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Barriers to Success – Lack of Commitment – (BTS Part 3)

Rob Wheeler — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:42:32 +0000

There is an old joke that as far as breakfast goes the pig is committed and the chicken is just involved.

Are you just involved in life or are you committed? During the Chinese crackdown on democracy at Tianemen Square there were many demonstrations about commitment. However, none seemed to capture the world so much as “Tank Man”.

Talk about commitment! He was willing to stand in front of oncoming ROLLING tanks. He realized that he was as committed as he could be to the ideals he stands for. John F. Kennedy has a favorite poem. It is Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson. You can read the whole poem at:

Ulysses - JFK's Favorite Poem

In the poem an old King looks back on younger days. However, in the last stanza he states:

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,–
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Not to yield? Never give up! Keep going! Keep striving to reach all those things that you have committed to. There are pledges and promises that you make constantly. You make these oaths to your friends, family, co-workers and to those who look up to you, whom you do not yet realize. They are your true audience. Challenge yourself to do the best you can at all things so that those who are watching, and oh so many are watching, can benefit from seeing true commitment. Edward Hale may have said it best:
I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do
The something that I can do.

I don’t care if you are one and ONLY one. You can make a difference. You can change the world!

Princess Diana talked about doing what you really believe you should do. That will help you to ensure that there is a deep commitment to complete all the tasks because You want to. She said:

“Only do what your heart tells you to.”

She saved hundreds, if not thousands with her efforts to remove landmines. Look at the first word she chose. ONLY!!!! Only do what will ensure that you keep your promises. Then you don’t have to worry about motivation as much.

Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration of Independence included these words. What a commitment they were. Would you sacrifice as much if needed?:

“We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.”

Would you give up your life, fortune and even your honor to keep those commitments that you promise to deliver on. The founding fathers did!

What are your willing to give up to achieve that which means so much to you? What can you leave behind, so that you can move ahead. Your reputation, your “status”. Who cares what other people think. If you knew how little they think about you, you would not worry so much about what they think.

Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez upon reaching the Mexican continent had his 11 ships burned. Whether his men were committed or not, Cortez was. He was going to conquer the new world at any cost up to and including his own very life. No retreat, conquer or be conquered.

David McNally said, “Commitment is the enemy of resistance, for it is the serious promise to press on, to get up, no matter how many times you are knocked down.”

My father, Thomas L. Wheeler said once, “Rob its not how far you fall, but rather how high you bounce.”

We are going to get knocked down, bullied, told no, rejected, unrequited…etc. No matter how many times it hurts, we HAVE to get up. What number of times will it take you being knocked down to stay down. I say, I DON’T know yet and I ain’t gonna find out, ’cause I WILL get back up!

Vince Lombardi the great coach of the Green Bay Packers, talks about commitment from a team standpoint:

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

So, the individual has to commit to the team, company, society, work, civilization as a whole or whatever he or she is involved in for the whole to work as a team. So, there is an “I” in TEAM. The “I” is “I commit to the team!!”

Even the english language places importance on it. According to the dictionary, commitment is a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing. They are all concrete, physical, defineable stuff.

Here are some solid steps to handling commitments:

#1. Define the commitments you have made. Write them down.

#2. Define who they were made to. Again, write them down.

#3. Determine those you can keep -vs- those you will not.

#4. Go talk to the people whom you made the commitments you are NOT going to keep and apologize.

#5. Redouble your efforts to keep those which you will keep.

#6. Carefully consider all future commitments and don’t commit to those you can’t keep.

These steps may seem simple. However, they take time, emotion and effort. One of the biggest problems many of us experience is over-commitment. Your time is your most valuable asset protect it for you, your family and career to ensure that you can keep your promises.

Like the pig, Tank Man and Cortez, if you are going to commit. Doit! Go the whole way! If you are not, then don’t.

Rob Wheeler.

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The Barriers to Success

Rob Wheeler — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:32:23 +0000

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Well, We are officially announcing the series “The Barriers to Success.”

The Key to Success

Over the coming months we will be going over those things that hold us back, keep us from breaking out and stop us from accomplishing great things.

There are many barriers in our life and we need to look inside ourselves as we approach any of them to ascertain how we will get around, go over, go under or blast through those barriers.

The key to success is navigating those barriers that we encounter.

With each post we will be highlighting a barrier you are familiar with that is physical in nature and then sharing the mental, social or philosophical barriers along with.

I know this is a short post. But, Monday starts a new dawn in learning The Barriers to Success.

Make sure you are ready and have a pencil and paper as you read the posts. There will be plenty O’ good stuff.

Rob Wheeler

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Attraction is Just the First STEP

Rob Wheeler — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:01:45 +0000

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We have been hearing about Intention, Attraction and The Secret over the past couple of years. They are all great concepts. However, there is something missing in most of the education, e-books and seminars that are going around.

What’s missing?

What’s missing is that attraction, intention and The Secret focus on the “Marketing” side. There is no focus on the sale, influence or persuasion side. Nothing gets done until the sale is made. That isn’t attraction. That’s Influence and Persuasion.

You can attract all you want, but if you don’t sell them when you attract them you haven’t accomplished anything with the attraction, intention and all the secrets you may know.

There has to be execution on top of any attraction. The law of attraction is just that, attraction. OK, you’ve done your marketing. Now you need to sell or execute on your plan.

Don’t get me wrong, attraction and intention are very important. However, if they lack execution they are just buzz words.

Michael Phelps displayed great intention in his amazing accomplishments in the Olympics. However, he worked his butt off and he sold with results, not marketing. If you want to reach amazing success, you too must sell with results.

Rob.

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The Smell of Crayons

Rob Wheeler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:40:10 +0000

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Today the boys started shopping for school.

I could smell the crayons way before I got to the isle. I smelled them in my mind. I saw the box. I knew exactly what it was we were getting.

They were given a list of things they needed from the school. As we have spent the last couple of weeks shopping for their clothes, I have thought about how prepared each of us is for our particular career choice.

Are you prepared to succeed?

How do you know if you are prepared to succeed?

In one of my previous blogs we talked about the 4 Types of Learning. In that blog we talk about Reproductive Knowledge. That knowledge is the ability to reproduce the steps that you view someone doing and create your own success.

Watch how people in your field prepare. Look at how they get ready mentally, physically and materially. Find out who they hang around. What do they eat, watch, read and listen to? Where do they go?

Study those who have been successful in the field you want to be successful in and model them.

Preparedness first starts with knowing how to prepare. If you don’t know how to prepare, you can’t be successful.

Rob Wheeler

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Elephants and Pygmies

Rob Wheeler — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:56:38 +0000

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I used to work at IBM. Itty Bitty Machines, I’ve Been Moved, I’ve Been Misled or many other acronyms those of us who worked at IBM came up with. (Actually, I loved it. But, don’t tell IBM).

While I was at IBM I met an extraordinary individual. His name is David Goldstein. David is a loyal 36+ year employee of IBM. During our time together at IBM, David and I became close.

Initially when I started in sales in IBM, I had a tendency to chase the “BIG” deal or the elephant. I did get fairly lucky and close a few elephants.

As David and I became closer he told me that I should focus on the “Pygmies” to feed my family and chase one elephant at a time. I will always remember that advice. It came from someone who was consistently hitting his numbers and being compensated well as a result.

I have to admit that I didn’t take his advice completely. I modified it a little. I did start focusing on pygmies. But, I modified David’s advice to include 4 elephants in my pipeline at a time and managed those accounts slowly but surely. This advice along with the modification paid me very well during my IBM career and I have modified it to work in my career as an entrepreneur.

I can firmly say that you should fill your pipeline with pygmies and include 4 elephants at a time to ensure that you eat while you are shooting the big prey.

Rob Wheeler

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3rd Party Validation

Rob Wheeler — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:41:07 +0000

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In 1968 my dad (Thomas L. Wheeler) wrote a book and in that book he talks about 3rd party validation. He says that it is the critical key to sales. In 2004 I heard Jeff Olson and Eric Worre talk about it. Donald Trump talks about it all the time. The point of this is that it is not a new phenomenon.

The art of using people/things other than you to validate your product has been around for years. It is part of what Kurt Mortenson calls social validation.

The trick is to use third party to validate your product or service. It has been said that if you talking, you be talking about a third party validation method, telling a story or introducing an expert. While this is an oversimplification, the point is well made. We should use as much proof as necessary to get the sale.

The diagram shows the circular nature of 3rd Party Validation. You have a relationship and trust with your prospect. The expert or tool has credibility. You have the relationship or trust.

So, pick out the tools (or 3rd Party Proof) in your industry and go to work. You can sell much better by using someone else or something else to do the actual selling. The validation can be a brochure, DVD, website, expert, testimonial or any factual anecdotal evidence you can provide. The point is that anything but you should be doing the selling. You are just a messenger in the sales process that is providing support to the buyer to make the correct decision. 95% of all decisions are made in the subconscious mind which is very emotional. If that is the case then they are justifying the decisions after the fact. Make sure that you get them the right facts to support their emotional decision.

Rob Wheeler

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