International Speaker, Peak Performance Trainer and Business Mentor Arnon Barnes says you need to play to win – always.
Sitting at 30,000 feet comfortable in my chair in the front row of the plane (a pre-COVID luxury it seems for now ED), suddenly it made me think ‘how did I get here?’. After all I grew up in a middle-class family, in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, during the volatile end years of apartheid. My parents certainly were not wealthy and after their divorce, my mom decided to take my younger sister, baby brother and myself to Israel to begin a new life. It was rough and difficult being in another country, not speaking the language and having to scrape by every month just to pay for rent and some food.
Needless to say, we also were not connected to the kind of people that open doors to wealth and success. As the eldest son, it was my duty to help my mom as much as possible. I did not finish school or attend a fancy college as I needed to bring in money and help raise my younger siblings. No golden spoon, no head start in life.
Some may say, I got lucky, but I know better. I credit all my current achievements, success and wealth to something I’d like to call ‘extroverting’. According to the dictionary extrovert means “a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment” whereas introvert means “a person concerned primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings”. Both have their benefits and I dare to say each of us has parts of both within us. However, when it comes to reaching my level of success, it is imperative you understand the importance of ‘extroverting’.
Now in order to explain this idea or concept, let’s journey back to a place we are all familiar with; let’s talk about school. As a kid in school, I remember being told, on multiple occasions, to ‘be quiet’, ‘sit still’, ‘stop making a noise’ and my all-time favourite, ‘don’t talk with my neighbour’; any of this sound familiar? If it was not said to you, I’m pretty sure you heard it being said to some classmates at certain times.
From a young age we are taught (forced) to act introvert. To focus only on ourselves, our own thoughts and feelings. So, when I started getting involved in business, I was taught some harsh lessons from day one. The funny thing is, after all those years conforming to an introvert way of behaving, it was quite shocking to me that I realized that in business, in life even, I don’t get very far if I keep to myself, to my own thoughts and feelings, and I don’t share those with anyone. In order for me, or anyone, to be successful and create wealth in my business and life, I need to be social, interact with people whether it’s clients, partners or competitors, acting extrovert is what gets me to the next level.
