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We hope you've been enjoying your Monday Morning Motivator. If you've received this issue for the first time - welcome aboard! It only takes a couple of minutes to start your week off right with the MMM! Be encouraged by the success or great ideas of others in your business community.

Flexibility: A Major Key to Success

This week Jim Connelly shares with us a key character trait for success in life and business.

Napoleon Hill has been my hero since I was first introduced, as a young man, to his life changing book Think and Grow Rich. Up until that point, I was a street fighting kid from the projects of Western Pennsylvania who’d just gotten a job at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel as a Room Clerk.

If Dr. Hill were right – that every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit - then my economically challenged upbringing under the rule of a mean alcoholic father must have a benefit somewhere. It didn’t take me long to find it. I had two things going for me: my strong work ethic and my ability to “roll with the punches.” As Napoleon Hill would say, I had “flexibility.”

Dr. Hill defines flexibility as “the capacity to adapt one’s self to emergencies and rapidly changing circumstances without losing his poise or permitting himself to be thrown off balance through anger.”

As a very young boy in a dysfunctional family, I learned very early on what it meant to be flexible. Many nights I would be rudely awakened by one of several alcoholic uncles who needed a bed to “sleep it off.” They’d say “Get up. Go find somewhere else to sleep” and if the couch were available, I’d grab it. Otherwise, it was the floor for me. Now I remember why I spent so many nights away from home. I can’t say that I wasn’t angry each time this happened, but I can tell you it prepared me well for the curve balls that life would throw me on a regular basis.

Throughout my career at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, I first survived, and then I thrived because of my ability to adapt to any given situation. Whatever reasonable need our clients had, I made sure I found a way to fulfill it. Some might call this particular request a little unreasonable, but I’ll never forget the time Elvis Presley was a guest at my hotel and wanted a pool table in his room. He and his buddies wanted to be able to play any time they felt like it. The problem was it was Sunday evening and all the stores were closed and I was tired and ready to go home after a long work week-end. But Elvis was a faithful client of our hotel and I wanted to make sure he continued to be.

By that time I was the General Manager of the hotel, so I had developed many friends and contacts in Beverly Hills .Through some connections I obtained the private telephone number of a pool table store owner and told him I needed to rent a pool table for a week. He agreed and had the table delivered that night. Elvis’ room was on the 10th floor and that was a big problem. I gathered all my strong guys who were just leaving to go home, and lucky for me, they were very flexible that night as well. Through amazing feats of strength, slick maneuvers and much blood, sweat and tears, we delivered the pool table through a cramped service elevator to his room that night. Elvis was very grateful and actually humbled by our efforts.

I could easily have told him that pool tables weren’t allowed in guest rooms or that all the stores were closed and would have to wait until tomorrow. But I knew that through this one big moment of being “flexible”, there would be great dividends to follow. The result was that not only did Elvis keep returning to the hotel, he referred countless others to us as well.

Another example of flexibility occurred just this past week, when a young man came to visit me. He is a student from China attending Purdue University in Calumet. He has a dream and a vision and he needed some guidance in developing a plan to achieve his goals. Like me, he is a student of Napoleon Hill's philosophy and believes you can do whatever you set your mind to. It starts with a clearly defined goal and a plan of action which becomes your road map.

Well, his road map began with a bus ride from Calumet to Notre Dame (which he had never heard of) to meet with me. He adjusted his schedule to take a 2 hour bus trip on a very cold day, on roads that weren't that great, to an unfamiliar place, where few if any spoke his language to meet with a man he had heard speak only once before at a Napoleon Hill World Learning Center workshop. He showed great flexibility in stepping out of his comfort zone to find some answers that would help put him on target to reach his goals. I admire this young man and I know he will be very successful with his can-do, flexible attitude.

Flexibility is one of those qualities that is absolutely necessary for success. The world is changing so fast in so many ways, that to be able to adapt, to be flexible, is an absolute survival skill.

Today I hold live MasterMind events in South Bend, Indiana several times a year. As the group interacts, I watch for flexibility and adaptability. If life throws an unsuspecting set of circumstances at them, do they adapt or do they complain? Do they roll with the punches or do they stand with their feet stuck in the mud?

The most successful members of my MasterMind teams are those who do more listening than talking and learn with an open mind and heart. There is no doubt they can achieve whatever they conceive and believe, even in today's economy. As Napoleon Hill said, with any adversity, we must look for the "seed of an equivalent benefit" They realize there are solutions to just about everything if they are willing to be flexible.

How is your flexibility?

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

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Success Profiles

This week we would like to recognize and congratulate Scott Held and his team at Sherwood Park Dodge. They have just celebrated their one year anniversary and are already making a significant impact in the marketplace.

Last month Scott and his team finished as the Number Two Retailer in all of Canada for Chrysler. The most remarkable aspect of this accomplishment is that it happened in only the twelfth month of business operation. You can find out more about Sherwood Park Dodge and see a video of their impressive 77,000 Square Foot Facility at SherwoodParkDodge.com

The Adam Advertising Group is proud to play a small role in the on-going success of many of the companies featured in the MMM.

Can The Adam Advertising Group help your business, or do you have a success story we should hear about?
Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com
or call 604 937 -8886 or 1 866 923 - 6477

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