___

___

If we were to create an infomercial for this wonderful product, we’d want Billy Mays, the spokesperson of all spokespersons, to be our pitchman. We can hear him now …

For a demonstration, he could offer real-life example after real-life example.

So are you interested in knowing where you can buy this incredible product?

Well, it’s not sold in stores as the saying goes. You won’t find it online either. You see, it’s very exclusive. We can hear you now … you really want this product, don’t you? But there’s something you should know …

No one can get it for you. No one can give it to you. You have to get it yourself. But people who have used this product say that it is priceless.

So, we can hear you asking again … only more impatiently now … where can you find Success in a Can and how much it will cost?

Here’s the secret – you have to mix this magical solution yourself. The good news is that you already have all the ingredients.

Ingredient #1 – Self-awareness

Do you believe in yourself? We mean really truly believe deep down. Listen carefully to your talk – both your conversations with others and those internal chats you have with yourself.

How often “can” you? How many times “can’t” you?

Can’t is a limiting word. If you think you can’t, you’re right. And that’s just wrong!

Now we don’t think you should eliminate the word “can’t”, but you should be aware of it. You should limit its use to situations that don’t limit you. Because it reinforces what you truly believe. 

Ingredient #2 – Self-assessment

Think about your strengths and your weaknesses. You may think that’s odd – why would you think about your weaknesses if you’re trying to limit the use of the word “can’t”?

That’s a good question. Let’s see if we can come up with a good answer …

It’s important to be realistic. Because Success in a Can doesn’t mean playing to your weaknesses. It means knowing what you’re best at. It also means working with other people doing what they’re best at because you know they can! There, how did we do?

Ingredient #3 – Focus

Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do. Whenever you hear yourself saying that you “can’t” do something, quickly start thinking about what you “can” do about the situation. By focusing your thoughts on what you can do, you’ll feel more energy to work on the issue at hand.

Ingredient #4 – Reinforcement

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself you can do it. When you face a difficult challenge, tell yourself you can find a way. When you see an opportunity, remind yourself that you can make it happen.

If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody will. Success in a Can does come with a price … you have to change the way you think. But if you do, you’ll pop the top for bigg success. 

___

___

Thank you for sharing your time with us today. You’re the reason we can! Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00323-020409.mp3

Related posts

The Hero Within the Hero

The One Ingredient That Guarantees Your Success

4 Secrets to Having All You Really Want

The Most Important Person to Love

___

___

When it comes to money, the author says that a gentleman would never:

• Borrow from a lady

• Borrow from a man without collateral and a plan to pay it back quickly

• Discuss money

• Discuss his possessions or their cost

• Name drop about his rich friends

___

I think the idea that a gentleman never borrowed money from a lady shows that we are living in different times. Many women are financially independent today and willing to be angel investors. It’s when you don’t pay someone back, male or female, that it becomes rude.

___

Money talks. Should you listen?

Why do we feel the need to talk about, or show off, what we have? We all know people – be it co-workers, family members or friends – who like to talk about how much they make or how much something cost. We really liked the author’s final quote: “There was once a day that we did not try to keep up with the Joneses – because we didn’t know what the Joneses had and no one knew what we had.”

Materially possessed

___

I recently saw a picture of people standing line. It made me think of the pictures we saw from the Great Depression. Back then, people stood in line to get a little soup or bread. The picture I saw recently showed people waiting in line to buy a Blackberry Storm!

___

Why is it so important to have the newest phone? Because we get our identity from our possessions.

We’re not saying that it’s bad to be an early adopter; we need them. The question is, and only you can answer it, “Is it best for you to be an early adopter?”

It may be. Your career may require you to have the newest phone. That’s a good reason. However, buying one just to be able to show it off to our friends … not such a good reason.

Just say “No”

It’s not a good reason because it leads to an ongoing problem. If that’s really the reason we’re doing it, we’re going to have to keep buying over and over again.

It becomes like a drug and we need our fix.

“I want it. I want it now. I want people to know I have it.”

A void check

After we admit that we’re doing this, we have to ask ourselves why – what’s the underlying reason? You see, we buy because of how we feel about ourselves.

We’re spending money to fill an emotional void.

We’re showing off our latest acquisition to cover up our real feelings. When we do this, we just create a bigger problem.

Getting it in balance

That problem is – we end up with a weak balance sheet. We want a lot of assets and few liabilities. The result of our spending is few real assets and a lot of liabilities.

Millionaires do the opposite. They focus on building up their balance sheets by buying assets with real value and keeping their debt relatively low. That’s not determined by how much we make or what we buy. It’s based on how much we save and invest intentionally.

Shhh … be very, very quiet!

We do that quietly. Perhaps nobody knows but us! But that’s the beautiful thing about it – we know!

In the last few months, we’ve relearned how incredibly important it is to have a financial safety net. We have to build up an emergency reserve. It’s not a sexy thing like a Blackberry Storm or a new car. It won’t get your friends excited. In fact, you probably won’t even talk about it because it’s so boring. But it sure will come in handy in the future.

You can also quietly get out of debt. We like to show off what we just bought, but we don’t talk about how we maxed out our credit card to buy it. So we put out a false identity, which doesn’t help us feel better about ourselves, because down deep we know the truth. And that truth does not set us free!

Don’t worry about what your friends and neighbors think you have. Take solace by knowing what you’re doing to have all you need and then some!

___

___

We’re grateful that you read our post today. Please check in tomorrow when we’ll talk about night moves. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00281-120808.mp3

Related posts

Your Emotions and Your Money

Squirrels, Nuts and Business Cycles

6 Easy Steps To Financial Freedom

Getting Aggressively Passive: Creating A Passive Income That Sets You Free

(Image by isouthpawi)

___

___

When it comes to money, the author says that a gentleman would never:

• Borrow from a lady

• Borrow from a man without collateral and a plan to pay it back quickly

• Discuss money

• Discuss his possessions or their cost

• Name drop about his rich friends

___

I think the idea that a gentleman never borrowed money from a lady shows that we are living in different times. Many women are financially independent today and willing to be angel investors. It’s when you don’t pay someone back, male or female, that it becomes rude.

___

Money talks. Should you listen?

Why do we feel the need to talk about, or show off, what we have? We all know people – be it co-workers, family members or friends – who like to talk about how much they make or how much something cost. We really liked the author’s final quote: “There was once a day that we did not try to keep up with the Joneses – because we didn’t know what the Joneses had and no one knew what we had.”

Materially possessed

___

I recently saw a picture of people standing line. It made me think of the pictures we saw from the Great Depression. Back then, people stood in line to get a little soup or bread. The picture I saw recently showed people waiting in line to buy a Blackberry Storm!

___

Why is it so important to have the newest phone? Because we get our identity from our possessions.

We’re not saying that it’s bad to be an early adopter; we need them. The question is, and only you can answer it, “Is it best for you to be an early adopter?”

It may be. Your career may require you to have the newest phone. That’s a good reason. However, buying one just to be able to show it off to our friends … not such a good reason.

Just say “No”

It’s not a good reason because it leads to an ongoing problem. If that’s really the reason we’re doing it, we’re going to have to keep buying over and over again.

It becomes like a drug and we need our fix.

“I want it. I want it now. I want people to know I have it.”

A void check

After we admit that we’re doing this, we have to ask ourselves why – what’s the underlying reason? You see, we buy because of how we feel about ourselves.

We’re spending money to fill an emotional void.

We’re showing off our latest acquisition to cover up our real feelings. When we do this, we just create a bigger problem.

Getting it in balance

That problem is – we end up with a weak balance sheet. We want a lot of assets and few liabilities. The result of our spending is few real assets and a lot of liabilities.

Millionaires do the opposite. They focus on building up their balance sheets by buying assets with real value and keeping their debt relatively low. That’s not determined by how much we make or what we buy. It’s based on how much we save and invest intentionally.

Shhh … be very, very quiet!

We do that quietly. Perhaps nobody knows but us! But that’s the beautiful thing about it – we know!

In the last few months, we’ve relearned how incredibly important it is to have a financial safety net. We have to build up an emergency reserve. It’s not a sexy thing like a Blackberry Storm or a new car. It won’t get your friends excited. In fact, you probably won’t even talk about it because it’s so boring. But it sure will come in handy in the future.

You can also quietly get out of debt. We like to show off what we just bought, but we don’t talk about how we maxed out our credit card to buy it. So we put out a false identity, which doesn’t help us feel better about ourselves, because down deep we know the truth. And that truth does not set us free!

Don’t worry about what your friends and neighbors think you have. Take solace by knowing what you’re doing to have all you need and then some!

___

___

We’re grateful that you read our post today. Please check in tomorrow when we’ll talk about night moves. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00281-120808.mp3

Related posts

Your Emotions and Your Money

Squirrels, Nuts and Business Cycles

6 Easy Steps To Financial Freedom

Getting Aggressively Passive: Creating A Passive Income That Sets You Free

(Image by isouthpawi)

 On the show, George said he once had a student who underperformed, primarily due to sporadic attendance. As the semester wound down, he found out the reason – his student had a severe acne condition. Most of the time, it was under control. But it occasionally flared up, and this student wouldn’t leave his apartment.

George said that, had he known what the problem was, he could have helped. The University has fantastic support services for students. But this student didn’t take advantage of it.

So why don’t people, who need help, ask for it?

• Youth and inexperience
  Some people just don’t know any better. They may have never faced the situation before. 

• Insecurity
  Other people don’t ask for help because they lack self-confidence. They’re afraid they’ll be embarrassed or “look stupid”. 

• Ego
  Yet other people are too proud to admit that they’re in over their head. 

All of which leads us to the common perception that keeps many people from succeeding:

They think that they will look weak if they ask for help.

George has a friend who is a multi-multi-millionaire. He owns many businesses. He has real estate all over the country. He travels extensively. He is a well-respected leader in the community.

But it hasn’t always been easy. A few years ago, he almost ran out of cash in his franchise business. He approached anyone and everyone within the franchise organization that he thought could help him. Together they found a solution that helped him get back on his feet!

The moral to these stories … only the strong ask for help.

So, assuming you’re strong enough, here are three tips to get the help you need.

#1 – Know who to ask.
Don’t ask people who can’t help you, but ask anyone and everyone who can. George’s student may have talked to friends, but they didn’t know what to do. The businessman talked to the appropriate people with the franchisor. They helped make it happen!

#2 – Present your situation properly.
People respond best to opportunities. So, whenever possible, frame your situation as an opportunity, not a problem. Obviously, this won’t apply to all situations.

The student didn’t have an opportunity to offer, per se. However, there are people at the University whose entire job is to help students in that type of situation. This was an opportunity to fulfill their mission.

The businessman presented an openness to consider anything, but a desire to help his franchisor solve their problems, too. He ended up partnering with them in yet another business, which led to his fortune.

#3 – Be willing to accept advice and act upon it or don’t ask in the first place.
You’ll demonstrate that they’ve helped you by implementing their solution and letting them know how it goes. Otherwise, don’t waste their time.

Do you need help with a bigg challenge you’re facing? E-mail us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.We' love to help!

Our bigg quote today is by Ric Ocasek, the lead singer of The Cars.

“Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.”

So “let’s go” ask for help. I usually get “just what I needed” to “shake it up” and create some “magic.”

Can you tell we’re bigg Cars fans?

The title of our next blog says it all – “Help! My Spouse Spends Too Much Money!” We’ll help one of our newsletter subscribers stop the bleeding without getting bloody! Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed 

Related posts

Leadership 

Personal growth 

(Image by DannoHung, CC 2.0)

Yesterday, we began this discussion of SWOT analysis. Today we want to continue it by talking about the last half of SWOT: Opportunities and Threats.

So far, everything we’ve discussed has been internal – focused just on you. Your strengths. Your weaknesses. Now we’re ready to bring in the external forces.

Take a tip from entrepreneurs when you’re trying to find your opportunity. Entrepreneurs know:

Where there’s change, there’s likely to be growth.
And where there’s growth, there’s opportunity.

So look for change to find your opportunity. For instance, the baby boom has been changing markets in the United States for years. Now they’re starting to retire. This is creating huge opportunities in health care, travel, and home services, among others.

In fact, many of the hottest careers in the coming years are centered on the needs of the baby boomers as they retire. Many new businesses will succeed bigg by serving them as well.

This is just one example of changes that occur that create opportunities. But opportunities are only half the picture. You also need to consider the threats.

Ask yourself, “What could happen that would significantly affect you if you choose this career?” Because here’s a little tip about change:

Change creates opportunities in new fields while destroying existing ones.

Let’s look at a famous example from early last century. If your chosen career involved nearly anything to do with carriages, you were in trouble with the advent of the automobile. Technological change is probably the main driver of changes like this. However, changes in industries also occur due to things like consolidation, outsourcing, and more.

Mary-Lynn shared her career experience. She loves radio, but with the internet and consolidation in the industry, it’s harder to find good opportunities than it used to be. Change is creating destruction.

At the same time, the internet and new media are presenting opportunities for people with skills like hers – opportunities to build your own content and brand. Change is creating growth.

Mary-Lynn found her path to peace of mind. She started with finding her passion. Then, with her core values in mind, she did a SWOT analysis, which prompted her to change careers, while still using all of her talents and experience.

Putting it all together
When you’re done with your SWOT analysis, you should have a number of possible fits. Don’t make the mistake of only looking at compensation. That’s part of the picture, but certainly not the only thing.

We have a friend who accepted a job because it paid so much. She told us that she knew it didn’t fit her passion; it was in an industry that she wasn’t particularly excited about. But it was so much money! Soon, she found she hated her job. She was unhappy all the time – even at home. Money isn’t everything!

You know where you are now. You’ve visualized your dream life so you know where you want to be. All you have to do is choose the best path to get there!

The Bigg Goal-Setters Workbook will help you do just that!
It’s free when you sign up for our free weekly newsletter!

Our Bigg Quote today comes from Douglas Everett.

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some
who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”

The world needs more dreamers, but even more … the world needs more doers that make their dreams come true.

Next time, we’ll discuss freedom and security. Experts say that you can’t have both; you have to choose one or the other. We’ll ask the question … why can’t you have both?

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Related Links:

Your Personal SWOT Analysis (Part I)

Visualize The Life You Want

Live Your Dream With Purpose