Learning Curve for Success

Life has a learning curve. Every new activity requires new skills.

Babies encounter a tremendous learning curve. They learn to crawl, feed themselves, walk, learn a language and figure out how to tie their shoes. Our learning curve continues throughout school and starts to level off in college. In many cases, the learning curve comes to a screeching halt upon acquiring our first job.

It is astounding how many people never read a book after high school. Of the number who even start reading, a significant percentage never progress beyond the first chapter. To add insult to injury, most of them are proud of the fact that they do not read.

The average CEO in America earns 439 times the income of the average hourly employee. The typical CEO reads at least 4 books a month. Even though the only difference between the CEO and the hourly employee is not just the number of books they read, it is a significant factor. CEO’s continue on the learning curve. They are constantly improving themselves.

If you tour the historic homes of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison and any other historic icon, you will find a library. Leaders are readers. Leaders continue on the learning curve throughout their entire life.

Most metropolitan areas include at least one institution of continuing education. Now with the addition of the internet, access to online universities abounds. Continuing education becomes easier and easier with each passing innovation of technology. No legitimate excuses exist for stalling out on the learning curve. Ah, but you say, “There isn’t any money for classes.” Public libraries are free and even the library card is free.

“No time,” you cry. How much time do you spend watching television? Situation comedies on television add nothing to your education.
How much time do you spend commuting to and from work? Use your car as a rolling university. Yes, libraries even have educational cd’s available.

If you truly desire a turning point in your life and your finances, get back on the learning curve.

Single and seeking a companion? Why not meet someone else who is raising their awareness; seek a companion who desires to make progress with their life. You will be more interesting to them if you are expanding your learning curve. They will be more interesting to you they are moving their life onward and upward.
Opportunities abound for the ambitious person who expands their learning curve. By contrast, zero positive opportunities are afforded to the person who stops learning, growing and advancing mentally.

Children are encouraged to attend classes, do their homework and succeed in school. What is the magic age where people stop caring and growing? Leaders continue to learn and grow. Leaders prosper.

Your turning point in life starts the day you jump back into the learning curve with a vengeance. Being persistent and consistent with the improvement of your learning curve yields positive results in every aspect of your life.

For specific information on improving your learning curve, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

Be Consistent To Succeed

The winner is not always the fastest, the strongest or even the most intelligent, but always the most persistent. Being persistent and consistent proves to be the winning combination time after time.

Study the history of successful people and you will find every one of them has endured challenges. Never ever throughout history will you find a highly successful person who quit at the first sign of challenge.

Michael Jordan, one of the greatest professional basketball players in the history of the game, was cut from his high school basketball team. Michael practiced hour after hour until he reached a massive skill level.

Abraham Lincoln persisted through 29 years of constant failure to become America’s greatest President.
• 1831 - Lost his job
• 1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
• 1833 - Failed in business
• 1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
• 1835 - Sweetheart died
• 1836 - Had nervous breakdown
• 1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
• 1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
• 1846 - Elected to Congress (success)
• 1848 - Lost re-nomination
• 1849 - Rejected for land officer position
• 1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
• 1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1860 - Elected President (success)
Napoleon Hill suffered death threats to his partners and setback after setback on his way to writing one of the greatest books ever on the mindset for success and wealth.
Dan Kennedy, a renowned copywriter, proudly acclaims that one out of 8 of his infomercials fails to hit its target mark. If you are one of the seven, you are discouraged and disappointed, but if you are number eight, you are ecstatic.
“Thomas Edison understood the profound secret that to succeed you have to be willing to fail and fail fast. To Edison all failure provided valuable information that he could use to correct his course, and lead him to eventual success.”
The lesson here is simple; be consistent and persistent. The only way to succeed comes through the experience of being willing to persist through the failures. It has been said that we “fail our way to success.” As long as you learn a lesson with each failure and persist toward your goal, you will reach it.
Consistently keep your eyes focused on the goal.
Learn from every situation along the way.
Adjust and improve constantly.
Be consistent – work your plan every day
Persist until you reach your goal.
These 5 steps appear to be very simple and they are simple. The problem is that most people quit at the first little bump in the road. Being consistent and persistent sounds like a great idea until there is a problem or someone offers you something fun to do instead of working your business.
Being consistent and persistent means setting a firm goal you passionately desire. Set a goal which instills such passion and desire in you that you will persist through all of the learning curves. Yes, everything worth while does have a learning curve. How long that learning curve persists depends on how diligently you work and how focused you are during that time. The length of the learning curve also depends on your level of competency at the starting point and the level you choose to achieve.
The more passionate you are about your goal, the easier it will be to persist until victory. Absolutely every successful person has endured and mastered a learning curve. Every successful person encountered challenges. The more persistent and more consistent you are about meeting and conquering those challenges, the more successful you will become.
Victory always belongs to the consistent and persistent.
Let me help you

Always Be Grateful

Today is my 65th birthday and I still feel young in spirit. I am as excited today for my present and my future as I was in my 20s. Part of that is gratitude. I am so grateful for my life. Blessings and challenges abound every day. Opportunities to grow into the person I choose for my friends, children and grandchildren to remember present themselves every day.

When I was a little 20 year old college senior, one of my professors said, “Elaine, you can have 10 years experience or one year’s experience 10 times.” Few statements in my lifetime have struck me with the force of this one. Ebino Topsy affirmed that, “those who do not learn from history are doomed to relive it.” How many people have you known who keep repeating the same types of errors? Bring it closer to home, how many times have we repeated our own mistakes?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake. It has been said that if you want to double your rate of success, then double your rate of failure. That is true, IF you learn from each one of those failures and determine how to achieve a better result next time.

I’ve failed many times in my life, but in each case I chose to learn from my mistakes. I am grateful for all of my experiences because they each taught me a valuable lesson. If I did not learn the lesson completely, I inevitably had to dig a bit deeper for the lesson and solution. I learned 2 very important lessons from failure: learn from your mistakes and keep striving for better results.

David Foster, acclaimed as the “Hit Man” because of the number of hits he has produced in the music industry, is a 15 time Grammy winner. In David’s article in Success magazine, September 2009, he openly admits that he also has failures. He has written 1,000 songs and has 100 hits.

Giving up or deciding that something does not work or does not work for you just because you had a tough day or two goes again the laws of success. Most people in the network marketing industry will tell you that they had a learning curve before they achieved success. I know I did. My success came because I chose a company with integrity, the right products for the time, the right compensation plan and the right system to market.

Even more than all of that, I chose to be the constant diligent student and learn my lessons from successful people before me. Learning is fun to me. I’m grateful for all of my experiences. Each and every one of them has taught me something valuable.

I am grateful I have the ability and willingness to step out of my comfort zone and learn. I am grateful I have the opportunity to learn. I am also grateful that I am willing to stick with a task until I do learn and prosper. How about you? Are you ready to learn and grow?

Always Be Growing - Learning Curve

Life is a learning curve. From the beginning we have a series of firsts: first crawling, first steps, first time to ride a bicycle, and first day of school. Life is a series of firsts. The problem is that once we become adults, we seem to stop experiencing those new accomplishments. As adults, too many of us resist learning new things. We balk at having a learning curve.

I started skiing, tennis, running and even weight training as an adult. Ok, so it took me longer to learn to ski than it does a small child. I knew how hard and cold that landing would be when I fell down. A child does not have as far to fall and they have an inborn feeling of being indestructible. I know the feeling of sore muscles. The biggest issue is not the sore muscles, but the mental block of getting in our own way. Consciously or unconsciously, we get in our own way. We resist learning new things and stepping so far out of our comfort zone.

Why? Are we afraid that we can’t do it? Are we afraid of failing? Are we afraid of succeeding? Maybe sometimes we don’t even know what is holding us back. We see other people succeeding and know that if they can do it, we can do it. Yet we are not seeing the results ourselves. What is the road block?

Jim Rohn says, “If you neighbor’s pasture is greener than yours, perhaps it is getting better care.”

It is both an issue of mindset and of action. Mindset. Do you truly know what you want? Do you want it badly enough that you will do whatever it takes to succeed? Does it tap in to your passion? Unless you have a passionate desire to succeed, you will always be spinning your wheels. It takes that clear vision and clear laser focused desire to achieve your goals. Every time you let doubt creep in to your thoughts, beliefs and feelings, you have erected a roadblock between yourself and your goals.

You must have a “why” so powerful that you will push through any and all barriers to reach your goal. Something that will keep you positive and motivated no matter what happens. Life happens. Life has disappointments, it just does. The question is how do you handle those tough spots in the learning curve and keep moving forward.

Once your mindset is laser focused, you will keep taking the actions which move you closer to your goals. No learning curve is too difficult if your mindset is crystal clear and your actions are in perfect harmony with your stated goals.