In four posts so far, we’ve picked a goal you wanted to achieve. You defined that goal in detail and imagined how it will feel to achieve this goal and the positive effect it will have on your life. You examined and disproved some old beliefs you held in the past that prevented you from doing things. You also learned some “exercises” for getting yourself into better shape, mentally and emotionally, to take on your life challenge.
As part of our exercise, in the second post, we looked at what resources we already had ourselves to help us achieve our goals and also what other resources we needed. “Resources” can mean anything, from material things, to skills, abilities, personality traits, experience or knowledge. It is very unlikely that any of us would have all we need, of all of the above.
Many big companies realise that their most valuable resource is their people. The most successful companies act on that fact. They cultivate relationships with their staff; have dialogues with them, look after them, learn from them and benefit from their many combined skills, abilities, knowledge and experience.
We have all heard the phrase “to model yourself on someone”. Doing this can be very useful in achieving a goal. You can start by modelling successful companies and realising that “experts” can be of great use to you. Make people your greatest resource. Experts are many and varied and could be anyone from a professional adviser to a successful friend, or simply an older friend or relative with great wisdom and experience of life.
A successful business friend of mine often says, “You have no business being shy in business”. By this he means, when you meet people, ask them questions. Ask them the questions you want to know the answers to. Don’t be shy.
If there is one thing I hate, it is “reinventing the wheel”. I consider it the greatest waste of my time to struggle through resolving something, only to find out that someone else has done it before and could have told me how it was done, saving me wasting my time finding out for myself. Experts are all around us!
There is so much to be learned from others’ experience. This is especially true if you know someone who has already done whatever it is you are trying to do. Don’t waste these opportunities. Very often people are flattered by your interest in them and happy to share the story of their success. This is especially true if they meet a like-minded person and you impress them with your own ambition. (Practicing the belief that you yourself are already impressive will help here also. Remember, in the third post, communicating positive messages to yourself, about yourself?)
You can even study and model successful people that you don’t actually know personally. Read about their lives, see or read them being interviewed. But now pay attention to how and what they did to get where they are. How they dealt with setbacks, for example. Study their behaviour in detail, right down to the way they walk, talk, smile, react, respond, communicate, plan and work. Notice their beliefs and outlook on life. Study how these could be beneficial to you, in your ambitions.…and these days, that’s all available on the internet!!!