THE CEO

Some people are more talented than others. Some people are more educationally privileged than others. But we all have the capacity to be great. Greatness comes by recognizing that your potential is limited only by how you choose, how you use your freedom, how resolute you are, how persistent you are - in short, by your attitude. And we are all free to choose our attitude. - Peter Koestenbaum

The choices that have determined the thoughts that you've habitually thought, the people you've surrounded yourself with, the books you've read, and the actions you've taken have shaped you and defined your life. You've created the life you see before your eyes - no one else has.

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse. - Rudyard Kipling

When you blame the status of your life on other people and things, you're really saying that they've shaped your destiny and are the cause of your current conditions.

Circumstances don't define a person, they reveal a person.

Now is the time to raise your standards about what it means to be a person, to show the world who you really are. And if not now, when?

I'd always put off doing the things I needed to do to be truly successful in the world until a later date. I'd tell myself that I'd go the extra mile and become a star at work when I had more time. I'd rebuild my relationship once I got promoted. I'd improve my life when I made more money.
But that thinking didn't work for me anymore - it didn't suit my new state of awareness. I really needed to take my life to its highest level. Not next year. Not next month. Not next week. Now.

The wise man always does at once what the fool does at finally. - Baltasar Gracian

If we don't take charge of our lives and act on them, our lives have a way of acting on us.

Elite performance in career and in life is all about the promotion of personal accountability. It's about keeping the pledges you've made to yourself.

Greatness as a person is mostly about saying what we'll do as people, and then doing what we said we would. This is simple stuff, yet most of us have forgotten it in this crazy world we live in.

The best leaders expose their weaknesses - they're real and people love them for it.

Did you know that recent scientific evidence has show that the electromagnetic field created by the human heart is actually 5,000 times more powerful than the one created by the human mind?
Think about it...

You can talk the talk all you want, but unless you're genuinely devoted to helping your clients and making their lives better, they won't do business with you - they'll sense that you're not genuine. Success in business comes down to trust. People need to trust that you want to help them. If the trust is there, your services will sell themselves.

Trust is key.

Maintain a trust account with every person in your life. Whenever you interact with someone, you're either making deposits into that account or withdrawing from it.

I honor the best and highest within you.

Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in life, living for other people and doing good for them.

You can get everything you want out of life when you focus on helping those around you get everything they want out of life.

A great life is nothing more than a series of great conversations. Business success comes from having thoughtful conversations with our teammates, customers, and prospects. If we stop engaging in these conversations, we lose the business. Family success comes from having meaningful conversations with out mates and among our children. Lose these conversations, and we lose the family. And inner success - success as a human being - involves, in many ways, nothing more than a continual conversation and connection with your highest self. Lose that conversation, and you lose yourself.

The more awaken, the more you'll realize that success is all about making a difference in the world.

The elite performers in life spend their time centered on creating and building value rather than on making money. They seek out ways to enrich others, and they live to improve the lot of those who have the privilege of doing business with them. They take themselves out of the equation and exist, in many ways, for others. The irony is that they're the ones who become the most successful and wealthy.

To have more in the world, you must give more to others. It's just one of those timeless laws of life.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others? - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Elite performers in business make a lot of time to reflect. And one of the things they think about the most is how they can add more value to the people they serve.

The purpose of life isn't to be happy. That's one of the most self-centered ways of living that one could imagine, and it's the source of so many problems in the world today. This global community would change if we'd stop thinking about our individual happiness and start to think about our collective service. In other words, the world would change if we began to become consumed, not with being happier, but with being more valuable.

Stop wishing that life were easier and wish that you were better, more caring, and more kind. Stop wishing for fewer problems and wish for greater wisdom. You see, happiness is a by-product, and it comes to those who don't seek it.
It's a paradox, isn't it?

The best thing you can do to help the poor of this world is to ensure that you're not one of them.

Giving with the intention of receiving really isn't giving, it's trading - and people can sense that. Give to genuinely help, and act like a servant leader. That's how you'll grow to greatness.

I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. - William Penn

You will be happy in your life in direct proportion to the degree to which you will be helpful to the world.

Death is not the greatest loss of life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. - Norman Cousins

The true reward of a well-lived life doesn't lie in what you get at the end of your path, but what you become once you get there.

We think it takes a lot of energy to do the inner work required to live our best lives, both at work and at home - the reality is that it takes far more energy to stay mediocre.

A wise human being blends compassion with courage.

People make the mistake of believing that to be loving means you have to give in to people and let them walk all over you. That's just not the case. I love myself too much to ever let that happen. If someone crosses the boundary with me, I let them know it in a compassionate yet powerful way. I speak in a way that doesn't sting them but lets them know that I won't be mistreated. And so, I blend compassion with courage.

For you to win, no one needs to lose.

We just need to get out of our own way.

What's of greatest value to me is my reputation. It never ceases to amaze me how people will work for decades to build a good name, then do something silly, and in a matter of moments, lose their reputation. In doing so, they lose their ability to conduct business in so many ways. You see, you can't put a price tag on getting your phone calls returned. Cherish your good name. Never do anything that would put a stain on your reputation. Live and work with a great deal of integrity.

The Law of Diminishing Intent hold that the more time that passes after you've set a goal, the less likely you are to breathe life into it and make it happen. When we initially set a goal, we tend to be full of excitement and hope about the future possibilities. But as the days pass, life gets in the way, as do our limiting beliefs. Our inner critic begins its work and offers up an array of excuses as to why this goal will never come to fruition. The more time passes, the more we get distracted by the urgent issues we have to deal with - soon the dream dies a quick death. Just imagine if you acted on even 5 percent of the brilliant ideas you've had over the course of your life, not only for success in your career but for success in your life.

I've always believed that elite performers never leave the site of a new idea without taking some action to advance it. So to prevent The Law of Diminishing Intent from strangling the desires of your heart, you must build an accountability structure into the process I'm sharing with you.

Set up a mastermind group!

What's not measure will never be mastered.

One of the primary reasons we lose our inspiration and passion for making our goals happen is because we spend more time focusing on what's not working rather than on what is.

Live your life each day as if you would climb mountains. An occasional glance toward the summit puts the goal in mind. Many beautiful scenes can be observed from each new vantage point. Climb steadily, slowly, enjoy each passing moment; and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax to the journey. - Harold Melchert

Speak about your intentions and desires often. Declare them to the world. Tell your family and friends about what you want to have, do, and be. The more you talk about what you want, the more you'll have what you want.
Why? Because the more you talk about your heart's desires, the higher they'll move into your awareness. You'll begin to see opportunities that were previously invisible. You'll form new connections in your mind and view the possibilities of your life from the highest vantage point.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. - Peter Drucker

Grow into greatness.


[Robin Sharma]