Six Dollar Haircuts

This is a true story about a third generation barber in a small community in the Mid-west. The shop had been handed down from his grandfather and developed not just a hair salon but more of a community center where the farmers and families would come in not only to get their hair done, but enjoy the coffee and donut bar and spend time with their neighbors sharing the news of their farms and families. This shop had grown to include 10 stylists who cut all the men's hair and all the women's hair in the community.

The owner’s son came home from graduate school over spring break, to find his father depressed and reclusive. Finally getting his father to share what the problem was, the father confided that there was a new, national chain that had been moving across the country, bringing in cheap hair salons into all of the different communities and driving everyone out of business. And so, even though the community had loved all of the work that he had done, the perms and the haircuts and the styles over the years, right down the street opened up this new shop. It offered six dollar haircuts. Person after person had left to go to the new low cost shop.

The father told his son, “There is absolutely NO way I can compete with $6.00 haircuts. So much of my clientele has now gone to the new shop that I have no choice but to close our shop. After three generations, we are going bankrupt. I can’t pay the stylists or the overhead anymore,” he despondently said with his hands covering his face so his son would not see the tears rolling out of his eyes.

The son said, "You know, this last semester I took a “science of success” program that was offered for extra credit in my marketing class. One thing I learned was something that Einstein said. He said that “The significant problems we face can never be solved at the level of thinking of the problem." So, Dad, we have to find another way to think about this. We've got to find another way to see this. Another one of the strategies I learned may help us.”

So the son left the room and brought back a notebook and a pen. He told the Dad about “Masterminding”, a strategy introduced in the 1930’s by Napoleon Hill who had been commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to study the patterns of extremely successful people.

“Here’s what we do. We let ourselves think of any idea that comes to mind and we write it down. No editing. We get a flow of ideas for 15-20 minutes and try to get as many as possible. No idea is off limits. Let’s go.”

The father said, “Well, the only idea I’ve got is….close the shop!” The son said, “Well, you’re right that IS an idea.” He wrote it down. Then the son said, “Ok, let’s keep going.” Before long the son and the father started getting a flow of ideas and writing down every one of them, even every crazy thing that came to mind. When they finished, one of the ideas absolutely jumped off the page and they looked at each other in astonishment and said, “This just might work!” The son left the next day to go back to college.

The father implemented the idea. Within 6 weeks, not only had his drop in clientele completely returned, but the number of customers was now 11% higher than ever in the history of the shop. Do you know what the idea was that turned sure failure into a new course of increasing success?

The idea was, “Place a BIG sign on top of the shop that read,

“WE FIX SIX DOLLAR HAIRCUTS!!”

This story has meant a great deal to me particularly when I am tempted to think that the problem is “out there” in the land of circumstances. Any time I think the problem is “out there”, THAT THOUGHT is the problem. As Einstein said, “The significant problems we face can not be solved at the level of the problem.” Learning to think in a new way brings Freedom and Power.

Mary Manin Morrissey

Mary Morrissey is a minister, teacher and author. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Education, a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and a Doctorate of Humane Letters. Take a look at her latest collaboration with Bob Proctor here: http://www.insightoftheday.com/a.asp?bpap&[affid]&isp

Great Power

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest."


Beatrix Potter
1866-1943, Author and Illustrator

Why were we created?

"We were not created to be eaten by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win."


Joseph Ford Newton
Author

Life Quotes

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

-Dale Carnegie



I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.

-Frank Lloyd Wright



The heights by great men reached and kept / Were not attained by sudden flight, / But they, while their companions slept, / Were toiling upward in the night.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.

– James Whitcomb Riley



Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

- Thomas Carlyle



Money grows on the tree of persistence.

- Japanese Proverb



My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.

- Hank Aaron



Nearly every man who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.

- Thomas A. Edison



Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.

- Brian Tracy



Never, never, never, never give up.

- Winston Churchill



Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

- Vincent Lombardi



Energy and persistence conquer all things.

- Benjamin Franklin



We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are.

- Tobias Wolff

Self -fulfilling Prophecy

Here is your Friday story,
Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Proverbs 23: 7 - “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.”

The batter hits the ball high in the air towards right field. It arcs majestically against the sky. It is going right towards Sammy. Everybody in the park knows that he’s going to drop it. Sammy knows that he’s going to drop it. He drops it.

This scene has been replayed time and time again on fields around the world. It doesn’t have to be a fielder; it sometime is a batter you know is going to strike out. It doesn’t even have to be baseball. It can be anything.

It’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy. I wasn’t familiar with this term until I took a psychology class in university. Basically it means that what you believe will usually happen.

If you believe you are going to flunk a test, you probably will. If you think the meal you are making for your new in-laws will be a disaster, it probably will. If you think you will be in a car accident, better call your insurance agent. In all these cases, your visualizing the worst-case scenario will greatly increase the possibility of them actually happening.

There are people in the world who sew the seeds of the self-fulfilling prophecy. They are the people who put their fears on you. For example, their fears that something might happen to you make you uneasy and possibly help the unfortunate event happen. They are usually the first ones to say, “I told you so.”

So what do you do? First, look at history. There were plenty of people who said humans would never fly, let alone walk on the moon. You have the choice to believe those thoughts. Also, you can replace those thoughts with positive ones. You don’t have to believe the nay-sayers. If self-fulfilling prophecy works with negative thoughts, it can also work with positive ones.

George Bernard Shaw said, "You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’ " What message are you playing in your mind?

When I started playing softball, I was like Sammy. I was hoping the batter wouldn’t hit the ball to me. Eventually those thoughts were replaced with positive ones and I was begging for the batter to hit it to me. Can you guess which thoughts allowed me to enjoy the game the most and perform the best?

When the game was on the line, Michael Jordan wanted the ball. He already saw the ball going in before he shot.

Pete Rose, who holds the record for the most hits in baseball, was asked how many times in a game he thought he was going to get a hit. He answer was, “Every time.” Did he get a hit every time? No, but his belief that he would greatly increased his success.

It’s the same with life. Put positive, happy thoughts in your mind and you will tend to be happy. If you are constantly worrying that something MIGHT happen, you will not lead a full life and probably not reach your potential. What does worrying do most of the time anyway? It usually prevents you from doing your best in a situation.

It comes down to the simple saying. If you think you can, you may be right. If you think you can’t, you are almost certainly right. Put another way, success comes in cans!

John Stevens

John Stevens is a freelance writer in St. Marys, Ontario. You can read more of his writing at his blog at http://johnnyvfanclub.blogspot.com or send John an email to: john.stevens@rogers.com

Your Thoughts

"The Law of Attraction attracts to you everything you need according to the nature of your thought. Your environment and financial condition are the perfect reflection of your habitual thinking. Thought rules the world."

Dr. Joseph Edward Murphy
Surgeon

The Three P's

Without purpose, passion and persistence, no amount of confidence, talent and ability will lead to success. This may seem unrelated, but if you want to take a look at an impressive display of all of the above please view the United States Marine Corp Drill Team at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90UPLLo6nY+