No Excuses! - The Power of Self-Discipline Part 2

One day, a top salesman then told me that the top 20 percent of salespeople earn 80 percent of the money. I had never heard that before. This meant that the bottom 80 percent of salespeople had to be satisfied with the remaining 20 percent, with what was left over after the top people had taken the lion's share. I decided then and there that I was going to be in the top 20 percent. This decision changed my life.

The Great Law.

Then I learned the "Iron Law of the Universe," which made getting into the top 20 percent possible. It was the Law of Cause and Effect, or sowing and reaping. This law says that "for every effect, there is a specific cause or series of causes."

This law says that if you want to achieve success in any area, you must determine how success is achieved in that area and then practice those skills and activities repeatedly until you achieve the same results.

Here's the rule: "If you do what other successful people do, over and over again, nothing can stop you from eventually enjoying the same rewards that they do. But if you don't do what successful people do, nothing can help you."

The law of sowing and reaping, from the Old Testament, is a variation of The Law of Cause and Effect. It says that "whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap." This law says that whatever you put in, you get out. It also says that whatever you are reaping today is a result of what you have sown in the past. So if you are not happy with your current "crop," it is up to you, starting today, to plant a new crop, to begin doing more of those things that lead to success-and to stop engaging in those activities that lead nowhere.

Success Is Predictable.

Success is not an accident. Sadly, failure is not an accident either. You succeed when you do what other successful people do, over and over, until these behaviors become a habit. Likewise, you fail if you don't do what successful people do. In either case, nature is neutral. Nature does not take sides. Nature doesn't care. What happens to you is simply a matter of law-the law of cause and effect.

You can look at yourself as a machine with a default mechanism. Your default mechanism is the almost irresistible attraction of the expediency factor and the path of least resistance that I described in the Introduction. In the absence of self-discipline, your default mechanism goes off automatically. This is the main cause of underachievement and the failure to realize your true potential.

When you are not working deliberately, consciously, and continuously to do, be, and have those things that const.i.tute success for you, your default mechanism is at work. You end up doing those fun, easy, and low-value things in the short term that lead to frustration, financial worries, and failure in the long term.

The Secrets of Success.

The great oil man, H. L. Hunt, who was at one time the richest self-made billionaire in the world, was once asked by a television journalist for his "secrets of success." He replied: "There are only three requirements for success. First, decide exactly what it is you want in life. Second, determine the price that you are going to have to pay to get the things you want. And third, and this is most important, resolve to pay that price."

One of the most important requirements for success, once you have decided what it is that you want, is the quality of willingness. Successful people are willing to pay the price, whatever it is and for as long as it takes, until they achieve the results they desire.

Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to be healthy, happy, thin, and rich. But most people are not willing to pay the price. Occasionally, they may be willing to pay part of the price, but they are not willing to pay the whole price. They always hold back. They always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals.

Pay the Price.

How can you tell when you have paid the full price of success? It's simple: Look around you. There it is! You can always tell how much of the price of success you have paid by looking at your current lifestyle and your bank account. By the Law of Correspondence, your outer world will, like a mirror, always reflect the person you are and the price you have paid on the inside.

There is an interesting point about the price of success: It must always be paid in full-and in advance. Success, however you define it, is not like a restaurant where you pay after you have enjoyed your meal. Instead it is like a cafeteria, where you can choose whatever you want, but you must pay for it before you eat it.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, "The elevator to success is out of order, but the stairs are always open."

Learn from the Experts.

Kop Kopmeyer, who I mentioned in the Introduction, also told me that the second most important success principle, after self-discipline, is that you must "learn from the experts. You will never live long enough to learn it all for yourself."

If you want to be successful, your first job is to learn what you need to learn in order to achieve the success you desire. Learn from the experts. Read their books. Listen to their audio programs. Attend their seminars. Write to them or approach them directly and ask them for advice. Sometimes, one idea is all you need to change the direction of your life. Let me give you an example of what I mean:Some years ago, I was referred by a friend to an excellent dentist. I learned later that he had a superb reputation. He was called the "dentist's dentist." He was the dentist that the other dentists went to when they needed excellent dental work. He told me that he attended every major dental conference that he could. When he was there, he attended every session, listening to dentists from all the over the country, and all over the world, discuss the latest breakthroughs in dental technology.

One week, at great sacrifice in time and money, he attended an international dental conference in Hong Kong. At that conference, he sat in on a session given by a j.a.panese dentist who had discovered a new technology in cosmetic surgery that improved the appearance of teeth and enabled people to look handsome or beautiful indefinitely.

He returned to San Diego and immediately began using the new technique in his practice. Soon, he became excellent in this area and developed a national reputation. Within a couple of years, people were coming to him from all over southwestern United States for this treatment. Because he had developed this expertise, he could raise his fees again and again. Eventually, he had made so much money that he was able to retire at the age of fifty-five, financially independent and able to spend the rest of his life with his family, traveling and fulfilling his dreams.

The point of this story is that, by continually seeking out ideas and advice from other experts in his field, he came across a new technology that helped him become the leader in his field and saved him ten years of hard work in order to reach the same level of financial success. This could happen to you as well, but only if you become a lifelong student of your craft.

Mental and Physical Fitness Need to Be Ongoing.

Achieving success is like achieving physical fitness. It is like bathing, brus.h.i.+ng your teeth, and eating. It is something that you need to do continuously, every day. Once you begin, you never stop until your life and career are over and you have achieved all the success you desire.

Not long ago, I was giving a seminar in Seattle. Just before the break, I encouraged people to buy and listen to my audio programs on sales, time management, and personal success. At the break, several people came up to me to ask me questions about the seminar content. One salesman pushed his way forward and said, "When you encourage people to buy your programs, you should tell them the whole truth."

I asked, "How do you mean?"

He went on to say, "You are not telling the whole truth about your programs. You should tell people that they only work for a certain period of time, and then they stop working."

Again, I asked, "How do you mean?"

He said, "Well, I came to your seminar about five years ago, and I was completely convinced by your presentation. I bought all your programs and began listening to them. I read every day in sales. And you were right, over the next three years, I tripled my income and became the top seller in my company. But then my income flattened out and has not increased at all over the last two years. The fact is that your materials stop working after a certain point."

I then asked him, "What happened to you two years ago, when your income flattened out and stopped increasing?"

He searched his memory, thought for a while and then said, "Well, I was selling so much that I was hired away by another company. Ever since I started my new job, my income has remained flat."

I asked him, "What did you do differently in your new job in comparison with your previous job?"

He started to answer. He then stopped. A shocked look came over his face. Finally he replied, "Oh my gos.h.!.+ I stopped doing it. When I changed jobs, I stopped reading in sales. I stopped listening to audio programs. I stopped attending seminars. I stopped doing it!"

He walked away shaking his head, muttering to himself, "I stopped doing it. I stopped doing it. I stopped doing it."

Becoming an expert in your field, continually upgrading your skills-which I will talk about in Chapter 5-is like physical fitness. If you stop exercising for any period of time, you don't maintain your fitness at the same level. You begin to decline. Your body and your muscles become softer and weaker. You lose your strength, flexibility, and stamina. In order to maintain them, you must keep working at them every day, every week, and every month.

Become All You Can Be.

There is an even more important reason for you to practice the self-discipline that leads onward and upward to the great successes that are possible for you. The practice of self-discipline enables you to change your character , to become a stronger and better person. The exercise of self-discipline has a powerful effect on your mind and emotions, developing you into a different person from the one that you would have been without self-discipline.

Imagine yourself in a chemistry lab. You mix a series of chemicals in a Petri dish and put it over a Bunsen burner. The Bunsen burner heats the chemicals to the point at which they crystallize and become hardened. But once you have crystallized these chemicals using intense heat, they cannot be transformed back into liquid form.

In the same way, your personality begins like a liquid: soft, fluid, and formless. But as you apply the heat of self-discipline, as you exert yourself to do what is hard and necessary rather than what is fun and easy, your personality crystallizes and hardens at a higher level as well.

The greatest benefit you enjoy from exerting self-discipline in the pursuit of your goals is that you become a different person. You become stronger and more resolute. You develop greater self-control and determination. You actually shape and strengthen your personality and transform yourself into a better person.

The rule is that "to become someone that you have never been before, you must do something that you have never done before." This means that to develop a superior character, you must exert ever-higher levels of self-discipline and self-mastery on yourself. You must do the things that average people don't like to do.

Another success principle is that "to achieve something that you have never achieved before, you must learn and practice qualities and skills that you have never had before."

By practicing self-discipline, you become a new person. You become better, stronger, and more clearly defined. You develop higher levels of self-esteem, self-respect, and personal pride. You move yourself up the ladder of human evolution and become a person of higher character and resolve.

Success Is Its Own Reward.

The wonderful thing about the achievement of success is that every step in that direction is rewarding in itself. Each step you take toward becoming a better person and accomplis.h.i.+ng more than you ever have before makes you feel happier, more confident, and more fulfilled.

You've heard it said that "nothing succeeds like success." What this means is that the greatest reward of success is not the money you make but rather the excellent person you become in the process of striving toward success and exerting self-discipline every time it is required.

In the next chapter, I will explain how you can become the truly excellent person you are capable of becoming.

Action Exercises:.

Take out a pen right now and write down your answers to the questions below.

1. If your work life and career were ideal, what would they look like? What one discipline could you develop that would help you to achieve it?

2. If your family life were ideal, what would it look like, and what one discipline would help you the most to make it a reality?

3. If your health were perfect in every way, what disciplines would you have that make it possible?

4. If your financial situation were ideal today, what one discipline would you have that would help you the most?

5. Why aren't you already as successful as you would like to be, and what one discipline would help you the most to achieve all your goals?

6. What one skill could you develop that would help you to realize more of your goals?

7. If you could wave a magic wand and be completely disciplined in one area, which one discipline would have the greatest positive impact on your life?

Chapter 2.

Self-Discipline and Character.

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself and be lenient to everyone else."

-HENRY WARD BEECHER,

NINETEENTH-CENTURY CLERGYMAN.

The development of character is the great business of life. Your ability to develop a reputation as a person of character and honor is the highest achievement of both social and business life. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear a word that you say."

The person you are today, your innermost character, is the sum total of all your choices and decisions in life up to this date. Each time you have chosen rightly and acted consistently with the very best that you know, you have strengthened your character and become a better person. The reverse is also true: Each time you have compromised, taken the easy way, or behaved in a manner inconsistent with what you knew to be right, you have weakened your character and softened your personality.

The Great Virtues.

There are a series of virtues or values that are usually possessed by a person of character. These are courage, compa.s.sion, generosity, temperance, persistence, and friendliness, among others. We will talk about some of them in Part 3 of this book. Coming before all these values, however, is the most important one of all when determining the depth and strength of your character: integrity.

It is your level of integrity, living in complete truth with yourself and others, that demonstrates more than anything else the quality of your character. In a way, integrity is actually the value that guarantees all the other values. When your level of integrity is higher, you are more honest with yourself and more likely to live consistently with all the other values that you admire and respect.