Compare Suggested Solutions against Objectives

Again, preferably as a team, all solutions are considered in terms of how successful they might be at achieving your objectives, primarily 'essentials'.

Choose a Tentative Solution from Your List

One potential solution will usually reveal itself as most suitable for achieving your objectives. This is one you should initiate in first instance.

Put Solution into Practice and Monitor Consequences

Once initiated, consequences must be monitored and adverse occurrences identified and controlled. Some changes might be necessary, especially for unexpected events. Alternatively, and only as a last resort, you may find you have to choose another from your list of possible solutions. Whatever happens, you will almost certainly have your problem under control, maybe not solved, but manageable.

Alternative Problem-Solving

An extremely useful tip from late Joe Karbo, American motivational writer and entrepreneur, is to delegate problem. To your computer! Not Amstrad, Apple or Atari; this computer is far more complex, infinitely more powerful. The computer Karbo and others like him refer to is your unconscious computer - your mind!

According to many psychologists and motivational gurus, we use only a tiny proportion of our U/Cs. Programming U/C to solve your problem is easy, all you have to do is ask. This is what you do:

Write problem down at top of a clean sheet of paper. Section remainder of page into two vertical columns.

Try to solve problem yourself. On left-hand side, write down all possible ways to solve your problem. Include reasons. On other side, list potential drawbacks of each considered solution.

Ask your U/C to choose best solution from those listed or to come up with another. This might sound silly, but believe me it isn't. Karbo tells readers to think of your U/C as 'another person, an employee or assistant'. We must tell that other person 'I want answer to this problem by tomorrow morning ... or four o'clock this afternoon'. Then you just forget it, go to sleep or turn to doing something else.

Surely enough, just as that name you've struggled to remember will suddenly come to you long after you've given up trying, your U/C will provide answer you need. Try it, it works.

Sacrificing our spiritual and family commitments in quest to win is foolishness. Having your priorities screwed up when it comes to spirit and to family is common but never good. We do it in emulation of our parents and peers. But nothing can make you true winner when you have to sacrifice those things to win.

This part of definition requires you to be true to who you are and not necessarily to rules of “the game.” Don’t have children you don’t want to care for because everyone else has kids at a certain age. Don’t volunteer your time to projects that take you away from your family but raise your profile if it is your family that really matters to you. Be true to yourself.

So, how can you be winner you want to be? It’s simple, do opposite of loser. The losers lose because they choose not to win. Losers choose not to win because they fail at learning or fail at growing.

Again, both winner and loser will suffer losses however; winner learns from his losses and changes his approach, which is a sign of growth. The loser may learn but may not grow. The loser may give up before learning and growth can occur. The ultimate loser will not learn and continue to persevere until defeat becomes a complete loss similar to drug addict or alcoholic that ends up on street with absolutely nothing.

The mind of a winner is trained over time to learn from failure and will always grow as a result. The ultimate winner excitedly anticipates opportunity to grow and change over time. The ultimate winner will learn and grow from failures of others and will see trouble before it hits and take action. The ultimate winner makes winning look effortless to outsiders looking inside.

We in African-American community need to adopt winning entrepreneurial attitude and spirit. Global financial storm clouds are up ahead. Social security, global competition, demographic shifts, global terrorism, technological advancements and increasing demand for highly skilled, highly educated yet cheap labor will strain our economic and political institutions beyond their limits. Only winning edge will preserve them.

Only winning edge will lead to our advancement in face of these challenges. Only financially secure, innovators and creators and those courageous enough to take action now will thrive and they will be among those leading our country to it next great height.

Black Americans will undoubtedly be among these great leaders. Why not join these future leaders? Get winning edge today.