Public Relations Strategy - Do You Have One?
You’re a liar.
I know it, and so do you.
How do I know? Because you are human, and all of us are liars at some point.? If we don’t lie to others, we at least occasionally lie to ourselves, which is even worse. And the most common lie that we tell ourselves is that we want to win.
The truth is, sometimes we say we want to succeed, and we may even believe in the shallows of our top-of-mind thinking that we do indeed want to succeed, but really, we don’t. Not deep down where our true drive, determination and desire are kindled. We don’t for one simple reason: because we know that with success comes responsibility. Awesome responsibility.
Think about those people who have made the biggest positive impact on the world. Read biographies of great leaders like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Mary Kay Ash or Henry Ford. (Or, for those who demand more scientific, data-driven proof, click here.) In virtually every case, a great leader’s success didn’t come until they took total responsibility for that success.
My point: If you’re not experiencing the level of success that you keep telling yourself you want, the first thing you must do is search yourself to see where you might be committing self-sabotage. This is especially true for those engaged in sales and marketing, because these activities are so highly ego-intensive.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you get disheartened at the smallest bump in the road to success and throw your hands in despair?
- Do you listen to all the naysayers (most of whom have NEVER been winners) who tell you it’s hopeless?
- Do you allow yourself to get bogged down in the paralysis of analysis, researching in ever more minute detail for week after week, month after month, year after year?
- Do you make excuses for failure before you even try, i.e., “I don’t have the right connections” or “I don’t have the right financing” or “I don’t have the right technical skills” or “I don’t have the right skin color” or “I don’t have the right gender status” or a million other “I don’t haves”?
If so, I have the absolute, 100 percent guaranteed secret to success:
Cut it out!
Decide right now to succeed no matter what.
Decide right now that every time you hit a stumbling block, you’ll look at it as a stepping stone.
Decide right now that you are ready to win, period.
I can tell you from personal experience that this really does work … if you work it. But don’t take my word for it. Just take a look at the life of JMac — a young man who was truly ready to win when his time came.
If that doesn’t get you ready to win, you might as well hang it up.