In a world where we’re constantly told to slow down, dress down, calm down, pipe down, and keep your head down, with the controlled dumbing down of society to the lowest common denominator, let’s review the Winner’s Declaration, which I devised while riding my bike around Rocky Point this morning.

The Winner’s Declaration

“I accept that I am solely responsible for my present circumstances and predicament.

I have chosen my response to and my interpretation of all my options, and will continue to do so.

I acknowledge that my future will be whatever I decide to create through my own volition and choices.

I commit to remain true to my values, beliefs, and philosophy, and determine to advance tenaciously and steadfastly toward my personal goals without being diverted, slowed, or sabotaged by the opinions, words, or actions of other people.

I do not need the permission, endorsement, or agreement of any other person to achieve my objectives – I am the captain and purpose of my own life.

I accept the consequences, both good and bad, of my choices, and I progress confidently, boldly, and joyfully in the direction of my goals.

I believe in myself, I am my own best friend, and I answer only to my own conscience.

I will reach my own fullest potential. I expect to succeed. I am my own moral compass.”

Ayn Rand said:

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.  A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.”

If you track the lives of truly successful people, you will see they all have a history of taking action, raising their hands, and stepping up. Successful people:

• take the lead
• innovate
• break the mold
• get out of their comfort zones
• put themselves on the spot

…And they do it consistently. They immigrate, start new ventures, and volunteer. And they never quit.

But there is a BIG difference in the way winners do things to the way losers attempt things.
Begin It… and Begin It Now.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote:

“…the moment one commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

4 Things that Make Winners Successful

There are four things that make winners successful WHEN they raise their hands and take action:

#1 - Model Successful People

They model successful people – they make sure they are mentored and lead by champions, not chumps in shiny suits or pretenders that ride on the coattails of the real leaders.

• They take advice from the right people.
• They align themselves with winners and avoid losers like the plague.

#2 - Work with Successful People… Even if They’re “Competition”

They realize that they can’t do it alone – they work with other successful people.

“If you think I am your competition, I will be your competition, and you will make less money. If you realize that together, we can accomplish more, and you will get your ego in check and work with me.”

#3 - Lead Yourself

They are their own bosses, never lead, manipulated, or directed by others behind the scenes, like spouses or silent business partners. They don’t have hidden agendas.

They are their own moral compass – they don’t need gurus and witchdoctors to tell them what to think. This means that they make decisions in line with their true values and beliefs, honor their word, and never quit.

#4 - Take Consistent Action

…And they consistently take action, because it’s easy to move when your ideas, motives, and choices are aligned with your values and objectives.

#5 - Have a Winning Mindset

• They are “abundance thinkers”, which means they think big, expect a lot, and take massive action.
• They are generous and humble.
• And you won’t hear them whining about being ripped off or taken advantage of or “what’s in it for me?” all the time.
• They understand reciprocity and relationships.

A Good Example

I saw a good example of this kind of winner in the person of a young man who attended one of my Joint Venture Broker Bootcamps recently – he consistently makes good choices, takes action, steps up, and deals with the top dogs instead of their gofers and emissaries.

Tim Francis is someone who will achieve a lot, because he is smart enough and confident enough to take advice from the right people and take action until he succeeds. He raises his hand.

If you know what you want out of life, you need to create an environment that will nurture your growth and support you through the realization of your dreams. W. Clement Stone said:

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.

Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success – or are they holding you back?”

Napoleon Hill said:

“We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.”

The people in your life, the books you read, and the places you go are all important factors in your environment.

The Koi Principle

Remember that the Japanese carp or koi has the natural ability to grow according to the size of its environment. Thus, in a small tank, it usually grows to no more than five to seven centimeters, but if placed in a lake, it can grow to three times that size.

If you have big, important, exciting dreams, you want to be sure to put big people and big brains and big ideas into your environment, and it’s easier than you think.

Who Will You Be in 5 Years?

Charles Jones said:

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

Let’s just focus on these two aspects of your environment for now. But, before we do, consider what Alvin Toffler once said:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

If you’re not ready to learn, unlearn, and relearn, no amount of good books or wise people will have any impact on you.

Meet the Right People

When people who are serious about success approach me for advice, I suggest they meet certain people whom I recommend. Those who do, benefit tremendously.

Your network certainly does determine your net worth.

Great people with great minds can excite, motivate, encourage, challenge, and assist you beyond your greatest expectations. By contributing to their lives first, great people will generously reciprocate, but don’t approach them with your hand out like a beggar.

Read the Right Books

When you have read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, you will want to read all of her books. “Atlas Shrugged” will change your life. Also read

• “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi,
• “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill,
• “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber.

By reading the books of great thinkers, you get to actually think their thoughts. That is a profound revelation for most people.

Engineer Your Environment

Every person, book, Joint Venture, and physical aspect of my personal environment is very carefully selected, and those that no longer work are removed and replaced – fast. I monitor my environment very carefully and consistently. My peace of mind, integrity, and goals are far too important to be compromised.

How about yours? How strict and selective are you about your input, influences, and environment?

Time will tell.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt.

Winners say, “Talk is cheap. Your past actions predict your future choices. Show me, don’t tell me.” I agree.

If you’re wondering why your efforts and endeavors usually result in frustration, failure, disappointment, and pain, while other people, working on the same things, make pots of money, this is for you.

If you feel like you’re accident prone, all alone, and your chances are blown, don’t moan and groan – I might just have the solution for you.

Does this sound familiar?

You might be as smart as others who get rich while you get into more debt, you might work even harder than they do, you might be more motivated, and yet your attempts seem to be doomed to perpetual failure. You feel like a loser.

Dumb people are making money and you’re floundering. It’s just not fair!

Same products and services, same market, same pricing, same opportunity, yet while they seem to attract success and wealth, you feel like you’re magnetizing perpetual flops. Why?

Well, it’s not as mysterious as it may seem.

There’s no magical, imaginary demon or devil undermining your success and jumping at every opportunity to pull the proverbial rug out from under your feet. It’s not your age, appearance, education, or parents. It is a lot more simple than that.

The good news is that when you know what has been contaminating your progress, undermining your success, causing you stress, and making this mess, you can remove and change it, and put yourself on the road to health, wealth, and happiness.

A Good, Workable “Success Recipe”

Usually, we earn money and succeed in our endeavors in direct proportion to our self worth or self esteem. Guilt, a poor self image, and mixing with the wrong people (losers) is what generally sabotages our efforts, in spite of our hard work and good intentions.

The solution, therefore, must be to improve one’s self esteem.

The way to do that is through rigorous, sustained self discipline, and a good, workable “success recipe”. This, in my opinion, will “oil the wheels” of your programs and activities, and add jet fuel to what you’re doing. Confidence, enthusiasm, and belief are signs of a strong self image, and they attract great results.

Three major areas need to be addressed:

Area #1 - Your Input

…The people you spend time with and the input you’re exposed to. Discipline yourself to cut the losers out of your life and read good books, like Atlas Shrugged. Do not wilt nor hesitate – remember, self discipline increases self worth, and that increases the old bank balance.

Area #2 - Your Appearance

Look your best at all times, buy good clothes and shoes, groom yourself well, look like a million bucks, act and walk and talk like a successful entrepreneur, “Fake it until you make it”, and don’t hang out in crummy places. Only the best for you, my friend.

Treat yourself as a successful person would treat herself. Look the part, and you’ll start to feel the part. Believe and achieve!

Consistent, persistent attention to doing your best in everything you do will make you feel great about yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you will start attracting winners and money into your life.

Area #3 - Your Self-Talk

…What you tell yourself – your self talk, and the questions you ask yourself will determine how much success you achieve. Never put yourself down – be your own best friend and fan.

Here are some great questions and affirmations I strongly recommend you use at least ten times a day, every day, until they are a habit. Speak out load, with belief, sincerity, enthusiasm, and commitment:

• I am happy, healthy, and successful.
• I am a money magnet – I attract wealth and great people into my life every day.
• What is great about my life? What do I have to be grateful for?
• I am bulletproof, unstoppable, and strong.
• Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better, richer and richer.
• I am a guided missile on my way to my goals.
• People are fortunate to know me and work with me.
• I am a money machine, a dollarmaker, and a wonderful, generous, happy person.
• How can I double my net worth in one year?

Self discipline = self worth  = a self made millionaire.

When the WHY is sufficient, the HOW is automatic.

Slow? Sometimes agonizingly so.

Frustrating? Frequently.

Arduous? Assuredly.

Tiring? Indubitably.

…But inevitable.

Success is a forgone conclusion, a matter of time, when the WHY is in place; the travail is temporary,the discomfort fleeting, and easy to accommodate while bathed in the light of your magnificent obsession, your WHY.

The Promising Power of WHY

Your WHY in life is your Hot Button, your main objective, your raison d’etre, your glorious goal, your absolute ambition. It is what will get you to a meeting an hour early, dressed to the nines, wearing an infectious grin you find it hard to wipe off your scrubbed face.

It is what will obliterate every obstacle, remove every roadblock, and eradicate anything between you an your goal. Nobody and nothing can stop someone whose WHY is large enough. To a man with a grand WHY, reversals are transient, mere bumps along the yellow brick road.

Succumbing to Mediocrity

Most people have succumbed to the prevailing mediocrity that dulls our senses, robs us of ambition, and waters down our expectations with the pervasive and crippling cynicism that the rulers encourage to blind us from the alternatives to mere survival as we plod through the smelly swamp of somnambulism, compromise and dead dreams.

You MUST Find Your Why

Deep down inside you, your WHY is waiting, glittering, and pulsing.

When you pick it up with hands shaking with excited anticipation, wipe off the pessimism and disappointment, and polish it with optimism, hope, and belief, you will discover the genie that grants any and every wish. That Genie loves you more than anyone else has ever loved you, understands you better than anyone, cares deeply about your success, an believes in you. YOU are the Genie you seek.

Your fuel is your WHY. Find your WHY, and you have broken free.

You Attitude Determines Your Altitude

It’s not the techniques or the teaching - it’s the WHY. It’s not your tools or your skills, but your attitude that determines what you will accomplish in life.

If you want something badly enough, NOTHING will prevent your victory. These are the people I seek - people with a WHY that will not be denied.

Rika loves garage sales. It’s a beautiful spring day, and we go for a walk. Along the way, we see… A GARAGE SALE! Suddenly, as we meander along past the tables laden with other people’s trash, we both notice something on one of the tables that once changed our lives.

The Program that Changed Our Lives

Many years ago in South Africa, we imported the Anthony Robbins Personal Power Program from America. Because of the exchange rate and import duties, it was expensive, and it took a long time to receive it. We were very excited and listened to it over and over again. It changed our lives dramatically and resulted in personal understanding and choices and a video program that made us tens of thousands of dollars. We still live by the principles we learned from that wonderful program.

Throwing Away a Fortune

And there it was, in all its glory! The Anthony Robbins program, in pristine condition, with the little workbook and everything, at a garage sale!  That’s like putting your most precious, inherited, priceless, irreplaceable family jewels on a garage sale.

I was stunned. Rika and I both reached forward simultaneously to grab the program.

I looked at the character behind the table, early fifties, torn T-shirt, and asked him. “Why are you selling this fantastic program?”

His reply should have been expected, but I was still shocked. “I didn’t even finish listening to it - I don’t believe that stuff - that a 20-something could make all that money - it’s rubbish.”

When I recovered I asked, “So how much do you want for it?”

“I paid $139″, he scowled,”But you can have it for eight - say five dollars.”

On the way out of the garage sale, clutching my treasure, I noticed that the event was held at a Co-op housing place.

Most Never Even Cross the Finish Line

Naturally, I am re-listening to the entire program and loving every minute of it, and on the first tape Tony Robbins mentions that only 10% of the people who invest in the program will finish listening to it.

There’s a reason why that loser lives in government subsidized co-op housing. He was handed the keys to a magnificent mansion in the form of the Tony Robbins program, and he discarded it, probably in favor of a joint and a hockey game on TV. It was “too good to be true”.

Guess when he started scowling? When he saw my DollarMakers ball cap. Bitter and twisted, trapped in his cynicism, and poor.

It’s NEVER Too Late To Break Free

Although I was disgusted at this specimen that devalued something as life-changing as that Tony Robbins program, I really do pity him, and deep down inside I know that it’s not too late for him to break free of his present situation, if, indeed, he wants to break free. Many people have missed the boat, and yet they could still escape their compromised lives if they had the tools, given that they want their freedom from serfdom, mediocrity, and lives of quiet desperation.

As I type this, I have just finished writing my latest book, “Break Free!” and it will soon be available. Perhaps it should be very expensive, instead of the usual $20, since $139 didn’t get the attention of a young man who held his future in his hands all those years ago.

The truth will set you free, and the source is unimportant. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear - even in the form of an old audio tape program at a garage sale. It’s never too late to start living and to break free.

The following questions, when seriously considered and answered on an individual basis, will reveal some of your deep motivations and beliefs, interpretations and needs, objectives, fears, and dreams, as well as some of the perceived barriers and pain in your life.

I challenge you to take some quiet, uninterrupted time to sincerely and honestly ask yourself these questions and answer them.

1. If I won five million dollars tomorrow and I had to allocate it within five days, what, specifically would I do with it, and why?
2. If I was given five million dollars and I had to distribute that between five people, not including myself or my spouse, who would those people be, and why?
3. If I had to spend three weeks on a desert island with ten people, dead or alive, who would they be, and why?
4. What would be a good reason for me to commit suicide?
5. Why would I not commit suicide?
6. Why do I hold my present religious beliefs? Do they help me or hurt me?
7. If I had to double my income in three months or be shot to death in public, what would I do differently in those three months?
8. If I had only six months to live, what would I do in those six months?
9. If I had ten million dollars in the bank, how would my life change specifically? What would I start doing, what would I stop doing, and whom would I spend time with?
10. If the world was going to be destroyed and I had to pick fifteen people to escape with me in a rocket ship, who would they be, and why?
11. Repeat the same question for FIVE people plus yourself.
12. Repeat the same question for TWO people plus yourself.
13. If I moved, alone, to a new city, far away, where nobody knew me, and I didn’t have to work (enough money to live comfortably) and I had to live there for a year, what would change in my life and my activities? What new things would I do, and what would I stop doing?
14. If there were no consequences or punishment, and nobody would find out, what would I do?
15. What two things do I fear most, and why? What can I do about it?
16. If I could change two things in my life, what would they be?
17. Which five people do I love the most, and why?
18. Which three people do I hate the most, and why? How would I benefit from forgiving and forgetting them?
19. What stops me from succeeding to a greater degree? What excuses am I making for not reaching my full potential?
20. If I could change the way I think about my life and the things I tell myself about my life and my options, I could break free and be happier. How badly do I want my dreams to come true, on a scale of one to ten?