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There are lots of excuses for no success, but very few reasons

People who do not succeed have one distinguishing trait in common. They know all the reasons for failure, and have what they believe to be air-tight alibis to explain away their own lack of achievement.

Some of these alibis are clever, and a few of them are justifiable by the facts. But alibis cannot be used for money. The world wants to know only one thing – HAVE YOU ACHIEVED SUCCESS?

A character analyst compiled a list of the most commonly used alibis.

As you read the list, examine yourself carefully, and determine how many of these alibis, if any, are your own property. Remember, too, the philosophy presented in this book makes every one of these alibis obsolete.

  • IF I didn’t have a wife and family…
  • IF I had enough ‘pull’…
  • IF I had money…
  • IF I had a good education…
  • IF I could get a job…
  • IF I had good health…
  • IF I only had time…
  • IF times were better…
  • IF other people understood me…
  • IF conditions around me were only different…
  • IF I could live my life over again…
  • IF I did not fear what ‘THEY’ would say…
  • IF I had been given a chance…
  • IF I now had a chance…
  • IF other people didn’t ‘have it in for me’…
  • IF nothing happens to stop me…
  • IF I were only younger…
  • IF I could only do what I want…
  • IF I had been born rich…
  • IF I could meet ‘the right people’…
  • IF I had the talent that some people have…
  • IF I dared assert myself…
  • IF I only had embraced past opportunities…
  • IF people didn’t get on my nerves…
  • IF I didn’t have to keep house and look after the children…
  • IF I could save some money…
  • IF the boss only appreciated me…
  • IF I only had somebody to help me…
  • IF my family understood me…
  • IF I lived in a big city…
  • IF I could just get started…
  • IF I were only free…
  • IF I had the personality of some people…
  • IF I were not so fat…
  • IF my talents were known…
  • IF I could just get a ‘break’…
  • IF I could only get out of debt…
  • IF I hadn’t failed…
  • IF I only knew how…
  • IF everybody didn’t oppose me…
  • IF I didn’t have so many worries…
  • IF I could marry the right person…
  • IF people weren’t so dumb…
  • IF my family were not so extravagant…
  • IF I were sure of myself…
  • IF luck were not against me…
  • IF I had not been born under the wrong star…
  • IF it were not true that ‘what is to be will be’…
  • IF I did not have to work so hard…
  • IF I hadn’t lost my money…
  • IF I lived in a different neighborhood…
  • IF I didn’t have a ‘past’…
  • IF I only had a business of my own…
  • IF other people would only listen to me…

IF * * * and this is the greatest of them all * * * I had the courage to see myself as I really am, I would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it, then I might have a chance to profit by my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others.

For I know that there is something WRONG with me, or I would now be where I WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and less time building alibis to cover them.

This piece was written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill in his immortal book, Think and Grow Rich. This could have been written yesterday and been almost as current. The word ‘alibi’ has been replaced by the word ‘excuse’ but the meanings remain the same.

What’s your excuse for not achieving more, and how can you turn that excuse into positive action? Just a thought.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.


About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Leadership Inspirations – Reputation

StrategyDriven Inspirational QuoteEither a good or a bad reputation outruns and gets before people wherever they go.”

Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
(1694 – 1773)
British statesman and man of letters

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 10 – Everyone Can Submit a Condition Report

StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program ArticleAdverse conditions and opportunities for improvement present themselves at unpredictable times and in unexpected places; possibly observed by only a few or one. Furthermore, an organization benefits most when its workforce contributes the full measure of its intellect and creativity. Thus, it is critically important that everyone, including contractors, be able to submit a condition report.


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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Beyond networking… all the way to new business.

I’ve been attending networking clubs and networking meetings for the better part of 25 years.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Business Networking International event with Chapter Lucky 62 in New York City as a guest. I wanted to give a short talk on networking strategies, but it seems as though the rules of the club forbade it. Respecting that, I attended anyway.

I didn’t really know what to expect since I had never been to a BNI networking meeting before, but I must say, whether they had selected me as a speaker or not, the meeting was exceptional. Very structured, but exceptional. And did I mention structured?

It began with a two-minute educational segment. I expected someone to get up, hem and haw, and give some weak tip. Instead, I listened to an amazing duet that turned their tip into a song!

The singsong tip got the meeting off to an incredible start – both in tempo and in tone. The message was so well constructed and completely customized that I am including it here for your educational pleasure.

Let me tell you something about your personality
You’re the only one with it, so let it shine brightly.
You may not be the only lawyer doctor broker cake decorator accountant in town,
But you’re the only one that’s unique inside and out

So let me tell you how
To stand out from the crowd

You gotta lead with your personality
You gotta lead with your personality
They have got to see individuality
You gotta lead with your personality

You may share a profession with a thousand other folks.
But what sets you apart is you make really lame jokes.
And that’s ok, it just ads to your character, it makes you like-able
People do business with people they like,
Especially if they like title!

So let me tell you how,
To stand out from the crowd

The singer-songwriter, Antony Bitar, is a real estate salesman. If you think his song lyric is great, you should see his YouTube introduction of himself for his real estate business. This guy gets it.

The guitar player accompanying Antony, Adam Lomeo, was actually showcasing his talents to the group. Which, by the way, were flawlessly excellent.

Back to the meeting… After the introduction, a sheet of paper was passed to each attendee that contained everyone’s signature slogan. I was about to be exposed to one of the coolest, one-of-a-kind introduction routines I’ve ever seen. About 80 members are given 30 seconds each to give their introduction, and at the end, the entire group recites their tag line.

As you can imagine, some of them were classic. A woman photographer ended her commercial with “I shoot your family” and the group responded, “so you don’t have to.” And the Xerox salesperson said she had been copying since the 2nd grade when she copied off her buddy’s test paper – the audience howled.

I did get to give a short 1-minute talk – my host, Jennifer Gluckow, gave me her commercial spot, but I went over my 1 minute time limit and got dinged. Timing is everything.

After the 30-second commercials, two people got to give a 5-minute talk to give the members and their visitors a more in-depth look at their business and their ideal referral partners.

Before the meeting ended, members had the chance to thank each other for business, or at least the opportunities for business. And there was a lot of it.

Then a black book was passed around the room where members entered the dollar amount of their closed business from BNI referrals. NOTE WELL: They’ve passed more than $4 million this year in referral business. WOW!

This was one of the most serious, yet fun business groups, hell-bent on self-promotion and giving business. And did I mention structured?

Here are 4.5 things you can learn from this meeting:

1. You don’t always have to say your message. Sometimes you can sing it, and it’s much more attractive and effective.

2. Creating group participation for individual commercials is both powerful and memorable. When 80 people say your tag line in unison, it creates a unity of group and memorability of message – especially if it’s funny.

3. Leads and networking groups don’t work unless there are plenty of leads and everyone is willing to give them. This group was just as interested in giving as they were in getting. Huge – especially in NYC.

4. The science of networking is getting more sophisticated. You have to be prepared, be willing to share, and be reputable.

4.5 Your creativity, style, and overall presence create attraction. Master all three elements.

I’ll be back in NYC in a few weeks. The BNI meeting is at the top of my list to attend. I’ll be bringing a few leads.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.


About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Leadership Inspirations – Cultivating Habits

StrategyDriven Inspirational QuoteCultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)
American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher