What Are Your Odds of Success?

11 thoughts on “What Are Your Odds of Success?”

1. Hi Steve,

   Just got back from Atlanta–I didn’t have time to respond to this before I left to be with you and the rest of the crowd.

   As you described the odds of winning at gambling my first thought was “…And you are the one who wants to legalize gambling…” LOL!

   Look, it was you that said a while back that critical thinkers take CALCULATED risks and as a business owner, taking gambles never ends! I know you already know that. Investing is a form of gambling. We all take risks in various ways. Anyone who has had to make a mortgage payment for a while knows that they weighed the odds of their job stability against the term and amount of the mortgage as one way of measuring their ability to commit to making those elements of the equation come together.

   It’s no different with this speaking “dream” some of us have. I knew at the outset this would be a multi-year growth effort. Will all of us become “Steve Siebolds,” or “Bob Proctors?” Not likely. But we can bet on becoming our best selves and achieving our optimum talent level IF and ONLY we have one of the most essential personal characteristics needed to get there: Self discipline. We can evaluate ourselves in a similar fashion–similar to what loan officers use in calculating a potential buyer’s ability to shoulder a loan amount–the debt to loan ratio–only I would call it a self discipline ratio. How long do we stay committed to something? Do we cop out after the motivational “high” wears off the cold rainy morning after a rah-rah event, or do we fire up self-generated ambition and make it stay put? Self discipline is literally the upper hand in the investment. I LOVED Bob Proctor’s definition of it–he nailed it when he said this to us in Atlanta:

   “Discipline is the ability to give yourself a command and follow it.” I love that. Any of us can ask ourselves if we have that ability and if we do, I’d bet the odds are in our favor. Every time I’ve done it, I got what I wanted. But I had to stay at it long enough for the payoff and as you would expect, there’s a price to pay. I had to be willing to endure the failures and setbacks long enough. I learned long ago that if I screw-up at something long enough, I eventually begin to get it right.

   Self discipline is the winning hand you can’t do without.

   Ken

2. The odds of reaching one’s ultimate dream are good to very good. Once the reality of the goal and the steps to take are considered, mental toughness must be applied immediately. The “good to very good” description is used in this paragraph because the process to achieving something very difficult is about making decisions and solving problems along the way. There will be times when the little voice in the head will urge the comfort zone way out through giving up and that is the clincher. This stage must be welcomed and challenged. Conquering that little voice is where personal greatness begins as too often aspirants are probably closer to achieving their goals than they realise when exasperation begins to dominate. Persistence — along with changing strategies and occasionally shifting focus — is the key. Unerring persistence increases the odds to very good to excellent. Gambling is the antithesis of mental toughness. It’s unrealistic persistence based on false hopes. It’s unhealthy thinking all the way to the pawnbrokers. It’s a downhill slide while mental toughness is a contagion that builds character and prepares people for the next challenge and the others that will follow. Mental toughness in excelsis is a choice.

3. Hello Steve Siebold. I want to be you. Just Kidding. I’m happy being me. You and I think a lot alike. I ask all the “gurus” this question, so I’ll ask you the same one: I need someone to physically sit down with me and set up my site to be a winner. I am willing to pay any price out of the proceeds of my site. You can see from the name of my website that I can have an extremely positive impact on the 7,000,000 single parents who don’t receive their child support, so a great site would be well received by the victims, wouldn’t it? My question is: “Would you sit down with me, or do you know someone who will sit down with me for no more than a day, if it meant I’d pay you X dollars to sit down with me?” You are not like the other “gurus” out there, but guess what every one has said so far? No thanks, but here’s my course, buy it, and do it !!! You can call me at 914-318-6038. Thank you.

4. Everything starts with a “thought.” We have to dream big otherwise what is the point of life? I say go for it……if others think it’s delusional….so be it…..the journey will be so worth the effort!

5. Hi Steve,
   Lottery, like gambling, is a tax on the stupid, so goes the saying!…Objective reality is in place and I am hard at work to prepare for the upcoming Orlando workshop…there was an article in today’s Gazette whose title made me smile for being so appropriate ”When novelty of retirement starts wearing off”…I enjoy your 177MTS book which has opened the door to great complementatry readings…objective reality or self delusion ?…I do say the former! and I also know that it is going to require a lot of learning and hard work to hit my target / Key note speaking ….Garfield, the cat said …I’s not the having, it’s the getting ! …I’m enjoying the ride !…..V

6. I have my goals set high enough that my family, friends, and peers would say I was “delusional”. I also have all my tasks aligned with that grand goal. As I accomplish the smaller tasks it pushes me to that summit of ambition. Should I die before I make it, I will still have a great legacy of accomplishment. Should I meet that goal those same family, friends, and peers will be there saying “I knew you could do it!”

   When you’re very old and have no money – they label you senile. When you’re very old with a lot of money – they label you eccentric!

7. The question is: What are your odds of success? I think the biggest factor here is determining what the goal is. What is the goal!? Very important! I’m not referring here to an arbitrary trivial day to day objective that won’t affect your/our situation in any meaningful way. Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, the goal we’re talking about here is something that is substantial and life changing.

   I think there are many people that don’t have a sense or the motivation to even think about what their “goal” should even be. Many people exist in a holding pattern that finds them just “turning the crank” in life, going to work every day or doing whatever they do – they come home and watch TV or whatever, rinse, and repeat…

   To have a goal we must first have sufficiet motivation/constructive discontent to want to raise the plane or level at which we live our lives. The next GIANT step is figuring out how you’re going to do that and there-in lies the path in a discovery process of defining and refining what it actually is that you’re trying/needing/wanting to do. It has to be something that impassions you and conjures strong emotion within you; something that truely sets you on a path or mission. I believe you have to “find religion” and belief before you can even begin to question whether you’re really doiing what it takes or whether you’re merely deluding yourself and are just stuck in a dream world.

   How do I come to say all this? I’m simply describing myself; what I make of my own reality. My two cents to you all with love and appreciation for whtever it’s worth. Steve, thank you from the bottom of my soul for your pure truth and logic and all you do.

8. Go where you will grow.

9. Is it realy about reaching our goals? Or, should it be about hitting our target.

   I feel the goals should be based on what you need to do to hit the target. When I am coaching someone in sales, we set the target and then plan out the different goals we will need to reach along the way.

   However, if you first don’t believe you will reach your target……you are right and never will. So before doing anything, make sure you have a strong why for even considering it.

10. Steve,

    I would say the very first step is to check you own ego at the door. Until you are willing to be honest with yourself and really judge, where you are in your life, which strengths and weaknesses you have, you will not be able to map out a route to reach your goals.
    On top of that we talk about REACHING a goal. That means hard work. Goals don’t get fullfilled, until we put the effort into them, to then get the reward. Not too many people are willing to excert enough effort to really make a plan and follow it to the end. There is nothing free in the universe.
    You put in the effort, you know you strong and weak sides and then you can achieve your goals. Honesty with yourself is the beginning of this road of hard labor and love, but the reward is well worth it.
    Mike Jacobi

11. Interesting question. Appreciate your posting, just as we are coming to Atlanta for the SSN Conference. I believe my odds will increase significantly after incorporating what I will learn from Bob Proctor, Larry Wilson and the other speakers.

    I am excited about sharing my concepts and gleaning the information from the myriad of attendees.

    Just the facts. Just the facts. Objective reality is where it’s at.

    Empowering Regards,

    Bob

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