It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up.

Dear Colleague,

What do you feed on every day? What ideas and thoughts do you regularly put in your life? If you are an optimist, you will find evidence that supports your outlook and position. There is a lot that is working in business and in our world.

If you are a pessimist you will also be able to find evidence, with the same set of information, to stay critical and disconnected with yourself, your job, and your community. There is a lot that isn't working.

Rather than provide a business example, this is a different type of illustration. A young Indian asked the Elder of his tribe, "What is my destiny? What will my life be?" The Elder answered "There is an evil wolf in every person who devours what is strong and wise and replaces it with misery. There is also a good wolf in every person who creates happiness and a long life."

The young man eagerly asked, "Which one is in me?"

The Elder answered "The one you feed."

This is the choice we have every day in big and small ways. We choose to be a contender and a contributor. It's the deep desire to step in, step up, and step out to differentiate ourselves. Until we view ourselves as contenders with unique and desirable capabilities, we don't come close to realizing our potential.

As you plan for the New Year, put yourself squarely in the ring in a way that you haven't in the past. No one is too old, too young, too tired, too encumbered, or too ordinary. Feed the right "wolf" and become the friend, partner, and leader that you would want to follow.

Happy New Year!

It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena. — Theodore Roosevelt

Four Principles of a Contender

Principle #1: Move in with your Strengths
Everyone is born with unique skills, talents, and strengths. We possess natural gifts that we didn't earn. We just got lucky. Most of us view them as nothing special so we don't fully claim or utilize them.

As a contender, identify your top three strengths. They could be the ability to implement efficiently, to analyze a problem thoroughly, to be disciplined and methodical, to be spontaneous and ready to adjust quickly, to listen well, to sincerely care about clients and customers, to be resourceful, highly competitive, or to see around the corner for the next opportunity. Once you identify your hard-wired and natural gifts, you can focus on them and become an expert. Every sustainable success is based on leveraging personal strengths.

Principle #2: Create a desire to succeed by using role models
The television show The Office, uses the key character of Michael the boss, as a role model for how to do pretty much everything wrong. His antics are laugh-out-loud funny, but also painful and often hard to watch. From imitating goofy cartoon voices, to hiding under his desk, playing pranks, planning embarrassing award ceremonies, or picking mercilessly on his subordinates, it's an entertaining way to see what doesn't work in the office.

We can laugh at the "Michaels" of the world. But we get better by watching the pros in action - especially the ones that inspire us. Up-close and personal works the best, so become pro-active in putting smart and encouraging people to your life in every way you can. Read widely, especially biographies; watch inspiring movies; attend games, concerts, seminars, performances, study groups, and book groups; and take classes and get advice from the experts.

Principle #3: Don't wait for the perfect timing
Contenders go with the 80% rule. When an opportunity looks and feels mostly right and when there is planning and preparation for several outcomes, contenders go for it. They don't wait for the other 20% to materialize because perfect data does not exist. Those who wait for the 20% to materialize, miss opportunities along with momentum for the next round.

When your strengths are an 80% match to the opportunity, have the confidence to jump in. If you're excited about what you are doing and what you see ahead, then you can stretch yourself and fill in the 20% as you go.

Principle #4: Pick yourself up and get back in the race
Michael Milken, the acknowledged junk bond king of the 80's, was a billionaire by the time he was in his early forties. He was known world-wide as a visionary financier.

In 1990, he was sentenced to ten years in prison, paid $600 million in fines, and was barred from the securities industry for life. The SEC charged him with 98 counts of insider trading. He ended up pleading guilty to six relatively minor counts, served 22 months in prison, and was released early. A week after his release, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was told he had 12 to 18 months to live.

Today he is cancer-free, has written books on living a healthy life, and has personally given over one billion dollars to cancer research. He has also founded many successful businesses, and built a foundation to expedite cancer drugs to market. His economic think tank, The Milken Institute, attracts the world's top scientists, Nobel Laureates, and key political and business leaders.

Cancer, prison, and loss of reputation never took Michael Milken out of the ring. Instead he has become a philanthropist, a global thinker, and a remarkable role model who has provided health and economic benefits to millions of people.

We come up with all kinds of excuses for not believing in ourselves. Yet none of these excuses hold water when we look around at the many ways people are succeeding. So the questions I ask of you are - Why not you? Are you limiting yourself more than others are? If you are, what is holding you back? Is there benefit to being more than you are right now? What do you need to do to start the process?

Imagine yourself ten years out, in 2018. What do you see? Look honestly at where you are today in your career and your life's work. Is it leading to your ten year picture? What do you need to do this year to fill in the gaps?

Ideas for Inspiration

Movies of Contenders
- Rudy
- The Miracle Worker
- Cinderella Man
- La Vie en Rose
- Pursuit of Happiness

Books by Contenders
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- More Than the Bike by Lance Armstrong
- The Diving Bell and Butterfly by Jean- Dominique Bauby
- The Diary of Ann Frank by Ann Frank
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou