Do you Want to Be и High Achiever?

John R. Noe [nou] is president of Industrial Housekeeping Management Systems (Indianapolis), a training and management consulting firm. He is a successful businessman and a famous mountain climber who scaled the famous Matterhorn and Mount Kilimanjaro. He is the author of the book Peak Performance Principles for High Achievers.

You'll find high achievers in a variety of careers. Sometimes they look like everybody else. But they are the people who are always seeking something' great to do, to experience, to become.

The following questions can help you to decide if you have the qualities needed to become a high-achiever. Consider them seriously and answer from the deepest regions of your heart.

1. Do you really want to become a high achiever? A fellow mountain climber once told me that the key to all self-discipline is desire. Since becoming a high achiever requires so much self-discipline and such a large personal investment, it is important to have desire.

Here are some characteristics of the high achiever.

First, high achievers usually spend a lot of time alone and in silence. It's important lor creative work.

Secondly, high achievers are constantly finding themselves in new situations. They are ready to move to a new city, take a new job, pioneer a new technology. Often, high achievers must risk everything and face uncertainty.

Thirdly, usually high achievers are not understood by their peers. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "To be great, is to be misunderstood." If you study the biographies of high achievers, you will discover that most of these people were misunderstood, often by those closest to them who were unable to believe in their great future. If you set your course toward becoming a high achiever, don't expect even your closest relatives and associates to understand you. The most you can realistically hope for is that they will continue to love you.

2. Do you have a stronger inner urge to reach out? The urge to create, to achieve, to reach for new experiences is like a compressed spring inside the high achiever.

If you have this kind of creative urge, you have one of the necessary ingredients for becoming a high achiever.

3. What matters most to you? This is the key question for the high achiever. What do you value most? Is it money? Recognition? Material possessions? How much do you value some essential qualities of life? Some of these qualities are self-respect, pride of accomplishment, the capacity for love, and a positive outlook.

The path is often rough for the high achiever, and during those tough times you need more than material motivations to keep you moving.

4. What are you willing to invest? High achievement requires an enormous amount of energy, time, effort, and commitment.

Michelangelo, whose sculpture and paintings have been famous for more than four centuries, did not become a great painter and sculptor overnight. Although he had great talent and genius, his accomplishments came only after he had invested himself to the point of physical exhaustion in becoming one of the greatest artists who ever lived.

In answering the question - Do you have what it takes to become a high achiever? - you must answer the question: What are you willing to invest? The answer should be that you are willing to invest whatever it takes.

5. How much are you willing to endure? To that question those who want to be high achievers answer: "Whatever I must endure!" They learn to overcome difficulties and transform difficulties into opportunities.

6. What are you willing to give up? Most people want only comfortable living. High achievers must be ready to give up momentary pleasures and reach for their long-term goals.

Remember this: Whatever you give yourself to, it always becomes your master.

7. How much responsibility are you willing to take? There are many people who can do a job given to them. There is a great need for people who will take responsibility.

High achievers never complain about demanding jobs, little vacation time, or low benefits and salaries. They focus their attention on how they can do a better job for their employer, or even how they can start their own business and take on all of the responsibilities.

High achievement and responsibility go hand in hand.

8. Are you willing to start where you are? You must work hard to make your dreams come true. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single a step," says the wise old Oriental proverb. How many of us arc investing 8 hours each week developing our personal potential? Remember this: you can always get to where you want to go, if you arc willing to start where you are. Start doing what you can do. Step by step you'll reach your goal. If you can't be perfect, be the best you can.

9. Are you willing to think for yourself? One of the great myths that keep people from becoming high achievers is the idea that the harder you work, the more you will accomplish. It is true that there is no substitute for honest, hard work. However, it is equally important to achieve a balance between thought and action.

10. Arc you ready to achieve more then you have already achieved? Many people who have been high achievers are now failures because they stopped working to achieve a new goal. "Success has ruined many a man," wrote Benjamin Franklin.

You can, too! I believe that you have what it takes to become a high achiever. I believe that the potential for reaching high goals was placed within each of us by the Creator.

You, too, can climb great mountains. You, too, can stand on top of the world. You, too, can feel the joy of high achievement, if you're willing.

Are you willing?

Exercise 12. Answer the following questions.

1. What do you know about John Noe?

2. What are the most important characteristics of the high achiever, according to John Noe?

3. What qualities must the high achiever possess?

4. What obstacles must the high achiever overcome?

5. Do you find John Noe's questions helpful to people willing to be successful professionals?

6. What prominent people do you admire? Why?

Exercise 13. Comment on the following statements.

1. "A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step." (An Oriental proverb)

2. "If you can't be perfect, be the best you can." (J. R. Noe)

3. "Success has ruined many a man." (B. Franklin)

4. "Every man is the architect of his own fortune." (An English proverb)

5. "God helps those who help themselves." (An English proverb)

6. "You never know what you can do till you try." (An English proverb)

Дата добавления: 2015-04-29