Chapter 3: For Things To Change, I Must Change...First!

Do you know that many people feel they cannot achieve what they want in life because they are not in control of their circumstances? Is it really so?

How many times have you heard this: "If only I had creativity like him, I would be able to develop innovative Internet Marketing products," or "if only I had the money to start the e-commerce business, then I would be able to set up a business"? Do you know that all these things are within our control the moment we change ourselves?



It sounds unbelievable but it's true! This requires a shift in your paradigm of thinking and it moves you from a powerless state to a state where you can actually take control. We will now take a look at 3 ordinary people like you and me who are able to achieve what they want in life through this simple principle.



David was a guy in his late 30s who was still actively looking for a partner to settle down. When I ask him why he had not settled down, he replied that he was still looking for his ideal partner. His idea of an ideal partner is a beautiful, smart, elegant and well-mannered lady. I started to ask him, "Would this ideal partner want to take you as her partner?" Immediately, he gets the idea. As David had messy hair, liked to drink and smoke, he realized that his ideal partner would never be attracted to somebody like him. He started to make an effort to comb his hair neatly and kicked his drinking and smoking habits. In a couple of months down the road, he finally found the ideal partner that he was looking for.



Mark was in the Internet Marketing business. He was not getting the sales result that he wanted to achieve. After attending a teleconference call by one of the Internet Marketing gurus, he realized the reason why he was not achieving the sales result he wanted was due to lack of planning and insufficient market research for his product. Mark evaluated his methods and began to make a conscious effort to change the way he works. He started to plan well and do sufficient market research before launching his product. The next product that he released was a runaway success!



Ken was a new teacher. He was allocated to teach the most mischievous class in the whole school. Many teachers in the school had already given up on this class. Initially, Ken tried the usual approach to teach the class, but it didn't work well. Ken started evaluating his method and decided to change his approach of teaching them. Instead of the usual one-way communication to the student, Ken engaged the students in the class through fun interactions and games. When the exam results was out, the class had dramatically improved their result.



Based on the above stories, we saw that in order to change the situation, the first change must come from within ourselves. Very often, we feel powerless to change our situation when we feel that things are not within our control. Through this simple principle of changing ourselves in order to change things, we have the power to take control rather than being a victim of the circumstances. When we take responsibility for what we get and change ourselves, everything and everybody will change with us! For things to change, I must change...FIRST!



So