The Success Mindset Of Great Leaders
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The Success Mindset
of
Great Leaders
The Success Mindset
of
Great Leaders
Other Books by this author
TO THE READER: M. Carling is my alter ego assumed for some books of fiction.
Books written under pseudonym, M. Carling:
Time Travel
And Then There Were None (released 2016)
Windswept Dunes – The Burning Heart
Windswept Dunes – The Singing Sands (released 2016)
Windswept Dunes – Chameleon (released 2016)
Books written under my real name, Yael Eylat-Tanaka:
Common Bits of Life
Dreams – Poems of the Mind
Lake of Silence
The Book of Values – An Inspirational Guide to Our Moral Dilemmas
The Compact Book of Values
Diet Proof Your Life – The Seven Essential Secrets of Success
Diet Proof Your Life Action Book
The Success Mindset of Great Leaders (It Ain’t The Money!)
Fractal Dactyls – Coloring Book for Adults
SCREAMS! Three Short Stories of Terror
Revenge of the Cat Woman
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The Natural Speaker – The Art of Going From Fear to Fearless and Leaving Them Speechless
Copyright 2016 @Yaël Eylat-Tanaka: The Success Mindset of Great Leaders (It Ain’t The Money!)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or emailing, recording or in any other form, in whole or in part, without prior permission of the author.
ISBN-13: 978-1533065353
ISBN-10: 1533065357
Email: Yael.prowordsmith@gmail.com
Acknowledgments
Many people have been instrumental in the creation of this book, from beloved professors to my family and friends who supported me during the preparation of this manuscript.
My very special thanks to my friend and colleague, Dr. John E. Christ for his unwavering support in steering my focus and helping me persist in my task to completion of this book.
Prologue
Are you happy?
Are you satisfied with your physical health?
Do you have enough money to enjoy life?
Do you love your family?
Do you have good friends?
Is enjoy your free time filled with activities and hobbies you enjoy?
Do you enjoy your job or occupation?
These questions are designed to elicit a psychological, emotional response. In fact, the deeper you delve into these questions, the more you will discover about yourself. These questions reflect how you feel about your life. Notice how you answered them: Was there a lot of “Yes, but …” or “Sure, if only they …” or “I wish!”
In the following pages, you will find that these intangibles are a matter of attitude – not observable, measurable indices. The life you lead is entirely within your control: How much money you have, what car you drive, the people you spend time with – all are within your control!
Read on. Allow the ideas herein to effect the change in your life that you are hungry for.
Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Foreword
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 Paradigm Shift
What Success Is – And Isn’t
Fall From Grace
The Quest For The Self
Chapter 2 Continuum of an Elusive Concept
Success is Not a Goal
The Components of Success
Chapter 3 The Seven Pillars of Success
Chapter 4 Essential Qualities of Success
Chapter 5 The Great Power of Tiny Changes
Chapter 6 Goals – Let’s Get Real
Chapter 7 The Great Leaders
Jesus.
Sigmund Freud.
Rene Descartes.
The Buddha.
Socrates.
Marcus Aurelius.
Aristotle.
Abraham Maslow.
Albert Schweitzer.
Albert Einstein.
Joseph Campbell.
Confucius.
Thomas Jefferson.
Concluding Remarks
Epilogue – The Binding Force
Bibliography
Foreword
Success is what everyone claims to want; and yet, few are able to adequately define what it is. For many, success is fame and fortune, yet those that really achieve that “goal” are relatively few. In fact, success is an ephemeral concept that needs constant shoring up and redefinition: Once you have achieved what you think is success, you have to keep working to maintain it! The definition of success is not a simple one, but the means to it are open to everyone who genuinely adopts its underlying principles. Curiously, many of those who do not enjoy what is popularly understood as success still claim to be happy. In fact, as we shall see, happiness is an integral part of the entire phenomenon of success.
All constructs, whether material or abstract, depend on certain building blocks; and all structures must have a foundation upon which to erect each subsequent level. Success is such a construct. From a sound foundation is built the edifice called success. The I-beams that support the roof must be constructed with integrity of materials and engineering catalysts if they are to support and reinforce the entire edifice. If one of these beams falters, cracks begin to appear, and in time the entire building can collapse. These beams are what the author calls pillars. They are not immediately intuitive, and require reflection to fully appreciate their relevance and importance in sustaining the overall structure called success. No one pillar stands alone; multiple pillars are needed to build enduring success, and those pillars must be well anchored if the building is to bear the test of time.
The ancient Greeks believed that a sound mind and a sound body are interrelated and intimately connected. The concept of success exists within such a paradigm. Without the physical in which the mind is embodied, existence is not possible. Therefore, attention to the integrity of the body does affect how the mind can achieve desired goals. It follows that there are always physical as well as nonphysical elements which go into creating the best possible outcomes. The author has identified seven principles as essential pillars for creating success, although she is careful to note that many more principles figure into the equation to a greater or lesser degree, overlapping and bolstering the seven discussed herein. The seven qualities specifically examined are physical, emotional, intellectual, professional, financial, social and spiritual.
1 The physical pillar represents our biological needs. Without physical wellbeing, stamina, food, drink and shelter, any efforts at self-improvement may be stymied by disabilities and impairments. Included is the environment: A homeless person does not have the same opportunity for success as one whose shelter and basic needs are met in a more secure environment. The author has included some notables in the field of physical health, including Kenneth Cooper, M.D. who has extolled the importance of active exercise and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a model of physical perfection in his career as bodybuilder.
1 The emotional pillar comprises all those elements that bring the psyche into focus. Without stability of this pillar, success may be impossible to attain and maintain, or indeed, to recognize. The teachings of Freud, Adler, and Jung, amongst many, focus on this aspect of success.
1 The intellectual pillar brings together all the education and training taken toward achieving lifetime goals. Albert Einstein immediately comes to mind as the best example. Intellectual prowess opens endless horizons, as does education and opportunity for learning and a nurturing intellectual curiosity. Enduring success depends on this pillar.
1 The professional pillar is actually a combination of education productivity with dedication to a set goal. Being a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief requires staunchness and single-minded commitment to the task. Here we can look to Jonas Salk and Louis Pasteur as examples of professionalism leading toward success. Indeed, many more visionary industrialists grace the pages of history as having risen to professional heights in the service of society. The author has included many such names in the text.
1 The financial pillar depends on a spectrum of abilities and foresight. The fiscal acumen and abilities of J.P. Morgan and Dale Carnegie are good examples to follow. But as we shall see, it is not the accumulation of money that spells success; rather, it is the feeling of accomplishment rather than financial gain that is at stake. Taken together with the other pillars, along with cogent planning, financial ability can prove to be a potent source of benefit to oneself as it is to society.
1 The social pillar at first glance may seem superficial; however, it is the connections with others that may facilitate the achievement of long-term goals.
1 The spiritual pillar comprises all those intangible pursuits, such as spiritual belief and personal meditation. In our time, we have seen Mother Teresa and Pope Francis reach out with compassion to great effect. An ability to reflect and meditate, and more importantly, to appreciate one’s gifts, might well be the most important pillar of all.
None of the above attributes can stand alone. Just as a temple is constructed upon several pillars, so is that nebulous and mysterious concept of success. What can the following pages do? The most important message might be that there is no absolute secret for success. Success is a matter of focus and determination with no time schedule. It is a continuum. Everyone will move forward at a different rate. If fame and fortune are seen as the end result, many will be disappointed. However, small gains accrued over time build toward real accomplishment and may eventually lead to the desired fame and fortune. The Aesop story of the hare and the tortoise is relevant when we think about it.
This book is meant as a guide to practices and approaches that too often are subtle and abstract. The seven pillars are not exclusive; there are many more that can be included. Once the principles outlined here are assimilated and practiced, success is the inevitable end result. The journey may be long or short, easy or difficult, but in any case, it is a journey everyone can take and see results in their favor. Read on as you tread on the path of your own journey to success.
The author of this book is no stranger to the elements leading to success. In a lifetime of personal reflection and meditation, she has identified over 140 values essential in living life to the fullest. She has compiled them in The Book of Values, an inspiring tome meant to be read over and over. Success is not a singular experience, but a collection colored by a spectrum of personal qualities. Qualities such as integrity and dependability may be self-explanatory; others such as bushido and curiosity may need further reflection. In the end, however, it may well be gratitude that matters most. We must recognize and acknowledge the influences that got us to our present life; whether we reached our goal with magnanimity and grace, or are still on our journey.
The topic of success is huge. Embarking on a total makeover may be overwhelming. Small steps in all endeavors are easier to achieve. When broken down into small steps, all endeavors are eminently easier to accomplish. It is a matter of prioritizing and dividing goals into manageable parcels. One of the most intractable pursuits is maintaining one’s weight. The author has taken her experience to propose how to overcome the problem of excessive weight. Her formula is found in Diet Proof Your Life: The Seven Essential Secrets of Success. The elements of success in this endeavor are similar to those espoused in The Book of Values.
As you will see, success depends on active participation, full engagement, and reflection of everything that is important to living a full life.
John E. Christ, MD, Ph.D.
Tampa, 2015
INTRODUCTION
“If you are so talented, why ain’t you rich?” I have heard variations on this theme many times throughout my life, always with an undertone of reproach or downright mockery.
The message is clear: talent means success; success means wealth. That success might have many other components usually does not factor in such sentiments. Indeed, I have often wondered about my own accomplishments: I have many talents, and some of them have served me quite well. But if success is measured by monetary gains, a 6-figure salary, a Rolls Royce in the garage and a fat bank account, then I am most definitely not in that camp! According to that model, I have not “made it.”
A corollary to the above is the comment, “If you’re so rich, why are you still working?” Again, the assumption is that once you have “made it” and have amassed enough money, you should lie back with a Margarita in a hammock on the beach, and watch life go by. In fact, it is quite popular to trumpet the merits of retiring early, with some notables retiring in their 20s, 30s or 40s.
Is that success?
Donald Trump has said, “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score; the real excitement is playing the game.” I agree wholeheartedly. Many in today’s society would eschew this remark as being disingenuous; but, in fact, money is only a means to an end and is only valuable as a score card. This may well validate the cynics’ viewpoint that if one has talent, the “score card” should reflect it. But they would be missing a great point contained in the above quote: the excitement inherent in playing the game.
Our lives have become riddled with information overload, projects to complete, extracurricular activities, and demanding work schedules. We are constantly bombarded with all manner of promotions, television ads, social media sites, direct mail offers and online seminars, all ostensibly designed to improve our lives. “Achieve all that you can!” they announce; “Make More Money!“ “Reach for The Stars!” “Be All That You Can Be!” “Shatter Your Self-Made Barriers!” they trumpet. To be sure, many of those programs are based on sound scientific research and are no doubt legitimate. It is not the programs themselves that need to be challenged; it is their focus.
I wrote this book to impart my feeling that success is much more than money and riches. Real wealth is life itself - health, friendships, family ties, connections, serenity. They elevate the human spirit and embody qualities of gratitude for every aspect of life. Anyone who has weathered adversity and survived unscathed, nay, better for having endured it, is said to be wealthy beyond avarice. That is success.
We all possess within ourselves the makings of greatness. This is not some airy-fairy proclamation, another affirmation to recite while twisted in an arcane yoga posture. It is more than positive thinking. It is an immutable truth: Human beings have the capacity to reach enormous heights as ambassadors and facilitators of progress, technology and the betterment of mankind. To be sure, there are many impediments to the achievement of greatness, yet one of the most insidious can be understood by a single principle: a bad attitude, a blindness to the riches of life; the inability to acknowledge or recognize success as representing all of life, the difficulties as well as the triumphs.
The antidote is a paradigm shift.
Chapter 1
Paradigm Shift
What Success Is – And Isn’t
Success is one of those fluid words that has become a catch-all in our modern lexicon to denote anything from a sought-after promotion to being drafted by one’s favorite football team. The meaning most frequently attached to the word is a measure of financial windfall that would spell the realization of all of one’s dreams. Wealth and prestige symbolize success, perhaps because of the impression that if one has accomplished a great feat, his or her financial wherewithal should represent that accomplishment. After all, what would be the point of creating great art or struggling to climb the corporate ladder if financial rewards were not part of the end game?
I believe that the concept of success must be reassessed. Was van Gogh a success? Not by today’s standards. He struggled to sell his paintings, was depressed and erratic in behavior and died a poor man. Yet his work is displayed and admired in some of the most prestigious museums of the world, and his paintings fetch incredible sums at auction. What about former President Jimmy Carter. Could he be labeled a success? He was the leader of the free world for a shining moment, then retired to a mundane life of philanthropy by building homes for the poor and disenfranchised.
Hollywood celebrities, Wall Street moguls, even many politicians might grace the pages of prestigious magazines because of their influence on culture, their financial acumen, or their business savoir faire. They represent a form of success that we have come to revere, admire and strive for. As a society, we have been indoctrinated in the precepts of materialism and accomplishment as the symbols of a life well lived. Wealth itself seems to be code for success.
Fall From Grace
We adore celebrities. We put them on a pedestal, deservedly or not. Their only claim to fame might be a film that grossed millions of dollars or scoring the greatest number of home runs. Indeed, we are downright surprised when one of these luminaries is caught red handed in a scheme, or worse, a crime.
I am reminded of a celebrity in the field of golf, Tiger Woods. Handsome, accomplished, talented, with a stunningly beautiful wife and adorable children. He engaged in some unsavory extracurricular activity, and as would be expected, his wife divorced him amid a public and shameful scandal, many of his sponsors canceled their contracts with him, and he lost a significant portion of his previous fortune. Worse, his popularity suffered gravely, and I can only imagine that his self-esteem fared no better.
Professional ball players can command obscene salaries, are adulated by the star-struck masses and held up as paragons of success. They are interviewed by prominent journalists, appear on the covers of eminent magazines, are rewarded by sponsors with marketing deals that further promote them and use their image as emblematic of the product they are promoting, thus subliminally associating their perceived success with the product they represent. We rarely pause and reflect on their character. If one of these celebrities should appear in the news for having committed a faux pas, much less an outright crime, the media rallies to cover the events surrounding the act, analyzing possible motives, debating whether a public apology would be effective, and otherwise covering the perpetrator and his or her peccadillos ad nauseam. Recall the months-long television coverage of the double-murder trial of O.J. Simpson. What was it about him that deserved so much scrutiny? Why was the public so enamored of every lurid detail of his murder trial? Yes, he was once a famous football player, and had parlayed his fame to sports casting as television commentator, as well as appearing in some forgettable movies. Is that what we hold up as success?
It seems that the mere attainment of some measure of fame – or perhaps notoriety – pushes us to seek juicy tidbits of that person’s life. The pages of gossip magazines are filled with stories about fatuous Hollywood or Wall Street bigwigs, and every detail of their lives is splashed in the media for all to drool over. And as a society, we oblige. The tabloid headlines exist precisely because the public demands them.
These celebrities are far from unique in taking liberties with their personal values. It seems that fame and wealth, adoring fans, prestige and adulation are tickets to a decaying sense of right and wrong. If that is true, the obvious question becomes why? What is the connection between the accumulation of goods and glory and the relinquishment of basic principles? Is this the price we pay for the trappings of what we have come to associate with success?
The reason we worship celebrities is that we wish to vicariously enjoy some of their success – or what we believe is success. If we buy that gorgeous dress we saw on Angelina Jolie, or if we buy that Cadillac, then we, too, will be sexy and glamorous, and some of Matthew McConaughey’s mystique might rub off on us. We too will feel desirable and popular. If we use that aftershave or drink that brand beer, we too will swim in the pool of allure and prestige. We can imagine hearing cool jazz wafting through the walls as we fantasize ourselves strolling into an elegant room dressed in a tuxedo, all eyes upon us, the women clamoring for a mere sideways glance in our direction.
Is that success? Are we so deficient in self-esteem that we must lap after specters?
We must reappraise the people or causes we admire as our heroes. We must ask ourselves whether they are worthy of the celebrity we accord them. We fall heads over heels for the subliminal messages of advertising, while rarely examining the inner lives or motives of the objects of our adoration, or indeed, our own; whatever contributions we make – good and bad – to our own lives and the lives of others.
The “Me” generation has not disappeared into the limelight, supplanted by a less self-centered, more magnanimous generation. The “Me” generation has simply morphed into Gen Y, Gen X or Millennials - a breed that remains on the continuum of following what feels good, what is expedient right now, ever focused on the inner mantra of “what’s in it for me.”
The Quest For The Self
How can we move from a selfish, self-centered attitude of consumption to one that is more holistic and healthy? Indeed, is there anything with the spirit and desire to accumulate? The answers may not be self-evident.
Humans evolved to live in groups, and that implies a considerable measure of cooperation among members. Looking out for Number One and conspicuous consumption are unhealthy elements of our present-day society as these attitudes do not promote cohesiveness of the group. In fact, quite the contrary: They promote divisiveness and competition. These attitudes imply scarcity: If you are eating a lavish meal, there will not be enough for me.
You may think it is not a big deal. Humans no longer live in caves and do not need to hunt wild game in groups, or stand watch at night lest the tribe be eaten by marauding packs of dogs. You may think that our evolution has brought us to a state of technological advances that have mitigated our need for each other, the companionship that protected us in ancient times. You may think that now that we are wealthier and can afford our toys, we no longer need to think of others in the same way, or that if we attend church every Sunday, that should be enough “society” to carry us for another week.