Glyme’s Formula
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made. –Michael Meaney
The Big Secret
J. Paul Getty’s formula: “Rise early, work late, and strike oil!”
The Man We Want
When Mile Kollin was a linebacker for the Dolphins and a graduate of Auburn University, his former college coach, Shug Jordan, asked him if he would do some recruiting for him. Mike said, “Sure, coach. What kind of player are you looking for?”
The coach said, “Well, Mike, you know there’s that fellow, you knock him down, he just stays down?” Mike said, “We don’t want him, do we, coach?”
“No, that’s right. Then there’s that fellow, you knock him down and he gets up, but you knock him down again and he stays down.”
Mike answered, “We don’t want him either, do we, coach?”
Coach said, “No, but Mike, there’s a fellow, you knock down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up.”
Mike said, “That’s the guy we want, isn’t it, coach?”
The coach answered, “No, we don’t want him either. I want you to find that guy who’s knocking everybody down. That’s the guy we want!”
A Little Failure
If you’re not failing now and again, it’s a sign you’re playing it safe. –Woody Allen
Figuring the Profit
A small businessman from the old country kept his accounts payable in a cigar box, his accounts receivable on a spindle, and his cash in the cash register. His son said, “I don’t see how you can run your business this way. How do you know what your profits are?” The businessman replied, “Son, when I got off the boat, I had only the pants I was wearing. Today your sister is an art teacher, your brother is a doctor, and you’re an accountant. I have a car, a home, and a good business. Everything is paid for. So you add it all up, subtract the pants, and there’s your profit.”
Smell of Success
Like perfume, success is to be sniffed, not taken internally. –Russ Reid
Greener Grass
Two disillusioned college presidents were discussing what they’d do if they had their lives to live over. One said, “I’d like to run an orphanage—no parents to contend with.” The other said, “I’d rather run a penitentiary, no alumni pressure groups.”
It Makes Sense, Sort of
An old storekeeper,l who was also the community’s postmaster, was a real go-getter. He had no helper, and when he had to leave his store to meet the mail train, he was tormented by thoughts of tourists stopping for gas and soft drinks, and finding him gone and his store closed. Finally, he hit upon a shrewd solution. He printed a sign in bold letters which explained everything during his enforced absences: Back in 15 minutes—Already been gone 10.”
Look the Part
The greatest help to a man struggling to succeed is to look as if he has already succeeded.
Helping Out
You can’t help a man uphill without getting closer to the top yourself.
Success and Failure
If you really want to succeed, form the habit of doing the things that people who are failures don’t like to do.
Sports and Politics
In 1930 Babe Ruth earned eighty thousand dollars—a huge sum in those days. When asked if he thought is was fair that he receive more than President Hoover, he said, “Well, I had a better year.”
The Secret of Success
Sam Findley decided it was time to retire from the garment business. So he called in his son Mervyn and gave him the news and a bit of advice: “Son, it’s all yours. I’ve made a success of this business because of two principles: reliability and wisdom. First, take reliability. If you promise goods by the tenth of the month, no matter what happens, you must deliver by the tenth. Even if it costs you overtime, double time, golden time. You deliver what you promise.”
Mervyn thought about this for a few moments and then asked, “But what about wisdom?” His father shot back: “Wisdom is never making such a stupid promise.”
The Great Contrast
Success breeds a thousand parents, failure is an orphan. –Stephen Spielberg
Drifting
Following the path of least resistance is what makes people and rivers crooked. People seldom drift to success.
The Importance of Little Extras
We had just moved into a new apartment and were besieged by salesmen for everything from laundry service to life insurance. One busy day a dairyman came to the door. “No,” I said firmly, “my husband and I don’t drink milk.”
“Be glad to deliver a quart every morning for cooking.”
“That’s more than I need,” I replied, starting to close the door.
“Well, ma’am, how about some cream? Berries comin’ in now, and . . . .”
“No.” I said curtly. “We never use cream.”
The dairyman retired slowly, and I congratulated myself on my sales resistance. The truth was that I had already ordered from a dairy, and this seemed to be the easiest way out. The following morning, however, the same dairyman appeared at the door, a bowl of dewy strawberries held carefully in one hand and a half-pint bottle of cream in the other.
“Lady,” he said, as he poured the cream over the berries and handed them to me, “I got to thinkin’–you sure have missed a lot!” Needless to say, we changed dairies.
The Lion’s Share
Eighty percent of success is showing up. –Woody Allen
Losing Less
The scene was the campus of the University of Florida in the early 1960s. The football team was in practice session. They were running wind sprints for conditioning. One of the large linemen, Jack Katz, who played tackle, had proven himself to be the fastest lineman on the team. Katz walked up to coach Graves and asked if he might run sprints with the faster backs. Permission was granted.
The Math That Counts
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of their graduation, some college alumni were gathered for a class reunion. They were scattered about in little groups, reminiscing about college days. In one group the conversation turned to a classmate they all remembered named Harvey. The thing they remembered most about Harvey was that whenever he was asked what he was going to do after graduation, he always replied, “I’m going to be a millionaire.” Harvey always expected he would make his millions. But another thing they remembered about Harvey was that he was one of the slowest students in their class intellectually. And he was especially poor in mathematics. Here was a man who expected to make millions, but he could hardly add up a column of figures.
As the members of the group were exchanging Harvey stories, up pulled a brand new, chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce and out stepped Harvey wearing an expensive, tailor-made, three-piece suit and everything that went with it. His classmates quickly gathered around him and began throwing questions at him. “Hey, Harvey, where did you get that car? Harvey! Wow! What happened? How did you do it?”
Harvey said, “Well, you see, I came upon an invention that costs me only five dollars to manufacture, and I sell it for one hundred dollars. And you’d be surprised how fast that 10 percent profit adds up!”