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Influence is a two-way street. Everything you do and say has some influence on others – you are part of their external environment. You even exert a small degree of gravitational force on others, indeed, you exert gravitational force on the planet! Not a lot admittedly, but your mass does attract other mass. You knew that you should have paid attention in science class now. Just as aside, it’s quite a useful factoid for use when you have gained a few pounds of weight – you do so in order to become more attractive! That’s put paid to the glamour magazines.

The same is trues for other people exerting their influence over you. Everything that other people say or do is a part of your external environment and that exerts an influence in turn over your behaviour.

The external environment beyond other human beings, also has some influence over you. The weather for example – when it is raining, it is quite likely that you would alter your ‘normal’ behaviour by carrying an umbrella, or wearing a rain-proof coat. You know for sure that the weather can have a major influence over your golf. When there is lightening, you would wisely move away from the fairways under the trees or into the clubhouse. Being struck by lightening is one influence that everyone can do without.

The problem with influence is that human beings have a tendency to assume that there is little you can do to change the way something influences you. Well, let me put this straight. You can and you do.
Let us take an example of something that influences us and we do something about it  – almost fight its influence on our lives. One that affects us all and that is our friend gravity. You see, gravity is ever present in our lives – there are a few exceptions but since that involves  travelling into space I think I can safely assume that does not include you. If, by chance you have travelled into space – my question is – how far can you hit a drive out there? Must be awesome.

Back to earth. Gravity is a pretty constant force acting on our bodies – in order to combat the effects of gravity we develop muscles and utilise energy to stand against it. Only when we are physically damaged – break a leg, twist an ankle, suffer paralysis and so on, do we truly appreciate how much effort is involved in keeping our body upright and moving. When we are reasonably fit and well, we think little or nothing of getting up from a chair and walking, and most of the time, we do all this unconsciously. We have programmed our brain to take care of operating the correct muscles, keeping balance, walking, and all the while supplying those muscles and cells with energy through breathing and circulating our blood. Now, if you had to consciously work out how to do all this stuff that we simply take for granted, you’d not have a great deal of time to think about much else – at least, not consciously.

What’s the point of this? Well, it’s simple really – there are many many things occurring in your life, including when you practice and play golf, that influence your behaviour. Some things we cannot change – gravity, weather, daylight, animals etc. and we can choose to what extent we allow such to affect us and our behaviours. We can choose to be at cause for ourselves or at the effect of the environment and others. In other words, I’m disabling your potential for ‘excuses’.

Pop into any bookstore and in the business section you’ll find at least fifty current books promising ‘instant success’ or the ‘4 steps to achieving your dreams’ or the ‘easy guide to getting everything in life you ever wanted’. A bright, cheerful picture adorns the front cover, often the author, who tells you that this book contains the secret that you have been seeking.

Distilled from many years of real life experience, I thought it time to let you know that there is no short-cut to your success. Sorry. There are a whole lot of myths and legends but as Seth Golden points out in Permission Marketing, “There’s no such thing as an overnight opera sensation. Great firm’s don’t spring up overnight. They’ve been built the same way – bit by bit, step by step, little by little.
Is there a road to success?

There are many – and you may find that one of these great delusions promises so much more than someone else.

Many people start their journey along the ‘opportunity-leverage-productivity’ route. Parents seek and strive for their children to get into the best schools, gain excellent grades and hence be assured of a place at the best universities to gain a degree which will enable you to leverage your qualifications into a decent position and a fulfilling career. All you have to do is work hard, work harder and work some more – and you will succeed.

I believed it all too – then the company went bust, I was out of work and, at the time, no-one was hiring.

Attend a few events and be inspired with the latest ’secret of success’ seminar. Now all that is needed is the luck to meet exactly the right person at exactly the right time and get that deserved break…

It’s easy to let yourself drop back to ‘impossible’ and start to criticize anyone and everyone who appears to be succeeding in the very space you should be, because you really are far more deserving than they are…

I just haven’t met the right people yet. So sign-up for another networking group, exchange business cards, remember the adage ‘givers gain’, meet lots of new people. One of them, surely is the right person and I will be there at the right time. All I need is to be recognised for the brilliant, hard-working individual that I am and I will have my reward…