“Many people fail to realize that the first thing that slows up operations is an element of caution, fatigue or doubt on the part of a higher commander. [General George S.] Patton is never affected by these and as a consequence, his troops are not affected.”
— General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Doubt is contagious. If you hang around people infected with doubt, it will latch on to you.
Doubt also builds on itself. The more you doubt and second-guess yourself the more you’ll doubt and second guess yourself.
Courage is contagious. If you hang around people infected with courage, it will latch on to you.
Courage also builds on itself. The more you act with courage and refuse to second-guess yourself the more you’ll act with courage and be free from second-guessing yourself.
(And honestly – where would you be today if you’d given up doubt and second guessing just twelve months ago? Ponder that.)
In every situation there are reasons to doubt. And there are reasons to be courageous.
In the very same situation, some will see reason to doubt, and they will hang back.
Others will see reason to move ahead, and they will move.
Two people notice and magnify different parts of the very same picture. Then they take different actions and get wildly different results.
If you hang around with people who brood about how they can’t afford things, you’ll spend your life unable to afford things.
Not because you actually can’t afford things, but because you won’t know where to look to see the money. You’ll become so habitually used to looking where it isn’t that you won’t turn your head just a bit to see where it is.
If you hang around with people who believe they CAN afford things – you end up able to afford whatever you want. Which is merely a manifestation of choosing personal power.
Not because you will always have the money right then in your bank account. But because you will learn to see opportunities that most people simply walk right past.
And you’ll have the courage to jump on those opportunities while most behind you are busy doubting and second-guessing themselves. “Will it really, really work? Maybe this isn’t the right way to do it?” And so on.
It’s all about what you pay attention to.
But what you pay attention to is a LEARNED skill. Around here we call it Mental Toughness.
Waking up today, your current situation contains reasons to doubt your direction. It also contains reasons to be rock solid in your resolve.
For most of us, our default is to worry. To doubt. To second-guess.
But that’s just because we’ve not been trained. Drilled repeatedly in the habits of mental toughness.
Which is why we start our Plenty of Clients Mastery Program calls with a segment called “The Mental Toughness Drill.”
Or just “The Drill” for short.
Becoming mentally tough is a prerequisite for leadership, influence and income.
As we work with you to build a simple, repeatable marketing and selling system, you are going to hit obstacles. You’re going to have doubts. Second-guess yourself.
If you’re trying to do all this alone, then you’re bound to hit up against the ceiling of your own perception.
But when you’re in the trenches daily with people who have grown a higher ceiling, your own ceiling grows too.
You learn to see what they see. To think the way they think. And to grow as they’ve grown.
…You’ll never be the same again.
That’s why Eisenhower recommended Patton as a battle field commander par excellence.
People need leaders who help them see not the doubt (there’s always reason for doubt, remember) but to see the few things that will actually move you forward.
When you feel your time has come to abandon the faux comfort of doubt and hanging back, you might be ready for my “Plenty of Clients Mastery Program.”
(Drop me an email and let me know why it’s time)
Doubts about it? Yeah, there are reasons not to go there.
You can focus on them, stand back and let others grab the openings first. 🙂
Or you can do like Patton – and just move.
Dov Gordon
