In my spare time, I catch up on business and political news, then I rummage through Flipboard and Quora. I’m often amused by the number of Flipboard articles and Quora questions about how to create wealth, build a business, and become an amazing leader. It seems that people can’t get enough of these subjects.
But I find the huge number of articles about quick fixes to be disconcerting. These kinds of questions are also troubling:
• How can I become a millionaire in 6 months?
• What one thing can I do to become successful?
• What are the top 5 traits of amazing leaders?
It seems that people are hungry to find “THE ONE THING” they need to do to become successful. What magic pill do they need to take?
It’s almost as if people think that they can become millionaires within a year by copycatting billionaires. Bill Gates gets up at 5 am and exercises for an hour, and Warren Buffett drives a 10-year old car? Makes sense, so, let’s copy them, and then you’ll become a billionaire.
The Reality Is That There Is No Quick Fix.
Achieving success in your business and creating wealth aren’t about perfecting any one thing. Rather, it’s about consistently doing many things, over and over.
It’s about taking the shot in the first place, and not giving up if you miss the net.
But people are looking for a quick fix—the one shot that will win the game.
But here’s the thing: The game isn’t won by taking one shot. One goal doesn’t make you a winner. However, if you consistently take many shots over the course of many games, you’ll win the game.
Most of the incredibly successful, rich entrepreneurs I’ve met over the years look at their business with the long game in mind. They recognize that they need to build success— not by doing one thing extraordinarily well, but by consistently doing many ordinary things. You don’t need to be an extraordinary individual to achieve extraordinary things in your life, but you do need to show up, take shots, and stay in the game.
That’s right. Most successful entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily any smarter than average individuals, but they do have some common character traits. In particular, they all have self-discipline.
What Does It Mean to Be Disciplined?
People with discipline:
• Know when to say no, especially when it comes to spending money.
For most people, it’s significantly easier to say yes to spending than it is to say no. For instance, it’s usually easy to say yes to a new dress, a new car, a new house, a new boat, or a beautiful vacation. Living a disciplined life means knowing when to say no, and understanding delayed gratification.
• Know how to manage time.
There will always be competing demands for your time. But time is finite. If you’re spending your time in a useless meeting or a sales call that goes nowhere, you’ll never get that time back. So treat your day like you treat your dollar: a precious commodity.
• Always set goals and have a vision.
Have you ever envisioned yourself buying a new car after making that big sale? Or retiring and relaxing on a beach, margarita in hand? Those are goals, all right. But reaping the rewards of accomplishing your goal is the easy part of visioning. The hard part is breaking down the vision into smaller, more actionable steps. And following through with all of those steps requires discipline.
Remember, You’re in the Game for the Long Haul.
And that means that you keep taking the shots, over and over, even when you miss the net.
It isn’t easy to create wealth and build a business. If it were, everybody would do it, and everybody would succeed.
Success occurs when you create a vision, show up, and continue taking shots, despite adversity. It isn’t about blaming others for your lack of success. Rather, it’s about staying accountable, putting in the hours, and doing ordinary things over and over again.
That’s how you become extraordinary.
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My goal is to help entrepreneurs scale their business, improve profitability, and then, use those profits to create massive wealth. Subscribe to my blog to receive my latest thought on scaling your business and creating wealth.
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