Awareness is the Key to Success by Phil Humbert, guest columnist for 'Contractor Cents' by Ruth King Have you ever "put your foot in your mouth"-said something totally dumb or inappropriate because you just weren't thinking? Of course you have, we all have! Why would normally intelligent people say stupid things in important situations? And what does that unfortunate reality tell us about reaching our goals and achieving success? The answer is that high achievers are more aware than the rest of us. High achievers in sports, in business, or any other area of life perceive things and respond differently than people whose performance is mediocre. The reason we "put our foot in our mouth" is because we are momentarily distracted and, at that key moment, we say something "stupid." It happens to all of us, but highly successful people make sure it doesn't happen very often. As a Psychologist and success coach, I've studied the performance of high achievers for almost 30 years and while there are lots of good strategies and tools, the key distinction in success always boils down to awareness. Why does one leader motivate her people so effectively, while another is a failure? Why does one investor consistently buy great stocks, while his twin brother loses money time after time? Why does one salesperson consistently write winning proposals, while her colleague in the same company can't make a sale? Traditionally, we've been told that the difference was "skill." Later, Norman Vincent Peale emphasized the "power of positive thinking" and attitude. For almost fifty years, we've heard about the importance of written goals, and all these things are very, very important. But none of them represent the key difference. In my research, the critical distinction between success and failure in the real world boils down to "the things we pay attention to." Let's take a simple example of a classroom teacher. An effective teacher monitors her student's body language, eye contact, facial expressions and perhaps a dozen other "cues" that tell her how well the students are actually learning the material.  Another teacher focuses on the course outline, his notes, his presentation and handouts. He may actually have a better mastery of the material and be a "better" instructor, but his students fail to learn. The difference is the things the teachers are consciously and specifically aware of. Particularly for small business owners and managers, this is absolutely critical. Every business owner has too much to do. Every business leader is responsible for a thousand critical interactions every single day and the difference between success and failure is not in how hard they work, how positive their attitude is, or how well the business is capitalized. The key difference is in the few things the business owner focuses on. Where one sales person focuses on competitive price, another is focused on providing superior value to the customer. Where one manager focuses on employee punctuality or attitude, the more successful manager is aware of productivity and the monthly bottom line. In every human interaction, there are a very small number of key elements that highly successful people notice and monitor closely.  There's an old saying that "failures major in minor things" while winners are aware of and respond to a few key elements that make all the difference between success and failure. The key to success in the real world is being "alive, awake and aware" of the right things, at the right time. We all get distracted from time to time. We are all "asleep at the switch" once in a while, but highly successful people know how to take care of themselves. They know how to "show up," how to be aware of and pay full attention to the right things in the midst of a busy day. For more information about Phil Humbert and the Alive Awake Aware Series go to www.aliveawakeandaware.com   To contact Ruth King call 800-511-6844 or send an email to ruthking@hvacchannel.tv This article is reprinted from the September 25, 2005, issue of Contractor Cents. "Copyright 2005, Ruth King. All rights reserved. Contact Ruth King at ruthking@hvacchannel.tv or 800-511-6844."