To all the people I have coached and mentored over the past 38 years, thank you for the opportunity to provide you with Strategies for Success.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #1
“My business is not to remake myself, but make the absolute best of what God made.”
ROBERT BROWNING
ENGLISH POET
COACH’S COMMENTS:
In life, business and sport, it’s easy to not be happy with who you are and want to forever remodel yourself on someone you would like to be.
Well, it’s fine to look up to role models and mould yourself on their attributes. Just be careful though, that you keep your individual talent, skills and personality.
The real key to growth and success is to retain your own individuality whilst performing at your very best.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #2
“Love not what you are but what you may become.”
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
SPANISH AUTHOR
COACH’S COMMENTS:
As we learnt when we were very young in the story of ‘the ugly duckling’, it is folly to worry about how you look or perceive yourself to be when you are in your formative years.
However, as you have no doubt found, this thinking is not easy to implement in latter life. It not only takes a loving mind set, but takes support from your loved ones to help the transition from the little black duck to the lovely white swan.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #3
“Moments of guilt, moments of contrition, moments when we are lacking in self-esteem, moments when we are bearing the trial of being displeasing to ourselves, are essential to our growth.”
M. SCOTT PECK
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIST AND WRITER
COACH’S COMMENTS:
In other words, as I often say to clients, you wouldn’t know how good you felt unless you had been feeling bad.
You no doubt have experienced the feeling of excitement and success when you have overcome a period of disappointment and uncertainity. Well, it’s times like these that make you into a person you can be proud of.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #4
“Examine myself as I may, I can no longer find the slightest trace of the anxious, agitated individual of those years, so dis-contented with herself, so out of patience with others.”
AMANDINE AURORE LUCIE DUPIN
FRENCH NOVELIST, ALSO KNOWN AS GEORGE SAND
COACH’S COMMENTS:
Growing up isn’t easy, nor should it be.
These are the years when you are putting down the foundations of your life so you can build a future for yourself.
There is no doubt that if you can weather the storms of adolesence you will become a wiser, more rounded and confident person.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #5
“Large streams from little fountains flow, tall oaks from little acorns grow.”
DAVID EVERETT
ENGLISH POET AND WRITER
COACH’S COMMENTS:
Yes, we’ve heard the wisdom of this story often in our lives and it’s true.
Of course the key to the growth of the stream, however, is to be clever and persistent enough to never give up and to eventually find a weakness and therefore a way forward.
When it eventually does, it then controls its destiny and enables itself to successfully turn into a large, powerful river.
Do you have the same desire and persistance?
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #6
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
AMERICAN ESSAYIST, POET AND PHILOSOPHER
COACH’S COMMENTS:
Yes, you all have the power to grow, however the forests don’t just appear by magic. They take years of nurturing and fertilising before they mature.
It’s the same with you.
It’s one thing to be born of good stock and have the right genes, but it’s another to have the correct environment, encouragement and support to achieve your true potential.
These are the secrets for true success.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #7
“Real development is not leaving things behind, as on a road, but drawing life from them, as on a root.”
G.K. CHESTERTON
ENGLISH WRITER
COACH’S COMMENTS:
In life, business and sport, it’s easy to discard as useless, knowledge, ideas and skills you were given in your developing years.
The key for growth and success, however, is to not leave them behind or throw them away, but instead to invest your time and think and reflect on their importance.
It is when you think about these learnings that their true power and importance will often become profound.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #8
“ Habit is a great deadener.”
SAMUEL BECKETT
IRISH NOVELIST AND DRAMATIST
COACH’S COMMENTS:
It is said the definition of stupidity is to always do the same things in life the same way and expect a different outcome.
It’s easy to become a creature of habit and when you do you will be surprised how fast life passes you by.
I bet you don’t know what hand you use to grab your toothbrush, what arm you first push into your shirt, what leg you put in your trousers first or what shoe you put on first.
Well chances are it’s always the same one!
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #9
“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
SAMUEL JOHNSON
ENGLISH CRITIC AND WRITER
COACH’S COMMENTS:
The problem with life is that if you’re not careful, it’s just one big habit.
The challenge of change is to be courageous enough to be prepared to break a habit.
Often, a bad habit, like smoking, needs to be broken and you haven’t got the courage or strength to change.
Well, it’s then that you need to be responsible for yourself and look at the serious consequences of not changing – death!
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS #10
“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by man, but coaxed downstairs,