The single most often-asked question I get is “I want to become a ____________, so how do I get started?”

And, it’s a great question too . . . especially because it frequently has an easy answer.

Let me relate a story that Jeffrey Gitomer tells in his soon-to-be-a-classic little gem, Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude:

In 1960, at age 14, I met a college basketball coach on the court and asked him for his best, niftiest pointer.  He took the ball, walked under the basket, and shot an easy layup.

“See that shot?” he said gruffly.  “Ninety-nine percent of all basketball games are won with that shot.  Don’t miss it.”  And he walked away.  I felt cheated that day, but 20 years later, I realized it was the best business lesson I ever got.

Concentrate on the fundamentals.  Ninety-nine percent of all success is achieved that way.

You don’t need to be a professional ballplayer.  You just need to know how to shoot layups and not miss them.

So, there you go . . . hidden in that Gitomer story is also the answer to your question, beginning Dream Job Seeker.

Work on the basics . . . everyday.  Want to be a writer, for example?  Write every day.  Send stuff off to magazines, publishers, and websites.  Or start your own site or publish your own book.  But, keep writing.  Work on it, take classes, join a writing group, and read everything you can get your hands on.

And, work on those layups!

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I’m constantly failing.

Can’t seem to get stuff right, most of the time.

It seems like everything I touch, I have to touch again . . . and again.

It took me four business start-ups before I got to one that proved to be a success, and it’s still going after 24 years.

I have to read three or four books before I get one that I absolutely love.

Just today, I had to write a welcome letter for a new business we’re starting at InfoSource, Inc., the online learning company I’m involved with.  (Check out TeachBits.com for more, if you’re a teacher or school administrator.)

I threw the first three copies away before I was happy with one we could use.  I failed three times before I succeeded.

I think most of us fail . . . all the time, over and over and over again.  Yet, sometimes we keep going forward.  When we can move forward, we can often turn those early baby failures into something worthwhile.

If you can learn, though, that if you don’t give up, you can’t fail.  Did I “fail” to write that letter?  Nope — I did go through a few drafts, but I finally got it right.

Did I “fail” in creating a successful business?  Well, I did fail in creating the first four businesses I thought I wanted to develop, but somehow . . . I guess I learned enough from each mini-failure to pull everything together to create a long-standing successful business.

If you think of anything in your life . . . whether it’s a personal relationship with your son or daughter or getting that dream job, you will fail as soon as you stop pursuing it.

I’m a huge failure . . . and damned proud of it!

What about you?

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Try this (I promise, it won’t hurt) and report back to me in a week or so and tell me what happened.

Step 1.  Get a blank sheet of paper.

Step 2.  Turn it sideways (landscape view).

Step 3.  Across the top, write:  “You are the problem” in small letters with a regular pen.

Step 4.  Then, fill up the rest of the sheet in bold marker-type lettering, with this:  “You are also the solution.”

Step 5.  Tape this to your bathroom mirror and keep it there for a week.

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Interesting how things and people and places come into our lives, isn’t it?  Some people think it all comes down to chance, others believe that there’s a purpose behind all the things we uncover — how synchronicity shapes our lives.

Frankly, I’m still trying to sort all that out.  In the meantime, I’m just having a blast on the journey.

I do a lot of reading, so perhaps more things come into my life than I’m entitled to, or maybe I’m just lucky.

Recently I’ve been reading some of the posts by a young Australian entrepreneur, Yano Starak.  Yano runs a number of sites, and one I’ve been reading lately is The Entrepreneur’s Journey, one of the saner, non-hypey online business resources on the Web.

And, it was through Yano that I came across one of the most interesting sites I’ve ever seen, on any subject – called, well, ahem, The Meaning of Life.

The Meaning of Life site is simple, short, and direct.

There are no graphics, no gimmicks, no adverts, no nothing razmatazz — just a simple home page with links to a few pages.

Definitely check out the link to the section on feeling useless and worthless, and then reflect on how what the authors tell you relate to your own quest for a fulfilling life and dream job.

I’ll bet you won’t come away thinking differently than when you went in. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.

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