Category Archives: success

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Protect the Lead

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This is a sports analogy generally reserved for football but it also can be applied in Business. Generally, it is thought to be more defensive when your team is winning. Even on offense we want our teams to be conservative with their strategies and approach to the game when they are winning. I have a different philosophy on how to protect the lead. When your business is up, pour it on. Be relentless with all you do. Use your defense to blitz the quarterback. The opposing quarterback in business is represented by your biggest problem. Do not take a break from attacking and subduing whatever is attacking your business. If it is bills or production numbers, do not work with a slack hand when you are ahead.

protect the lead photo

Your offense should be even more impressive. You already know how to dominate and gain points. When your sales are up and you are covered in work figure out how to make more calls and appointments. Becoming a scoring machine and keep going for the big clients and bigger deals. Stay with your game plan, every yard is important. Look for the small deals also because they keep the sales quota going. If you need another reason add more effort just think of the third stringers that want to play. In business these are the new hires, people you may not know exist. When you get really far ahead you can rest a little and let the new hires help out some.
The Bible says in Genesis 1; 28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. This verse relates to protecting the lead because fruitful and multiply means making more of what God has given to you.

Finally, to protect the lead you have to remain patient and play smart. One fundamental way to protect the lead is to finish strong. Do not get sloppy because you have some success. You are only as good as your last play. Stay focused and make good decisions as if you are just starting the game.

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Failure is an option, do not choose it

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulobrandao/I am not failure, Patient Leadership uses failure as another opportunity to achieve greatness.

If you fall, fall on your back. If you can look up, you can get up.
Les Brown

The other night I could not sleep and it was entirely my fault. It was the night after the Toastmasters Table Topics contest, where I came in second to better competition. I believe if I would have done my best, I still would have been challenged to succeed…. BUT, I stunk, my words were garbled, my eye contact was weak and my sentences were tangled. Worst of all I conveyed the personality of a sad toad. Maybe, this a little harsh but I believe I rank with the best speakers God put on this earth. Granted I am still evolving, I believed this was a step towards my achievable dreams. All that being aside, I went home with my head hanging down. And lost sleep thinking of how many; many times I have captivated the crowd in these situations. Truth is, I failed and I needed to figure out how to right the ship and right my mind. Oh, this was my first contest of this sort, so how could a person who teaches on patience be upset.

Upset I was so I called the Magic City Toastmasters, President, Alex Bumpers and he gave me his philosophy on how I should handle this situation.

Steps to take after a failure.

State of Reflection
Allow your mind to go over the details of the events. Give yourself some time to digest and process all the events. No judgment, just contemplation

Strategic Phase
New Vision is necessary to proceed. You had a vision of what success looked like and now you have to decide if you have the same desires. Queen Janetta said,”
You have to decide if you even want to play that game anymore.” Some goals are worth going for again and others are just proving grounds for the better life.

Action Plan
“Roles and Goals”. Define who’s going to do what and when. Make decisions that will propel you to the next level. My one reason for joining
Toastmasters was to improve my skills as an inspirational speaker. After my last performance, I can see there is aspects of my craft that need enhancement.

Implementation
Alex Bumpers says, “You can’t be successful from 40,000 feet in the air, you have to get down in the trenches.” Hands on enactment are vital to the success of any
venture. Put your dreams into action. All babies need milk to grow. See and do it. The future belongs to those who are about their business.

Success or Failure
After following these steps you will either have success or failure and in both events you should go back to the Reflection phase to gather more intelligence.
By continuously repeating this process you will eliminate failures and multiply success.

Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.
Les Brown

What process do you use after a failure or success?

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First Lady Michelle Obama: Moving Forward…with patience and wisdom

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Our First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a wonderfully moving personal message in which she named patience and wisdom as core values for success. To be
specific she was referring to the character and Patient Leadership and Clear Vision of her husband President Barack Obama. I believe she was also calling on the character of our entire nation. In the short excerpt below there are numerous keys like “Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise” that demonstrate what it takes to have success in life.

Here’s a link of some speech highlights.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise.

Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward…with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

And he reminds me that we are playing a long game here…and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once.
But eventually we get there, we always do.

She adds to the core values, “courage and grace”, these traits of Patient Leadership are the part that make it look easy. Like politics, in life we are “playing a long game” and by remembering this we can keep your heart rate low and reduce stress over small issues. The United States of America is stronger now than it was four years because of people like the Obama’s and those that lead before them. I am stronger now because have more time to spend with my wife and children.

I am grateful to the Father for this time to bond with my family it has blessed me in areas that a booming personal economy can not provide. In 2 Peter 1:5-7 the Bible says

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

All of these character traits point to Patient Leadership and make us better all around. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are an American success story and now we see at the heart of this success is patience and wisdom.

I know if you add “patience and wisdom and courage and grace to” to your endeavours will you have an abundantly fruitful life in four more years?

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Success has a familiar process

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Every successful person goes through a process that determines the magnitude of their determination. The statement, “Occupy until I come,” is taken directly from the Bible. The quote from Luke 19, verse 12 and 13, is “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” In this foundational scripture each servant or worker has the opportunity to create a profit or be successful. As part of the process each person has to decide:

•What business are they going to start?
•How they are going to acquire the product or service?
•What is their market advantage?
•How best to distribute what they are selling?
•What process will replicate their efforts?
•How to stay true to their original values and beliefs?
•What constitutes profit and success in the business world?
•How does the Holy Spirit want you to proceed?

These are general principles that if followed will demonstrate a road map for success. This process can be applied to any endeavor, small or great. I challenge you to name any success by an individual or business that you view as effective and determine if they do not draw on many or all aspects of these principles.