Keys that open doors to success

Press, 12 September 1980, Page 17

Keys that open doors to success

By

RAY CAIRNS

The winners in this world are easily recognisable, whether they comi pete in commerce, politics, sport, or any other form of human achievement. How are they most easily recognised and remembered, though? Not generally for the quality or per-* fectioh of their performances, so much as the end result. ; But how many of the •famous get the credit their results demand? How often would it be said of a Rockefeller, a Kennedy, a .Roosevelt, that he owed his successes to his 'dynasty/family influence i money/politicial influence? Or that Kuts and Zatopek could run so well because they were the products of a Communist system which allowed them the time and the conditions to achieve the right physical pitch. Or even on a lower key, that Colin Meads was a great, tough forward be- • cause he lugged sheep around under his arms all day. Forget all the other farmers in New Zealand who ended up playing > rugby less well than ■ : Meads, even though they did all their jogging with a beast under each arm. -■ The people who have 'won in life have done so 1 because they are winners, ■ and were winners before : their achievements were attained. " And the man who is * sweeping the world with J his “Psychology of Winning,” Dr Denis E. Waitley, has reached New Zea- < land with his package deal for success. Dr Waitley’s preachings are nothing new. He has not unearthed any new

concepts of human behavioural patterns. But he has boiled them down into 10 key factors in human behaviour and development. His courses have gained a ready acceptance in Australia, where some Institutes of Management are marketing the “Psychology of Winning” as part or their curricula. The same interest . is being shown in New Zealand, says Dennis Reid, the director of Motivation

Programmes, Ltd, who captained New Zealand at water polo from 1976 to 1979, and is the country’s most experienced international. The course he markets for Denis Waitley is the same as any other organisation in the world Which promotes the American’s message: For $199, a participant has a one day seminar-workshop, followup courses, a comprehensive workbook, and

video cassettes (which can be played on an ordinary tape-deck) for repeated refresheners. Denis Waitley has been psychologist, counsellor and motivator for Apollo moon astronauts, Olympic athletes, and Super Bowl football champions, and the rehabilitation co-or-dinator for returning Vietnam prisoners of war. Are the latter, losers on the field of battle, winners? Their survival says they are, insists Denis Waitley. His illuminating example is Colonel George Hall. For five years and a half, this middle-aged man

was •in solitary confinement, cooped up in a bamboo cage where his only physical exercise was 1500 sit-ups and 100 press-ups each mornings Mere days after his . release, his body atrophied from the cruel imprisonment, Colonel Hall played in the New Orleans golf open, and had a round of 76. It was called “starter’s luck.” “Nonsense,” barked the colonel. “In five and a half years, I’ve never three-putted a green.” This extraordinarily strong-will-ed man had, every day, for those five and a half years as a P.O.W, played a round of golf in his mind, never fancying, that he could play

a poor round. Waitley’s seminar has four sessions, ’ incorporating the 10 key factors: Self-awareness: “We sell ourselves short. You can remember anything that has happened in your life, so if you can recall, what can you do for your future?” Self-esteem: “The single most important quality. It is the attitude which says: T don’t have to say it, I say it" with action not words. I deserve the gold medal, the cup. I never talk about the possibility of failure’. ”

Self-control: "A champion sees life as a do-it-myself project; he takes the credit or winning; he chose to make it a good day. The loser always has reasons or excuses — the youngest, the oldest, the middle child, the only child, or he had to go through the Depression, the Vietnam war, unemployment, the Second World War — it wasn’t his fault.” Self-motivation: “This is where you really separate the winners from the silver medals. Desire tells you you can; fear tells you you have to. But desire, and fear are poles apart; you cannot motivate someone, on the reverse of an idea — that

makes him a loser. Winners focus all attention on the desired result.” Self-expectancy: “This is a way of life, the most obvious outward trait of a champion. There was never a winner who did not expect to win.” Self-image: “There Is a robot in ourselves, which we can either direct or he directs us. I played a round of golf one day; my handicap was 16 and I went out in 37.- My part-

ners commented on my form, and this woke my robot. He said: ‘Steady on there, you’re not meant to be doing this,’ So I came home in about 50 and that was much better. I was back where I should have been.” Self-direction: “There never was a winner who didn’t know where he or. she was going. Winners never look upon failures as anything more than temporary setbacks.”

Self-discipline: “Every winner I know is a master of simulation. Jean-Claud Kiely, the. skier,’ who 1 would see himself going through the flags in a faster time still; Dick Fosbury, who just rocked on his heels with his eyes closed, for just as long as it took him to see himself sailing over the high jump bar; Neil Armstrong who was always going to step on the moon. And when he had told the world about one small step . for man, one giant step for mankind, he leaned over and whispered down to control: ‘Hey Shorty, just like drill.’ Because Armstrong had done it all before, 300 times in his mind.” Self-dimension: “Look beyond yourself. Don’t live in the past, nor, for that matter, in the future, for that’s the loser, ‘the ’some day, I’ll . . . ’ Live now. ‘I will today’. ” Self-projection: “The winners listen, and most of -all they realise that everyone is different. And they are already on the way to success.” This precis of the Waitley thoughts barely touches on the whole subject. “Just as well,” jokes Dennis Reid, “I’ve got my business to run.” He also suggests that the seminars run by his company (“the only one in New Zealand with the latest available, motivational material”) have not entirely served their purpose, as well as they have been received. “We have never yet had along the real people who need it All our participants have been the winners, or those on the way up.”