Prosperity TVThis is one of my favorite topics. You mentioned the two groups and I agree which one has a chance and the one that quit already. [Luck is their name]
There is one other group. Your team! It is NOT easy being number one. Group one can become a number one but if they don't make a certain transition they will immediately go back to being a #2 seed or even a #3. The second group has had one favorable accident after another and they have been waiting for the end for a long long time.
Playing at #1 day in, day out, week after week is damn difficult. Even group two will bring their A game knowing they will lose... they will be right about it too... The first group when it gets to #1, if their motivation has been to knock off #1, will discover the 'rules' have changed.
Making it to the top and staying there is for very advanced people. I believe a primary reason people who build a large business with company X and suddenly walk away for company Y… cannot manage being a number one day after day, week after week. The chase appears more fun, less stressful and provides a built in reason for the pursuit. Each of us has to discover and expand our comfort zone for leadership or always [and all ways] come in second…. Except for maybe that one time….
This is one of my favorite topics. You mentioned the two groups and I agree which one has a chance and the one that quit already. [Luck is their name]
There is one other group. Your team! It is NOT easy being number one. Group one can become a number one but if they don't make a certain transition they will immediately go back to being a #2 seed or even a #3. The second group has had one favorable accident after another and they have been waiting for the end for a long long time.
Playing at #1 day in, day out, week after week is damn difficult. Even group two will bring their A game knowing they will lose... they will be right about it too... The first group when it gets to #1, if their motivation has been to knock off #1, will discover the 'rules' have changed.
Making it to the top and staying there is for very advanced people. I believe a primary reason people who build a large business with company X and suddenly walk away for company Y… cannot manage being a number one day after day, week after week. The chase appears more fun, less stressful and provides a built in reason for the pursuit. Each of us has to discover and expand our comfort zone for leadership or always [and all ways] come in second…. Except for maybe that one time….
Yes it really is hard to stay on top when everyone is gunning for you. Definitely a mindset in its own right. But a fun one to have!
-RG
I am one of the champions because being mediocre in life is not cutting it for me anymore!
Absolutely a great analogy. I live with a person who would be the coach of the 2nd team. But I'm on the 1st team (or really YOURS, Randy)! Gets interesting on the homefront sometimes. Already had to tell him to keep his mindset to himself. Gets tough, but I figured it's my little pebble who tries to trip me up daily. Won't let it ever happen! Easy to ignore when it's someone you can avoid; different when he's your husband, lol.
Or its your wife ... like me ... but take solace that if you keep your thoughts dominant on being that champion and DOING what champions do, you will influence your spouse to come over from the dark side 🙂 ... its working for me!
Until I started reading your blog I was always in the first group looking for excuses upfront.
I would say things like "okay, new project, we are going to work hard but if it dosn't work out because ...... that's ok"
Not anymore!
When I went to work a for certain company in sales, I asked the Area Vice President who was #1. He told who it was and I told the AVP that I would knock him off within a year. The AVP laughed. At a meeting a few months later, the #1 guy came up to me and told me that he heard that I was gunnin' for him. I told him I would take the top spot within a year. He told me it wouldn't happen. At the end of the year, he went on vacation for the last two weeks with a comfortable lead for #1 rep for the year - again. When he came back from vacation at the beginning of January, he found out he was #2. After I was #1, it felt different. I can tell you that I was fearful of losing that spot, although I remained #1 for the rest of time I worked for that company.
So, here is an observation, with a question. I find myself sometimes avoiding **things** if I think that I will not be "tops" at that thing (whatever it is)...so does that fall into the same category as making an excuse? I don't really make an excuse, I just don't participate in things that I don't think I can win at.
I'm not sure I explained this right...hopefully you know what I'm asking.
I concur,
I see the change taking place everyday. Both in me and her.
You have to continually grow, if you want to stay at the top, and growth requires change.
I think that's a fascinating question! What do you guys think?
-RG
In response to the last question. If you don't even try then you have already failed. Because you didn't even give your self the option to succeed.
You have to be in the first group. You have to just give it your all. You have to want and expect and feel that you should have the best & if you do fail in the process you've tried. Get up, dust yourself off and try again. It's taken me a long time to realize this and I've gone through quite a few naysayers in my life - I'm not good enough, I can't have this or that, I'm stupid, you don't have the money, it's too expensive. It's all blah, blah, blah now. I'm sick and tired of not having. I want more damn it. So I'm working on that, getting more education, starting to network, getting out of my comfort zone and going for it - it's scary as hell, but it's better than being in a box in the middle of the ocean waiting for the next leak to spring. I want to be on that Big Ocean Liner with 25 lifeboats!!!
"So I’m working on that, getting more education, starting to network, getting out of my comfort zone and going for it"
me too!
I'm working on who I want to become . . . and I'm looking forward to the time when I get the title.
I think see your point Scott. I do avoid things I am not good at like for instance house cleaning. Just ask Jeanette.
I am also a very bad looser and I have no anxiety about that cause I believe that I have to be that to be a real winner.
In traffic I dont want to be the fastest driver but the smoothiest one. And I sure am. Ask Jeanette...
well it depends on your avoidance cycle, are you avoiding these things because of fear of failure? if so then do it 100% and shoot for the top and get over your fear. fear of failure according to Hill is one of the major obstacles to success.
or are you avoiding it because you're not good at it and taking part in it is a waste of your time? if so, blow it off and dont worry about it any more....
or... are you avoiding because you're not good at it, but it keeps nagging at you because its something you need for your personal or business life? if this is the case then delegate this out....
had to stay on top... mindset??? really?
the difficulty is not staying on top so much as it is staying on top with your current level of performance.
your teams elevated performance level allows you to succeed time and time again, against teams that are not playing at your level consistently.... as their performance level increases and the team improves they will inevitably rise to your level.
if your team does not stay ahead of this curve then yes you will have a difficult time to stay on top... if you continue to improve being number 1 is your future.
this is also very true in life and in business. we may experience a certain level of success and get comfortable and begin to ease off a bit, and then when we realize we have fallen short, it become a game of catchup to get back to your past level of performance.
continually improving is the key to your long term success.
and in the softball field, continually striving to stay ahead of the learning curve of your opposition is the key.
love ya... good luck... and your team's name is Predators? that is too damn cool!
"So here’s the million-dollar question for you: On your journey toward success, which group are you in?"
see myself as the champion... with one caveat, i am the champ who lost the title and is now on the comeback and taking titles in more than one weight class.... lol....
i had the title belt taken away from me by new up-and-comers and i let myself become complacent.
so answer: champ on the come back trail.... lol....
lova ya... great post....
There is a saying that goes something like: "You need to choose your fights". I never though of myself being like this but I am to a point. If I don't have the skills, tools, desire or whatever to be successful at something I generally don't do it until I do. For example I am not a pilot, if I were to accept a challenge as being a better pilot than "Sully" Sullenberger I would be nuts ... however if I were a pilot, I would say I could do that!
Answer: Take your best shot!
Iam everyday, every night programming myself for success.
Iam every day reading aloud my script and other positive and success driven notes.
i do everyday reading of powerful books...
thanks a lot for your teachings..
gene
Well thankfully I have graduated to group two. For several years after losing it all and being told by some, "you were trying to live too high" I decided that way of life was killing me. So thanks to Randy and some great friends here in Chattanooga, I got back to the other way of thinking, the way that got me to the top back then, and then a better team took it from me. Now I am back on track to greatness and see small victories everyday as I climb back to the top and play against the greats. Thanks Randy and to all of your comments. Have a great weekend!
Thanks for the "wake up" call this morning. I was starting to fall back into the "second group's" mentality after a very strange week. Never give into negative thinking..it stinks!!
Thanks again Randy
In business, one of the best advice I've heard is stick with what you know. i.e. if you're successful in something it's because you have enough experience to know the ins and outs and may have an advantage over your competition. There is a difference between knowing and thinking you won't be successful at something. You know you won't be tops because you are rational and see the facts. Thinking implies not knowing, therefore, it presents an element of self doubt. If you're thinking is based solely on self doubt and you "know" you may have a chance at being tops, then go for it !! Get the winning mindset and pledge forward !!
hi Randy;
I try to be the first group, but when i'm in trouble it's so hard for me to be in. I think we should try to keep my mind in that condition.
best regards.
I'm working on being the reigning champion!
I think we can "weed out' the thoughts of failure, excuses, etc. by doing daily self development.
Also from a blog post by Randy Gage:
"The pain of discipline is far easier than the pain of regret. When you feel fear, you must profess faith. Because faith is deaf, dumb and blind.
Faith is deaf to rejection, dumb to failure, and blind to the possibility of defeat. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
We can’t see them, but we have a vision for them. That is why we do self-development every morning, speak those affirmations, put up those pictures on the refrigerator."
I don't see the world as been on top or not. For example, I am learning to dance salsa for fun. I am not interested in competing,someone evaluating me, or been the best salsa dancer in the club.
I do it because I enjoy it.
Another example is been a social democrat- a believer that thinks that there is enough money for everyone's basic like having a living wage,education,housing and universal health insurance.
I am in the minority with those values but I don't feel as I am less because I don't follow society's level of counciousness right now. I see myself as the forerunner to society as the abolitionist were in 1700, and women's rights in 1800, way before the herd realized equality based on race and gender.
I just repeated this very topic tonight at a local community meeting. It is so important to not fail. Not just win, but not fail. I felt their energy gaining as I spoke to encourage them to win. Set that goal. And while you're focused on that, encourage others to set their winning strategy. Be the change - set an example. Thanks RG!
Hi Randy,
I am definitely in the first group! I know that I can succeed at anything that I put my mind to and my whole self into with the will of God within me. We all can! We are CREATED too!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Make it a great day!
God Bless,
-ed