It Is Up To You

So, you want to get promoted. The possibility really lies in your own hands. Remember the trite but true saying, "If it is to be, it is up to me!" Don't wait for things to happen. Set yourself apart from the crowd and make things happen. Most people look outward for success. They look for someone else to appreciate them, someone else to promote them, someone else to motivate them. Success is not external shining in, it is internal radiating out. If you look for other people to define your success or happiness, you will never find your full measure of either. If you want a promotion, set up the conditions to get promoted. Don't dwell on your limitations or what you can't do. Instead, look to magnify and capitalize on your strengths and potential. Spend energy focusing on finding Incremental Advantages and changing and improving areas you can. Big success is built on a series of small successes.

You, Inc. Whether you acknowledge it or not, you are self employed regardless of who signs your paycheck. Failure to recognize this leads to dependence on others and a failure to develop your single most valuable asset - you! Even if you are an employee, you are basically self employed. You are your own personal services corporation selling to one customer in this case, your employer. Whether you earn minimum wage or are in the top bracket of income earners, your business entity, You, Inc., is at the heart of your earning. The quickest route to earning more money is to provide more value to your organization. The more you develop your skills, talents, abilities, attitudes and efforts into value for your employer or your clients, the more you earn and are worth.

Add To Your Value Create a personal balance sheet for yourself. List your assets and your liabilities in the areas of knowledge, talents, skill set, abilities and attitude. Your liabilities in reality are only what you have yet to learn and apply to improve the items on the asset side. What are you doing to push the boundaries and improve the production capability of You, Inc.? Keep learning. The best education is the application of knowledge to your goals. Incremental learning is like climbing a mountain. The more you climb, the more you see and the better you can improve your perspective of all that is below you. The more knowledge and information you gather and put to use, the easier it is to gain new information and apply that information to your life.

Try The Inversarian Approach During rush hour of a major city where most people live in the suburbs, most of the traffic is going out. An inversarian strategy would be to live in the city and work in the suburbs to avoid the traffic created by the masses. Inversarian is observing what the masses are doing and then doing the opposite. To separate from the crowd, use the inversarian principle to your advantage. Most people do little more than expected of them. Doing more than expected and providing more value sets you significantly apart. You only rise in an organization or get true rewards when you put forth effort and prove your worth. Parlay small successes into larger successes and magnify your results. This is really compound success like compound interest. The gains will at first be small and imperceptible. As you apply and reinvest your gains they become more significant. "Stack The Logs!" - reinvest in your wins and small gains. Stack up those small victories. Eventually the pile grows and others take notice.

Do More Than Expected Your goal is to make yourself indispensable. You promote yourself through actions and attitudes and ultimately separate yourself from the crowd waiting for the arrival of the S.S. Entitlement.

Separate Yourself From The Crowd ? Take initiative. A person with strong personal initiative is basically a leader of self. The mass of people wait for circumstances.

• Be a catalyst. One motivated individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage and faith to be the yeast.

• Take on more work and look for ways to build value in your organization through becoming a problem solver.

• Take on projects that challenge and teach you new skills, so you grow in value in your current or future organizations.

• Find opportunities to do things better and more efficiently than it has been done before.

• To get paid more, provide more service following the law of harvest - sow and reap.

• Work hard. Great success comes from hard work directed toward a clearly-defined goal. The harder you work, the "luckier" you will likely be.

Sometimes this means coming in early and staying late. It may mean doing what is asked to the best of your ability, then doing more. When these things are done with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, it creates separation from the crowd and can lead to that promotion you've been working towards.

"The best way to predict the future is to CREATE IT!" -Peter F. Drucker

This is an excerpt from Frank F. Lunn's book Stack The Logs! Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams. This live-your-life-by-design book is part of the Empowerment series published by Kahuna Business Group. Click here to order and start living the life you desire?and deserve.

To learn more about the STACK Strategy or to take control of your life?purchase Stack the Logs! visit www.stackthelogs.com or email frank@stackthelogs.com. One-tenth of the selling price of $19.95 will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to further the work of: "Finding cures. Saving children."

About The Author

Frank F. Lunn is an expert in leadership, marketing, and small business entrepreneurship. A former military officer and Gulf War veteran, Lunn is the founder of the Kahuna Business Group, a $20 million annual company. Lunn is the author of STACK THE LOGS!: Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams, pledging to donate 10 percent of all sales to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where his son's life was saved.

tim@kahunaworld.com