Welcome!

Warm regards,
Denis Waitley

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There's a Chinese proverb that is more relevant today that ever before: "If you haven't seen a man or woman for three days, look them over very carefully when you next encounter them, for they will have changed dramatically during that three-day period."

More changes are crammed into every day of our lives than our grandparents experienced in decades - and this process is just beginning. Every 15 seconds a new website is launched! Every 15 minutes a new technological breakthrough occurs! Every 15 days a new product or service is introduced, that didn't exist before! Consider for a moment that the musical greeting card you ordered via the web has more computing power than existed on the planet when the first satellite went into orbit in outer space.

Consider the computer's impact. Designed as a tool for managing complexity, it also adds complexity, just as freeways add more traffic. The computer enables us to sort, store, retrieve and transmit information with ever-increasing speed. But the faster data can be analyzed, the faster decisions are expected - and the greater the pressure to reach them. And the computer's efficiency is hardly lost on our competitors. They utilize them to produce goods and services of comparable quality, for less money.

As this year flies by, welcome change rather than try to resist it. Learn how to make change work for you rather than against you. Develop unique strategies and skills that enable you to create opportunities from challenges. In response to rapid change, introduce it in the form of new business systems, pricing, and marketing that increase effectiveness and efficiency; create new products and new services; lower costs and encourage ideas to enhance productivity.

In everything we do, there are more choices available today than at any other time in history. To become the "brand" or "person" of choice, give others what they want in a time-starved world. Save others time and money, and you will gain more time freedom and wealth.

This week embrace change and make it work to your advantage!
-- Denis Waitley

2.  The Champion Within Article

Allowing Setbacks to Spur You On by Denis Waitley

The knowledge era's new leaders, many of whom are immigrants and women, are managing change by conceiving innovative organizations and novel ways to attract and motivate employees. They are learning to be proactive instead of reactive, and to appreciate the full importance of relationships and alliances. They also have a healthy aptitude for risk and perseverance, and know how to gain strength from setbacks and failure.

Life's Batting Average

Baseball's greatest hitter grew up near my neighborhood in San Diego. When Ted Williams slugged for the Boston Red Sox, my father and I kept a record of his daily batting average. And when I played Little League ball, my dad told me not to worry about striking out. In Williams's finest year, dad reminded me, the champion failed at the plate about 60 percent of the time.

Football's greatest quarterbacks complete only six out of ten passes. The best basketball players make only half their shots. Even with satellite mapping and expert geologists, leading oil companies make strikes in only one out of ten wells. Actors and actresses auditioning for roles are turned down twenty-nine in thirty times. And stock market winners make money on only two out of five of their investments.

Since failure is a given in life, success takes more than leadership beliefs and solid behavioral patterns. It also takes an appropriate response to the inevitable, including an effective combination of risk-taking and perseverance. I meet many individuals who are seeking security at all costs, and avoiding risk whenever and wherever possible. Knowing that certain changes would make success much more likely for them, they nevertheless take the path of least resistance: no change. For the temporary, often illusory comfort of staying as they are, they pay the terrible price of a life not truly lived.

Parable of the Cautious Man

There was a very cautious man,
who never laughed or cried.
He never risked, he never lost,
he never won nor tried.
And when he one day passed away,
his insurance was denied,
For since he never really lived,
they claimed he never died.

In other words, missed opportunities are the curse of potential. Just after the Great Depression, Americans, perhaps understandably at the time, took many steps intended to minimize risk. The government guaranteed much of our savings. Citizens bought billions of dollars worth of insurance. We sought lifetime employment and our unions fought for guaranteed annual cost-of-living increases to protect us from inflation. This security-blanket mentality has continued in recent decades as executives awarded themselves giant golden parachutes in case a merger or takeover took their plum jobs.

These measures had many benefits, but the drawbacks have also been heavy, even if less obvious. In our eagerness to avoid risk, we forgot its positive aspects. Many of us continue to overlook the fact that progress comes only when chances are taken. And the security we sought and continue to seek often produces boredom, mediocrity, apathy and reduced opportunity.

We still hear much about security, especially from federal and state politicians. But total security is a myth except, perhaps, for those six feet underground in the cemetery. We may indeed ask our government for guaranteed benefits. But we must be aware that when a structure starts with a floor, walls and ceilings will follow. And herein lies a paradoxical proverb:

You must risk in order to gain security, but you must never seek security.

When security becomes a major goal in life – when fulfillment and joy are reduced to merely holding on, sustaining the status quo – the risk remains heavy. It is then a risk of losing the prospects of real advancement, of not being able to ride the wave of change today and tomorrow. Had the founders of Yahoo, Amazon.com and America Online been concerned with immediate profits and return on investment, we would not be enjoying those Internet services today, each of which has a greater market capitalization than IBM or General Motors.

-- Denis Waitley
 

Denis Waitley has studied, counseled and trained leaders in virtually every field including Apollo astronauts, Olympic gold medalists, Super Bowl champions, returning POW's, heads of state and Fortune 500 top executives.

Denis is recognized as a world class speaker and author and has traveled the globe sharing success ideas and strategies to thousands of companies the past 25 years. To book Dr. Waitley to speak for your company or to be part of your upcoming Regional or National Convention send an email to speaker@deniswaitley.com or call 877-929-0439 and ask for Hilary.

3. Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley

I'd Rather Watch a Winner

I'd rather watch a winner, than hear one any day;

So please, my loving parents let your lives show me the way.

I'm only a reflection of what you taught today
I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give;

But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

So teach me by example, don't preach about what's right;

And show me by your actions every day and night.

I know that you're not perfect, in the things you do and say;

And the lectures you deliver are to help me find my way;

But I'd rather watch a winner, than hear one any day.



4. The Winner's Edge Coaching Tips

This week I'm sharing a little something from Charlie "Tremendous" Jones. In addition to breaking many sales records in the insurance industry throughout his career, Mr. Jones is the founder and CEO of Executive Books. Charlie is probably best known for his quote: "You're the same today as you'll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read." Enjoy Charlie's wisdom on the topic of "Stickability".

Stickability Is Tremendous

Stick by it, die by it, never give up. We need to burn the word "stickability" into our hearts. There is a plague sweeping the world, it is now reaching epidemic proportions. It's better known as the Quitters Disease. Everywhere I go I hear the phrase, in many different tones I QUIT - I QUIT - I QUIT. I expect to be greeted by some overwhelming, happy associate each time I return to the office with a great big -I QUIT. The problem with most people is that they don't realize what the problem is. I remember how I always wanted to quit. In fact, that's why I worked so hard to become successful so that I wouldn't have to go through that agonizing wanting to quit all the time. Then, finally, I became a success, and to my surprise, I wanted to quit anyway. I then learned that the human being hits psychological lows two or three times a year, and wants to quit for no reason at all. Of course, the real problem was in wanting to quit, because the more I would want to quit, the more I would want to quit, and the more I would want to quit, the more I was afraid I was going to quit, and I didn't want to quit, I just wanted to want to quit. Finally, one day I discovered the difference between quitting and wanting to quit. I then decided I would never quit, and now I enjoy quitting all the time, because I know I'm not going to QUIT. Sometimes someone will ask, "You mean you can't ever quit?" That's right, you can die, retire or get fired, but that's it. Of course, there are exceptions and you are going to think you're it every time you want to quit and if you sell out that easily, you'll never get to pay the first price of leadership. I think you'll agree that more is to be gained by stickability, than chasing better deals, and most of the time our attitudes at the time of our quitting is setting the stage for almost certain failure in whatever we run to.

Tremendously,
Charles "T" Jones

 

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