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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule 
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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance
No. 162: You Need Childish Enthusiasm to Achieve Uncommon Success
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso
I am VERY childishly excitable and I SHOW IT. Not all my clients understand IT, but most like IT, because (IF I take on their project) IT makes me DELIVER what I promise them.
Unlike Most “Mature & Enlightened” Adults (Whatever That Means), I Don’t Act “Cool, Calm and Collected” When I’m EXCITED!
Many “schooled” adults often argue that one must act reserved to command respect.
Well, that’s never worked for me. Instead my willingness to “let myself go” has helped repeatedly record superlative performances in EVERY area of endeavour I have ventured in life.
And believe me, they are many.
Luckily for me, this has always come naturally.
Unfortunately for many I come across however, if they ever had such instincts in them (which I argue they were actually born with as children), society made them GROW out of it, to “qualify” to be called “mature adults” (again; whatever THAT means!)
I’m not asking you to go goofing around in your suit and tie – although I would argue that one should do a bit of that every now and then :-))
Highly successful people like Richard Branson, who alternately does VERY cool, and sometime goofy stuff, have shown that it helps to connect to your target audience in ways that build trust and credibility much faster.
To this end, I am actually planning a series of my own special publicity stunts to be implemented and shared via social media over the next few months.
Let me share with you a massive truth I discovered over 2 decades ago from applying my above mentioned instincts to relentlessly succeed at school, at work, and in life.
“If you refuse to acknowledge and express the “childish” enthusiasm you periodically feel (and you know you feel it!), you’re unlikely to excel at what you do. Period.” – Tayo K. Solagbade
I AM Living Proof That Indulging In “Childlike Imagination and Wonder” Yields Superior Performance
What’s more my extensive studies done DEEP into the successes of many well known figures that caught my interest have repeatedly confirmed that many of them also share my sentiments.
A few quotes I’ve inserted in this article offer examples, but many more abound.
As an expert in your field, nurturing and preserving this mindset of childish enthusiasm and awe towards life, and its LIVING, can prove CRUCIAL to “dusting” any competition you have.
Like I already mentioned above, it is what has helped me excel very many times in various – often unrelated – vocations.
Many of the stories I’ve told on this blog – including my current string of Location Independent Multipreneuring based successes (since I relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic), – offer verifiable proof.
In case you are a client or have been one in the past, what I say here should (hopefully) help you understand why I always seemed as excited – sometimes MORE! – than even you were about the project YOU hired ME to do for you!
Because I choose to “remain childish” in the way I embrace new discoveries, and new opportunities and new learning, I excel!
That basically sums it up really.
Each time I connect with a client (old or new), I always check to see if a proposed project is one that EXCITES me.
If I do not get a feeling of anticipation, or surge of adrenaline just contemplating it, the hindsight of past experiences often warn me that I may not do well in it.
On the occasions that I have “forced” myself to take on such jobs, I struggled to finish them to MY satisfaction.
Ironically, the clients expressed satisfaction with the finished work – yet I felt I had not done “enough”!
And that feeling came from knowing that I’d not been on “fire” in doing it i.e that I could have a WHOLE lot more (You see, I have a principle I adhere to, of “under-promising” to “over-deliver” – to each client).
Today, I try hard to avoid taking on such jobs when clients request my services.
Generally, I avoid telling such a client “I’m too busy”. It’s not polite, and can offend.
Instead, if it’s an old client that I hesitate to simply walk away from, I would subtly show my reservation by “delaying” in giving a response to the question of “how much will it cost?”
Usually I simply say…”Hmm, let me think about it and get back to you”. Then I generally “forget”. Sometimes s/he may ask again.
If it happens I have another project in hand from the same client, I could tactfully try to redirect his/her attention to an aspect, as an excuse.
If s/he persists, I give him/her a “fee” on the HIGH end that I know is likely to make him/her balk. This last tactic often works – and s/he may eventually choose to find someone else…and I of course NEVER ask about it afterwards!!
The above strategy has often worked for me. If you struggle with a similar dilemma, I recommend you try it.
Final Words: Let Your Enthusiasm Guide Your Decision Making
“I wanted to do two things when I was growing up, about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA, and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over, and that is what I am doing now.” – Michael Johnson, NBA Basketball Hall of Fame Legend, and Millionaire Entrepreneur
By freeing yourself from doing work that does NOT excite you, it will only be a matter of time before clients offering projects YOU consider exciting – with GREAT pay on top of it – begin to seek you out.
And when that happens, don’t lock up your “childlike imagination”!
They key to “wowing” those clients will be unleashing it.
Plunge into the project with a determination to re-discover even those things you (think you) already know.
EXAMPLE: Practicing What I Preach Above Recently Helped Me Discovered a 100% FREE – Way to Re-Launch My 10 Week Scheduled Flagship Auto Responder Email Course From My Website i.e. www.tayosolagbade.com
It’s titled “10 Ways You Can Use Self-Development to Create The Future You Want”
Last time I ran that auto responder course, it was hosted on a 3rd party service website – which today charges over $25 USD per month.
Since my course was FREE, continuing with that service made no financial sense. So, I took it down. That was in 2004 or so.
But recently, in the process of applying my childish enthusiasm towards implementing the web marketing project for a client here in Cotonou, I spent MANY DAYS researching the web for all sorts of resources.
Last week I stumbled on an amazingly powerful – yet FREE – tool that I have NOW installed on my website.
Not only will it NOW enable me launch an even more powerful lead generation platform on my website (i.e. the e-course), I am already preparing to offer use of this same tool for my clients on THEIR own websites!
In other words, if all goes well, I’m about to generate 2 additional potential income streams.
All this due to my shameless willingness to CHILDISHLY believe enough, to actually INVEST hundreds of hours to find uncommon zero cost ways to make my client’s website EXCEL!
As you can see, there’s a LOT of value to be had in being childish in THIS manner – especially when you do it with a mindset to ADD VALUE to others!
Let’s bring it back home to YOU, as an expert-who-speaks (or aspires to) for instance…
In choosing a niche subject to speak about in your industry, I recommend you let follow your – childlike – intuition/instincts.
How you feel about each topic or subject, should inform your choice.
Final Words: Wherever You Find Yourself Feeling “Awe & Wonder” At Possibilities to be Had in Any Area, Be “Childish” Enough to EXPLORE Them Till You’re S-a-t-i-a-t-e-d!
It could take time before you find a speaking “topic” worth developing for your target niche as an expert-who-speaks.
Sometimes you may need to look closer, dig deeper, and/or even polish or refine what you find.
But eventually, the subject or theme you make your flagship offering should be the one you find most exciting.
Your chosen subject should be the one you feel most UN-inhibited thinking, reading and speaking about.
In other words, the one for which you feel the greatest – shameless – ENTHUSIASM. i.e. that which you are most comfortable responding to questions about – and which comes most naturally to you.
Quite often, going about using the above described approach will lead you to establish yourself as an authority in less time than others who do what you do.
And you would do it with much less effort too!
Now, since meeting planners and audiences always want someone with proven competence, that authority status will make YOUR speaking service offer MORE compelling than whatever most others offer.
The above is why this approach helps those who adopt it to EXCEL:
If you put it to diligent use, it will help YOU EXCEL too!
Now, if only someone had told most of us THIS right when we were kids, we would probably have found our ways to success much earlier. But it’s never too late. You can make the needed changes now – and don’t forget to tell your kids to do the same!
“If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate of incalculable value” – Thomas Edison
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Have a great week :-))
