fail

Stifle your career and business success

7 Failure Expressions That Will Stifle Your Career and Business

Published by Kenneth

You probably know people who just can’t seem to push ahead in their career or who have never started a business or led large groups of people, they all seem to mimic the same speech patterns. They talk the same negative language. Here are 7 failure expressions that will stifle your career and business that they always use. Identify this negative talk in others, or in yourself, and you’ll find the kink in your business or career growth.

1. “That’s Impossible”

Unsuccessful people are always pointing out what is not possible. They look for the negative in every situation and why something will not work. They will see a business opportunity and look for every reason why it will fail rather than how it can work or benefit them. At work, they sit in boardroom meetings and shoot down every good, out-of-the-box thought or idea and would rather stick to how it has always been done. They lack vision and live in a world of impossibilities; they have a can’t-do attitude and they are sinking their own ship of success.

2. “I can do it by myself”

When you hear someone on your business team or a colleague at work insisting how they can finish a project or can build a business better without any help from other employees or partners, take note: That person is going to slow things down and is ruining the project or growth of his or her business. He or she will not create an atmosphere of success but has only his or her ambition in mind. Ironically enough, unsuccessful people are always those who push their own agenda and don’t see the value of teamwork or other ideas other than their own. That’s the very thing that ruins their career or business. Look for the help or ideas of a mentor or other colleagues to help you reach your goals.

3. “I have a problem with that”

Nitpickers never prosper. Have you ever worked with someone who would always find a problem and then over focus on it? Unsuccessful people will beat the problem to a pulp pointing the finger at any and everyone who could have caused it. They never look at themselves as being part of the problem. Furthermore, they don’t want to solve the problem at hand. Ideas and solutions will be turned down because they are only focused on the problem rather than the solutions. Either work to solve the problem or accept it. Continuing to harp on the issue at hand will only bring the business team or work atmosphere down.

4. “I like my own idea better”

Have you noticed how people at work or in business sometimes like only their own ideas? It is a sign of selfishness and shows an inability to embrace the team objective. Those who like and promote only their own ideas are severely limited, because none of us can achieve success with only our own ideas. Imagine trying to build a company by never entertaining any other ideas? Your company will only grow as far as you can think. We all need to receive differing ideas that we may not have thought about. Collaboration always propels a company forward. In this case, it can propel your career or business forward. 

5. “Let me check my schedule first”

Ah, yes, the “I’m busy” syndrome! If someone always insists on checking his or her schedule for availability, that person is inhibiting their career or business success. It might be a valid excuse, but it could also be a way to avoid being helpful and taking action. In my experience, when someone is always referring to their schedule, it usually means that person is sending a message about being too busy. He or she says, “Let me check ‘my’ schedule” instead of figuring out how they can take the necessary action to accomplish a task or goal. Let’s face it, we are all busy doing something and we all have been granted 24 hours in a day. However, is what you are “so busy” doing getting you closer or further from your goals? Successful people know and understand how to prioritize their schedules so that they can accomplish the things that will help them get to their ultimate goal first, and then arrange to complete the other tasks. Sometimes, it’s better to just jump on an opportunity and worry about reorganizing your priorities and schedule later. Oftentimes, that opportunity that you are too busy for will come to you only once. You may have just missed out on what you were looking for because you were, “too busy!”

6. “You must be wrong about that”

This phrase is a red flag on the road to success because the person saying it is assuming the people he or she works with or partners with don’t know anything; the person believes there is only one “right” person, and it is them! That’s rarely the case. Instead, it’s a sign of success when you admit that you need help. It’s better to accept that others might be right about something and accept your own limitations. This allows for a culture of growth and transparency. Nobody is always right regardless of how many degrees they have. Admit when you are wrong or don’t know something and you will be more respected than if you act like you are the one who is always right. 

7. “I can’t”

Unsuccessful people like to talk about what they can’t do. Starting a business or furthering your career means embracing the fact that there will be countless roadblocks and situations that come up that will seem like you can’t overcome them. Instead, talk about what you can do! People will tell you what is not possible, but when anyone starts using the word can’t, it means trouble. They have given up. Reprogram your mind to help you work around the roadblocks and situations by saying “how can I” instead of saying “I can’t.” This simple rephrasing of words will help you creative juices start flowing and help you come up with solutions to your challenges.

Success in your career or business is just as much about your thought process and speech patterns as it is doing the physical actions to reach your goals. Learn and develop a success thought pattern and speech that will give you the edge over being average to becoming successful. If you utilize the phrases and expressions that I have pointed out, you will separate yourself from the masses of mediocrity and fulfill the goals and visions for your career or business.

For more success thought process, you can get my 10 Day Blueprint where I will send you a video for 10 days on various success principles that you can use in your career or business for maximum impact! Best of all, it is FREE! Grab it now and I will see you on the other side.

To Your Success,

Ken Cloutier

 

 

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Success is similar to baseball

How Success is similar to Baseball

Published by Kenneth

Baseball is a great game full of rich history and countless memorable moments. It is enjoyed by people of all ages, both young and old, men and women, and by many different cultures. I had the privilege of playing baseball all through my college career and loved it. I was talking to an older gentleman the other day who heard me making some prospect business calls. On one particular call, the prospect that I was speaking to said that they were not open to other ways of making money. When I hung up I made the comment, “Next!” The older gentleman said to me, “keep punching and don’t give up!” We went on to talk about baseball; the upcoming season and how much money some players are making who have had both good and bad years. It was at that point that I thought about how Success is very similar to  Baseball!

How Success is similar to Baseball…

Baseball is one of the few sports where you actually fail more times than you succeed! How crazy does that sound? In Football if a quarterback completes less than 50% of his passes, he is said to not be an accurate quarterback. Basketball is the same way. In baseball If a player gets a base hit 3 times out of 10 he is considered a very good hitter. Think about that, he gets a base hit only 30% of the time. The rest of the time he either strikes out or hits the ball to a defender who catches it for an out. Furthermore, the player who hits .300 will make millions of dollars compared to the player who only hits .200. Do you realize that the difference in the number of times the two players get a hit in 10 chances is 1? One player makes millions while the other player struggles to stay in the Major Leagues. The only difference is literally one hit more! Success is similar to baseball in that you will fail more times than you succeed. There is no other way around it. The problem is that we are taught at a young age that failure is not a good thing. When you were in school, you got graded A, B, C, D, and F. “F” was a failing grade that everyone tried to avoid. But is getting an F really a failure? What if you still learned something? You did not really fail, but you learned something that will enable you to keep progressing to eventually get something other than an “F.” It is in the failures that we learn the most. Failure makes us step back and really evaluate what we are doing and gives us the opportunity to make adjustments for improvements. The people who don’t succeed are the ones who quit because the failure was too much for them and they wanted success to happen quicker. The reality is that people succeed by failing their way there! They fail and then learn from it, or as some people say: try, fail, and adjust.

If star baseball players can fail 7 out of 10 times and still have a great attitude and love for the game, can you fail, pick yourself up, and keep on moving towards your dreams?

I know you can!

Don’t forget to grab my FREE 10 Day Blueprint video series to learn more success principles that will help you in business, career, and life! See you there!!

To Your Success,

Ken Cloutier

 

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Why Success Is Exciting

Published by Kenneth

I heard a great quote the other day from a former Major League Baseball coach. He was asked a question about the pressure of coaching in the World Series and the decisions that he had to make throughout the series. His response was, “It’s not exciting to succeed unless there is the danger of failing.” 

That statement is so profound. We all want everything we do to be a success, right? We want every prospect to purchase a product from us, we want everyone that we speak with to partner in business with us, we want to make an “A” on every term paper, and we want to get that next job promotion. If we succeeded at every single thing that we attempted, as cool as that may seem, I think that we would begin to get bored with life. It is the “danger” of failing that makes it fun to attempt to become successful at something. When you do succeed, the feeling of victory is so much sweeter knowing that you overcame obstacles and faced failure and kicked it in the butt! 

Embrace failure. Let it motivate you to become better. Although failure is part of the success process, don’t let it stop you from becoming great. Get excited about your journey to success; the ups and downs, the highs and lows. You will have your own story to tell. Nobody wants to hear someone talk about how they just succeed at everything that they tried and had no struggles or failures. Be the example that other people can point to when they talk about success; know that there is a danger of failing, but succeed anyway!

Learn how I can help you to make money and fire your boss!  See you on the other side!

To Your Success-

Ken Cloutier

 

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3 Characteristics of Ambitious People

Published by Kenneth

Ambition can be defined as a strong desire for success of any goal through hard work and determination. The great achievers of our time have all had it. Individuals with this quality trait stand out as people who constantly drive towards their goals and dreams .

So what qualities make a person ambitious?

1. Ambitious individuals are always striving towards a goal: Show me a person who is always doing something to achieve their goals and dreams and I will show you an ambitious person. People with this quality are not the type of person to stagnate and sit still. They have an inner clock that is always ticking and signifying that they have to be doing something to move ahead. The goals of the ambitious are like most other people’s; Business goals, family goals, higher education goals, and career goals just to name a few.  The difference with ambitious people is that they will not sit around and wait or expect to achieve these goals. They get up and go after them!

2. They continue to work through setbacks: The ambitious individual will continue to fight towards their goals amid any adversity or setbacks (everyone goes through these). Their goals are that important to them. They persevere; nothing is going to stop them from achieving. The average person would quit and say that it just got too hard or contemplate that they are not worthy or good enough to attain their original goal(s) and therefore settle for something lower that does not take as much effort. Ambitious people don’t have the “settle-for” mentality in their make-up, they only win.

3. Ambitious people always set another goal: Whenever these people hit their goals, they set another one right away. Many ambitious people actually prefer the thrill of the journey of chasing and working towards their goal rather than actually achieving it! They always have to be working towards another level. It is as if they feel empty if they are not striving after another goal. Some people actually look at ambition as a negative! Like they are immoral for having a goal or a dream and call them “materialistic.” The challenge is that they don’t understand the underlying internal satisfaction that the ambitious person has to be in the fight of chasing their goal or dream.

Being ambitious is not just something that you are born with. You can become ambitious at anytime- you must have a goal or find a dream that causes you to take action and you will see the ambition rise within you!

If you are ambitious or have been looking for a way to pursue your goals and dreams, I would like to personally work with you. Just click here and watch a free video.

To your success!

Ken Cloutier

 

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Ways to Overcome the Fear of Rejection

Published by Kenneth

How many times as a child did you hear the word “no”? I am guessing that it was hundreds if not thousands of times. When you were at the store and asked your mom for that sleek red Matchbox car or the newest Barbie doll you constantly heard no, no, no! But as a young child, you did not see the word  no as a roadblock,  but instead you would keep on asking until you got the one word that we wanted to hear…”yes”

So why is it now that you are all grown up you fear hearing the word no? What changed from when you were young and essentially ignored the no’s and continued to ask questions until you got the yes that you were searching for?

I am reminded of a great example of this. As I was reading a book at a coffee shop, a young girl of about the age of five was selling some candy for a fund-raiser. I observed as she approached each “stranger” with enthusiasm and asked if they would like to buy some candy. She got no after no but continued to walk to each table as if it were the first time asking the question. How was she able to do this at the age of five, yet each of us from 25, 35, 45, and above could never think of doing such a thing?

The reason is that the little girl did not care or worry about what other people thought about her! Think about that for a moment. Why is it that you were afraid of making that sales call to the CEO of the client that you were trying to get business from? Or why do so many people not like to speak in front of others and seem to forget their names when speaking publicly? It’s simple: you care about what others think about you and you do not want to look like a fool to them. We all tend to try to compare the good qualities of others with the not so good qualities of ourselves.

So how do you overcome that fear of worrying about what others think about you and  raise your self-image?

1. Start a self development program of reading books that help you to understand that you are a one of a kind, special person- there is no other you out there! Some great titles that helped me are, What to Say When you Talk To Yourself by Shad Helmstetter and  The greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino.

2. The “mirror technique”- When I first did this I thought it was real crazy and weird. What you do is look at the person in the mirror (you) and start to say great things about yourself. Things like: “you are a winner”, “you are successful”, “you are going places”, etc. There is something special that happens when you can look yourself in your eyes and speak positive!

3. Look at rejection not as a failure, but as a step closer to success! In the book Go for No pointed out that most people view rejection as:

Failure <—–You—–>Success

You either fail or succeed.

But if your view Failure as a passing through point, it is easy to accept because you know you are closer to succeeding and don’t worry what others think. It looks like this:

You—–>Failure—–>Success!! You literally fail your way to success.

So how do you overcome your fear of rejection? Raise your self-image and understand that rejection is a stepping stone for success. If you use the techniques and resources that I have provided to you, watch as you move forward towards your goals and dreams with a pep in your step!

I would love to get feedback from you and even hear how you overcame some of your fears of rejection.

To your Success!!

Ken Cloutier

 

 

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