Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

THINK IN TERMS OF 
CYCLES AND TRENDS
Look at your life as a series of cycles and trends. Think in terms of
regular ups and downs. Think in terms of summers and winters,
falls and springs. When you develop this long-term perspective and
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you see things that happen as part of a larger pattern, you will not
be too caught up in short-term fluctuations of your fortunes. You
become much more capable of responding effectively to little prob-
lems and difficulties of day-to-day life. You can put things into
proper perspective.
The sigmoid curve, which looks like an “S” lying on its side, ex-
plains much of human life. It has three phases. In the first phase,
you are struggling and working hard to figure things out and get es-
tablished. This is true for a job, a relationship, a new business start-
up, or the introduction of a new product or service.
The second phase comes after you have learned the critical
lessons of phase one. This is the growth phase, where you make
great progress and get excellent results.Your business expands, your
products and services sell well, your career takes off, and your rela-
tionships are at their best.
Then comes phase three, the decline phase, which follows phase
two just as the winter follows the harvest season. In this phase, it be-
comes harder and harder to get the same results and satisfactions as
in phase two. Sales and profitability are harder to achieve. Your job
or relationship is no longer as enjoyable. Your company struggles to
survive or thrive.
Which phase are you in today, in each of the important areas of
your life and work? What could you do to get into or back into
phase two, the growth phase? What are the cycles and trends in your
life and business?
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