As I near the first full year of writing this newsletter, I've been pleased to get reports from many of you about your success in putting the DASH Principles into action. Some of you have reported financial success. Others of you have reported success in your relationships or social activities. In all, I have been truly blessed to have confirmed what I knew all along - that these principles can make a huge difference in the quality of someone's dash.

However, I want to use this newsletter to address those of you who haven't achieved immediate success. I want to address those of you who have set goals, worked tirelessly at them and still haven't seen much in the way of tangible results. For those people who are on the verge of quitting and going back to a life of mediocrity, I have one piece of advice for you: "Don't!"

What you don't realize is that you are having success; tremendous success. You just can't see it yet. However, the fact that you can't see it today, doesn't mean that you won't see it tomorrow or next week or next year. For instance, a little less than a year ago, my wife went to her doctor and learned that she was having our fourth child. At the time, neither one of us could see any signs that she was pregnant. Yet, our inability to see Isabella Rose made her no less real. Today, we have a beautiful and healthy baby girl that the whole world can see.

The same is true of your "baby"; regardless of whether it's a new business, designing a clothing line or growing in your relationships. Success occurs long before you can actually see it. You build a successful business by raising enough money, choosing a suitable location, hiring good people, marketing your product or service, etc. Most of this initial work occurs before you ever see a single dollar of revenue. Yet, it's these early actions, which determine your later success. The same is true with a clothing line. You create the line well before a single dress or pair of pants is ever sold at Nordstroms. And the same is true with anything else.

It's Money in the Bank (Part II)

For example, Venus and Serena Williams were multimillionaires by the age of 18. This seems like rapid success until you realize that each of these women had been honing their skills at tennis for more than ten years. Think about it. For more than ten years, they didn't make a single dime playing tennis. This is despite the fact that they put thousands of hours into practicing day after day. Fortunately, they didn't say, "This practice stuff doesn't work. I'm not making any money."

They realized that their practicing was working. It was bringing them closer to the day when they would be able to withdraw from the bank account of tennis skills they had been building for more than a decade. Well, your bank account is growing in the same way. You are building skills, habits and relationships that will one day result in tangible results. In a very real sense, you are putting money in the bank. It's just that right now, you don't have the ability to withdraw it.

I experienced this phenomenon first hand with my book, DASH. When I first released the book, sales were slow. Yet, over time, they have continued to grow. In fact, I've recently even sold the rights to publish the book in certain foreign countries. Obviously, these sales have resulted in tangible revenue for me, but the real truth of the matter is that I earned this money two years ago when I began writing the book. It just took a few years for me to get access to my account.

Well, you have an account as well. You just might not have found the access code yet. If you continue living by the DASH Principles, I know that you will eventually find the key. However, in the meantime, I want to encourage you to continue building your balance. Continue to store away those treasures of wisdom, skills, relationships, connections, and good habits. This way, when you're finally handed the keys to the vault, it will be literally overflowing with treasures.