About five years ago I was interviewing Paul Hartunian, and during our talk, he referred again and again to the “secret ingredient” that made some people successful, while others just never quite got their stuff together.

His secret ingredient? Focus. The ability to tune out everything that doesn’t need your attention right now so you can do the one thing that really, really counts. The following article is one of his most useful because he gives us a plain, simple, uncomplicated look at what you WILL need if you want to succeed.

At anything.

The Magic Pill That Will Guarantee You A Great Life
By Paul Hartunian

I finally found the magic pill. I’ve heard about it (and searched for it) for over 30 years. It’s that one ‘thing’ that can make you wealthy, famous, independent or whatever else you want.

I found it last week – last Wednesday at 2:15 PM to be precise.

And no, this isn’t a joke. It’s the real thing. Here are the details.

Last Wednesday I met a friend for lunch. I’ve known this guy for years. He’s got tremendous talent, a great work ethic, a knockout of an IQ, drive, motivation, personality, marketing savvy and smarts – everything you would expect you need to be a huge success.

But he’s not successful. By his own admission, he’s broke…and he’s floundering, with little hope in sight. How can this be?

We met for lunch at noon. From noon until 2 PM we talked about each of our situations.

Here he is with everything…and he’s broke.

Here I am with a lousy work ethic (I’d much rather be walking with my 4 dogs than working – and if I work more than two hours in a row I get cranky and whiny), a less than wonderful personality, talent greater than some, less than most, but I’m wealthy and free. How can that possibly be?

We finished lunch and were right in the middle of saying our good-byes when it hit me. I know why I’m wealthy and free. I know why over 98% of the people on this planet are not (and never will be) wealthy and free.

I have the magic pill.

I have the secret ingredient. I have that one thing more important and more valuable than all the others. And it’s just one word…

FOCUS!

That’s it. That’s the secret of the universe. If you can focus, you can get anything -fame, fortune, freedom, whatever. If you can’t focus, you’ll always flop around like a hooked catfish on the bottom of the boat.

My mind started racing. I thought about everyone I knew, one at a time. I thought about the 3 friends I have who have it made. I thought about the 100+ friends I have who don’t have it made.

Without fail I saw that the people who had it made were the ones who were able to focus – focus on whatever it is they had to focus on.

When I was a Paramedic in Jersey City, I treated well over 10,000 patients. I interacted with thousands and thousands more. Who were the patients who were solving their health problems? It was the people who could focus. They focused on finding a solution to their problems. They focused on getting their treatments on time. They focused on learning what they had to learn.

I thought about the students I teach at the University. Who were the ones who did the best? Was it the ones with the highest I.Q.’s? No way. It was the people who could focus on getting the job done in my class, regardless of what it took.

I remembered a video I had seen about a woman who cured herself of a vicious form of cancer TWICE!!! She took no medication, had no surgery, but now, over 20 years later, is completely cured. During her interview, she made a statement that will live with me forever. When she was asked why she thought she was able to beat the cancer that has claimed so many people before her she said

‘My attitude was that I will fight for my life and nothing else matters.’

And nothing else matters. That’s focus!!! And she was rewarded with her life, while millions of others are in their graves.

Then I thought about the people throughout history who have had tremendous success. People in science, sports, literature, business. Why did they succeed while others who tried the same thing failed?

Yeah, right – they were able to focus.

I have a reputation at the University where I teach of being a royal pain of a professor. But every one of my classes is sold out, year after year. How can that be?

The people who sign up for my classes know that life won’t be easy for the 16 weeks they’re with me. But they also know that at the end of the semester, they’ll be able to focus like they’ve never been able to before. And they’ll take that with them for the rest of their lives.

So, I have that pain-in-the-butt reputation, but I’m also one of the highest rated professors in the University.

It’s all about focus.

So what does this have to do with you and publicity.

When I was thinking of all the people who’ve made it and who haven’t, I also thought about you folks.

This whole focus theory holds just as true for you.

Some of you have had tremendous success getting publicity. Lots of you have been featured in this newsletter.

I thought back at the letters you faxed me, the e-mails you sent. I realized that you were having such great success because you followed the formula I gave you – but just as importantly, you focused on getting lots of publicity… and nothing else mattered.

Some of you haven’t had great success getting publicity. I looked over the letters and e-mails I got from you. So many times you would talk about how you were going to get those press releases out ‘soon’. How you had a lot of other things going on, but you’d start going through the course ‘in the very near future’.

Lack of focus.

There is a phenomenal technique known as ‘modeling’. Modeling simply means that you find someone who’s accomplished what you want to accomplish, and then you do the same thing.

So, if someone’s made a fortune in the same business you’re in, do exactly what that person did.

If you want to play major league sports, pick a major league player who has done what you want to do, find out exactly what he did, then do the same thing.

Does modeling guarantee success? Certainly not. But it does significantly increase your chances of reaching the goal.

The principle is very simple.

If someone has already achieved the goal you want to achieve, they must know how to do it. Why reinvent anything? just follow what they did.

One of the most dramatic uses of modeling is in health care. If I were to develop pancreatic cancer, I know full well that mainstream medicine has absolutely nothing that can help me. The survival rate is less than 1% – pretty dismal.

Instead of going to mainstream medicine, I would focus on finding the 1% of pancreatic cancer patients who have survived…

then I would do exactly what they did!!!

After all, they survived. They are my best hope.

The exact same principle holds true with your publicity efforts. You can try to reinvent a publicity system and see how you make out. Or you can follow the one I’ve set up for you and use the success stories in each issue of my newsletter as your models.

I have a final formula for getting lots of great, money-producing publicity. Here it is:

My Publicity System + Modeling + Focus = Dollars-In-The-Bank Publicity

We can take that same formula and apply it to your life:

Knowing What You Want + Modeling + Focus = A Magnificent, Exciting, Fulfilling Life

There is no other way.

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Back to Charles:
Look around you. Do you often complain about “overwhelm” and “information overload”? Well, if so, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is, it isn’t really overwhelm or information overload.

The bad news is, it’s an inability (or unwillingness) to make decisions.

Now, I’m not pointing fingers at others here (or not much), because I fight the same battles that everybody else does. Only difference is, I’ll call a spade a spade if I see one.

And when I look into my own heart, and my own personal habits, I have to admit that this unwillingness is mostly because I’m afraid I’m going to miss something. There’s a grungy little streak of greed that wants it all, but doesn’t want to pay full price to get it. And c’mon now, admit it, don’t you see just a tiny little bit of that in you too?

So what do you do about it? That’s obvious, isn’t it? Take Paul’s advice and start learning how to make decisions, then stick with them till you get that one thing done. Then do it again. And again.

As he says, it’s the only way.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

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