Back in April of 1987, I was living in an abandoned trailer behind a house on the corner of 40th Ave and East 14th St in Oakland California. For those of you that are not familiar with the geography, Oakland California was not a safe or nice place to live. I was basically homeless. You can’t get much lower than homeless. You can be dead, or you can be homeless in Oakland, but that’s about it.
Where to go from Rock Bottom?
One of the things that I learned from that experience is that as long as you can stand up, you can move up. Fast forward to September 24, 2010. The economy was going to heck and a handbasket, it was one of the worst years we had seen since the great depression. That year, the Sacramento Business Journal could only find 74 companies for their top 100 fastest growing companies. My company was number 26 on that list. The year before, it was number 10.
In my interview for the journal, they asked me how I was able to go from being homeless to building a million-dollar company from scratch while the economy was collapsing. I told them the truth. I woke up one day and decided to change my future. I found the best mentor I could, changed my associations, started reading books, listening to podcasts, and doing exactly what my mentor told me to do. Even when I didn’t want to.
One of the mindsets of a champion is that there is always room to grow. Do you believe that you have the potential inside of you right now to perform at a higher level than the level you are performing at right now? One of best stories examples of a champion mindset is the great Michael Jordan. What made him so great was his constant desire to improve constantly.
Be Like Michael Jordan
Every single off-season Michael Jordan would pick one aspect of his game, hire the best mentor and trainers he could find, and work on just that one aspect. One summer he chose his left hand, then he chose his strength training, and on and on until he had worked on almost every aspect of the game for an entire summer with laser focus. That disciple and focus are what made Michael Jordan great.
What about you and I? What is that one thing you have been putting off doing all year long that we know we can do would make the biggest difference in your business or your personal life? Are you going to find a way to laser focus on that one thing between now and the end of the year? Schedule a call with me and I can help you get started.
