LEARN HOW IT'S DONE
AND DO IT
The other day, I was watching a rerun of an
Oprah show. I hardly ever sit down and watch TV. I'm usually cleaning
up, folding clothes, cooking -- things like that, and the TV is on as
background noise. If something comes on that catches my attention, I
pause and watch, then go on with my work.
Well, this particular day on Oprah, it was
a mismatch of things, it seemed. She had some 9/11 stuff, then a guy
who was first on the scene when Princess Diana died, and I sort of tuned
it all out, because I thought it was going to be a show full of
tragedies. But then, she seemed to make a complete turn around and
started highlighting ordinary people who had somehow done something
interesting (something they liked) and had become great successes.
Here's where I paused and paid attention.
Success stories are fascinating to me. I
love to hear and read stories about how people achieve
"greatness". Usually, their stories are inspiring and leave me feeling
in awe of what human's can do. I've found that some of the greatest
athletes, musicians, business owners, parents, teachers, etc. weren't
just born lucky. There are very few Paris Hiltons out there. Most of
these people really wanted something so badly that it became their
complete focus. They thought about it all the time, dreamt about it,
worked at it, put everything they had into doing whatever IT was.
One piece of advice I have for people who
want to be successful, is to study success. Read and listen to what
others have done, especially if they've done exactly what you want to
do. Read about their obstacles, read about what made them keep going
even when they felt like giving up. Learn about what traits they had
that helped them succeed when others in their position might have
failed. For example: I learned that perseverance - not giving up was a
trait most of these people had in common. They kept at it until they
got the result they were looking for. So they DID fail, but that didn't
stop them.
Finding a role model, even if you never get
a chance to meet your role model is important. As a kid, I read tons of
biographies. You know, the kind they make you read in school -- Abe
Lincoln and Einstein. I could never remember dates or what proclamation
they signed or anything that was important for the test. But what
stayed with me was, wow, Lincoln taught himself to read. Wow, he became
a lawyer all on his own. I was amazed at how dedicated he was to doing
what was important to him.
So, study successful people and learn what
makes them tick. Then imitate. As a little kid, as a baby, you learned
most things by imitation. Well as an older kid, young adult, mature
adult, you can do the same thing. Watch what works and imitate.
And in case you missed that particular
Oprah show and are wondering what were the great success that caught my
attention. Well, this couple wanted to "retire" and travel. That was
their big dream -- not to have to work so they could spend their time
traveling. Well during one of their trips they bought a pair of old
army surplus pants and brought them home and decided they could sell
these type of clothes. Their business started small, but the idea
caught on and they grew so big, that they ended up being able to sell
their company for millions -- or was it billions -- of dollars. The name
of the company was Banana Republic. Now that couple gets to travel
where ever they want in style.
That story taught me two things. First
focus on what you want and work hard until you get it. Second, be
flexible on how you achieve your goal. This couple didn't get to live
out their dream right away. It took ten years before they were able to
sell their company and get the freedom they wanted.
The next success story Oprah had was the
Harry Potter story. As an author, I know the story of rejection
intimately. Books don't get picked up and sold and make millions over
night. Her story was rejected by countless publishers, before one
decided to take a chance. So what does that story teach you? Don't
give up? Believe in yourself no matter what others say? Create a good
product and someone will notice? Maybe it means something different to
you. The important thing is to learn what works and then go out and do
it yourself.
Now, let me recommend a couple of books:
1) THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES by Jack
Canfield. This book gives a great overview of the fundamentals of
success. How to have successful relationships, how to be successful
with money. Lots of really good things. He covers a lot, but not in
depth. Good starting point, then if one his topics strikes a cord, you
might want to read more elsewhere.
2)LATINO WISDOM - Celebrity Stories of
Hope, Inspiration, and Success to Recharge Your Mind, Body, and Soul by
Cathy Areu. Great book for doing what I suggested above -- reading about how
others have achieved success and seeing what you can learn from them. My
personal favorite is the story of Richard H. Carmona (U.S. Surgeon General)
because he was a regular guy who didn't know what he wanted to do with his
life when he started out (like so many of us, right?). But along the way,
he figured out he liked to help others, and he followed that path -- doing
something he loved. And he become the best. Great story.
Luckily, I recently had the pleasure of
meeting author, Cathy Areu who is also the publisher of Catalina
Magazine(catalinamagazine.com), and she was kind enough to autograph a book
for me to give away to one of my readers. So, visit my website:
www.lara-rios.com and enter my contest to win
a copy of LATINO WISDOM.
Good Luck!
Lara
