In 1979, Tim Seward sat in my audience wide-eyed and eager to grow. His newly bought Tidy Car franchise provided him the chance to build his own business doing auto detailing. At 19 years old, this was quite a challenge. He had no college degree nor business experience, just enthusiasm and the willingness to work hard. I spoke to the group on "How to Build Your New Business," and after my speech Tim sat with me during lunch. At the end of lunch he asked me for a "daily motivator," a challenging quote to motivate himself with. Here’s what I told him: "Every day ask yourself, How would the person I’d like to be do the Things I’m about to do?" He went home and did just that. His goal was to become the international sales leader of Tidy Car. He wanted to be the best they had. So he asked himself, How would the international sales leader do what I’m about to do? He began to dress differently for working a jumpsuit with "Tidy Car" on the back, rather than a T-shirt and jeans. He also did his work more thoroughly. Each car was polished to perfection. He served his customers like the leader would. They came back for more and referred their friends to Tim. Tim listened to motivational and business tapes as he worked. He went to seminars. He traded auto services for advice and coaching. His business continued to grow. At the end of that year, Tim had done so well that he won the international sales leader award among hundreds of other franchisees at Tidy Car’s convention in New Orleans. He drove home in his prize, a brand new, shiny white Corvette! Tim went on to lead Tidy Car again and again. Then he formed his own company selling auto accessories. He became a good husband and father. He learned how to build and sustain a successful business. Today, two decades later, he lives in a beautiful new home in Florida, has built, owned and sold four business locations in Michigan which provide jobs for many people and produce well over $6,000,000 a year, lives an abundant life and has a beautiful family! Tim simply practiced what my friend Tony Alessandra, Ph.D. calls "The Platinum Rule" (in his book of the same name). That is, he treated people the way they wanted to be treated. He served them graciously, gave their cars the extra touch, made it easy for them to work with him, valued his co-workers and constantly increased his own ability to bring value to others. As you "nurture your nature," the results you seek will come to you. The person you become will attract the relationships and opportunities you desire. Possibilities will arise that you could never have predicted. When you dedicate yourself to the ongoing process of personal growth, good things will happen in ways that will amaze you. Sure, you’ll have to work at it. You may even have to develop some new habits. But personal growth (the natural process which creates a successful life) is not drudgery. It is fun! Ask anyone who is living a highly productive and happy life, "What is it like to develop new abilities and bring our your best?" They’ll pause, then smile and tell you, "It is great! Ican’t imagine living any other way!" Now it’s your turn to Nurture Your Nature. Exercise: Answer the following questions on a piece of paper. • What words would best describe the person you’d truly like to be? • What character traits would you like for others to see in you? • What subjects would you like to know much more about? • What skills would you like to acquire? • How would you like to be regarded by others? • In what places or groups would you like to be accepted and feel comfortable? • What life experiences would you like to have? • What credentials would you like to acquire? • What would you like to do for the world? • How would the person you’d like to be do what you are about to do? Take the time to write out your answers and date each entry. Keep a journal of these desires and add to it as you read this article, and beyond. Notice how this picture of the future you evolves over the years and how it also stays the same in many ways. The clearer your description of the person you’d like to be, the more likely it is that you’ll live the life you’d like to see. Caution: don’t take this exercise lightly. This can be one of the most profound exercises you will ever complete. I truly believe that at any given time one needs, like a tree, to be either expanding your roots (gaining more awareness and resources) or bearing fruit (behaving productively) in order to grow. When you spend too much time in one area, your needs will increase in the other areas. You need to have a daily plan for both expanding your roots and bearing fruit. The Thought Diet: Your Growth Starter The desire to expand my roots and to bear fruit in my life developed into a tool that I’ve used off and on for more than twenty years. I call it "The Thought Diet." It’s designed to influence your thinking through your behavior and to groom your behavior through your thinking. I believe we should take ourselves to raise. And when you’re raising someone, there are two jobs, both with the same goal: Both the parent and the child want the child to become an independent, self-directed adult. If both want independence, how do you get there? Each person must do the appropriate job. For example, it’s the child’s job to form the right habits that will serve them well in life, keep them safe, and get their goals achieved. It’s the parents’ role to guide their growth and help them select the right habits. You and I can follow The Thought Diet to guide our own growth as we develop and cultivate the habits of success. Here’s how it works: The Thought Diet is a tool for helping you become more of the person you need to be in order to achieve your goals. If you cultivate the thoughts and habits of the person you want to be, you’ll automatically start getting all the things you want to get. There are four simple rules in this order of importance:
2. Limit your contact with cynical or negative people. 3. Perform an unselfish act every day without expecting gratitude.
Thought Diet™ (Side 1) _________________________My current primary goal_________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ _________________________Five traits I am developing_______________ 1._________________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________________ 3._________________________________________________________ 4._________________________________________________________ 5._________________________________________________________
Thought Diet™ (Side 2) Minimum Daily Actions Mind ______________________________________________________ Body ______________________________________________________ Spirit ______________________________________________________ Emotions ___________________________________________________ Friends ____________________________________________________ Family _____________________________________________________ Career _____________________________________________________ Finances ___________________________________________________ ©1997, ©1997 Jim Cathcart, La Jolla, CA The Thought Diet Card is a simple 3x5 card or a blank postcard with three important parts: your current primary goal (a brief description of the goal that matters most in your life right now), traits you are developing (five of the qualities you most want to cultivate within yourself to become the person you want to be), and minimum daily actions (behaviors which will break your inertia each day and get you started growing again). This is not a mere list of goals to achieve or studies to complete, it is a list of traits and behaviors which bring out the desired qualities in you. Parts one and two, the goal and the list of five traits, go on one side of your card, and minimum daily actions go on the other side. On the side of the card for actions, list eight categories: mind, body, spirit, emotions, friends, family, career, and finances. And then beside each one write a minimum action that will help you to grow in that area. The Future You See Defines The Person You Need To Be I knew that if I developed the traits I would start becoming the person who would achieve the goal I had written down. Then the goal would be the natural by-product of the daily actions. It’s kind of the reverse of what a lot of people do, which is to solely focus on the goal. But, I say you can go about it from either direction. If you figure out what kind of person you want to be, then think about the goals that person would achieve, and then become the person the goals will be the automatic by-product. For my body, to enhance my health I knew that I needed to jog more often. But rather than commit to jogging everyday, which I knew was not likely to happen, I put down a goal that may seem silly to you but it worked for me. I wrote, every day I’ll put on my jogging shoes and walk out to the street. That’s it, and some days that is literally all I did. But by forcing myself every day to put the shoes on and walk to the street, I increased the likelihood of my going for a jog by a hundred fold, and I ended up getting in good physical shape for the first time in my adult life. The toughest part of any fitness program is to get yourself to show up regularly ready to exercise. Under emotions I wrote, I will laugh once today. Once a day, I would find some excuse, some stimulus, some way to achieve one good belly laugh. Under friends, I wrote, I will make a phone call or write to one person I care about today. Under the category of family, I wrote I’ll spend ten minutes listening to each member of my family today in one-on-one focused conversation. Under career I wrote, I’ll learn one new idea today that will enhance my career. So everyday I would look for some way to learn something. The snowball effect of this was tremendous! Now those minimum actions don’t constitute a complete plan for becoming a national expert, but they did provide the simple push I needed each day to get started and it worked for me. I changed the card often, and if I found I wasn’t doing something on the card, I would write in a new action, constantly monitoring what I did and what I avoided. I did this repeatedly until I figured out how to best motivate myself and determine what I could get myself to do. If the goal wasn’t exciting, then I’d re-examine my goals and I’d put a different goal on the card for a while. If it seemed I’d acquired one of the five traits, then I’d add some new ones that I felt I needed to work on. Take personal initiative to stimulate your growth. The idea is for you to continue on a never-ending quest for self-awareness. Stop occasionally to notice more of how fully you are living. Then take some small first-steps to live even more. The potential within you is your vehicle for a making this world a better place. If you don’t act on it, all of us miss out. If you do, all of us benefit. Your relationships and your circumstances are your avenues for self-expression. Tap your potential. The seed of your future successes already lives within and around you. The seed’s only job is to grow, to live fully. The oak sleeps within you. Growing season is here. |
