How to Be at the Top of Your Game and Earn More Money Than Ever in 2007

Can you remember a time in your life when you were truly at the "Top of Your Game?" A time when things just seemed to be clicking and everything appeared to be going your way.It was a time when you felt good, looked good, had confidence, moved with purpose, and knew that you could not be stopped. It may not have been a time when you made the most money but you were still clearly at the top of your game. It's a great feeling so why not get there for 2007? Speaking of being at the top of your game, there are very few people in the world that don't know Michael "Air" Jordan, Walter "Sweetness" Payton, or Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky. These are three of the world's best athletes and they fully understood what it meant to be at the top of their game. They knew how to dominate. They understood how to succeed. More importantly, they knew how to manipulate their thoughts and used them to propel themselves to greatness. You see, being at the top of your game is more a state of mind than anything else. It's when you know that you are capable of anything. There is a reason why this particular article has popped into my mind twice over the last few days and that's because I have decided that 2007 is a year that I will be at the top of my game. Why 2007? Why not? I like the number 7. I was born on the 7th. It's generally known as a lucky number. Actually, none of those things really have anything to do with it. It's merely a matter of making a decision to raise your game and take it to the next level. It's truly that simple. Since we are on the topic of games, let's talk about a real game for a second. Are you a basketball fan? In the National Basketball Association there is not a single professional team without a big man to handle the inside game. These teams recognize that a strong "inside" game is crucial to winning in the league. Therefore, you will seldom find a team without a seven footer on the roster. That same basic concept applies to you and your success. The outer game is secondary to the inside game. It doesn't really matter how good you may look, what kind of car you drive, how strong your are, or how much money you currently have if your inside mental game is weak. You must have it together. What do you say when you talk to yourself? Is it always positive and constantly seeking solutions or do you tend to gravitate toward the negative? If the latter, change it--because without a strong inside game, your road to success is already blocked. If you have read any of my articles in the past, you may or may not know that I'm a former Marine Drill Instructor. Semper Fi to all my comrades out there. I often mention that fact, and actually use it in my marketing, because I'm very proud of that time in my life. I also use it because it represents one of the times that I was truly at the top of my game and it's good to remember such things. I'm going to share a few examples when I had the feeling that I was unstoppable and then I'll discuss some things that I noticed about my success back then, and how you can apply them in 2007 to make it your best year ever. At one point in my career, I was assigned to Embassy duty in several foreign countries. One of my best, and most memorable, assignments was to lead the Marine Detachment in Cape Town, South Africa as the country was about to elect Nelson Mandela in its first democratic election. It was a powerful time in the world's history. It was also a powerful time in my personal history. Prior to Cape Town, I was actually halfway through a tour in Uruguay, South America and got a phone call from my battalion headquarters. They told me that I had been selected to head the detachment in Cape Town and would I accept the position. I was pretty surprised because my tour was not over yet but I knew that South Africa was a hot spot and that it was a big opportunity. They told me that they would give me some time to think about it... "We'll call you back in 30 minutes." One skill that you need in order to be at the top of your game is the ability to be decisive. You may not always make the right decisions but indecisiveness is definitely something that will slow you down. Less than a week later I had packed my bags and was heading for the plane. There were literally thousands of Marines in my battalion so why did they call me? I was at the top of my game. That's not arrogance in any way. It's just confidence and knowing that you can accomplish the mission. Do a search on the internet for the short story called "A Message to Garcia" and you'll understand what I mean. It's a great read and will only take a few minutes. I was highly motivated to be in South Africa and took my assignment very seriously. Every day I would dress in the best suits that I could afford (I didn't wear uniforms) and was thrilled to head a superb group of Marines that consistently scored at the top of our unit for their knowledge, weapons proficiency, and professionalism. It was an amazing time.It was also a time in my life that I was aggressively starting to grow an import and marketing business. Every free moment that I had was spent learning about the business, making new contacts, mapping out plans to secure new products, and to take my business to the next level. It seemed like each week I was invited to some kind of meeting or special event. Some of these were on a personal level and some involved official functions for the Embassy. At one point while assigned overseas, I specifically recall being stopped by the American Ambassador and he made a comment to me that basically confirmed that I was doing something right. "Kinton, how do you get into all of these events when my embassy officers aren't even invited." Well, I didn't really know what to tell him at the time but ultimately it was a matter of networking and getting connected. The bigger your circle of influence, the bigger your income, is a good thing to remember. One of the first things I want to share about being at the top of my game is that I would do things that I had never done in the past without any hesitation. In other words, there was no fear of the unknown or of stepping outside of the box. If I wanted something to happen, I simply took action. If I didn't know how to do it, I found someone who did. Which brings me to another quick point. Seldom did I accomplish great things without having someone to first show me the path. Sometimes these people were direct mentors and other times I simply watched them and learned. A good example of what I meant earlier about taking action is when the Rugby World Cup came to South Africa. It is one of the largest sporting events around the globe and I was looking for a way to capitalize on the tens of thousands of people that would be flooding into the country. So, after noticing that a very large number of South Africans smoked cigarettes, I decided to contact Zippo lighters in America and arrange a special edition rugby lighter. I had never done anything like that in the past and Zippo actually turned me down more than once. They told me that I had to go through one of their reps in Namibia. Ultimately, with a little negotiation and creativity, my specially designed Rugby World Cup lighters were on the way. On the surface, acquiring the lighters is really not that big of a deal. However, for a fairly new importer and fulltime Marine, it was a big deal to me. There are many other examples like Zippo but let's move on to some other things that I learned whenever I was at the top of my game. These observations may or may not apply directly to you but they stood out for me. First, I always felt and looked good. What I mean by that is, whether I was on the top of my game as a Marine or a civilian, I can't remember a time that I felt that way without my clothes, grooming, body, and mind being in top form. One of the things, my Dad always had in his closet was an old, wooden, shoe shine box and he taught me how to shine his shoes, and eventually my own. I never saw my Dad leave the house with his shoes not shined. He instilled that sense of personal pride in me and it carried over into my military career. Each and every day that I put on my uniform, my boots were highly polished. I even had fellow Marines that would ask me "Do you really sit down and spit-shine your boots every night? How do you have time for that?" Well, for anyone that has served and worn spit-shined boots, you know that once the shine is there, it is quite simple to maintain. Anyway, this is not about shining boots, it's about taking pride in yourself and feeling good. The next thing that happens as a result of those actions is a surge in personal confidence. You not only feel good, but your confidence begins to rise. People will actually start to compliment you. They may even start to look up to you, or come to you for advice, and that can open the door for even greater things in the future. I'll tell you a quick story about a Marine that I had great respect for during my years in the Corps. I won't mention his name here but this guy was super sharp. As a matter of fact, he went on to become the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. His uniform was worn with great attention to detail and he always carried himself as a professional. He had been a successful Marine for a very long time and I clearly looked up to him. One day, I got a call. "Kinton, Sergeant Major is looking for you." Well, it turns out that he had a small detail that needed to be trained on sword use for an upcoming ceremony, so he sent someone across the base to find me. I was honored to say the least and took great pride in helping him. But, there is a point to that story beyond someone having confidence in me, and one that may be crucial to your success in 2007...It's other people having "belief" in you. There are not many feelings that are better than someone having solid belief in your dreams, goals, and abilities. It is belief from their parents that drives kids to be whatever they want to be in life. Unfortunately, some of them never get that support, while others lose it somewhere along the way. So, even as adults, belief from another person is a powerful motivator. On the flip side, a lack of belief can quickly dampen your spirits and bring you down. That's why it's very important to surround yourself with people that support you and what you want to accomplish. That is one of the great things about our industry of Network Marketing. It is not very hard to find like-minded people that believe in what you are doing. 2007 is now here. Do you have a game plan in place? Are you ready to be at the top of your game? Some of us will make the answers to those two questions very complicated and may never actually answer them at all. However, it's not difficult and I'm going to help you out with a solution. If you are ready to make 2007 your best year ever, there is a simple way to do it. Decide. Make a firm decision that you are ready and that this is your year to make it happen. If not this year, when will it be? Don't spend a bunch of time worrying about the who, what, where, when, and why without having your decision in place. Once a no-turning-back decision is made, the rest will follow. Again, I ask you..."Are you ready to be at the top of your game in 2007?" I'm ready. No 24 hour and gone resolutions for me. Yes, there will be ups and downs for me like anyone else, but my inside game is super strong and yours should be too. So, are you with me? Look for my update on December 31st, 2007. In the meantime, I'm off to make it happen. Have a safe and prosperous year.

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