book.chapter Establishing winning foundations

The most popular success formulas can be boiled down to: 1. Work long, hard hours, and 2. Keep a positive mental attitude. However, successful people are often unable to objectively analyze the reasons for their success. They think they know, but in reality, they are too close to the situation to see it clearly - they are so caught up in the details of what they're doing that they can't mentally step back and logically describe their actions. Therefore, when successful people are asked how they got there, they often give a conditioned response and repeat society's big two business myths. In fact, they may be too cowardly to acknowledge how they got where they are today for fear of offending the masses, or they may have their own commercial reasons for recycling society's standard responses. Considering the first myth, "work long, hard hours," the words "hard" and "long" are relative. What one person considers working hard may be half speed to someone else. These terms are vague and can be adjusted to suit anyone's work pattern, whether their work habits are good or bad. This myth also doesn't take into account individual abilities. What one person does in 10 hours, someone else might do in one hour. There's also a point where relaxation is the most efficient use of time. There are just too many unknowns in this myth. Therefore, replace the "work long, hard hours" myth with the "Uncle George Theory": All other things being equal, if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work long, hard hours, the only thing you're absolutely guaranteed is that you'll get older. There's not a single person in the world who can't see all around them examples of people who have worked long, hard hours all their adult lives without achieving any great financial or other success. The trick is not to wonder whether this is just, but to acknowledge the reality and use it to your advantage instead of allowing it to work against you. Hard work does not prevent you from being a success, but in and of itself, it doesn't guarantee success either. Now, turning to the second myth, "keep a positive mental attitude." Most people have the cart before the horse on positive mental attitudes. They think of it as a cause of success when, in reality, a positive mental attitude is the result of being prepared. A true positive mental attitude comes from being prepared, understanding the realities of what it will take to succeed, and being very good at the necessary techniques. The more thoroughly you're prepared, the more positive you will be, and the better your chances of succeeding. Some people have a distorted view of positive mental attitude. They think it can be synthetically manufactured by standing in front of a mirror smiling and repeating over and over simple slogans, or by heartily shaking hands with the people they meet and grinning from ear to ear. However, while being prepared is essential to the development of a positive mental attitude, it does not guarantee success by itself. Personal preparation can't control all the realities of every business situation. This is summed up in the "Sustenance of a Positive Attitude Through the Assumption of a Negative Result" theory: In any situation, you should realistically assume that you won't make a sale due to any of a number of factors beyond your control. The trick lies in being prepared and confident enough to take advantage of that situation if things do work out, but realistically assuming the worst. This theory is a method for sustaining a positive mental attitude in the face of consecutive failures. By assuming things will go wrong, you can sustain a positive state of preparation over a long period. You prepare for long-term success by being prepared to accept short-term failure. This works only if you're prepared to succeed and honestly confident you can move ahead if the right door opens. Look at each negative result as an educational experience, extract the lessons you can learn, and then move on rather than dwelling on all the thoughts on how things could have worked out.