Give Up or Keep Going; The Decision That Defines You
Guest Post: By Robert Imbriale
It was 1995 and I was struggling to get my business off the ground. I was excited, spinning my wheels, yet getting nowhere fast. Money was coming in, but more of it was going out than was coming in.
Before very long, I found myself questioning whether or not to close my business and give up on my lifelong dreams.
When you arrive at a point like this, there are two choices you can make. First, you can choose to throw in the towel and walk away. Many people take this route and in later years begin to regret their decision.
The other option is to keep going and find new ways to get through the rough times. While you may wonder if there’s a third choice of doing nothing, that’s really not making a choice at all and it’s almost the same as giving up because if you do nothing, you’ll soon have nothing.
So there really is only one choice and that’s to keep going.
At some point in every lifetime, there are going to be rough and uncertain times. Later in life, you’ll look back and realize that whatever it was that you decided to do during those times has literally defined who you are in some profound way.
For those people that decide to give up, they often end up feeling deep regret and tend to fade into the fabric of society rarely ever making anything much of their lives.
If you are to become a true leader, you are probably the type to keep pushing through, no matter how tough things get. In our society today, there is a real lack of true leaders. We have a lot of people who talk a big game, but few who do what’s needed to step up and lead.
When things were really tough going for me, I made the decision to stick with it. Although everybody around me at the time was encouraging me to do the “safe” thing and go find a job, I stayed the course, never lost sight of my dream, and soon began to see things changing for the better.
Today, people think I’m lucky or that I had a few good breaks that made all the difference, when the reality could not be farther from the truth.
What I had then, you have now.
What I did then, you can do now.
The only thing that will ever stop you is you.
When you truly understand this very important point, things will change in your life for the better. The biggest obstacle to your success is you. The biggest challenge you’ll ever face in life is getting past your own limiting beliefs.
Every successful person, every leader, gets and uses advice from other people in order to get where they want to go. People who rise to the level of becoming a leader know that limiting beliefs can keep them back and so they get help in order to break through to the next level.
As human beings, we get far too close to our own beliefs and they become so much a part of who we are that we can’t even see them, let alone change them. What’s needed is a person who can see us from a fresh perspective, a person who is not involved in what I like to call our “internal politics.”
Whether it’s the President of a nation, of a company, or even a solo entrepreneur, those who rise to great levels of success all surround themselves with people they rely on to help them see the way forward.
Some call them advisers, others call them mentors, and still others refer to them as coaches. Whatever title you use to refer to these people, it’s important to realize that they are the people behind the leaders.
These people are often trained to see beyond what is, and instead put their attention on what could be. They also have a keen awareness for helping you bring your limiting beliefs to the surface so that you can address them in ways that are productive.
For many people, having a coach is the difference between mediocrity and domination of their careers.
Early on in my career, I was lucky enough to realize how important having outside help was and I sought out people who could help me get past the barriers that I was simply unable to break trough myself.
I’ve had at least one, and at times as many as 6 coaches working with me at any given time.
The results I’ve seen in my own life have been amazing thanks to the people I’ve chosen to work with along the way. With their help, I’ve shaved decades of trial and error away, improved my relationships, and have earned much, much more money in a shorter period of time that I would have had I not had a coach.
Oh, did I mention that I also became a well-known thought-leader in the marketing world and continue to called upon for my guidance and opinions by other industry leaders. None of this would have been possible had I not discovered the power of having a coach every step of the way.
I have been coaching business leaders from around to see beyond the obvious, to see what they are truly capable of, and to get past the beliefs that would have otherwise held them back.
I’m part of a growing legion of professional coaches who work to hasten the rise to success of businesses, enterprises, and individuals. Since 1995, when coaching really started to gain traction, coaching has become recognized as the “must-have” resource for people and organizations looking for rapid growth.
While coaching is not designed to replace traditional psychotherapy, it is a powerful tool that can take you to new levels of success in very short periods of time.
The issues best suited for coaching involve business strategy, personal development, and empowerment.
Leading coaches make little distinction between ‘personal’ and business issues because they realize how tightly related the two can be and instead choose to work on both, often simultaneously.
In my work as a coach, I’ve yet to run into a single person who could not benefit from coaching. The rewards of working with a great coach are immeasurable because once an issue is resolved, it’s resolved for life. That means that the benefits of the work you do with a coach are in place for the rest of your life.
Think of it as an investment with an unlimited ROI because once you learn a lesson from your coach, that lesson is yours for the rest of your life to use as often as you choose.
It is important to pick your coach wisely. Be sure the person, or people, you choose can not just see the vision you hold for your future, but can get on board with it as well. Your coach should have one single agenda: yours.
They should speak your language and see the best in you in every situation. And they should have a proven track record of success working with people who are similar to you or have a track record working with businesses that are similar to yours.
Finally, your coach should have current and past clients who have become raving fans of their work.
While these kinds of coaches are not always easy to find, it’s worth the extra effort to locate them because the results they will bring to your life will have a definite and powerful impact not just on you as a person, but on everybody you interact with as well.
When you find a coach that can meet these criteria, hang onto them! Do all you can to make sure they remain part of your inner circle for as long as they continue to bring measurable value to the table.
When you’re faced with a major decision, don’t make that decision on your own, get advice, get a coach who can help you see things from a new perspective because the decisions you make today will have a profound and lasting impact on your tomorrow.
Robert Imbriale is known as a “Master Coach” for his extensive work with business owners, and entrepreneurs. He is the author of the book, Motivational Marketing (Wiley, 2007), and is the founder of Ultimate Wealth, Inc. Learn more about Robert’s coaching services, seminars, and see free training videos on his web site at www.RobertImbriale.com
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