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Rogers’ Profile For Success
–From Rogers’ Rules For Success by Henry C. Rogers and published by St. Martins/Marek
As I look at the successful people I have known or observed and then look back at my own career over a period of many years, I ask myself if there are any common denominators that we all share. When I think through the answers to the question “Why me?” or “Why them?”, I find that there are certain acquired characteristics that are essential components of a candidate for success. They are:
Self-Esteem • Energy • Drive • Will • Self-Control
Not everyone is in possession of these essential character traits, nor does everyone have a sufficiently strong desire to acquire them. You don’t have to be born with them; very few of us are. Those who enjoy them worked hard to attain them. But is clear that those who have self-esteem, energy, drive, will, and self-control are more successful than those who don’t.
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is all important in this profile for success, and I will have more to say about it later. For now, remember that too many of us spend unnecessary time worrying about the attributes we don’t have. We’re not good-looking. We don't have an M.B.A. from Harvard. We’re a member of a minority group. We live on the wrong side of the tracks. We don’t look good in clothes. Forget about flaws – for now, at least. Instead, concentrate on your good points. Don’t tell me you don't have any. You do. It is time for you to begin to build your ego. You will need it in order to handle what’s in store for you.
Energy
I have put energy near the top of my list, for so much in your psychorelations program stems from it. Energy, as it pertains to your success, has little to do with the physical. Unless you are among the unfortunate few who are anemic or who have some other strength-draining disease, each of you has sufficient physical energy to be successful. I describe energy as an emotional attribute. It is the desire to get up at six in the morning instead of at eight, because you want to get an early jump on your competitors. It is the desire to make fifty phone calls during the day, instead of twenty-five, because you want to get the job done. It is what prompts you to call a Saturday or Sunday morning meeting with your associates because work is fun, and success is fun. Do you feel that you lack the energy required to become successful? If so, the most likely explanation is that you regard your present work as drudgery. Take stock of yourself. If you find it easy to play eighteen or thirty-six holes of golf over the weekend but difficult to get through an eight-hour day at the office, itshould be obvious that you regard your job as an exhausting, unpleasant struggle. In contrast, when you are putting for a birdie on the eighteenth green, after four hours of walking, a surge of adrenaline goes racing through your system. You don’t acquire energy for success just by going to a health club or jogging six miles every morning. It has been proven that a regular exercise program is essential to good health. It is good health plus a positive mental attitude about your job that will give you the energy required for a successful career. Once you determine to become a more successful person, and once you regard your new campaign for success as an adventure – a glorious adventure – and as fun, not drudgery, you will find yourself working with just as much energy as you have when you’re putting for that birdie.
Drive
Drive is a first cousin of energy. Someone inside of you is urging you on. “Move a little faster,” he is saying, “accomplish a little more.” “You can do better.” “You’re smarter than that guy down the hall. You can get a raise before he does.” That little fellow is pushing you, shoving you, forcing you to climb higher and higher up the mountain. And something interesting is happening to you. You don’t mind being pushed at all. You are beginning to acquire a drive that you never had before, and you seem to have the energy to sustain it.
Will
While all this is happening, you are also beginning to acquire the will to be successful. You are more ambitious. You want success more than you ever have before. It’s no longer a struggle for you to get up at six in the morning instead of eight. You find yourself more aware, more alert. You see opportunities for achievement that you never noticed before. You no longer avoid responsibilities. You are looking for new ones. You walk into your office with your head held high, your stomach pulled in, and your shoulders thrown back. You are beginning to look like a West Point cadet (or a Sigma Chi pledge!). Your newly acquired will is beginning to reveal itself.
Self-Control
The last item on my list is self-control. I’m sure you can find successful people who lack it, but they are in the minority. An overwhelming percentage of people who are recognized as successful enjoy masterful self-control. A successful person breeds confidence in those around him. He assumes responsibility, and people feel comfortable when they give it to him. It is difficult to have confidence in a person who breaks into violent temper tantrums, who is rude and ill-mannered, who thoughtlessly makes cruel and cutting remarks to his colleagues, who goes off on drunken binges, and smokes cigars in crowded elevators. It is difficult to equate people like this with the word success. The truly successful person is in control.
