TipsForSuccess: August 2007

TipsForSuccess: Step One: Be a Success

TipsForSuccess: Two Reasons Why People Might Dislike You

Step One: Be a Success

Jane wants a healthy body. Andy wants a highly-successful accounting firm. George wants a big happy family.

All three know what they need to do to reach their goals. Jane knows she needs to control her diet and exercise every day. Andy knows he needs to promote his accounting practice and provide outstanding service to his clients. George knows he needs to learn more about raising children and to spend more time with his family.

Yet they never actually DO the steps they must do to HAVE the results they want to have. Why not?

Be, Do, Have

As you know, to HAVE the things you want, you need to DO certain actions. You need to produce, speak, create, act, assemble, promote, sell or perform some sort of action.

For example, before you can HAVE money, you need to DO things to earn the money. You need to identify the most valuable product or service you can provide; show people the benefits of your service or product; deliver this service or product in high volume and high quality; collect money, expand your operation, learn from your mistakes and so on.

What you may not know is that one other condition must exist before you can succeed.

"The ability to be is more important than the ability to do. The ability to do is more important than the ability to have." -- L. Ron Hubbard

The Correct BE

Did you know that you have the ability to BE anything? Remember when you were very young you could BE a race car driver in the morning, a king in the afternoon and a famous singer after dinner?

It's not only fun to BE something new, it is VITAL for your success.

For example, Jane, who wants a healthy body, wants to exercise every day. Yet instead of forcing herself to start jogging, she works on the BE. She puts on her running suit, her running shoes and her running hat. She stretches her muscles like a runner. She straps her portable stereo to her arm, puts on the headphones and turns on some rock 'n' roll.

By the time she finishes preparing, she can't wait to go out and start jogging! She feels healthy already. Because she is BEING a healthy runner, the DO is much easier. She goes outside and enjoys her run.

What identity should Jane take if she wants to control her diet? Maybe a diet expert? Perhaps a gourmet cook who specializes in healthy food?

What must George BE to do the steps necessary to have a successful family? In his case, he might only need to take off every other "hat" in his life and put on his family hat. Perhaps he puts on an old soft sweater, uses a kinder voice and thinks about nothing except his children. He decides to BE Dad and nothing else.

The Incorrect BE

Some people will only assume one identity. They fail in life because they refuse to BE anything else.

For example, even though he wants a highly-successful accounting firm, Andy won't change his identity. "I don't care what anyone thinks. My accounting work is perfect. I'm going to BE whatever I want."

So Andy wears the same type of clothing he wore in college. He uses bad language, smokes fat cigars and throws paper airplanes around his office.

His partner Linda assumes the identity of a highly-successful accountant. She wears professional clothing, uses perfect English and keeps her office spotless.

Andy says, "Linda is phony. I know she's really a slob like me, but she goes around acting like some big shot. She makes me sick."

Linda ignores Andy and continues to BE a professional. Naturally, clients prefer to work with Linda as they trust her. She earns three times more money than Andy.

Eventually, Linda decides to BE a highly-successful accounting firm owner. As a result, she attracts five big businesses as clients, moves her practice to an expensive office suite and hires two new accountants. She is creating a million-dollar firm while Andy is still being a college student.

More Examples

Julio wants to get married and have a family, but the women he meets want nothing to do with him. He realizes he is BEING boring, unattractive and shy. He realizes BE is more important than DO or HAVE.

Julio changes his identity to be attractive, confident and cheerful. He wears his best clothes, forces himself to stand straight and adds a smile to his face. An attractive woman at his work notices him for the first time and smiles at him.

Beth wants to write a book on training horses. After working with horses for 20 years, she has discovered several new training methods. However, she has never written anything before and after trying to write her book for an hour, gives up.

Beth learns the importance of BE. She realizes she was trying to write a book while being a horse trainer. She reads how her favorite writer writes before sunrise, drinks herbal tea and wears a yellow sweater and decides she would like to use that identity.

So Beth gets up before sunrise, brews some herbal tea and puts on a yellow sweater. Suddenly, she is being a writer and not a horse trainer. She writes five pages before her horses whinny for their breakfasts.

Recommendations

If you truly want to DO the actions necessary to HAVE what you want from life, work out and assume the correct BE. These steps might help you:

1. Write down something you want to HAVE.

2. Write down the actions you DO to get it.

3. Work out the identity you must BE. List the characteristics, attitudes, appearance, qualities and features of this identity.

4. Before starting the actions, BE the correct identity for the job. Assume the characteristics. Put on the hat.

5. Once you are being what you need to BE, you will feel anxious to start the DO. Jump in with both feet!

6. Ignore those who criticize you for being what you need to BE or doing what you need to DO to get what you want to HAVE from life. Once you reach your goals, these small people will also be jealous of your success.

7. If doing the job seems too difficult, you may need to back up a step and boost the BE. Expand the identity. Do a little research about the top people in the field. Add more traits and characteristics.

So who should you BE today?

For more information about Be, Do, Have, buy and read The Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard; available at www.bridgepubs.com.

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Two Reasons Why People Might Dislike You

When people do not like you, they ignore you, disagree with you or attack you.

So to make people like you, you might take extra showers, use a better mouth wash and buy new clothes. You might get a new haircut, buy colored contact lenses and try a different deodorant. Yet they still do not like you.

Even when you tell them how important or popular you are, they still do not like you. Why?

Possible Reason #1

"Asserting one's own importance is about as acceptable as a dead cat at a wedding." -- L. Ron Hubbard

For example, do you know someone who constantly tells you how important he or she is? Do you admire and respect this person?

To be more successful, you can use this idea in reverse. When you make people feel important, they feel good and want to be around you. Most people are more cooperative when they believe you have a high opinion of them.

Certain people are very sensitive about their importance. They get upset, angry, even violent if you treat them with disrespect; with less importance than they feel they deserve. In many cases, the less money, skill or power people have, the greater their need to feel important.

Giving or granting importance to others is a skill you can use to boost goodwill and cooperation. When you make people feel important, they trust you, believe you and like you. They make you successful.

Possible Reason #2

"Ignore people at your peril." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Do you know someone who walks with their nose in the air? Who walks by you as if you do not exist? How does this person make you feel?

You can ruin your success when you ignore people. For example, salespeople rarely get past receptionists when they treat receptionists like they do not exist. And receptionists get in trouble for ignoring people who look like a salespersons, but are actually VIPs.

Contrary to what you may have learned as a teenager, if you ignore people, they do not admire and respect you. Instead, they despise and hate you. Arrogance is not the same as popularity, power or expertise.

Noticing people is not only good manners, it shows the kind of person you are.

For example, Joe is going to the most important job interview in his career. He walks into the high-rise building like a big shot and gets into the elevator to go to the 30th floor. As the elevator doors close, a woman rushes up, but she can't make it as Joe just ignores her. He does not like overweight women. So of course, while waiting in the fancy lobby on th 30th floor, the overweight woman comes out to give Joe the interview.

Never assume anyone is unimportant.

Recommendations

"People have value and are important. Big or small they are important." -- L. Ron Hubbard

1. Instead of making yourself seem important, make other people feel important. Treat everyone you meet as a VIP.

2. Notice everyone you see. Give them your full attention and really listen to them.

Noticing people and making them feel important is essential to your success; you earn friendships that can last a lifetime.

Try it today! Notice everyone. Automatically respect them. Do not worry about your own importance.

With practice, you can notice people and make them feel important with just a glance.

Work on it!

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TipsForSuccess: Part 3: How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life

How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life (Part 3)

As you may remember in Part 1 of "How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life," blaming people or conditions is not on the road to success.

No matter how often you blame people or situations, no matter how convincing your arguments, and no matter how many people agree with you, blame does not boost your productivity, increase your income or make you happier.

"Full responsibility is not fault; it is recognition of being cause." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Accepting full responsibility makes you successful. You can solve your own problems. You sit in the driver's seat of life.

Part 2 of "How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life," included one of L. Ron Hubbard's definitions of responsibility:

"We can define responsibility as the concept of being able to care for, to reach or to be."

"It includes guard it, help it, like it, be interested in it, etc."

"It is willingness to own or act or use or be." -- L. Ron Hubbard

From the above quotes, you can create a list of questions to ask yourself. You can use your answers to guide you toward fuller responsibility. Examples:

CAUSE IT: How have I caused this problem?
CARE FOR IT: What aspect of this problem can I care for?
REACH IT: Instead of withdrawing from it, how can I reach toward it?
BE IT: Is there some way I can be it? What would I do if I were this person?
GUARD IT: Is there some way I can guard it?
HELP IT: Is there something I can do to help it?
LIKE IT: What can I do to like it better? What do I like about it?
INTERESTED IN IT: What can I do to become more interested in it?
OWN IT: How can I own it?
ACT WITH IT: Can I act with it? What actions can I take?
USE IT: How can I use it?

You can boost your personal power to a new level by using another concept from L. Ron Hubbard, as covered in this third and final part of "How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life."

Believing, Knowing, Willing

Taking responsibility for something does not necessarily mean you have to do anything. Just change your attitude about the situation.

"To be responsible for something one does not actually have to care for it or reach it or be it. One only needs to believe or know that he has the ability to care for it, reach it or be it." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Bob owned a large copy machine sales and service company. Sales had been in a slump for several weeks. He couldn't get his sales team to sell machines no matter what he tried.

He learned this application of responsibility and decided to step up to the plate. He told his sales people, "If you guys don't sell some copiers within the next three hours, I'll do it myself." Until then, Bob had not been willing do any sales. But when he said he would go sell copiers himself, he really meant it.

Three hours later, Bob grabbed some business lead sheets and headed for his car to go make some sales. Before he made it outside, two salesmen called the office to arrange delivery for new copiers. Bob smiled, put down the lead sheets and went back to his work. Three other sales came in by the end of the day which meant they sold more machines that afternoon than in the previous month. Bob knew his willingness made the difference.

Responsibility can seem to work like magic at times.

1. You have a problem,

2. You assume full responsibility for it, but before you do anything,

3. The problem solves.

When an army commander is willing to lead the charge, his troops have more courage. He does not need to actually ride a horse and wave a sword, but he must be completely willing to do so.

When a motel manager is willing to clean toilets, her maids do not quit as often. When one spouse in a troubled marriage is willing to apologize or compromise, the other spouse suddenly feels the same way.

If you are a manager, this means you must be willing to do every job under you. For example, if you are unwilling to learn how to use the computer, it will be twice as hard for your staff to learn to use the computer. If you are unwilling to work long hours, your people will hate long hours. If you are afraid to face and handle the nasty customers, your employees will also be afraid.

However, if you become completely willing to learn how to use the computer, if you know you can work all night, and if become willing to face and handle nasty customers, despite the danger, suddenly your staff members become willing and able to do the same things!

Summary

Avoiding problems, blaming others or explaining away difficulties gets you nowhere. Every business and every individual who fails can give you dozens of explanations or people to blame. You now know the secret: the real reason they give excuses or blame others is they are not taking responsibility. Luckily, responsibility is easy to take.

Improving your ability and willingness to accept full responsibility makes working, managing and living much easier. You feel calmer and in better control. You have a distinct edge in the game.

You are in the driver's seat of life.

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TipsForSuccess: The Secret of How to Build a Personal Cash Reserve

The Secret of How to Build a Personal Cash Surplus

If you had saved 10% of your income since you started working, how much money would you have now?

Having a big savings fund has many advantages. For example:

* You can negotiate better purchase prices

* Emergencies and potential emergencies are less stressful

* You can help the people you love with their emergencies

* You do not feel as trapped by your job

* You have the option of getting into activities you enjoy and out of activities you do not enjoy

* You have more choices of where to live

* You can devote more time and money to the activities and causes you love

Is saving money difficult for you? Perhaps your immediate needs are more stressful than your future needs. You may not have enough to cover current bills.

Even if you manage to save some money, you are tempted to spend it. Or you have an emergency or find something you really want to buy. You promise yourself you'll pay it back to your cash reserve, but you never do.

Saving money takes more self-discipline than most people have. It is difficult to put money aside each month into savings. However, most people can pay their bills.

The Secret

"When a surplus is made part of the 'need' by disguised outgo, a surplus occurs. Only then will it occur. It will not happen otherwise." -- L. Ron Hubbard

If you pay your bills, you can also save money. You simply make your savings into a bill. You won't miss the money.

For example, you buy a house with a mortgage. A small part of your house payment goes toward the purchase and is "saved" in the real estate. It may not be much, but it is better than nothing.

Another example is to arrange a monthly debit from your checking account into a saving account. Any bank can set up a savings plan for you.

Certain credit card programs allow you to make monthly payments into an investment account, such as savings accounts with insurance companies or banks. The amount you authorize is automatically charged to your credit card each month.

You can pay money toward a future purchase by making an agreement with the group you want to buy from. For example, some colleges allow you to freeze the tuition, if you make monthly payments.

You can also sign up for your company's payroll savings plan or retirement plan. You tell your employer how much to save for you. Your savings is withheld from your pay, just like your tax payments.

Even though opportunities to create a bill that becomes a savings account are not widely promoted, they are available.

Recommendations

Decide how much you wish to save each month. The amount you pay as the disguised bill should not be so high that it becomes a burden, but you might be surprised how easily you can live on 90% of your current income when you are saving 10%.

The need to pay the disguised bill must be as urgent as any of your other monthly bills. In other words, you pay it each month without fail.

The cash reserve must also be difficult for you to spend. For some people, a small penalty deducted from your savings is a sufficient deterrent. For others, the account must be a joint account meaning another person must approve your withdrawal from your savings.

Then find a bill or system that will force you to save money. If none of the above examples fit your situation, talk to someone at your bank, at your job or at an investment company. You might also ask people who have made themselves wealthy as they will have several good ideas.

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TipsForSuccess: Step One: Be a Success

TipsForSuccess: Two Reasons Why People Might Dislike You

TipsForSuccess: Part 3: How to Get into the Driver's Seat of Life

TipsForSuccess: The Secret of How to Build a Personal Cash Reserve

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