John C. Maxwell - Your Road Map For Success Workbook: You Can Get There From Here

D AY 1: How do I make decisions?

D AY 2: How do I define success?

D AY 3: What is my purpose?

D AY 4: What am I doing to grow toward my potential and invest in others?

D AY 5: Am I leading my own journey, or following someone elses path?

S everal years ago, as I was thumbing through Success magazine, I came across a study that Gallup did on what people thought it meant to be a success. That appealed to me because Ive always been interested in helping others to become successful, and I wanted to know what Gallup had gleaned. Their answers fell into twelve categories, but the number one answer was good health. Fifty-eight percent of the people identified that with success over anything else. I dont know about you, but I value good healthand after my heart attack I value it even more. But if I had only good health and nothing else, I dont know that I would label myself successful.

Ive discovered that people often find it hard to define success. But if you dont know what success is, how will you ever achieve it? Thats why I want to help you identify a definition of success that will work for you.

Let me begin this week by telling you a story. A few years ago, I stood before the seventy-four employees of INJOYthe organization I founded in 1985and prepared to tell them some news that I knew would be exciting to some and discouraging to others. I was going to tell them that in a years time, we would be moving the company from San Diego, California, to Atlanta, Georgia.

My friend Dick Peterson, INJOYs president at the time, and I had been talking about the possibility of moving the company for about six months. It had begun as a casual what if... conversation, but then we started giving it more serious thought. We weighed the advantages and asked our director of finance to run some numbers. We talked about the opportunities that such a move would bring. And finally, we determined that moving to Atlanta made sense professionally, logistically, and economically. We knew that if we wanted to go to a new level in our growth and development, not only as a company but also as individuals, we needed to make the change.

As we made the announcement, our concern was for the people on the INJOY team, and I saw a whole range of reactions to the news. Some looked shocked. Others looked as if they had been punched in the stomach. From our managers I saw relief: they had been keeping their knowledge of the move secret for weeks.

For fifty minutes, Dick Peterson and I explained all of our reasons for the move, gave them stats and information on Atlanta, and showed them a video from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. And we told them that anyone who was willing to go to Atlanta would have a job when he or she got there. Then we introduced two people who had flown in from Atlantas top real-estate agency to answer questions.

We werent sure what kind of reaction we would get from our staff. We were proposing a major move that would radically change their lives. What a surprise it was when more than 90 percent of the team said they would move or at least consider moving to Atlanta! They were willing to take the trip.

What would it take for you to pick up and move to a new city?

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How do we make choices? What factors into our daily and big-picture decisions? A majority of the time its the idea that where we are going is going to be better than where we are right now. There has to be a reward for taking the chance or making the trip.

How does a recent decision youve made relate to the desire to be successful?

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