Champions are made when nobody is around,” are words of wisdom from my past that perpetually roll around in my mind. My father constantly told me they these powerful words as he instilled the belief in me that in order to be at your best you must do the things champions do in the off time, when nobody is around, in order to perform your best in front of the crowd. My father taught me many lessons while coaching me in sports and little did I know that some of these lessons would have such an incredible impact on my professional and personal development.

Success isn’t an overnight phenomenon or something that just happens to some lucky people. People who achieve a high level of success are the ones willing to do the necessary activities in their downtown so when the time is right they are prepared to succeed. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and all other sports legends didn’t get to that position without putting in a tremendous amount of time practicing their skills. Zig Ziglar, Anthony Robbins, and all the other great motivational speakers just don’t go and wing it hoping to deliver a great lecture. Ormond McGill, Gerald Kein, and all the other legendary hypnotists never woke one day with hypnotic powers nor were they born hypnotists. All of these greats lived by the philosophy that my father preached to me as a child. They became the best in their fields because of what they did when nobody was around.

In order to be a successful hypnotist you must commit yourself to a lifetime of learning and constant development. There is a direct correlation in the activities you do in your off time and your ability to achieve success with your clients. During your downtime, you must spend it developing and sharpening your skills so you can be as effective as possible. I tell all of my students, at the end of their certification course, that this isn’t the end it’s only the beginning. Every single day there are new developments in our profession, people developing new techniques, and new ways are discovered to maximize our potential with our clients. The best in our profession are well aware of this fact and spend lots of time reading books, trade journals, and website forums so that they stay up to date with a profession that is constantly growing.

A success deficiency that many people possess is that they wait until they landed a big gig before they start developing the program for it. Successful people do the opposite. The major successes in our profession are always in their lab during their off time developing new programs, products, scripts, and courses. They always think in terms of “when” they get the big jobs and never “if” they do. This attitude keeps their motivation levels high and in the spirit of constant development. When a person combines practice, preparation, and action with opportunity it creates massive success.

It is amazing just how many familiar faces there are at all the major conventions, advanced training programs, and lectures. When these people aren’t at the conventions, you constantly hear them on tele-seminars, or see them logged-on video conferences yearning to learn more. This isn’t by accident. The same way their success isn’t a mistake either. They are constantly learning doing the things that nobody sees.

To be the best you can be, commit yourself to constantly develop your skills and expand your knowledge everyday just like the best in our industry do. So the ultimate question is.what are you doing when nobody is around?

By John Weir BCH, CI

John Weir is a Board Certified Hypnotist and Certified Instructor through the National Guild of Hypnotists. Since 2001, he has been the president and CEO of the Hypnosis Center for Motivation and Habit Management located in Pittsburgh PA as well as the president of Today’s My Day Productions Incorporated. John was the recipient of the 2008 NGH Charles Tebbetts Award as well as received the honor of Distinguished Practitioner from Pnosis Magazine in 2007.

He is a new columnist for the NGH’s Journal of Hypnotism, a contributing editor for Pnosis.com, and producer of many hypnosis audio programs. His work has been highlighted in all media forums in Pittsburgh and is a sought after hypnotist, trainer, and speaker. To find out more please visit his websites www.pittsburghhypnosis.com and www.todaysmyday.com

If your interesting in learning more about Hypnosis, NLP & Personal Development feel free to check our Free Hypnosis Community.