Want Betfair Trading Success? Stop The Damaging Habits Immediately!

It has been said that as humans we are creatures of habit, and that is true, but not all habits are leading you down a path you want to go down. And that is especially true where trading Betfair is concerned; unless of course you are not interested in succeeding in your trading activities, and if that is true, then please stop reading now.

You see, most people are damn lazy. Yup, you heard that right. Most people would rather not go to work, they would rather everything handed to them on a plate so that they can do the ‘enjoyable’ things in life without getting their hands dirty.

The problem with this mentality, is that it is so far from the natural order of the world that many people who ‘want’ to succeed without putting the required effort in, are becoming seriously deluded, and frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land.

Your must change your damaging habits to succeed

As you will have read from my Betfair journey I grew up in an area of Manchester that was seriously lacking in quality, and more importantly money. The area was (and still is) what most would call the ‘arse end of the world’, in fact I make that reference because I read on a blog recently that this is what it was commonly known as. 

I have blurred out the name of the area, because there are also respectable people living there, as there are in any area in the UK.

Of course many people living there simply do not know any different, it is a benefit culture area, where people are inclined to do as little as humanly possible, knowing full well that they will still get their weekly benefit money. In fact, it is an area (from memory) where many people see it as a career to play the system, and never do a day of work in their lives, and subsequently they teach this to their siblings as well.

I actually remember that when I was younger, we were a family that were seen as ‘don’t mess about with them’ and this was because we learned how to look after ourselves, because even though we didn’t have much, we still never let people look down their noses at us, or think they were better than us, so if this happened, the notion was squashed immediately.

Many of my family still live in this area, and still live with this ‘don’t mess with me’ attitude – because it is a survival instinct. Unless you have lived in such an area, it can be difficult to comprehend, I get that.

But, where you may have come from, where you grew up, or even the era in which you grew up (mine was the 70’s) does not have to define who you are, or where you are going (or can go) in life.

If you are a member of our Betfair Trading Course, then you will know that I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I also make many references to my personal life, and situations as a way of explaining certain analogies, and I am going to give you yet another example of why damaging habits can have a detrimental effect on your future success – or lack of it.

A perfect personal example of destructive habits

I have 3 brothers and 1 sister younger than me, and due to the fact that I left the area where I grew up when I was very young, and ‘lived all over the place’ basically, I kind of lost touch with many members of my family.

My youngest brother was always a ‘bit of a lad’ (for want of a better expression), and by the age of his mid 20’s, he was a father to 5 children, and actually still lives in the area where I grew up.

6 years ago, and after a family situation that meant we all had to get together for the first time in very many years (a funeral), I got speaking to my younger brother again. We got to know each other’s children, and family, and we said we would keep in touch on a ‘proper’ basis again.

A few weeks later, I got a call from my brother, and he was saying how he couldn’t find work, and couldn’t support his family. In fact, he had not had a job for 3 years. By this stage, he had visted my home, we’d been out drinking,  getting to know each other again, and he knew things were going well for me.

His missus was also giving my brother ‘earache’, because he was not supporting his family, and they were having problems as a direct result of him not having an income.

My brother asked if there was anything I could do to help him.

Now I am the kind of person that if I want something, I simply find a way to get it, or make it happen. Again, going back to my personal journey that is mentioned above, I have kind of built-in mechanisms and habits (and thus life experiences) that I know I can rely upon should I need to make something work, or make something a reality.

So I thought about this, and I put myself in my brother’s position, in my mind, and came up with a plan of what I would do – if I was in his situation, needing a job.

Firstly, I asked my brother a couple of questions, and got him a CV typed up and printed him a couple of hundred copies – all in my own time, and at my expense.

At this stage I was still an employer, as I ran businesses that had staff (which I have since sold), so I also thought about what I would want to read from a prospective employee, and I wrote a detailed letter and offer – and again, I printed this letter a couple of hundred times.

And as you may also have read from my journey into trading, I was a half decent salesman in my earlier years, which I would use to my advantage in this situation.

Turning something into nothing – literally

At this stage I phoned my brother up, and I said to him:

“Right, I am sending you a package through the post, and it will detail everything you need to do to get yourself a job, and I guarantee it will get you a job”

“Yeah, alright” was the reply. “Thanks”.

I didn’t think much of it after that, as like I said, I had a couple of very busy businesses at this stage of my life, so I then left him to it, fully expecting my brother to follow through – mainly because he would have seen the effort I had put into the package, and content I was sending him.

I also remember telling my wife that it will get him a job – I guaranteed it – IF he follows through!

Anyway, part of the package, and in the information I wrote and sent my brother  was a letter I had constructed, and I told him to give it to as many employers and he could. I told him to get into a routine, and simply go from area to area, handing out the letter, and CV, and then wait for the responses.

I also advised that when he had exhausted the distribution of letters, and CV’s, to contact me and I would print some more, and for him to do this for a month or so, or as long as it took to receive a job offer.

The results?

Literally inside a week of me sending the package to my brother, he called me up, and said something like:

“I have got a job, and start next Monday, thank you so much for all the effort”

I wasn’t the least bit surprised myself, as I knew it would work.

The job was working in a sports position, wholesaling and he was going to be paid £350 per week, which is a decent wage now, but 6 years ago, from somebody who was claiming benefits for three years, to now being in receipt of a job paying £350 a week, this was, and should have been life changing for him.

Of course I was happy that I could help, and left him to it.

Damaging habits eventually catch up with you

About 2 weeks later, I sent my brother a message on Facebook just to ask him how it was all going.

He didn’t reply for a few days, and I just thought that was because he was busy with his new job, and getting on with everything life could now offer him.

The Monday after I sent the Facebook message, I messaged again, and ask the same question. This time my brother said he was not feeling well and had not gone in work because….. he had been ‘wrongly’ sacked earlier that day.

I asked him why, and he said his boss ‘let him go’ for not turning into work, and ‘didn’t accept that he was ill’. “Surely you should get sick pay, and have rights, when you are ill?”, he continued, knowing full well I would be annoyed about any other explanation.

After a bit of probing, and discussing with other family members, it later turns out that my brother had been out on the piss the night before, and the week before that, continually turning up late for work, and eventually getting sacked after going out on a Sunday night the day before he was due back in work.

To say I was flabbergasted would have been an understatement. You see, this is what I am saying about old bad habits catching up with you.

My brother hadn’t had a job for 3 years, was about to lose his family,  lose his children, took help from me to find a job, and still royally fecked it up due to his mentality of what he accepted to be ‘normal’ behaviour.

He simply couldn’t get it into his head, that to progress in this life, he would have to change, and change dramatically his outlook of the world; how it works, and how he has to act if he seriously wants to get on.

Taking responsibility

Yes, we have all been young, and we have also all liked to enjoy ourselves; having a good drink, maybe a bit of the ‘wacky backy’ on the odd occasion, I get it – but come on, there has to become a point in your life, that you have to grow the feck up – and man up, or you will get left standing!

What my brother could (and should) have done, is saved up a few quid, worked his way up his job ladder that would have increased his CV status opening up even more job opportunities, possibly moved out of the area to increase his chances even further, and then he would have had the potential to create a fine life for his family.

As I stated earlier, we both grew up in an area that was lacking in direction, and opportunity, but if you think out of the box, and logically about any situation you find yourself in, then there is always a way forward – if you change your mental approach.

Of course I was annoyed that I had actually taken the effort to help, only for it all to be thrown into a stinking heap of poo.

And it is safe to say if my little brother asked me again, I would not give it any attention; in fact, I have not spoken to him for almost 3 years after he asked me to ‘lend him some money’, which as you can expect, I quickly declined, which generated a response of “why won’t you help me?”.

You couldn’t make it up, could you.

Instead, for the sake of getting pissed, he threw it all away, and has not worked since.

My brother did lose his family in the end, and I suspect has been moaning about it ever since to anybody that will listen, and certainly not taking responsibility, or acknowledging the full reason why he is now still in the exact same predicament.

It’s all about mindset.

I have thought about that situation many times over the years since it happened, and especially when I see how many people are out of work. In fact, I was tempted at one stage to turn it into an informational product that would teach people how to get a job, and future employment, because what I wrote in that letter would still absolutely work today, just as it would have worked 50 years ago.

What has this got to do with Betfair trading?

Well, I think you know what it has to do with Betfair trading, or anything else that takes mental aptitude, and personal attitude to succeed.

If you have tried succeeding at any activity, or employment opportunity, only to have it fail, then you will know that something has to change.

Doing the same thing day after day; taking the same actions, day after day, and expecting different results, is nothing short of insanity.

Or in Einstein’s exact words:

Success in any activity is a personal pursuit.

If you have watched the psychology video on my Betfair course you will know that I do not hold back, and that there are definite reasons as to why some people succeed, whilst others (the masses) continue to clutch at straws as to why they didn’t generate the results they require in life.

• The government…
• Lack of opportunity…
• No jobs in my area…
• No time…

And other such nonsense. The excuses will be in full flow.

They will then reach retirement age and wonder what the hell happened, and no doubt still be blaming all and sundry for their current financial situation. When in reality, if they had applied themselves, and taken their opportunities, things could have been so very different.

We all know that life is short, so to me, I could never fully understand why people wouldn’t give something their absolute all, and why they would give up at the first hurdles of any journey they were involved in.

Nobody owes anybody else a living, we are all living on an over-populated planet where lack of action has serious consequences; for you, and those you represent.

Failure is something you have learned to do – Fact.

It’s so true, you only fail at anything, when you stop trying.

To be successful in any aspect of life, you need to ensure that you are going to give the subject your 100% attention, and you also need to appreciate that results will not come instantly. Why would they? If something came that easy, then the whole planet would be doing it; nobody would have to work at anything and life would grind to a halt; production would cease to exist, and commerce would end.

You have to test what works for you, and if you don’t get instant results, then you have to then practice some more; alter your stance; tweak your methodlogy and then test some more, then some more.

This is especially true in financial trading, or Betfair trading, where you have to define your own way forward, based on your attitude to risk, and attitude to the time required to full grasp how something works, and then act accordingly.

It’s like when a baby is learning to walk for the first time. They don’t fall down a few times, and then think: “sack this, I”ll just sit on my backside for the rest of my life, it’s easier..” No, they will continue to try for as long as it takes, and (health reasons aside) I seriously doubt you have seen many babies not walking by the age of 2 years old.

There’s a life lesson there – babies do not have the negative baggage to give up when an obstacle is placed in their way. They know no different but to keep trying, and then trying some more. The ability to keep trying is in-built in babies.  It’s only as we grow older, that we learn to give up; to stop learning; take the easy option, and to stop striving through applied effort.

Think about it this way…

If you are trying to succeed at any activity in life, and if you filter out everything that does not work, then you can only be left with what DOES work.

It makes perfect sense, right?

So only you can decide if it is worth the effort.

• Are you willing to filter?
• Are you willing to put 100% in?
• Are you willing to go that extra mile?
• Are you willing to put all the excuses to one side once, and for all?

Only you can decide that, and only you can gain the benefits from the change in mentality that you must adhere to, to succeed. It’s the natural order of the universe: action, creates reaction. Positive action, creates positive reaction.

Think about it logically, and it will make perfect sense, and this would apply to Betfair trading, or literally any other pursuit that you are interested in following.