Power Factor #1: Persistence Continued

Of course, persistence comes in many forms, as do "enemies." In business, your opponent may be a company competing for your market share; it may also be something less obvious, such as flaws in management or strategy, or even your team’s perception of how long it will take to get something done. In a relationship, the enemy could be your fears, anger, or neglect. In your finances, you could be battling debt or cash-flow problems. Churchill tells us not to fold under these pressures. Not to fold under any pressures.

Think that’s too much to ask? Perhaps we can take a lesson from a venerable senior citizen, the late Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. At the age of sixty-five, when he wanted to start KFC, he began by driving from town to town offering to sell his "secret recipe" to restaurants. He frequently slept in his car and almost exclusively ate his chicken for sustenance. He achieved his objective only after he had approached 1,009 people. The 1,010th finally said yes, he thought the Colonel’s chicken was indeed "finger-lickin’ good" enough to sell to the public.

The rest is fast-food history.

Thomas Edison failed nine thousand times before he perfected his invention of the light bulb. (Was he distressed by the number of failed attempts? He is reputed to have said, "I’m glad to have found 8,999 ways to not invent the light

bulb!") He later went on to secure 1,093 patents, more than any other person in U.S. history.

What about Michael Jordan? The first time he tried out for the varsity team at his high school, he didn’t make the cut. That fueled him to become a better player—practicing every day until the next year’s tryouts—and ultimately, he became the best there ever was in the sport. He simply never quit.

There are multitudes of stories like this, enough to fill a library. Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, the astronauts of Apollo 13, Ray Kroc, Sir Edmund Hillary and, yes, Winston Churchill, too. There are so many others, both famous and not at all well known. You have probably met someone in your own life who has summoned this resource, refused to quit, and accomplished something great because of it.

I don’t know of any other characteristic more important to achieving success than persistence, the first cousin of will.

Never has there been a time when this incredible virtue has failed to create greatness in the person whose heart and soul has been gallantly given in pursuit of a dream. You can be such a person.

Excerpted from "The Street Kid’s Guide to Having it All" By John Assaraf, aka "The Street Kid" http://www.thestreetkid.com 4

Power Factor #1: Persistence

Power Factor #1. Persistence

You’ve probably heard of the incredibly popular and profitable Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. When the first collection of stories was published, it was a near-instant success, but this belies the fact that there’s a story of amazing persistence behind it. The creators of the series, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, approached more than fifty publishers with their book idea before one agreed to give it a try. Think about this for a moment. That means fifty rejection letters, fifty people who told them "I don’t want your book," fifty people who passed. It was a costly error for those less-than-visionary publishers; the pair has since sold more than 75 million books, garnering unimagined profits for the lone publisher who was willing to take a chance.

"Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel."

—Mary Kay Ash

When should you give up? When do you throw in the towel and abandon the journey, the mission, the purpose, and your dreams? When would you give up on teaching a baby to walk? Toddlers are not very good at it when they start; in fact, they wobble around, have to hang onto other people and furniture to stand up, and fall down all the time. But do you let that discourage you?

What about a business venture? Finding the love of your life? A lost brother or sister? Will you let short-term setbacks and missteps deter you from your dream?

Some things are even worth dying for; others must be handled with caution because you might be better off moving in a different direction.

For example, if you were heavily invested in a sector of the stock market that was proving to be a dog, all the persistence in the world could leave you bankrupt. On the other hand, if you were trying to close a deal that could catapult your company to the next level, you’d probably be wise to do whatever it took without being dishonest to get the deal done.

Finding different ways to accomplish something is a critical virtue for success. Trying all you can and never quitting until every last possibility is exhausted is the quality that separates the leaders and winners from the mediocre. When Winston Churchill told us when we should quit—never, never, never—he didn’t mean that we ought to be irrationally stubborn, just that we ought to stand by our convictions so long as they continue to be both sensible and noble.

"Never give in—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming

might of the enemy."

—Winston Churchill

Excerpted from "The Street Kid’s Guide to Having it All" By John Assaraf, aka "The Street Kid" http://www.thestreetkid.com

How to Develop and Utilize the 7 Power Factors of Success

Foster the 7 Power Factors of Success

"Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying.

When you have it, you know it."

—Ralph Ellison

Every successful entrepreneur, company, entertainer, or athlete has several key ingredients, which I call "power factors," that are critical for playing and achieving at the highest level. Some people have more of one than another, and that’s perfectly okay. It’s your responsibility to take notice of what you have, what you can develop (strengths), and what you must manage (weaknesses).

The 7 power factors are:

Persistence

Attitude

Discipline

Vision

Purpose

Focus

Action

Starting with the next post, let’s look at what each one means and begin to develop the mind-set of the high achiever.

Excerpted from "The Street Kid’s Guide to Having it All" By John Assaraf, aka "The Street Kid" http://www.thestreetkid.c

My Story in a Nutshell (Thus far)

You Can't Join Without an Invitation...Here's yours!

About a year and a half ago, I was told by a trusted colleague ab out a brand new organization called The Global Information Network. I have drifted in and out of network and affiliate marketing programs my whole life with varying degrees of success.

I was interested but I wasn't ready to start from scratch with anything new. I had more things going on, both business and personal, than I had time for and I felt I didn't need anything else bogging me down. If it wasn't something I felt a burning passion for, I wasn't touching it. I was committed to "trimming the fat" from my life, in general.

The thing is, I kept hearing more and more about this organization. It kept popping up in different places around me. On TV, in the things I was reading, names, faces...until one day it occurred to me that, "Hey, if I keep hearing about this, maybe it's a sign that I should look into it more carefully." Perhaps that's what's happening to you. Maybe that's how you've come to search and find this blog. I'm not here to promote or discourage the Global Information Network (GIN), everyone has to make up their own mind, but I am just writing about my experience in the hopes that you get something out of it.

 I have several blogs about very different topics so, to keep readers from getting lost or being overwhelmed or even unable to find what they're looking for, I just maintain a bunch of different blogs. I do it for readers. It would be far easier for me to just get online and write. I hope you're enjoying my thoughts and that you can find them useful.

So, anyway, I finally took a closer look at it and I found out that I would be able to join as an affiliate, for free, and have access to a bunch of the information (videos, books, articles, audios). This appealed to me. I needed motivation and direction  and it was clear that GIN was what I needed, when I needed it.

I joined and I immediately saw the huge value and the secrets that were being taught and exposed. I learned that I was never going to get where I wanted to be without this knowledge. It was perfect timing so I signed up to be a member on the spot.

I have been a  member since March 2010. I have attended meetings, I always listen to the member and affiliate audios that are emailed out weekly. I have developed great reading habits but, more importantly, I now know what to read. This, alone, was a great leap forward for me. No more wasting time with books, articles or programs that don't work. I feel free of all the crap that was bombarding me. I am now clear and focused on what I want and how to get it.

After being a member for over a year and reading, absorbing and applying everything I has learning, I finally decided to participate in the affiliate marketing aspect which is built into the membership.  It's not required and I was getting so much out of GIN without it that I wasn't in any rush to get involved with that.

I'm sorry, now, that I waited.

I will continue to work on all of my different projects and I'll keep writing about my experiences and the things I learn but, for now, I wanted this to be my first post. I have had more success, faster, with GIN than with anything else I've ever done. I've put links to check it out and join if you are interested. The reason I've included licks is because membership is by Invitation Only. If you would like more information, feel free to click either of the tags at the top or bottom of this post.

Invitation to Join.