Fully 85 per cent of your success and happiness in life is going to be determined by the quality of the relationships you develop in your personal and business activities. The more people you know and who know you in a positive way, the more successful you will be and the faster you will move ahead.
At virtually every turning point in your life, someone is standing there to either help you or hinder you. Successful people make a habit of building and maintaining a network of high-quality relationships throughout their lives and, as a result, they accomplish vastly more than the person who goes home and watches television each night.
Everything involves relationships. Virtually all of your problems in life will come as the result of your entering into wrong relationships with the wrong people. Virtually all of your great successes in life will be accompanied by great relationships with good people who help you and who you help in return.
More than 90 per cent of your success will be determined by your ‘reference group’. Your reference group is defined as the people with whom you habitually identify and pass the time.
You are like a chameleon in that you take on the attitudes, behaviours, values, and beliefs of the people with whom you associate most of the time. If you want to be successful person, associate with positive people. Associate with people who are optimistic and happy and who have goals and who are moving forward in their lives. At the same time, get away from negative, critical, complaining people. If you want to fly with eagles, you cannot scratch with the turkeys.
Self-made millionaires network continually. They join their industry and trade associations, attend every meeting, and get involved in the groups' activities. They introduce themselves to people in business and social settings, hand out their business cards, and tell others what they do.
And here is one of the best strategies of all. Whenever you meet new people, ask them to tell you about their businesses and, especially, to tell you what you would need to know to send clients or customers to them.
Then, as soon as possible, see if you can send some business their way. Be a ‘go-giver’ rather than a go-getter. Always look for ways to put in before you start thinking of ways to take out. The very best way to network and build your relationships is to constantly look for ways to help other people achieve their own goals. The more you give of yourself without expecting something in return, the more rewards will come back to you from the most unexpected sources.
The Application to Your Business
Who do you keep company with – in and out of business hours?
The Good Book says it well,
“Bad company corrupts and depraves good manners, morals and character”
[1 Corinthians 15:33]
And just in case you’re not quite sure how to tell the type of company you are keeping then look at the ‘fruit’ of your own life and that of your companions. After all, good people bring forth good fruit and bad people bad fruit.
What do you mean “fruit”?
The type and quality of ‘fruit’ in your life and business will be dependent on what you have been feeding on. Good fruit can include, but is not restricted to, happy personal relationships; a healthy mind, body and spirit; financial freedom.
Examples of bad fruit are unhappy or destructive personal relationships, an overweight body, lazy mind and spiritual blindness.
Still not sure how to tell? Well ask yourself (or if you are game your significant other) how do you act or react under pressure.
That will give you a great insight – you see, you can’t fake that.
For example, when you squeeze (put under pressure) a lemon what comes out? Lemon juice (sour, grumpy, angry, unforgiving, bad attitudes etc)
Warning: Don’t suddenly dismiss everything I have said because it “sounds religious”. This has nothing to do with “religion”. Also don’t look at the company you keep in a judgmental ( I’m better than you) manner because in life bad stuff sometimes happens to good people.
Rather just take stock and ask yourself if I keep doing what I’m doing and hanging with the people I hang with will it get me closer or further away from my desired lifestyle and/or commercial goals?
If the answer is not want you want then you had better make some changes or get used to suffering the consequences of your choices.
What books are you reading currently? And, specifically, what books mentally challenge and stimulate you on your personal, professional, business growth journey?
(A good place to start is read 10-15 minutes a day. Not much is it. Over time you will find you will read a minimum of one quality inspiring book a month.)
But Paul I don’t like to read, I hear you say.
Well that’s ok - but don’t expect to grow anytime soon beyond where you are at.
Life and business is full of choices …
What will you choose?
Not sure where to start?
Well, you can get my own suggested list of quality reading from
www.rightteam.com.au/books.htm
Source: A compilation of thoughts from Brian Tracy and Paul Wright
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