If Elephants Could Change Their Mindsets ...

Urban legend has it that elephants are afraid of mice. Well, that’s not really true. Elephants are actually one of the more fearless animals in the world and they also have an excellent memory.  However, they are not the brightest creatures or they would realize that they could kick the stake they are tied or chained to (at the zoo or circus) into next week if they wanted to.

You see, elephants are tied to stakes as babies and no matter how hard they pull and tuck they can’t get loose. I already mentioned the incredible memory elephants have. So even when they are fully grown they remember that they couldn’t escape when they were tied down when they were little so they figure they still can’t and don’t even try.

Good thing we aren’t elephants.

We are humans and as such we know better. We know we can change if we set our mind to it.

I wasn’t brought up in an environment where personal development skills seemed important. My husband on the other hand was always reading or listening to tapes to improve himself. If you checked out his library you would find your usual big name personal development authors and trainers.

It all changed when I started getting into network marketing.

I found that I didn’t have the skills I needed to be an entrepreneur. Being street smart is good, but not enough. Now I can’t get my hands on enough personal development training and my own library keeps growing. I realized how important it is to work on “YOURSELF” instead of anything else. You can’t give what you don’t have.

Although network marketing is now taught on some colleges, most of us didn’t have any formal training when we got started. So we had to acquire the skills it takes to become an entrepreneur from somewhere else. And so will you if you want to be successful in this industry.

First and foremost you will have to work on your “employee” mindset.

If you have been working a job for the past 10 plus years, than you probably have the mindset of an employee. You are usually told what to do by your boss or supervisor and you just do it. And when you do you will get paid. If you don’t you get fired. Pretty simple!

However, it’s totally different when you become an entrepreneur.

There is nobody to tell you what to do or how to do it. Now you are the boss and YOU are responsible for the actions you take … or don’t take. If you work your business you will get a commission check and your business will grow. If you don’t work it, …well, then you will soon be out of business. It takes a lot of discipline, self-motivation, consistency, persistence and perseverance to run your own business.

Just simply making the switch from employee to entrepreneur and expecting to be successful just doesn’t work.

You will have to switch your mindset as well.  You will have to develop a mindset of a millionaire. (Because, your business has the potential to eventually grow into a million dollar business.) And you will have to pick up some very important business and leadership skills. That’s where personal development comes in.

In network marketing you are not just responsible for yourself but also for the people you sponsor.

You work as a team. Developing leadership skills is vital for your business. Thank goodness there is plenty of personal development material out there. There are books, CDs, videos, webinars, blogs, etc. You just need to make the time to work on yourself and develop the skills you need to be successful. It will be time and money well spend.

You don’t have to be the elephant tied to the stake, you can break loose and reach the success you desire. All you have to do is change your mindset and work on yourself.

“An army of lions led by a lamb will always be defeated by an army of lambs led by a lion”.

I picked up that quote from a post that my friends Ken & Melisa West published about Personal Development. I encourage you to go visit their blog and read it. It’s an excellent post.

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S.  If you want others to break loose from the stake that’s holding them down please share this post on Twitter, Facebook and Digg It. Thank you very much!

P.P.S. I guess I was a little off in my analogy about the baby elephants, but Michael Cole set me straight. So please make sure you read his comment below. Poor baby elephants!