Johnny ran into the living room and jumped on his grandpa's lap. "Grandpa, will you help me build a birdhouse? Grandma says I can hang it on the old apple tree."

"Sure," said Fred Myers, Johnny's grandpa.

Johnny loved visiting his grandparents. There was always so much fun to be had on the farm. Johnny and his grandpa made their way out the squeaky screen door in the kitchen. It was a hot sticky fall evening. The big barn was full of all kinds of neat things. There was the old tractor grandpa would give Johnny and his little sister Susie rides on, there was the hayloft where Johnny had built his fort, and of course there was Gertrude, the old milk cow. As soon as they walked in Gertrude gave them her usual greeting, "Mooooooooo."

They walked over to Grandpa's old workbench. Grandpa reached up and pulled some wood off the shelf above the bench. "This will do fine. What do you think Johnny?" Little Johnny's eyes lit up with the thought of building a birdhouse with Grandpa. "It looks great Grandpa."

"Well, the first thing we need to do is get all the tools we need. Let's see, we need a hammer and some nails, tape measure, pencil, and of course a saw." As he said this, Grandpa reached up and pulled an old rusty beat up saw off a hook.

"Oh, Grandpa, can't we use the new one?" said Johnny.

"This one will do fine."

"But it's all rusty."

"There is a lot of experience in that rust. Sit down Johnny. Let me tell you something. Just because a tool or a person is old doesn't mean they don't have great value. This old saw taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life." Grandpa then went on to tell Johnny about the old saw.

"That old saw and I have been through a lot together," continued Grandpa. "I wasn't much older than you. Your great grandpa told me to go saw down the old dead pear tree back in the woods behind our house. I grabbed my saw and headed out the door. After about 10 minutes, I reached the old tree. I figured I could have it sawed down in 15 minutes and back home in two shakes. Boy, was I wrong. I sawed and I sawed and I sawed. Vrrrrrrrrmmm, Vrrrrrrrrrmmmm went my saw. But I wasn't making much progress."

"I had been out there about 50 minutes when I heard a voice calling me. 'What are you doing there young man?' It was Mr. Brody the owner of the farm next door. I am cutting down this tree I said. 'Looks like you have been out here a long time. You are pretty sweaty.' I told him I had been out there a long time and that I was pooped. Mr. Brody said, 'Why don't you go sharpen that saw?' I protested that I didn't have time. That my pa wanted the tree cut down. 'Well, the way I see it son is that you don't have time not to sharpen your saw.' Mr. Brody taught me that day that preparing for success is more important than the process of success. Do you understand Johnny?"

"Yea, Grandpa."

"What do you think we ought to do first Johnny?"

"Sharpen that old saw," said Johnny.

"That's right. Let's prepare for success."

On that day, Johnny and Grandpa worked and talked and had a wonderful time. And about that old saw. It sang like it had never sung before.

Isn't that the way many of us are? We jump right into the process of success and never take the time to prepare for success. Why is that? "Well I have been doing it this way for 15 years. I can't change now." I think it was Einstein who said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." My friend, if we truly want to succeed than we have to change our strategy and prepare for success. So, how do we prepare for success? Well, I have three suggestions for us to do just that. We must read, listen, and model.

First we need to read our way to success. Did you know, that if we commit to reading one book a month in whatever area we each want to develop ourselves in, that in five years we will be in the top five percent of experts in that area in the world? WOW! That is powerful. It also tells us how few people take action on this. Now, what is the time commitment for something like this? For the average reader probably 15-30 minutes a day. That's it.

Second we need to listen our way to success. Some of you may be saying, "I don't have an extra 15-30 minutes a day to read. I don't have time!" But let me ask you this, how long does it take you to drive to work or school? What did you say, 15, 30, 45 minutes or more? Why don't you use that time? I know what you are thinking, "Mark, I can't read and drive at the same time." I agree, you shouldn't read and drive at the same time. But we have a benefit they didn't have many years ago. We have available to us audio books and audio seminars/programs. This is what I suggest, seven and a half minutes on your way to work or school and seven and a half minutes on your way home, pop in an audio program. There is your 15 minutes in time you already have. If you really want to listen your way to success, statistics show that on an average commute (and some of you have longer than an average commute) that if you listen to audio programs whenever you are in the car that in three years you will have acquired the equivalence knowledge of a two year associates degree. So, where do we get audio programs? We can get audio programs many places-libraries, Cracker Barrel Restaurants, stores, etc. You can also get them from my websites www.MarkBowser.com and www.TakeActionSales.com. So, what are you waiting for--Listen your way to success! In fact, right now, at www.TakeActionSales.com, you can get a free audio book narrated by me of Russell Conwell's classic Acres of Diamonds by signing up for our free newsletter. Just go to www.TakeActionSales.com.

And three, we need to model our way to success. Now, I am not talking about fashion modeling. I am talking about modeling or learning from the lives of successful people. Read biographies, talk to people, and even get a mentor. It is amazing what we can learn from someone else. So, how do we prepare for success? We read, listen and model. Let's go to it.

Adapted and excerpted from Mark Bowser's book Unlocking the Champion Within. For information on how you can purchase a copy, please email us at info@MarkBowser.com.



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Most people consider me an optimist because I laughingly state that I would take my last two dollars and buy a money belt. I'd even go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, and take the tartar sauce with me! However, I've got to confess that I don't hold a candle to the ultimate lady optimist who lived in a retirement home. One day, a distinguished-looking gentleman also became a resident. As luck would have it, the first day they sat across the table from each other at lunch. After a few minutes he grew uncomfortable because she was staring intently at him. He finally expressed his discomfort and queried her as to why she was staring. She responded that she was staring because he reminded her so much of her third husband--same demeanor, same smile, same height, weight--everything. The gentleman replied in some shock, "Third husband! How many times have you been married?" The lady smilingly said, "Twice." Yup. That's optimism!

I've got to confess I'm a pragmatic optimist myself. I love the story of the gentleman who was being given a tour of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Tel Aviv. The tour guide was pointing out the features of the incredible structure. The stonework was unbelievably beautiful. The wall tapestries, paintings, gold inlays, etc., were absolutely gorgeous. Finally, the tourist said, "I assume you named the facility for Horace Mann, the famous author." The tour guide answered with a smile, "No, we named it after Frederick Mann from Philadelphia." The tourist remarked, "Frederick Mann? What did he write?" The tour guide said, "A check." Now, that's being pragmatic!

It might interest you to know that the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary identifies the optimist in complimentary terms, but says nothing about the pessimist. The word "pessimist" was not in our vocabulary at that time. It's a modern "invention" which I believe we should "dis-invent." I encourage you to become an optimist--a pragmatic one, that is, because if you do, I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Zig Ziglar is a well-loved motivational speaker and author. You can find more pearls of wisdom from Zig on his weekly newsletter. To find out more about Zig's books and CDs and to subscribe to the free newsletter go to his website, www.ziglar.com

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