The Critical Step You MUST Avoid!
Special Excerpt From
Don R. Campbell's "Results Only"E-Letter
Don R. Campbell
Success Comes From Being Just 10% Better Than The Rest...
Challenge Yourself To Do One Thing Different Today To Create Your Reality Of Tomorrow!
As a consultant to many business owners and real estate investors around the world I am blessed with the opportunity to speak with many leading edge entrepreneurs. And from these discussions, I have found that there is a very clear theme, almost a trap, which grabs most entrepreneurs at one time or another.
This trap has the ability, if not monitored, to bring down any business or investment venture. So it is vitally important for you to not only understand that it exists, but also how to avoid it grabbing you.
And that's what this special article is all about. So let's get right to it:
The Major Breakthrough Trap
When consulting with these entrepreneurs and the success begin to mount, I find that more often than not this is where the trap reaches out and grabs. And the sad part is the trap is set way back in their "Formal Business Training."
As the successes mount, I find many become completely overwhelmed trying to decide what steps to take in their business. They're taught in "Biz School" (and formal biz books) that, in order to be wildly successful, you MUST be the industry leader, you MUST have major breakthroughs every month and you MUST have a detailed step-by-step plan to get there. Man, if that doesn't put pressure on you... nothing will.
My immediate response when I hear this is to push the "Bull**** Button" and start sharing a little secret I discovered about 6 1/2 years ago. A secret so powerful - yet elegantly simple - that it has changed the business lives of many of us who live by it.
It makes business more fun, it makes business more successful and most importantly of all it takes little time in your already busy day. I'll share with you this special secret at the end of this Special "Results Only" E-Letter
Here's What You're Going To Discover In This Special "Results Only" Edition:
1. The Power of Your Vision
2. A Simple Weekly Exercise You MUST do if You are Serious About Your Business
3. The One Single Secret for Vastly Increased Profits - The 10% Wake-Up Call
As I trust you already know, the real world is very different from 'school world.' Your business is built one step at a time (sometimes the steps are giant and sometimes the steps are small). It's impossible to know EXACTLY what steps you're going to take three or four days down the road until you take TODAY's step. The reason is; each time you move forward, the view changes and your options change (often for the better!).
No matter how low or how high you're feeling about your business each day, you need to take a step forward towards your ultimate goal and:
Start Creating Your Future Life, Today
To best illustrate "Taking A Step No Matter What" I contacted Mark Nolan, a very talented writer in Phoenix, and got permission to use this incredibly powerful story. I trust it will spur you into action:
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Originally published In Mark Nolan's "Trade Secrets" Newsletter, used by permission.
It was a bitter cold day, in the dead of winter, at the Nazi Prison Camp. Viktor was on his knees freezing to death in his thin clothes. He was so sick from malnutrition and overwork and abuse that he had started coughing and now he couldn't stop. A guard was beating him and yelling at him to get up. The guard put his gun to Viktor's head and told him to stand and work or be shot dead. Viktor saw it happen to others every day and knew the guard meant it.
The successful psychiatrist and family man had lost his home and business and his loved ones. Now it seemed he would lose his life as well. He had suffered endless physical and mental torture and today he was pushed to the very limits of his soul. He simply could not make himself stop coughing or rise to his feet and march to another day of backbreaking labor, starvation and endless abuse. He finally gave up. He was broken; physically, mentally and spiritually.
As the guard beat him with a club, he slumped over half-dead, and he thought to himself "This is the end." Once he accepted that he was going to die at any moment, his mind naturally drifted to final thoughts of what might have been.
"Our Thoughts are the Makers and Molders of our Future." - James Allen
As he lay dying, Viktor vividly imagined himself in the future, giving a lecture on "The Psychology of Death Camps" to a spellbound audience. They could barely believe what he had learned here, in one of the darkest chapters in human history. Freud was wrong about some things. Freud said that when humans were stripped of all civilization and subjected to brutal conditions they would all revert to the selfish behavior of rats. Yet what psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl had observed first hand in these very conditions had been vastly different.
Dr. Frankl learned that some people reacted to the situation by acting like saints. They freely gave their food away to other people. They gave away their shoes and blankets, and they spent their time tending to the sick. They rose above their conditions for a greater purpose.
He felt this message burning within him and felt he was destined to share it. With this change in thinking, Viktor suddenly straightened up and struggled to his feet. Where the strength came from he didn't know. He believed it must have come from God, and faith and imagination of a greater purpose in life. These all gave him reasons to live which helped him fight to live on.
Dr. Viktor Frankl survived the death camps and began giving speeches. In 1990 he gave a speech in California. He recounted these events to seven thousand people, and he received a standing ovation. His incredible and powerful book titled Man's Search For Meaning, has been required reading for every successful writer and speaker I have ever talked to and studied.
Do One Thing Different
Recently on Oprah's TV show, author Bill O'Hanlon's new book was featured, titled Do One Thing Different. In this recommended book, the author related this same, famous story about Doctor Viktor Frankl and he asked the following, powerful question: "What did Viktor Frankl do that most people with problems don't do? He vividly imagined a future in which his problems were resolved and then worked backward to the present to determine what he would need to do in order to make that future a reality." O'Hanlon went on to write...
"Another method for creating a future filled with possibilities is to imagine a future in which the problem is resolved-as if you can see it in a crystal ball or as if a miracle has occurred-and then act as if that future will be yours. What will you be doing then? What would you have to do right now in order to make that future happen?"
You Already Have What it Takes
I know you can do this. Why? Because you already have what it takes. What does it take? It takes imagination and faith in your vision.
First you need vivid imagination, rich in detail. You already use this - when you are worrying about a negative future, you see it in all its awful detail. Now use this very same imagination when you are picturing a positive future. See it in all its wonderful, rich detail.
Next you need faith in your future. Matthew wrote, "If you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing shall be impossible to you." Was this true? Do you really believe it? Does a tiny seed somehow become a towering plant? Yes it does, because it has faith, which is also courage.
As Alice Mackenzie Swain said, "Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow." Faith takes courage. At times it seems that a humble mustard seed demonstrates more courage and faith than we do. We need to try harder.
Tomorrow is a Blank Page
You can be and do and become anything that you can imagine and believe in with faith. We all face challenges at times ... but they are nothing compared to what Dr. Frankl survived. This new century is a good time for imagining and creating a new future. Join me on this daily adventure. Set aside some time every day, in the morning or on your lunch hour or before bed. Relax and imagine your bright new future. Create it in your mind and believe it fully.
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I think Mark has hit the nail right on the head with this one. Devote time to yourself... devote the time it takes to make your vision come true. When you do that, the rest will take care of itself... it always does.
I know I promised to make you think about your business through this newsletter, but I'm changing that. What I'm saying right now is:
The Results Only Marketing E-Letter Is Designed To Make You Think About Your Business And Spur You Into Action... So You Achieve The Goals & Dreams You Have.
In other words, the "Results Only" newsletter is all about taking Action in your business... action that is focused on creating "results" using proven systems.
In fact, in REIN and in your business over the last few months, there have been many opportunities for you to take VERY Specific Action (using the 'marketing homework' and prescribed exercises)... hey I've even bribed you with prizes, free software, free critiques and more because I know how important 'Action' is.
Many of you have followed along, done your "Marketing Homework", taken those next steps e-mailed me with marketing or your real estate questions... And Congratulations the 'results' you're creating have been fantastic (some of the stuff has been AMAZING)!
If you happen to be one who hasn't taken specific action, I urge you to ask yourself: "What is holding me back... why aren't I taking advantage of the opportunities out there?"
Two Possible Reasons:
1. Often the answer is you've put marketing to the side as you get involved in the 'day-to-day' administration of your business... it happens to all of us. But remember, no matter what business you think you're in (yes that includes real estate!), the reality is you're really in the Marketing Business... because without sales and without property purchases, the administration side of your business has no reason to exist.
2. The other answer is often feeling overwhelmed, not knowing where to turn or which direction to go. Sure, I understand that as well, but let me be a little brutally honest:
"You Are The Master Of Your Success...
Without You On Board Who's Steering The Ship?"
Here's a simple strategy you can use. Starting with every week (this will quickly change to every day when you see how much impact it has on your life) put aside 1 hour with no phones, no distractions, no employees... nothing. (I can just hear the entrepreneur now: "That's impossible! I'm just too busy to take that time... everything will fall apart!"
Don't kid yourself, if 1 hour a week will knock you out of kilter... then you are already out of kilter!!! This one hour will buy you more free time than you ever though possible.
Right now, take out your daytimer/ calendar right now and book this time for the next 4 weeks (you and I both know that if you don't book it other 'emergencies' will get in the way)
Just you alone with your thoughts (oooo scary!).
Spend 15 minutes of this time focused solely on drawing the "Big Picture" in your mind. Where do you want to be in 5 years. How does it feel? How is the income coming into your life?
What are you doing in your business? Where are you located? What type of team do you have around you? What value are you bringing to the marketplace? Make sure you draw this picture in detail so it feels real. Once this vision is "programmed" into the hard-drive in your head, your subconcious mind will automatically head you towards this vision, directing your actions.
Now, use the remaining 45 minutes to focus solely on actions you can take in your business (both large and small) that will head you in the direction of your "Vision." It is best to focus on the small steps as they are the foundation to reaching your goal.
Even if you are one who has worked through your homework, and are already creating great results... I urge you not to stop there. Book your 1-hour weekly sessions - focus on taking your results to the next level! And of course, feel free to e-mail me with your latest creations (I thoroughly enjoyed your last stuff!)
PLEASE BOOK YOUR 1-HOUR SESSION WITH YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!
And now, the "Real World" Business Success Secret
As I said earlier, when I discovered this very simple, yet amazingly powerful secret it changed my whole business, and it has done the same for MANY others I've shared it with.
Here it is. In order to vastly improve your business, and greatly increase your profits all you need to be is a very slim 10% Better Than The Crowd! That's it!
Whether you're in real estate, info-preneuring, mortgages, public speaking, accounting, garbage disposal, diamonds or ANY business... take a look at your business (not your revenues), look at your marketing, look at your competitors, look at your staff and ask yourself:
How Can I Improve It By Only 10%?
It takes very little effort to improve anything by 10% but with this tiny little improvement - your revenues will SOAR and you will reach your Vision more quickly and have more fun getting there!
The bottom line to this "Results Only" Special Edition is to once again get you thinking seriously about your business, your real estate AND to implore you to take action, do your 'home work,' take the small steps necessary to create:
Phenomenal Results in Your Life!
Go Get 'Em!
Don R. Campbell
"Turning Business Dreams into Realities... One Entrepreneur at a Time!"
P.S. What One Thing Are You Going To Do Different Today From Yesterday? Will this action take you closer or further away from your vision?
P.P.S. The sad fact is that only 20% of the people who read this will take the time, book their 1 hour and really start to create results. You know, booking this special 1 hour per week is actually a part of secret #2... by booking it and doing it you are already showing that you are willing to do that 10% extra that others (who will continue to struggle towards their goals) won't. So congratulations for joining the ranks of those on the trail to making their vision a reality!