(excerpted from The Challenge to Succeed audio series)
It is a challenge to succeed. If it were not, I’m sure more people would be successful, but for every person who is enjoying the fruit from the tree of success, many more are examining the roots. They are trying to figure it all out. They are mystified and perplexed by what seems to be some strange, complex and elusive secret that must be found if ever success is to be enjoyed. While most people spend most of their lives struggling to earn a living, a much smaller number seem to have everything going their way. Instead of just earning a living, the smaller group is busily engaged in designing and enjoying a fortune. Everything just seems to work out for them. While the much larger group sits in awe at how life can be so unfair, complicated and unjust.
“I am a nice person,” the man says to himself. “How come this other guy is happy and prosperous, and I’m always struggling?” He asks himself, “I am a good husband, a good father and a good worker. How come nothing seems to work out for me? Life just isn’t fair. I’m even smarter and willing to work harder than some of these other people who just seem to have everything going their way,” he says as he slumps into the sofa to watch another evening of television.
But, you see, you’ve got to be more than a good person and a good worker. You’ve got to become a good planner, and a good dreamer. You’ve got to see the future finished in advance. You’ve got to put in the long hours and put up with the setbacks and the disappointments. You’ve got to learn to enjoy the process of disciplines and of putting yourself through the paces of doing the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. You’ve got to be prepared and willing to attack the challenges if you want the success because challenges are part of success.
Now that may sound like a full menu of activities, but let me assure you that the process of going from average to fortune isn’t really all that difficult. Thinking about it is the difficult part. Anticipating all the effort and the changes and the disciplines is far worse in the mind than in reality. I can promise you that the challenges you’ll meet on the road to success are far less difficult to deal with than the struggles and the disappointments that come from being average. Confronting and overcoming challenges is an exhilarating experience. It does something to feed the soul and the mind. It makes you more than you were before. It strengthens the mental muscles and enables you to become better prepared for the next challenge.
I’ve often said that to have more, we must first become more, and to become more, we must begin the process of working harder on ourselves than we do on anything else. But in addition to gathering new knowledge, new skills and new experiences; it is also important to discover new emotions. It is how we feel about what we know that makes the biggest difference in how our lives turn out. How we feel about the chances we have and the choices we have determines the intensity of our effort. Whether we try or don’t try. Join or don’t join. Believe or don’t believe.
I’d like for you to discover some strong feelings about your life and about what you want to do with that life. You probably have much of the knowledge and a lot of the experience and perhaps most of the skills that it takes to become successful. What you may be lacking in are the strong feelings about what you want and what you want to do. You may be one of those who have become so involved in the process of earning a living that you’ve forgotten about the choices and the chances you have for designing your own life.
Let these strong feelings help you take a second look at your life and where you’re headed. After all, you’ve only got one life, at least on this planet. So why not make it an adventure in achievement? Why not discover what all you can do and what all you can have? Why not discover how many others you can help and in the process how that can help you?
Why not now take the Challenge to Succeed!
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Posted on 23 January '11 by Katherine Smith, under Success Tips. No Comments.
Chris Widener is another great author on providing motivational information to help you to achieve success in all areas of your life. For more information, I recommend going to his website: http://www.chriswidener.com/
Here are Chris Widener’s top four pointers for Kicking Your Life into High Gear!
How would you like to kick your life into high gear? I can help you! Your life doesn’t have to be stale and full of drudgery. Your life can be lived at the highest levels, experiencing joy in every area! I want to give you my top pointers for kicking your life into high gear so you can get moving on the fast track to success!
But first… A secret key to understanding success.
Secret Key: Success isn’t just doing certain things, though we will certainly do certain things to become a certain kind of person. What kind of person you are is what determines your success in life. Yes, you can do right things and achieve a certain level of success, but not the kind of success I am talking about – true life success.
So what are my four tips? Here the are:
Become a person of Vision.
Vision is the spectacular that causes us to carry out the mundane. Vision is what sees us through the dark days so we do not give up and settle for second best. Vision is the grand scheme that we relentlessly pursue. Vision is the goal we aim for. The best way to kick your life into high gear and begin to succeed in what you want to succeed in is to begin to become a person of vision.
The successful person has a fully developed vision of their destination. So let me ask you a simple question:
Do YOU know where you are going?
And not only do you have a vision of where you are going, but is your vision fully developed? Now certainly we cannot know everything that will happen to us in the future, but we can develop the plan fully, allowing in our plan for a variety of contingency plans. “But Chris, that is a lot of work.” It is, but when you look across the board at people who have succeeded much, they are people who laid out most of their life and work before it happened. Life didn’t just happen to them. They didn’t just stumble into success. They planned for it and they created it.
The Tests of Vision
Is it Clear?
Is it Concise?
Is it Inspiring?
Is it Achievable?
Is it Easy to Memorize?
Ask your self the questions above and let the answers begin to shape the vision you have for your life. The tighter and clearer the vision you have for your life, the sooner you will kick your life into high gear!
Become a person of Passion.
Passion. Mmmmm…. Passion. Passion is the burning of the heart. It is the unbridled running amuck of the emotions. It is the overwhelming desire to accomplish your goal. It transcends the mental assent to a set of ideals. It drives and thrusts you toward your goal. You MUST have it!
Those who consider themselves intellectuals will underestimate the power of passion. The fact is that the victory isn’t only in the mind. The truths of the mind are driven by the passion of the heart. So by all means, fuel the passion for life that resides deep within your soul.
Passion is like a fire. It can rage or it can smolder. Even if all you have is barely lit embers, you can fan into flame the fire of your passion for life, love, and the goals and vision you have for your life! Commit yourself to becoming a person who lives passionately!
Become a person of Priorities.
As I have worked through the years with people who achieve much and have lives that are constantly in high gear, I notice something amazing about them: They are people with an extraordinary ability to know what the right thing to do is and to actually do it in a timely fashion.
For example, a friend of mine was in charge of a three-day event a few weeks ago that was attended by close to 250,000 people and was featured on national and international television. Four days before the event he told me he had nothing to do and felt guilty. I encouraged him by reminding him that this was actually a sign of his incredible ability to have focused on and lived out his priorities throughout the whole year before the event took place.
When all was said and done, living and working out of his priorities enabled him to kick back and enjoy the fruit of his (and hundreds of his employees) labor. His life was in high gear and because he is a person of priorities, he is enjoying life. You can too.
Discern what the important things are that you must involve yourself in so as to have the life you want. Then relentlessly live out of those priorities. Say “no” to everything else!
Become a person of Excellence.
People who live life in high gear, succeeding in every area of life, are people who place a high emphasis on and strive for excellence in every area of life. Good just won’t do. The best is the target.
Even when they fail or do poorly, they make an inner commitment to do an excellent job the next time. They are people who want, and live for, excellence in their work, their play, their finances, their relationships – everything!
Do you long for a life lived in high gear? One that is filled with joy and achievement? It is possible! Give some time to contemplate how you can make changes in the next few days and weeks in the following areas and see if your life doesn’t kick into high gear!
Vision
Passion
Priorities
Excellence
They are yours for the taking! Go get ‘em!
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Posted on 23 December '10 by admin, under Motivation, Success Tips. No Comments.
As you’ll notice with the “Thought for the Day”, I considered Jim Rohn one of my mentors. I listened to his audios, watched his videos, receive daily emails and soaked up his knowledge. So you will see my sharing great information from him with you so you too can benefit.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Four Words that Make Life Worthwhile
~by Jim Rohn
Over the years as I’ve sought out ideas, principles and strategies to life’s challenges, I’ve come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile.
First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN.
What you don’t know WILL hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences – negative or positive. We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people’s experiences, both positive and negative. I’ve always said that it is too bad failures don’t give seminars. Obviously, we don’t want to pay them so they aren’t usually touring around giving seminars. But that information would be very valuable – we would learn how someone who had it all then messed it up. Learning from other people’s experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves.
We learn by what we see so pay attention. We learn by what we hear so be a good listener. Now I do suggest that you should be a selective listener, don’t just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read so learn from every source; learn from lectures; learn from songs; learn from sermons; learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning.
Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY.
You can’t just learn; now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference, try to make some progress, try to learn a new skill, try to learn a new sport. It doesn’t mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do, if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out?
Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY.
You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project – see it through. Sometimes calamity comes and then it is worth wrapping it up. And that’s the end, but just don’t end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through.
And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE.
If you care at all you will get some results, if you care enough you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer. Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win.
Four powerful little words: learn, try, stay and care. What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work?
~Jim Rohn
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I receive email updates from Nightingale.com and saw this quote from Larry Winget, Personal success and business author and speaker and I think it is something many people miss. Most people don’t think about the fact that 100% effort does not equal 100% accomplishment. Here is his quote:
“You are not paid to work hard. In fact, you are not
paid for effort at all. You are paid for results. It’s
not what you do; it’s what you get done.”
— Larry Winget: Personal success and business author and speaker
To further explain, the runner who sweats the most… doesn’t always win the race. The employee who gets to work first… doesn’t always get the promotion. Allow the word Results to dominate everything you do, and suddenly your whole perspective changes. You no longer get on the treadmill to run. You’re there to beat your best time. You no longer start a work project with the anticipation of finishing. Your goal is to generate tons of sales.
You should be setting daily goals. As you are focused on accomplishing what you set out to do for the day, think of the desired outcome . . . think of the results you want to achieve.
Have a great day!
Kathy
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Today I will be with my father to celebrate his special day and I wanted to share a poem that I think you might like. For all you fathers out there, I wish you a wonderful day. Happy Father’s Day.
Fathers are Wonderful People
Fathers are wonderful people
Too little understood,
And we do not sing their praises
As often as we should…
For, somehow, Father seems to be
The man who pays the bills,
While Mother binds up little hurts
And nurses all our ills…
And Father struggles daily
To live up to “HIS IMAGE”
As protector and provider
And “hero or the scrimmage”…
And perhaps that is the reason
We sometimes get the notion,
That Fathers are not subject
To the thing we call emotion,
But if you look inside Dad’s heart,
Where no one else can see
You’ll find he’s sentimental
And as “soft” as he can be…
But he’s so busy every day
In the grueling race of life,
He leaves the sentimental stuff
To his partner and his wife…
But Fathers are just WONDERFUL
In a million different ways,
And they merit loving compliments
And accolade of praise,
For the only reason Dad aspires
To fortune and success
Is to make the family proud of him
And to bring them happiness…
And like OUR HEAVENLY FATHER,
He’s a guardian and a guide,
Someone that we can count on
To be ALWAYS ON OUR SIDE.
Helen Steiner Rice
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Posted on 20 June '10 by Katherine Smith, under Motivation. No Comments.
Jim Rohn has passed on but the wisdom he has shared over the years has helped so many change their lives. I love this “Ant Philosophy” and wanted to share it with you.
Over the years, I’ve been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept: the Ant Philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy.
Here is the first part: Ants never quit. That’s a good philosophy. If they’re headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they’ll look for another way. They’ll climb over. They’ll climb under. They’ll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy—to never quit looking for a way to get where you’re supposed to go.
Second, ants think winter all summer. That’s an important perspective. You can’t be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants gather their winter food in the middle of summer.
An ancient story says, “Don’t build your house on the sand in the summer.” Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to think ahead. In the summer, you’ve got to think storm. You’ve got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun.
The third part of the Ant Philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, “This won’t last long; we’ll soon be out of here.” And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they’ll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can’t wait to get out.
And here’s the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the “all-you-possibly-can” philosophy.
Wow, what a great philosophy to have—the ant philosophy. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.
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Posted on 17 June '10 by Katherine Smith, under Motivation. No Comments.
Three Ounces by Ron White
I love baseball.
I love going to a game alone, with friends or watching it on TV. I can talk baseball for hours, and even reading about it is interesting for me. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I’ve played on a softball team. I am a decent fielder; however, I take tremendous pride in my hitting. One season, there was only one at-bat that I did not get on base. In other words, I either received a walk or made a hit 29 out of 30 at-bats. At the risk of sounding boastful, that is an extremely impressive statistic!
However, as sometimes occurs in every aspect of life, I went into a slump the very next season. During this season, I went six consecutive at-bats without a hit or a walk. I even struck out once swinging! It was very frustrating for me. I quickly became the worst hitter on the team. I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do, and then I remembered Ernie Banks….
Ernie played baseball in the 1950s, and he lightened his bat by 3 ounces. He went from hitting 19 home runs to 45 home runs—all because of 3 ounces! So I took a cue from Ernie Banks and I lightened my bat by 3 ounces. It was amazing! I began clobbering the ball all over the field. I finished the season on a hitting tear.
How much is 3 ounces? Very little—but also a lot. Is your life in a slump? If it is, my guess is that you don’t need a major overhaul. Ninety-five percent of the time, dramatic changes can be seen with just minor tweaking. The difference between $50,000 and $500,000 a year may be the result of minor improvements. If you are not getting your desired result, ask yourself, “Is there anything that I can change just a little in my daily routine to see dramatic results?” Perhaps, a 20-minute daily workout, better time management, reading a book a week or some other idea.
Sometimes a small change is all that it takes. You may be surprised how much 3 ounces is!
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Posted on 13 June '10 by Katherine Smith, under Motivation. No Comments.
