We’ll share the stories of an inventor, a sales person, and a miner to explore the one must-have ingredient to achieve BIGG success!
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The great inventor, Thomas Edison, obtained over 1,000 patents in his lifetime. But did you know that it took him about 10,000 tries to finally invent the light bulb? If at first you don’t succeed, try 10,000 times again!
The Gold Rush. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people were changed forever.
Today we face a new gold rush. It will forever change the lives of millions of people.
The Gold Rush of 1849 was global. People came from all over the world.
The Gold Rush today is also global. However, you can participate without ever leaving your home.
We want to briefly share the stories of two men, who each played significant – yet amazingly different roles – in the California Gold Rush.
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John Sutter came to America in 1839. Like many immigrants, he was a man with a dream – he wanted to build an agricultural empire.
Before long, he had over 12,000 head of cattle. He employed hundreds of people. He had his own fort on the American River.
He sent James Marshall, along with twenty other men, to build a saw mill near his fort. On January 24, 1848, fate changed Sutter’s life forever.
On that day, a shiny object in the river caught Marshall’s eye. Then another. And another.
Was this gold? He gathered up a few pieces and took it to Sutter.
The two men tested the shiny metal objects. Yes! It was gold.
Sutter was horrified. If word got out, his empire-building days would be over. People would rush to claim their stake.
So the two men promised to keep it a secret – just between them. As you know, word soon got out.
Sutter refused to alter his vision. It was a costly mistake.
He was at the source of nearly $12 billion of riches in today’s dollars. Yet he never even tried to capitalize on it. He didn’t make a single penny from the Gold Rush.
Sam Brannan never panned for gold either. He was a merchant in San Francisco.
Unlike Sutter, though, he saw opportunity in a gold rush. He bought up every pick axe, shovel and pan in the region.
Then he ran through the streets of San Francisco, with a bottle of gold dust in his hand, shouting, “Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!”
It worked. In just nine weeks, he made nearly $900,000 in today’s dollars. He went on to become the richest man in California.
You often hear people say, “You just have to be in the right place at the right time.”
Yet here are two men who were there, with very different results.
One did nothing with it. He was too stubborn to change his plan. Not only was he not able to achieve his original dream, he failed to capitalize on one of the biggest booms of all time!
The other made money around the boom. Isn’t it interesting that the person who made the most money from the Gold Rush never panned for gold? A lot of times, there’s more money – with more certainty – by serving the people who are going for the gold.
Is this the right time for you? Are you in the right place? If so, what are you doing about it? Maybe we can help.
Sources:
Idaho State University
Legends of America
Inflation calculator
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Image in this post from wikimedia
In Part 1 of this 2-part series, learn how reverse entrepreneuring the Industrial Revolution can help you find entrepreneurial opportunities for the future.
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The Industrial Revolution is considered to be one of the defining events in human history. It was a rising tide that lifted all boats.
Most people saw a significant improvement in their standard of living. Some people created incredible amounts of wealth.
There were other bigg changes as well:
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." ~ Neil Armstrong
Today we’re celebrating one of the biggest successes of all time. Forty years ago today, on July 20, 1969, three men – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins – landed a spacecraft on the moon for the first time.
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They had launched their mission 4 days earlier, flying 203,000 miles to get there.
About six-and-a-half hours after they landed, with one-sixth of the people in the world tuned in to watch, Neil Armstrong descended down the ladder of the lunar space module. As he became the first person to walk on the surface of the moon, he uttered those famous words:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
We never get tired of hearing those words. It gives us goose bumps. They are so inspiring.
But we have to remember that it didn’t just happen. It began as a bigg goal over eight years before.
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy said:
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
President Kennedy’s goal was very well-stated. It was a SMART goal. SMART is an acronym for:
Specific
Measurable
Action-Oriented
Realistic
Time- and Resource-Constrained
Let’s look at each of these five components of a well-stated goal using President Kennedy’s goal as an example.
Specific
President Kennedy said that we were going to do two things:
You can’t get much more specific than that. In this case, it may be easier to think about what wouldn’t be specific. He could have said, “We’re going to land a man somewhere in space.” That’s not specific. He clearly articulated the destination.
Measurable
President Kennedy’s goal was clearly measurable. We would certainly know if a man had landed on the moon. We could certainly tell if he returned safely to earth.
Note, though, that landing on the moon and then not being able to get back safely would have meant the goal was not reached.
Let’s bring this point on being measurable safely back to earth. Here’s an example of a goal that is not measurable:
“I’m going to increase my income next year.”
What does that mean? If you increase it by $1, did you really accomplish what you set out to do? A well-stated goal would be:
“I’m going to increase my income by 5% next year.
“I’m going to increase my income by $2,000 next year.”
Now you’ll know if you accomplish what you set out to do.
Action-oriented
When President Kennedy called for this mission to send man to the moon [PDF], he made clear that it would take a tremendous commitment by the entire nation to reach this goal.
He called for innovation. He called for new money. He said it would take a concentrated effort for an extended period of time. But it would get done.
And get done it did. In a similar vein – with our personal goals or the goals we set for our businesses – we must commit to taking the necessary steps to achieve the goal.
Realistic
President Kennedy said, “I believe we have all the resources and talent necessary.”
Your goals can and should be bigg goals. They should stretch you beyond anything you’ve ever accomplished before. But they have to be realistic.
Otherwise, they don’t lead to bigg success. They only lead to discouragement.
Time- and Resource-constrained
This one’s easy. President Kennedy said we would accomplish this goal by the end of the decade. It was 1961. The goal was reached July 20, 1969.
He made it clear that resources would have to be diverted from other good causes if this goal was to be reached.
When you set your goals, be sure to give yourself a due date. When will you accomplish this goal? What resources will be required to do it? Do you have them?
John F. Kennedy was able to reduce all of this into a simple goal statement of 31 powerful words that set this course of events into action.
Because he wasn’t just a bigg goal-setter, he was a bigg goal-getter.
Setting goals is just the first step in that process. We have a great tool – the Bigg Goal-Getter’s Workbook – which takes you through the entire six step process to put goal-setting and goal-getting to work for you. It’s free when you subscribe to our free newsletter, The Bigg Success Weekly.
Just one final point:
Good goals have a reason behind them. They serve a bigger purpose. Every goal should lead you closer to the bigg success of which you dream. So we’ll close with John F. Kennedy himself explaining why sending a man to the moon was so important:
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00441-072009.mp3
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(Image and quotes in today's post from NASA)
Bigg success is life on your own terms. The five elements of bigg success are money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on play.
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George and I were talking recently about family traditions. Two significant terms: family and tradition. Of course, when we think of family, we think of those closest to us.
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Whew … I wasn’t sure where you were headed with that last sentence, Mary-Lynn!
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See, I was nice! Merriam-Webster says it’s the basic unit in society.
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Tradition is the handing down of customs or practices from generation to generation.
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We’re familiar with the old saying, “Out with the old, in with the new.” That’s all well and good, but sometimes we should say, “In with the old.”
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At my advanced age, I’m glad to hear that. I’m in! You make a great point, Mary-Lynn. We have a tendency to think “old” is unnecessary. Out of style. Out of date. That “new” is better.
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We dismiss what’s always been done. However, family traditions bind us together with our past. They are an important part of understanding who we are.
They are part of our history. We study history to provide meaning to our present and guidance for our future.
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Recently, we attended a family reunion. It’s my dad’s mom’s side of the family. The picture on our post today is from the reunion. It’s my nephew, David, with his son, Collin, my cousin Johnny and me. This reunion’s been an annual event since before I was born. It’s still going strong.
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I love it … especially the annual softball game! Your family really gets into it. There’s a lot of taunting back and forth. Although, this year, we were outgunned pretty badly.
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But you made the catch of the game, Mary-Lynn.
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Yeah, I caught a fly ball deep in right field. I earned a new nickname – Snowcone – because so much of the ball was showing out of my glove.
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It’s always a great time for catching up with extended family that we often only see this one time of the year. It’s a great tradition!
We have a friend who takes his son to the Indy 500 every year. When he was a boy, his Dad took him. He looked forward to it every year. He’s continuing the tradition with his own son.
While we’re on this subject of tradition, think about starting your own. All traditions had to start sometime, right? Plan an event at a regular interval, like every year. It’s a great way to make sure you spend time with those who are most important to you. Everybody gets it on their calendars because it’s a regular event.
Share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 877.988.BIGG(2444) or e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.
Thank you so much for reading our post today. Consider making it a tradition by subscribing to our RSS feed or by subscribing to our show in Tunes! Click on one of the links below.
Please join us next time when we discuss a surprising way of saving money now without depriving yourself. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00405-053109.mp3
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(Pictured in today's post: George with his nephew David, great nephew Collin, & cousin John)
