In order to reach your full potential, you must avoid depression, obesity and unhealthy foods, boredom, and uninteresting people. Your daily activities should seek to improve in each of these categories; as you do, you will find yourself better equipped to face life’s challenges. Maintain various interests in addition to your work, and try to connect with interesting people to establish a healthy self-esteem.
True leadership comes from standing for the things in which you believe, even if you stand alone and others disagree with you. Taking charge of your life means acting and doing what others are afraid or unwilling to do; this is personal leadership, and will lead you to incredible results. You will reach your fullest potential by being the person you are capable of being, rather than the person that others say you should be.
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of putting your efforts in the right direction. The most important decision you can make is deciding where you are going to put your effort. If you choose the right field for your efforts, you will frequently be richly rewarded (even if you do not have a lot of skill in the field). When you identify something that the market wants, and provide it, then you can frequently do quite well—even if you are not particularly skilled. It is just a question of being at the right place at the right time and taking action. In your career, very little is more important than where you choose to focus your effort. Nothing is more important than working somewhere with opportunity and where you are being carried away by the wind of a positive economic current.
You are in your most productive state when you are “awakened” and driven towards your goal. Once you experience this kind of awakening and tap into your inner drive, all aspects of your life can profoundly change; people with such drive attain incredible levels of achievement in virtually every discipline. The most successful people throughout history tap into this higher form of energy to achieve their goals, and you can too.
In this article Harrison discusses how fear of criticism prevents people from living up to their full potential. Harrison believes that the biggest achievers in our world are the people who are not afraid to act and are not afraid of criticism. The skill of finding a job is dependent upon not caring what other people are saying or will say. The less you fear criticism, the better job you will get. You need to lead and not follow. People who follow the rules and spend their time wondering what others will think rarely achieve very much. The winners in this world are the ones who are acting despite what others may say, or are saying. The losers are the ones who are paralyzed with fear and afraid to take action because of what others may say.
In this article Harrison discusses how people who stand for something always do better than those who do not. Companies who stand for something always do better than companies who do not. The most successful companies not only stand for something, but they are completely consistent with their core principles. This is what keeps them going and this is what makes them successful. One of the largest problems that people have in their careers is when they diverge from what they are good at. When you do not stand for something, you divert from your true strength. Everything begins to crumble and slowly fall apart when you are not doing something that you are really good at. The biggest success comes when you stand for something and are good at it.
In this article Harrison discusses why it is important to take action right away. For most people it is much more fun and interesting to sit around and dream and think about how they are going to improve, than it is to actually go out and make major improvements in their lives. The problem is very few people ever follow the course of action. It is like this for a great many of us. We would rather think and dream than act. The key to making the most of your career and life is making sure you act on what you are learning. Anyone can talk about, read about, or dream about doing something. The key is being able to take action and do it.
In this article Harrison talks about the huge fundamental mistake that most people make with their lives. They base their future on a “big win” outside their control. In sales it is not uncommon for people to put all of their efforts into trying to close “one big deal” and exclude other small deals. When people put their efforts into this sort of thing they get lucky sometimes … but most of the time they do not. Everyone does this sort of thing to some extent and it needs to stop. Many people are continually basing their future on “a big break” or some sort of “breakthrough” happening in their careers and lives. Slow and steady generally wins the race. You need to invest in what you are doing over time.
In this article Harrison explains how you can ensure success in your career by externalizing your opponents. Your job is like a game; if you work hard, play by the rules of the company and are seen as part of the team you will be viewed as a valuable player for the company. The most significant part of any game is the presence of an opponent. Don’t look for an opponent among your co-workers. Never speak negatively of your team members. Instead, concentrate on the external opponents. External opponents bring you and the team closer as you work towards a common goal. In order for you and your company to succeed it is important to have an external opponent. Harrison advises people to consistently work hard and not participate in the politics. This is a sure way to score big in your career.
True self-esteem comes from within, not from the acceptance of others. When your sense of worth comes from within, you free yourself from comparisons with others and will enjoy a greater sense of internal security. You will no longer be bogged down by the experiences of others and can become much more self-reliant.
Your greatest successes will come from some of the smallest actions in terms of meeting people. You will cause a “stacking effect” the more you meet and connect with people; conversely, people cannot connect with you when you are withdrawn and nothing will happen. You must do everything in your power to connect with as many people as possible.
A powerful sense of self will make all the difference in your life. You must understand that your sense of yourself and your capabilities come from inside of you, not from the external forces that have brought you to your current place in life. What you feel internally might be completely different from what the world is telling you, and you must learn to focus on the former rather than the latter.
Adopting a positive attitude will always bring you closer to success, as nobody wants to be associated with a losing side. Everyone wants to associate with and hire winners, and avoids losers. Nothing is more important than maintaining a positive attitude, as many employers hire people based primarily on attitude; with the right attitude, everything else will fall into place. You must look like you are on the winning team, even if times are tough; nobody wants to hire a loser.
Everyone tries to maintain a certain emotional state, and learning to control your own emotions will have a profound impact on your career. While everyone allows their emotional states to be influenced by outside events, there is no advantage in basing your own emotions on things that you cannot control. Allow yourself to discover happiness and fulfillment naturally, rather than making your emotions dependant on external circumstances. Your outlook will have a tremendous impact on your psychological health, as well as that of those around you.
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