The Kaufman Post

Absolute conformity seems to be a current hot topic among many NSE leaders these days. The chatter has gotten so loud in fact, that some are sending this message—if you don’t follow their particular system you will fail. You, like so many of us, probably chose to start your business specifically to get away from the herd mentality or perhaps being a slave to a job. In doing so we all freely elected to become entrepreneurs. We wanted more than simply generating an income stream to replace traditional employment. We were looking for rapid wealth creation and were willing to accept the high risks associated with such a venture. To think that if you don’t follow one person’s system means you are destined for failure is pure fallacy.

If there was only one way to do our business it would probably have been discovered and perfected long ago. And if that had happened, the opportunities which attracted us to this business in the first place, would have already dried up. It has always amazed me that some leaders are adamant that it is either their way or the highway when it comes to being successful. Please don’t confuse this with meaning you should ignore the training, mentoring and coaching available from leaders in your organization. (see my post Just Like Having A Set Of Training Wheels) I just believe blind conformity is almost never a good thing. It’s just like having a job, being told when to show up and told what to do.

If there were only one path to success where would new ideas come from? The best ideas, most likely, haven’t even been thought of yet. Compare that same thinking to past innovations. We used to only contact prospects by phone or in person. Should we have forgone email, auto-responders, or websites as additional tools to aid in business building? What about today’s social networking? Or what about Craig Bryson’s Vugrid technology that is going to again fundamentally change the way we do the business? The core of what we do to create a business network hasn’t changed during our 13 years and probably never will. That is simply to invite, present, enroll, train and duplicate the process as many times as required to help yourself and others in your organization reach their goals. Even as those fundamentals remain the same, the approaches and methods for how those steps are accomplished have and will continue to evolve.

One of our mentors, Dennis Clifton, compares following a leader or system to driving down a highway. You don’t want to stay constantly on the centerline or veer too far to the left or right. You do want to stay within the white line and the yellow line on your side of the road. This means you have the freedom to move around a bit, experimenting as you go, while still remaining true to the course you set and the guidance provided.

To be a truly successful entrepreneur, at some point you will have to become your own leader. Does this mean abandoning what you have learned or what your leadership is doing? Not necessarily. But it does mean that as you mature in your business you will naturally want to test new ideas and innovate.

Nu Skin’s CEO, Truman Hunt, recently commented—“I have come to believe that this business is truly the ultimate test of entrepreneurial desire, creativity, leadership, ambition, tenacity, and courage.” He went on to say —“You are truly the world’s most incredible entrepreneurs—leaders who laugh at rejection, overcome all odds, never surrender, and have fun while doing it.”

Does that sound like conformity to you?

While watching the Olympic Women’s Figure Skating competition, commentator and 1984 Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton remarked that he had been a serial underachiever up to the time his mother died. That statement got me thinking. How many of us underachieve and never quite fulfill our potential?

Most of us have faced this realization on one or more occasions. If you apply this to your business life it could simply be the avoidance of picking up the phone, talking to your family and friends about your products, or doing the little things necessary to build success. If we turn this around and look at it from the affirmative—to achieve is to bring about an intended result or to accomplish some purpose. To do this more often than not involves consistency and dedication to that purpose.

So how do we overcome the resistance to or avoidance of achievement? For some it may be winning the battle with procrastination or the fear of failure. If you truly desire the rewards of success here’s a challenge for you. Set a simple short term goal. Commit to doing what ever is required to accomplish that goal for a full 30 days. Why 30 days? Because research has proven that’s what it takes to create a habit. And once you make something a habit, it’s sort of like being on auto-pilot and as close as it gets to guaranteeing things get done.

This technique has worked for me several times in the past. It’s the way I learned yoga, developed the habit of wearing my seatbelt (long before it was law) and mastered many of the tasks required for working our NSE business.

Will this work for you? There’s only one way to find out. And don’t think for a minute that Scott Hamilton had it any easier than you have it. Here’s what he faced before his breakthrough.

• At age two a mysterious illness caused him to stop growing
• He was mistakenly diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and given six months to live
• Skating judges believed he was too small to compete at the international level
• His first year competing at the Senior National level he was out of shape, hadn’t applied himself and pretty much bombed

As the death of his mother became eminent Scott thought about all she had gone through to ensure that he had the opportunity to succeed. With this emotional loss, he vowed to never again be less than what she knew he could be. And that’s when everything changed for him. He went on to dominate his sport, winning the U.S. and World Championships four years in a row and an Olympic gold medal.

The philosopher Aristotle must have had the 30 day plan figured out over 2300 years ago when he said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”  Are you willing to invest 30 days in yourself—knowing the habits you form might possibly change your life forever?