Success Leaves Clues

By Mark Bowser

What is it about the Super Successful? It is almost as if they attract success to them like a magnet to medal. What is it about them? No matter how successful you and I may already be — we can be more. So, how can we boost our results and join the Super Successful? How can you take your life to the next level and achieve more influence and more income then you thought humanly possible? Difficult you say? Some are even thinking impossible as they read those words. Think again. 

We know every thing there is to know about the Super Successful. They have been studied for decades. I have studied them myself for many years. And, I have stood on the shoulders of the giants who came before me who studied them too. 

We know how the Super Successful think. We know what they believe. We know their habits. We know the actions they have taken. We know what has worked for them and what has failed...and we have learned why...and so can you. 

Write this down. I want you to make yourself a note and carry it around with you for a week. This is what this whole concept boils down to. Are you ready? Here it is! Success Leaves Clues! Success Leaves Clues! If we do the things that the Super Successful have done then we are going to get similar if not identical results. If we learn to think the way they think and adopt their positive habits as our own then success is inevitable. 

So, if you don’t like where you are right now or the results you have been getting — then realize you aren’t stuck...unless you choose to be stuck. You can change. You can become better. You can reach your dreams. But, you have to change course. If your ship is in unfriendly territory then you need to steer the rudder towards favorable seas.  It is all about your beliefs. And, your beliefs lead to your thoughts. And, your thoughts lead to your actions. Before you know it, you will have adopted a success philosophy that has become a habit. 

One of the elements of being Super Successful is asking better questions. Lousy questions lead to lousy answers. The Super Successful ask better and better questions and that leads to the answers they need to win.  

One of my colleagues, Brian Tracy, used to tell a fascinating story about Albert Einstein. In 1942, Einstein was teaching a physics class at Oxford University. He had just given a final exam to the seniors in the physics program. He and his teaching assistant were walking across campus and Einstein could tell that something was bothering his assistant. Finally, the assistant burst out his quandary. “Dr. Einstein, I am confused. The exam that you just administered to the senior class — isn’t that the same exam you gave them a year ago?”

“Yes, it was the same exam,” said Dr. Einstein.  

“Then, how do you give the same exam to the same students two years in a row?”

“Oh, that is simple,” said Einstein. “The answers have changed.”

What did Einstein mean that the answers had changed? We may not understand every nugget he was referring to — Einstein had a tendency to think on a different plane then most of us. But, his statement is applicable to us today. What concerns did you have a year ago? It isn’t the same concerns you have today, is it? The answers have changed. What goals did you have a year ago? Most of those goals are different today. The answers have changed. Where was the American economy a few years ago? It isn’t in the same place today. The answers have changed.  

In order for us to get better answers, we have to ask better questions. My son is a sophomore in high school. It must have been when he was in fourth or fifth grade when I experienced the ‘New Math’ for the first time. If you haven’t experienced it as of yet — just let me say it is an eye opener. 

One night, I was helping Andrew with his homework in long division. Let me tell you, I can do long division. We’re not talking about rocket science. We’re talking about elementary school long division. As we were working, I corrected Andrew on his process. He stopped me and said, “Dad, my teacher doesn’t want me to do that way.”

“What do you mean your teacher doesn’t want you to do it that way? That is how you do long division. How does she want you to do it?”

Well, Andrew proceeded to show me how they were taught to calculate a long division problem. Remember how we were all taught. Let’s say we needed to divide 5,227 by 15. We would write down the 15, draw the line up and over and put 5,227 under the line. 

Then, we would ask ourselves, “Hmm, how many times does 15 go into the first two digits?” In this case it is how many times does 15 go into 52. Oh, they don’t do it that way in the ‘New Math.’ They calculate — I mean guess — how many times 15 goes into the entire number of 5,227. It is supposed to develop their in depth thinking or some other mumbo jumbo.  

I was getting so frustrated that I actually said to Andrew, “What! That makes no sense. Your teacher and I could both have the same one hundred problems, we would get the same answer, but I would beat her speed wise every time!”

My wife gasped, “You can’t say that to him.” Of course she was right, but my exasperation had gotten a hold of my tongue. 

So, what is my point here? If we want to go to the next level of success, we just can’t change the process and randomly call it new and improved. If we want better answers, then we need to ask better questions. Never ask lousy negative questions such as “I wonder if it is possible for us to do xyz?” Always ask possibility questions such as “How can we accomplish xyz by June 1st?” The most powerful question you can ask is “How?” How — opens the doors. How — overcomes obstacles. How — reveals the success to come. 

What answers do you need this year? What challenges are you dealing with? Where do you want to be in a few months? To get the answers to questions like these and more — you need to look at things with fresh eyes. You do that by looking for the clues. Success Leaves Clues!  

*To view a video on this topic from one of Mark Bowser’s live seminars then go to https://youtu.be/NXRBFB8cLvM

*Mark Bowser is the author of several books including “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar, “Sell Your Way to Success,” “Unlocking the Champion Within,” “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” and “Some Gave It All” with Danny Lane (endorsed by Chuck Norris).

Mark Bowser has presented training seminars for some of the world’s top organizations including Dell, Southwest Airlines, FedEx Logistics, Ford Motor Company, United States Marine Corp., Purdue University, Kings Daughters Medical Center, Princeton University, Sony Music, and many more. To schedule Mark to speak at your next conference or training event then email [email protected] or visit www.MarkBowser.com