Call me a Scrooge.

But I’ve always found some inspirational quotes to be the success equivalent of a shot of whiskey. You get a nice buzz … but it doesn’t last. And sometimes, there’s a crash.

Don’t get me wrong – I love inspiration as much as the next person.

But I’ve always believed inspiration is there to change you.
Not just to make you feel good for a few minutes.

I’ve always believed if you aren’t moved to take the action the inspiration suggests, it becomes just another addiction. Another cheap high. Something else you need another hit of to get by. Instead of something that breaks you through, and moves you beyond the challenge it was designed to dissolve.

I dig quotes that do more than “inspire” or make you feel good. I dig quotes that:

  1. Take you deeper and make you think.
  2. Shine a light on something that’s been getting in your way.
  3. Open the door to moving beyond it, so you can start creating what you want. Instead of settling.

So here are three that just didn’t make my day brighter, but actually moved me to see things differently, so I can do things differently … and I’ve got a hunch they just might do the same thing for you:
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If you see someone who flames out early in their business, there is a good chance this is the reason. The aura of “instant success” is sexy. It can also be deadly to your dreams by prompting you to believe you can fly before you can.

Over and over, start-ups and beginning entrepreneurs either try something way over their heads. Or are crushed when something they try for the first time isn’t a smashing success.

You can create success by accident. But you can’t sustain it by accident. Start where you are. Don’t overextend yourself. Set yourself up for success by shooting for goals you can succeed at, instead of goals you use as excuses when you don’t reach them.
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There is a difference between investing and throwing your money at a problem.

Investing is a path that is thought out in advance, where there is a specific goal in a specific time frame that creates a specific result with a huge impact. So if you don’t reach it, you can figure out why and make corrections so you do.

When you throw money at a problem, hope is your strategy. And because you don’t have a plan, when hope fizzles you have not only lost money (which you can get back) and lost time (which you can’t get back). You’re simply lost, because you don’t know what went wrong and how to fix it.

Having a budget telling your money specifically where you want it to go and what you want it do and accomplish, puts your own talent and determination in the driver’s seat. Instead of the ebb and flow of circumstance, your feelings, or wishful thinking.
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Make no mistake … when movie scripts are written, there is a specific actor the writer has in mind to play the lead.

In the same way, when your ideal client is looking for someone to lead them to their goals, they also have a specific lead in mind. So … if you want them to cast you as the lead in their success story, you have to be very specific about the impact you create for them.

  • Not “transformation” … a specific transformation.
  • Not “the life of their dreams” … a specific dream they can’t do without.
  • Not “whatever they want to achieve” … the one thing they want most.

Something you’re awesome at. That you specialize in. So when they’re playing the success movie in their heads, they know exactly who is by their side every step of the way: YOU.

You would be shocked to know that sometimes, the ONLY thing standing between you and the success you yearn for is a decision about the SPECIFIC way you lead your clients to the specific dream they yearn for. And the commitment to make it happen.