I once watched a superb wildlife programme about the African honey badger. As the name suggests, this animal is particularly fond of honey, and with the African bush being notably short of branches of Sainsbury’s, the only source of food available to the honey badger is beehives – with lots of bees in them.

Watching the honey badger go about its work was fascinating. Having located a hive in a hollowed out tree it cleared out debris to make a wider entrance. The reason would soon become clear – it was going to need an escape route, and it knew it.

The first foray into the hive was painful to watch. It was attacked systematically by the bees and got only a small mouthful of honey before withdrawing to lick its wounds. At this point you expected the honey badger to give up having learned a painful lesson. Not a bit of it! Time after time it went back into the hive, getting stung each time and only getting small amounts of honey in return. You almost found yourself screaming: “For God’s sake, don’t go back in!” as another visit resulted in more pain.

But as time went on, a funny thing happened. The stings got less and less as the stinging bees died off, and the honey badger came away with more and more booty on each visit. Eventually, the bees gave up the fight and the honey badger made off into the bush with the entire hive worth of honey. Victory, from what initially appeared to be a hopeless quest.

The honey badger knew the job wasn’t going to be easy from the start. He knew he wasn’t going to get something for nothing, and that pain would inevitably precede pleasure. But what he also knew was that if he kept at the job, if he persisted, eventually the resistance would be broken down and his goal would be reached. Of course, he had an alternative. After going into the hive for the first time and getting stung so badly for so little he could have thought: “This isn’t worth it. I’ll go and find an easier hive. ”But he didn’t, because he knew that all hives are difficult, and if you want the honey you just have to buckle down and do what’s necessary.

I’m sure the lesson of this isn’t lost on you. Many people give up when entering ‘the hive’ for the first time, after receiving the inevitable ‘stings’ and getting very little in return. They decide to go and look for another ‘hive’ where the bees aren’t so fierce. When that ‘hive’ proves equally difficult, they give up again and go to the next, and the next, and the next. Entering every ‘hive’ involves getting stung, and so they get hurt again and again, and with very little reward because each time they’re starting on a new ‘hive’ where the defences are at their most intense.

For ‘hive’ read goal, target, endeavour or venture. For ‘sting’ read problems, difficulties, or obstacles, and you’ll get the picture. No matter what you hope to achieve, there will be difficulties, and they will be at their most intense in the early stages. Giving up to look for something easier when these difficulties present themselves will prove to be a fruitless exercise. The next venture will carry with it a whole new set of difficulties for you to deal with.

A few years ago I worked with a salesman. He had an almost God-given knack of alienating, upsetting and offending everyone he met. He had any number of ways of achieving this. You would almost think it was deliberate, but I don’t think it was. This man’s sales figures were actually the best in the company, by quite some margin – not what you’d expect from someone who was guaranteed to disenchant every new prospect within seconds of meeting them.

Intrigued by the paradox, I was pleased to have the opportunity to accompany the man on some of his sales calls. At first I thought that he must deal with his customers differently to everyone else. Not so! He was equally obnoxious. So how did he succeed? Simple really. He asked everyone whether they wanted to buy, even when it was patently obvious to anyone with an ounce of sensitivity that they did not.

When they told him they weren’t interested, he ignored them. When they told him politely to leave them alone, he pretended not to notice –or maybe he didn’t notice. Then he asked them again, and kept asking until they said yes. I’m convinced that some people ordered just to get rid of him, but order they did. When it comes down to it, all that he had in his favour was a skin like a rhinoceros, and the tenacity to ask as many people as possible whether they would like to buy his product.

The bottom line is this. Unless you’re very lucky, success will not happen straight away. It takes time. Not one successful person has ever had a ‘clear run’. You’re unlikely to be the first. James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, and now owner of a business worth several hundred million pounds put it this way: “Success is made of 99 per cent failure. You galvanise yourself and you keep going. ”Persistence is what saw him through in the end – just like the honey badger – and it will do the same for you.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

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A few years ago, I was executive producer on a film, and spent a few days on the set. On one of those days I got roped in as a supporting actor, an ‘extra’, and I spent much of the day doing the same thing over and over again. Needless to say, I didn’t have much of an idea what I was supposed to be doing. I couldn’t work out whether we were rehearsing or filming, so I asked Colin Salmon, the actor who was in the scene with me. His reply contained an important message with far wider implications.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I never concern myself with it… I just do it every time as if it’s a take. You never know what they’re going to use.”

Can you say you live your life like that – giving it 100% in every scene? Or do you sometimes allow your game to slip when you think it’s not important, when nobody’s looking, or when you think the audience isn’t worthy of your very best effort?

What’s true on a film set, is true in life. You never really know when the important cameras are rolling – when you’re in a potentially life-enhancing situation, or in the company of people who have more to offer you than you could ever imagine. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight, when you see the film being played back, that you realise you missed a massive opportunity by assuming it didn’t matter, when it clearly did.

The only solution is to do what Colin Salmon does – start out with the assumption that every situation, every meeting, every interaction is a ‘take’, the one that’s going to be used and may have a lasting impact on your future. That has implications for the way you dress, the way you look and the way you conduct yourself. Give it 100% every time. When you do, there are massive benefits not just for you, but for everyone you come into contact with.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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The inhabitants of the Japanese Okinawa Islands, on average, routinely expect to live – and be healthy – well into their nineties. The reasons aren’t totally clear, but it’s thought to be something to do with the traditional soya protein-based diet, and the fact that the people there tend to eat very little by Western standards.

The fact that the people thrive on that diet and lifestyle is down to heredity – what their ancestors have experienced and endured through out the centuries. Their bodies have geared up, and adapted, to thrive on it. But, if you or I were to take up the same regime, we wouldn’t necessarily get the same results. This is borne out by what happens when the young in habitants leave the islands and adopt the more urban lifestyle of the city.

When they move to a more Western-based lifestyle, not only do they lose all the benefits of their heredity, but they also fare worse than their contemporaries, who have been brought up in that urban environment. Their life expectancy actually falls below the average. They have evolved to thrive in a completely different environment. Their heredity offers no benefits in the new environs of the city, yet massive ones on their native Okinawa Islands.

There’s a lesson here that stretches way beyond the health and longevity arena. We all have skills, attributes and predispositions, and if we’re not getting the results and outcomes we want, it could be because we’re applying them in the wrong environment.

A Formula One car is awe-inspiring on a track, but wouldn’t get you out of your own street in the real world. A 50cc scooter would be totally useless on a motorway, but would get you around the centre of London better than most vehicles. Average natural abilities, applied in the right environment are far better, and more effective, than outstanding abilities applied in the wrong one.

So you need to work towards finding the environment or arena that is best suited to your predispositions. No matter how clever, talented or able you are applying your innate and acquired strengths in the wrong environment renders you the proverbial fish out of water – or the Okinawan living on fast food.

If ever you’ve felt yourself under-achieving, the reason could lay here.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

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Henry Ford once said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right. ”There’s a great deal of truth in that, but it has to be tempered a little if you’re to avoid chasing pipe dreams.

If someone of similar background and abilities has already done what you hope to achieve, then, of course, you know you can do it. That’s why finding appropriate mentors and role models is important – more about that elsewhere. But, if it hasn’t been done already, the jury is out and you have to make an appraisal of whether what you want to do is realistic.

It would be wrong to talk down your prospects here – you are capable of far more than you can imagine – but as anyone who has ever watched a TV talent show will testify, there are far too many people chasing ‘goals ’which will never come to fruition.

In truth, there are very few areas where talent puts in place an immovable barrier – entertainment, sports and music spring readily to mind – but unfortunately these are the areas where unrealistic aspirations tend to flourish. The good news though, is that very few career or business paths require innate talent or skills that a determined and motivated person can’t learn. Though, as Henry Ford recognised, even the most realistic goals will wither in the face of a lack of belief.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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To succeed in any effort, it’s essential that you accept full responsibility for the outcome. Starting out with any other attitude almost guarantees failure. Teenagers who are told that their criminal behaviour is a result of social deprivation will carry on, secure in the knowledge that it’s someone else’s fault. Employees who think they have a poor boss will hold back, knowing they can blame him when it goes wrong. Businesspeople who believe that the economy is dying on its feet will stop investing, secure in the knowledge that their failure can be laid at the Government’s door. It is all depressingly self-fulfilling.

Don’t deceive yourself. Whatever ventures and endeavours you undertake – accept responsibility. The outcome is down to you… no excuses.

As soon as you do this, a miraculous thing will happen – your chances of success will multiply. It’s easy to blame someone else, but not so easy to blame yourself. When there’s someone else to blame, it’s so tempting to give up at the first hurdle. “The bank wouldn’t give me any money”, you may say. “The customers didn’t see what a good product I had”, or maybe, “My colleagues let me down” and “There’s just too much competition out there.”

When you accept full responsibility for the outcome, you won’t give up: “Let’s try another bank… and another”, you now say. “Let’s see how else we can sell it”, or “ I’ll make up for my colleagues short comings.” Also maybe: “How can we provide a better service than the competition?”

Colonel Sanders, at the age of 66, approached over 2,000 restaurants with his idea for Kentucky Fried Chicken before he found one that would give it a chance. How many would you have approached? Five? Ten? Most of us would have given up long before, not blaming ourselves of course, but rather the damn fool restaurant owners who wouldn’t know a good idea if it jumped up and bit them. Sanders took full responsibility. He had no intention of blaming anyone else, and as a result, he had no reason to.

Twelve publishers turned down J K Rowling before she found one that would publish her Harry Potter books. It would have been so easy for her to bemoan the fact that the publishers just wouldn’t give a chance to a single mum writing adventure stories, primarily for boys, and give up. She didn’t, she took responsibility. And now she’s at least £400 million richer!

Do yourself the biggest favour you can. Take full responsibility for the outcome of every project you undertake from day one. Your successes will be all the sweeter and your failures all the more rare.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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I’m sure you’ve heard the old  saying: “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.”  Like me though, you’ve probably not given it a great deal of thought, or considered what you can learn from it.

Ill winds don’t come  much worse than  tornados. Despite being  an  incredibly  destructive force, there is a positive side if  you look hard enough. For example, there  was a  gentleman called Tetsuya Fujita, of the University of Chicago, who has made a career out of  ‘twisters’. He is a world expert, and the scale on which the severity of a tornado is measured carries his name. Thanks to tornadoes, Fujita’s place in history is  assured. Without them nobody would know who he was, and he  may never have made his mark. Tornadoes have benefited  others too. Numerous  film-makers,  TV   documentary  teams,  authors   and   photographers   have enhanced   both  their  professional  reputations  and  bank   balances  as  a   result   of   work associated with these killer winds.

When news of a tornado is reported in the press or  on TV,  everyone  focuses on  the  cost. It’s always portrayed as a negative  event, which  is  understandable. But  one  man’s  cost  is another man’s revenue. The cost of clearing up  after  a  tornado  doesn’t  disappear  into  the ether. It goes into the pockets of the  enterprising  individuals  and  companies  who  make  it their business to deal with such matters. The following news story illustrates this…

“Great news today from Jackson County, Texas, where a tornado ripping  through  several large towns has created a boom for construction firms in the area. A spokesman for the local trade association estimated  that $30 million of  work  would  be  coming  the  way  of   local building   firms, and  at  least 1,000  short-term  jobs  will  be  created. Local  hospitals  also reported record business, with billings to insurance companies likely to approach a five-year high.”

I’m sure you realise that I’m using tornadoes as a euphemism for just about any “negative” event. The point is this – for any negative side to  an  event there is  always  the  other,  more positive, side… a  positive side for someone. The  task is  to  identify  that  positive  side  and capitalise on it.

Let’s look at more examples. War and  international  conflict  are  universally  regarded  as negative. Yet for many – those involved in the production of  armaments  for  example – war is good and peace is bad. It’s the other side of the coin that we rarely look for.

Understandably, when my office was broken into, I wasn’t  in  the  mood to  appreciate  the positive side of the ever-increasing crime figures in this  country. However,  the  companies I subsequently paid to install an  alarm system  and  roller shutter  doors were  probably  better placed to do so.

Then there’s the economic recession, which is almost universally  viewed  as  negative. Yet in   any  recession  there  are  winners  and  losers. Reduced  property, equipment  and  stock  prices will provide an economic springboard to many new ventures.

Redundancy   is   also   perceived   to   be   a  negative  event.  And  yet  an  equally  valid interpretation is to see it as an opportunity to  make  a  fresh  start, allowing  time  to  find  a  new,  more fulfilling path, and there may  be  a  hefty  redundancy  payment  to  finance  the  search.  Many people  go through redundancy and find a  far better  paid, more fulfilling  job than that which they lost. And with their redundancy payment still intact.

There isn’t a single ‘negative’ event that doesn’t  have a  positive side –yes, even  death, as any undertaker or  florist  will testify. The important thing is to identify the positive aspect to events and put yourself on the right side of the fence.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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On the night of April 14th 1912, during her maiden voyage, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later in  the early hours of  April  15th.  At the time of her launch in 1911,  she was the largest passenger  ship  in  the  world  and  regarded  as  the safest. The sinking  resulted  in  the  deaths  of  1,517  people,  making  it  one  of  the  worst peacetime disasters in maritime history and by far  the  most  famous.  But  what  caused  the unsinkable to sink?

It’s been the subject of much controversy for decades. Some have blamed a faulty rudder, while others have cited navigational errors. But according to new research, the key factor in the ship’s sinking may have been the use of sub-standard rivets.

The ‘rivet theory’ was first raised  in  the  1990’s,  no  pun  intended,  but  was  denied  by Harland  and  Wolff,  the  company  that  built  the  ship.  Now,  historians  have  uncovered evidence that the company was forced to compromise on quality as it struggled to build three huge ships at the same time. Faced with a regular  supplier  unable  to  cope,  they  turned  to smaller forges producing less reliable products, to make up the shortfall.

RMS Titanic was deemed unsinkable because it was designed to stay afloat, even if four of its watertight compartments  were  flooded.  But  when  it  hit  the  iceberg,  so  many  rivets popped along the starboard side  that five compartments  took  on  water,  and the  ship  went down. And so it seems that this most famous of  ships succumbed to the truth of a well-worn saying: “A chain is as strong as its weakest link.  ”No amount of engineering  or  technology could overcome a deficiency in a small, but critically important part of the ship.

What’s true of RMS Titanic s true of you. Are you confident  that  the ‘rivets’ in  your  life are strong enough to withstand some unexpected impact? Or have  you  perhaps  cut  corners along the way, gambling that you can avoid any nasty icebergs? The bottom line is  that  you can’t afford to neglect any area of your life (and health is particularly critical)  in  pursuit  of what you see as more important goals. Any shortcomings will eventually  find  you  out  and sink all your plans.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

“Is This The Fastest Way To a Luxury Retirement?”

Dear Streewise Customer,

Did you know that by doubling your money, you’re only 16 steps from turning £100 into more than £1,600,000 – (THAT’S ONE MILLION SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS!)…

This powerful wealth strategy is THE fastest way to a luxury retirement. What’s more, it’s now available in one full package for the very first time.

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It took me a while to arrange this invitation, so I hope you’re going to take advantage of it. Don’t waste this chance, you’ve just been referred to someone who can change your life.

Kind Regards

 John Harrison – Streetwise Publications

PS This comes with a full cast iron money back guarantee. Take a look today with no risk what so ever.