It’s true. I really am a simple guy. I believe that everything it takes to become more successful either personally or professionally is simple. Idiot simple, in fact.
Want to lose weight? Eat less — exercise more. Simple.
Want more money? Earn more — spend less. Simple.
Want to be more successful? Stop doing the things that keep you from being successful. Again, simple.
I could take that basic idea and attack every single area of your personal or business life. There is nothing complicated about success. We make it complicated. We even want it to be complicated. The reason we want it to be complicated is that believing success is complicated gives us a reason not to be successful — after all, it’s complicated!!!!!
Stop believing all that complicated crap and come over to my side where life is much simpler. Come over to my way of thinking where money is easy, success is simple and where every problem you have can be solved with simple solutions.
Before you start to disagree with me about how simple life is, please notice what I am saying. I am using the word SIMPLE. Never have I used the word EASY. I do not believe there is anything EASY about being successful. Easy is much different than simple.
Is it a simple thing to eat less? Absolutely. Is it easy to do? No.
Is it a simple concept to exercise more? Sure! Is it easy to do? Not at all.
It’s HARD to eat less and exercise more. I know! I try to do it every day and it’s HARD for me to do and I know it’s hard for you to do too! But I also know it’s simple.
I never kid around when it comes to telling people that success is hard work. I know it is because I have worked hard my whole life. Still do. I do things right now that my buddies of similar stature in the business would never do. I am not too good to work hard. I go to my big seminars where I have a full staff of people packing and unpacking books and other products and I am right there with them. Lifting, carrying, packing and unpacking and selling stuff just like they do. Do I have to? No. Then why do I? Because there is work to be done and I’m not too good to do it.
Every aspect of success requires hard work. I recently did a big Wealth Seminar with a major seminar company where one of the guys on the program had a booth that displayed the headline, “The QUICK and EASY Way To Become a Millionaire.” He was selling a program that cost thousands of dollars and I knew it was all total BS. I knew he was preying on the fears of the crowd to take their money. What he was doing certainly wasn’t illegal or maybe even unethical or immoral by most people’s standards. But what he was doing just wasn’t right by my personal standards.
I went on stage and told people to be careful of anyone who promises that being a millionaire is quick and easy. I know lots of millionaires and everyone of them would agree with me that becoming a millionaire is always slow and hard. I also told them that I knew the others speakers at the conference would sell ten times more product than I did because they were promising the crowd that they could all become millionaires and I wasn’t.
The other guys said ANYONE could become a millionaire and that it wasn’t hard at all. Those are lies and I told the crowd that. I knew that few would buy my products because I wasn’t going to kiss their butts and promise something that wasn’t true. Not just anyone can become a millionaire. Why? Because few will work hard enough to make it happen. I was right, each of these guys sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their products and I sold about a tenth of that.
One of the speakers came up to me at the end and said I was pretty rough on the other speakers saying what I said. I told him I couldn’t sleep at night promising people something that I knew they couldn’t actually make happen. I told him I was just out to tell people the truth whether anyone liked it or not. He asked me how much I sold and he told me he sold twenty times that much. He was proud. I thought he should have been ashamed. The people who bought my stuff actually got some value and some truth.
That’s what I am always going to do. I promise you that I will never try to sell you an idea that you can’t make happen with some hard work. I won’t price gouge you and take advantage of anyone’s fears. I will offer you a whole lot of value at a decent price and I’ll openly tell you that I am going to make a little dough along the way.
I think it’s fair if I sell you a good product at a fair price that I make some money too. I won’t lie and say it’s easy. I won’t blow smoke up your skirt and tell you that having a positive attitude will fix your problems. I will always tell you my version of the truth. My version is simple and involves lots and lots of hard work. Did I mention hard work? Again — it is always going to take hard work!
That’s why many people don’t like what I have to say. Yeah, I know, who could possibly not love every word, right? Believe it or not, it’s true. People don’t like what I have to say because I promise hard work is the key to changing your life. Hard work is never going to sell like positive attitude.
So there you go. A simple guy with simple solutions to all of life’s problems and a promise that you have to work your butt off to make it happen.
Let me summarize my simple principles of success for you right now:
* Your life is your own damn fault.
* Take responsibility for it.
* Learn what you need to do to fix it.
* Take action on what you’ve learned.
Know that hard work on the right things is the key to changing your results.
Enjoy the results.
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Larry Winget is a five-time New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He is a member of the International Speaker Hall Of Fame. He has starred in his own television series and appeared in national television commercials. Larry is a regular contributor on many television news shows on the topics of money, personal success, business and parenting. Find out more at www.larrywinget.com
-what are your thoughts on the ideas above? What are some ideas you have found along your success journey that that you would like to share with others?