A stranger was traveling in Mexico and was passing through a very small underdeveloped town.  He stopped to get gas at the only gas station available.  He noticed a stereotypical Mexican man wearing a very large brimmed sombrero and sitting on the sidewalk next to a donkey. 

Not wearing a watch he asked the stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey what time it was.  The stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey looked at the stranger curiously and then lifted his donkey’s tail, looked under it, and then looked back at the stranger and told him; “Se senior, it is three o’clock.”  The stranger thanked him and walked back towards his car. 

The stranger’s curiosity got the better of him and he walked back to the stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey and asked him what time it was again.  The stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey looked at him as if he were a little loco, then he lifted his donkey’s tail once again, looked under it, then turned back to the stranger and told him; “Se senior, it is three minutes after three o’clock.”  The stranger thanked the stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey again and, once again, walked back towards his car. 

Not able to let go of it, yet again the stranger turned to the stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey and said “I couldn’t help but notice that each time I asked you for the time you looked under your donkey’s tail.  May I ask you why?”  The stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey looked at the stranger and smiled and said; “Because senior, when I lift the donkey’s tail, I can see the clock across the street.” 

Is it possible that one of life’s stereotypical Mexican men with a very large brimmed sombrero and a donkey is stopping you from seeing what is right in front of you?  One thing that the MLM Critics say about network marketing is true; most people are not successful at it from a monetary standpoint.  However, it isn’t true that it is because only the ones at the top who get in early make money.   

From a human nature standpoint, most people inherently look for what is wrong rather than what is right.  Most people look at problems, rather than solutions.  Most people are reactive, rather than proactive.  Most people tend to major in minor things.  Frankly, most people are destined not to succeed.  Most people spend too much time in their own way.  Then, when it all falls apart, they blame the industry, their upline, anyone but themselves.  Now, they can even blame the stereotypical Mexican man with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey. 

I know it is difficult to see success.  Most of us are strangers to it.  It looks too much like doing a few simple things over and over and over again.  Success is boring.  Success isn’t a new plan each week.  Success isn’t a special product or special company.  Success isn’t joining a new MLM company every time something doesn’t go exactly as we want it to.  Success isn’t waiting for others to make things happen for us.  Success simply isn’t passive.  We have to make it happen for ourselves.  We have to stop looking at our stereotypical Mexican guy with the very large brimmed sombrero and the donkey and start looking past our rationalizations of why things didn’t work. 

As humans we all have the marvelous ability to rationalize all our problems away.  There is simply a reason for every perceived failure and it’s never our fault.  Here is the problem with that…the pieces of the success puzzle are made up of what we learn from our failures and what we do as the results of what we’ve learned.  If we rationalize all our failures away, we can’t put the success puzzle together.  Even though it is right in front of us, we simply won’t see the clock across the street. 

The bad part of life is that the roads are paved with failure.  ALL OF THEM!  The good part of life is, everything we ever wanted out of life comes from what we learn from and do about those failures.  If we embrace our failures, all our streets can be paved with gold.  If we blame our failures on other things or other people, all we will get is potholes and stereotypical Mexican men with very large brimmed sombreros and donkeys to tell us what time it is.