Читать книгу The Story of Stuart and Frank: How You Can Achieve the Results You Really Want - Paul Browning - Страница 3

The date is Monday 22 February 2010. The time is 09:30. I look out of my office window. Snow which fell yesterday covers the ground with a glistening carpet of jewels reflecting the morning sun which is now well lifted above the mountain peaks and sits majestically in a clear blue sky. Mysterious footprints in the crisp snow remind me of the many birds and night time creatures that visit my garden to see if the feral cats, which we feed every day, have left any scraps behind.

I am at peace with my world and grateful for everything that I have been blessed and gifted with. I have completed around sixteen thousand words of the book you are now reading. I am looking forward with great excitement and anticipation to completing The Story of Stuart and Frank in a few weeks time, or in a few months time, I’m not quite sure. But what I am sure of is that the book will be completed and it will have a powerful message to tell.

The Isle of Skye is situated just off the west coast of Scotland. The island is on the same latitude as the Skagerrak which separates Denmark from Norway. It is equidistant from London and Iceland. In the summer time it is virtually the land of the midnight sun. The winters are cold, wet, windy and dark but the place has a certain magical, spiritual quality which is the reason I live here with my wife Diane, and our three cat friends, Romeo, Amber and Sam. It is the perfect place to write a book. It is the perfect place to live. It is the perfect place to think. It is the perfect place to reflect. It is the perfect place to live for the moment but plan for the future.

I love my world. I enjoy being Paul Selwyn Browning. I enjoy being me. But I have not always felt this way. For the first twenty-seven years, my life was a sort of roller coaster ride, peaks and troughs, successes and failures. And so it is, with some mild embarrassment and an apology that I invite you on a personal journey, my personal journey which began in the winter of 1947. I have not removed the objectionable parts from this journey; here you have it, the complete unexpurgated version!

Before I start my personal journey there is something I want you to know. I stop at various events in my early life and ask the same question, “Why was I so inconsistent in producing successful results?” Without question I have produced some phenomenal results throughout my life and that is great. But on the other hand I’ve also made decisions and evaluations which have resulted in lack, loss, misery and despair not only for myself but also for those nearest and dearest to me. “Why?” “Why up?” “Why down?” “Why was I so inconsistent in producing the results I really wanted?”

The book you are now reading will not only provide you with the answers to my questions, it may also provide you with answers to similar questions you’ve probably asked yourself. This book will explain to you why you do the things you do, why you are getting the results you are currently getting, but best of all, this book will introduce you to a world of power, possibility and promise. It will show you how to get the results that you really want, and on a consistent basis.

1947 was the year of the Pig! It was also the year Britain agreed to leave India. India and Pakistan were granted independence. It was the year that Howard Hughes flew the world’s largest aircraft on its maiden flight. Motor pioneer Henry Ford died at the age of 83 and Count Basie was in the charts with Shine on Harvest Moon. And on the 8 December at 72 Coppice Road, Paul Selwyn Browning made his chart appearance, the only son of Frederick William and Marjorie.

Dad was a painter and decorator, Mum worked in a cardigan factory and later as a shop assistant. It was just after the war and they didn’t have much money. Dad worked most evenings doing work for friends and relatives. He was very hard working, so was Mum. I recall that there was always good food on the table and I was dressed in the best clothes Mum and Dad could afford. As an only child I was loved to bits. When I cried I was comforted, when I was hungry I was fed, when I was cold I was made warm. Mum and Dad loved me as much as any parents could. But they could only give me what they had themselves. Physically and materially they gave me one hundred percent for as long as I can remember. As an only child I was given everything and protected, perhaps over protected from physical harm. But by the time I was ready to go to grammar school in 1959, as an eleven year old I was shy, timid and withdrawn. My inner voice told me I wouldn’t make it. I was scared.

My first report for term ending 23 December 1959 placed me seventh out of twenty-nine pupils in form 1C. I began my education at grammar school in the lowest stream but I was determined to do well. I decided that determination would have to compensate for my weak self-image and very soon I found myself working enthusiastically in every subject I was introduced to. I was no longer scared. I actually found myself enjoying my new school. I found it easier to make friends than ever before and I revelled in the attention and discipline I received from my form master and teachers. Through sheer hard work and determination I moved up a grade to form 2B the following year. By the end of term 21 December 1960 I was third out of thirty-two pupils. I was elated and so were my parents. I had found a new passion for music. I was a promising clarinettist and played in the school band and the school orchestra. I played rugby for the school against other schools on Saturdays. I loved athletics; especially cross-country running and I ran for the school in the county championships.

Then, probably unnoticed by me at the time things began to slip. My position in the form fell to tenth, then twenty-first then back up to tenth. B grades were disappearing in just about every subject and C grades appearing in their place. Here is what appeared in my report card for 23 February 1962: -

English Language:	“I feel he is not working as hard as he could, or as he has done in the past.”
History:	“An inconsistent worker.”
French:	“Erratic.”
Physics:	“His work has deteriorated, there must be an improvement.”

And that is how it continued for the next three years, sometimes up and sometimes down, never consistent. I had shown over my five year education that I could excel in every subject, but never all at the same time and never on a regular basis.

So here I am forty-six years later asking the question I introduced you to earlier,

“Why was I so inconsistent in producing successful results at grammar school?”

I gave the last year at school everything I had and succeeded in obtaining 6 GCE ‘0’ levels, a very proud moment and perhaps a surprising one for me and my teachers. For some reason that I’ll never be able to fully explain I left school in the summer of June 1964 not quite sure of where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I really think I wanted to stay on and do ‘A’ levels and then go to medical school, but I didn’t. Maybe my parents couldn’t afford the expense or maybe I was impetuous and simply wanted to go to work and see the world! One thing is for sure. Looking back, I see that young Paul had done rather well at school. I had passed in 6 GCE ‘0’ levels, the only pupil in a form of twenty-seven pupils to do so. I could run, play rugby, hockey and play the clarinet. I was clever, at least on paper. But something was missing in my life, and I was just about to find out what, as I searched for a career in the big wide world. Some great teachers at grammar school had coaxed the very best out of me and academically I had triumphed. I had failed my eleven plus exam, but managed to scrape a place at a top grammar school and I came out on top. I wanted the very best. But I was about to learn a great big lesson. A good, even a great education doesn’t guarantee a successful effective human being. I was about to discover that I couldn’t think!

I had absorbed a great deal of specialised knowledge at school. Specialised knowledge in physics, chemistry, geography, history, music, mathematics, English language, English literature and I excelled in sport. But in spite of all that, I couldn’t think. My parents and my teachers had taught me many valuable lessons over the years but none of them ever taught me how to think, how to be an effective human being, how to consistently produce successful results, how to contribute to the welfare of others.

It has been said that “2% of the population think, 3% think they think and 95% would rather die than think.” This is still very true today. It was true back then and unfortunately I found myself unconsciously in the 95%.

This inability to be an effective thinker was about to be demonstrated by what happened over the next ten years.

I set sail on the sea of mankind in 1964. I was like a ship without a rudder and was tossed about in the currents for the next ten years. I was at the mercy of current events, current circumstances, and current people. I did not have a clear vision of who I was or where I wanted to go. I had no life goals. I applied for one job after another and when one didn’t work out I applied for another, and so on it went. I worked as an apprentice engineer in a cigarette factory, a technician with a pharmaceutical company, a laboratory technician in a hospital, a microbiologist in a pet food factory and a jack-of-all trades in a cheese factory.

In 1969 I married Valerie who I thank for the twenty-three years we had together and for our three now grown up children, Antony, Nathan and Rebecca. I love you all.

During this period I did not lose my thirst for knowledge and in 1970 I qualified as a microbiologist at Trent Polytechnic, now Nottingham University.

Here comes the question again,

“Why was I so inconsistent in producing the results I really wanted?”

I wanted to find a job I really loved and really do well at, but what I wanted and what I achieved were two entirely different things.

“So why was I so inconsistent in producing successful results at work?”

Toward the end of this ten year voyage I had been contemplating the idea of getting into sales. I figured out that sales reps always looked well dressed, drove new cars and lived off company expense accounts. At the time I spent everything I earned and was constantly in debt. I also had a strong feeling inside of me that I had not yet found a job that was challenging enough or exciting enough to hold my interest for very long. So I decided I was going to find a job as a sales representative. After many interviews all over the country I eventually landed my first job as a sales representative for a global chemical distribution company which was based in the United States. I remember a friend of mine taking me down to North London for my first day at work and my life changed from that day on. It reminded me of grammar school all over again. Here I had managers who were interested in me and who coaxed the very best out of me. I was in the top three salesmen of a sales force of three hundred for two consecutive years. I rapidly moved up the ranks and was promoted to senior management positions several times in quick succession. I was earning unbelievable wages, driving a brand new car every two years, wearing nice clothes, taking expensive holidays and buying bigger homes. Life was wonderful. Everything I did worked, the results were consistently phenomenal. At last I had found a job that I loved, and it showed. Opportunities to run overseas branches of the company were offered to me – Ireland, South Africa and Norway. I declined these offers and eventually fell into the comfort zone. I was well paid doing my job here in the UK and Europe. I was good at what I did and I had a job for life with a generous pension at the end of it. So why should I work any harder? But I was soon to find out that being in the comfort zone in life is a dangerous place to be. I began to lose my passion for a job that just a short time earlier I was giving everything I had for. My drive to sell slowly but surely dwindled and once more I was left facing the same question,

“Why had I become inconsistent in producing the results I really wanted?”

I remained in the comfort zone for another year or two. During this time I began to think seriously. What do I really want? I reckoned that over the years I had earned millions of pounds of sales revenue for my company for which I had been generously compensated. But what if? What if I set up my own company, and then I would be putting all of that money into my own bank. And that was when I made a decision. I decided to set myself the goal of creating my own company. For the first time in my life I had made a conscious decision to create a GREAT BIG GOAL to aim for. My emotions ran high, I really wanted this. And so to everyone’s surprise I left the comfort zone and launched myself into the unknown. I was excited at my new venture and to be absolutely truthful I was a little bit scared at the same time.

The next two or three years passed by unbelievably quickly. I set up a couple of small businesses and whilst they didn’t make me instantly rich I was learning valuable new skills and developing new ways of thinking and evaluating. I experienced many ups and downs, many disappointments and there were a few dark times to say the least. But in spite of it all I remained faithful to my goal to create my own successful company.

And eventually my persistence, determination and self-belief finally paid off.

Never again would I have to ask the question,

“Why was I so inconsistent in producing the results I really wanted?”

In 1995 I started my own business based in the English Midlands. I grew the business into a successful and profitable company within a short time by employing creative marketing strategies and carefully selecting and training the best people to help me achieve my goal. I was paid a generous salary and in the third year the business was making sufficient profit to pay substantial director’s dividends. I had never earned so much money in my life. I moved with Diane to a charming seventeenth century cottage in a picture postcard East Midlands village and traded my old Rover car for a brand new top of the range Mercedes.

I was now into the regular habit of setting not only corporate goals, but goals in all areas of my life. Diane and me tried new adventures and we both found a passion for the great outdoors. On our first visit to Scotland we climbed to the top of Ben Nevis and visited the Isle of Skye. I remember saying to myself that one day I want to live here. The following year we climbed Snowdon and in 1999 completed the West Highland Way long distance walk from Milngavie just north of Glasgow to Fort William, a total distance of 95 miles.

I first began thinking of an exit strategy around two years before leaving the company I had first created in 1995. I groomed and mentored my successor and in 2004 I sold my shares in the business and moved up to the enchanting Isle of Skye with Diane and our three cat friends of course, Romeo, Amber and Sam. With the generous six figure sum I was paid for my shares I had choices. And I chose to do two things. I chose to work part-time as a business consultant. This would finance my second and most important choice.

My second choice was to think! Yes think. And so I began to think. I’m talking here about serious thinking. This is how my thinking first got started: -

“Here I am living on a beautiful island in a beautiful home in a half acre plot looking out onto the mountains, pine forests and the river falling down the mountain side to Loch Snizort which empties into the North Atlantic ocean. I see deer, eagles, otters, whales and a host of bird and animal wild life on a regular basis. There are two cars in the garage which is big enough for three cars. One is a Jaguar, the other is a Mercedes. Since moving up here I’ve been microlighting, paragliding and flown a Piper PA38 out of Inverness airport in the wake of an Easy Jet 737! I have a beautiful marriage and Diane is also my business partner. Life is truly wonderful.”

I then cast my mind back to those lean years when I tried half a dozen different jobs that led to nowhere apart from misery and frustration.

“What is different to Paul Browning now compared to way back then? How did I make the change from what some might call failure to the polar opposite of success?”

These are the questions that kept returning to my mind time and time again. I decided that I would find answers.

I immersed myself in studying the great teachers of mind development and transformational wisdom, both past and present. When I was not working as a business consultant I spent my time reading books and I developed an avid appetite for all things to do with personal development. I would spend hours visiting book stores when away from the island and found Amazon a very useful source of material when back home. Diane and me spent a great deal of time and money, and we travelled thousands of miles to meet the right people. We are fortunate and privileged to have been taught by some of the world’s most renowned personal development leaders.

Here is a reminder of the questions I was seeking answers to.

Paul Browning’s Personal Life Journey Questions
The event	The question	Did I find the answer?
At Grammar School	“Why was I so inconsistent in producing successful results at grammar school?”	YES
First Ten Years at Work	“Why was I so inconsistent in producing successful results at work?”	YES
As a Sales Representative	“Why had I become inconsistent in producing the results I really wanted?”	YES

Not only did I find accurate, truthful and satisfying answers to these questions, but I discovered why we behave the way we do, and why we don’t do many of the things we want to do.

I discovered the root cause of all human behaviour.

Finally I turned the original question on its head so that it became, “How can I be consistent in producing successful results in my life?” The answer to this question will pleasantly surprise you. It certainly surprised me. Why? Because it is so simple and so easy to understand that a child can grasp the meaning of it very quickly. That’s not to say that hard work is not required, it is. Understanding is one thing; application of this information in your life to produce the results you really want is another. But you can do it, and you will do it if you really want to. If your heartfelt desire is strong enough you can do just about anything that your mind can conceive.

The answer to the question,

“How can I be consistent in producing successful results in my life?”

appears dozens of times in The Story of Stuart and Frank. As you read the personal life journeys of Stuart and Frank you will see the answers jumping off the page many times, appearing in many different forms, but each so simple to identify and so simple to understand.

My one wish for you is that you enjoy reading The Story of Stuart and Frank as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and that your enjoyment kindles your passion to be and do all that you richly deserve. You see, you can be consistent in producing successful results in your life!

Paul Selwyn Browning, Thursday 25 February 2010

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.”

Napoleon Hill 1883 - 1970