The Four P’s of Success
THE FOUR P’S OF SUCCESS
Since I have spent the past seventy years of my life in the sales field, having to do my own planning and having to be self-motivated to achieve my goals, I wanted to present this blog in the hopes that it might encourage someone out there.
These are the four basic principles of success that I have observed in my experience:
Practice
Like all skills that we learn in life, from learning to walk and talk as infants, it takes a lot of practice to perfect them. That is why we go to school, attend training classes, get degrees in college, or learn a profession or a trade. We get good at anything only because we first learn what to do and then practice doing what we have learned.
Persistence
How many times have we watched a toddler fall when they were learning how to walk or play hockey for the first time? (I had four sons who all played hockey and starting was hilarious!) Do they give up the first time they fall? Not a chance! If they did they would never learn how to overcome the challenge. And yet, it seems that as we get older it becomes easier and easier to just give up and quit trying, if at first we don’t succeed. There is a lot of truth to the saying, “Anything worth having is worth working for.”
Patience
Much has been said lately, in an eloquent fashion from our group, about the need for patience, both in life and in this business. I won’t attempt to elaborate here, but I think we all know, no matter what our age or position in life, that patience IS imperative to achieving any worthwhile goal in life. For those, like me, in the faith community, it also provides the opportunity for God to prove Himself to us, thus building our faith.
Prosperity
When we think of prosperity we tend to think of money. But maybe not! We can be prosperous in many ways in our lifetime. Perhaps it is not fortune but fame or another achievement we are striving for. How about political or athletic ambition, or establishing a loving houseful of children to be proud of, to mention only a few?
Conclusion
I want to conclude with two examples of the above that have come to my attention just lately in the media. I feel that they truly illustrate the principles above.
The bio of OPRAH WINFREY indicates she was born to a mother who was a dirt poor single high school student at the time, but through her own struggles and determination Oprah worked her way up to becoming the wealthiest African American woman of the twentieth century, worth billions. Talk about fame AND fortune!
The other one is TIGER WOODS who has survived, a divorce (of his own making), but also four back surgeries, four knee surgeries, one DUI arrest (because of pain pills), and two fused spinal discs. Yet he recently went on to win the prestigious green jacket at the Masters Golf Tournament in Georgia.
Somewhere in my long training in sales I ran across a very wise saying that has always served me well. It is at least one very powerful definition of success:
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal"
Recent Comments
2
Hi Roland,
Great post! I have also been in professional sales and self employed. I used to say,"Who motivates the motivator?" and, of course, It would be me and off I would go! Keep up the good work!
Michael Inman
Thanks Michael