The following is a guess post from Danny Brown – someone I have an amazing amount of respect and admiration for. Danny is co-founder and partner at the SRM Group, helping companies renovate their business while being socially responsible. He’s also founder of social media charity initiative 12for12k. His blog is in the AdAge Power 150 list as well as one of Canada’s Top 50 Marketing Blogs, and won the Hive Award at this year’s SxSW festival for Best Social Media Blog. You can connect with Danny on Twitter @DannyBrown.
First, a bit of disclosure. I’ve never seen a full Tony Robbins presentation. Nor have I read anything of his, or watched any interviews. I’m sure the guy’s great but there’s something about him that doesn’t sit with me. That’s not to say he’s not perfect for many others.
So, with that out of the way, while Tony Robbins may be great, he’s not the guy to follow the lead of if you want to be really successful, at anything you do. No, that title belongs to Yoda, the Jedi Master from the Star Wars saga.
“But he’s not even real!”, you’re probably saying right about now. And you’re correct – though Frank Oz, one of the guys behind the original Muppets TV series, made the little green dude more real than many speaking superstars of today.
But correct – Yoda isn’t real. Yet his quotes are ones that you can use to take you to real success no matter what your goals are.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
If you want to be successful and make a name for yourself, at some stage or another you’re going to have to get past the trying part, and actually do it.
There’s nothing wrong with trying new approaches and tactics to whatever it is you’re aiming toward. But trying only gets you do far – to really succeed, you have to kill it every time.
- Say you’re going to blog twice a week? Do it.
- Say you’re going to retire at 50? Do what you need to to make it happen.
- Say you’re going to write a bestseller? Pick up your pen and do it.
Don’t try and do something only to use an excuse why you couldn’t do it. If it’s not working, try something else and then do that 100% better than your previous thing.
Judge me by size, do you? No – and well you should not.
Let’s face it, unless you’re a male porn star, size means nothing – it’s merely an ego boost to try and prove to impressionable minds that you’re important enough to take notice off.
Blog subscribers in the five digits? Good for you – but are you really innovative or simply pandering to the crowd? Sold 30,000 books? Nice – but a girl from Florida is showing what 30,000 really means.
So never get disenchanted because someone has more blog readers or comments than you; or more Twitter followers; or YouTube views; or dates at college. Unless these numbers really make a difference to that person’s overall success, they’re just inflated strokes to the needy.
Named must your fear be before banish it you can.
One of the things that stop us from reaching our goals is the ineptitude to overcome irrational fear. That’s not to say we’re inept – merely our conscience to overcome that fear. We allow it to overcome us, and walk (or run) away from it as opposed to facing it head on.
Yet overcoming fear is easier than you think – all you have to do is name (or recognize) it. When you know what your fear is, you can start to unravel why you have that fear. Once you unravel it, you can work out how to overcome it. Overcome it – well, the world’s your oyster then.
Give your fear a stupid name. The more ridiculous it sounds, the more ridiculous your fear can appear.
Mind what you have learned.
There are some fantastic motivational speakers, videos and books to help you get where you want to be in life. And, as I said at the start of this post, I don’t know Tony Robbins and it might be that he’d give the complete opposite advice that I’ve mentioned here and make me look like an idiot who’s quoting a green puppet.
But wouldn’t it be cool to think that a little green puppet has some of the best advice around, and all it cost you was the price of a movie ticket?