It’s President’s Day here in the United States – a day dedicated to celebrating the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

It’s a holiday for the few. Most people still go to work today. We count ourselves among the masses.

We ran across an interesting story about Lincoln awhile back. It’s from the chapter entitled “Training for the Presidency” in the book Winning Out by Orison Swett Matden:

“I meant to take good care of your book, Mr. Crawford,” said the boy, “but I’ve damaged it a good deal without intending to, and now I want to make it right with you. What shall I do to make it good?”

“Why, what happened to it, Abe?” asked the rich farmer, as he took the copy of Weems’s “Life of Washington” which he had lent young Lincoln, and looked at the stained leaves and warped binding. “It looks as if it had been out through all last night’s storm. How came you to forget, and leave it out to soak?”

“It was this way, Mr. Crawford,” replied Abe. “I sat up late to read it, and when I went to bed, I put it away carefully in my bookcase, as I call it, a little opening between two logs in the wall of our cabin. I dreamed about General Washington all night. When I woke up I took it out to read a page or two before I did the chores, and you can’t imagine how I felt when I found it in this shape. It seems that the mud-daubing had got out of the weather side of that crack, and the rain must have dripped on it three or four hours before I took it out. I’m sorry, Mr. Crawford, and want to fix it up with you, if you can tell me how, for I have not got money to pay for it.’

“Well,” said Mr. Crawford, “come and shuck corn three days, and the book ‘s yours.”

Had Mr. Crawford told young Abraham Lincoln that he had fallen heir to a fortune the boy could hardly have felt more elated. Shuck corn only three days, and earn the book that told all about his greatest hero!

“I don’t intend to shuck corn, split rails, and the like always,” he told Mrs. Crawford, after he had read the volume. “I’m going to fit myself for a profession.”

“Why, what do you want to be, now?” asked Mrs. Crawford in surprise.

“Oh, I’ll be President!” said Abe with a smile.

“You’d make a pretty President with all your tricks and jokes, now, wouldn’t you?” said the farmer’s wife.

“Oh, I’ll study and get ready,” replied the boy, “and then maybe the chance will come.”

Losers think success is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Winners invest time prepare so they’re ready when an opportunity appears.

It leads to BIGG success!

Image in this post from stock.xchng

We were e-mailed this story some time ago. We thought about it when we talked about a bigger boat and BIGG success on The BIGG Success Show earlier this week.

There are various versions of this story floating around. We wanted to share it with you to wrap up the week.

The consultant and the fisherman

A management consultant was on vacation in a small coastal village in Mexico. After his morning stroll, he stopped by a pier to watch the activity.

Before long, a small boat docked nearby. The consultant noted a few large fish in the boat.

He complimented the fisherman on his catch and asked how long it had taken to catch them.

“Just a little while,” the fisherman replied.

“Then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?”

“It’s all I need to support my family.”

The consultant asked, “Then what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman joyfully responded, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta in the afternoon in my hammock. In the evenings, I go to my favorite watering hole to see my friends, have a few beers, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full and happy life, senor.”…..

The consultant jeered, “I can help you. I am a very well educated man. Business leaders from around the world call on me for advice. You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With this extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one. Eventually, you’ll have a large fleet. Then instead of selling your fish to the processor, you could open your own plant. You can leave this little village and move to Mexico City to run your huge enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the fisherman.

“Oh, ten, maybe twenty years.”

“And after that?”

“After that? That’s when it gets really interesting,” replied the consultant with excitement. “When your business gets really large, you can sell shares in your company and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” pressed the fisherman.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, move out to a small village by the sea, sleep in late every day, spend time with your family, go fishing, take siestas in the afternoon, and spend relaxing evenings drinking and playing music with your friends.”

And after that?

By this consultant’s definition, this fisherman was already a BIGG success. Make sure you’re not working long and hard to go nowhere.

As you design and build life on your own terms, make sure you ask the same, simple question as the fisherman:

“And after that?”

If the answer leads you back where you are, you know you need to re-think your design.

Sometimes money isn’t the answer.

Sometimes bigger isn’t better.

Sometimes ambition gets in the way of BIGG success.

Image in this post from ZaNuDa

Today we’ll talk about four great places to learn how to reach bigg success.

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I’m sure the first one is right where you’re at: Bigg Success! What better place to learn how to reach bigg success?

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But Mary-Lynn, by definition, if they’re on our site, they’ve already reached Bigg Success. Why would they need to learn how to reach Bigg Success? They already know!

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Whoa! If you’re going to hit me with logic, I don’t want to chit chat!

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Hey, now I know we’ve been hanging out too much. You’re starting to throw my Dean Martin lines back at me!

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Okay, enough chit chat. Here are the four great places to learn how to reach bigg success:

Learn from the success of others

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I love learning this way. There’s nothing better than hearing or reading someone’s success story. I always come away informed and inspired.

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I always find it amazing how everyone – everyone – goes over speed bumps on the way. I just love hearing how they got over them.

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We should probably put out a warning here, though, It’s almost certain that your path to bigg success won’t be exactly the same as anyone else’s.

Sure there will be common challenges, but people often fall flat on their face because they think the exact same tactics will work for them.

Your situation isn’t the same as their situation. You’re not in the same period of time they were in. There are a lot of differences but still, important lessons can be taken away.

Learn from your success

Whenever you reach a new plateau or a goal, take time to reflect upon what went right. What were the driving factors behind reaching your goal?

Just like before, we have a caveat. The same tactics you used to reach this level of success may not take you to the next one. In fact, they may impede your progress. So keep that in mind as you’re discovering lessons learned.

Learn from your mistakes.

Let’s be clearer: Learn from your mistakes the first time you make it! If you make the same mistake twice, you obviously didn’t learn enough the first time around.

Mistakes are an opportunity to learn but the opportunity can be wasted. So just like your successes, stop and reflect upon your mistakes.

Ask yourself some questions. Only unlike reflecting on your successes, ask these questions in the future tense to make it more palatable and, therefore, more productive.

For example, don’t ask, “What did I do wrong?” Instead ask, “What would I do differently next time?”

It’s also important to take away the right lessons. Maybe you gave something a try and it didn’t work out the way you wanted. A lot of people will never try again. That’s usually the wrong lesson.

Learn from the mistakes of others

You can reach bigg success faster if you don’t have to make all of the mistakes yourself! It’s much better to avoid a mistake by learning the lesson vicariously.

Most people don’t like to talk about their mistakes. If you find someone who will, listen with all ears! You may also observe others making mistakes. Soak it in!

BONUS: The best place to learn how to reach bigg success

It is any place that gets you where you want to be. It may be from a casual conversation. It may be something you saw on TV or something you read. It may come from inside you.

And yes, it may come from Bigg Success! We just had to get in one more shameless plug!

Our point is that there are opportunities to learn hitting all of us all day, every day. All we have to do is stay tuned in. That leads to bigg success.

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Thanks for reading our post today.

We’re not sure we’re qualified to talk about our subject next time but we’ll do our best. We ask, “How smart do you have to be to reach bigg success?” Please join us.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00467-082509.mp3

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