Is This YOU?

Great post man, that used to describe me to the letter.

I "got lucky" when I was 19 - it was 1998, right place and right time to be an Internet startup, and my partners and I made a killing in the web hosting business (about $3 million in the first two years). We were among the original dotcom kids - and like pretty much everyone else in that era, we had no idea what we were doing, pissed it away, and had nothing to show for it a few years later.

But because success had been achieved, albeit short lived, and because so many other startups failed around the same time period, we had a victim mentality about it... that we were still smarter than everyone around us and didn't need to listen to any "old school advice from Dinosaurs", the next big payday was just one project away. Or so I thought. I kept that ego for years... until I learned that one of the guys who had given me advice I ignored later became one of the chief strategists behind Rackspace. I started thinking about what he had said way back then, and how those exact same policies and strategies he suggested I implement were the exact things Rackspace ended up doing. It hit me like a ton of bricks that that could have been me ... that I could still be running that first company (or sold it and retired), if I had done the things this guy suggested. Instead, I ignored what he said while my partners and I proceeded to run our little one-hit-wonder into the ground.

It was an expensive lesson, but a good one. Because once it sunk in, I started paying attention to what successful people were doing instead of always trying to find a quicker/easier way. Those little things companies do that seem stupid and tedious, those dumb policies and procedures that didn't make any sense... they're there for a reason. I just wasn't experienced enough to understand those reasons at the time. I'm in my mid 30's now and have done pretty well for myself, but I'm still learning from the guys that are in their 50's. Some of them are still learning from the guys in their 70's.

If a successful person tells you to do something, listen. But even more important than that ... if a person who has fallen off the success ladder tells you not to do something, listen even closer. It's a lot cheaper to learn from someone else's mistakes than to re-make the same ones yourself.

the difference between positive thinking..and a positive mindset .. is with th positive mindset you are willing to identify the negatives and possible challenges and make preparations so you are ready if bad things happen .

if you are really trying to lose weight .. instead of buying ice cream and testing your willpower by trying only to eat a little from time to time ..when you are in the store do not buy it ..or better yet buy the small serving of the luxury brand they you can eat all at once .

become aware of your behaviors and how they support each other which allows you to change behaviors in a way that lasts .

Thanks for sharing your experience Ron,

I could not of agreed more to what you have said. An ego can very quickly become a mans/ woman's worst enemy!

Congratulations on your first shot at it though 3m is a magical number. I first tried IM at 16 .. Bought a ton of gimmicky products and then quit as of the debt I got into... Now I am in a far better situation several years later. Main reason - following an already successful person.

Some great advice to be had here.

Thanks again,

Red

Red, I like good straightforward threads like yours that speak from the experience of doing.

It never fails to satisfy something in me that apparently needs to hear that kind of personal experience encouragement. Encouragement that makes absolute sense is what I'm talking about.

Thanks, Red.

LLS