I know the only way to have a successful business is to commit yourself to personal growth. You may be focusing on how to improve your business right now but let me attempt to dissuade you from doing this. Focusing on other aspects of your life not only improves your business, but it also improves your general state of being.
First, when you exercise, your life Improves every other aspect of your life. Am I wrong? There are only two times in my life (besides now) that I have been really serious about exercise and I can honestly tell you that I was the happiest I ever could be. When I was in high school and college I was exercising 3-5 times a week on a regular basis.
During these times, my relationships were better, my grades were better, and I had a better quality of emotions on a regular basis. I was so much more confident that people around me started to take notice and I became more attractive to them, thus, improving my appeal to my friends as well. Not only did I need my friends less, but they began calling me more often to hang out.
In college, I was doing Thai kickboxing. Now aside from the fact that I had my butt kicked for two hours a day, 5 days a week, all my days and nights were filled with emotion. I remember people being very stressed out about finals in my classes and being so grateful that I was happy. You could see their tired eyes and you could see them getting very emotional over the stupidest things. I remember feeling like I was untouchable.
When it comes to it, all you really need to do is 10 minutes of high intensity exercise and the rest of your day becomes better then if you otherwise did not exercise. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.
Now when it comes to my business, credit card processing, working out allows me to do things for my business that would otherwise be dreadful. I don't mind making calls, I don't mind approaching businesses, I don't mind creating mailers and such. All those things, as mundane as they are, don't effect my mood in the slightest. And all of this is due to my work out regiment.
Secondly, you have to focus on your spiritual life. This is not just the focus of those of you who are religious, although that is my focus at the moment. I personally go to church 3 times a week and this gives me a sense of peace and honor that I can't really put into words. Mostly, the reason it helps me is that it molds my character into who I am trying to become.
Again, I don't want you to confuse what I believe to be spiritual as religious. When I talk about spirituality, I am talking about the inner sense of peace that is accompanied by you being a good person and having integrity. There is no truer statement I can think I have ever said. I mean don't you feel much better once you do the right thing and worse when you do the wrong thing? When I talk about church, I am referring to the fact that the people involved are great people who help to mold my character and integrity.
This helps me tremendously because whenever I feel an urge to be deceptive in my business, and we all have it, I think about what my friends I church would think, and it helps me make the right decision. I also don't want to be a fake, going to church and then being deceptive in what I do. Not only does this allow people to trust me more, but they also refer a lot of business to me because they believe me to be a man of integrity and a man of my word.
Third, I cannot stress the value of reading, listening to tapes, and improving your mental game in general. Doing such teaches you how to read think and reinvigorate your life. I heard of a study once of three men who had very different incomes.
In this study, each man was put under inspection with regards to the things they were putting In their mind; like magazines, tv, success journals. Well, one man who made 50k a year did not have much in the sort of success literature or audio in his car. The other who made 100k had a mix of both entertainment and things that could help him grow and learn. Now, the most interesting part of the study was the of the man who made 500k a year. What was interesting is that he didn't just have success audio and literature but he virtually eliminated every source of entertainment in his life. He didn't ever watch TV, read magazines, or listen to radio that didn't help him improve. Is it a coincidence that he makes more then the other two? I think not.
Now in business, this has obviously helped me tremendously. Most of the people who talk of success in self help literature were former business owners. And who would be better then millionaire entrepreneurs talking about what mistakes they made in business. That's such an obvious statement that I don't even know why I bothered to write it.
It's really funny how all these things dramatically effect business. In no way do I want to imply that each of these things have had a menial effect on my life. It has absolutely changed my life and business life too dramatically that it is too important for me to pass up sharing with you.
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