Peter J. Daniels Review - From Poor Boy To Billionaire In A Negative World Did you hear about the poor boy who came from a broken home, failed at school because he was functionally illiterate, and failed in business because of his low self-esteem? Sounds like a person who is destined to fail in life, doesn’t it? In fact, it sounds like many of the South Africans we see in our streets every day. Peter Daniels was seven years old, still weak and skinny as he recuperated from a serious bout with the dread disease of diphtheria, when he was introduced to his new schoolteacher in Adelaide, Australia. Miss Phillips was a plump, severe woman with a tight bun in her hair. From the beginning, Miss Phillips took a dislike to young Peter... and took to slapping him as he couldn’t answer her questions. The more she asked him the less he understood, and the more she slapped him. Miss Phillips did not realise that young Peter had no understanding of the simple basics of reading and writing. She thought that he was just being “inattentive, dumb, and naughty". Peter’s day of reckoning came when he had tried his very best to impress Miss Phillips with his very best work. Her response - a slap on the face and a yell... “Peter Daniels, you are a bad, bad boy and you are never going to amount anything!” The young Peter Daniels was crushed! “It affected my attitude and ability to the point where it became, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Fortunately for all of us Peter Daniels lived to discover that people are put down all the time. People and their ideas are rejected by many others... by their families, even by their mothers, by their relatives, by their bosses, by their friends, and by strangers. “They tell you ‘...it can’t be done’..; ‘...the opportunities are not there’..; ‘...the timing is all wrong’..; ‘...you don’t have the ability’.” Said Peter in Cape Town... “It is true that I failed at every grade in school. I came from a third-generation welfare recipient family. I had four fathers and two mothers. At 26 years of age I was virtually illiterate.” He continues in his book: ”But as long as God continues to give breath to mankind, the unexpected will happen and to the surprise of some, the least may become the leader and the worst may become the best, and the poor may become the rich." "I have seen in my lifetime enough surprising achievements from what many would call the under-achievers to say with sincerity and vigour that the Mr and Miss Phillip’s of the world are all wrong.” “Today, of course, I fly all around the world, live a lifestyle of wealth, privilege and prestige, lecture to the great universities of the world on business attitudes, finance and management, act as a consultant to industries as one of the highest paid speakers in the world today, and see my books, cassettes and videos purchased by hundreds of thousands of people all around the world." "I can say with proof and purpose: ‘Miss Phillips, you were wrong!’” ‘Miss Phillips, you were wrong!’ became the title of a stunningly simple book written by Peter Daniels. It is, in fact, a profound “formula for overcoming rejection, put-downs, criticism and hesitation”. For me, it is a priceless collection of the observations of a poor boy who became a billionaire! In his book Peter identifies three types of people who potentially give advice - those who have the experience and should know... those who don’t know but give advice anyway... and those who don’t know but have an ulterior motive. In each case he is not unduly impressed by their desire or ability to offer meaningful advice. “The bottom line is that no one can predict the future. All business ventures are risks and if you are not prepared to accept risks then you have automatically removed from the pathway to success. Nobody can predict the future, but you have it within your hands to create it, shape it, and succeed in it.” He suggests that those wanting advice should do four things: “Face the truth about yourself in respect of your ability, your motivation, your capacity to handle pressure and your ability to concentrate.” “Seek out information regarding the venture you are embarking on - from government statistics, trade magazines, libraries, from the industry itself, and credit bureaus.” “Prepare a dossier of valuable information in respect to your new venture, both positive and negative. Balance these against each other, bearing in mind that the final result, good or bad, will ultimately depend upon you and will fall upon your shoulders.” “Create a goals program. It is by choice, not chance, that success is created.” Peter believes, “The outcome of what anyone predicts will not depend upon them but rather upon you.” Peter goes on to point out how seemingly insignificant people and events have challenged and even changed the world. Namely... the “obscure Adolf Hitler”, the “timid Mahatma Ghandi”, the “local pastor Dr. Martin Luther King”, and “a bashful boy called Winston Churchill”, to mention a few. “Contemplate and take care! The insignificant person before you or inside you has the potential and sufficient latent authority over his or her life to achieve greatness.” And... he reminds us that God has given us a free will, meaning that no other person has the authority to rule over our lives. “As long as we obey the laws of God and respect the rights of our fellow man, we can do whatever we want to do and go as far as we want to go, and our only limits are those that we place upon ourselves.” He now recognises that when Miss Phillips said he would never amount to anything, she was assuming an authority she did not have. ...continued
continued “The only person who can exercise authority over your life is you.” How should she have handled him and how should you handle people who have limitations? “My answer is simple. Encourage, uplift, support, affirm and stimulate, because a person as you see them today is not necessarily the person you will see tomorrow.” Peter also came to recognise that Miss Phillips did not understand the problem. “The problems that we have are very often not understood because we do not seek out the root cause of the problem. Miss Phillips did not enquire, evaluate or even guess what caused my problems, and therefore she was not able to appreciate the situation.” He points out that many people’s problems can be traced back to clichés and wrong information programmed into one’s mind from an early age. For instance, many people are brought up on this one line... 'If you want to get ahead in this world, all you have to do is work hard and mind your own business'. “And yet I know, and I’m sure you do too, plenty of people who have done just that and are right on the breadline, with very little possibility of going any higher. They have been locked into a way of thinking that at best is incomplete and at worst, is totally wrong.” I agree... most South Africans I have met have fallen into the trap of working hard... just to be poor at the end of each month! What Peter is alluding to is that one of the secrets of success lies in working smart. Knowing what you want, and doing the necessary things - by getting involved in specific areas of activity and with key people - to get the things you want. Another inhibiting cliché is... 'It takes money to make money'. Comments Peter, “Yet, I have seen people go into the networking business with virtually no money and become millionaires. In other words, search out the root cause of your problem and correct it, or learn to live with it and bear the consequences of it.” But, Peter warns, “During nearly a third of a century of involvement in business and philanthropic work around the world, dealing with people from all walks of life and of all ages, I have found that the fear of facing a problem was the most destructive force I have ever encountered.” Don’t be afraid of problems, they are confirmation that you are growing - “Problems are a growing part of life.” As he pondered upon why Miss Phillips, the adult, had condemned and rejected the young boy, he recognised that she in fact did not want to help others. “The Mr and Miss Phillips of this world put people down because they tend to operate from a closed mind-set which allows for no perspective other than their own; and, of course, unless they are intellectual geniuses, they will always miss the mark.” The trick is to turn their unfounded rejection into self-help - to learn from it. Peter learnt that “rejection can only hurt if we let it.” The rejection of others has no bearing on the person you are... “You are your best friend”, and... “Your growth can be controlled by you.” The problem with listening to the views and opinions of others is that they look at things from their own perspectives. “Always remember that the person who puts you down does so looking at you and your situation from his or her own perspective, which is limited or enhanced by his own relationships, experiences, exposure, hurts and dreams.” Now, their perspective may be alright for them and their lifestyle, but it may not suit your dreams and chosen lifestyle! Peter recommends that everybody should continue to expand their perspective to avoid becoming a person who puts other people down. He offers four simple steps for expanding your perspective: “Believe that anything can be done by somebody - why not you?” “Read biographies and build up a vocabulary of information on overcoming incredible odds.” “Become involved in helping others and affirming them. Choose twelve people you would like to meet and get to know who could stretch your mind and affirm your self-esteem.” “Spend at least four hours a week in uninterrupted, concentrated thought about one area of your life. Search your sub-conscious and enter the deep recesses of your mind to bring out thoughts, ideas and perspectives that will not only change your life, but change the lives of others.” Peter also recognised that Miss Phillips was a bad judge... pronouncing a life sentence of doom and gloom on a young boy without any defence council to defend him or a jury to evaluate the verdict. “When someone says to you... ‘It can’t be done’, or... ‘You’ll fail’, or... ‘You’re getting too big for your boots’, or... ‘The timing is wrong’, then they must be prepared to put their own lives up for scrutiny. There appears to be a lot of loose negative talk which does not come from an informed source but rather is based on ideas plucked from the air.” Oh boy... if only Peter could see how many South Africans throw away their futures on the uninformed advice of their so-called friends, relations, and ill-informed negative-thinking critics. Peter recalls the word of the man who invented the Polaroid camera: “Whenever I get a good idea I insulate myself from negative thinking people.” Don’t let others judge you and don’t judge yourself to harshly, because you can change and improve... which is also why you should be so careful of judging others. Peter’s unfortunate experience taught him to recognise the uniqueness of every human being. “There are three things that I am really sure about: We all have latent talents that may never be brought to the surface if the need or opportunity does not present itself. We are multi-talented, that is, every individual has many talents. We have special talents that are quite unique to us. The way they are expressed will also be unique.” He also identified that everyone is biased! Miss Phillips was biased towards negativity. He discovered that “the negative bias is always stronger than the positive bias because it rarely calls for evidence to support its position.” Says Peter, “I am, for instance, biased towards biblical truths and absolutes, and biased towards the free enterprise system, and biased towards the seemingly unlimited possibilities of the individual.” The secret of being a consistent winner is to reject the negative bias of others and to “focus on the positive bias, productivity and ingenuity that belongs to you.” Miss Phillips was a classic case of someone presuming too much and being proven wrong. Peter advises: “Do not let anyone control you by presumption. Do not be an invisible person, but speak up against presumption.” “Next time someone presumes against you and your future, do not get hurt, or retaliate, do not withdraw or accept their presumptions, but rather, use the situation as a catalyst to propel you, excite you and encourage the greatness within you.” “Whatever life span you have left, you can make a contribution towards the world by acting as a role model for others, either in achievement, patience, love, kindness or by just hanging in there when others give up.” Miss Phillips also showed that she had limited vision which, in fact, limited her life. “With limited vision you will never see the full picture. It is not lack of education that stops people from getting ahead. It’s not lack of opportunity either that prevents growth. It’s not family influence or the lack of it that sets you on the pathway of life. It is rather lack of vision.” “If I were to name the most important ingredient in achievement and success, it would have to be vision. The Bible goes even further, saying, ‘Without vision, the people perish.’ Do not allow anyone to destroy your dreams. But, remember that dreams don’t work unless you do.” Peter’s experience has taught him that “the Mr and Miss Phillips’ of this world will always be wrong because the human spirit, with each heart beat, pushes against the odds. They will always be wrong psychologically, humanly and spiritually because they cannot tap into or measure your unlimited and undiscovered potential.” Finally, Peter Daniels recognised that Miss Phillips forgot God. When Peter discovered God and gave his life to Jesus Christ as his saviour, he came to understand his true purpose in life... his destiny before God. He learnt that you can change dramatically and put your past behind you, and look to the future with total confidence. He began to experience security amidst crisis, and peace in a world of turmoil. This is what impresses me most about Peter Daniels... he has discovered that God “gives strength to the weary, wisdom to the simple and power to the weak”, and he has dedicated his life to sharing that simple, but profound message with anybody who chooses to listen. Now... you can be stimulated by this billionaire or... keep following the advice of your current advisors who have helped you to get to the fantastic position you are currently in. Think about it! Peter J. Daniels Link to review
