What does it mean to be positioned for success? It means taking action to achieve your dream and taking necessary steps to get there. This has been a life long learning experience for me of setting goals, coming up with a plan of action, facing the struggle, and being persistent to win!
Life by no means has been a bed of roses for me. I know what it is like to be broke, to support a family of eight with a car not running, the second vehicle repossessed, no TV, a mountain of bills, PB&J for lunch, and being creative with Mac & Cheese for dinner every night. Can we say, "a living night-mare"? Now if that wasn't enough. My wife cried out, "Lord give me a break!" She got her break one night with a slip on the stairs in our house and had a completely dislocated foot, on the first week of summer. Now let that be a lesson to watch out on what you pray for - be specific! Through those tough times that lasted for four years, we made it on prayer and swallowing a lot of humble pie. It was in those days I really had to sit down and think how we got in this situation and come up with a new game plan.
I reflected on the basics of my childhood. I wanted to attend the Air Force Academy and become a doctor. Why did I have that dream? Growing up we are taught occupations to be a doctor is very lucrative and meets a need in society to help people. The military will always be around and offers a lot for young people getting out on their own and provides a great platform to build a future on. Well there, I had a great dream and as a kid I could work hard in school and in my community to get accepted into the Air Force Academy. The military would pay for my education to become a doctor. My parents couldn't afford to send me to school and I had to make my own way.
Next came the process of getting accepted to the Air Force Academy. I was 12 years old, and had six years, to make myself stand out from the competition. I discovered that becoming an Eagle Scout would be a great asset to achieve and if I didn't get accepted, I could qualify for an Eagle Scout full-ride scholarship as a back up plan. Only three percent, of Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts, so positioning was crucial to be successful in meeting my goals. My dad and I searched around in my hometown, for a good scout troop and and found one out of a seven available troops that had the highest turn out of Eagle Scouts. It was a troop on the rich side of town with kids I wouldn't go to school with until high school. I joined and the month after my 15th birthday, I had achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. This marked the first greatest achievement in my life! What was the reason for my success? It was positioning myself on a team where I was surrounded by people with the same goals, and learning from those who had the knowledge and experience to be successful. In that troop of 50 boys, I graduated high school with 11 of my friends who also became Eagle Scouts. We helped each other to win!
A junior in high school I challenged the state to be the first 11th grader to attended college and went to Oklahoma State University to become an Emergency Medical Technician. To become an EMT there was only a 20% pass rate, so I picked the best school in the area for producing EMTs, even though; it was the
hardest. What the state looked at for accepting me into the University was being an Eagle Scout. I wanted to attend the Air Force Academy and become a doctor. I figured being an EMT would put me ahead of the competition. By being positioned in a top school at OSU I passed in top 5% of my class and became a National Registered EMT.
Now let's fast forward to where I am today. Life happened and I did not attend the Air Force Academy and I never became a doctor. Reason: I let two Air Force Academy Alumni talk me out of my dream. Lesson here is don't let anyone sell you short on achieving your goals in life. I did join the Air Force and have enjoyed the experience of serving in the Armed Forces. Retiring from the Air Force will be another great accomplishment with fulfillment of serving on several deployments in my career.
Looking at the state of our economy today and seeing how people are struggling with making ends meet, while savings accounts are depleting, and foreclosures are at an all-time high is devastating. I have felt like a kid getting ready to graduate high school again and trying to figure out what I am going to do when I grow up. This decision processes had driven my wife up the walls. I decided to take a look at what successful people were doing and what made them so different. A three year study led to me to meet some great entrepreneurs who have years of experience in building businesses.
What I discovered was the importance of being positioned for success. First thing is getting educated. Do a study of real people in business in the industry. Pick their brains and read their books. Let their wisdom save you a lot of time and money and get down to the basics. Answer the question: "What does it take to be successful?" I recommend reading: the Holy Bible, John C. Maxwell, "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership", Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, "Why We Want You To Be Rich", Robert Kiyosaki, "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "Business of the 21st Century", and Napoleon Hill, "Think and Grow Rich". Get a subscription of Success Magazine and get informed! Position yourself with knowledge and become like-minded with successful entrepreneurs and business people.
The next lesson is key and that is to be positioned with like-minded people. It was shared with me that we are like 85% of those we associate with daily. Makes sense! You know the old saying, "a bird of a feather flock together". This saying has merit and stands true in whatever walk of life we choose. Life is a choice. You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends.
Finally, I made a decision and took action on it. I found not one but seven millionaires on one team that wants to see me succeed. Not only see me succeed, but all who are interested in being successful to find success. They are very personable, friendly and devoted to giving their time and efforts to help people reach their dreams in life. They practice the Three Musketeer motto: "All for one and one for all!" Wow, a team of people that can coach me to be successful and help my business grow! Not only that they know what it is like to be living from paycheck to paycheck. They are not only successful in their current business, but have been successful in previous businesses. Why the change? They saw the opportunity to make make more with less time and money. They found a fair and honest company with an actual 50% share in the company's profit. What really touches my soul is they are not afraid to get down on a knee and pray for me. I speak with them daily and they are real people making a real difference in peoples lives every day. They don't ask, how far do you want us to jump for you? They ask, how high do you want us to jump with you?
To really succeed you need to be positioned for success with a team. Surround yourself with the best and settle for nothing less than to be the best. Throughout my life experience it has always came down to working with a team to reach my own personal success. Sure you can be successful on your own. Imagine how successful you would be if you leveraged your time and efforts with that of a team dedicated to help you succeed? Then you may wonder, what does it cost? It costs you time to decide your dream is worth achieving and making a commitment to achieve it.
Are you positioned for success now and can you see what you are doing right now getting you to your dream in the next five years? If you answered no to this question then decide if your dream is worth achieving. If it is worth achieving and you have the desire to make it happen in this lifetime then get with me. Click on this link to see what I am doing and contact me directly: http://my.xango.com/foycox/ Let's work together and get you positioned for success! God bless!!
Sincerely,
Foy J. Cox
