Andy Andrews

What sets you apart?

what-sets-you-apart-is-the-difference-you-makeIn a world where achievement is expected and measured every day, how can someone stand out? What sets you apart is the difference you make in the world being you. Why do we work so hard to fit in? You are unique and meant to stand out.

“Strengths lie in differences, not in similarities.” – Stephen Covey

The college application process is very competitive. Good grades and high SAT scores are only the entrance fee. Colleges want to know what sets you apart. Did you play sports, or a musical instrument? So did a lot of other applicants. But what you have done to make a difference using your grades, sports or musical talent is unique to you.

Applying for a job? Education and experience are expected. But what you have done with your education and experience. How have you made a difference in the world?

If you want the best chance to get into the college of your choice, or get the job you desire, go ahead and tell your story, how does it all fit together into the unique you?

“If you want to make a difference you have to be different.” – Andy Andrews

If you aren’t in the right place to apply to college or for that job, then you have the opportunity to look for ways to set yourself apart and use what you have to make a difference.

“It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you use that makes a difference.”– Zig Ziglar

Do you deserve success?

success climbYes you deserve success. Not only do you deserve success, you need to be successful.

Andy Andrews is a wonderful author and a gifted speaker. I attended one talk where he spoke about people in the world that will be able to one day help his young sons in some way. He didn’t know who they were, or when or how they would help, but was sure that their paths would cross. In order for his sons to be all they could be, he needed these people to be all they could be.

In his book, The Butterfly Effect, Andy says it like this, “Everything you do matters. Every move you make, every action you take matters. Not just to you, or your family, or your business or hometown. Everything you do matters to all of us forever…There are generations yet unborn, whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take.”

So for those of you who doubt whether you deserve success, here are three steps you can take to get you back on that path of success that we all need you to be on:

Define success differently

Too often we define success as our personal achievement – how much more we got this time. True, fulfilling, success is not you getting more, it is you helping others get more. When your definition of success shifts to be this outward focus, it is easier to believe you deserve success.

“Success is finding satisfaction in giving a little more than you take.” – Christopher Reeve

Define your past differently

Your past mistakes are only failures if you fail to learn from them. When finding a way to positively deal with mistakes Napoleon Hill advised, “Ask yourself: What did I learn from this experience that I can put to good use next time?”  If you view your past in this light, you will not get discouraged and continue to believe you deserve success.

Long time Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger said, “The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.”

Define your future differently

The best thing you can do to be a success is work to be the best you, you can be, and surround yourself with others who are the best they, they can be. Together you can accomplish great things. If you focus your future on simply being everything you were made to be, you will believe you deserve success.

“Success is…knowing you did your best to become the person you are capable of becoming.”– John Wooden

Leadership is Transformation

transformation-is-not-a-future-event-it-is-a-present-activityThe ultimate goal for every leader should be transformation.  Long term success requires continuous transformation for every company, team, and individual.  No company, team or individual can just stand still and succeed.  So if you want to transform a company you do it through its teams.  If you want to transform teams you do it through its individuals.  Therefore, all transformation is achieved through individuals.

Successful leaders know that you don’t try to transform people into what you want them to be.  You can only equip and empower people to transform into everything they can be – and only if they want to. After all, “A caterpillar only becomes a butterfly if it wants to fly so much that it is willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

Here are three key points about transformation that each individual must learn to succeed:

Transformation is possible  You may not be satisfied with your job, accomplishments, or the impact you have had on the world – so do something.  If you don’t like where you are then change, you are not a tree. You have the power to change where you are, or change right where you are. 

You decide where you plant your roots. One option for transformation is to change locations.  Get a new start.  There are opportunities all around you.  However, before you decide to pack up and leave consider that you are where you are right now in part because of you past actions.  Will you find yourself unsatisfied somewhere else?  As yourself if you have bloomed to your fullest potential right where you are?  John Maxwell has a great quote that says, “If you think the grass is greener on the other side then water your own lawn.”

Transformation takes planning  If only I could…says those that don’t.  What would you like to transform into?  Nothing happens overnight except the sunset and the sunrise.  Wherever you would like to be one year from now will take you 365 days to get there.  What is your plan for tomorrow to get you one step closer to your transformation?

“Success is more about momentum around small wins than it is about big wins.” – Tom Peters

Transformation means change  Obtaining more than you have right now will require change.  Now that change could come from other people, your circumstances, your opportunities, or from you.  Of all of those possible changes, the only one you can control is you.  So while the world around you might change to meet your desires I wouldn’t suggest you count on that happening.  You will get what you seek quicker if you change first to at least meet the world halfway. 

Remember the wise words of Jones from Andy Andrews’ book The Noticer Returns, “If you want to make a difference you have to be different.”

 

You have more control than you think. Ask How.

solving problemsDo you like your current circumstances? Ask yourself how you got there? Would you like to change your circumstances? Ask yourself how you got there? Why am I telling you to ask yourself this question? As Tony Robbins says, “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask yourself.”

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