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The Single Biggest Difference Between Winners and Losers

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You need heart to achieve BIGG SuccessJoe Frazier passed away recently. In our opinion, and we’re not alone, he was one of the greatest boxers of all time.

But not because of his talent. Although, he was talented, it wasn’t the secret to his BIGG success.

Not because of his physical strength. Although, he was definitely strong.

He became the heavyweight champion of the world because of his heart.
And the fight inside him.

Muhammad Ali talked about this in his wonderful book, The Greatest. He shares what was going through his mind when we fought Frazier.

Frazier didn’t stop. He just kept coming.

Ali hit him. Hard. Again and again.

Frazier didn’t slow down. He stayed right there. As if nothing had happened.

Ali had a longer reach. Frazier didn’t care; he stayed close to Ali so reach didn’t matter.

Ali was arguably a better boxer. Frazier was a fighter. But he fought like no one else.

Ali kept slugging him. A right. A left. A jab. A hook.

He landed punch after punch. But Frazier stood strong.

Ali finally realized that this guy was not going down. Sure, he may fall.

In fact, Howard Cosell made one of his falls famous: “Down goes Frazier.”

But it wasn’t the falls that made him a BIGG winner.

Sure, he fell down. But he rose up.
He fell down. He rose again.

Joe Frazier would not let go down on the canvas. He would struggle to get up. He would fight to keep fighting to the finish.

Because he had the heart of a champion.
Because he had the fight inside of him to fight to the finish.

He didn’t know he would win. Nobody does.

He only that he wouldn’t quit. Nothing and nobody could ever take that away from him.

Joe Frazier demonstrated an essential component of BIGG success. As a fighter in a different ring once said:

“Half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
~ Steve Jobs

You will get knocked down. Everybody does.

The singe biggest difference between winners and losers is how many times they get up.

Because one time makes all the difference.
Winners get up one more time than losers.
Just one.

It is “the size of the fight in the dog” that really matters after all.

Do you have the fight to be a BIGG success?

Image from mediaoutrage

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3 Ways to Think Like a Black Belt

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jimbouchardToday on The Bigg Success Show, we wrapped up our discussion with Jim Bouchard. Along with being a speaker, coach, author and Martial Arts Hall of Famer, Jim is one of the best people you could ever hope to meet. He helps people Think Like a Black Belt! Last time we talked about setting goals like a black belt. Let’s get back to the conversation …

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georgeJim, I saw an interview with the author of The Richest Man in Town. As you’re talking about levels, I remember an interview with one of men profiled in the book. He said he really just thought about the next plateau. What came through to me was that you have to think about that long-term goal so you set the direction, but then you put all your energy into getting to that next level as you’ve described it.

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jimRight. That word plateau is interesting. Exactly the same thing happens to people on the way to black belt in martial arts. Sometimes you feel plateaus. There are places where you feel that you’re not getting anywhere. Of course, that happens in business all the time as well. The irony is that, very often when we’re experiencing that feeling, a lot of the work is getting done. But there’s no burst of recognition. All of a sudden you get a rank or you attain a certain financial goal with your business and you feel it. There’s a tangible reward there. The plateaus though, that’s where you have to keep going. That’s where the discipline part kicks in. And the perseverance part – knocked down seven times, get up eight. I’ve divided the Black Belt Mindset into three major sections – perfection, confidence and leadership. We’ve talked about perfection – excellence, discipline and focus – that are the action steps. Confidence really comes from doing that over and over again. That’s where the perseverance aspect kicks in. That’s where we’re developing the courage and the power to keep going because we’re facing those challenges. It’s cyclical. It always kicks back to discipline because when the roads get rough and you feel you can’t keep going – you get knocked down that seventh time – that’s what gets you back up again. Confidence means you have some reasonable expectation that the outcome is going to be positive. The only way to get there is through experience. You can’t gift somebody confidence. I don’t know if that helps people look forward because you’ve got to get punched in the nose a few times in order to really be successful. Read books like the one you mentioned that talk about business leaders or political leaders. These aren’t people who, by and large, had a golden spoon in their mouth. These are people who got knocked around a lot and they kept going.

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marylynnWe say you’re the entrepreneur of your own life, whether you’re an entrepreneur in the traditional sense or working your way up in the corporate world. Either way, once you make a decision on your direction, you have to understand that it’s not just going to be easy.

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jimI couldn’t agree more, Mary-Lynn. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. We make it too complicated. It’s a decision! If you want to move forward, you just have to make a decision. Then you have to pull up your pants, turn your hat around and get going. We’ve lived in abundance for so long that a lot of people feel entitled to be in certain places at certain times. When the going gets tough, they don’t know how to deal with it because they haven’t been there. But really it comes down to a decision. You’re going to get busy living or get busy dying.

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george
We encourage everyone to get busy today building the Black Belt Mindset.

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jimThat’s strapping on the black belt. One of my Masters gave me this great line one time. He said, “Your black belt isn’t really something you strap on. It’s something you carve out from inside yourself.” In life or business, what could work better?

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georgeI think it’s interesting too that Mary-Lynn and I can look at what you’ve done or you can look at what we’ve done, but the reality is that everyone has to find their own path. So even if it worked for someone else, it doesn’t mean that particular thing will work for you. The alternative is that it may work for you and never work for anybody else. As long as it works for you that one time – it helps you get to that next level – that’s all that matters.

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jimWe’re so like-minded in that respect. These ideas that we’re talking about – discipline, focus, courage, perseverance – do work for everybody because they’re so fundamental. If you can get down to these simple characteristics and build upon them, then you’re headed in the right direction.

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marylynnIt’s always such a pleasure to talk with you, Jim. Whenever we talk, I’m always revved up for the rest of the day. It’s just good , good stuff!

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jim
That’s because you guys are both black belts in bigg success!

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You can learn more about Jim on his site. We can’t recommend anyone more highly!

Thanks Jim for sharing your time and wisdom with us! And we thank you for checking in with us today!

Back to School season is upon us. So next time, we’ll kick off a series of ten posts on lifelong learning. Please join us. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00460-081409.mp3

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We Need It But Not Too Much of It

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number1 There’s this one thing that we have to have in order to succeed bigg.

If we don’t have enough of it, we’ll fail.

If we have too much of it, we’ll fail.

And with this one thing, the line between success and failure is very thin.

What is that one thing?

Ego.

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Enough of it so we don’t listen

Yes, we often think of ego as a bad thing but it takes a certain amount of ego to succeed bigg. Without some level of self-confidence, we will never start down the path to our bigg success because our fear of failure paralyzes us.

We have to believe, truly believe, we can do it or we won’t. It’s just that simple. With self-confidence, we are willing to go against the grain. To stick to our guns when people, even those people closest to us, are telling us we shouldn’t do it.

Their intentions are good, but they wouldn’t do it. The things we need to do to pursue our bigg dream takes most people out of their comfort zone. So they never start. But just because they wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

Enough of it so we persevere

Self-confidence also helps us stick with it in spite of the obstacles. We will face hurdles on our path to bigg success. The difference between success and failure is often a fine line. And we step over that line with perseverance.

But if we lack the confidence in ourselves and our plan, we won’t persevere. We won’t keep on keeping on. We will stop each and every time we face adversity. We have to believe in ourselves and what we can do if we are to succeed bigg.

Not so much of it that we stop listening

If we don’t have enough ego, we will fail. But if we have too much, we will fail too.

We’ve probably all heard that “Pride goes before a fall.” This is the reason why ego often carries with it a bad name and it’s a good reason.

We may have reached some level of success. It goes to our heads. Our egos get too large and we may start to feel invincible. That the rules, the natural laws, don’t apply to us anymore. We have a gift. We have the Midas touch. We were born to succeed. It’s our destiny.

That over-confidence leads to our fall, our failure. We don’t take advice from the people around us. We think we know more than they do.

The fine line

Isn’t it interesting that listening to people when we’re not confident enough often leads to failure but not listening to people when we’re too confident also often leads to failure?

It emphasizes what a fine line there is in finding the right level of confidence. We want a certain amount of confidence, but we don’t want to get cocky. We need to approach that line – between confidence and cockiness – but not cross it.

Confidence with humility … that leads to bigg success!

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Thank you for reading our post today. Join us next time when discuss three questions that lead to thrilling your customers. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

 

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00353-031809.mp3

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(Image in today's post by raichinger)

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How to Know if You’re Persistent or Stubborn

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balancingToday’s discussion was inspired by a great post on the pitfalls of persistence, written by Michael Bailey of Mobasoft.

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george When Mary-Lynn first started brought this post up, I thought she was asking me if she was persistent … or stubborn. Now I do have an opinion on that!

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marylynn I have an opinion on George, too … so we decided to keep our opinions to ourselves.

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Michael asks if there is a difference between persistence and perseverance.

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marylynn I think there is – if things are working the way that you want them to, you have to be persistent with what’s making things work to persevere. Now, if things aren’t working out the way you want them to, then you have to change your course to persevere. So you can’t be persistent in the wrong thing.

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georgeI think it’s a matter of semantics. As a matter of fact, they are synonyms. I can respect the fine line that Mary-Lynn is drawing. But I’m going to be stubborn and stick with my original comment – they are one and the same.

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marylynn See, George just admitted that he’s stubborn! I agree that if you look it up, they are synonyms. But I equate persistence with action and perseverance with a destination.

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georgeSee how stubborn Mary-Lynn can be! And I was being persistent before. Mary-Lynn’s last comment is consistent with Seth Godin’s definition. Only he uses the word “persistence” instead of “perseverance.” He said, “Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

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marylynn That’s interesting. Here’s an example – when I was in radio, I was very persistent about doing whatever I could to grow as a broadcaster.

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georgeSome might call it stubborn.

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marylynn But I got to the point, with my job, where I knew I couldn’t persevere. I had gone as far as it could take me. So I decided to walk away and start Bigg Success with George – I can still persist, grow, and learn more things, plus I can persevere on my own terms.

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One of the definitions of persistence, straight from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is stubbornness. If you keep running into a wall, you have to ask yourself if you’re being persistent or stubborn. Michael refers to it as “blind persistence.”

2 questions to ask with your end goal in mind

  • Am I doing the wrong thing?
    If this is the case, persisting is just plain stubbornness. Of course, it’s not always that clear-cut. You may have invested a lot of time and money into a project, a direction, or a business. But it’s not working. You don’t want to give up so you just keep trying. Try to determine if it can work by honestly assessing why it’s not working. 
  • Am I doing the right thing in the wrong way?
    You may be doing the right things to reach your end goal, but you haven’t mastered the right techniques to advance toward your goal. In this case, you must persist … but change your methods.What do you think?

 

 

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(Image by stevefaeembra,CC 2.0)

BIGG Success Logo boxed

How to Know if You're Persistent or Stubborn

/in /by

balancingToday’s discussion was inspired by a great post on the pitfalls of persistence, written by Michael Bailey of Mobasoft.

.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More

.

.

george When Mary-Lynn first started brought this post up, I thought she was asking me if she was persistent … or stubborn. Now I do have an opinion on that!

.

marylynn I have an opinion on George, too … so we decided to keep our opinions to ourselves.

.

.

Michael asks if there is a difference between persistence and perseverance.

.

marylynn I think there is – if things are working the way that you want them to, you have to be persistent with what’s making things work to persevere. Now, if things aren’t working out the way you want them to, then you have to change your course to persevere. So you can’t be persistent in the wrong thing.

.

georgeI think it’s a matter of semantics. As a matter of fact, they are synonyms. I can respect the fine line that Mary-Lynn is drawing. But I’m going to be stubborn and stick with my original comment – they are one and the same.

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marylynn See, George just admitted that he’s stubborn! I agree that if you look it up, they are synonyms. But I equate persistence with action and perseverance with a destination.

.

georgeSee how stubborn Mary-Lynn can be! And I was being persistent before. Mary-Lynn’s last comment is consistent with Seth Godin’s definition. Only he uses the word “persistence” instead of “perseverance.” He said, “Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

.

marylynn That’s interesting. Here’s an example – when I was in radio, I was very persistent about doing whatever I could to grow as a broadcaster.

.

georgeSome might call it stubborn.

.

.

marylynn But I got to the point, with my job, where I knew I couldn’t persevere. I had gone as far as it could take me. So I decided to walk away and start Bigg Success with George – I can still persist, grow, and learn more things, plus I can persevere on my own terms.

.

One of the definitions of persistence, straight from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is stubbornness. If you keep running into a wall, you have to ask yourself if you’re being persistent or stubborn. Michael refers to it as “blind persistence.”

2 questions to ask with your end goal in mind

  • Am I doing the wrong thing?
    If this is the case, persisting is just plain stubbornness. Of course, it’s not always that clear-cut. You may have invested a lot of time and money into a project, a direction, or a business. But it’s not working. You don’t want to give up so you just keep trying. Try to determine if it can work by honestly assessing why it’s not working. 
  • Am I doing the right thing in the wrong way?
    You may be doing the right things to reach your end goal, but you haven’t mastered the right techniques to advance toward your goal. In this case, you must persist … but change your methods.What do you think?

 

 

Related posts

166]

167] 

(Image by stevefaeembra,CC 2.0)