Self-help gurus and motivational speakers love to tell us that
\nwhatever we want, we can do, have, or become.<\/p>\n
Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe,
\nit can achieve.”<\/p>\n
Earl Nightingale: “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind
\nand nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a
\nreality.”<\/p>\n
The problem with this is: it’s often not true.<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/p>\n
** Unless you have a high IQ, you can’t become an
\nastrophysicist.<\/p>\n
** Unless you are athletic, you won’t get drafted by the
\nPatriots.<\/p>\n
** Unless you can sing, you probably won’t win American Idol and
\nget a record deal.<\/p>\n
** Unless you’re strong and can fight, you probably can’t KO
\nLennox Lewis.<\/p>\n
What many positive thinkers ignore is that it takes more than
\njust positive thoughts to achieve a goal.<\/p>\n
And here’s what it does take to do or become what you desire:<\/p>\n
>> First, you need the equipment: the aptitude, affinity, and
\nknack for a particular field or profession.<\/p>\n
Example: I am 56, short, dumpy, and nonathletic. I would like to
\nbe the Giants quarterback. But no matter what I think, it isn’t
\ngoing to happen.<\/p>\n
But I do have an affinity for teaching. So I have routinely been
\npaid thousands of dollars a day to give training classes and
\nseminars.<\/p>\n
>> Second, you need desire.<\/p>\n
This is especially true in fields like acting, music, and sports
\nwhere competition for a limited number of opportunities is
\nincredibly fierce.<\/p>\n
Unless you have a burning desire for the goal, you won’t stick
\nwith it and make the effort it takes to get there.<\/p>\n
>> Third, you must be persistent.<\/p>\n
The old adage: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.<\/p>\n
Winston Churchill: “Never give up.”<\/p>\n
In my observation, most people who want to pursue an
\naccomplishment or achievement give up way too early.<\/p>\n
>> Fourth, talent.<\/p>\n
You should have some natural talent or, if not, enormous
\nenthusiasm for the field in which you want to make your mark.<\/p>\n
If you are not naturally talented, you can develop many of the
\nskills you need (e.g. web site design) through practice and
\nstudy.<\/p>\n
>> Fifth, skill.<\/p>\n
In today’s competitive world, it’s tough to make a go of things
\nif you are poor or mediocre in your profession.<\/p>\n
To increase the odds of success in your favor, you must get
\nreally good at what you do. The key is: practice.<\/p>\n
Mark Ford says you can get good at just about anything by doing
\nit for a thousand hours … and become a master when you have done
\nit ten thousand hours.<\/p>\n
>> Sixth, training.<\/p>\n
Your training may be on the job or in the classroom. It could be
\nnight school, seminars, in-house courses offered by your
\ncompany, or college.<\/p>\n
But you must acquire the basic knowledge practitioners in your
\nfield are expected to have.<\/p>\n
As a copywriter since 1979, I knew how to write.<\/p>\n
But when SEO become a discipline some years ago, I took an
\nexpensive Direct Marketing Association self-study course to
\nlearn it.<\/p>\n
>> Seventh, you need connections.<\/p>\n
Very few people realize their dreams entirely on their own.<\/p>\n
Cultivating a network of colleagues, specialists, and potential
\nclients or employers can give you an enviable shortcut to your
\ngoal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Self-help gurus and motivational speakers love to tell us that whatever we want, we can do, have, or become. Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Earl Nightingale: “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” The problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":939,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}