Wednesday, January 2, 2013

20,000 Days and Counting

Today, I am posting the foreword I wrote for 20,000 Days and Counting, the first book my manager, Robert D. Smith, has ever written. After waiting over 30 years for him to write a book, I am so excited that, as of this week, it has finally been released. If you read one book to start the New Year, make it this one!

I met him for the first time when I was 14 years old. It was the summer before I entered the ninth grade and, along with a bunch of other guys from our area, I headed to church camp for a week. My cabin counselor was a freshman in college. His name was Robert D. Smith. And he’s been counseling me ever since!

Actually, it wasn’t until I was out of college that we formalized an arrangement. I was to be “the talent.” He would be “the manager.” Frankly, I talked him into it. You see, Robert was aware that he knew nothing about entertainment or publishing or recording. But I knew that Robert possessed qualities that were more powerful than mere ‘knowledge’ about any particular subject could ever be.

First, he had a deep desire to follow God’s direction.
Second, Robert had become a master of self-discipline.
Third, he had a boundless enthusiasm that was contagious to everyone with whom he came in contact.
Fourth, he had a genuine hunger to produce the very best of everything he touched.
Fifth, people liked him. A lot.

To this day, Robert is the best I have ever seen at creating instant lifelong friends. Do you know how much of a business advantage that is?

What if almost everybody you met for years was interested in helping you? What if, every day, there were people around the world thinking toward and praying for your success?

The most remarkable thing to me about Robert is not the huge agencies in New York and Los Angeles whose clients he has turned down for years. It’s not the unblemished track record he has recorded with the first client he accepted (me). The most remarkable thing about Robert is that, almost without exception, for more than three decades, every huge win he has orchestrated in businesses across the board was a rejection or failure first.

The most remarkable thing about Robert FOR YOU, however, is a completely different thing. This unbelievable treasure I am about to serve you on a silver platter should stun, amaze, and excite you.

Are you ready?

Here it is…

The most remarkable thing for you about Robert D. Smith’s life, his success, is that it is transparent, duplicable, and outlined in this book. I can promise that what you are about to read will change you.

If you will allow the change!

You see, Robert’s incredible consistency in achieving so much throughout the years has very little to do with what he has done. His success has everything to do with what he has become and the person he continues to be in the process of becoming. Robert’s success, at a base level, has come because of the way he thinks. The way he has trained himself to think has become his behavior—the way he acts. His actions have created his reputation, and of course, his reputation is first class and worldwide.

Everything you need to know in order to create a basis for where you want to be is here in this book. These are the very thoughts, direction, and techniques that Robert D. Smith has used to guide every aspect of my career for 35 years.

So read quickly. Read carefully. And read with a highlighter! This is highly valuable information.