You can do a lot of things in 31 days. This is amplified if you focus those 31 days on improving one area of your life. By focusing in on one thing you want to change or do, and making it a priority for 31 days, you will make lasting life changes.
During the next 31 days you could:
learn a new skill
lose weight
create a new habit (getting up early, exercising, etc..)
Naturally the list keeps going. You can do so much in 31 days.
Guess what?
August is about to start, and it has 31 days!
What are you going to do in August?
The Success Professor’s 31 Day Challenge
During the month of August, this blog will be hosting a challenge. The challenge is for readers to pick something to focus on during the next 31 days to change your life.
The concept is pretty simple:
You pick something in your life that you want to do or change in the next 31 days.
You share in the comments of this article what you will change as part of the challenge
You get started and do what you set out to do
You report back how you are progressing
Throughout the month, this blog will feature several update posts. These will be opportunities for you to post your update and record your progress and challenges. The purpose is to provide you with the motivation and the accountability to make a change, to do something important and to make the next 31 days extremely valuable. Further, during each of these updates, I will profile one participant by sharing about their goal and experiences.
What I Will be Doing For the 31 Day Challenge
Naturally, I will participate in the challenge myself. My focus for this challenge will be to make improvements to and grow this blog. I will be following the guide book created by ProBlogger, Darren Rowse, called “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.” My hope is that you will notice the difference. I hope that you will see me in more places on the internet, and that many others will join us in this community. I will use the challenge updates to report on my progress as well.
If you are a blogger, you may want to join me in using the 31 days in the Success Professor’s 31 Day challenge to improve your blog. Pick up the ProBlogger workbook and comment below. There will be an optional email list set up for the people who are working towards a better blog this month. This will provide an extra support platform for this goal.
So what’s next?
Pick the one thing you will change, improve, or do in the next 31 days.
Share what you will work on in the comments below.
Get started!
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache If you liked this article, leave a comment below, or subscribe by RSS!
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Posted on July 29th, 2009 by The Success Professor | 4 Comments »
Lance Armstrong is inspiring. His story is one that encourages you to fight to reach your goals. The story is so good that you almost think it can’t be true. Think of the sporting accomplishments alone. Before Lance Armstrong, no one has ever had more that than five Tour de France victories. Not only did Lance win five, but he went on to win number six and number seven. Far more than anyone had done before. Now he’s made a comeback, showing that he is still one of the best in the world at 37 years of age, and with three years off from professional cycling. It is inspiring!
And then there is the other Lance Armstrong story. This is the story of the cancer survivor. Lance went through a battle with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. When he was diagnosed he was given a 20% chance of survival. Not only did Armstrong survive, but he went on to become a world leader at raising money and awareness in the fight against cancer.
No combine those two stories. Each on their own could make a movie, together they are spectacular. Armstrong’s fight with cancer came in the middle of his professional cycling career. He was out for two years and came back better than ever. The following year he won his first Tour de France, winning the three week race by a substantial margin, over 7 minutes. Some called it a fluke victory, so Lance came back and won again and again and again…. proving to be one of the best cyclists of all times.
Below, we’ll look at some lessons we can learn from Lance Armstrong. To give you a clear picture of Lance’s story, check out this video:
There is a lot we can learn from Lance Armstrong and the Tour. Lance himself tells us that we can learn life lessons from the Tour. He writes,
“It’s not about the bike. It’s a metaphor for life, not only the longest race in the world but also the most exalting and heartbreaking and potentially tragic. It poses every conceivable element to the rider, and more: cold, heat, mountains, plains, ruts, flat tires, high winds, unspeakably bad luck, unthinkable beauty, yawning senselessness, and above all a great, deep self-questioning. During our lives we’re faced with so many different elements as well, we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope. The Tour is not just a bike race, not at all. It is a test. It tests you physically, it tests you mentally, and it even tests you morally.”
Whether it is in his fight with cancer or in battling to win the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is a great example of perseverance. The fact that he made a cycling comeback at all required significant perseverance. He didn’t need to go back to cycling. Success in any goal requires that you persevere.
In the Tour, pain builds from days of racing and mountain after mountain to climb up. What makes Armstrong successful is that he fights through the pain. Cancer taught him how much pain he could endure and cycling can’t match it. Now he pushes through the pain. Perseverance towards your goals will mean that you need to push through pain, and do so more than your competition.
Lance knows that if he keeps pushing on through the pain the competition will eventually fall behind him and he will ride on to victory. The same is true if you are in business. Your competition won’t keep up with you if you keep doing the things that you need to do to become successful even when you don’t want to – perhaps ESPECIALLY when you don’t want to.
2. When You Fall, Get Up and Keep Going
In one of the most impressive Tour de France performances ever, during the 2003 Tour on the important mountain stage to Luz Ardiden, Lance crashed after clipping a spectator with his handlebars. As with everything else in his life, Lance didn’t stay down. He got back up and powered his way back to the leaders catching and eventually blowing past them to take a commanding lead in the Tour.
When something happens in your business or life that gets you down, you need to get back up and keep going. Dust yourself off, get back on your bike, and ride. We will all face obstacles on a daily basis as we work towards our goals. Don’t let them slow you down.
No one prepares for the Tour de France like Lance Armstrong. Certainly Lance prepare physical by getting into peak condition, but what really sets him apart from the others is the other things he does. Armstrong goes to the important mountain stages before the Tour and examines the climbs. He then rides them over and over again making sure he knows exactly where the steepest parts are, where to attack the field, and where to rest.
What kind of preparation can you do that will help you reach your goals more quickly? Perhaps extra practice before you give the big presentation, more research into your potential clients so you can specifically address their needs, or maybe going the extra mile to make sure your blog article has all the facts. Take the time to prepare well. Know that those who prepare and then take action will reach the top, they will get the big client and make the big sale. Do your preparation.
4. Surround Yourself With a Great Team
One of the ironies to professional cycling is that it takes a team to win, even thought there is an individual winner. Lance has consistently surrounded himself with an excellent team that helps him win the Tour. As the team leader, Lance would rely on others to set the pace, block the wind creating a draft, and help him defend the lead.
Whatever goal you are working towards you need a team. This may be a support team that encourages you on, challenges you, and holds you accountable to your goals. It might be a team that you work with on a day-to-day basis trying to achieve a common goal. Look to build a team that compliments your skills, encourage you, challenge you, and help you move on to victory.
5. Don’t Listen to the Critics
If you are attempting to do something great you will face critics. There will be people that will tell you that you can’t do it, or that it can’t be done. There will be people who look at your weaknesses and focus on those, and there will be people who simply try to pull you down because they want to keep you where you are.
As a champion, Armstrong has faced a constant berrage of critics. They said he couldn’t win and when he did, they said he couldn’t do it again. Later they turned to accusations of cheating and anything else they could do that could hurt his image. Time after time, Lance rose up and showed the critics that he was a real champion.
So ignore your critics; or better yet, use their criticism to energize you and provide the fuel you need to push you over the top.
6. Life Is Short, Use it Well
Cancer attacked Lance Armstrong as a young athlete in the prime of his career. This should be a reminder that life is short. We never know when our time will be up. Make every day count. Be thankful for the health you have, enjoy every day, and use it well.
As we leave, check out this inspirational commercial from Nike.
If you are in any type of business, you are in the business of making promises.The promises are the claims that you make to your customer.You make claims about your product’s or service’s benefits for your customer through your advertisements and your sales presentation.Every claim you make in these, or any other marketing materials you may have, represent a promise to the customer.
The result of these promises is the expectation that your customers have for your product or service.The level of expectations that your promises create represents the standard the customer will hold your organization to.If you meet the expectations that you set, then the customer will leave your business satisfied.If you exceed the expectations that the customer has, your customer will leave enthusiastic about your company.Of course, if you fail to reach the expectations that you have created then your customer will leave disappointed.Naturally, how your customer leaves your company will impact whether or not they return, and how likely they are to spread the word to others about your business.
Let me share an example.This past summer my wife and I were on vacation in southern Turkey on the Mediterranean.We were staying in the resort city of Ola Deniz.It was a beautiful location with a wonderful beach, and truly a great vacation spot.The city of Ola Deniz is filled with tour operators selling day trips around the area.They all shared wonderful stories of the tours.My wife and I settled on two specific tours that we wanted to take and negotiated a good price.
We had enjoyable days on both trips, but left a little disappointed each time.The problem wasn’t the trip itself, but rather how the tour didn’t match the promises with the actual experience.
The first trip was a trip by bus and then river boat to another town where we would experience a mud bath and a visit to turtle beach.The salesperson went in detail through each step of the trip, and in general gave a pretty accurate level of expectation for what we experienced.Unfortunately she chose to leave out one stop – a stop a jewelry shop.Naturally the jewelry shop was part of the tour because they hoped that the tourists would spend money and that the tour company would receive a commission from the jewelry shop for brining by the customers.For most this was simply an extra thirty minute stop and left many customers with a bad taste of the experience.
The second trip was a boat trip on the Mediterranean.The salesperson explained that this boat trip would involve stops at five different bays as well as a stop at the famous butterfly valley.There was even more dissatisfaction for the customers on this trip.First of all, the five bays turned out to be very close to each other.In fact a number of them could be seen from each other.When you set out from one bay and are ready and excited to see more of the sea but then end up only travelling a ¼ mile to a bay you could clearly see already, you are naturally left a little disappointed.
The disappointment got worse with the stop at the famous butterfly valley.One couple on our boat took the whole tour because they wanted to go to this one stop.When we got there, we found out that we only had a 40 minute stop, but that it would take more than one hour to walk to the end of the valley and back.Everyone was disappointed that we would not even have time to see the cliffs and valley that made butterfly valley famous.Further, we found out at butterflies only live at butterfly valley for about one month a year; naturally not the month we were there.Nearly everyone we talked to left the trip disappointed.
Of course when reflecting on each experience, we got great value for what we paid.All that needed to have happened was for the expectation level to be set more realistically.My wife and I paid a total of $25 dollars each.That got us two trips, lunch each day and a chance to see some wonderful sites.If only the expectations had been set to match what we experienced we would have left extremely satisfied.
If the stop at the gold shop had been included in the details of the first trip no one would have complained.The salesperson took so much time going through each and every stop on the trip that neglecting the jewelry shop became even more obvious.Setting the expectations correctly by explaining that there would be one stop at the jewelry store would have set the proper expectations.We would have left the trip very happy.
If the second trip had properly advertised what we would experience during the stop at butterfly valley, and set better expectations about the distance between the five bays, the trip would have been wonderful.It was a relaxing day at sea, a chance to see wonderful sites, and to swim in some great locations.Again the problem was that the expectations didn’t match reality.
What are the expectations that you are creating for your product or service?Are you meeting those expectations?Are you exceeding them?If you are not meeting (or preferably exceeding) those expectations, then you need to get to work.Perhaps you need to lower false expectations that you are creating in your marketing that you simply don’t need to make the sale.Maybe you need to increase the benefits you actually give your customers and ensure that every expectation you are creating is actually achieved.A simple way to do that is to under promise and over deliver.
The ability to under promise and over deliver is a powerful way to create excited customers.You need to manage your marketing efforts to provide realistic promises to your customers.Make sure that every expectation you set is something you can easily achieve.Once you’ve managed the expectations you are creating, go out and surpass them.Go and do more for your customers than you promise.
Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on November 14th, 2008 by The Success Professor | 1 Comment »
One question that can help predict the level of success people have is to gain an understanding of how big they think the pie is. The pie, or course, is the economic potential around them. How big do you think the economic potential around you is?
Do you think in terms of scarcity? Is the pie small enough that you need to fight to get what you can? Or is the pie very large? Is the pie so big that there is enough for everyone to get what they want, for everyone to win? Your answers to this question will tell a lot about your potential for success. There are three different mentalities that people can have about the economic potential around them. The mentality you have will affect your potential for success.
The Scarcity Mentality
The first type of person views the economic sphere as very limited. The only way to get more of something is for someone else to have less. The only way to grow is at the expense of others. If you are gaining, someone else is losing. This is the typing of thinking characteristic of the scarcity mentality.
The problem with the scarcity mentality is that you view success as a difficult battle. If you have to gain by taking from someone else then it will be a struggle. Further, if you view the fight for economic gain as a win-lose, you’ll likely feel that you are doing harm to others by growing your own level of success. While some people will justify this kind of harm, others will simply use this as an excuse to move away from successful activity.
The Large Pie Mentality
The second type of person views the pie as very big. These people will see that there are lots to go around, and that by being successful they are not necessarily taking success away from others. These people believe that there are lots of opportunities around them, and places for them to fit in.
This type of person will still think in terms of competition, but believes that there is room for many competitors. These people will be willing to work hard to get as much of the pie as they can. They know there is lots of pie out there, and they are willing to work to get it.
This is a good attitude to have, but it can get better.
The Ever-increasing Pie – The Abundance Mentality
A third type of attitude is when you view the economic pie as ever-increasing. People who hold this attitude will believe that as they achieve success it expands the economic pie so that others have more and more economic benefit as well. This view believes not only are there lots of opportunities, but by taking advantage of an opportunity there can be multiple benefits.
The abundance mentality reflects the economic ideal of our system and the way that business should be done. If you create a great product or service and sell it for a price, you should be getting more for it than what you put in. The customer who purchases your product should also be getting more benefit than what they spend. Therefore both you and the customer have gained an economic benefit – the pie has just expanded.
The understanding the economic pie is increasing allows us to truly think win-win. Negotiations are no longer a competition, rather they are an opportunity to work together to determine how to provide the best possible win-win scenario.
Stephen Covey conveys this by writing, “Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions… Win-win is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.”
So what attitude do you have about the economic pie around you? Do you carry with you a scarcity mentality, a large-pie mentality, or an abundance mentality? The attitude that you carry with you will impact your success.
If you have the scarcity mentality you will struggle to grow your business, because at some point you believe that your success is hurting someone else. Most people don’t want to hurt someone else and end up sabotaging their own success instead.
If you have the large-pie mentality you will see lots of opportunity for growth of your business and for success. You may even see a large measure of success. Unfortunately you will still approach negotiations and business sales from a competitive mindset. While the negative side of this might not always be evident, some of your clients will feel the difference and turn you down because of it.
Finally, if you have the abundance mentality people will be attracted to you. You will seek win-win in every negotiations or sales call that you make. Because of it, those you deal with will come to trust you and believe that you have their best interest in mind. This is where true success comes.
The good news is that you can choose your mentality. You can choose to have the abundance mentality. It may take time for you to change how you think, but by being conscious of the decisions you are making you can always look for win-win.
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on September 30th, 2008 by The Success Professor | 1 Comment »
Over the past couple of weeks my articles have focused on the area of personal growth.Two weeks ago I shared 6 Steps to Grow Daily, and last week I followed it up with an article on How to Create a Reading Plan.This article will give you a starting point for developing your reading list as I share with you my top 10 book choices.
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time, The World is Flat, provides a vivid understanding about the changes that have happened to the world in the last decade.In many ways, The World is Flat provides a starting point for some of the other books on this list.The first section entitled “Ten Flatteners that Changed the World” goes into detail about some of the world-changing moments that have put human history on our current path.
Good to Great is a fantastically researched book that exposes what good companies who became great companies have in common.It is a follow up to the best seller “Built to Last” that brought us great concepts such as the BHAG – Big Harry Audacious Goals. Good to Great is a powerful book for both business and personal growth.Valuable concepts include the Fifth Generation Leader and the Hedgehog Concept.
In his classic book on personal development Stephen Covey shares what makes people highly effective.This book has become the standard in the field of personal growth.Concepts such as Be Proactive, Think Win-Win, and Seek First to Understand are principles that Covey illustrates throughout his book.My favorite section is called First Things First, which spawned its own book that has also been important for me.
Another classic in the personal development field, How to Win Friends and Influence People is a powerful book.The interesting thing is how basic the principles within the book are.They are obvious and yet profound at the same time.And while we may innately know that all of the tips in this book are good for our relationships, so often we don’t do them.Ideals such as “smile”, “become genuinely interested in other people”, “be a good listener” and “think in terms of the other man’s interest” are explained.Because so many of the principles are basic to life, this book serves as a powerful reminder too, helping us each to build more friendships and influence others.
This short little book from marketing guru Seth Godin, is all about being remarkable.Godin explains how if you are driving through a rural area and notice the cows they will eventually all look the same – one cow looks very much like the next cow.If however, there was a purple cow it would catch your attention.The purple cow would be remarkable, and you would stop to see it, take photos of it, and tell others about it.Godin argues that your product or service needs to be remarkable.It can’t be the same as every other product; your product must become a purple cow.
No book in recent history has created as much excitement and even controversy as Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work-Week.Ferriss’ book is about a new lifestyle concept, one with less work, more time to focus on other life goals.For me, the most important part of the book are Ferriss’ concepts of productivity.He believes and teaches how most of us can accomplish far more each day if we eliminate the things that interrupt us, batch our communication tasks, and outsource more of our lives.While, I think Ferriss under values work, I recommend this book to many people for the productivity differences it can help with.
In this important book, Kiyosaki teaches financial principles through the stories of his two “dads”, one who had money and one who didn’t.He argues that the rich and poor think about money very differently and as such, teach their kids very different things about money.This book is very effective because it is presented as a narrative rather than a list of facts and ideas.
Dave Ramsey the radio financial guru offers wonderful advice for people on how to become debt free and improve their financial future.The book offers a simple process, following what Dave calls “baby steps”.Each step builds on the previous steps and helps you move towards total financial freedom – being debt free.The value of this book lies in its simplicity and its ability to help anyone make progress towards freedom from debt.
In this book one of the world’s top leadership experts, John Maxwell, breaks down leadership into 21 laws.Each law is based around a memorable story to illustrate the point.Leadership laws include the “Law of the Lid”, the “Law of Navigation”, and the “Law of Respect”.Each law provides valuable leadership lessons on its own, and when put together provides a complete treatise on leadership.
This is the most important book I have read on spiritual growth.Willard calls people to fall of the life of Christ and to take on Christ-like character for ourselves.The book calls people to a transformation that can take place in people through our spirit.If you long to follow the historical Jesus, not necessarily what today we call “Christianity”, this book will be of interest to you.
Well those are my top 10 choices.Currently, I’m reading Getting Things Done by David Allen, and it may easily crack this top 10 list.The only problem is, I’m not sure which one it should replace.
Your turn:
What are some of your top book choices?What are you reading currently?Do you have any feedback on any of my selections?
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Posted on September 22nd, 2008 by The Success Professor | 18 Comments »
Effective planning and goal setting is important. Often we hear lessons about having long-term goals, and annual goals, but to keep on track and keep your business, and life, moving forward the goals and plans to achieve those goals must be broken down into weekly and daily bites. As the famous saying goes, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. By following these simple steps, you will get more completed, you will accomplish more of the right things, and you will reach more of your goals.
Step #1 – Define your life roles
In his book, First Things First Stephen Covey recommends dividing your life into the various roles you fill. For example, my roles including: my job as a college professor, my role as a blogger, and my work as an entrepreneur. I also have an important role as a husband, and another with my involvement in my faith community.
Beyond these sorts of roles, everyone should also include personal development goals. Covey recommends capping your number of roles at seven. These roles will change from time to time as your life changes, but they should cover the important aspects of your life.
Step #2 – Set goals for each of your life roles
Now that you’ve divided your life into a number of manageable roles it’s important to set goals for each goal. By setting important goals each week in each of your roles, you will be able to keep a better balance in your life. I recommend setting about 2-4 goals in each of your important roles. Now at certain times you will need to be in a period of focused imbalance for a few weeks, putting more efforts into one of the roles than the others, but over the long-term you should remember to always be setting goals in each of the life roles. The goals on this list should be based directly off of your long-term goals. In other words, you should be doing things each week that help you move towards your long-term goals. It is these activities that are your weekly goals.
Step #3 – Schedule all meetings and booked times
Each week you will likely have a number of appointments, meetings and scheduled events that you have to be at. These are things that you can’t avoid as you have to be at a certain place at a certain time. Schedule these into a day planner. I strongly recommend using a planner with a week at a time view. Each week I book in the classes I need to teach, any athletic events I’m participating in, and other meetings and obligations. You should still have plenty of blank space remaining for the rest of your tasks and other meetings that may pop up.
Step #4 – Schedule time for your most important projects
Using your goals list that you developed in step two, schedule the most important ones into the space left in your day planner. Be sure to allow time for goals in each role including those that are not directly professional goals. Allow for time with your spouse and children. Allow time to serve others and time to grow.
Step #5 – On a daily basis plan your next day
Each night before you go to bed, take 10 or 15 minutes with your weekly goals sheet and plan a daily to do list for the next day. Use your weekly goals to plan tasks to do the next day. Write this list in order of importance starting with the most important tasks to complete the next day. Add to this list any phone calls you need to make, emails you need to send or any other small things that may have come up throughout the day. By writing them down you won’t forget any important details. With a daily plan like this when you start each day you will have a list of priorities that correspond to your weekly goals.
Step #6 – Remember people are most important
One risk with any type of weekly or daily plan is that you can become so focused on the goals and schedule that you don’t have time for anyone who comes in your way. You may find yourself angry when you are interrupted by your child or spouse. While some uninterrupted time is important, it is also vital to remember that people are more important than things. Chances are that you are working so hard in order to provide for your family. Don’t neglect the opportunity to act with love towards them now. Use your schedule as a guide but don’t let it control you.
As you follow these steps, be sure to adjust them in anyway you need so that you can be most effective and most efficient at what you do. Set weekly goals, organize your daily tasks and work hard to achieve them. You will reach YOUR goals!
As the 2008 edition of the Tour de France wraps up, it is a good time to reflect on some of the success principles that are evident in the Tour and that can be applied in the rest of our lives. The Tour de France is a grueling bike race that goes for 21 days (or stages). The winners (and in to some extent all who compete) follow these success principles.
1. You need to have a good team – The Tour de France, and professional cycling in general, is an individual sport that requires team work. At the end of each year’s Tour there is only one winner, but the winner needs a strong team to win. This year’s tour has been dominated by team CSC. The individual winner is Carlos Sastre from that team. There are many ways that Sastre’s team helped him win. For example:
team members set the pace – especially on the difficult mountain stages, Sastre’s team mates would ride at the front setting the pace for him.
team members protect the leader – cyclists generally ride in a group known as the pelaton. Sastre’s teammates surrounded Satre in the pelaton protecting him in the event of a crash
team members help carry the load – throughout the race teammates go back to the team car and bring up water, energy bars and other forms of sustenance to their team leader.
For success in life and business everyone needs this kind of team. Who is your team? If you don’t have one, look for ways to develop a team around you.
2. You need to be prepared for different stages – The 21 stages of the Tour de France are not all the same. Basically, the stages can be broken down into three categories. There are flat stages, mountain stages and individual time trials. Each stage needs a different kind of strategy and mindset. In a flat stage of the Tour de France, the team leader needs to simply stay with the pack. They need to make sure no top contendor (ie. anyone with a chance to beat them) gets away. By finishing with the pelaton the team leader will not lose any time and will continue with his chances to win.
On a mountain stage the team works together to get the team leader over the first mountains, with the knowledge that the team leader may end up all alone on the final climb ready to fight it out with the other top cyclists. Mountain stages are the most difficult and require the most effort but are were the winners separate themselves from the pack. On the primary mountain stage of this year’s Tour, Carlos Sastre beat is main competitor by over two minutes.
The final stage type is the individual time trial. In this stage each individual rides alone against the clock. There are no teammates and no competitors around to race directly against. The winner must do well (or excel) during the time trial.
Life has similar stages. At times you simply need to stay with the pack, rely on your teammates and just keep riding ahead. At other times you are all alone climbing a mountain. These times are very difficult, but this is where the biggest rewards are found. Your team can get you there, but you need to climb the mountain yourself. Finally, there are times that are just like the individual time trial. You are all alone. You have no team, no competitors to mark yourself against, you just need to put your nose down and keep on going.
3.Understand that everybody has a bad day sometime – Over the 21 stages of the Tour it is a common understanding that everyone will have a bad day sometime. This year was no different. All of the race favorites had at least one bad day. Even in his prime, Lance Armstrong had bad days. The champions are the ones who push through on their bad days and limit their losses.
In life, everyone will have bad days. In those bad days champions in life, and the Tour, need to maintain a positive attitude, continue to work hard, and rely on our teammates. We cannot give in to our bad days, let our attitude go negative, or stop working.
4. Persistence Pays Off – Most champions of the Tour exhibit a significant level of persistence. Lance Armstrong is perhaps the most famous example of this as he persisted through his fight with cancer and subsequent return to cycling. Sastre also demonstrated persistance having competed in ten prior Tours. During that time he had 5 top tens including a 3rd and a 4th place finish.
Success does not always happen immediately. In fact for many it is this kind of persistence which is needed for success. Too many give up early. They are satisfied with a ‘top 10 finish’, or give up when they have a significant challenge. Persistence is a key to success.
5. Ride like you’re wearing yellow – The leader of the Tour de France wears the famous Yellow Jersey to signify their lead. An interesting thing tends to happen when a rider takes the lead and puts on the Yellow Jersey: they tend to ride better. Wearing yellow brings out another level in many riders. This has been seen year after year in the Tour. This year Sastre entered the final time trial with a minute and a half lead over his top competitors. Sastre however, is not good at the time trial. Virtually every expert and commentator figured he would lose the lead. Spurred on by the Yellow Jersey and the knowledge of the opportunity to win the Tour, Sastre pulled out the performance of his life, droping only 30 seconds of his lead.
Did wearing yellow actually change Sastre’s abilities? Of course not. Sastre had the ability to do a good time trial in him all the time. It took the inspiration from wearing yellow to pull it out of him. What abilities do you have that you aren’t using? Live like you are wearing yellow. Take hold of the things that inspire you and live with that inspiration.
6. Know your goal – When you enter the Tour you need to know your goal. Each team must set their goals and each individual rider has goals within that. For some the goal is to win the Tour. Others aim for a top ten finish, and others simply aim to win an individual stage. Your goal will determine your strategy.
Once you have determined your overall goal, you then need to set goals for each stage. Is this a stage you want to attack on, trying to gain time on your competitors? Or is this a stage to defend your current position? The goal for each stage is set by the team in order to help reach the individual goals within the team.
The same principle is true in other areas of life. You need to have your overarching goal that you are pursing. Within the overarching goal you need to break it down into weekly and daily goals. Knowing what you want to accomplish will set you up for success.
Conclusion
Sastre spoke after his win was sealed, summing up many of these points: “I think the key to our victory was to care for one another. And to take decisions in the right moments, knowing what we wanted and how we wanted it. We believed in ourselves, and that’s how we won the Tour de France.” What is your goal? Who is your team? Work towards your goal, know that you will have bad days but persist through the challenges. Understand that life will take you through different stages but always live like you are wearing yellow.
Posted on July 27th, 2008 by The Success Professor | 1 Comment »
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Stephen Covey recommends dividing your life into the various roles you fill. For example, my roles including: my job as a college professor, my role as a blogger, and my work as an entrepreneur. I also have an important role as a husband, and another with my involvement in my faith community.
