Welcome to this Bonus Lesson for the 'Keys to Success' e-Course.
For over 25 years, I've studied and read, watched and coached highly successful people, from self-made millionaires to professional golfers, to great ministers, parents and entrepreneurs. I've read over 2000 books in psychology, self-help, business, investing, management, leadership and success strategies. I've worked with Fortune 100 companies and I've watched sole proprietors both succeed and fail, and from all of that, I've tried to summarize the 6 Keys that I believe are the are critical, essential elements for long-term success in life.
You've read the Six Keys. You've had time to ponder them. I hope you've taken notes, and perhaps printed and re-read the lessons several times. I hope you've found some points you doubt or disagree with, or some items that in your specific situation might have to be modified to 'fit' just right. But I hope you've also seen the essential truth in each of the points. Let's re-cap them:
You will not achieve your dreams or be successful in life if you fail to take care of yourself. Insist on time for rest, time for fitness, time to review your goals, time to develop your plans and develop better strategies.
Beyond taking care of your body, mind and soul, you will need tools and equipment, skills and resources to achieve your dreams. You will need quiet in which to concentrate. You will need a 'problem free zone' where you can be productive, creative and effective. Highly successful people invest in a Personal Eco-System that lets them function at their best.
Dream big dreams, complete in every detail and rich in sensory cues. High achievers imagine the future exactly the way they want it, then develop plans and strategies to create the life they envision. Set goals. Develop plans. Write them down and review them daily. Once you have a goal and a strategy, pursue it with all your heart, mind, strength and energy. Use your imagination to create the life you want!
Ask better questions. Asking better, more powerful and more interesting questions will transform the quality of your life. Ask yourself, 'How can I?' Ask yourself, 'Who can teach me?' Ask yourself, 'What are my most important values, priorities and goals, and how can I reach them?' Focus on great questions and let the answers pull your forward.
Whatever you desire to achieve, start it today. Take some action in the direction you want to go. Then take another, and another. Action has power and decisiveness in it. Action gives us enthusiasm, builds our confidence and encourages us to go further. Success requires and is based on action. Do it.
Create a lifestyle based on repeated daily habits that reflect your values and your ideals. Living well doesn't cost; it pays! Living well is simple, orderly, and powerful. When you have a strong, reliable foundation of repeated daily habits you achieve more, with less effort, less stress and far less confusion. Remember the KISS formula: Keep It Simple and Stress-free.
And here is your bonus item: In every area of your life, develop benchmarks that let you know you are on the right track. Remember, 'what gets measured, gets done.' Track and benchmark your savings, your fitness, your sales, the time you spend with loved ones, or anything else that is critical to your success. Schedule a date with your spouse. Write it on the calendar, and better yet, put a date on the calendar each week for the next 12 months, then keep your promises!
Create simple charts or graphs to monitor your weight and put them on the wall where the whole family can see your progress and encourage you. Monitor anything and everything that you want to achieve. Even seemingly intangible things like 'peace of mind' can be tracked if you are creative. Simply rate your 'peace of mind' on a scale once a day and write it down. Anything that is important to your success deserves to be benchmarked, tracked and recorded.
Highly successful people have always known this. High achievers monitor their finances. The best sales people record the number of calls them make. Athletes measure their times, their distances and their Earned Run Averages. The numbers may not tell you everything about the quality of your life, but they are an essential tool for moving in the direction you want to go.
And finally, have and work with a mentor. As a professional coach, it's tempting to say, 'hire a coach', but that's not always necessary. Sometimes, a professional coach is the answer, and in that case, the sooner you make the commitment, invest the time and money and energy and get started, the faster you'll achieve your goals. But, whether you hire a professional or not, have and use a coach!
Work with someone who has already achieved what you want to achieve. Ask them to teach you, and schedule regular phone calls or have lunch with them once a week. If you cannot find an expert in your field, then read books, listen to tapes, go to seminars, take classes. Hundreds of people have said my 'Road to Riches' teleclass has been the key to achieving their financial goals. Classes work! Books help! Do whatever it takes to learn from the masters. You cannot afford to spend your life re-inventing the wheel. What others have achieved, you can achieve. But be smart and let them teach you.
Thank you for investing in this series. The cost was 'free' you say? No. I didn't charge you any money for it, but if you've taken it seriously, read and pondered these truths and taken action, you've invested something far more valuable than mere money. You invested your time.
Money is abundant. It can be created. It can be multiplied, replaced or borrowed, and it can grow. As economists say, money is 'elastic'. Your time is not. Time, once invested, is gone forever. Thank you for investing your time, and if you use these lessons well, I believe you'll find your investment will repay you thousands of times over.
Blessings to you, and best wishes for your continued and lasting success!
Phil
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Philip E. Humbert, PhD
'Helping You Have Your BEST Year Ever!'
Email: Coach@philiphumbert.com
Web: http://www.philiphumbert.com
(c) Copyright, 2002 by The Philip E. Humbert Group, Inc
All Rights Reserved. You are encouraged to forward or publish
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Here's to benchmarks!
Fran Watson
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