The Success Design

No one can make you serve customers well….that’s because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment…

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice…’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always.. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’

‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it.

Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.How about us? Smile, and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up… let us do good to all people.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.

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Three key words to remember: weigh, count and measure. Now why weigh, count and measure? To see what your results are from your activity, your attitude and your philosophy. If you find that the results are not to your liking, there are only three places to look. Your philosophy needs to be fine-tuned, your attitude needs to be strengthened or your disciplines need extra skill. But that’s it. Activity, attitude and philosophy create results.

Now on results I teach that life expects you to make measurable progress in reasonable time. But, you must be reasonable with time. You can’t say to someone every five minutes, How are you doing now? That’s too soon to ask for a count. Guy says, “I haven’t left the building yet, give me a break!”Now you can’t wait five years—that’s too long. Too many things can go wrong waiting too long for a count to see how you’re doing.

Here are some good time frames:  

Number one: at the end of the day. You can’t let more than a day go by without looking at some things and making progress. The New Testament says, “If you are angry, try to solve it before the sun goes down.” Don’t carry anger for another day. It may be too heavy to carry. If you try to carry it for a week, it may drop you to your knees. So some things you must get done in a day.

Here’s the next one: a week. We ask for an accounting of the week so we can issue the pay. And whatever you’ve got coming, that’s what you get when the week is over. Now in business there are two things to check in the course of the week: your activity count and your productivity count. Because activity leads to productivity, we need to count both to see how we’re doing.

My mentor taught me that success is a numbers game and very early he started asking me my numbers. He asked, “How many books have you read in the last 90 days?” I said, “Zero.” He said, “Not a good number.” He said, “How many classes have you attended in the last six months to improve your skills?” And I said, “Zero.” He said, “Not a good number.” Then he said, “In the last six years that you’ve been working, how much money have you saved and invested?” I said, “Zero,” and he said, “Not a good number.” Then here’s what he said: “Mr. Rohn, if these numbers don’t change, your life won’t change. But if you’ll start improving these numbers, then perhaps you’ll start to see everything change for you.”

Success and results are a numbers game. John joins this little sales company. He’s supposed to make 10 calls the first week just to get acquainted with the territory. So on Friday we call him in and ask, “How many calls?” He says, “Well.” You say, “John, ‘well’ won’t fit in the little box here. I need a number.” Now he starts with a story. And you say, “John, the reason I made this little box so small is so a story won’t fit. All I need is a number because if you give us the number, we’re so brilliant around here we could guess the story.” It’s the numbers that count—making measurable progress in reasonable time.

Here’s the best accounting. The accounting you make of yourself.Don’t wait for the government to do it. Don’t wait for the company to do it.But you’ve got to add up some of your own numbers and ask, “Am I making the progress I want and will it take me where I want to go now and in the future?”You be the judge!

I just finished a wonderful book by John C. Maxwell, Failing Forward.  The book’s thesis is the if you’re not failing, you’re not taking enough risks and if you’re not taking enough risks, you’re not going to succeed.  The book begins with this wonderful quote by J.M. Barrie that goes “we are all failures — at least, all the best of us are.”  The book encourages its readers to view failure as a positive thing and to revise our definition of failure.  Failure is not a static placement in life; it’s a very temporary place on the ladder to success. 

I would recommend this book to all those who are striving for success!

Fear is good.  Fear keeps us safe.  Fear prevents us from proceeding in a manner that may ultimately be dangerous for us.  But, if not harnessed and controlled, fear can consume us.  Fear can be paralyzing and can prevent us from doing what we need or want to do.

How do we control fear?  Think of fear as a fire burning within you.  If you use it correctly, it can give you energy, motivation and the bravery to go forward.  However, if it gets too hot, it will burn you up.  You will self destruct.  You must keep that fire inside you burning at a level that benefits, not destroys, you.

Keep your fear under control.  Keep your thoughts rational.  Use reason.  When things get out of control, find you center.  Rationalize your thoughts.  Use fear to your advantage and realize that it is the only thing to be feared.  As the famous quote from President Franklin Roosevelt says, the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

How do you know when to trust someone?  I struggle with this question as I am approached with various people wanting to meet me or collaborate with me.  As my star rises, the more people want from me. 

For most of my adult life I have tried not to be a cynic. However, I now find cynicism to be a great survival tool.  Mostly, I see the good in everyone I meet.  But these past couple of years have brought on a constant barrage of people wanting a piece of me.  Thus, I’ve developed two terms - cautious encounters and careful cynicism.  These phrases remind me to use caution when meeting someone new, but they also encourage me to not to jump to hasty conclusion or assume the worst.  This is my attempt at balance.  I refuse to let this world turn me into a bitter cynic.  Therefore, I will continue to be optimistic about my future cautious endeavors.

Have you found your elusive pot of gold yet?  If not, how hard are you searching for it?

Many, if not most, people believe in luck.  They believe in that place somewhere over the rainbow.  I’m disinclined to think of good forture that way.  I believe in the adage that has been espoused by Oprah Winfrey which says that luck is the meeting of preparation and opportunity.  One must know where she’s going to recognize a great opportuinty when it comes along.

If you don’t know where you want to go, how can you recognize the opportunity to get there when it comes along?  Your pot of gold sitting at the end of the rainbow could be sitting right in front of you!  But you won’t even know to pick it up if you don’t even know it’s there.  Work hard to prepare for these opportunities so you can quickly identify your beautiful pot of gold.

Anniversaries are a wonderful thing.  They are the celebration of a milestone.  They give us a chance to look back at where we’ve been and forward to where we want to go.

When life is gracious enough to give us an anniversary whether it is a wedding, birthday, job or something else with special meaning, we should cherish each anniversary in the here and now.  Stop to smell the roses, so to speak.  Enjoy what life has given you today.  Be thankful for what you have been given and look forward, with grateful anticipation, to the future.

After reading Donald Trump’s Think Like a Champion, I was pleasantly surprised about the layout of the book.  It is a collection of essays that Mr. Trump has written over the years. The titles are in no particular order but they do seem to build on each other.  The essays are reminiscent of the earlier episodes of The Apprentice where “The Donald” would critique a team or team member’s performance with such headlines as “Leading By Consensus” or “Teamwork”.

As usual, Mr. Trump knocks this book out of the park!  His advice is unquestionable and his knowledge of other things unrelated to business is impressive.  Each chapter has a quote from some sage ranging from Aristotle to Eleanor Roosevelt.  Mr. Trump explains that his love of quotes comes from his father who used to send him various quotes while he was attending school.

In short, Think Like a Champion is a winner!  Buy it, read it, then read it again.  Learn from the best and keep moving forward.

10 Ways to Have a Better Day Today
by Geno Stampora
 
1.  Wake up 30 Minutes Early. Get up 30 minutes before the alarm goes off and take the first half hour for yourself. Once you get busy and into the day there never seems to be the time for yourself. Take this time to plan getting the most from the day.
 
2.  Read, Listen, or Watch Something Uplifting. Make this a daily habit. Get out of starting the day with no mental food. A great day does not begin with the news or the paper, it begins with ideas or energy that will propel you through the day. What you first hear will stay with you throughout the day.
 
3.  Eat a Good Breakfast to Start You Off Right. Get something good into your body to wake it up and get it going. Think about the energy you will need to perform. Everyday we run a marathon. What would you need to eat and drink to win it.
 
4.  Choose Your Winning Attitude. There is enough to go wrong without sabotaging yourself. Your attitude is a choice you make. Don’t let it come between you and your success. Be careful to keep it positive all day long.
 
5.  Be Aware of What They are Telling You. The people around us have a profound effect on how we get through life. Our closest friends and family are our greatest environmental influences. Make sure you have the best advisors you can find.
 
6.  Make the Most of What You Do. When you get to your work, make it the best place to be. Most people go to work and never think about work while they are there. Focus on your contribution. What would it be like if you were not around. Strive to give a 100% each and every day.
 
7.  Always Remember that People are Listening. Make a point of talking well of others. Wish others the best in life. What goes around does come around. Don’t talk negative about anyone. Try to understand their circumstances Practice being a support system to your friends and family. They need you.
 
8.  Be Honest and Fair to Others. It does make a difference. What you give to others is usually what you get from others. Practice integrity that people can see and feel. Be aware of what you say. Learn to walk your talk at all times. The more people trust you, the more of their time they will trust with you.
 
9.  Pace Your Energy to Last All Day. Be careful of bursts of energy. Pace your energy throughout the day. If you get too crazy early in the day, you will reach a point of exhaustion before the day is over. By planning your entire day before you begin, you will have what you need. You’ve heard the old saying “look alive.”
 
10.  Get in Bed Early and Study for the Future. I have a friend who keeps a journal at his bedside. Every night he writes what he learned new on that day. The only way to keep one step above the masses is to learn new ways to do things. Develop the habit of reading a work or personal development book before you go to sleep. Reading for 30 minutes a day is like a year of college. You can’t succeed if you don’t read. Remember throughout your day that life is what we make it, day by day. Practice having the best day ever. It adds up to a great life.