Do you know what a Navy SEAL is? Basically, an Olympic athlete with a gun.

When I meet someone who is a Navy SEAL I am always in awe. There is absolutely no way in few paragraphs that I could convey to you what goes into being a Navy SEAL. Probably 5% of the world's population has the physical ability to become a SEAL. I would guess that less than 2% have the mental toughness and maybe 1% have both.

When you make the effort to become a SEAL, you enter a program called BUDS. This is a multi-week program designed to get rid of the mentally weak and physically inadequate. A typical BUDS class might have 150 men and only 20 will complete the program. You might ask, 'What happened to the other 130 men? Were they kicked out or asked to leave?' The answer is... neither.

When you enter BUDS it is because you have prepared for this program for years. You don't just decide one day that you are going to become a SEAL. You dream about it and plan for it for years, just to get to this point. Do you know how you leave BUDS? You walk over to a bell and ring it and when you leave it is your decision. You see, 150 men will enter a program that they have prepared for years and then in just a matter of days or weeks, they ring a bell and say to the world, 'I am not cut out for this. I quit. I give up on my dream.'

That should be amazing to you. It should be amazing that 90% of people can have a dream they have sacrificed for years and then after just a few days or weeks give it up. However, it happens all the time in BUDS and in life.

TC Cummings is a former Navy SEAL and professional speaker. I recently watched him on DVD and he said that almost everyone in his BUDS class had the physical ability to be a SEAL. After all, they had conducted countless hours of physical training for years just to get to this point. The difference was mental toughness. Although, they had developed physical strength, they had not worked out their minds to develop the mental toughness required.

TC made it and the others could have as well if they had his mental strength. He said that CEOs, salespeople and business professionals fail because they don't have mental toughness.

He explains that the same thing that will keep a sailor from becoming a SEAL is the exact same thing that will keep you from your goals. That is self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy or lack of confidence. At this point, I was hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for TC to tell me how to get the confidence of a Navy SEAL. Do you know what he said? He said, 'Setting goals and accomplishing them... even if it as small as making your bed everyday builds confidence.'

So I have given myself several small goals. One is simply making my bed. The others are items like reading books, getting my private pilot's license and exercise. Guess what? As I accomplish these goals, my confidence is building and I am becoming a better salesperson and speaker! Thanks TC!

I wish I could share with you all that I have learned from TC! Oh wait... I can. I encourage you to invest in the same DVD I watched. It is the 2004 Jim Rohn Event. Not only will you learn from TC Cummings, you will also watch Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley, Chris Widener and more!

—Ron White

2. Quotes of The Week

Skills

"You can cut down a tree with a hammer, but it takes about 30 days. If you trade the hammer for an ax, you can cut it down in about 30 minutes. The difference between 30 days and 30 minutes is skills." —Jim Rohn

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun." —Pablo Picasso

"What one skill, if you developed it, could have the greatest positive impact on your career? This is the key to your future." —Brian Tracy

"What people get admired and appreciated for in community are their soft skills: their sense of humor and timing, their ability to listen, their courage and honesty, their capacity for empathy."
—M. Scott Peck

"You can't solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level." —Albert Einstein

"Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study." —Francis Bacon

"To become successful and outstanding at something, we don't have to come up with something new; we need only find ways of doing it better." —Earl Nightingale

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals." —Larry Bird

"The more you know, the less you need to say." —Denis Waitley


3. Uncommon Leadership Has Common Traits by Harvey Mackay

A lot of people think leaders are born and not made. I disagree. I think you can become a better leader. I'm not a cook, but I've held many leadership positions. I thought this recipe for a leader sounded pretty good:

Have all ingredients at body temperature. Sift intelligence, ambition, and understanding together. Mix cooperation, initiative, and open-mindedness until dissolved. Add gradually ability, tactfulness and responsibility. Stir in positive attitude and judgment. Beat in patience until smooth. Blend all ingredients well. Sprinkle liberally with cheerfulness and bake in oven of determination. When absorbed thoroughly, cool and spread with kindness and common sense.

If that seems like a long list of ingredients, well, it is. But good leadership won't happen if any of those items are missing.

I love to study leaders and the different ways they lead. If there ever was a need for great leadership in a company, that time is now. Taking an organization through a good economy is tough enough; when the going gets rough, the real leaders shine. Consider the challenges that faced these leaders.

The military presents many opportunities to observe leaders in action. For example, President and General Dwight Eisenhower used a simple device to illustrate the art of leadership. Laying an ordinary piece of string on a table, he'd illustrate how you could easily pull it in any direction. "However, try and push it," he cautioned, "and it won't go anywhere. It's just that way when it comes to leading people."

The Duke of Wellington, the British military leader who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was a great commander but a difficult man to serve under. He was a perfectionist and very demanding, who complimented his subordinates only on rare occasions. In retirement, Wellington was asked by a visitor what he would do differently if he had his life to live over again. The old Duke thought for a moment and then said, "I'd give people I worked with more praise."

The famous general and Macedonian king Alexander the Great led by example. As he led an army across the desert, a soldier came up to him, knelt down, and offered him a helmet filled with precious water. "Is there enough there for 10,000 men?" asked Alexander. When the soldier shook his head, Alexander poured the water out on the desert sands, refusing to take even a sip.

My friend Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman of Carlson, wrote in her book How We Lead Matters, "The fact is that being a leader in any field requires discipline, effort, and yes, sacrifice. It can be all-consuming. And during that time, life may not have much balance. It's been said, 'If you can't ride two horses at the same time, you should get out of the circus.' A circus is not at all a bad analogy for the swirl of demands placed on leaders at the top."

Leaders are not always popular. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote in his book, My American Journey, "I learned... you cannot let the mission suffer, or make the majority pay to spare the feelings of an individual. I kept a saying under the glass of my desk at the Pentagon that made the point succinctly if inelegantly: 'Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.' "

Ken Blanchard once told me, "The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority."

"A business leader has to keep their organization focused on the mission," says Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay. "That sounds easy, but it can be tremendously challenging in today's competitive and ever-changing business environment. A leader also has to motivate potential partners to join."

Leadership guru Warren Bennis spent several years researching leaders for his book Why Leaders Can't Lead. He traveled around the country spending time with 90 of the most effective and successful leaders in the nation—60 from corporations and 30 from the public sector. His goal was to find these leaders' common traits. At first, he had trouble pinpointing any common traits, for the leaders were more diverse than he had expected.

But he later wrote: "I was finally able to come to conclusions, of which perhaps the most important is the distinction between leaders and managers. Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. Both roles are crucial, but they differ profoundly. I often observe people in top positions doing the wrong thing well."

Mackay's Moral: Good leaders inspire others with confidence in them. Great leaders inspire them with confidence in themselves.