To Be A Champion, Become A Child

Have you ever wondered what successful people have that
makes them successful?

Ever wonder how those champion recruiters in your company
manage, month after month, to get the most new recruits,
the biggest bonuses, the largest paychecks?

Well let me tell you a secret. No one starts out as a
Champion. Most of them started out like you and me.

So what is it that makes a Champion different from the
rest?

Champions have an attitude, a mindset that sets them apart
from the rest. But most of these qualities are not
exceptional.

Indeed each and every one of us possesses these qualities
when we start out in life. But somewhere along the way we
tend to lose them and diminish our own potential.

To be a Champion, you must first become a Child! Let me
explain:

1. Champions are Willing to Learn.

Children come into this world with an innate desire to
learn, to understand the world around them.

They are like sponges observing and absorbing every fact,
every reaction. Because they know that their very survival
depends on it.

One of the most important, and oft-repeated, qualities we
need to succeed in business is a willingness to learn - to
be teachable.

To become a champion, you must be willing to educate
yourself or be educated, to read about, learn and absorb
all the things you need to know, even if they are
completely new to you.

If you don't, you are doomed to failure from the start.

2. Champions are Willing to Act

Have you notice how children completely geared towards
action? As soon as they learn a new skill, they want to put
it into action.

Champions are the same. They put their newly learned skills
to use, taking concrete steps to improve their performance,
so they can take their business to the next level.

They know that they must act on what they have learned,
even if they haven't perfected it. Which brings me to their
next quality.

3. Champions are Not Afraid to Fail

Just as a child picks itself up again and again, every time
it falls while taking its first steps, champions are not
afraid to fall down or fail.

They know that failure is the best teacher. They learn from
their mistakes and keep fine-tuning their methods till they
succeed.

Champions have the courage to fall down and not be
discouraged. They pick themselves up and keep trying.

4. Champions are Willing to Adapt

Darwin got it wrong.

Survival does not happen to the Fittest, but to the Most
Adaptable.

As children, we adapt to long-term change relatively
easily. We are more willing to accept situations and adapt
our behaviour accordingly.

Unfortunately, as we grow older, we become more rigid in
our thinking, unwilling to accept that there may be better
ways of doing things.

In a changing business scenario, resistance to change makes
us obsolete. We end up losing out to players with a better
understanding of changing trends.

Champions are those who can adapt themselves and their
business to changing trends.

5. Champions are Willing to Innovate

Children are extremely inventive beings. They come into
this world with no preconceived notions of doing things. In
their minds there are no limits to what they can do or how
they can do it.

Champions apply these very principles to take their
business to the top.

They not only learn from what has been done before. They
find ways of doing it more efficiently, more cheaply, more
successfully.

As Shiv Khera, motivation coach and author of "You Can Win"
puts it, "Winners don't do different things. They do things
differently."

You don't have to be like a child in all respects to
succeed. It's probably not even desirable.

But if your pre-conceived notions, fears and hesitation are
preventing you from reaching your goals, try looking at the
world through a child's eyes.

At best you will improve your chances of success, at worst
you'll remain young at heart.