Les brown is one of the world’s greatest motivational speakers. Les is a very tough and gutsy man who has gone through a lot of hardships in life from being given away by his genetic mother, being adopted, being labelled educable mentally retarded. His straight-from-the-heart, passion and high-energy, motivates audiences to step beyond their limitations and into their greatness in many ways. When I heard him the first time I had an instant connect with what he said, which both I and my wife found funny. Funny because I’m not anything like Les in many ways and my approach to life has always been a bit “softer”. Nevertheless the more I kept listening to him, the more he inspired me. The best thing I like about him is that he does not sugar coat anything and gives you a wakeup call to get up and smell the coffee!.
Heres one of my favourite videos of Les Brown
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l69MkRk0fIM&w=625&h=425&rel=0]
There is a wealth of knowledge which he has shared. Here are my Top 10 from those
1. It’s Possible (Faith)
This is one of Les Brown’s patented lines. The 2 words summarize all that you hear about faith and believing in yourself. When you set your eyes on a goal, the first thing you need to do is to have faith that it is possible for you to achieve your goal. Very often we find ourselves in situation where the oal is so huge that we give up even before we get started. Start every mission in life with a Faith that Its Possible!
2. Most of us are sleep walking through Life (Dreams)
This is one of my favourites. When I heard it the first time I dint really understand what it really meant. It sounded like one of those motivational quotes we get in our emails and on Facebook these days. When you really sit down and think through it, you realize what he’s trying to say. When I looked around my life, it seemed like a perfectly fine life. A good job, a loving family, financially stable, a beautiful country to live in and a lifestyle which many may be envious of. What possibly could be wrong in my life? However when I sat down and looked deeper, I realized that along with way I had almost forgotten about many dreams which I had since the time I was a child. Why did I give them up? Was my life meant to be like this for the rest of my life. Work for 40 years of my life from 9 to 5 in a job which I may or may not love, bring up a family, go on holidays, retire when I’m 65 and then look forward to my end? No way I said. I’m not going to be one of the people who die at 21 but don’t get buried till they are 65. Most of us go through life pretending that we don’t have any desires or dreams. You can fool everyone else around you but you cannot fool yourself. Be honest to yourself and start listing down all the dreams and desires which you have buried under the carpet over the years and start working on them. That’s a life with a purpose, a life with a mission!
3. No matter how bad it is or how bad it gets, I’m going to make it! (Belief)
Les says that he used to say these words to himself when he was still struggling. The essence of these words is “BELIEF”. Belief that no matter what happens, you will achieve your goals. A belief that you can and will do whatever it takes to reach your goal. Belief does not come automatically. Belief does not come by positive affirmations every day. Although this helps you need to follow the 3P principle to keep reinforcing your beliefs
i. Persistence
Persistence is a virtue by which you keep working on your goals each day, every day until you meet your goal. You do not take “No” for an answer. You engage in continuous action even when you hit road blocks.
ii. Patient
This is something which I thought came naturally to me. Now I realize its more because others told me I was very patient. The problem was I was very patient with others but not with myself. When you are working on a goal which is big enough, very often you don’t see any tangible results. It gets very frustrating when you don’t see the fruits of your labour. As humans one of the greatest motivators for us is to see the results of our actions. I’m learning to develop patience with myself and focus on the work without worrying about the results.
iii. Positive
Stay Positive, Think Positive. These are words we hear from everyone. We all know that this is easier said than done. When things are not going your way, the last thing on your minds are the positive quotes which people send you. The problem is that we believe that we can be positive at the snap of a finger. We are not like an electric bulb which can be turned on or off at will. Staying positive and generating positive thoughts takes time and effort. The way to get better at this is to surround yourself with positive energy. Be around positive cheerful people, read and listen to something positive every day, talk positive. Do this when things are good for you and you will soon condition your mind into thinking positively way. The next time you are faced with a challenge (notice I said challenge and not problem. That’s a positive statement. Its working for me J) you will see that your mind will work differently. Of course this will not happen the first time but like they say “Practice makes perfect”. Keep working at it and the results will definitely show.
4. It’s not over until I win (Failure)
Much has been talked about Failure. We all have heard the story about Thomas Edison who failed 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. Edison said that he did not fail 10,000 times but had learned 10,000 ways of how it’s does not work. He knew he was running out of options on how it won’t work. This kept him motivated. You are never a Failure. There is a difference between failing at something and being a Failure. You may fail many times in your pursuit but you will only become a failure when you give up and stop trying. You win because of what you knew. You lose because of what you dint know. When you fail go back and find out what you dint know and learn it. Never ever give up on your dreams and keep working until you WIN. Quitters never WIN and Winners never Quit!
5. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars (Goals)
Have goals which scare you. The problem with most people is not that we aim too high and miss. Rather it’s that we aim too low and hit. If you set goals so you don’t fail you will not move forward. You need to stretch yourself if you are to grow. If you know everything between the present and the goal then there is no growth. Think about it. If you know every step of what it takes to meet your goal, there won’t be anything new that you learn. Goal’s are set at 3 levels
Level 1 – These are at the current level of results you get. In other words based on your past performance. You KNOW how to get there.
Level 2 – This is what you think you can achieve. These are based on your beliefs and confidence in your skills and experience. These are often called stretch goals. You can PLAN to get there
Level 3 – These are goals which are things which you WANT to do. They often seem beyond reach. Or as they would say beyond “reality”. You can only “FANTASISE’ about these goals.
When you set goals make sure that you most of them are at least in Level 2 and a few in Level 3.
6. You’ve got to be Hungry (Desire)
What’s the difference between the words below?
- Like and Love
- Want and Need
- Interested and Passionate
The difference between these words is what determines if you will be successful in what you do. The words on the right come from deep strong desires to achieve something. You’ve got to be hungry if you are to make your dreams come true. The road to success is not going to be easy. You will find may dream stealers along the way who will try to pull you back and down. During these times what will keep you going is your desire and your hunger for success. Ask yourself these questions
- Do you really want to win?
- Do you have the will to do it?
If you want success as badly as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.
7. The wealthiest place on the planet is the cemetery (Ideas)
Most people die with the music still in them. The music that they could have created with the book they wanted to write, the art they wanted to pursue, the thoughts they wanted to share, and any such wishes. When was the last time you stopped yourself from expressing your opinion, sharing your idea or taking action on an idea. All of us are blessed with intelligence and creativity. However most of the times we stop ourselves from doing anything about it. What’s worse is that very often it’s not others who discourage us but we ourselves talk ourselves out of it. We tell ourselves things like
- I’m not good enough
- The idea is not good enough
- Why bother?
- Not worth the hassle
Don’t stop yourself from experimenting. The world’s greatest inventions were created through experiments.
8. You can’t see the picture when you are in the frame (Comfort Zone)
You’ve heard people talk about getting out of your comfort zone and thinking outside the box. The question is how do you know what is your comfort zone and what is outside the box. Is it when you are just happy doing what you are doing or feel comfortable with. If I blind folded you and locked you in a room, would you be able to tell me what existed outside the room. Of course not. At best you could take guesses. For us to see outside the box we need someone who is actually outside our box. This is someone external who can be a friend, philosopher and guide. This is why everyone needs to have a mentor or a coach. This can be any person whom you trust and can openly discuss your life.
9. If other can’t see it, it’s because it was given to you (Vision)
When you are pursuing your dreams, you will find a lot of people who will just not see what you see. They won’t see the opportunities, the benefits, the market, the customers, the money, nothing. Their first reaction would be to say “It won’t work” or ‘It’s not going to be easy” or “Be careful and don’t risk too much”. What these guys are essentially trying to say is that they can’t make it work, it won’t be easy for them and they are afraid to take risks. While they don’t have any wrong intentions, comments like these can sometimes raise doubts in your mind. The fact is that what they are saying is probably true. But it’s true for them. Each one of us are endowed with a set of skills, strengths and will which are designed to achieve something which was specifically designed for us. And this is why the same thing will be easy for you and you will make it work. The dream was given to you, not them.
10. Do what you can with what you have and never be satisfied (Action)
I decided to keep the best for the last. This one is so simple but has the maximum impact on your results and almost solely determines your probability of success. Its called “Action”. If you did all of the 9 above but did not take any action, I can assure you that you will get nowhere. Many of us get stuck in what is called “analysis paralysis”. This is when we keep asking ourselves questions to be sure that everything is right before we decide to do something. We all know by now that there is never the right moment and you never will have all the answers. The biggest decision you can take is to take that first step and then subsequently engage in continuous action. No matter how small the action, don’t let a day go by without taking action. Avoid the procrastination trap and decide to do it NOW. This particular one is my greatest learnings as I have been (and still sometimes am) a victim of procrastination. The last part of the sentence teaches us to be never satisfied. This is sometimes interpreted incorrectly. Not being satisfied does not mean you are not happy or are greedy. It simply means you develop a level of maturity to accept your results, be contended with what you have but always strive to improve what you have. That aligns with the basic law of Life. The Law of Growth!
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