The Cowboy Story Part 2: Conclusion. WHAT MADE COWBOY A SUCCESS?

 

I promised to conclude the Cowboy Story in this new post, I am sure you have waited for this time. Thanks for all your wonderful contributions and I have learned so much. This has become a theme of my discussion with some young people lately. The vision and mindset of Cowboy are what we all need, that is my opinion. Then how did it end? 

Let us take time to read: In this concluding post, I tried to lay out some thoughts that will benefit us in all our endeavors: 

....What made Cowboy a success? Was it because he was a hard worker? That helped. Was it because he was smarter than everyone else? No. He knew nothing about the telephone business when he started. So what was it? I believe it was because he knew the Ya Gotta's for Success:

He was focused on success. He knew that's what he wanted and he went after it.

He took responsibility. He took responsibility for where he was, who he was , and what he was (a ranch hand). Then he took action to make it different.

He made a decision to leave the ranch in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and to look for opportunities to become a success.

He changed. There was no way that he could keep doing the things that he had been doing and receive different results. And he was willing to do what was necessary to make success happen for him.

He had vision and goals. He saw himself as a success. He also had written down specific goals. He wrote down the four items that he intended to accomplish and put them on the wall in front of him. He saw those goals every day and focused on their accomplishment.

He put action to his goals and stayed with it even when it got tough. It wasn't always easy for him. He experienced slumps like everyone does. He got more doors slammed in his face and telephones in his ear than any salesperson I have ever known. But he never let it stop him. He kept on going.

He asked. Boy, did he ask! First, he asked me for a chance, then he asked nearly all the people he came across if they wanted to buy a telephone system from him. And his asking paid off. As he likes to put it, "Even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while." That simply means that if you ask enough, eventually someone will say yes.

He cared. He cared about me and his customers. He discovered that when he cared more about taking care of his customers than he cared about taking care of himself, it wasn't long before he didn't have to worry about taking care of himself.

Most of all, Cowboy started every day as a winner! He hit the front door expecting something good to happen. He believed that things were going to go his way regardless of what happened. He had no expectation of failure, only an expectation of success. And I've found that when you expect success and take action on that expectation, you almost always get success.

Cowboy has made millions of dollars. He has also lost it all, only to get it all back again. In his life as in mine, it has been that once you know and practice the principles of success, they will work for you again and again.

He can also be an inspiration to you. He is proof that it's not environment or education or technical skills and ability that makes you a success. He proves that it takes more: It takes the principles we so often overlook or take for granted. These are the principles of the Ya Gotta's for Success.

The biggest inhibitor to change lies within you, and nothing will get better for you until YOU change. 

- Dr. Spencer Johnson