Jack M. Zufelt

That goes Against Everything I’ve Been taught!

by Jack M. Zufelt“Mentor to Millions”

He was raised on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. He got beat up a lot because of the color of his skin. He had no self-esteem, no formal education and certainly no money. For a while he was homeless. He slept in stairwells between floors of hotels until chased out by security.

He struggled all of his life to just be okay and to pay bills. Then, two things happened that changed everything. As a result, he became very successful life and business. Now he is one of the most influential and successful speakers on success in the world. His name is Jack Zufelt. Here is what he has to say about the DNA of Success.

People are always looking for ways to be more, have more and be happy.       I was one of them. Some want to lose weight or get in shape, earn more money, etc.. There are many “gurus” out there who represent that they can help you do all that. So you buy into their recipe for success. I spent a lot of money and time on “self-help” programs…..of all kinds. Sound familiar?

For a while the plan feels good because you are doing what you are told and you hope that it will work….but, alas, it never does for most people! It didn’t for me either.                                 

The granddaddy of all self-help recipes is called “goal setting”. You diligently write down goals for the week, the month, the year. You are sincerely committed to them and maybe even read them several times a day. Right? Then, as time goes by, you find that many do not become reality.

My research has proven that eight out of ten “goals” a person writes down on a piece of paper will not happen.    I am sure you have experienced this as well.  

Your goals and aspirations can be achieved….but only if a certain, vital ingredient is there.  If it is not there the dreams and aspirations are destined to wither and die and failure is all that is left. For anyone who dreams of achieving a more satisfied life, a very simple method exists. It is a method that flips on the switch to our success gene in our DNA and provides an ingredient that every person who has achieved the pinnacle of success in any area of life automatically uses….including you.

This ingredient and this method are not based on what countless experts and gurus teach. They all pretty much serve up the same old gobbledygook philosophies based on goal setting, doing daily affirmations and

visualization, PMA, NLP, listening to motivational speakers, subliminal messaging, breaking boards, walking on hot coals, etc., etc. These so-called “keys” to success have all been taught for almost a century.

In the hope of finding happiness and success, billions of dollars and millions of hours have been spent on seminars and books and programs only to find they don’t work. You’d think that with all that money and time being spent on a vast array of self-help techniques and methodologies many more people would be achieving their dreams.  But they aren’t. To blindly trust and accept the much-ballyhooed secrets of success will invariable lead to wrong decisions and, in far too many cases, wasted time and money. And….you begin to doubt yourself and wonder if you have what it takes.  

There is a better, simpler way.

Two Simple Questions: You should answer yes to both of these questions:  1) Are you smart enough to learn what someone is willing to teach you?  2) Do you believe the information that you need to know to achieve the success you want already exists somewhere in a book, a class, a CD, a coach a minister or in a course of some kind?  

If you answered yes to both of these then to achieve at the highest level you want in any area of life all you have to do is find the catalyst, which you provide from within yourself, that puts those two things together. Is top performance and success really that simple?  Absolutely. And you will see why in a moment.

Goal Setting is the reigning king of all success techniques ever taught. It has been taught that if you will write down your goals and read them daily somehow they happen.  That’s just not true.  My research shows that 8 out of 10 things a person writes on a goal list will never happen. That is a whopping 80% failure rate!  

I have discovered what ingredient was there for the two things that people did get that was not there for the other eight. What I have discovered and teach is being called a “wake-up call” and a “breakthrough” for the self-help industry.  

One well known expert says: “If your goals are not written down they are merely fantasies”. That’s not true.  Everyone has achieved many things that were never written down. Like getting a driver’s license. I think that if you have 10 things written down on a “goals list” and only two of them become reality, those eight that did not happen were the fantasies!

One quote I saw in a book just made me furious because it further perpetuates the problem. It said, “Put your goals in writing. If you can’t put in on a sheet of paper you probably can’t do it.”  That is simply a lie. This is the kind of incorrect propaganda that has been foisted on the public for almost a century. Goal setting is not the reason successful people got that way. In fact goal setting did not even exist until the 1940s.  

Here is an awful side effect of goal setting.  When a person buys into the idea of goal setting and observes week after week, month after month or year after year, that they are not achieving those goals they almost always draw negative conclusions about themselves like: I must not have what it takes or I am a failure or I must be a loser.  Success has nothing to do with the concept of writing down goals.

If you have heard a motivational speaker in the last year or two answer this question: How long did you stay motivated?  Most people say: two days, `till I got out of the parking lot.  The conclusion we must draw from that feedback from my research and feedback from my audiences all around the world is that, no matter how good, no matter how interesting they are, motivational speakers have no lasting affect. They are like going to a movie. They can make you laugh or cry and feel great! But then you go home and your life doesn’t change. They were great entertainment; had some great ideas and maybe some right on concepts but your life stays the same.   

Self-help books are plentiful. How many do you have in YOUR library? 1?  5?  20?  100?  How many does it take to be successful? I ask audiences all around the world to raise their hand it they have read the book Think and Grow Rich.  About 50% of them raise their hand. I then say, “Keep your hands up if you are you rich.”  All hands go down.  They got the “think” part down but the “grow rich” part didn’t happen. Why not?  The book must be faulty or they are too dense to get it? Right?  No!  That book is full of good information and they are not stupid.   

If, after reading self-help books, you still aren’t achieving at the level you want should we can draw the conclusion that either you just couldn’t grasp the concepts being taught in the book or the books you read were full of misinformation. Of course neither of those is true. You are not dense nor, in most cases, is the information wrong.  So…something is missing, that’s all. It’s the ingredient mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Affirmations: Do you like people to lie to you? Of course not.  Then why is it okay to lie to yourself? That’s what the concept of daily affirmations says to do. This what it looks like: “I weigh 125 pounds” when you weigh 175” or “I drive a Mercedes” when you drive a Toyota, or  “I am out of debt” when you aren’t.”  

Gurus teach that your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie. Even if that is true your conscious mind sure does. If stating thousands of times that you are rich or that you are thin or have increased your sales by 25% or drive a Mercedes, isn’t true then it clashes immediately with your conscious mind because it knows better.  Doing this exercise will only cause you to waste time and create false hope. Besides lying to anyone including yourself, is not acceptable….ever!

It has been said that your mind is like a computer…garbage in garbage out – good stuff in good stuff out. That’s just not true. Your mind is not like a computer. Your mind is vastly different from a computer because you have choice.  You don’t have to spew out garbage just because it was put in. Conversely, good information put into your mind does not mean that good information will come out.  Whether it does or doesn’t is a matter of choice on your part.

There are many more self-help concepts that exist which have similar flaws in them making them inoperable in your life. Yet millions of people keep on doing them. The definition of insanity and been stated this way. “Doing what you’ve been doing expecting different results”.

For nearly a century we have been taught that we have the power within us to do, have or become whatever we want…..that this power is God given or innate. It’s true, we all have that power.  But where is the switch?

“Within!” comes the quick answer. That’s true. Trouble is, until I came along, no one is able to tell you how to go “within” to flip on the switch to that power.

Where is the switch to our God given power to do, have or become whatever we want? Where is the switch for more enthusiasm and discipline?                       

Where is the switch the source of inner strength and self-motivation that keeps one hanging in there, persisting, constantly learning truths and being totally determined to make the necessary character and personality changes required for the level of success they want?

Where is the switch to the inner drive and strength come from to do that which is unpleasant, hard or way out of one's comfort zone?  Where is the switch to the driving force that gives people the ability to pick themselves up after a painful failure?

Here It Is….The DNA of Success. What is this essential element that must be present before your Conquering Force can kick in at full power and cause you to achieve peak performance and high levels of success? Maximum success in anything is as a direct result of this crucial ingredient being there. What is it and how do you flip it to the “on” position?

Core Desires©.  That’s the answer. A Core Desire is the catalyst that MUST be present to maximize success in anything. A Core Desire is something you want so badly it pierces you to the very core of your being. It is something you want with ALL your heart and soul. You’re not half-hearted or three quarters hearted about it. It is the switch that unleashes the Conquering Force within all of us. It is what causes teenagers to get driver's licenses and a car without writing it down of affirming it even once. It is what causes us to learn and accomplish anything. You have many Core Desires in every area of life.

It’s been taught, and rightly so, that you need enthusiasm, discipline, persistence and self-motivation to achieve success. This is true. However can those teaching this ultra basic and commonsensical information tell you where to get these needed things if you don’t have them? No. They can’t. Unless they say, “within” again.

Conquering Force.  I combined the dictionary’s definition of the words Conquering and Force to get this combined definition of Conquering Force:  It is “….to act effectively in getting what one seeks by overcoming all obstacles in your way through physical, mental or moral force.” In other words, you are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your Core Desire.  Both Core Desires and the Conquering Force do, indeed, come from “within”.

There is a problem though  --  and it is why most don’t succeed like they’d like to. Many years ago Mark Twain said this, “I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.”  Earl Nightingale observed a very similar thing. He said, “Today in America people can become whatever they want. Trouble is most don’t know what they want.”  

I echo both of those observations. Most people (97%) don’t know how to identify their Core Desires© and that leaves their conquering force in neutral and unavailable to help them overcome obstacles. That’s why I created my seminars and membership program and wrote the book The DNA of Success. They are designed specifically to help people learn how to find their Core Desires, which will unleash their Conquering Force and cause them to achieve at the highest levels possible. My membership program show you how to do this easily.

Try having enthusiasm about that which you don’t like doing. You can’t. And no amount of goal setting or affirmations will change that. That’s why it’s critical to identify your Core Desires. Doing what you love to do always brings with it enthusiasm.

Try to get the discipline to do something if you don’t really want to. You can’t -- and all the visualization and reading about it in how-to books will not give you discipline.  Discipline comes from the root word disciple. A disciple is someone who willingly follows someone or some system or regimen.  If you willingly follow someone or some system the discipline is automatic. The operative word is willingly. If you are not willing…forget it. You won’t do what it takes no matter who says you should, including yourself.

Measure It. Everything you want in this life can be measured on a scale from 1 to 100. A 1 on the scale is something you would never do in a million years. 50 on the scale is half-hearted. You kinda want it but oh well if you don’t get it. Half hearted doesn’t cut it – in sports, sales, business, relationships…anything.  

Core Desires are the100s.

There are always obstacles between where you are and where you want to be.  If the desire for the end result is a 70 on the scale you’ll get 70% of the way there. Any obstacle or barrier at 71 or higher will stop you permanently just like a dam does water.  If the desire is a 90 on the scale you will get 90% of the way there. If it is not a Core Desire, but think it is, you’ll spend money and time and energy on it for a while but will fall short because, at some point, you will run into an obstacle that is higher than the desire you thought you had and it will stop you permanently.

An old Welsh Proverb says, “The hand will not reach for what the heart does not long for.”

There are no barriers that will stop you at 100 on the scale. Barriers exist and they may slow you down but they will not stop you. Nothing stops a Core Desire. Philosopher Eric Hoffer said this:  “It seems that intense desire creates not only its opportunities but its own talents.”   William Hazlitt , also a wise philosopher, says, “A strong desire for any object will insure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.”  Anyone who succeeds at anything does so because it is a Core Desire at 100 on the scale.

To identify a Core Desire ask yourself these two simple questions: What do I want that I am not getting? After you state the answer, then ask this “drill” question: If I had THAT what would it give me that I’m not getting? Keep asking “and what would that give me that I’m not getting” and when you get to the “Core” Desire you will always have some kind of an emotional experience. My membership program goes into great detail on all of this and shows you how to make this an automatic system that causes you to pay attention to your heart and soul.

Once you discover a 100 on the scale of 1 to 100 you will then motivated from within to learn whatever you need to learn. The easy part is finding the source of knowledge and wisdom specific to obtaining your Core Desire. You will spend your money and time far more wisely because you will only buy the book or audio or video program or go to the mentor or seminar that is specific to helping you reach your Core Desire.

This last truth will eliminate any negative labeling of yourself if you are not achieving some “goal” you have set.  If you are not doing what it takes to achieve a goal it is an indication that is not a 100 on the scale. It has nothing to do with your ability or intellect. You simply didn’t want it badly enough. Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize winning author said it this way, “If you do not get what you want it is a sign that you did not seriously want it.”  

Learn this super simple system about what it really takes to be successful and you will be amazed at how much happiness and success will be yours in the next year ……and for the rest of your life.