SEE YOURSELF AS A WINNERWritten by Sharon Dalton Williams
Whether or not you follow baseball, I’m sure you’ve heard of  New York Yankees baseball team. This team won World Series three years in a row in 1998, 1999, and 2000, in addition to many other wins from years past.The baseball playoffs were played during October, 2001. The Yankees made it to playoffs because of their winning record during season. The first hurdle they had to get over in order to play in 2001 World Series was American League Championship. When American League Championship started, first two games were played at Yankee Stadium. Teams rarely won on Yankees’ home turf. But Yankees lost first two games of league championship. The odds were not in Yankees’ favor. They had lost first two games, and they were headed to another stadium in front of other fans to continue play. Some of sports news coming out already had Yankees losing league championship. A number of teams at this juncture would have given up hope of winning. I found it interesting that whenever Yankee players were interviewed, never once did they even hint that they might lose. They looked back over their season record. They looked around at caliber of their fellow players. They looked inside themselves. All they talked about was how they were going to win.
| | HAVE THE COURAGE TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP!Written by Ron Sathoff
Quite a few years ago, I was enjoying an afternoon in park with a couple of friends of mine. One of my friends had brought her dog, and as we were playing Frisbee, another dog came out of nowhere and started viciously attacking my friend's dog. One of my friends, Mark, reacted instantly, running to dogs and managing to beat off attacking dog and causing it to run away.What did I do during that momentary instant of chaos? I froze. I stood there. I just stood there, watching whole thing. Even now, even though it was a minor incident taking place 10 years ago, I still look back at that moment with shame. I resolved that I would never let fear keep me from taking action when action was needed. With a few exceptions (of course), I like to think that I've been able to live up to this resolution. I think this lesson has an important parallel in business and marketing. One of factors that keeps a lot of people from succeeding is fact that we are usually afraid to push our limits. That means we end up taking safe route and never understanding what we are truly capable of. Take, for instance, starting a home business. Most people have dreamed of owning their own business, or at least supplementing their income with a side venture. However, 99% of those people don't take risk to actually take first step. They are afraid that they will lose money, or that they will fail, or that they will just look silly.
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