Three things that help people succeed

Recently a couple of my daily messages have mentioned personal development.   I've received a couple of questions so I would like to suggest some things it takes to develop yourself into the best person you can be -- I'll start with reading books, accepting challenges and becoming a problem solver. 

How many books have you read in the past six months?   Make a list.   

Do you accept challenges?  Making calls, getting appointments with people and giving presentations...I'm sure you have a list of people you've wanted to talk to but it hasn't happened yet. Doing the in-home events. Speaking at a meeting. Managing your time. Being consistent with your work toward your goals and dreams. I know from experience what challenges feel like. I've certainly been challenged over the years in so many different ways. When I think back, many of them were about "I'll do that tomorrow." So many times the tomorrows just never seem to come.

Last but not least is becoming a problem solver. I've read where it's been said that success is simply solving problems. Wow, what if that's true? We all have problems of some kind so it makes sense to me that if we can face some of our problems and figure out how to solve them, life would be better. Here is a simple example in story form from Jim Rohn: "Problem solving is where enterprise comes from. This is how you build worth and wealth, solving the problem. I met Neil Armstrong one time, the first man on the moon. He's got a unique talk with his experiences being the first man on the moon. Neil Armstrong put it fairly simply. He said going to the moon and back was simply a matter of solving problems. What a simple way to put it. Problem 1: how to get there. Problem 2: how to get back.   Sure some things are complicated, but if you take it one piece at a time - solve the problems....you can't believe the enterprise you can build, the life you can build, the skills you can build.  Take it a piece at a time, then master it."

Personal development can be yours if you are willing to step across that line of "tomorrow" and start doing it today.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Fear is about...

The message I sent yesterday was about THE BIG THINGS VS THE LITTLE THINGS. The point was if a person has dreams and goals, or maybe financial needs and wants, what will help achieve those things are doing the little things.   It's not only about learning, it's about doing. I understand that 100% of the people in Shaklee know that the way to move forward is activity...doing...being consistent with effort and attitude. Kind of simple. But reality sets in at some point and for many people what holds them back is when they face adversity. Fear has a way of getting in the way and stops people in their tracks. When I was working out this morning I had a thought about the word fear that I heard many moons ago. An acronym for fear is:

F...false

E...evidence

A...appearing

R...real

I believe that many of us talk ourselves out of doing the things that create growth and I say that from experience. I have done that many, many times. More times than I probably remember. I don't know where they always come from but we get negative thoughts and if we don't fight back in our thinking and our self-talk we give in and think, "I'll do it tomorrow." If this kind of thinking continues there will be very little action because the world always has tomorrows!

So, the thing to do is to accept the idea of that acronym: False Evidence Appearing Real

We make it up in our thinking and I believe what we should be doing is acknowledge that fear isn't going to stop me from having the kind of life I deserve.    Don't allow anything or anyone stop you from creating the life you deserve.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke 

The big things vs the little things

In one of my presentations there are two ideas I like to show people. I have often said this is a simple business but that doesn't mean it's easy. If a person is looking for something easy I don't think this would be the opportunity to consider.  But if someone is looking for a tremendous opportunity that can literally change their lives, we have that. The following are the two ideas:

What does everyone want? The Big Things.

What does it take to get The Big Things? The little things.

Once someone accepts the idea that they can develop the necessary skills it takes to build, it's just a matter of taking this one step at a time and then repeat.  Also, if this person can accept the idea that they should fail fast. Fail often. Then repeat. They will make progress. People who take these steps will be the people we hear about at future meetings who are having fun, earning more, helping lots of people, and they are helping others build their business. Small steps over time are what will make the biggest impact for a growing business.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Leadership thoughts

The following is worth your time to read as it pertains to leadership. Bob Goshen built a huge network marketing business with another company and he also speaks around the world on leadership.   I heard very early in my Shaklee career that this is a leadership business. I didn't know what that meant but as time progressed I started to learn what Shaklee leadership is about. The following comments on leadership will give you a good picture of how leaders think and what they do.  Determine to become a leader of your organization or future organization.

Gary Burke

 

Observation    Over the years I have followed the people who excel as great leaders.  I have developed what I call the ultimate 3% rule, the characteristics that distinguish the top 3% of leadership.  They break down as follows: 3%            Expect Challenges            Internally Driven            Visionary            Expect to Win            Recover Quickly and Move On            Edify Others with Words and Action            Control Environment            Riveted Focus on Purpose 97% Overwhelmed when Challenged Externally Controlled Blinded by Daily Obstacles Hope to Win Hold on to Past Failures Destroy with Words and Actions Controlled by Environment Continually Trying to Locate Focus      The 3% characteristics are dominant in the great leaders I have known.  I don't think any of those leaders get up each morning and look forward to challenges, but they are never surprised when a challenge occurs.  Seldom would they say, "I can't believe this is happening to me."  Instead they say, "It's happening; let's find the solution and get on with life."     The top 3% are totally internally driven.  They don't ignore outside circumstances and they acknowledge unanticipated changes in their business environment, but they do not let theexternal drive them internally.  Like a good pilot in turbulence, they tighten their seat belt and hold true to their direction.      They are tremendous visionaries.  They are the ones who often wake up in the middle of the night with a new idea or marketing concept.  They get up, grab a piece of paper, and do a quick outline in order to review the thought the next morning.  They seem to be very flexible as they move their vision toward completion, understanding there will be additional items that must be added or deleted in order to make the vision come true.  They can picture the completion of their vision sometimes years before it comes to pass.            I am often asked to explain mentoring.  Replace the word "mentoring" with "equipping" and the meaning becomes quite clear.  We are to equip those who are under the influence of our leadership and ensure that they not only have the performance skills necessary to accomplish their goals and dreams but that they have developed the 3% characteristics.   Bob Goshen

We had a very inspiring breakfast

On Tuesday Faye and I attended a very uplifting breakfast that was a fund raiser for the Hospitality House Youth Development. As people walked into the facility there were 8 to 12 year old kids greeting every person who came. I'll bet I shook hands with 10 to 15 kids as I walked down to the room. Every person did the same. The kids were dressed very nice, had a name tag and a smile  and they would stick out their hand and say "Good morning, thanks for coming." There were over 250 people attending this breakfast so you can imagine the hand shaking that was going on. It was awesome.

Hospitality House is in the toughest part of Minneapolis and what they do for the children in that area is absolutely mind-blowing. The guest speaker was Greg Jennings, who is a wide receiver in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. In his talk he said, "when you're around a leader who has passion it infects many people." That comment has stuck with me. Are you infecting others with your passion?

Our business is about people. I'll repeat what was said: when you're around a leader who has passion it infects many people. Think about that for a minute or two. Who we are is much more important than what we do. The following is a Jim Rohn comment: 

"What you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, What am I getting? Instead, you should ask, What am I becoming? Getting and becoming are so closely intertwined—what you become directly influences what you get."

The whole point here is simple. When you get better, it will get better.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

It's about you and your future

The following message is from the late Jim Rohn and is probably one of the most important messages you'll ever read because it's about YOU. My suggestion: take two minutes a day for 30 days and read this simple but powerful message. It's about you and your future.

Gary Burke

 

Jim Rohn: Why Personal Development Is Critical to Success

Unless you change how you are, you'll always have what you've got.

     

We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation. Well, the late Jim Rohn aimed for the inspiration, always emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility for self-improvement and showing people how to reach for bigger, better lives.

Who inspired him? His mentor, Earl Shoaff, who told him this: If you want to be wealthy and happy, learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. And so began Jim Rohn's belief in the importance of self-improvement. In his classic book, 7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness, Jim Rohn wrote an essay entitled "The Miracle of Personal Development" in which he explains why working on yourself is a never-ending pursuit:

Ever since Mr. Shoaff woke me up with that statement, I worked hard on my own personal growth, and I must admit that this was the most challenging assignment of all. But understand, this business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, What am I getting? Instead, you should ask, What am I becoming? Getting and becoming are so closely intertwined—what you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are right now.

I've also found that income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle. If someone hands you a million dollars, you'd better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, "If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before."

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development. So here's the great axiom of life:

To have more than you've got, become more than you are.

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is:

Unless you change how you are, you'll always have what you've got.

It's never too late

I want to comment on an article that was in the Minneapolis paper recently about a guy named Bobby Bell. Most of you have never heard of him, but I watched him play football at the University of Minnesota in the early 1960s. The article is about Bobby Bell going back to college to get his degree because of a promise he made to his father in 1959.

Bobby Bell earned his degree at age 74.  The promise he made to his father gnawed at him for decades. People from his small town in Shelby, N.C. told him not to go to the big schools because he would never make it. Bobby led Minnesota to the national championship in 1960, was a two-time All American, played in two Super Bowls, and made the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It took him 56 years to get his degree and he says it's the most important thing he's ever accomplished.

Bobby Bell made good on a promise proving it's never too late to go after a dream. Think back a year or two, a decade, or maybe even many decades - did you have a dream about the kind of future you wanted when you first saw the Shaklee opportunity? Did you want to reach a certain title? To me the main point is it's NEVER too late to continue going forward to reach what you would consider to be your dream. 

It doesn't mater how many years have gone by or how old or how young you may be. What it's about is now. It's about today. Regroup yourself in your mind and get that mental vision of what you want your business to be like in the next two years, or the next five years. This opportunity is very much alive and well.  People who are working at the basic fundamentals are having fun because their business is growing. 

Why not you? Why not now? Go for it.  Keep your dream alive.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Fail fast. Fail often. Repeat!

This short message came from SUCCESS magazine for the month of May. 

Maybe the biggest fear for business owners is the fear of failure. My advice is to put failure in perspective. Failure is one of life's best teachers: it instructs you on what to do, and what not to do the next time and the time after that.  So don't fear failure. Embrace it and learn from it.  To paraphrase Henry Ford, failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. Or as is often said in high-tech circles today: 

Fail fast. Fail often.  Repeat.

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything."

- Vincent van Gogh

Next week I will be attending an all day seminar dealing with fear. There was an article in the Minneapolis newspaper a few days ago and the heading of this article said: SUCCESS MAY DEPEND ON BEING GOOD AT FAILURE.

Kind of an interesting title wouldn't you say? This seminar will be at the University of Minnesota and is open to anyone so I signed up. The newspaper article kind of grabbed my attention.

I know from experience that fear stops people from working harder at building this business. I have gone through that and I'm sure many of you have as well.  I will probably be sending messages out in the next few weeks that deal with fear relating to this interesting seminar. Have a fearless weekend.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke 

Two vital steps for achievement

I want to talk about two words that everyone needs to build their business. When I first got involved, I didn't know what the future would be, but the possibilities excited me. I heard that a person could literally design their own future with this business. That was a new thought to me, and it was and still is exciting. The possibilities included unlimited income, travel, to be your own boss, build a business, help other people do the same and create a lifestyle that was unusual.

My background wasn't in sales but in education. I was a teacher and head football coach at a high school in Wisconsin. There were two words that we used in coaching that we knew we had to be teaching if we wanted to be at our best. We focused on teaching the fundamentals and we needed to have a strategy for what we wanted to do come game time, a game plan. The following are definitions of those two words:

Fundamentals:  A basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the foundation of a system; essential part.

Strategy:  A plan, method, or series of maneuvers for obtaining a specific goal or result. A strategy for getting ahead in the world.

Are you teaching others the fundamentals and working at improving your skills on the fundamentals that are action-oriented to build your business?     Do you have a strategy to help guide you as you're building this business?

My view of the fundamentals:   

- Ask questions

- Be a good listener

- Set appointments

- Give a simple presentation

- Follow up

- STP (see the people & show the plan)

- Regular meetings

My strategy for building:  

- Focus on the fundamentals

- Regular meetings

- Find people who want to earn $1000 to $5000 a month minimum

- Always be working with 2 to 3 builders at a time

- Work at staying positive

- Ignore negative people

- Teach new people to do the fundamentals

Teaching people the basic fundamentals will give you and them a better chance for experiencing success in this business.   Then have a strategy to help you guide yourself, or to remind yourself what you want to be doing.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

How to finish

"We are judged by what we finish, not by what we start."    Harvey MacKay

It's easy to start a project. Any project.  Keeping after it until completed is the issue. Each individual is responsible to keep themselves in motion doing the things that create progress. We are all independent contractors which means we are not employees for anyone. No one tells us what to do. We don't have a boss. Strike that last comment - we do have a boss and it is us. I am my boss.  You are your boss. Personally I don't like the word "boss" but it is what it is.

We are accountable to ourselves. If we have a mentor we can be accountable to that person as well. The point is that our future depends on us, not on the company, not on the products, not on our sponsor, not on anyone but the person we would see in a mirror. I read the above quote and it got me to thinking about what it takes to have and keep at a goal or until the job is finished. Here are my thoughts on what it takes:

Discipline -- do what's important.            Mind-set -- be mentally tough; ignore negative thoughts and negative people.

Attitude -- work at being positive.

Failure -- it's a part of life and business. Everyone experiences failures. Failures are lessons.  Failures mean you're  becoming strong. Don't try to avoid them. Lessons are important.

Stick to the fundamentals. Understand and believe that working hard for a few short years will create an incredible lifestyle for you and your family. Are you still reaching for your dream life? Finish the job by doing whatever it takes.  Believe me, it's worth going through a few fires and discouragements to live that life you dream about.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

What does it take?

The following words are from a former Navy Seal, Eric Greitens. He talks about having a better life and what it will take. As you will read,  he keeps it very simple but his words are very powerful. Read the following once, then read it again slowly, and my guess is you will have the same response that I had to myself when I read these words.   A very inspiring principle.

"Remember that deciding is not doing, and wanting is not choosing. Transformation will take place not because of what you decide you want, but because of what you choose to do."

When I became involved in Shaklee I had a strong belief in the idea that there was a big future out there for someone who works at this business. I wanted what Shaklee offers and I was ready and able to get started. As you know, I started doing things I wasn't very good at and struggled but kept it simple and eventually developed some skills. The statement above is very powerful and very accurate when it says, "Transformation will take place not because of what you decide you want, but because of what you choose to do."   What powerful words!

So what have you decided you want? Does this business have the potential to give you what you want if you do the work? Have you made a quality decision yet on what you have chosen to do about your decision on what you want?   Kind of strong questions aren't they? Strong but fair.  

We have an incredible opportunity that has potential to give a person the lifestyle and future they dream about. It's about decisions and then the action, in that order. Think about it.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Winning the battle of your thoughts

Thanks to Linda Causey for the following message. Really good stuff. This is the kind of message you might want to study; consider what the heart of the message is about. Enjoy.

Gary Burke

Wise words from Chris Widener –  Speaker and Best-Selling author of The Angel Inside and 12 Pillars  - co-authored with Jim Rohn.

If you have read my articles or heard me speak, you know that I always come down to action. We need to act if we are going to be successful! Yet, our success starts long before our actions. In fact, our success begins in our thoughts

 

The process is that thoughts become actions and actions produce results. So the equation starts with the thoughts. So the key to success is to start with and control the thoughts that we have. Good thoughts become good actions become good results.

 

But there is this predicament we have as humans. It is this “battle” we have with our thoughts. Thoughts of depression, negative thoughts, thoughts of fear etc. constantly creep into our minds and cause us to act in certain ways that are going to produce the antithesis of the kind we want that will produce success.

 

So what can we do to win the battle with thoughts? Here are a few main points. Apply these immediately and then constantly and you will be on your way to winning the thought battle.

 

Guard your mind. Pretend that behind that forehead of yours is a very precious thing – your mind – because it is precious. If you had a storehouse of gold in your house, you would hire an armed guard to stand watch and keep all the bad guys out. Yet, many of us let any old ting come into our minds. We need to keep the bad thoughts, the negative thoughts O-U-T! Now when I say this, I mean both the ones that start in our heads and the ones that come from external sources. 

 

Proactively place good thoughts in your head. Just like a garden, where you weed, or pull the bad stuff out, and plant, put the good stuff in, so we do the same thing with our thoughts. Buy tapes and music that will produce good, happy thoughts in your head! 

 

Watch TV programs and videos that put good thoughts in your head

 

Avoid the naysayers. They are all around you. You work with them, you live near them – some are even in your family! Whatever you do, do not let them affect you with their negative thoughts. Spend as little time as you can with them (unless it is your spouse or kids – then you need counseling!)

 

Act on the positive thoughts that you do have. When a positive thought comes into your head, act on it! This will begin to produce a “bridge” between what you think and how you act! This will then make that transition even easier as time goes by!

Four key ideas to win the thought battle:

1.     Guard your mind.

2.     Proactively place good thoughts in your head. 

3.     Avoid the naysayers.

4.     Act on the positive thoughts that you do have.

Linda Causey

Do you have a plan for making progress?

I want to make some comments about working from a plan. Having a plan is nothing more than having an idea of how you're going to proceed. So maybe a plan is having a method for making progress. A plan is a blueprint, a roadmap, a game plan or a path to help keep you on track. Can you imagine building a house and not having a blueprint to follow, or getting ready to take a family trip without a roadmap of some kind? I think you get what I'm driving at.

A good simple plan has two basic elements:

1. What am I going to do? I want to develop 2 to 4 new first generation sales leaders a year for 3 to 4 years. So, how about prospecting, giving good presentations, in-home events, follow-up, attend meetings, keep my dream alive, double my monthly PV, talk to my mentor,  That's a good start with what a person should be doing if they want growth.

2. How often am I going to do it? How fast do I want to grow? Am I willing to work hard to get what I want? What will it take to stop me? How many calls per week? How many 1-on-1s will I do every week? I think those are some good questions we should be asking ourselves.

As has been said many times, this is a very simple business but not always an easy business. But having a good plan will work better than just doing Shaklee.   Think about it. Take some time to work out your plan for the next 60 to 90 days.    You'll be glad you did.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

When does commitment start?

I was reading about how some people have overcome issues, problems, road blocks, negativity from friends, and major challenges. Everyone has challenges in their life and of course how a person becomes strong is that they don't back down out of fear but rather face whatever it is that has potential to stop them from proceeding. I call it being mentally tough.

The word we hear is commitment. Fight back. Face the challenges and do whatever it takes to continue to work for your dream. Commitment doesn't start when a person says to themselves "I'm committed." Commitment starts when some kind of adversity shows up.   Maybe a few people quit, or you do three meetings in a week and not one person showed up. There are many things that can happen that gets some of us to wonder if it's really worth the effort.   Adversity!

I believe that once we decide that we're going to do whatever it takes, things change. I can remember driving to meetings and I would get negative or doubtful thoughts. I had a saying I would say to myself and it went something like this: "No matter what anyone says or does, there isn't anything that's going to stop me from building this business." I can't tell you how many times I found myself fighting back by saying those words to myself.

Stuff happens. To everyone. My suggestion for you today is to decide that you're going to be so mentally tough that no adversity will ever get you to stop working for your dream. Making a decision like that and then fighting back when "stuff" happens will help you overcome everything and anything that might suggest you quit. Believe me, you will come out the winner and some day down the road some people will call you lucky because you have a successful business. All because you decided to become mentally tough.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Building confidence

I found the following in a magazine with no author's name given:

"Fear and worry are closely related. You might say fear is the parent of every kind of worry because every worry starts as a fear. When we worry, we rotate our minds around a problem and come up with no answers. The more we do it, the more anxious we feel. When we worry, we actually torment ourselves with a type of thinking that produces no good fruit. Worry starts with our thoughts, but it affects our moods and even our physical bodies."

This certainly applies to many people in our business.  It's something to think about. "What ifs" that people seem to worry about include:

- What if they say "No?"

- What if they are negative?

- What if they ask me a question?

- What if they say "Yes?"

- What if I'm not very good at giving a presentation?

- What if they ask how I'm doing?

I think a good question is how can a person become confident and overcome fear and worry? I have learned that small successes over time build up a person's confidence. What this means to me is we have to cross that line in the sand and be willing to do some things that we're not very good at, but at the same time realize that with repetition comes skill and confidence.  

I could go on and on about the anxiety I felt in the early years because I didn't have any experience doing what is necessary to become successful in this business. My desire to have a Shaklee business was stronger than the anxiety I felt. I saw other people doing it and I just had the thought that I had some things to learn and skills to develop. 

Step out this week and do two or three things you're not very good at. I know it's a challenge but it's a start for you to build your confidence. Remember that confidence is built over time by doing specific activities over and over and over.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Our life was changed on May 1, 1970

Today Faye and I celebrate our 45th year in this incredible business. Who could have ever guessed on May 1, 1970 that our life would be changed forever because I called a guy who was "looking for people?" I was 31 and had a good job but in my mind I didn't have much of a future. I was a discontented 31 year old. I was looking. I listened. I asked questions.  I checked it out for 4 months and learned a lot, met some great people, and made the decision to work at this opportunity to see what might happen. When I think back to that time in my life what I saw were the possibilities. That was what really kept me in the game as I went to meetings, used the products, asked questions of myself as well as about how the compensation plan worked and especially met some great people. The possibilities for positive change gripped my mind. 

Right now I feel very blessed as I sit here this morning thinking and trying to figure out how to put it all into a few words. For me Shaklee became a dream come true. I didn't realize that in the beginning but that is how I view it today. If I could turn the clock back and start all over today in 2015, I would do it in a heartbeat. What this opportunity gave Faye and me has been amazing. It's mostly about the people we've gotten to know from all over the country and the lifestyle we've been so fortunate to live.

My prayer for you would be that you will also feel blessed and fortunate to have found this opportunity, then decided to work at it and build a future. Your life will be changed as ours was. Put in the effort and I guarantee you that you'll never regret it.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke