STAY THE COURSE

Success is a principle and it has rules. In the last 15 years I have read about and studied some successful people. While they may have different approaches to being successful I noticed that the core principles are the same for all of them. These people know exactly what they want from the get-go. They do not stop at simply knowing what they want, a place where many of us stop, but actually move to the stage of laying out plans that create a roadmap of how to get what they desire. That's where all of them start. They always have well laid out plans. Do you have that? If I wake you up and ask what your plan for success is can you answer that without stuttering? It is a lack of plan that makes many lottery winners go broke soon after winning. No plan, no success

Successful people have all endured multiple failures. I have not met one successful person who did not have a litany of failures. In fact many of them accept that trying something new for the first time will fail. They know this and plan for it in terms of resources available. They first give what is needed for a project but without telling anyone they have backup plans if this first attempt fails. Having a backup plan is not necessarily having more money. No. It's about having, for instance, 5 or more possible ways something can be done in the hope that if one fails another possibility is ready to be deployed. They do not waste time brooding over failures. All of them have shown a similar disdain toward time wasting. They don't just fail repeatedly. They study their failures to learn from them. This is why you never find them failing the same task multiple times. Do you study why you failed or do you hate failure so much you run far away from them? Start doing that. Failing at something you don't quite know is not bad. It is part of learning. Never miss the opportunity failing presents.

I don't know the best way to success but I have my personal view on success principles. What I write should be part of many plans you have and not the only plan you have. Because circumstances differ, the principles I use may not work for you or you need to rearrange them in the order that suits your situation to see any positive results. It's up to you to figure that out. It is up to you to find your unique path. Everyone has a unique path. Find yours. Whatever the case may be, do not stop trying. Only when that happens have you failed. As long as the fight in you never dies, one day you will reach the top of that mountain you are trying to climb. Do you have a fight song? I have a fight movie. It's called 300. Whenever courage fails me I watch it and by the time I'm done I am screaming, "This is Sparta!" at my challenge. I chase my challenges and I love seeing them run. Sometimes all you need to do is fight. Fight! Impossible is nothing.

Sometimes not having money is not the biggest problem. Apart from money it is a lack of ideas that hinder you the most. Ideas are a dime a dozen. They are cheap. You just have to engage your thoughts and see what they throw up. As I was writing this an idea came to me about how to open a new restaurant on the south side of Edmonton. On July 18 2020 I put the process in motion and executed the first trial run. It was successful. Unfortunately, I can't share what this idea is as I am still fleshing it out but if all goes well and by God's grace my business will have a new location within the next year. That statement is bold. As I make it I do not have money to execute it. I am just experimenting with guerilla marketing ideas. I am currently reading a book titled Guerilla Marketing which says that you must not spend money to market your products. If you want to spend you can but this book says it's ideas that sell products the most not how much was spent. 

I do not have money to throw into advertising so I am adopting several methods that are almost free and they are yielding results. I have discovered the immense power Facebook and Whatsapp have when leveraged for marketing. This weekend alone I spent $0 on Whatsapp marketing but I made some $ on a day my restaurant was closed. All I invested was time and passion while creating value. Never fail to create value. You can do the same too. Believe me, it works. If your dreams don't scare you you are not having big dreams. You should ask me what I'd do if I won the lottery. I don't even play but I know what to do with $70m. The first thing I will do is wake the next morning and go to work.

I want to assure you that life will throw curveballs at you. If there is anything I can give you a guarantee on it is the fact that the moment you set out on the success journey there are problems waiting for you. It doesn't matter how perfect your plan is or how efficient you are. You will definitely have certain challenges. Do you know why? Let me explain. When you start to work towards being successful at anything you are demanding that certain unseen things shift and align the way you want them. Now understand that you aren't the only one wanting things to align in certain ways. Because of this, these unseen things will throw up resistance against your desire but will fall in place for the person who pushes the most, the hardest and the longest. It is this resistance that manifests as challenges, trials, obstacles. If you don't have these you may be doing the wrong thing or travelling on the wrong road. 

Never turn around. Keep going. The night is darkest just before dawn. Do not be like the man who went digging for diamond and after many days of toiling at a mine he quit at the moment one last strike would have caused the diamond to be seen. Keep digging. Your breakthrough is right around the corner. You will win. Everything you need to unlock your potential is in you. There is an indefatigable spirit lying somewhere deep in you. Find it and you'll succeed. See you at the top of the mountain.