Success will not attack you

I heard the title of this post often at Amway meetings I attended back in the 80's. I don't suppose I knew what it meant back then but now I can assign some meanings to it based on years of experience in both Network Marketing and real estate investing.

• Afraid that being successful will change you

I remember when it occurred to me that I might become very wealthy in Amway. It actually scared me to death! I wondered how I could be responsible for handling millions of dollars and dealing with hundreds of thousands of distributors. I thought that I could not change into the type of person I observed as successful in that business. Now I don't know what the heck I was thinking. We grow as we accumulate wealth and the changes are gradual. Success wasn't going to suddenly attack me in the middle of the night and change me into someone I am not. In fact, the changes happen first, then the success follows. Looking back now, I realized how much I personally grew during my years in Amway.

Now some people do fall into lots of money, so I suppose it attacks them and they can't handle it. This is probably due to our subconscious belief that we are not worthy of the money since we didn't earn it. If so, then you can turn that success attack around by changing your thinking. Change your thinking to prosperity consciousness.

• Success takes commitment

I think that the most apropos meaning of this phrase is that you are probably not going to become successful without a real commitment on your part. I've blogged elsewhere that I was 99% committed to being successful in Amway. That didn't cut it. I think real success takes going the entire way. Holding back just a little part of ourselves sabotages our efforts. In my first real estate venture I never really committed at all to success. After the first year I was just going through the motions and didn't have a plan to succeed nor was I committed to doing everything I could to make the properties profitable. In my current real estate venture I feel 100% committed and have been working like it.

• Success mean taking responsibility for your failures

When I was in Amway I was able to observe hundred of people in my down line directly. I could see their words and (in)actions. What I mostly saw was people that failed to take responsibility for anything that happened. Blame, excuses, laziness, lack of commitment and failure mentality all permeated everything they said and did. I don't have any ill feelings towards Amway or anyone involved for my failure to become rich. I lay the blame entirely on myself. People don't fail in that business because its saturated or the products are too expensive. They fail because they fail to take responsibility to succeed. Likewise, for my first real estate venture. I could blame the WV economy, but in reality, I could have made it work despite the economy. Buffalo's economy is just as bad as the one I encountered in WV, but I believe I can be successful here because of the same reason.

Success will probably not attack you. You have to attack your goals and dreams as if everything depended on your success.