This book is an antidote to doubt, worry, procrastination, mediocrity, and “the way things are.” It contains practical questions, thoughts, and action steps to get you moving in the direction of the destiny you inherently deserve so that you make progress toward and eventually reach your Mountaintop. The content in this book, as hard as this is to believe, was never taught to me in preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, or graduate school. So I feel enormously passionate about getting this content in other people’s hands because it contains the lessons and wisdom no one ever taught to me (before I met the experts featured in this book).
Here’s what I’m getting at: when I finish a speaking engagement or walk into an event, and someone wants to buy this book, I don’t view that as “selling.” I view it as solving a problem, filling a need, and providing a solution. In return, the currency I receive for the book is a reflection of the value I’ve provided.
Some people think that in order to make lots of money they have to be sleazy and cheat others. This is simply not true. Tony Robbins, now a multi-millionaire, talks about how he started out feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving Day in his book Unlimited Power.
“When I showed up and gave turkeys to people who otherwise had no meal, these homeless folks realized that there are people out there who care,” Tony said.
I love this story because it shows that Tony built his massive success on serving others and providing value. People wonder how he’s amassed so much wealth – it’s largely due to the fact he is seeking new ways to add value to others.
Although in that instance he didn’t get paid for it, Tony took that same mentality of serving others into other aspects of his business in life. He is now absurdly wealthy not because he is greedy, but rather because he is focused on providing massive value to others.
Always Add Value and Be Willing to Put in the Work
On that note, let’s dive even deeper into this powerful notion of adding value to others because it’s one of the key aspects to sustaining a Mountaintop-level life. Nick Thacker, an accomplished author we heard from earlier, also has a lot to say on this. Let’s use the case study of how he has built an awesome online community to understand more deeply the power of adding value:
“To build a community online, always add value,” Nick said. “Focus on helping other people and document how you’re doing it. When you can, ask for a small favor and get people to sign up to your mailing list. Stay in touch and continue adding worthwhile content to their lives.
“Eventually the money and time will be there for you to spend on your projects. Then you can turn around and leverage that into a slightly larger project, and the cycle continues until the value you’re providing people is so massive and unbelievable that people can’t ignore you.
“This strategy is absolutely as simple as it sounds, and yes, it is extremely difficult. People want the ‘easy’ way out. Don’t be one of them. They eventually ALL come around and realize that truly valuable things aren’t bought – they’re built.”
Nick confirms something I’ve known to be true from my own research, studies, and experience. The only success secret is that there is no secret. Instead of looking for a shortcut or easy way out, figure out the best way for you to add value to other people’s lives. What are your core strengths? What are you best at? Start there. Yes, there is such a thing as working smarter, but if you aren’t willing to put in the hard work you’re going to end up falling short of what you’re capable of achieving.
“Knowing that I’m working toward something bigger than just me,” Nick said, “allows me to be passionate about the lifestyle – the freedom to do a lot of different things and build stuff. I’ll be passionate about the overall lifestyle far longer than I will be passionate about the individual things that make up that lifestyle.”
This is why the focus needs to be on adding value to other people’s lives as opposed to getting lost in your own trials and tribulations. As you zoom out, take a look at the big picture and head for your summit. Remember this: even while you are experiencing countless daily ups and downs, if you take Nick’s advice, and look to be a part of something bigger than yourself, you will emerge a winner in the long-run.
“I’m human,” Nick continued, “and I’m constantly reminded of my own failures and weaknesses. But I’ve learned, over five years of blogging and writing, that if I’m not sure what to write about, I’m probably not doing enough stuff – or I haven’t fully grasped the significance of how something I’m working on can help someone else.”
Once again, I love it. Live your life first and write about it second. This is a more specific way of conveying one of the overarching themes of the book: be a person of integrity, character, and leadership by being someone who teaches others how to do something after you’ve lived it and done it yourself. Pay it forward! Reaching your Mountaintop is all about being true to your word and practicing what you preach.
“Case in point,” Nick said, “is how I’ve been slowly and quietly working on some really cool businesses with a partner and cowriter. It’s been a huge time and energy commitment, but the end results are going to be awesome!
“The problem is that I initially thought of this stuff as separate from what my blog is about. But I was thinking about it and stressing over my empty, dead blog, and I realized that I DID have something to write about. I could write about how I’m managing my time, how I’m responding to self-doubt, how I’m motivating myself to keep working toward a goal, and how these author-service business ideas are part of my overall world-domination strategy.
“It immediately gave me about ten blog post ideas, a book idea, and a newfound interest in blogging. Marketing is not a dirty word. Marketing is simply taking something of value that you have and putting it in front of the people you KNOW would love it,” Nick expressed.
“Do things that add value to other people’s lives, and the long-term gains will be far greater than what you ever imagined.”
Do you see what we’re getting at here? You can define your life and success on your own terms as long as you keep the focus on serving and helping other people. You reach your Mountaintop by constantly serving others and adding value to their lives.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 10 of the award-winning book, Reach Your Mountaintop: 10 Keys to Finding the Hidden Opportunity in Your Setbacks, Flipping What You’ve Heard on Its Head, and Achieving Legendary Goals.
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