Are You Fishing With Strawberries?

Are You Fishing With Strawberries?

This is a crazy idea…Are You Fishing With Strawberries?  A lot of people are and don’t know it.

My hope is this article serves as an inspiration to change from strawberries to a Worm!

And no I have not lost my mind.

Introduction

The title says, Are You Fishing With Strawberries?….and your thinking “He finally lost his mind?” 

• “What in the world does strawberries have to do with fishing?
• Strawberries?  That’s crazy
• What is he talking about?!!!”

No I don’t think you will ever catch fish with strawberries on your hook, however having the right Worm might do the trick.

I’ve noticed a trend

Over the last few months, I heard Oprah Winfrey along with Robert Kiyosaki, Suze Orman, Tony Robbins and in Dale Carnegie’s book “How To Win Friends And Influence People” all saying the same thing, the #1 success ingredient is:

“Do something different, be creative, don’t follow the crowed, you can change to be the person you want to be, changing the world begins with you!

They might say it in a different ways, but at the heart of the statement is….

All About….YOU!

I’ve read lots of personal development books, The Secret (which is excellent), Think And Grow Rich, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and many others.

These authors try to get you to do something different, to better yourself, believe in yourself, you can be the person YOU want to be.

So I wanted to share this with you.

It’s likely you have some goals:

• Being able to pay your bills
• Be financially free of debts
• Large savings account
• Travel any time you want
• Being able to set your own daily schedule
• Eat at fancy restaurants and pay cash
• Sleep in every day
• Having more choices about what to purchase and when
• Having more flexibility, so you can be available for kids and family who need you
• Live anywhere you want
• Send your kids to the college of their choice
• You may even have desires to quit a job and become your own boss

and, you may even have some big things you want to purchase like:

• A vacation house
• Bigger house
• A new car every year
• A boat
• Even a plane
• or, taking a long vacation

As you read the list, did you start to smile? 

We have some things in Common

I’d bet the majority of us have some of the goals and wants I listed above.

And then there may be some with higher goals and some with lesser goals.  Everyone is different and that is a good thing because we are all unique.  We all want different things.

However, I firmly believe we are all born with a desire to have a life that is fulfilling, enjoyable, and fun based upon our believes.

My tag words are:  “Live Life Without Limits”

Let’s illustrate with this quote from Dale Carnegie, it says:

“I often fish up in Maine during the summer. Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or a grasshopper in front of the fish and said: “Wouldn’t you like to have that?” – Dale Carnegie

Now, of course, that was a parable, but a powerful one. Don’t you think?

To be successful, is not about what you want, but what they want.

Let me repeat that because it is a very important statement: “To be successful, it’s not about what YOU want, but want THEY want.”

Here’s another quote from a famous author and motivator to drive home what I am saying:

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”  Zig Ziglar.

How this Applies Personally and Professionally

As an example, we often go through scenarios where we want something while the another person wants something completely different–these scenarios can be simple or complex.

Simple situation of us wanting our kids to eat their vegetables while they would rather eat french fries.

It could be that we want someone to join our business opportunity while they would rather go fishing.

My wife wants a new kitchen and I want a new car.

These scenarios can also happen in professional settings like when we write a blog article and want someone to make a decision to follow us, make a purchase decision or be entertained.

The problem is, most of us bait the hook with strawberries.

We’re writing and thinking about OUR ultimate goals, rather than writing and thinking about our READER’S ultimate goals.

Again, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”  Zig Ziglar.

You need to do some quality thinking:

• Who are they?
• What are their current circumstances?
• What problem(s) do they have?
• How can we put ourselves in their shoes so we can sense (with all of our senses) what their circumstance must look and feel like?
• What motivates them?
• What’s it feel like on an emotional and physical level?
• What are their wants and desires?
• How can I solve their problems?
• What solution do they want or looking for?
• What would guide them to our solution?
• What can we do to get them from where they are today to where they want to go tomorrow?
• How do I change from strawberries to a Worm?

This is otherwise called “empathy”. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition is:

“the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner”

Getting Laser-Focused on Them

It’s important that we put THEM at the forefront of our thoughts or otherwise, we’ll look like the fisher who bait the hook with strawberries.

Fortunately or unfortunately, how we bait our hooks in terms of acquiring and retaining customers will directly correlate with our success in business.

How we bait the hook with our personal life also has a direct effect.

So, my take-a-way for you is to identify the worm in every situation: whether you’re dealing with your kids, your spouse, your friends, your readers, your customers and your prospects.

Bait the hook with the worm of their preference; not your’s, and you’ll find this one ingredient will shift the outcome quite a bit in your favor.

My Question for You

How are you going to bait the hook?

Are you going to use a strawberry because it’s want YOU want or are you going to use a worm and give them what THEY want?  The choice is yours.

Again, keep this quote next to you….

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”  Zig Ziglar.

 

Here’s to your success,