never down! You must base your decisions on what will be the greatest investment to move you toward your ethical commitment to create success for yourself, your family, and your business. The people with whom you surround yourself will have a great deal to do with whether you achieve your goals—or not. You don’t want to go horizontal. You want to go up—and you do this by associating yourself with bigger think- ers, bigger dreamers, and bigger players. Black belts don’t learn new skills from white belts. They can be reminded of the basics, but a white belt cannot take the black belt to a red belt. And you can’t become a scratch golfer by playing with bogie golfers. You have to interact with people who are better than you. It’s the only way to become better yourself.

Be Disciplined

Remember: We are not just talking about money here. This refers to being successful in all areas of life—and to do so, you will not be able to compromise this thing called disci- pline. Discipline is an orderly, prescribed conduct that will get you what you want—and it’s a requirement for 10X players. Unfortunately, most peoples’ disciplines look more like bad habits instead of the—admittedly uncomfortable—10X actions they should be taking over and over again.

Discipline is what you use to complete any activity until the activity—regardless of how uncomfortable—becomes your normal operating procedure. In order to ever attain and keep success, you must determine which habits are constructive— and discipline both yourself and your group (see point 28) to do those things over and over again.

If you find you do not have all of the previously mentioned success traits and habits—or you see yourself having most or some of them most of the time but occasionally fall off a bit—no worries. I would expect that most of the people reading this don’t consistently display every single one of these qualities all the time. Become aware of what the list is, keep it close to you, and make a new commitment to making these techniques part of wfto you are rather than merely something you “do.” Although I don’t personally operate in the success column 100 percent of the time, I do make efforts to ensure that I spend most of my time doing what successful people do.

None of the things on this list is a superhuman quality. Every single one is attainable. Don’t use just one or two of the techniques. Start thinking and operating with them, and they will become a part of you. Use them all.

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Date: 2016-04-22; view: 576