Put yourself around successful people and learn...

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

The point is, if you want to meet successful people, go out of your way to do so. As Don and I discovered, if you make the effort, they reciprocate with their time and share their knowledge.

Make a list of people you would like to meet and take action, being around success is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Even those no longer with us, get to know them through the work they left behind.

Hi Gordon,

I have to agree with your advice!

One question is... Does this only work in business?

The answer is... No! It also works in every field...

How? Here's an example.

As some here may know, I used to work in the world of physics. When I was doing my Ph.D. in physics, my grandmother sadly passed away. However, she left me a little bit of money (I think it was a few thousand dollars), with the instruction that it was to be spent on education...

I thought that this was a great opportunity to learn from some great physicists. I made a list of 10 physicists, in order, whose research groups I would like to visit, to spend some time learning and possibly working with them. My reasoning was, if the first guy rejects me, I'll email the 2nd guy... and so on down the list. My "pitch" to them was that I would fund myself - I wouldn't cost them anything if they let me visit! (That's where my grandma's money came in.)

I wrote an email (this was back in the early 1990s) to the first physicist on my list, and he said yes! (He's not really well known outside of the physics world, but in physics, he's quite well-known...)

So, I headed off to the University of California, Berkeley, for six months. Through him, I also met Charles Townes, a Nobel Prizewinner (and my office at Berkeley was just a few doors down from his).

It gave me a good boost in my physics career...

Where else would it work?

Probably everywhere... Including in business...!

So, what can you learn by doing this?

One of the most valuable things, I think, you can pick up from the right people, is how they think... If you can understand that, then you've often discovered one of the real secrets to their success...

Best wishes,

Dien