Unlocking Your Success

Many times people will rely on victimhood and other excuses to plea away their position in life at this moment. I have done it myself.
"I wasn't raised that way."
"No one in my family ever amounted to anything"
"I have no money for that"

All of these excuses are just that, excuses. It is amazing to visit with immigrants to the United States. They just scratch their heads and laugh when they see people who spend all of their time complaining about their lot in life rather than fixing the damn thing.

A MUST READ for everyone is "You're Broke Because You Want to Be" by Larry Winget. His premise for this book is that your outcomes and income are dictated by your decisions. No one can make those decisions for you (Unless you are a minor still living at home, but that's not even the case these days). You can read a great bit of info and hear a wonderful interview with Larry by subscribing to one of the publications I write for, A Captured Mind. www.acapturedmind.com.

Basically, there is no shortcut for hard work. Don't have enough money? You need to do 2 things:
1. Work more.
2. Increase the value of your time.

Less than 15% of Americans will read a non fiction book after they graduate high school or college. Out of that, less than 10% get past the first chapter! No wonder it seems like there are seas of idiots out there! Shut off the television, go to the library and read! It will be amazing what happens to your life! I don't care if they are my books or someone elses, just do it!

Until next time...
Shef!

Our nation has really reached a pathetic state. People are looking for other people (ie. the government) to take any kind of struggle out of life. They feel that it is my duty to pay for someone's inability to provide for themselves. I just saw a fantastic interview with Ted Nugent on his right to defend himself.

Why is it that some people think it is wrong that I can defend myself against someone who wants to harm myself and my loved ones? Why is it that we are more concerned about the rights of those people incarcerated for taking away others rights than that of law abiding citizens? Why do we try to rehabilitate child molesters who have a 99% repeat offending rate instead of spend 22 cents on a .38 shell to the back of their head?

We must look to ourselves and our gifts for our own security. Want the government to make your health care choices for you? They do a wonderful job at buying toilet seats for $800 don't they. What do they do better than private industry?

Don't get me wrong. I feel that there needs to be a safety net for those people who truly cannot help themselves. I have no problem with that. However, the society we are becoming is akin to a child throwing a temper tantrum.

It is time to step up, America! Remember what made us great and live your freedom before we legislate it all away.

We all deal with the ideas of figuring out where to call, where to go, who to talk to. What we don't realize is that there are so many opportunities right in your backyard. I get to help many speakers grow their speaking businesses. They pick up the 300 lb. phone, they put in the miles, blood, sweat, and tears. The element that many miss is that there are so many opportunities under their nose!

No matter what your business is, let the world know about it. Go to a chamber function, a Toastmaster group, Optimist Club, or Jaycees. It doesn't matter. The more visibility you create for yourself, the more opportunities you will create for yourself. Don't sit around wondering when things will happen for you, MAKE THEM HAPPEN!

I created one of the greatest feelings ever yesterday! GRATITUDE! You will note that I didn't say, "I had this happen to me." Why is that? I firmly believe that we can do things that create the emotions that we enjoy most! This was just so cool, I had to share it with you:

I bought a few dozen chocolate Easter eggs (These things were HUGE!) I made the trip down to the local homeless shelter for families. I started handing the things out (after checking with the parents, of course!). I cannot describe to you the look and smiles that this produced on these kid's faces! I called the shelter to make sure I had enough to go around.

The kids usually said something like, "We didn't get anything for Easter. This is so awesome!" I'm not suggesting that chocolate eggs even comes close to the true meaning of Easter. However, it does remind us that God has placed us where we are at in life at this time. It is our duty to try and bless others. If you don't have something that you can give, give some of who you are.

We have all been through great challenges in our lives. Many people live there. If they are in an abusive relationship, bad job, bad physical state; many people have a great pity party. Here is the thing. If you have pity parties, you are pitiful. I was visiting with a good friend of mine a while back, and they were talking about how the abusive relationship they were in kept them from doing what they really loved; but it also fueled the hunger for that passion to come out. Long story short, they are no longer in that relationship and they are following their passion! Using the experiences that gave them the pain in the short term created great strength in the long term.

If you are going through a challenge right now, realize that it is a part of life. If you are in an abusive situation, get the heck out. If you are not living your dreams, start by dreaming! Isn't it amazing how little kids don't know the meaning of "fear, can't, and won't?" These are all things that have been picked up by us as adults!

Until next time!

Always Better Your Best!

What a great time of year! Only 3 or so more snowstorms left in this Winter season. As we are hitting this holiday, I hope that you are taking some time with your loved ones or are just enjoying the peace that this day brings.

I had the great fortune of receiving dozens of congratulatory emails and phone calls. Most people would be quite excited. I was just pretty darn confused. I found that the newspaper printed my name in a marriage announcement. News to me. Why am I always the last one to find out about these things!

With that being said, let's not ignore the insane amount of garbage and falsehoods that are printed and talked about in the news. Let's not forget that "If it bleeds, it leads" is a motto across America. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the media. Kinda hard to do any kind of publicity without them. However, don't just take what someone says or writes as gospel. Do your own research.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you this year?

We have all heard people saying, "Sometime opportunity will knock, then I will have/be/do what I truly want to do." Why the heck do you want to wait for it to knock? I would much rather burst open the door and pull it kicking and screaming inside!

Many of you who read this are living in America, where we don't have the restrictions and other assorted ambiguities associated with doing business in other countries. (Although, the government is getting FAR TOO OVER REACHING!) One of the stats that I find most fascinating in both print and when I do my live programs is that immigrants to America are 15 times more likely to become millionaires than natural born Americans.

Why is that? I feel that there is a slippery slope of entitlement that is creeping into our culture. Now days, people are more concerned with their rights than their responsibilities; they are more concerned with their self esteem than their natural consequences; they are more concerned with a worry free life rather than experience many of the challenges that make all of us great.

My challenge to you is this: Don't wait for opportunity to knock. If you have an idea ACT ON IT! If you are dying to ask a person out on a date ACT ON IT! If you need to make amends ACT ON IT! Life is not a spectator sport!

Looking forward to seeing you on the Generation X and Y Sales and Leadership Tour 2008!
www.theshef.com

We all love to be the leader of a group or organization when things are going great. How do you react when things are going not so hot? Unfortunately, many leaders don't take personal responsibility for their company. I know of a fairly large gift company that had a situation which displayed terrible leadership. Let's call this company XYZ, INC. They produced a product which was a runaway success. Production couldn't keep up with demand. What happened was instead of having the resources in place to handle the demand, they would backorder tons of the product. For example, if you wanted 50 of these items for your gift store, you would order 1000 in hopes of getting 50.

8 months down the road, the company finally caught up with demand and filled these orders from months previous. Guess what? The shops refused shipment. Now they are stuck with hundreds of thousands of these items. Instead of throwing a great sale, he berated the sales staff and told them that they are not measuring up. Guess what will happen soon? HE WILL LOSE ALL OF HIS GOOD PEOPLE! Great people don't put up with juvenile temper tantrums like this.

On the flip side, President Ronald Reagan and Colin Powell were discussing a policy idea that Colin Powell had. Reagan went along with the idea. After a year, the policy was deemed an failure. During a press conference when asked about who's idea this crazy policy was, he simply said, "I take full responsibility for this policy".

Colin was seen talking to another man in the room, saying, "I would do anything for that man." A great leader takes responsibility for good times...and bad.

If you would like to see a great program on leadership, email us at Sheffield Development Group info@theshef.com for information about my award winning Unleashing the Leader Within program.

There is no substitute for hard work and trial and error...or is there? My 10 year old son is finishing out a 3 week baseball camp. There he is learning from the high school coaches and players about the finer points of not only the game; but more specifically his pitching and batting. He told me this morning that he has learned several small changes that he made to his pitch that added to it's speed and accuracy.

Who knows how long it would have taken him to figure this out himself. Maybe his frustration would have made him quit. Who knows! The point is that by modeling people who are playing at the level you want to play at, you will achieve similar results.

It never ceases to amaze me as I'm delivering sales trainings and leadership programs across our great nation how few people understand the importance of coaching. Many times I'm in the room with real estate agents. Let's say that one agent is making $250,000 per year and another is making $25,000 per year. Same market, same conditions. The smart thing to do would be to take the person making $250,000 out to lunch for ever. Learn from those who are doing it. If you apply the same skills you will get a similar result.

If you have an interest in learning more about the benefits of coaching, please contact our offices at info@theshef.com. You may also visit my site at www.theshef.com.

I had a fantastic time today. I had the opportunity to speak to a group of educators, and also saw a great friend, Charlie Adams, knock the crowd dead with a fantastic program. Charlie was one of the graduates of our speakers bootcamp last June. The thing that really struck me was when he said, "Dave, I just implemented so many of those things that you guys taught us in Chicago. They worked, and my career has started to take off!"

How many times do we get some kind of advice from experts or others and just file it away. If you do the same thing and expect a different result, you're insane. Be one of the few who TAKES ACTION on what they do. Life is not a spectator sport!

Last week Brett Favre retired from a stellar career at the Packers. It didn't really surprise anyone because he was so old! (WOW, 38 is not old, but if you put your body through the challenges that NFL players do, it feels like 1 year equals 10!) In his press conference, he talked about how it was about the love for the game and his team. He also made a reference to how it was never about the money.

As you are looking at your career or even looking for a new career, DON'T let it be about just the money. I have worked with some fantastically successful people. Without exception, they found something they loved to do, and started doing it. Society found a way to compensate them.