In spite of all our planning and preparation, unexpected challenges are certain to arise. The bumps in the road are unavoidable, but you’ll never get to your destination if you aren’t willing to drive over them. The difference between catastrophe and triumph lies in whether or not you’re buckled up, prepared and willing to weather the storm. If you’re ready, those bumps will become stepping-stones. Even though you had to endure some discomfort along the way, you’ll ultimately end up on higher and better ground. Sometimes we find ourselves surrounded by people who seem to work the same amount we do, or even less, and they still get better results. Drives you crazy, doesn’t it?
The key thing to realize is that working harder is not necessarily the same thing as working smarter. How do you work smarter? You need to have the right tools at your disposal. Consider any professional who uses tools for a living. Having the right tool available makes the job easier. Suppose you had to cut down a tree, but you had to do it with a pocketknife. Eventually the job would get done, but what if you had an axe or a chainsaw instead? The same job would get done better and fastertwo factors we would all appreciate more of in whatever our jobs may be. Sometimes, when using a new tool for the first time, we need some special training. Then we need practice. Finally, repeated practice will lead to seasoned experience.
Acquiring the Exponential Factor can be compared to training and exercising to get your body in shape when you haven’t followed an exercise routine in years, or ever in your life. There may be some pain and discomfort in the beginning stages, but if you keep at it, it starts to feel good. You are being stretched and pulled out of your comfort zone, but in the end, it’s definitely worth it.
My early mentor Jim Rohn taught me two important lessons. The first thing he said was: “Do you want to spend a day at the beach or own a piece of the beach?” Sure, this next step toward exponential success will take some energy and effort. Will it be worth it? No question about it. You have to do things you don’t want to do to be able not to do the things you don’t want to do. In other words, if you pay the price now, you can do whatever you want in the future. The second thing Jim said was: “For things to change, you must change, and for things to get better, you must get better. To change your life, your income, your relationships, you need to change you. We find the biggest challenge to our success in our mindset. Ironic how this is the very thing most people work on last. I’ll admit I was in the same boat. I would go to the seminars, read the books and listen to the tapes. I would listen to successful people talk about vision, goal setting, mental programming and attitude and say, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, just give me the tools.”
Hellothose things are the most important tools. When I finally realized that if every millionaire I listened to and every success book I read talked about these important principles, I better do them. When I realized this important truth, my life and my income changed. Then in a flash, it came to me. The universe will not reward you physically until you believe in it mentally. It is the mindset that matters and which is the biggest obstacle to your success and happiness.
You understand now how all this changing and growing is a process. But how much change is necessary? How much growth is required? The answer is: as much as possible. Have you ever noticed how every life form on Earth except human beings seems to strive to reach its maximum potential? How tall will a tree grow? It will grow as tall as it possibly can in its given environment. Part of the problem in our tendency to underachieve, ironically, is that we, as human beings, actually possess the ability to make choices. Some of us will choose to excel; others of us will be content with the status quo.
Sure, desire is innate, but action is not. Jonathon Winters once said, “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” Are you swimming, treading water or watching from the shore?
People want improved circumstances without an improved self. They want victory without paying the price. The problem is, one really can’t happen without the other. Any improvements that have not generated from an improved self are, at best, superficial and short-lived. If you want to change your future, you have to change yourself. Have you ever reflected on the fact that there are countless numbers of people who could have been phenomenal as leaders of the most powerful countries in the world, or who could have been brilliant leaders of the world’s greatest businesses, or who could have invented technologies that might have forever altered the course of humankind? They could have, but they didn’t. Someone else did. Thomas Edison wisely pointed out, “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” Why not be the one who stretches to reach your greatest potential?
The Exponential Success Roadmap
Part of your discovery will be making this self-mastery journey a natural process.
It will still be challenging, but you need to expand your comfort zone. The journey to success starts with belief, proven principles and a burning desire to change. A lot of it will boil down to how your mind is programmed and whether you have given yourself permission to win. Let’s revisit the good old days of sitting in math class. Take the mathematical operation 4 + 4, for example. The answer is 8, right? What if we keep the same numbers, however, but change the operationsay, 4 x 4. The answer is 16the same two numbers with a different operator yield twice the results. Now think about 4 to the fourth power, or 256. Again, same numbers but the resulting figure is exponentially greater than the one we started with. This is what I mean when I talk about the Exponential Factor. Using the same raw materialyouwe can create massive success just by thinking about and approaching things differently. By changing your outlook and the way you operate, you can exact profound change.
Andre Maurois imparted the now-famous anecdote: “If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.” Small things usually do make the biggest differences. That’s just working smarter, not harder.
We know that it is not about working twice as hard. For example, Olympic champion Peter Vidmar used to always be the last gymnast to leave the gym. Surrounded by many very gifted athletes, he felt that he didn’t have the natural talent that some of his competitors did. He knew that he couldn’t practice or work out twice as hard as they did.
Hour for hour, he gave it just as much as they did. He made one minor adjustment, however, and it paid off with big dividends. He always just added on another fifteen minutes or so to each workout after everyone else had left the gym. When he went on to win a gold medal over those he felt were more innately gifted, he attributed the extra fifteen-minute workouts as being a key to his success.
With the steps and formulas outlined in this manual, I’ll show you how you can have the Exponential Factor. The result will be exponential success with no limits. Some people are satisfied with minor successes throughout their lives. Adding to their lives a little at a time is good enough. Others want to multiply the joy they have and the goals they want to accomplish. Then there are those who demand the most from life and want to achieve success exponentially. Just remember, it starts with how you look at it. It’s the same basic building blocks, but exponential success just has a better plan and execution.
The Process (Not the Quick Fix)
Acquiring the Exponential Factor will not happen overnight. Compare it to some common events we encounter in our lives. We put on weight over the years, but then we want to lose it overnight. We spend years getting deeper and deeper into debt, but we want to become financially independent overnight. We decide we want to run that marathonwhen it’s only a month a way. We want to ace that exam, but we only allow ourselves an hour to cram all the material. We start thinking about retirement when it looms only five years out on the horizon. There are many examples of things we want to attain in the shortest amount of time possible and with the least effort possible, but it rarely happens that way. Exponential success is a process and not a quick fix. Progress comes in steps and the foundation first has to be laid.
I mentioned earlier that we want to make this a natural process. What do I mean by that, especially since new skills and new habits will initially feel unnatural? When you write a term paper, you research what the experts have said about the subject, you organize your data, you determine what is best going to support your thesis, and then through that process, you arrive at your own conclusion. As you observe, study and apply the skills and strategies used by successful people, you will learn to sift and sort, essentially “cutting and pasting” together your own roadmap that will lead you to the top. You are unique, your perception of success is unique and what you want to accomplish on your way to achieving that success is unique. You are destined for greatness. Your mission in life is to find and tap into that greatness. That’s why you need to customize a success plan according to your needs, talents, drive, personality, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. You can’t live “exponentially” by following someone else’s predetermined formula. Whose definition of success are you pursuing? Someone else’s roadmap might help you make progress in some areas and you may achieve some degree of success along the way, but the greatest successes and happiness will always escape you if you are throwing your heart and soul into fulfilling someone else’s definition of success.
Kurt W. Mortensen is one of America’s leading authorities on persuasion, motivation and influence. Kurt spent 15 years researching personal development and motivational psychology and is currently a professor on the university level. He offers his speaking, training, and consulting programs nationwide, helping thousands achieve unprecedented success in business and personal endeavors. Kurt is author of Maximum Influence a bestseller and is endorsed by Stephen R. Covey, Brian Tracy, Robert Allen, and Mark Victor Hansen. Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq to find out where you rank in your ability to persuade or email askkurt@persuasioninsitute.com.