Obama Insults Me...

I'd like to share a perspective with you that when I 'got it' made a huge difference to me and my success levels. (And right at the end are some practical tips...)

Recently I've seen a number of 'tweets' or postings on twitter stating that Barak Obama had insulted the person making the post.

I didn't read the tweets, but it did get me thinking.

It got me thinking about mindsets, personal accountability, and running your own business.

I don't know what the issue was with the person posting this claim on twitter. But what rang a bell with me was the language of the 'tweet'. It was something like "I feel insulted by Obama ....."

My intution is that this person is feeling insulted because of something Obama has done or or said, and that this is Obama's fault.

Now I'm reasonably sure that this person and Obama have not met, at least, not recently. I could be wrong, of course.

So what's my point?

My point is that Obama didn't insult this person. It's not Obama's fault that this person feel's insulted. This person, consciously or otherwise, has chosen to feel insulted. This is likely to result in unhelpful thoughts and actions that do nothing for their situation.

And I see this time and time again in MLM and internet businesses.

Don't you?

Things like "I bought <insert guru's name here>'s system for $997 and it sucks!" or "I've been doing this MLM thing for 2 years now, no success, when am I ever going to get a break?" or "It's my sponsor's fault I'm not recruiting anybody in to my downline, they don't support me properly."

I suspect that you may have even had similar thoughts yourself at times - I know I have!!

So what? What does this have to do with your internet or MLM business?

Well, if you're going to put energy in to statements and questions about your current (and undesirable) situation, why not come up with useful, motivational statements and questions that get you a little bit further away from your current and unwanted situation, and a bit closer to a more desirable state of affairs?

Take personal accountability for and ownership of your current situation, and act accordingly.

Replace statements like "I bought <guru's name>'s system for $997 and it sucks!" with "I bought <guru's name>'s system and I could use some help putting it fully in to practice."

Replace questions such as "when will I get a break?" with "What can I do right now, with what I have, that will get me a little closer to where I need to be with my business/life?"

The biggest cop-out I hear at the moment is "well, the world economy has tanked, so of course my business is going to suffer, but man, it's tough, I can't wait for it to end!" or something similar.

STOP IT!!!

STOP WHINGING and look to your own skills, experience and creativity to move forwards.

And before you counter with "well, that's easier said than done" - yes, most things are easier said than done, and if you don't DO and just stay with the TALK, then what will change for you? NOTHING!

I was lucky to have some good friends and contacts to act as informal mentors and coaches, to act as mirros and reflect life back at me, and to remind me (sometimes very directly!) that whinging and blaming people never got things done...

BetterNetworker is full of people who can lend support as informal, even brief, mentors and coaches, so there's no excuse for not finding people to support you! And why not do the same for others here too?

OK, having said my piece now, I'm also happy to support those in need, just as others did back along when I was in need. And you know, it's kind of fun to do too! I've met some wonderful people doing it.

Here's to your success... and you enjoying your personal accountability too!

Cheers

Martin

P.S. - Just remembered - a short, easy to digest book by John G Miller called the Question Behind the Question has some good stuff in it about taking personal accountability. There are just 3 elements to a useful question or statement that helps get you to personal accountability 'mode':

1 - Talk in terms of 'what' and 'how', not 'who' or 'why' or 'when'

     'Why' leads to victim mentality

     'Who' leads to blame mentality

     'When' leads to procrastination

2 - Talk in terms of 'I' and not 'They', or 'Them' or 'You'

     Remember - this is about YOU taking PERSONAL accountability!

3 - Focus on action!!

     ... because it's about action and making a difference & changing things, not just talk...