Special thanks to Patric Chan of “Success Trace” for this guest post!

 

My story is nothing inspirational compared to those who have gone through extreme adversity to become successful. There are people who were bankrupt, lost their family, lost their legs or hands, living on the street, etc and still rose up to success. I was not in any of these categories – I am a ‘regular’ guy who got lucky.

First, I was lucky to discover the importance of personal development when I was young. That is the fastest way to learn. At the same time, I was also deceived into believing that everything people taught would always work.

For example, when I was doing door-to-door sales for greeting cards, I read a motivational book. I won’t tell you the name of it (because the advice was terrible), but I will share with you that I believed what it said without giving it a second thought. The book said that I should be persistence and ignore all of the rejections because “I can do it.” That’s partially true but doesn’t apply to everyone.

Now, that concept works but it’s terrible because it’s teaching me to work hard like a dog instead of working smarter.

By end of the day, I would be very tired physically and mentally. Imagine walking under the hot sun selling cards to strangers and just being ignored and sometimes, being scolded or insulted. Then continue doing that because you believe the book that said “I can do it.”

Now, how smart is that success strategy?

(now you know why I said the book was terrible)

That experience taught me not to believe everything a “success guru” says.

Later on, I was lucky to meet direct and indirect mentors in my life. Two people that I have learned immensely from are Anthony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki when I was young. I didn’t just read a book or two and go to the next guru… I’m talking about total immersion. I’ve bought almost all of their books/courses even when I wasn’t having a lot of money at that time and I attended their seminars when I could afford them.

As you can tell by now, I don’t believe there’s ONE SECRET to success. There are plenty of them.

Another of my success secrets, which is known by most people but they’re usually too proud to admit is this – to learn from the success others. I used to think that I could just learn everything on my own and that was good enough. That worked okay, but when I really understood the value of learning from other people – even if I already knew the answer – my success accelerated faster than I could imagine.

Learning from others showed me the difference between ‘unsuccessful’ and ‘getting by.’ It showed me the difference between ‘good’ and ‘great.’ Learning from others showed me the difference between ‘enough money’ and ‘being a millionaire.’

If you come to my house, you’ll see books and courses about the Law of Attraction because I’m doing my best to learn this success principle. I don’t know it great yet, but I will because I am immersing myself in it.

Even when I go to seminars, I already know what Robert Kiyosaki is going to teach again in his but I’ll still try to attend. He could be telling the story of his Rich Dad for the 10th time, but throughout the seminar, I will bring home at least one value that will worth more than 10 times my investment.

To me, I wasn’t looking for the “magic pill” when I’m learning – I’m just looking for the “Aha” moment. When I go through programs, instead of thinking, “is this program worth it,” my mind is only focused on getting at least one valuable insight (insight is MORE than just information).

Let’s say I spend $15 for a book and I don’t learn anything except for having one new “Aha” moment. To me it’s definitely worth more than $15 because that wisdom will be with me forever even though the $15 will be gone tomorrow.

I also think I was lucky because I started to understand about ‘abundance’ many years ago…

Abundance works in many forms – especially, when it comes to obtaining wisdom. No matter how much you share your knowledge, it won’t deplete. Abundance doesn’t mean that if you share 50% of your wisdom, then you’ll only have 50% left.

As a matter of fact, your wisdom increase from 100% to 110% or more because when you share, you’ll uncover new information. I have found that teaching or sharing something is one of the fastest ways for me to really GET it – because the conversation and questions force me to understand it better than ever before.

At the same time, when you’re learning, don’t be upset if you feel like you’re not getting anything from a course. Why? Because the attitude of “I’m not getting anything from this” means that you are living with a scarcity mindset, and that’s the exact opposite of abundance. Instead just remember to keep looking for that one “Aha” moment that makes learning worth it.

I was also lucky to fail many times in my life…

This also has to do with over-absorption of personal development stuff that doesn’t work

Because I was able to fail many times, I learned how to get back into the game again. I’m not talking of major failures like bankruptcy and stuff like that… I thank God that I didn’t have to go through those. Like I said I am lucky to be just a regular guy who was lucky enough to be where I am today.

I was just able to realize that failure is just PART OF THE GAME of success. I realized that I couldn’t win all the time. I had to accept that I would lose once in a while, and that I would grow from the experience.

Michael Jordan (the greatest basketball player of all time) said it like this:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

I was also lucky to be ridiculed and mocked…

I had a dream – to become a millionaire before 30. Everybody I told that to laughed at me, of course not in my face. When I attended personal improvement seminars, attendees who are already successful didn’t seem to enjoy my company because they didn’t see the benefit of mixing with a “loser.” Some people even brushed me away.

Well, because of all the things I’ve shared with you, I achieved my dream several years before I reached the age of 30 (I just turned 30 this year, actually). When I said I wanted to buy a nice car, people discouraged me and said not to dream too much… because I was just riding a small cheap motorcycle at that time. And now I do have that dream car, and I am happy to be able to drive my wife and 3 year old daughter around in it.

Most people tend to ridicule you when you’re not like them because they don’t believe that they have the potential to have the success that you dream to achieve. Your big dreams threaten them and makes them small, so some people don’t even dare to dream.

But I say just who cares if they ridicule me?

I proved them wrong before, and I will prove them wrong again. Actually I am happy when I prove them wrong, not because it makes me feel bigger or better, but because sometimes my success inspires those people to realize how much potential they have!

Like I shared with you at the beginning of my story, I think I was lucky. I was lucky to have so many challenges and setbacks that forced me to learn, and I was lucky to have amazing mentors that helped me accelerate my path to success.

Thank you for reading my story.

 

Patric Chan is an internationally-known internet marketing expert and a world-class speaker of 11 countries. He is also the founder of Success Trace – a personal development program teaching people how to achieve success in 5 areas of life.

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