Walt Disney had an interesting view on success. He suggested that as our results in life aren’t random successful people must be doing something different to the unsuccessful ones. Since success is rare (something the masses don’t achieve) then Walt’s suggestion on how to achieve success was to observe what the masses do and do the opposite.
I think this is great advice and if you look at the most successful people you know I expect you’ll be able to see how they have achieved their success by using this principle. So what exactly can we do to achieve greater levels of success in our own lives? As you look at the following list notice how common the second half of each statement is and how rare the first half is.
For sales people:
- Give more value, don’t discount.
- Over deliver, don’t over promise
- Close, don’t assume they won’t buy
- Fix the problem, don’t look to blame others
- Make the call, don’t wait for a better time
- Approach, don’t stand back and wait
- Arrive early, don’t come late
- Try again, don’t quit
- Listen, don’t talk
- Look for solutions, don’t dwell on problems
- Lead from the front, don’t hide behind others
- Take responsibility, don’t abdicate
- Coach, don’t teach
- Listen, don’t talk
- Ask, don’t tell
- Apologise, don’t look for someone to blame
- Have an open mind, don’t be opinionated
- Make time, don’t tell people how busy you are
- Say please and thank you, don’t shout and expect people to jump
- Compliment, don’t criticise
- Help, don’t complain
- Give, don’t take
- Act, don’t observe
- Tolerate, don’t hate
- Smile, don’t be a grump
- Volunteer, don’t wait to be asked
- Take the stairs, don’t use the lift
- Eat well, don’t give in to the cravings
- Exercise, don’t tell us how tired you are
- Build your self belief, don’t care what other people think
