What’s Bill Gates Mindset?
Can you learn something from him to make you more successful and prosperous, and a big-frog in your small pond?
Did Bill Gates know from age 10 - he would be the richest person in the world? Of course not – but he could dream about being emperor of his own business kingdom
There was a time he almost gave up on his software – he offered to sell it for pocket-change to IBM. But IBM decided it would not end up holding the Microsoft empty bag. Turned him down flat, and without a smile.
Reading the tea leaves for two-dollars is for fortune-tellers. The rest of us have to rely on working creatively with what we got – right?
Kids Get What They Want
When you were about ten years old you had your world figured out, and it included your mom and pop, friends, and teachers. You absolutely knew you could get almost anything you wanted from your Grandma because she loved you – unconditionally.
Parents were different – they required a gentle manipulation, but 90% of the time you could work their emotions (guilt included), and you got the new bike, trip to the Circus, or raise in allowance.
By the time you were thirteen you were a trained salesperson, and could influence and persuade almost everybody who came your way. It felt good and gave you a sense of power and self-confidence.
By the end of high school you lost those persuasive skills, and for 80% of us – never found those gifts and talents ever again.
Skills and Talents
1. Courage – you were brave and never took no for an answer when you were age 10. If you set your heart and eyes on something – a new well-oiled baseball glove – you never permitted No! to change your mind. Remember when no! made you stronger and more determined to win?
Rejection, past failures and mistakes never kept you down for more than ten- minutes. You used every switcheroo (counter-argument), in the book –
I promise to do all the chores, including carrying out the garbage daily for six-months! – to an ocean-of-tears. They sure will regret it after I am dead of heartache and longing. When you became an adult – got your first real working job – you put the knowledge of your 10 year old heart into retirement. You repress all those talents, gifts and smarts, and became just another suit – mediocre in persuasion and influence, and small-potatoes kind of dreams.
2. Risk-Taking – when you were age 10 it was a personal challenge the roof was up there, and you were down here. You figured out how to climb it with your pal – who fell off and broke his arm. Not you.
You heard of the Palisades Mountains and had to ride your bike there even-though it was thirty-miles each way. Yes, really. You tried new things in a flash, nothing rattled your sense of invincibility – Superman – Spiderman, they had nothing on you.
But today you have responsibilities, and ask, what if you get beat up - like a flat-tire? You got ninety-nine excuses not to get out of bed, much less change your life for the better.
If you were Bill Gates at Harvard you would have stayed and graduated instead of dropping out. Today you would be a suit making maybe $75K annually. Risk-taking is the second piece of the puzzle.
3. Curiosity – when you were 10, a worm crawling in the dirt could excite you. Remember when you spent three-hours with a string and sticky gum at the end, trying to retrieve a quarter you dropped down the drain?
You were interested in each person you met – you knew the names of each kid in your class, and what turned them on. Today, you say you do not have time to learn names and hobbies of your associates – way too busy.
Einstein inferred that without bubbling curiosity – you are already as good as dead. You were not born that way – you let the suits drain your need-to-know. Tell me, what excites you? Not much, right?
4. Action taking - is everything when you are 10. Today your are the king of the status-quo. Your comfort-zone is about one-half-inch wide, and shrinking.
Remember when you just could not sit still – things were happening and you were missing out on the fun and the action?
You hated words, and those people who spent hours blathering about doing and going. You moved from the idea of getting a game together, to playing - in a millisecond. Remember when you could get ready for the beach in 20 seconds – not two-hours?
The Bill Gates success began with action-taking, getting to the market and feedback, not guessing what the public wanted, or waiting for a better economic time to start. The secret is taking massive-action, fixing your mistakes, and falling forward, right?
5. Trust in the Unfolding – when your were a kid you trusted life, your parents, your friends, even your damn teachers. The government? You never thought of them at all.
You knew life was fair and you were going to win more than your share. It was absolutely obvious - if you wanted something enough – it would happen for you.
Yes, really. Your life experience at 10 was you always got what you wanted and needed, right? Today you know for a fact – life aint fair, and only the rich win the game. And anyway, you are not a genius like Bill Gates.
You stopped believing in yourself back in college; today the suits control your life. Trust? Not likely, they are out to get you. Hey, that was then, and this is now – you have experience and responsibility, and life is no day-at-the-beach.
When you were 10 you asked, and absolutely expected to get what you wanted. Today, you stopped asking, and are delighted they do not expropriate the possessions you do own.
You got your downsizing, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcies to destroy your hard-earned livelihood.
Trust in what? Trust in who? Save the Sunday talk for little kids who do not know any better, right?
Endwords
Do you know that sitting in your right-brain somewhere is your excitable, fat little 10 year old? Your kid never expired, just went underground because you have no use for him anymore - since you became a suit.
Little 10-year-old Mike still owns those five talents and gifts – and he is ready this minute to hold a conversation with you – in private - so folks will not take you for some kind of a nut. He stills knows a lot you forgot about how-to-win-the-marbles.
He can teach you all about:
1. Courage2. Risk-Taking3. Curiosity4. Taking-Action5. Trust-in-the-Unfolding.
Only one last thing – let him teach you the secrets of success you forgot, but do not dare to teach him what you learned – how to get along – by just going- along. He can still spot a phony-baloney a mile away.