Business-Building Action from Terry Brock
“For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.” Arnold Schwarzenegger
You don’t get ahead in life by cowering. Putting yourself down and thinking that you’re not “worthy” is never a success formula.
When we say conquering we’re borrowing from the ancient military uses of that word. Today most of us are not going to engage in military conquering. Even in today’s military, soldiers do a lot more policing than conquering in the traditional sense.
I think the most important focus for us should be on conquering those fears and deficiencies that we have. Many people have fears that they are going to be put down, belittled, made fun of, or some other hobgoblin that they have concocted in their mind.
99% of that thinking is pure El Toro Doodoo!
Instead of cowering, conquer the demons within your own mind. Take control of your thoughts. Take control of your destiny and conquer the bad habits, the behaviors that don’t support your noble causes, and anything else that holds you back from your goals.
One the best ways to conquer fear is by legitimately learning and perfecting new skills. If you are not getting what you want in business, perhaps it is time to strengthen those skills with some serious new study and learning.
I learned an important lesson when I was in the first quarter of my MBA program at Georgia State University. My background was in radio, television, and newspapers. I had not been exposed to much accounting information.
When I took the first prerequisite course called Accounting 101, I did terribly and ended up getting a D––– as in “dummy”–––for the course. I was devastated (to use another “D” word!).
When I finally recovered from my devastation, I built up the courage to take the course again. Besides, that’s what the University said I would have to do if I wanted to stay in the MBA program. So I took the same course the next quarter with a different professor. Both professors that I had we’re very good but the challenge was me wrapping my brain around this new concept called accounting.
I ended up getting a B in that second class. B as in “barely getting by.” I use the phrase “barely getting by” because the university sent me another letter and told me that the B and the D would average to a C and that was not good enough to stay in the MBA program. However, they would give me one more chance to improve my GPA.
The next course in accounting I had to take was cost accounting and that was a completely different animal than financial accounting. I made a determination that I was going to do whatever it took to succeed. I was building the confidence to conquer the deficiencies I had in accounting.
You’ve got to take steps to conquer any deficiencies. It’s not just a matter of positive thinking, although that is an important catalyst to get you started. It often requires hard work and study to progress. I also got a lot of help from the next professor that I had. He graciously helped me with numerous questions I remember practicing over and over repetitiously so many times until I understood cost accounting.
I am happy to report that I ended up getting an A in that class. In fact even though my major was marketing and not finance or accounting, I took it on myself as a fun challenge. I also got an A in every accounting and financial class that I had after that in the MBA program. I had conquered my fear by increasing my skills and knowledge.
By the way, because I learned some of those skills, that helped me get started in my career after graduation. I applied the principles of finance and accounting to the new electronic spreadsheets at that time. I became an expert in Lotus 1-2-3. As an irony, this guy that almost got thrown out of his MBA program because of accounting, ended up ultimately speaking many times and teaching for the American Institute of certified public accountants (AICPA) and 27 states societies of CPAs around the United States.
I don’t share this story to brag. I’m not an expert in accounting. The key is that we need to overcome cowering in submission by thoughts that hold us back. You don’t do it simply by positive thinking and a feel good emotional moment. You conquer it by getting the skills you need and toughening your mind and your body.
Stop cowering to fear and deficiencies. Conquer fears with applied knowledge, decisive action, and get help from those who can give you what you need.
Enjoy your journey in conquering!
All the best,
Terry
Terry Brock, MBA, CSP, CPAE
www.TerryBrock.com
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