Start by watching this short video:

Patrick Henry Hughes is an inspiration.  A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to be at a
conference where Hughes was a speaker.  I was able to hear him speak and perform on the piano.  There are a number of success principles that we can learn from the example of Patrick Henry Hughes.

1. Everyone is Born With Special Skills –

While Patrick Henry was born blind and crippled, he was gifted in the area of music.  While his conditions eliminated a number of life possibilities, he was gifted with other skills that he could use.  You too are born with special skills.  Have you discovered yours yet?  If so, then focus in on that area.  If not, then try new things to determine your skills.  I’m not talking about just survival skills, but skills that have the potential to be world changing. You will have to work to grow those skills, but they are inside of you.

2. You too are More Than Meets the Eye –

Most people looking at Hughes from the outside, and particularly as a child, that he was not going to amount to much.  Of course Patrick Henry proved them wrong.  You too are gifted more than others can see.  Unfortunately, people often don’t see their own potential for success. You are more than meets the eye – even more than how you see yourself in the mirror.

3. Focus on What You Can Do, Not on What You Cannot –

Patrick Henry clearly exhibits this characteristic choosing to focus not on disabilities, but on abilities.  It is very easy for us to focus in on our weaknesses, or on things that are inhibiting us.  Instead we need to focus on our strengths; focus in on the things you can do right now to move you towards success.

4. Everyone Needs a Partner –

In some form or another everyone needs a partner to achieve success.  There is no such thing as a self-made success, everyone has help. The need for a partner is very clear in Patrick Henry Hughes storey.  His father, Patrick John Hughes, is that partner.  The sacrifices that Patrick John makes for his son are evident.  While our needs might not be as obvious, we need a partner who will push us towards our goals, be there for us in the hard times, help us keep in step, and even carry us sometime.  Most importantly we need someone who will believe in us.  If you don’t have this kind of a person in your life, focus in on finding someone.  This type of person can come in surprising places, but is absolutely necessary for you to succeed.

5. Imagine Your True Potential –

Everyone has a life filled with possibilities.  The opportunities around you are endless.  You have the abilities within you to achieve greatness.  You need to take the time to visualize yourself achieving your goals and living out your life to the fullest.  Take the time to get a clear picture of what success means to you, and go out and get it.

Hopefully you have been encouraged and challenged by the example of Patrick Henry Hughes.  Grab a hold of that inspiration, and do something today to move you towards your goals.  Be sure to check out Patrick Henry’s new book.

Written by:

Danny Gamache – The Success Professor
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Hi everyone,

As we end one week and prepare to start another it can be a great time to reflect on our accomplishments and goals. Tuesday is month end. Do you have any goals you still need to accomplish this month? Why not go for them? Finish the month strong and then use the start of a new month to set new goals and start over!

Here are some great blog posts that I came across in the past week:

The new blog Lateral Action talks about Foolish Productivity.

Get Rich Slowly shares how being a successful entrepreneur Is Not About You.

Think Simple Now has a great article on How to Be Outstanding.

Leo @ Zen Habits writes about how to Attack Your Limitations.

Dumb Little Man shares How to be More Disciplined and Organized When Working From Home.

Here are a couple of blog carnivals that I was a part of this week:

Rich Life Carnival

Working at Home Blog Carnival

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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Personal development is a key to success. By reading this blog, you are demonstrating that you are committed to personal growth. Often people realize the importance of personal growth, but don’t do anything deliberate on a daily basis to provide for opportunities to grow. It is important that you commit to doing some form of personal development daily. This will ensure that you are always improving and moving towards your goals. Unfortunately, personal development is often one of the first areas that people let slip when they get busy. That is because it is never urgent, and it appears that it can always wait. While it may not be urgent, it is certainly important and in fact can be one of the most important activities you can pursue.

One way to ensure that you continue to pursue growth is to commit to a daily time of personal development. Many find that 20 minutes a day is an ideal number. It is not a long commitment. You can squeeze in 20 minutes even on a busy day. But 20 minutes is long enough to make a difference; to charge you up, and help you learn something important for your life.

So what do you do with 20 minutes to ensure growth? Here are six ways you can grow each day, and all of them can be valuable in just 20 minutes each day.

1. Read A Book – You should always be reading. Reading opens your mind to new ways of thinking and to new ideas. As you read you’ll be inspired, encouraged, and challenged. Chances are that no matter what goal you are pursuing, or what problem you are facing, that someone has faced a similar issue before and has written about it. By reading from them, you are able to avoid making mistakes that others have already made. If you don’t like to read, then make sure you get audio books. Audio books not only are valuable if you don’t like to read, but allow you to listen while you drive or exercise.

2. Pick a Few Blogs to Follow – There are many wonderful personal development blogs. By picking a few blogs and keeping up with them daily, you can continue to pursue growth with the blog’s author serving as your mentor or coach. Certainly, it is easy to get overwhelmed by trying to follow too many blogs. Eventually your list of unread posts grows and the list just overwhelms you; when that occurs you end up not reading any. By sticking with a few favorites, and subscribing by RSS, you can focus on picking up a few ideas each day.

3. Listen to Audio Trainings or Podcast – Listening to audio presentations can be another inspiring method of personal growth. You can listen to traditional training material from experts such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, or Tony Robbins. There are also dozens of other motivational speakers, trainers, and experts who offer free podcasts for you to download. Another example of the audio presentations available by podcast are sermons. You can listen to top preachers from around the world on a weekly basis.

4. Learn a Language – Learning a new language is a powerful form of personal growth. It helps to increase your creativity as you learn to thinking in a different language. It also prepares you to be more competitive in today’s workforce and business world. Further, it gives you greater flexibility in your ability to travel. You can learn a language at home through programs like the Rosetta Stone, through many other audio training programs or taking a local course.

5. Take a College Course – Another powerful form of personal growth is to take a course at your local college or university. Pick a topic that you would like to learn, whether that is just for your personal pleasure or to learn a new practical skill. After graduating, I have continued to take extra courses including a course in Racket Sports (to improve my tennis and learn a few other sports), a course in preaching, and a history course. All of these were valuable in my personal growth.

6. Hire a personal coach – A final way to ensure consistent personal growth is to hire a personal coach. Personal coaches are equipped to help you set and achieve goals in many areas of life. A good personal coach will help you to set goals, develop a plan, and become more effective as you move towards their achievement. A coach can help you in multiple areas of your life, by becoming a source of accountability as you live out your plan.

You certainly don’t need to do all of these things. Pick the one or two that you are most interested in and that fit best into your lifestyle. Commit to twenty minutes each day and start putting these activities into action.

Now readers it’s your turn. What are your favorite ways of personal development?

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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The Joy

Think back to the start of the year. Remember the excitement and energy that you felt as you looked at the potential of what was to come. You had taken time to set your goals for the upcoming year, and there was nothing going to stop you from achieving them. Perhaps you had some New Year’s resolutions to make as well. You might have wanted to lose weight, to read more books, to grow your business, or bet a better spouse. Whatever your goals or resolutions you likely entered the new year filled with hope and excitement.

There is a similar thing happening this week on our campus. Students are arriving back excited about the year ahead. Freshman students are embarking on something very new and exciting. They are not fully sure what to expect, but they are here and ready to go. Returning students have a lot more of an idea about what to expect. They know the tough times ahead and the commitment they need to put in, and yet they too are excited (mostly). The new school year, just like the New Year in January, provides people with a clean slate. It is an opportunity to start over, no matter what has happened in the past. Students can set new goals in academics as well as in their personal and social lives. The new school year is waiting.

The Problem

Of course something happens as the days and weeks and months go by after a new beginning. After New Year’s Day you likely started well as you worked to achieve the goals and resolutions you had set. But over time those goals slowly started to take a back seat to other things in life. Your goal to eat better may have started well, but since then you have no doubt had a bad day or two. For many people those bad days start being the norm, not the exception. Your goals for business and your work may also have started well but likely some point along the way even those have been left behind as other stresses in life continue. For most students it will be no different. Many will start the year well and then slip back into their old habits, their old routines, and do the things they have always done.

These kinds of trends are natural. When something is new it is easy to set goals that are exciting and that inspire you. It is equally as easy for those goals to slip away over time and for your energy and inspiration towards achieving them to be diminished.

The Good News

The good news is that you can take advantage of a fresh start whenever you want! It is possible at any time, on any given day, for you to gain all of the benefits of the New Year experience. You do this by DECIDING to start over. You can decide to start over and start acting as if it is the New Year; as if you have a new beginning. In order to act like it’s the New Year, simply do the things that you would do if it really was the New Year:

· Celebrate your recent successes

· Set new goals and deadlines

· Plan how you will achieve your goals

· Reconsider your life priorities

· Recommit to the important things in life

· Connect with what inspires you

All of the things on this list are things that you do at New Year’s and other significant new beginnings. Further, all of these will help to reinvigorate you and push you into action. Restarting your life can be powerful.

One Part at a Time

Another good thing about starting over whenever you want throughout the year is that you have the potential to restart one area of your life at a time. While you may have times when you need to start over with everything, it is just as likely that you will have some areas of your life that are progressing towards your goals and some areas that are stagnated.

When you choose to restart like this, you can restart one part of your life at a time. Perhaps your family life is great, but you are struggling at work: then go through the restart list with your work life in mind. If you are doing well professionally but are struggling to exercise and get your weight under control you can simply restart that area as if you have just started a new year with exciting new resolutions. Whatever area you are struggling to reach you goals in is the area you want to choose to restart.

Automatic Restarts

Life also affords us with a number of automatic restarts. In fact you may be taking advantage of automatic restarts without even realizing it. The start of the school year that I described earlier is an example of an automatic restart for many. Certainly it is a restart for students and teachers, but it’s often a natural point of restart for anyone with school aged children. The pace of life changes and life routines must change with it. What better time to restart your goals?!

The calendar also gives us automatic restart points. The most obvious one is the start of each month. You can use the start of the month to celebrate your successes from the previous month, to set new goals and deadlines, to plan how you’ll achieve your goals, to reconsider your priorities, to recommit to the important things in life and to reconnect to the things that inspire you!

To a lesser extent the start of each new week can serve the same function. When I go through my weekly planning process, I’m in essence following the steps of starting over. This enables me to enter each new week recommitted to my goals and excited about pursuing them.

When to Restart

There are many reasons why it might be a good idea to choose to create a new beginning and restart yourself towards your goals. You may want to restart when:

· you haven’t taken steps towards your goal in sometime

· you’ve been working towards your goals but haven’t seen any progress

· or you’ve just had a significant failure

If any of these situations apply to you, you should likely consider starting over. Pretend it is New Year’s Eve. As of tomorrow morning, the calendar is blank, and you have the potential to reach all of your goals.

Happy New Years!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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There is more to you than meets the eye. I know there is. Inside you are gifts in abilities that only you know about, and some that you don’t even know about. You have been created with a unique set of gifts and abilities that come in a combination that no one else has.

Paul Potts is a great example of this. Watch this clip from Britain’s Got Talent:

Paul Potts’ performance is indeed incredibly inspiring. It is wonderful to see a performance that you don’t expect from someone. The thing is each of us has that kind of a performance within them. No, maybe not as an opera singer, but in something; we all have some talent that will awe and inspire others.

But talent alone doesn’t make the difference. You have to do something with that talent. Look at what Paul Potts did:

• He took a big risk. — Paul could have easily kept his talent to himself, singing in the shower, or maybe before a small group of friends. He certainly did not need to take the risk of going in front of a large live audience, a much larger television audience, and of course judges like Simon Cowell! What an intimidating group. Paul’s big risk requires a significant amount of bravery. Sometimes making use of our talent will require this kind of risk. But you can do it! You can be that brave!

• He pretended to be confident. — Through the interviews we can certainly see that Paul Potts was anything but confident in himself. And yet, if you look at the video of him on stage he portrayed a large level of confidence. No, he wasn’t cocky or over-the-top, but he went out there with a clear purpose. When he was asked what he was there to do he replied very matter-of-factly that he was there “to sing opera”. Notice he didn’t say that he was there to “try to sing” or that he “hoped he would be able to sing” etc. He stated his intention with confidence. It is possible to pretend to be confident, even when inside you are very scared. No one else needs to know how scared you are.

• He knew what he was born to do. — Paul stated that he wanted to sing opera because that is what he felt that he was born to do. What were you born to do? Look at your skills and gifts. Learn about yourself and how you can shine. Likely the gifts and abilities you have are pointing at the type of thing that you were born to do. You will only be truly happy, and meeting your full potential when you are using your talent in that way.

• He shared his talent with others. — Knowing your talent is one thing, but success and fulfillment in life comes when you share that talent with others. That talent may come through your job, your business, or what you do on the side. Just be sure that you don’t hold it in. By sharing his talent with others Paul was able to entertain people, inspire people, and make their lives better. You can to. When you use your talents, you can make a difference in other people’s lives.

What are your gifts? You have been made with a unique set of talent that you can use to make a difference in this world. By using your talents each day you will feel more fulfilled and you will impact others in a positive way. Once you know your talents, take a risk, be confident and take the next step. The rewards will follow.

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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The Olympic Flame on a Smog-free Day in Beijing

One of the most remarkable parts of my Olympic experience was to see the drastic changes that have taken place in Beijing – many even over the past year. When I arrived in Beijing for the Olympics it was only 13 months since my previous visit, and yet in many ways it was a very different city. These changes show the results that can come from having a clear goal, a deadline and strong motivation.  There were many significant changes to be seen.

Changes in Beijing

• New Airport Terminal – $3.5 billion terminal, bigger than the city currently needs, and complete with a full-time attendant/cleaner in each restroom.

• Trees, Trees and Trees – planted millions of trees, particularly lining important roads

• Lots of fresh paint – almost every apartment building was painted

• Walls around ugly areas – walls were built surrounding construction sights and slum areas

• Beautiful new venues – the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube set the new standard for architecture in sports venues

• New subways – a number of brand new subways were completed including an airport express subway

• More public washrooms

• Better translations – removed much of the “chinglish” and corrected it with proper English translations

• Line ups – instead of pushing to get on buses, subways etc. people were trained to stand in line

• Reduced spitting and public urination – two habits common in Beijing just a year ago, were drastically reduced

• Traffic limitations to reduce smog – cars were only permitted to drive every second day leading up to and during the Olympics. It took some time for the smog to clear but the reduced traffic was a benefit in itself

Olympic Stadium - aka The Bird's Nest

Certainly Beijing had some advantages in their preparation for the games. With China being a communist country the government could do things that couldn’t be done (as easily) in a free market economy; they forced people to move, used significant levels of cheap labour, and made laws that would never fly in Western countries. For the purpose of this article I’m not going to debate whether these decisions are right or wrong. Instead, we’ll consider that China was simply using the resources at its disposal to reach its goal. So how did China do it?

How China Did It

1. Clear goal – China’s goal was to put on the best show and make a grand re-entrance onto the World’s stage. The Olympic was its showcase. The goal was clear and everyone in the country knew this was the goal.
2. Deadline – The Olympics had a built in deadline for the changes to be completed: 08-08-08, the date of the opening ceremonies. A goal with a deadline is much more powerful than an undated goal. You are more likely to take action and less likely to procrastinate when the deadline is clear.
3. Motivation – Your motivation is the reason behind your goal. It is the core point that will drive you. In China that motivation was national pride and the desire to impress others. It is hard for an outsider to understand the level of national pride that exists amongst the Chinese people. Westerners might think that a reduced level of individual freedom would potentially lower the levels of national pride, but that is not the case. Almost everyone in China was excited about the games and wanted the country to look its best while the world was watching. They wanted to impress others.
4. Massive Action – The amount of work put into making these changes in Beijing was massive. Every resource was put into making the games the showcase to the world that China wanted. Massive action is needed to move towards any goal.

In light of the example of Beijing there are several questions you should ask yourself:

• What is your goal?
• Is it clear?
• Do you and your team have a clear understanding about what you want to go and how you are going to get there?
• What is your deadline?
• Is it firm and written down?
• What is the reason behind your goal?
• Will you allow this to motivate you?
• Are you willing to take massive action?

The start of the month provides a perfect opportunity to set some goals and begin to move towards those goals. This list of questions can serve as starting point (or reminder) towards achievement of your goals. If you follow these steps by setting clear goals, establishing a deadlines, understanding your motivation and taking massive action, you will achieve your goals!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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When you combine a burning passion with a clear goal and add in a strong level of persistence, you will be able to achieve almost any goal you set.

My Olympic experience was a clear example of this. And surprisingly, it was not watching the amazing athletes move towards their goals (although these points would certainly be evidenced in many of their stories) rather it was the pursuit of a goal that my friends and I set out to achieve.

The event I most wanted to see at the Olympics occurred on the very first day of competition: The Cycling Men’s Road Race. The race contains the top professional cyclists, most of whom have just completed the Tour de France. At the Athens Olympics, the Road Race took place through the streets of downtown Athens past the Acropolis and other historic sites. The race had been sixteen laps so my friends and I wondered the course watching the athletes go past at a variety of key places and making sure we ended up at the finish line for the final lap. Athens was perfect for spectators as the race was very easy to watch.

Not so in Beijing. Everything about the race made it difficult for spectators. To start with, the official Olympic website was very vague about the race. In fact even now, after the Olympics have been completed, the venue information on the website shows the race as TBD (To Be Determined)! Eventually in the weeks leading up to the games a prominent cycling website posted the map. The race, of 245 kilometers, would start off in downtown Beijing and end at the Great Wall with 7 laps of a finishing circuit. Getting to the Great Wall has some challenges and can be fairly expensive on a normal day, but in the Olympics and when an event is happening made it seem nearly impossible.

Our pursuit of the goal of seeing the Road Race began almost as soon as we arrived in Beijing. My friend and I went to work trying to figure out how to get from downtown to the Great Wall. Our goal was to see the start of the race and then move out to the Wall to catch the finishing laps from a position along the track. Our first option was to find a bus or train that could take us there. We knew this would be the cheapest way, and from the Lonely Planet travel book we knew that a bus was supposed to go from near our hotel to this particular location on the Great Wall for only about $3 a person. I went to the bus stop and after scrounging for someone who spoke enough English to understand me and waiting as several Chinese volunteers worked to find the information, I discovered that the busses would not be running during the race. My friend found out the same information about the train.

We were not completely surprised by this, so we started looking at other options. We naturally thought about a taxi, and while taxis in Beijing are very inexpensive they have a maximum capacity of four and our group had five people wanting to see the race. Instead we started making use of all of our local contacts to find another option. Until the day before the event we did not have an option that would work. Thankfully our hotel manager came through and was able to arrange a minivan and driver for us to hire. The cost was higher than we would have hoped, but there was little other choice. The government restriction on vehicles (each vehicle could only drive every other day) had lowered the supply available thus increasing costs.

The day of the Road Race came and the real adventure began. Sure we had to have persistence to arrange for the vehicle and driver, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. The driver first took us to the Start Line where we had hoped to see the start of the race. Leading up to the Olympics everything published about the race stated that it was a “free event with no ticket required”. When we got to the start line we quickly found out that to the surprise of everyone except about 200 locals they had placed a ticked section around the immediate start line. We were there in plenty of time so we showed the volunteers the Official Olympic Guide Book where is stated clearly that there were “no tickets required”. We were shuffled from one volunteer to another as they each tried to find someone in authority that could help us get in. No one was able to make a decision and so they all stuck with the rule as they understood it. We needed a ticket.

The start of the Men's Road Race

Thankfully, I eventually found a local willing to give me a free ticket to the starting area. The rest of my team settled for watching the race start from about 500 meters down the course. Getting in to the ticketed section was amazing. I was able to watch the cyclists getting ready and warming up. Seeing many of my heroes up close like this was awesome. The cyclists were eventually introduced one country at a time and came out and took their positions at the start line. It was neat being able to watch them interact with each other while they waited for the full field to be announced and the race to start (about 15 minutes of a wait for the first riders to be introduced).

After the race began my friends and I reconnected and found our driver. We set off to get to the Great Wall. We had hoped that we might get to the primary road to the Wall before the cyclists did so that we could beat the road closures. Unfortunately we missed them by only a few minutes. As we were being forced off the road by the blockade we actually saw most of the riders enter the road up ahead of us. The road to the Great Wall was about 70 kilometers which meant that it would take the cyclists most of two hours to get there. We spent those two hours in our rented minivan with our driver trying anything he could to get us closer to the wall. Unfortunately all the traffic normally going on that road was trying the same thing and so we spent as much time sitting in traffic as moving.

Eventually our driver persisted and found us a way to get passed one set of blockades and to the town nearest the finish line. Unfortunately at this point all the roads were closed except to local traffic (and no taxis). We saw that other foreigners were getting out of their hired vehicles and taxis at this point and starting to walk so we had no choice but to join in. We realized very quickly that the finish line was still 8 kilometers (or 5 miles) away so it would be a long walk.

What would you do in a foreign country, where almost no one speaks your language and you need to get 8 kilometers as quickly as possible? Stick out your thumb and hitch hike of course! Almost immediately a local picked us up. I don’t think she had any idea about what we were doing or where we wanted to go but she did drive us a short distance until another road block stopped her. We got out and continued walking. After going the wrong way for about 10 minutes we eventually found ourselves on the correct road. At least we assumed it was the correct road because of the scattering of other foreigners walking towards the supposed cycling course.

The day was hot (close to 100 degrees) and very humid, and the road was uphill so the walk seemed to take forever. Occasionally a car would pass us and we’d try to hitch a ride. Every car seemed to be either already filled with foreigners who they had picked up, or was an official Olympic vehicle that was in no way going to stop for anyone. After about 45 minutes of walking we were finally picked up by a local. She drove us rapidly towards the Great Wall. We quickly became very thankful for the ride as we realized that it would have taken at least another hour to walk that distance.

Even after arriving at the course things were difficult. The spectators were restricted to a small section of the course and were not allowed to walk the entire course as we had hoped. We didn’t care too much by this time. Our adventure had taken us by rented minivan, hitch hiking through a foreign country, and through a long walk. The section we were at was a great spot to watch the race come through and we made it just in time to see the second of the seven laps. We didn’t miss much and had an amazing adventure to go with it.

Looking up the course to the Great Wall

That night I reflected on what it took to achieve that goal. The day was a success but it didn’t come easily. In fact the adventure we went through became as important to us as the race itself. By the end of the Olympics we all chose that day as our highlight. Success truly was a journey more than just a destination.

The first key was that we had a clear goal. We knew exactly what we wanted to achieve. Not only did we have a goal but we had a high level of passion to achieve it. How passionate about your goal are you? If we didn’t have a strong passion to achieve our goal we could have given up at many points. Thirdly we committed ourselves to achieving the goal. After we spent the money on the car and driver we were committed. We had spent the money and were going to get our money’s worth – no matter what we had to do to get there. Finally we had persistence. We never gave up. We moved passed the each obstacle that was presented to us.

What is your goal? Take your goal and get clarity. Develop a deep passion to achieve your goal and you will do everything you can to achieve it.

Have a great day!

The Success Professor

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Another issue related to motivation comes when there are tasks you procrastinate on because you don’t enjoy doing them.

Procrastination becomes a problem when you are procrastinating on projects that are important. Projects that are not important should be delayed or outsourced. The key is using the motivation tips you offer to get away from procrastinating on these important tasks.

If tasks are both important and unpleasant then moving through them quickly is key.

The following article has some great ideas:
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-find-motivation-for-the-things-you-hate-doing/

Other ideas to beat this kind of procrastination:
1. Provide a small reward for yourself when you finish.
2. Do it first off in the morning before you move on to more pleasant tasks.

What other ideas have worked for you?

Danny