Saturday September 14th: Fullerton Barnes & Noble Book Signing-Fire Your Excuses (2-4 p.m.) immediately followed by a Mastermind Dinner.
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Are you persistent? Do you give up after the first failed attempt? How about after several setbacks or negative comments about you or your idea? Success often comes with a price paved with long hours, hard work and persistence to see the job through. Recent data analysis suggests the average entrepreneur will fail three times before succeeding and has an 18% chance of succeeding on the first try.
Consider how much time it took to invent the light bulb.
“Most of us grew up believing that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. The truth is, he didn’t. What he did do was invent the first long-lasting light bulb, greatly improving on the work of others, and making it a commercial success. One thing that can be observed in all of the men who helped bring us electricity was their dogged determination. Joseph Wilson Swan was one of Edison’s predecessors and is credited with inventing the world’s first workable electric bulb. Beginning in 1840, he toiled for twenty years until, in 1860, he created and patented the first electric bulb which only burned briefly. Returning to his project in 1875, he achieved a better result—a bulb that burned for thirteen hours. Edison and his assistants tried 6,000 different types of filament before, in 1879, they surpassed Swan’s result. They designed a longer-lasting oxygen-less bulb with a carbon filament that burned fourteen hours. A year later, in 1880, Edison’s team came up with a vastly improved bulb that burned between 1,200 to 1,500 hours, which they took to market. As they say, the rest is history.
We can certainly admire such celebrated determination and spectacular results, but what about you? Would you try anything 6,000 times before you gave up? How about 2,000? How about twenty? What’s the most number of times you have tried anything before you finally succeeded? What did you attempt? How many times did you try?”
Excerpted from Fire Your Excuses.
If you’re in the Orange, CA area this coming Saturday, July 27, please drop by and say, “Hi.” We will be joining 20 other local authors at the beautiful Orange Public Library & History Center for their annual Local Author’s Festival. We’ll be promoting and signing our book, Fire Your Excuses.
Mark has 355 LinkedIn friends and 453 Facebook friends. He is an active member of two professional groups, attends church weekly, coaches his son’s soccer team, and gets along well with his colleagues at work. So, when we ask him to name his closest friends, we are a bit surprised by his response. Mark becomes thoughtful and quiet for a moment. Then he mentions a group of friends he sees a couple of times a month, and eventually names two people he would consider close. Suddenly he is a bit embarrassed. Despite being focused in many areas of his work and home life, it is clear to him that he has not given his core network much attention or strategy.
Recent studies underscore that the people with whom we surround ourselves have a tremendous influence on who we will become and what we will achieve. Our closest online and face-to-face connections powerfully influence our career success, health, finances, even our charitable involvement and generosity towards others. When we do not give careful attention to choosing those who will influence us the very most, we can unwittingly set ourselves up for a significant, continuing, disadvantage in life. In one fascinating study, Nicolas Christakis reported that if your friend grows obese, you have a 57% chance of becoming obese yourself during the same time period!
Chuck made the decision last year to no longer eat at fast food restaurants. His reward: One loaded burger a month anywhere he chooses. He reports that it was difficult at first as he was always on the road for his job. But, in a few months, he learned how to prepare some amazing to-go meals at home and cut his food budget in half. He also dropped 15 lbs. His wife is now “on board” too. They will use the money they’ve saved ($20/week x 50 weeks x 2 people = $2000) to take a trip to New York City this fall.
Kathy is fighting a serious chronic illness. Rather than focus exclusively on her treatment, she writes a
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Hector is a hard-working guy. Smart, disciplined, and driven, he rarely takes time to grab a coffee, linger over lunch or kill time in the countless ways many of us do. Even his weekends are devoid of the usual “downtime” activities others enjoy-watching the game on a Saturday afternoon, surfing the web, or reading up on the market. Yet, he confesses, he never seems to finish the work he wishes to accomplish. And, his long-range goals of going back to school for his master’s degree and finding a better job are likely never to happen. Then, there’s his health. Despite being in near constant motion, he rarely exercises.
When we examine Hector’s week, we find that there are just two or three “critical moments” that make the difference between successfully pursuing his Click Here to Continue Reading
The store is located in the Shopping Center immediately behind South Coast Plaza.
See Address and Details Below:
When:
05/04/2013 – 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where:
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Costa Mesa
Metro Pointe
901 B South Coast Drive Ste 150
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-444-0226
Be one of the first three to purchase a book for you or your friends and receive a free one-hour coaching session, a $150.00 value!
(Note: Contest starts at 12 p.m.)
Dr. Bill and Dr. Marcus are pleased to announce that their book, Fire Your Excuses, is now available at the following Los Angeles and Orange County Barnes & Noble stores:
Click here to see store locations
I wish it were March,” Mark comments to his friend a little too loudly. “What do you mean?” responds Brent. “Well, that’s when there’s no longer a wait for an elliptical machine. In mid-February, March at the latest, all these resolutionists have stopped coming here to the gym.”
The Urban Dictionary defines a resolutionist as:
“A person who joins the gym in early January because of their New Year’s resolution. Resolutionists usually migrate back to the couch any time from mid-January to early March.”
As we enter the second month of 2013, the question of whether or not we are resolutionists ourselves is certainly a fair one. How are you doing on the goals you set for yourself just a few short weeks ago? Are you still getting around to setting them? If you have taken that first huge step, what about the next ones: Writing them down, sharing them with others and reviewing them weekly? The fact is, according to a study from the University of Scranton, those who set written New Year’s resolutions are five times more likely to achieve them than those who say that they don’t do so or just “keep their goals in their head.”
What enables Nick Vujicic to refuse to see himself as a victim? It is his fierce commitment to viewing himself as having worth and purpose despite his limitations. In Nick’s case, it is also fueled by his deep faith in a loving God who makes no mistakes.
What about you? As you can see below, the Fire Your Excuses “bridge of change,” which takes us from relying on excuses to a life of continual positive growth, is signified by a red arrow. The key to an excuse-free living is accountability, support, acceptance and a readiness to execute more effective, proven strategies.
A cable bridge usually has two towers or pylons, from which cables support the bridge deck. We challenge you to carefully build and maintain two pylons this year: First, seek out a mastermind or support group to help you stay on track with your new goals. Second, reach out and identify then execute strategies you have either been unaware of in the past or unwilling to implement until now.
We’d love to hear what you!
All the best from Dr. Bill and Dr. Marcus.
It’s time!
Fire Your Excuses™ is delighted to be able to support World Vision’s Well Projects by donating 10% of all gross income to assist the people of Malawi, Africa, with clean water. When you enroll in a Fire Your Excuses™ coaching program, attend one of our seminars, or order our book, you are also giving the gift of life—fresh water to needy communities in Malawi, Africa, the world’s sixth poorest country.