How to Have a Positive Attitude That Propels You to Success - Part 5

From the Ghetto to the Surgical Suite

Have you ever heard of Ben Carson? From a poor African-American boy growing up in the ghettos of Detroit, Michigan, to a world-renowned neurosurgeon, Ben Carson overcame incredible odds beyond what most people will ever face.

He was born in Detroit, where his childhood journey was filled with poverty. He struggled with poor grades and a violent temper. His mother, who only had a third-grade education, constantly challenged him to strive for excellence. Ben rose from the bottom to the top of his class. His achievements earned him academic scholarships to college and medical school.

Today, Dr. Ben Carson is director of pediatric neuro-surgery at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland. He is world-renowned for leading a medical team that separated West German conjoined twins in 1987. He is also credited with leading a team of South African doctors in the first successful separation of vertically conjoined twins in 1997.

Dr. Carson holds numerous honors and awards, including more than 20 honorary doctorate degrees. He is a member of the board of directors of the Kellogg Company, honored by the Horatio Alger Society, as well as a fellow of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University.

Dr. Carson's remarkable story is told in his first book, Gifted Hands. THINK BIG, his second book, encourages others to develop their intellectual potential. His latest book, The Big Picture, offers an up-close look at a professional surgeon's life, together with his unique perspective on priorities, race, society, success, and living out a life of faith in a complex world. He travels globally to share his knowledge and philosophy with the hope of inspiring people of all ages and educational backgrounds to be-and do-their best.

Is Ben Carson the lucky exception to the rule? Let's find out.

Jason and Matthew versus Goliath

Early in 1994, twin brothers Jason and Matthew Olim began creating CDnow.com, an Internet music store. Working in their parent's basement, on a shoestring budget, they competed against Fortune 500 companies with millions of dollars to spend...and won. In 1997 CDnow.com earned almost three times as much as its nearest rival, and owned one third of the online music business. From first month revenues of $387 in August of 1994, the company grew to sales of $16.4 million in 1997, and currently enjoys over $100 million in annual revenues.

Inspiring Billionaire

Born in 1950, Richard Branson grew up in a traditional family and received his education at Stowe School. While there, at the age of sixteen, he established a national magazine entitled, Student. By seventeen, he had started a Student Advisory Centre aimed at helping young, troubled teens.

At the age of twenty, he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer. A short while later, he opened a record shop on Oxford Street, London. In 1972, a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire where the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded "Tubular Bells," later released in 1973.

That first album on Virgin Records went on to sell more than five million copies. At the age of 27, Richard signed The Sex Pistols to Virgin Records after the group was turned down by every major label in Great Britain.

Over the years, he signed many superstar names including Steve Winwood, Paula Abdul, Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, The Human League, Bryan Ferry, Culture Club, Janet Jackson, and The Rolling Stones. As is evident, Branson managed to turn the Virgin Music Group into a giant success.

In 1992, the Virgin Music Group-record labels, music publishing and recording studios-was sold to Thorn EMI in a $1 billion US deal.

The interests of Virgin Group have since expanded into international "Megastore" music retailing, books and software publishing, film and video editing facilities. In addition, Virgin now has clubs and hotels throughout 100 companies in 15 countries.

Virgin Atlantic Airways, started in 1984, is now the second largest British long haul international airline. It operates a fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft to New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas, and Tokyo.

The airline was founded on the concept of offering competitive and high quality first class and economy services. The airline holds many major airline awards and recently earned "Airline of the Year Award" for the third consecutive year.

In 1993, the combined sales of Virgin Group Companies exceeded $1 billion US. In addition to his own business activities, Branson is a trustee of several charities. These include The Healthcare Foundation, a leading healthcare charity responsible for the launch of a health education campaign named Parents Against Tobacco. This organization is aimed at limiting tobacco advertisements and sponsorships in sports.

Since 1985, Branson, while actively engaged in his vocations, has also been involved in a number of record-breaking land and air speed and distance attempts. In 1986, his boat, "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II," rekindled the spirit of the Blue Riband by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest recorded time ever.

One year later, the hot air balloon called the "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," was the first hot air balloon ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It was the largest ever flown at 2.3 million cubic feet capacity, reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph.

In 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, the furthest distance of 6,700 miles. Again he broke all existing records with speeds of up to 245 mph in a balloon measuring 2.6 million cubic feet.

Branson admits that his success is simply in "believing that I can do what others believe they cannot do." Branson's key is a powerful attitude.

If You Can Believe It, You Can Achieve It - Reframing For Success

The key to quickly changing a belief is to associate massive pain with the old belief and associate massive pleasure with the new belief. Think about how that old belief has held you back and stagnated your potential. See of all of missed opportunities and grief this belief caused you. Feel the pain this belief has caused you and others. Does that create a frustrated feeling within you? Good! Amplify that feeling.
 
Imagine if you had this new, healthier belief ten years ago. What would your life be like?
See the huge gap between where you could be and where you are. This belief caused that gap. That gap represents pain. The pain is the pain of not having the life that is your God given right to have.
 
Now, reframe that belief into one that motivates you and pulls you in the direction you want to go. Here are some examples how you can reframe old beliefs into new ones.
 
Money Belief Reframe

Money is a tool that you can use for good. You can help more people when you have more money. You can help your family when you have more money. You will sleep better at night knowing you have emergency funds when something goes awry. Money is a result of service to other people.
 
Attraction Belief Reframe

Attraction is not an intellectual decision. We see too many instances of average men with beautiful women and handsome men with average women. The truth is that a good person looks for qualities not quantities.
 
Examples of quantities are how much money does the person make. What kind of car does the person drive? What kind of job does the person have? When a person really knows his or herself, he or she will focus instead on qualities not quantities. Quality refers to the types of emotional experiences you have when you are with this person. When you are with someone who touches places within you that you maybe didn't even know existed, you will find massive attraction. You want someone to say, "I've never met anyone like you before," not, "I've never met someone with a car like this before."
 
When you believe that you have to have quantities in order to get someone attracted to you, the message is that you are not enough with those "things." That is massive self-doubt in action.
 
Education Belief Reframe

Formal education is great, but not necessary to succeed. There are too many examples of people who have done extraordinarily well with by learning from their real life experience rather than an ivory tower theory. Your author is one of them. Far more impressive is the success of Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, who dropped out of school at age 16 and went on to become a billionaire.
 
To coin a corny phrase, if you can believe it you can achieve it. History is full of people overcoming incredible odds including self-doubt to achieve remarkable accomplishments. You will be one of them.

Virgin - Richard Branson's Success Story

Famous Quote
"I don't go into ventures to make a fortune. I do it because I'm not satisfied with the way others are doing business."

Growing Up

Branson dropped out of school in 1967 at the age of 16 and started a magazine called Student. He hoped it would be a forum for politically-minded youth. He soon was publishing essays and interviews from such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Robert Graves. Despite such a roster of great minds and literary figures, the magazine never made money and seemed bound to fail.

Starting the Business

Branson began marketing his next idea in the pages of Student; selling albums at a reduced rate through the mail. It rapidly became a more profitable business than the magazine itself. The staff of Student suddenly found themselves the employees of the Virgin discount record store. "Virgin" because no one had been in business before. Virgin had been going strongly but it was discovered Branson was dodging his tax payments. He was arrested and jailed.

Building an Empire

An out-of-court settlement was reached and, determined to keep the balance sheets carefully, Virgin Records was founded in 1973. Mike Oldfield's progressive "Tubular Bells" was the first record released through Virgin and became an international success. But, it was the signing of the Sex Pistols to his label in 1977 that truly established Virgin Records. Though the Pistols broke up soon after, Virgin became the largest indie label in the world. Bands like the Rolling Stone, Peter Gabriel and UB40 were signed to Virgin.

Over the next six years, Branson started over fifty different companies encompassing everything from filmmaking to air conditioner cleaning. Though he was making more than $17 million dollars from his various companies collectively, Branson insists that money is not the motivation behind his involvement in so many ventures. Rather, he enjoys attempting to do something more effectively than those who have tried before him.

In 1984, Branson started Virgin Atlantic Airlines - a company that would prove to be a great challenge as well as the cause of financial distress. Branson ignored discouraging comments that told him he could never compete with British Airways, and to look to the example of those who had failed before. The reason being that he had observed how airline companies did not look after their customers adequately enough - so he would be the one to bring affordable and enjoyable flights to the public. Virgin Air was immediately recognized for its service and luxury. In-flight massages, hydrotherapy baths and seat-back video screens were all part of the experience on-board a Virgin aircraft.

With fuel prices having doubled in the early '90s, terrorist attacks making people afraid to fly, and BA launching a campaign to put Branson out of the airline business, Virgin Atlantic struggled to stay afloat. Branson was forced to sell Virgin Records in order to raise enough money to keep Virgin Atlantic and pay off his creditors. The sale of the company that gave him his start was a crushing blow.

From this point on, Branson developed a new approach to business called "branded venture capital". Through this method, Branson licenses the well-known Virgin name and logo in exchange for a controlling interest in the venture. Consequently, Branson has his company's name fixed to more than 200 different companies, among which are Virgin Bridal, Virgin Publishing, a blimp company and a modeling agency.

Branson is known for his unusual business practices (no central headquarters, no board meetings, and he can't operate a computer), his showy publicity stunts (like driving a tank into Times Square and buzzing over Big Ben in an Airbus jet), and his adventurous exploits (he was the first person to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon and has attempted three times to fly it around the world). It might be thought that such an approach to business could have ruined him, but Virgin is a towering $5 billion dollar giant. And Branson keeps dreaming for the future. In discussing the prospect of starting a shuttle service into space, Branson has said, "Why not? It's virgin territory."