Perhaps you’ve also seen the movie Jerry Maguire. I found it a great movie with a very important message which I’d like to share with you.
Football player, Rod Tidwell was always asking his sports agent, Jerry Maguire to “show him the money”. Rod’s focus was on what he wanted out of each deal and whether the deals offered to him were good enough for him. As his contract came up for renewal he found that the clubs were not exactly falling over themselves to sign him on or re-sign him. The media ignored him and he was perceived as an average player with a big ego and a big mouth.
At one stage he was offered a contract for less money than his existing contract and was rather despondent. Both he and his agent were frustrated because there seemed very little prospect of landing the $10 million dollar contract that they were both looking for.
The turning point in Rod’s career came when he had just finished playing another average game and a female TV reporter was in the players’ dressing room interviewing the star players. Rod was sitting on a stool in the middle of the dressing room, in full view of the reporter. He was looking rather sorry for himself that he was not the centre of attention. The reporter concluded her interview with the other player and turned to the camera man saying, “OK then, is there anyone else worth interviewing?” She scanned the room and answered her own question by saying, “No, well let’s get out of here.”
A few minutes later Rod and Jerry were walking down the road when Jerry turned to Rod and asked him: “Are we really friends . . . because friends can tell each other anything when they’ve got their friends hats on, right?” Rod replies in the affirmative and Jerry continues.
“I’ll tell you why you don’t have your 10 million dollars yet. Right now you are a paycheck player. You play with your head, not your heart. In your personal life it’s all heart, but when you get on the field, it’s all about what you didn’t get, who’s to blame, who underthrew the pass, who’s got the contract you don’t have, who’s not giving you love.
And you know what? That’s not what inspires people! That’s not what inspires people!
Just shut up and play the game from your heart. And you know what, when you do that, I’ll show you the money. That’s the truth man. That’s the truth!”
Soon after this conversation Rod Tidwell became a different player. He was right in there playing his hardest; the leading points scorer and an inspiration for the team and the fans. The media are interested in him and he’s on a high again.
The focus is on him not because he’s out there pushing his barrow. The focus is on him because he plays his best and that catches peoples’ attention and imagination. The movie finishes by showing Rod in a television interview where the reporter announces that Rod has just been offered a signed contract with his home team, the Arizona Cardinals, for 11.2 million dollars over four years.
This was more than either he or his agent Jerry expected and was totally unexpected at that time.
The message in this movie is so relevant for all of us today. Far too often our focus is on selling ourselves and our products for our own benefit. Sure, we may achieve a degree of success that way, but we don’t become an inspiration to others when the focus of our attention is on ourselves.
The real change to our success comes when we change our focus from selling ourselves to making ourselves attractive to others. In other words, when we do our best to add value for others, they want to be around us more. It’s when we focus on others that they actually want to help us to succeed. This is a far easier way of building a business and of making a sale.
Being a model (walking your talk), having an expertise, developing a reputation for excellence, being an integral part of a strong community and improving the quality of life of those around you makes you irresistibly attractive. The foundation for this process is to have a strong orientation towards being of service to others. It’s about building reserves in your life; - having more than you need (I wrote about creating reserves in another article.
Click here to read this article).
It’s about feeling good about your self worth, having a clarity of vision and giving up pushing for results and allowing them to come to you instead.
The process of attraction requires less effort and provides greater rewards and satisfaction than the hollow pursuit of meeting today’s needs only.
About Hans Jakobi
Hans Jakobi is an educator, author and investor. He is the author of six best-selling books including, How To Be Rich & Happy On Your Income which is available at:
www.supersecrets.com and the presenter of the Super Secrets to Wealth® do-it-yourself real estate home study course. Join Hans Jakobi’s FREE Super Secrets® Online Newsletter
© 2002 Hans Jakobi. All rights reserved worldwide
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