Two shoe salesmen were assigned by their firms to sell shoes in the middle of the jungle in Africa.
The first shoe salesman boarded the plane and headed into his new territory unsure what to expect, but hopeful that this venture would be a success. His plane safely arrived in Africa and the shoe salesman immediately began his assessment of his new wide open market. It was less then an hour later that he quickly phoned back to his headquarters and requested the first flight out and back home, explaining to his boss “This a waste of time. Nobody even wears shoes here!”
The second shoe salesman hopped on the plane anxious to see what awaited him in Africa. He expected a challenge but was optimistic about this new opportunity. After a safe landing the shoe salesman grabbed his bags and quickly became thrilled at what he observed. The shoe salesman quickly dialed up his headquarters and demanded to speak to his boss, he said “This is amazing, send me everything you’ve got immediately! Nobody even wears shoes here!”
Two people in the exact same situation. One person sees the obstacle and one person sees the opportunity. The only difference is their attitude and mindset.
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As we head into 2010 (the first 3% of the year has already passed) a lot of people’s thoughts turn to goal setting and success.
I have always wondered what makes some people successful in their lives and careers and other people unsuccessful. And the more I think about it, the more I feel that the answer is more likely to be mindset than just skillset.
I’ve had trainers tell me that there are so many gyms in their area that they don’t think they can open one and have it be successful as their is too much competition. I’ve also had trainers tell me that there are no other gyms in their area so they don’t think they can open one as their is no demand. Complete opposite situations but both were seeing the obstacle – if they were in the opposite persons shoes I have no doubt that they would still have seen the situation as an obstacle. It’s the mindset that needs changing – not the circumstances.
“If someone hands you a million dollars, you’d better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, “If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before.”
-Jim Rohn“Rich people think differently from poor and middle-class people. They think differently about money, wealth, themselves, other people, and pretty well every other facet of life.”
— T. Harv Eker
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I saw a movie on Showtime a few months ago called “Reversal of Fortune”.
The documentary film makers followed a homeless man around for a week or so. At the end of the week – they gave him $100,000. For a homeless man – living under a bridge – this is clearly a life changing sum. They even paid for a financial counselor.
Within six months he had less than $5000 left. Within nine months he was back on the streets – homeless. Owing more money than before.
The morale of the story I suppose is that the homeless man’s attitude to money didn’t change. You need to invest that money – or at least continue to make money – or look to budget. The difference between this man living on the streets and not living on the streets was his mindset. His attitude, choices and behaviors – not just the $100K.
Fitness and your health can be a lot like this also.
Imagine if you woke up tomorrow – with your ideal body… looking and feeling exactly how you want…
What would you do differently to maintain it?
Maybe what you would do differently might involve changing your exercise habits, or your eating habits?
Then why not start doing that now? Make the changes in mindset and behavior first…
–
AC
