Billy Arcement’s
News From the Swamp
Issue
Bringing you ideas from The Results
Group Office
on
“Working with business leaders to produce a culture of
teamwork, productivity and profits.”
In This Issue……….
·
Turn Obstacles Into
Opportunities
·
The Lessons of
Defeat
·
Lessons From the
Tigers
·
Billy’s Thought of
the Month
·
Results Box—A Call
To Action
·
Checkout Billy
·
Staying In Touch To
Grow
·
Children First! Spread the Word
·
Value Added Ideas
·
Subscription Info
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Last month we discussed the idea of setting a vision and direction for your career and personal life for the coming year. By now you’ve either completed your list, started working on it, or are still considering what the heck you are going to do.
Let’s start with the assumption that you’ve at least formulated a plan of action. As you begin to work your plans, “things” will get in the way. It may be a lack of money, a lack of information, or a lack of resources. Whatever you “lack,” don’t let it create inertia. Consider an obstacle or a “lack of” as being an opportunity to get more creative in the use of your skills. See it as a challenge to knock down barriers and continue on your journey.
Succumbing to the pressure of obstacles is what failures do. Winners are excited to see a roadblock because they have enough confidence in their abilities to know that they will persist until they succeed. Who will you be––a winner or a loser?
With every defeat in life there is a valuable opportunity to gain knowledge. By studying carefully what caused the loss, one can gain insights into how to prevent a repeat in the future.
During the years I sought to be elected to public office, I endured three bitter defeats––the last loss being one of the most traumatic times in my life. Vowing never to seek public office again (never say never) I bathed myself with the attitude of a loser. Fortunately, I did not keep my word nor did I continue to feel sorry for myself. The thought of victory in a fourth effort eventually became greater then the pain endured in my three defeats.
When the opportunity presented itself, I assessed the situation using the knowledge gained from my three defeats. I was convinced that victory was not only possible but probable. Long story short––after much planning, some luck and lots of hard work campaigning, I beat my opponent by the overwhelming margin of 12 votes!
What had previously been a bitter experience became a glorious victory. And that my friend is what happens to you when you take the defeats in your life and use the lessons learned to turn events around. Remove the agony of past defeats in your life by resolving to take the lessons learned and turning them into the thrill of victory.
Lessons From The Tigers
When LSU won the National Championship in football on January 4 that was the end of a 45 year drought. It was a hard fought victory that culminated a long season of work by coaches and players. In one of the many follow-up articles about the championship, the “Tigers Goals 2003” list was shared with the Tiger faithful. I thought them worthy of sharing with you because each has the potential to help you in your career and life struggles to become a champion. They are listed in ascending order
Team. All success depends upon a group working as a team. For LSU, it was always a total team effort. No one sought the limelight for themselves. That became the foundation upon which all other goals were placed.
Together Everyone Achieves More. Again, the emphasis was on building the team concept. Consider how you can form a team to help with your personal and career growth. As part of a mastermind group of professional speakers, I get strong support from my team members. Together, we are stronger than any of us are individually.
Trust. In my consulting practice I’ve found that many times the obstacle preventing people from working together is a lack of trust. When you trust the system you work in, when you trust your fellow workers, when you have a group of trusted friends to support you, you will experience success.
Dominate Your Opponent Every Day. We can interpret this to mean that domination occurs through your superior efforts. Working smart and working hard are two approaches that create domination.
Discipline, Focus, Execution. Nothing of any greatness was ever accomplished without the presence of discipline. It’s the oil that lubricates the wheels of success. Focus requires a clear identification of what is important. The more focused we become, the more we are able to get the critically important things done. Execution is taking action. We must focus on executing the proper actions in the proper way. Knowledge helps our execution. Practice enhances execution. But it is action that creates execution.
Finish Plays. Too often losers decide to quit before they reach the finish line. In football, players must continue to execute their individual responsibilities on every play until the whistle blows. Nothing less is acceptable. In our pursuit of success, we must also continue our execution until the whistle blows. For us, it’s called follow-through. Working on improving our follow through is a sure step towards improving our success ratio.
Positively Affect Someone Every Day. Helping others brings more personal satisfaction then helping ourselves. We grow when we serve others. We diminish our statue when we only strive to be self-serving. Commit to make a difference in the life of one individual every day. It may be a simple “thank you.” It may be a very involved commitment. In the long term, we grow by serving rather than being served.
Be A Champion. Becoming a champion is a long process that includes many steps. True champions are not lazy. They do all the steps needed to get the task done. Champions know what steps are needed and they willingly carry out their execution. Resolve to bring a championship into your life this year by implementing the concepts used by the LSU Tigers. It worked for them and I’m convinced it will work for you.
“A pessimist never realizes the kind of
life they could have by simply being optimistic.”
Attitude is so important to success. How you view your world determines what you
see. If you only see “dark” you will be
blinded to opportunities. Le the “light”
come into your life by creating a positive, optimistic attitude about your
potential to succeed.
Is there any specific management or self-development question you’d like
to see addressed in future newsletters?
Forward your question to barcement@eatel.net
and look for your answer in a future issue.
The Professional Speaker: Billy blends thought provoking ideas with his “Cajun Stories” to bring audiences a winning combination guaranteed to make your event a success. Billy speaks to education groups, small and corporate businesses, association conferences and most places anyone is interested in hearing his message!
The Management Consultant: Billy is rapidly becoming the choice of business leaders who seek help with their own management style or who wish to provide coaching for their management team or executives on an individual or group basis by phone or on site.
The School Board Strategist: Billy is regarded as one of the premier consultants to work with troubled school boards or to help with strategic planning initiatives. He is also a seasoned presenter at school board association conventions.
The Author: Billy’s
book, Searching for Success, is
making a difference in the life of those who have read his words. His published articles are impacting the way
business leaders think. Contact us to
purchase your personally signed copy.
Call us. We’d love to help! Go to http://www.searchingforsuccess.com to learn more about Billy’s programs and services. Our results are guaranteed!
Please notify us if your email address changes. Send your new address to barcement@eatel.net and we’ll update our distribution list. If you enjoyed what you’ve read, please forward this newsletter to a friend who might get a pointer or two from these messages. Send us their email address, to add them to our distribution list.
Children First! Spread the Word
Children First, my newsletter offering parenting tips, is growing nicely. If you know of an organization or group of
parents who might be interested in reading this newsletter email me at barcement@eatel.net and place “children”
in the subject line. The next issue goes
out February 1.
Value Added
Ideas
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