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William J Blythe IV. What a name to begin life with, more so when you're born in a tiny town of 1200 people, with poverty a standard of life. I still have a copy of that photograph, and I'd swear you can hear Billy Blythe's thoughts as he smiled into the eyes of JFK: "I admire you, I want to be like you, and someday I'm going to be US President." It's written all over his teenage face for history to examine.Hard to decry or deny that look on his face, in his eyes. That young man was adopted by his stepfather, Roger. Naturally, he changed his last name. 28 years after the photo was taken, William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in as President of the United States. Four years later, he took the oath of office for a second time. Persistence is the greatest power on earth. On Nov 8, 1970, New Orleans was losing a football game to Detroit, 17-16. Last play of the game. Everyone's wondering who's this 'big old crippled guy' walking onto the field, since it was quite obvious that the man was missing a hand AND the front of his right foot. The announcer advised that they were watching Tom Dempsey, the Patriot's official kicker. It was a kick heard round the world: Tom Dempsey, born with what YOU might call 'handicaps,' kicked the single longest field goal in the history of professional football: an astonishing 63 yards!! Needless to say, New Orleans won the game. Tom's persistence paid off. I remember reading of a baseball player who made it to St Louis' professional team many years
ago. Never hit a home run, never saved a game with a single play, but by God he was a professional player... even though he only had one arm!!! Like Jim Abbott, I suppose, who pitched 90 MPH fastballs for San Fransisco… DESPITE HAVING
ONLY ONE ARM !!! Common to these people is the same identical first step: When you see this happening with hundreds of people who've individually climbed up to the three highest rungs of America's corporate leadership, the scientific word is "pattern." Excellence is nothing more, and nothing less, than doing something finely, and repeatedly: a pattern. Paying heed to these patterns means reducing the trial and error process, and provides shortcuts to duplicating the desired result.
Third, they asked for what they wanted more than anyone else.
They asked.
And asked.
And asked.
…And asked again. And guess what they did AND STILL DO when they can't get that "Yes" ??? You've known since you were a child that the more times you ask for what you want, and the
more people you ask for what you want… That's why and how you'll prove how smart you are, and can be, using a simple technique which amounts to the single greatest power any human being has ever had, and certainly the single fastest shortcut available to you, or to anyone else who's smart enough to hush up and use it this very hour and day: Now, let's put these high-powered tools to use
together, which considerably,
More times than not you can expect an answer. At least half the time, you can expect an invitation to lunch. The one significant exception I've encountered is with entertainment celebrities. Although many are famous and wealthy, few of them give a long-term appearance of fulfillment or happiness. That makes it very difficult for them to share, Naturally, there are exceptions; to date, it has proven to be the rule. For a hundred
different career fields, we have people who've risen to the top faster and more effectively than others. I'm sure you can understand why they are considered to be the single best source of guidance for success in any field. For a few dollars worth of
stamps, you'll be bowled over by the general decency and willingness to share that is such a basic part of a true role model. The truth is, between 80 and 90% of our role models are people who
'started in their uncle's rented garage' or some such modest beginning. Every invention idea is laughed at and scorned... right
up until the time that one decision maker believes in it, and backs it... all the way to success. Television, the electric light bulb, the Sony Walkman, and every other toy and contrivance you can imagine, began as a 'silly' dream in someone's mind. With
over a hundred documented examples, there's a clear pattern. USE THE PATTERN, just as a dressmaker does. A mother fed up with expensive toys too easily and quickly broken,
creates simple, durable toys for her kids and their friends, next thing you know people are paying her to make more for theirkids... and seven years later her toy company is grossing a hundred and eighty million dollars per year. Can you imagine
her husband's eyebrows when this housewife approaching forty tells her husband she needs money to start a toy company although she's never had a paying job in her life? How about a
guy so broke at Christmas he uses his grandma's recipe? Note that this was a WRITTEN recipe. Ah, that magical written map that guarantees success whenyoufollow the
map, hm? In between his reading lessons, he rented a
shack on the beach in Hawaii, ran a very long extension cord to an outlet he could 'borrow' electricity from, and baked the cookies he decided to call Famous Amos Cookies. A postcript to the legend of Wally Amos is also useful for
you and I to learn from. You see, ten years after he founded the company, he decided to retire to a life of teaching other illiterate adults how to read. He sold the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Company for forty million dollars. Sadly, people he
thought he could trust ripped him off for the majority of his money. The only business he'd known was baking chocolate chip cookies, and that's it.
It would've been easy, and maybe even understandable if Bill Clinton had 'bought into' the level of mediocrity so endemic, so common, in those raised in poverty, or with alcohol-fueled abuse, or worse. ...and no
one would've been surprised if Wally Amos had never amounted to much; after all, he was still bumming around at 42, illiterately, no less. In their case, as with most of our Masters and Millionaires, they found others who did it well, and they copied
them. Wally copied his grandma's recipe, and Bill Clinton copied his heroes, JFK and Abraham Lincoln. Several encyclopedias today include that famous photograph of a 15-year old 'country bumpkin' shaking hands with his role model, the U.S. President. This is not an endorsement for being just like Mike, as the famous ad exhorts us. It's a simple, powerful reminder that there are faster, easier, smoother paths to your own success. They have been
paved by the blood, sweat and tears of those who pioneered the field you wish to excel in. Go ahead; call them, write them, email them, send them tape cassettes of you recording yourself asking them to be your mentor for a half-hour. Reap the fruits of
asking, because no power on earth will ever bring you more than the power of asking for what you want... asking it of those who are in a position to say yes, and able to back up that yes. This is a clear challenge to you. One thing is completely certain: no one can
get more excited about you going from zero to hero... than the face you see in the mirror. If you have even a glimmer of what reputation you'd like to enjoy, in whatever field on earth, just start contacting those who can help you determine the best, and
fastest path for you going up your own personal ladder of Life. |
© 2001 EasyStreet, USA All rights reserved for those who feed hungry people with my share of your profit. In Memory of Monsignor Bernie Kellogg, obm, and his most ardent student, Steve Rubin, known to many as MrShortcut |