One of The Greatest Stories Ever Told - when it Happens! by Barry Goss

I couldn't believe my ears.

It was Saturday Night, November 3rd, at approximately 9:20 EST. Initially, I thought I could of been in a dream - one of those dreams where everybody you know of, who are idiots in reality, suddenly seem to appear brilliant. Yes, my dear and loyal reader, Bill Walton (famed overly-dramatic, cynical NBA Basketball commentator) actually spoke words of brilliance :-)

Not just one intelligent phrase of impact but .... whew, hold on for this one, I actually heard TWO.

Indeed, I couldn't believe my ears.

So there I was watching Michael "the wizard" Jordan and his journeymen wizards take on the 76'ers (they won by the way, quite handsomely by making a big push in the second half) and all of a sudden I heard Bill say: "...the reason he is so great, as a person and as a player, is because he has never been afraid to fail."

PLEASE READ THAT AGAIN.

Forget the fact the Bill "the babbling" Walton said it. The statement still has brilliance. And that brilliance is this: It sums up the essence of what makes somebody like Michael Jordan so very successful in everything he does; everything he sets out to do; everything he puts his mind to.

You see, even though MJ is arguably the most talented basketball player to ever hit the hardcourts, he still had to work hard and jump very high (no pun intended) over obstacles for the legacy he now holds. And, even though he has proven himself to all measures of success on the court, do you think he wasn't afraid to do what he is now doing? -- At 38 years old, tempting to lead a young, below average basketball team that "has been poisoned with losing over the past three decades" (as Danny Ange put it).

What about risking that legacy and the image we all have of him as a winner (he couldn't of left the sport any better than how he did by defeating the Utah Jazz in the '98 NBA finals) by attempting to do something that, in most analyst minds, is quite literally near impossible in a team sport: take that team - a team that only won 19 games last year - to the playoffs this year.

If it happens, as Sir Walton said, "it will be one of the greatest stories ever told."

I agree. And, it surely will be nice to watch him attempt to make that happen. Note that I would of taken out the word attempt in the above sentence if he was, say, a Tennis Star or Golfer. But, in basketball you literally need a supporting cast to accomplish BIG things.

But, I, like a lot of people will enjoy watching the challenge as the season progresses. Will there be setbacks along the way. Yes. Will the team struggle. Absolutely. Will MJ even FAIL several times. You betcha. But, what is Failure?

I once heard John Fogg put it this way:

"Failure is a word, specifically a noun kind of word, which means it is referring to a person, place or thing (none of which a failure is) - or a state."

"Ahhh...the great state of failure, based on the verb; to fail, which means: to fall short of success in something expected, attempted, desired... "

Well, FACTS tell us that Michael Jordan and many others like him have done exactly that - "fallen short of success in something expected, attempted, desired..."

***********************************************

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I'VE FAILED

Over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I SUCCEED - Michael Jordan, Washington Wizards

***********************************************

Here's a few More:

> The Celestine Prophecy, was a dust-covered paper-back for a year before becoming a runaway, hard cover best-seller.

> Abraham Lincoln - hey, we all know the story. I don't have to list em all here but, indeed, he was a 12-time failure before being elected President in 1860

> Kleenex bombed at first.

> Ross Perot went Bankrupt twice. So did Walt Disney - five times!

> Babe Ruth, the great homerun king, who holds the record at 714 also holds the record for the most strikeouts. Ya could say that Babe failed 1,330 times so he could succeed 714 times.

> While starting Amway, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, America's eleventh richest people, recruited 500 people. 495 dropped out. The five that didn't quit built Amway - all $7 billion of it.

> A man writes a book. The first publisher rejects it. So does the second. So do the next 26 publishers. It took 28 rejections before Dr. Suess got a chance to mesmerize children with his stories. Due to his resilience, there has been more than $200 Milion copies of his books sold.

"So, what's the BIG point here Barry?," you ask. It's quite simply this my friend:

Our failures, setbacks, challenges, and mistakes are very much a natural part of the process of success.

Michael Jordan was cut from his 10th grade basketball team. He struggled with the Chicago Bulls for years before achieving a sustained winning record. He had hardship with the loss of a father (quit and played baseball only to fail miserably at that).

Yes, I know this may sound crazy but, if you want success in anything (not just basketball), you must welcome the challenges and not be afraid to fail - you should embrace the temporary state of failure (i.e., the temporary state of mind) in order to eventually succeed.

It's really hard to find one case in which someone you deem as successful didn't have to deal with some form of adversity or failure.

It's nearly impossible.

****************************************************

Failure and its inseparable partner success, are the proverbial two sides of the day-and-night like coin. Can't have one without the other. Take away failure, no success either. And which one dominates at any given point in time does so simply because you say so. - John Milton Fogg

****************************************************

Thomas Watson (founder of IBM) even went so far as saying: "The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."

So, how does all this relate to YOU as somebody who has set out to make an extraordinary above-averege living through Network Marketing?

Quite simply, you MUST always remember that the only way you can fail is if you quit. If you give up on yourself.

Every successful Network Marketer has failed to sell their product to everyone they ever talked to. Like anything that revolves around talking to people about buying a product or service, it's a pure numbers game. And, when it comes to finding and interviewing quality business partners, you must, must, must "work through the numbers."

4% of Oysters Have Pearls in Them

Pete Zdansis put it this way:

"Suppose you have a bushel basket with 100 oysters in it, and your objective is to find those four pearls by shucking all those oysters. You might get lucky and find a pearl or two in the first ten or twenty oysters you shuck. Or, you may not find any in the first forty or fifty or sixty oysters you shuck [in most people's minds, a state of failure]. Many people will quit at that point, and never find the pearls.These are the same people who make a feeble attempt at network marketing. They quit before they succeed, and then go on to claim that ....network marketing doesn't work. "Then there are those who keep on shucking . . . they may even come up empty the first 96 times (remember Colonel Sanders?), and then have those four pearls fall right into their lap. "Some people call these folks lucky. I call them people who keep on shucking.

I also call them winners...."

Yes, you WILL fail a lot in this business. Like Michael Jordan, you will have setbacks, discouraging news, and tempting distractions. However, when it's all said and done, if you find the guts and perseverance to stick through the tough times to get to the good times, you WILL be labeled a WINNER.

****************************************

"We have 40 Million Reasons for Failure "But not one single excuse." - Rudyard Kipling

****************************************

Failure is just a temporary state of mind if you eventually get to where you want to go.

***********************************************

The Champion Creed

I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.

************************************************

Success or Failure in Network Marketing ?

Like I mentioned above, you will eventually succeed if you don't quit. But, also realize you will succeed a lot faster if you learn to take a temporary state of

failure and turn it into a learning experience. The WRONG approach or state of mind (Examples of Temporary Failure)

> Don't Use the products/service that you sell or endorse to others. You can't share with others what you yourself don't know about or believe in.

> Let the "I'm not a salesperson" excuse stop you.

> Let the fear of rejection hold you back from approaching people.

> Never ask for the order.

The RIGHT approach or state of mind (Examples of turning Temporary Failure into Success)

> Be a product of the product. Your experience and knowledge will inspire others to use it.

> If you're selling - convincing, cajoling or persuading people to do something that they said NO to, you're doing the business wrong. You must be the messenger and let your third-party tools do the selling (i.e, tapes, sizzle messages, conference calls, websites, etc.).

> SW/SW/SW-Next: Some Will, Some Won't, So What, Next. They are rejecting the offer, not YOU. If you don't make the presentation, but just direct and point people to tools that do, you'll have have an easier time with the No's.

> Remember: You don't get what you don't ask for. Make a strong offer full of benefit-dripping verbiage. It will the be fun asking for the order. The point here is to learn from each WRONG approach and have the staying power to outlast your temporary flawed state of mind.

Hey, everybody (yes, everybody), has em -- those situations where, deep down, we KNOW were not doing something right, or were not on the right track, or we're using the right technique to get maximum results. But, the good news it this: being in that temporary failed state is OUR CHOICE. You - and only you - create the state or quality of failure.

Here's an excellent example of what I'm talking about - staying power & state of mind:

Immediately after inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison was asked, "How does it feel to finally succeed after having failed 1,000 times in a row?"

"Failed?" replied the obviously confused inventor, "But I never failed. I just completed the final step in a 1,000-step process." Thomas Edison wasn't trying to be coy or witty. In his mind, there was never any doubt about whether he would succeed; the only thing that Edison couldn't tell you was how long it was going to take.

Same thing with Michael Jordan. His staying power & state of mind has been so fined-tuned to the power of accomplishment, that he eventually achieved his first dream of being crowned an NBA Champion ('91); however, between the years of '84 to '90 most analyst wrote him off as a one-man show. In other words, a failure.

********************************************

"Never think of the consequences of failing, you will always think of a negative results. Think only positive thoughts and your mind will gravitate towards those thoughts!"

-- Michael Jordan

*********************************************

According to Roy Williams (www.wizardofads.com), this characteristic is a commonality between ALL successful people: In Roy's words:

Occasionally, someone will ask, "Is there a single characteristic that unites all the successful people you've met? Do you know the secret to their success?" "I've noticed two things," I answer, " The first is that every successful person carries a yardstick for measuring progress; they always have a way to measure their success."

"Why is that important?" "You cannot improve what you do not measure."

"Okay, so what's the second characteristic?"

It's at this point in the interview that I'd love to say "curiosity," or "loyalty," because these are the traits that I admire the most. But the truth is that I've known a lot of successful people who weren't curious in the slightest or loyal in the least. Likewise, it's not "intelligence" because I've also known some extremely successful dolts. (I'll bet you have, too.) Neither is it "education" or "planning" or "timing" or "sincerity" or "creativity" or "attention to detail" or anything else like that. So how does a not-curious, disloyal, uneducated, insincere, uncreative dolt achieve success? "Staying power."

Experience is a marvelous teacher. Any fool can be successful when he has the staying power to survive all his mistakes. Sometimes the staying power that's needed is financial. More often though, it's emotional.

WOW. Pretty powerful words from a guy who knows a thing or two about sustained success (check out his site at www.wizardofads.com)

So, to end this very, very, very important letter today, the overall moral of this is that the ones who succeed are the ones who have the ability to outlast the challenges that life throws at em. To outlast their mistakes and setbacks.

Staying Power & State of Mind:

Michael Jordan has it. Babe Ruth had it. Dr. Suess had it. Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel have it. Dear old Abe had it. Thomas Edison too!

The Question is; "How 'bout you?"

For more information about MLM Books or other services and products choose from one of the following links: