"Passport To Greatness: Quest For The Best"
By Duke Runyan
Developing The High Performance Mindset of a Champion
Champion’s get to be champions because they do the hard work necessary for their success. Most people aren’t willing to do that work. Champions are willing. They have intense desire which propels their motivation.
Success is not a destination; success is a Journey. You can consider yourself successful whenever you take your first step toward your goal, your major purpose in life.
Accomplishing your major life’s purpose requires life-long commitment, dedication, and the achievement of a series of short-term goals.
Your major purpose should be something you absolutely love, because you will be spending a lot of time doing it. Your major purpose should also be something that helps other people, because we will actually work harder to help others, sometimes, than to help ourselves.
So settle in and enjoy the trip. Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon, but don’t forget to stop and smell the roses, because the trip of life is to be savored, enjoyed to the last drop.
High Performance Mindset
To take an international journey in life, a passport is required; the Passport for your Trip-of-Life is the “High Performance Mindset of a Champion”.
What is the “Mindset of a Champion”? It is the willingness to work as hard as it takes to get the job done. Champions are ALWAYS self-made. They have developed an “I-Will-Not-Be-Denied” attitude.
They become champions because they work harder than everyone else. They realize that one else can do the work for them. You literally must out-work the opposition to become a Champ!
The key to getting champions to do this hard work is their level of motivation. The ability to motivate oneself to extraordinary effort is the Secret of the Mindset of Champions. They simply have more desire. They want it more, so they pay the price in advance in the form of HARD WORK!
Personal motivation is based on desire. Champions seek goals that they are passionate about. This passion is translated into desire, fanning the flames of desire to a white-hot heat. This kind of white-hot desire is what keeps Champions on track, never quitting, with growing enthusiasm from every defeat…using the lessons from mistakes and failures to motivate themselves to ever greater effort, i.e. Hard Work.
Mistakes and Failures
When I was just a young whipper-snapper, about 28, I was thrown for a loop by a series of life failures that would stagger a mule, more than most folks can manage in sixty years, let alone 28. The crowning blow that put me into a deep, ‘blue funk’ depression, was the loss of the ‘love of my life’! Not only heartbroken, but also, questioning the very worth of myself as an individual, perhaps getting a “Born To Lose” tattoo…
I was so happy when I found out that Mistakes and Failures are O.K.! In fact, they are mandatory! The only way to avoid making a mistake is to never attempt anything, a very sad way to live.
The Strategy for dealing with Mistakes & Failures, is two-fold:
#1 Learn a lesson from every failure, and
#2 Never make the same mistake twice!
If you adhere to this philosophy, the rule becomes:
“He who fails the most, learns the most; all of that experience gradually morphs into wisdom.”
Goal Setting: Writing Your Autobiography In Advance!
“Whatever the mind of Man can conceive and believe, (s)he can achieve. “
~Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich”
Bucket Lists do not just happen, they evolve. However, if you know the rules of goal setting, they evolve much faster. When you make a wish or have a dream, that is just what it is, a wish or a dream. It only becomes a goal when it gets written down, with a target date attached.
Many years ago when I first enrolled in a personal development program entitled, "The Dynamics of Personal Leadership", we were encouraged to turn on our “Dream Machine” and create a Dream List to become the framework, or blueprint, of our life. The Dreams were to be written down as soon as they appeared in our “mind’s eye”, as Shakespeare called the human imagination.
To call them dreams instead of goals, made it easier, somehow, to suspend disbelief long enough to write them down. Actually, the training covered mistakes and failures in advance, building a heavy dose of belief by studying some of the most spectacular failures of all time: Henry Ford, bankrupt several times; Thomas Edison, failed 10,000 times to solve the problem of the electric light bulb; Babe Ruth, the Strike Out King; and on, and on, until the point is made: failure is a necessary and integral part of success. You cannot have the one without the other, so be prepared to deal with it! It is important to develop a sort of 'perma-shield' around the brain to deflect negativism.
The repetitious positive conditioning of the program helps develop that perma-shield around the brain to help guard against discouragement. After virtually twenty-one days the attitude transformation is complete and the Mantra then becomes one of, “Bring it on and let’s get the unpleasantness over with ASAP!”
Goals come in many flavors and colors. There are goals of having; goals of becoming; long range goals; short term goals; personal goals; relationship goals; business goals; family goals; political goals; health goals; and spiritual goals.
Goals are essential in every area of life. There are six major areas of every life which should be planned, in order to achieve maximum success, happiness, and a balanced life:
1)Mental and Educational,
2) Physical and Health,
3)Social and Cultural,
4)Spiritual and Ethical,
5) Financial and Career,
6) Family and Home.
Each area of Life is like a spoke of the “Wheel of Life” and it should be a continuously expanding spoke, and, hence, your Wheel of Life will be continually expanding…no telling how far.
A lifetime devoted to expanding your Wheel can have remarkable results. Consider that by reading only fifteen minutes a day, the entire Great Books of The Western World can be read in ten years. Organized activity and persistence are the wellsprings of your success.
When I was twelve years old, I learned to play chess and golf. Because I later turned that dream into a goal, to be a chess master someday, and a golf pro, I consistently have spent a lot of time along the way, studying and practicing both chess and golf, one for the body and one for the mind. For one thing they are addictive, and another it is a good defense against Alzheimer’s and old age. The benefits of playing chess and golf are numerous, such as developing patience, critical thinking, planning, decision-making and above all, having FUN!
A goal needs a deadline, or “Target Date”, which is a term that seems a little less imposing. After all, goals are written on paper and not chiseled in concrete.
Having a goal is much like having a target to shoot at on the firing range. If you don’t have a target, you don’t know if you are shooting where you are aiming and, hence, how to adjust.
In artillery school they teach the young Lieutenants to walk the rounds in to the target, one round at a time. When the target is eventually hit, the order to “Fire for Effect” is given, lighting them up good. Goals can have the same galvanizing effect on your life and “Light it Up”.
Setting a goal is also somewhat like loading a gun, so that when a target of opportunity wanders by, you aren’t still fumbling to load the weapon, allowing the object to escape; goals are also like a trap: set it , and wait for the unwary to blunder in and fulfill your goal.
Over time you should set numerous goals in each area of life. Some people spend their entire lives waiting for their ship to come in, yet they never sent one out.
Paul J. Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, the most successful “Success Academy” on the planet, says:
“ If you are not working on at least a hundred goals for your life, you are at risk of grossly underachieving.”
Most people have no conception of the vastness of the potential of the human mind, and they bring a teaspoon to mine the riches, instead of a steam shovel.
Here is another quote from Paul J. Meyer which beautifully summarizes the rules for success in life:
"Whatever you vividly imagine,
Ardently desire,
Sincerely believe,
And enthusiastically act upon,
Must inevitably come to pass."
The Art of Effective Leadership
Is Effective Leadership an Art, or a Skill?
Is it learned, or inborn? If, it IS learned…can ANYBODY learn it? If anybody can learn it…just what is it?
A leader is, by definition, someone who is ahead of everybody else. They are winners; they are Champions. Leaders don’t happen by accident; they are made, not born.
These questions have puzzled mankind since the Cave Man Days:
“Just what does constitute effective leadership?”
The Cave man used a club. That was effective for a while…until the next guy brought a spear to the table.
The Donkey chased the carrot. That was effective for a while…until the same scam was pulled on a man.
So, what IS the State of the Art of Human Motivation and Leadership?
A wise man once said, “Leadership is the Art of influencing someone to do what you want them to do, because they WANT TO DO IT!”
In a word, as John Maxwell said, “Leadership is influence.” Actually, not all influence is effective influence. Effective influence is not fear, or intimidation. Effective influence is not based on deception, or bribery. Effective influence is based on Trust, and Desire.
The Art of Effective Leadership is personal power or, personal leadership (as opposed to agency power, derived from one’s position).
“Leadership is the ability to apply principles to real-life situations.”
~Gen. George S. Patton, one of the great leaders of all time.
Personal Leadership is a learned trait (or set of traits), ones which can only be acquired by doing. One practices leadership, just as a Lawyer practices law, or a Doctor practices medicine. You don’t learn leadership from a book. You learn principles of leadership from a book but,
Leadership is an Art. It evolves slowly, first becoming a skill…and morphs into an art form (after the requisite 10,000 hours of arduous effort)… the butterfly emerges from the cocoon.
Just as in art, no one starts out being a great artist, also, in leadership, no one starts out being a great leader.
Leadership is a personal choice which everyone must make…lead, or follow. A wise man once said, “If you want to be a leader, find a parade and get in front of it!”
If you have the desire to be an effective leader, you must start somewhere…so start where you are. You must start some time…so start now.
At least make a decision to be the leader, even a bad one , at first… just start, knowing that you will improve. Set goals. Begin the development and growth process to maximize your powers. Exercise them. Study them. Become the Total Leader, Artist, and Architect of Your Destiny!
Editor's note: Duke Runyan is the Leadership Guru Guy . He lives on the Emerald Coast of Florida and is passionate about motivating the masses to achieve their dreams. He is an avid golfer and chess player. www.dhirubhai.net/in/leadershipguruguy
Radio interview: https://www.pensacola.businessradiox.com/2017/03/16/pensacola-business-radio-guests-duke-runyan-feasible-concepts-inc/ For a conversation about your goals, contact Duke: [email protected]/850-449-2000