What Does It Take To Win?
“Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.” ~ Tom Blandi
For the last month we have been talking about very broad topics: Hope… Freedom… Purpose… Values… Success (and what it takes to ACHIEVE it… and be HAPPY along the way.) No doubt, we have asked — and answered — the questions that lead to a life of passion, purpose and significance.
This week, we will narrow our focus to you personally, and what it takes to WIN at what you do. No “top of the funnel” thinking here… just real CLEAR advice on what it takes to unleash the winner within you.
Some Basic Advice…
How you approach life determines if you will ultimately succeed… or fail to produce the results you want.
Think a moment about Lance Armstrong’s unprecedented SEVENTH consecutivewin of the Tour de France six years ago.
What put him ahead of the pack? From my perspective, it was his outstanding TQ!
the 10 Colors of The Time Prism:
Was it his physical and mental ENERGY level? No doubt.
Was it his sense of purpose and MISSION? Yes.
Was it the GOAL and his team’s PLANto achieve it? Absolutely.
Was it his unrelenting focus and ability to PRIORITIZE his moves? Sure.
Was it his ability to create powerful team-building SYNERGY? Yes, the team won… not just Lance.
Was it his systematic ORGANIZATIONAL skills and ability to OPTIMIZE time? No question. You don’t win anythingwithout solid time management skills.
Was it his ability to consistently take bold ACTION to break out from the pack? Naturally.
Yes, these 9 Colors were all burning white hot. But that’s not enough! If Lance permitted his ATTITUDE to go negative, at any point in the race, a perfect 10 on the other 9 Colors wouldn’t matter—because 9 x 0 is zero.
What gave Lance the winning edge was his ATTITUDE. The positive attitude to overcome Cancer… to believe in himself and his team… to endure pain, frustration and setbacks.
Believe you will win.
Pay the price to win.
You will win.
Become the Lance Armstrong of your career. Committing to improve your ATTITUDE is a fabulous first step! The right second step is to CONSISTENTLY do TQ Factor 3C: “Spend your time visualizing tremendously rewarding successes instead of picturing failure.”
Listen to the Attitude Workshop audio track…
Stop and listen to the audio track for TQ Factor 3C. Then play it again while you’re reading the rest of this page, and while you’re completing the exercises.
Engage your brain on as many levels as possible, and you’ll learn faster, and remember what you’ve read longer.
A Fact of Life…
Your motivation to take action increases automatically when you imagine how great it will be when you succeed. The bigger, brighter, more immediate and more personal you can imagine the payoff, the greater your desire to pursue your goals. When you picture failure, you lose motivation to proceed. You focus on avoiding mistakes, rather than striving to do your best. This leads to a reduction in effort — and an increase in desire — to avoid a negative outcome.
Factor 3C’s CONTRIBUTION to your performance…
A high commitment suggests you spend your time fulfilling your prophecy of success. Each day’s progress — large or small — gets you closer to the goals you desire. Inspired by a beautiful dream, you maintain interest and internal drive — even when things don’t go well. With your eye on the prize, you keep hope alive for yourself and those around you — and conquer the inevitable detours on the way to your desired destination.
Factor 3C’s COST to your success…
A lack of commitment suggests you are someone who tends to predict failure and then live in fear that your prediction comes true. You only achieve a fraction of what you could, because all you tend to see are the things that could go wrong — before you even begin. It’s difficult for you to stay motivated toward big goals when all you see are the problems and pitfalls. You find it hard to take future steps, because you are relatively certain they’re bound for failure. This means you give up too often when things get too rough.
The BENEFIT of choosing to do Factor 3C a bit more frequently: You have more power…
You leap at every opportunity to achieve your goals. You accumulate performance positives like “Enthusiastic, Eager and Inspired” — immediately moving you towards the results you expect.
What happens when you FAIL to consistently do Factor 3C? You have less power…
Failure is always in the back of your mind, scaring you away from taking actions. Negatives like “Discouraged, Fearful and Doubtful” start to take their toll on your performance — quickly moving you away from the success you want.
“There is great treasure there behind our skull and this is true about all of us. This little treasure has great, great powers, and I would say we only have learnt a very, very small part of what it can do.” ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
This week, do a REALITY check and an ATTITUDE check. Do you get the connection between your reality and your attitude?
For better or worse, they are inseparably linked.
Think about it. — E.R. Haas, CEO
Category: Color Commentaries, Personal Growth
