A Cheerful Thought...

"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."
~ Helen Keller

How to Cash It In for Success

I was reading the second chapter of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich when I came across a profound truth that reminded me of a financial lesson I learned years ago. Before I reveal the truth, let me share with you the lesson of Realized Gains and Losses:

If you were to take $3,000 and invest it in the stock market at a price of $10 per share, you would have 300 shares of stock. As it sometimes does, the stock price drops to $7 per share. Emotional investors start to panic at this point. After all, they bought the stock at $10 because it had already dropped to this low price and they expected it to shoot back up. But now it dropped even lower and they think they just lost $900 in the transaction.

But what have they really lost? They bought 300 shares and, even though the price dropped, they still have 300 shares. It isn't until they sell those shares that they REALIZE a gain or a loss. And those panicky people that are dumping their shares at $7 a share are kicking themselves at the end of the week when the price rockets back up to $15 a share.

What does all this have to do with Think and Grow Rich?

In the second chapter, Hill writes of the power of Desire. He lists a number of people who have passed through difficulties and disappointment before they achieved anything of consequence. At the end of the short paragraph on Helen Keller, Hill writes:

"...no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality."
Much like the investor in the example above, you have only lost when you accept that reality and decide to cash it in. Nobody ever becomes great or successful without having to experience setbacks, frustrations and adversity. Anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you. It is only those who continue to believe in their personal value and capability for success that refuse to accept that failure and push on until they reach their success.

What would have happened to Thomas Edison if he had believed the teacher that told him he was too stupid to learn anything and that he should seek a profession where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality?

What would have happened to Oprah Winfrey if she had accepted the judgment that she "had no business anchoring the news in a major market" when she was fired as a TV news anchor?

What would have happened to Walt Disney if he had accepted the assessment that he lacked imagination and had no original ideas" when he was fired by a newspaper editor?

What would have happened to Michael Jordan if he had hung up his basketball shoes when he was cut from his high school team?

What will happen to you if you accept defeat at any stage of your journey? Then nobody will know the real you and the greatness you have to share with the world. Don't let that happen! Do not cash it in until you stand in the winner's circle, triumphant!

Tips for Overcoming Temporary Defeat:

1. Keep your dream firmly fixed in your mind at all times. Create visual reminders like a dream board. Spend a few minutes every morning and every evening visualizing you accomplishing your dream and the benefits that will bring. Really live it!

2. Trust in the value of your dream. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected by 144 different publishers that didn't believe a book of short stories would sell when they tried to get Chicken Soup for the Soul published. But they persisted because they knew people wanted what was in that book. People were asking them all the time where they could read the stories they shared in their presentations. When someone rejects you and your dream, trust that there are people waiting for you to succeed; if for no other reason than to believe that it is possible for them, too.

3. Treat each setback as a learning opportunity. Napoleon Hill said that "every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." Find the lesson in each in every failure and learn from it. It is these lessons that teach you how to become successful.

4. Trust in the power of numbers. Athletes are great examples of the fact that those who are persistent enough to endure failure will succeed. The year that Babe Ruth set the major league record of 714 home runs, he also set another record by striking out 1,330 times. You have to be willing to fail and fail again in order to be successful. This is true in sports, business or any other area of life you are seeking success in. The only people who never fail are those who never try to begin with.

5. Believe and reaffirm your capability of success. I love the quote by Michael Jordan where he says: "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed." This quote may seem to be more in line with the last point, but I use it here because it illustrates the confidence he had in his ability to win. Our egos, our self-esteem can be so fragile at times and they can take a major hit with every setback or failure. When this happens, be like Mike and just keep shooting with full confidence that your shots are going in. Because when you start hitting your shots, you achieve a mind-body-spirit connection that makes you unstoppable!

An Important Resolution Most People Don't Make

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."
~ Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln knew what he was talking about on the topic of resolving to succeed. Just take a look at his résumé:
· Lost job, 1832
· Defeated for legislature, 1832
· Failed in business, 1833
· Elected to legislature, 1834
· Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
· Had nervous breakdown, 1836
· Defeated for Speaker, 1838
· Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
· Elected to Congress, 1846
· Lost renomination, 1848
· Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
· Defeated for Senate, 1854
· Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
· Again defeated for Senate, 1858
· Elected President, 1860

He could have given up at any one of those failures. I am sure that most of us would have. But he resolved to succeed in his goals and he stuck with it until he did. That resolution carried him all the way to the White House and into the history books.

What will people write about you when you are gone from this earth?

Define your dreams, set your goals and resolve to succeed at them no matter what happens. Failures are not brick walls that stop you. They are merely tests of your resolution to succeed; tests of how badly you want it. And if your resolution is strong enough, those brick walls will be mere speed bumps that can never stop you.

Systematic Success

A few years back I had the good fortune to listen to a teleseminar hosted by Robert G. Allen and Mark Victor Hansen. The two of them had co-written the book The One Minute Millionaire and were challenging their listeners to become Enlightened Millionaires. During the course of the teleseminar, they spoke of one of Allen's favorite topics: leverage.

The principle of leverage is that using a lever and a fulcrum with the fulcrum placed close to the object you wish to move, you can use a small amount of force to move a much larger one. The longer the length of the lever on your side of the fulcrum, the less force you will need to successfully move your object.

"Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the entire earth."
~ Archimedes (C. 287-212 B.C.)

Leveraging for success is the idea that there are elements that will enable you to move the immovable and achieve the things you desire. The six that Allen and Hansen mentioned in their teleseminar for entrepreneurs are a mentor, a team, a network, the infinite network, tools and skills, and systems.

The concept of having success systems has been weighing on my mind lately because I failed to put some in place before tackling my goal of writing a novel in a month. I quickly realized that it would be impossible for me to achieve my goal because there were too many distractions and deterrents that were preventing me from writing efficiently and effectively.

You might be wondering what a success system is. A success system is an organized and streamlined process that is designed to...

SAVE YOUR SELF TIME, ENERGY and MONEY!

I wasn't totally without success systems going into the NaNoWriMo challenge, but some had been neglected for a time to the point where they were no longer effective. My system for handling the bills and paperwork was no longer in place. My filing system had become pretty much non-existent. I failed to establish a system for keeping up on washing the laundry which is a chore that I lead for our family. I didn't even have a good system in place to insure that my writing would flow smoothly from one section to another. Other systems that I failed to put into place would include regular time with my family, minimizing distractions, regular writing times, sufficient sleep and so on.

After the first week of November, I realized that there was no possible way that I could succeed without doing serious damage to myself, my family and/or my finances, and I was not willing to do that sort of damage in exchange for the sense of achieving my writing goal.

I haven't given up, though. I decided that the best thing for me is to release my expectations of reaching the 50,000 words before November 30 in order to minimize my stress level. I am still writing, but I have decided to be happy with whatever word total I reach because that will be far more than if I had never done it at all. And I will have built up good momentum that will carry me on to the finish of the novel.

The second step I am in the process of taking is to reestablish the systems I had been neglecting and get them to the point of running smoothly again so that they will take minimal time and effort to maintain. And I am establishing new systems for the areas where no systems existed before. My new goal is to complete these by the end of the week so that I can focus more fully on my writing and make massive progress without fear of distraction or damage. At that point, I believe that I can write twice as fast as I will be able to focus fully on the novel without worrying about what is happening to my world around me.

Do you have systems in place when you go for your goals?

What are some of the things that occupy your time and attention and distract you when you should be working on your goals?

Perhaps you have housework issues and you feel like you are living in a constant mess. Some people hire a housekeeper to come in and clean as they could make more money by paying someone else to do it and use that time to work on their business. If that is not a valid system for you, take a look at the areas that you are struggling with and what the causes are of the problems in those areas.

In my home, the causes are primarily three little boys who love pulling out all their toys. Growing up, my mom instituted the 5-minute pickup rule. We were taught to get everything picked up at an early age in five minutes or less. She did that regularly with us throughout the day and we eventually stopped pulling so much stuff out.

But my kids aren't the only problem. We tend to accumulate clutter because we have developed the bad habit of just setting things down wherever we happen to be at that moment. I am encouraging myself and my family to never just set something down unless you are putting it in its proper place. We have been developing short-term storage systems for things that do not have a home, such as a decorative filing box my wife bought that sits on our kitchen counter by the phone where we put the bills that I need to look at and papers that we need to read through or file away in permanent storage.

For the deep cleaning, I know my wife has spent up to an entire day giving the whole house a thorough cleaning. Who has time for that? With the encouragement of the putting things in their proper place, I recommended that she set a regular schedule where she spends 15-20 minutes in a single room and give it a quick, but thorough cleaning. She could do the living room one day, the dining room the next, the bathroom the day after that (although with three little boys who have terrible aims, this is one room that may need two days a week), then the bedroom, etc. That way everything gets a thorough cleaning on a regular basis and it doesn't take a whole day or more to catch up. It's a great system!

This is a technique anyone can use for many areas of their life like their bills, their yard work and gardening, cleaning and maintaining their car and anything else that is stressing them out because they haven't found time to get around to it because they know it is going to take a long time. If they would just figure out a system for how they would like to handle these areas and start working that system today, adding a little bit of extra time so that they could make headway on the existing mess until they are all caught up.

One major benefit that results from having success systems for dealing with your everyday cares and worries is that it frees up your mind so that you can focus on achieving your goals and dreams. You will no longer have to spend excess mental time and energy thinking about these dull and taxing tasks because they have a time and place where you can give them your full attention for a short amount of time and then you can forget it until its time comes up again in the rotation. How awesome is that!

So let's establish success systems for your life right now:

1. Write down three tasks or areas of your life that you don't particularly enjoy thinking about but you find that they are constantly weighing on your mind because you know you need to do something about them.

2. Identify and list strategies that you can put into place that will minimize your efforts in each area or keep them from recurring more often than is necessary.

3. Give them a regular time frame with a minimal amount of time for you to give these areas or tasks your full attention (preferably in the very near future if these areas are already stressing you out). This can be daily, weekly, or monthly depending on how often you think is necessary.

4. Explain your new systems to your family, coworkers, or whoever impacts these areas and ask for their help and support.

5. Go to work in these given time frames and then forget about them the rest of the time to allow yourself to focus on more enjoyable areas.

Leave me a comment to let me and other readers know what new systems you implement! Good luck!

Inspiration Found in an Unusual Place

On my NiceGuyBlogging blog, I like to post various movie quotes that I find entertaining or interesting. While looking for a good Halloween quote for today, I actually found a good inspirational quote from an unlikely movie. Here is the quote:

Madame Leota: What are you doing?

Jim: Hey, you leave me alone. Just get out of here and leave me alone.

Madame Leota: Oh, I see. You're just going to sit there, feeling sorry for yourself.

Jim: Tell me why not. This whole thing was my fault. We should've never been here in the first place. Supposed to be at the lake. We'd be sitting by a warm fire right now. And I made us come here. And now it's too late.

Madame Leota: No. It's never to late.

Jim: Hey, look, I tried to get in there, and I can't, all right? I tried! I failed!

Madame Leota: You try. You fail. You try. You fail. But the only true failure is when you stop trying.

Jim: What do you want me to do? Huh?

Madame Leota: Try again.

The Haunted Mansion

It is easy to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for ourselves when things don't work out. We feel like a failure and so we sit down and wallow in our misery. But what many of us don't know is that we may be sitting right on the one yard line with victory just ahead of us.

I have been telling my wife and kids this for years and I am going to share it with you as well. Nothing can defeat you! Nothing can cause you to fail! You only fail if you choose to stop trying! The only thing that can stop you is you!!!

So, when you feel thwarted, discouraged or down, remember the words of Tim Allen's character in the movie Galaxy Quest:

NEVER GIVE UP!

NEVER SURRENDER!

Allow Your Life to Be Wonderful

I haven't posted for several days now as I have had a very full schedule of late and am at the same time preparing as best I can for the kick off of the 2008 National Novel Writing Month coming up this Saturday. In spite of my very full and very busy schedule, I do want to share with you something that my wife and I have been focusing on this past week that has had a major impact in our relationships, our businesses and our finances.

This concept is the culmination of a number of success training cds and books that I have been listening to and reading over the past several weeks. They all have a different focus on success, but the information I am about to share with you was present in all of them. And "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (2 Cor. 13:1)

To start off, I want you to think of a goal you are currently pursuing or one that you are interested in pursuing. Fix that goal firmly in your mind and then answer the following question:

Why do you want to accomplish this goal?

As you answer this question, I want you to consider whether or not you have given the true answer to the question. In the company that I work for, we have found that the first answer we think of when we ask the question "Why did this happen?" is rarely the root cause of a problem. So we use what is called a "5 Why" process to get to the real answer. I recommend using the same process in identifying your core reason for wanting to accomplish a goal.

For example, let's say that you have a home-based business that is bringing in an extra $250 a month. You might have the goal of increasing the income from this business to $500 a month.

Why do you want to increase your income from your business to $500 a month?

To have more money in my pocket.

If you look at that answer, is the real reason you want to increase your income so that you can have more little pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them is it? Of course not. So keep asking "Why?" until you find your real reason.

Why do you want more money in your pocket?

So that I can pay my expenses as soon as I incur them.

Why do you want to pay your expenses as soon as you incur them?

So I never have to go into debt for anything.

Why do you never want to go into debt for anything?

So I don't have the stress of making a credit card payment every month.

Why don't you want the stress of making a credit card payment every month?

So I can feel good whenever I think about my finances.

Your answers may have been different than these here, but if you ask "Why?" often enough you will most likely get to the point of saying "...because it makes me feel good." That is really what we want, isn't it? It doesn't matter if your goal is losing weight, developing an artistic or musical talent, finding a spouse, starting a business or any other target. Isn't your real reason for wanting these things in your life because they would make you feel good?

But can't you feel good right now?

Some of you may have responded to that question with "No! Not with the amount of debt I have!" or something similar. And if that was your response I would like to ask: Have you had any moments today where you felt happy, even if it was just for a moment? This week? This month? I am willing to bet that you have. And why is it that you were able to feel happy? You were probably focused on something else in that moment other than what you usually focus on to feel unhappy.

The large majority of us set up rules like the one I mentioned above that determine when we can feel happy and, by default, when we can't. I will be happy when I get rid of all this debt. I will be happy when I lose 50 pounds. I will be happy when I am lying on the sandy beaches of Hawaii. But we have those small moments that are exceptions to these imperfect rules where we feel happy even though we haven't satisfied our preset guidelines for happiness.

We can in this very moment be happy, not just feel happy, actually be happy by choosing to be so. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, we set the rules for when we can be happy so by the same measure we choose to not play by those rules. We can be happy right now! It is simply a matter of controlling our emotions rather than letting them control us.

And we must control our emotions if we are to accomplish our goals. If we don't, we will not have the power behind us that will enable us to succeed.

"Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance."
~ Brian Tracy

My wife and I have found this to be so true over the past few weeks. We have been working on controlling our emotions in regards to our financial situation and to the building of her Mary Kay business. My wife has also been applying this toward her continual efforts to meet a major weight-loss goal. We have released our attachments to what our expected outcomes are and just chosen to feel good no matter what happens. And the results have been amazing! We have experienced financial miracles, my wife's business has just been booming and she is making progress as she works on losing those last stubborn pounds that she wants to lose. (She has lost 45 pounds already!) In addition to that, our relationship with each other and with our children is better than it has ever been. Everything is just "clicking" for us!

But even if none of this had happened, we would still be happy ... because we choose to be so!

But it hasn't all been smooth sailing. You probably know as well as I do that whenever you feel like you are on top of the world someone or something will come along and try to knock you off. What makes the difference is how you respond to that event. And the best way you can respond is with gratitude.

If you are trying to pay down your debts and an exceptionally high utility bill comes through, be grateful for the continuous service that you have been given that enables you to light, heat and cool your home.

If you have a medical emergency, don't worry about the impending bill. Be grateful that you are still alive and live in an area where skilled and trained physicians are available to care for your medical needs.

If you are trying to lose weight and you go up one week rather than down, be grateful that you live in an area of the world where food is abundant and that you don't go to bed at night in extreme hunger.

If your business is building slower than you hope, be grateful that you have not only the skills and abilities to do business but also an exceptional mind that is open to ideas and inspirations that can and will lead you to build it faster and/or better.

Whenever obstacles arise before you, be grateful for them and the opportunity to become better and stronger by overcoming them.

If you think long enough, you can always find something to be grateful for. And it is impossible to feel grateful and be unhappy at the same time.

Whatever it is that you desire to accomplish in your life, allow your life to be wonderful in the process and watch how easily people, resources and events line up and fall into place to bring you success beyond your wildest dreams.

Action Steps:
1. Identify an area in your life you would like to improve or develop.
2. Identify what negative feelings come to your mind when you think about accomplishing this goal.
3. Release the negative feelings and choose to be happy.
4. Overcome challenges to your happiness with an attitude of gratitude.

The Difference Between Winning and Losing

Over the years, I have read many stories and articles about successful people and listened to many different stories of people who have failed. In each of those stories, those who succeeded are not that different from those who failed. They each had a dream. They each took steps to achieve their dream. They each had moments of doubt. They each faced obstacles. They each had critics in abundance. They each struggled, strived and suffered. So why was there a difference in their outcome?

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
~ Thomas Edison

When I played basketball in high school, we were given a basketball "handbook" that was filled with information on drills designed to improve areas of your game, team and school rules, and inspirational and motivational quotes and stories interspersed throughout the book. One quote that has stuck with me through the years was by Vince Lombardi who said: "Winners never quit and quitters never win." I've applied that quote in sports, in relationships, in every area of my life and have learned that it isn't always the strongest, smartest or even most talented that wins. It is the one that lasts the longest.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
~ Calvin Coolidge

When we start on a goal - be it building a business, getting out of debt, writing a novel, whatever it may be - we never anticipate that there will ever be a point where we will want to quit. We start off excited and focused on achieving our end result and we just go to work fully expecting that we will be victorious. But then we start to struggle. The results don't come fast enough or it is more difficult than we thought it would be (let me share with you a little secret about human nature - it is always more difficult than we think it will be because we never plan on it being that difficult) or some other excuse and we quit on our dream. We become so focused on the pain of that small moment of time that we completely forget or ignore how painful the rest of our life is going to be because we gave up and quit trying to achieve our goal.

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
~ Lance Armstrong

Can you imagine what would happen if a mother quit right when giving childbirth got painful? Can you imagine the results if a weightlifter quit right when it started to burn? Can you imagine the life of the student that decides to quit the first time they did not get an "A" on a test? Where has quitting ever done anybody any good?

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
~ Thomas Edison

You never know when your big break is going to come in the process. You never know just at what point things are going to click into place and it is all going to start to flow. You just have to trust that, when you are pedaling up the side of a mountain, at some point you are going to reach the peak and then you can coast down the other side picking up speed as you go. You just have to last longer than the upward slope does.

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Whatever goal you are pursuing, check your determination level. Are you content with trying to achieve it? (Remember, "trying" is simply failing with honor.) Or are you at the REFUSE TO LOSE! level where it doesn't matter what comes your way - you triumph no matter what? The only person that can keep you from succeeding is you. If others have done what you dream of doing, you can do it, too! If nobody has ever done it, then be the first!!! But never, never, never quit on your dreams.

Don't You Quit!
~ Unknown

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must; but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

The Importance of Brick Walls

I have been reading Randy Pausch's book The Last Lecture and I came across a chapter where he talks about the importance of brick walls. Whenever we are in pursuit of something we really want, we all have encountered one or more brick walls that stand in the way of getting it. But Randy makes the point that brick walls are not designed to keep you from getting what you want. Not at all! Brick walls are simply there to test just how bad you really want it.



Think about that for a moment. Think about the last time you pursued a goal (no matter how big or small) that you did not achieve. What stopped you from achieving it? What was the brick wall? Why did it stop you? Or perhaps a better question is why did you let it stop you?



I am willing to bet that the majority of the brick walls we encounter that stop us are not insurmountable so much as they are unexpected. We have a plan, a road map that is going to take us from the where we are to where we want to be. We expect a few bumps in the road and maybe a couple of small hills; we know we could handle those. But where in the world did that mountain range come from? We then set up camp beside the mountains rationalizing that we have come so far and that is good enough. We obviously don't want it bad enough to climb the mountain.

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."
~ Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is someone that I have admired for a long time - not so much for his achievements as for the example he sets in overcoming every brick wall that gets in his way to achieve it. Most people think Michael was just naturally talented and that was why he achieved all he did. But did you know that he was cut from the varsity team his sophomore year? Did you know that in the third game of his second NBA season he broke a bone in his left foot that sidelined him for 64 games? Did you know that he and his team were booted from the playoffs by the same team three years in a row, denying him his first NBA title? Do you know that he was highly criticized for that fact and his team leadership abilities questioned? Did you know that just before fifth game of the 1998 NBA finals he contracted a horrible case of the stomach flu but he played through it and still scored 35 points? (Most players can't score 35 points in a game when they are in the best shape of their lives.)

Michael Jordan is no stranger to brick walls. But he overcame every single one of them because he wanted what was on the other side bad enough. I remember watching that fifth game of the '98 finals. If you didn't see it, you probably don't understand how bad it was for him. But I saw the toll the physical exertion was taking on his already weakened body. The pain was etched in his face. At the end of the game, his teammates were practically carrying him off the floor to keep him from collapsing.

I wondered at the time why he played. It didn't secure them the championship because they still had to win one more game in order to do that. It wasn't for the thrill of playing the game because I could easily see that that particular game was absolutely all work and no play for him. What it came down to is this: he wanted that championship so badly for himself and for his teammates that he was completely unwilling to allow even the possibility of his team losing a single game if he was able to do something about it. He knew there was still a chance that he could fail - that they would lose the game. But he was okay with that possibility. What he was not okay with was not trying.

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying."
~ Michael Jordan

I did not mean for this to become a Michael Jordan tribute post, but what I hope you take away from this is that even the greatest achievers we have ever known have brick walls to overcome. Most multi-millionaires have experienced bankruptcy. Many fitness and health gurus were once fat. Beethoven was deaf. Thomas Edison was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything. Walt Disney was fired from by a newspaper because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas." Oprah Winfrey was fired as a TV news anchor and was told she had "no business anchoring the news in a major market." Albert Einstein's PhD dissertation was rejected. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected by 140 publishers who thought there was no market for Chicken Soup for the Soul. The difference between all of them and each of us is that they wanted their dreams bad enough to overcome any and every brick wall that arose in front of them.

Do you want it bad enough to do the same?

Action Steps:
1. Write down a dream that you are ready to pursue or one you are already pursuing.
2. Write down all the reasons why you absolutely have to achieve that dream. What will it give you? What pleasure will you experience?
3. Write down all that you will miss out on if you quit on your dream. What pains will you experience if you allow yourself to fail?
4. Identify foreseeable brick walls, both internal ones and external ones, that could possibly pop up in your way as you pursue your dream.
5. For each brick wall, identify strategies for going over them, around them, or through them.
6. Take action on your dreams every single day and don't settle for "good enough". You deserve better than that. You deserve the "GREAT!!!" So endure to the end so that you, too, may say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7) and I AM VICTORIOUS!

The First Step - Part 3 of 7

“The two important things I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision.”

~ Robyn Davidson

Have you ever felt powerless and weak when it came to achieving something important to you? I know I have. But like Robyn, I learned that I was far more powerful, far stronger than I initially believed I was. Let me share an example with you.

A number of years ago, I hiked to the rim of Mt. Saint Helen's with some members of my family. I was in pretty good shape and was cruising up the slope, at one point carrying my sister's backpack along with my own. But there came a point when my legs cramped up unexpectantly. It started out as just being really uncomfortable, but when we broke clear of the boulders and hit the pebbly slope that stretched to the rim of the volcano's crater, it quickly became intensely painful and my pace ground to a near-complete stop.

Seeing how much pain I was in, my father suggested I just sit and rest and they would pick me up on the way back down and help me reach the bottom. As appealing as it was to sit down at that moment and ease the pain, I simply replied that I was still moving. I started picking out points on the slope to walk to, but the more intense the pain got, the farther away those points seemed. I finally just started telling myself, "Take 10 more steps. You can do that much."

So, I took 10 more steps. Once I hit the tenth step, I told myself to take 10 more. And I kept taking 10 more until I collapsed with quivering legs on the crater's rim, looking down at the lava dome at its center. The interesting thing was that, while I was one of the last in our group to reach the rim, I was the first to reach the bottom, running and jumping all the way down completely free of pain, where I waited for the rest of my group to wearily straggle back to the car.

I learned the important lesson that day that I am far stronger than I tend to allow myself to be. That applies to more than just my physical body. I am smarter, wiser, and mentally tougher as well. And now, one of the things I enjoy most is pushing myself to see just how far I can go and how much I can achieve.

Sometimes, we just have to get out of our own way and see how far we can go. We have to erase the word "can't" from our vocabulary and keep on pushing on to see just exactly what we can do. The majority of the limits we have encountered exist only in our own minds. We have to make that difficult decision to take that first step beyond what we think we can do, and another after that, and another after that until we reach our desired destination.

So wherever you feel weak, wherever you feel you have gone just as far as you can possibly go and you have done all you can possibly do, take 10 more steps or improve by just 1% and allow yourself to be stronger and more powerful than you previously thought you were. And if you do it once, you can very well do it again, and again, and again.

Action Steps:
1. Write down an area where you wish you were better.
2. Write down you personal best achievement in this area.
3. Now write down what it would mean in terms of achievement to "take 10 more steps" or improve in this area by just 1%.
4. Take the first step beyond your previous record and keep on moving!

The First Step - Part 2 of 7

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

~ Mark Caine

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing your environment is to blame for where you are in life. Perhaps you don't have the same opportunities as other people who come from wealthier families. You may not be as popular as some people. Maybe you don't have the same training and education that others have received. All of these situations and more can make you feel like a captive in your current state of being.

The truth of the matter is that your environment has nothing to do with you. When you want something bad enough, you will find a way to get it no matter what the obstacles. There are hundreds of stories of people who have overcome poverty, lack of education, shyness, opposition and more to go on to achieve things beyond even their wildest dreams. They simply refused to be held captive any longer. They took the first step and found that taking that step and another and another was far easier than living in defeat.

Action Steps:
1. Write down what areas of your life you feel are holding you captive from the freedoms you want to enjoy.
2. On a separate piece of paper, write down steps you can take that could break you free from your current prison. Be creative.
3. Wad the first piece of paper up into a ball and say to it, "I refuse to be your captive any longer. As of today, I am free!" and throw it in the trash.
4. Choose one of the steps you have written down that will give you your freedom.
5. Take the first step!

How to Cure a "Bad Day"

Read this, and let it really sink in... Then, choose how you start your day tomorrow...

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.'

I knew I needed to take action." " What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

• Positive thinking the the first step towards a happy life.

• Attitude is everything!

If everyone applies just these, the whole world will live in happiness.

-------------------------------------------------

Isn't it funny how you always seem to come across those things you need to hear most, even if you don't want to hear it? This day has been a bit rough for me. Not that it has been a bad day. In fact it was only a couple of ---small--- things that happened this morning that started it spiralling downward. I even ended up getting a little grumpy with my wife which she totally did not deserve. I made a bad choice. Luckily, I recognized how badly I chose and was able to save the day by choosing something better.

Tomorrow, I plan to skip over "better" and choose to have the best day so far this month!

What do you choose?

“There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.”

~ W. Clement Stone

Are You In A Recession? I'm Not!

Much of the media has been warning us for several weeks that we are in a recession. There is nothing but doom and gloom in the forecast, President Bush's Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate will not make a difference and we had better prepare for hard times ahead. I'm sure you have all been reading the same articles and hearing the same predictions of the coming financial storm. Personally, I have declined to participate in this recession. How about you?

What Is A Recession?

A recession is defined as being two or more quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. What that means is that for two or more quarters consumer, business and government spending decreases while exports and inventory increases.

The interesting thing is that I was listening to Dave Ramsey's talk radio show on the way home from work the other night and he talked about how we are NOT in a recession and how politically biased the media actually is. He pointed out that, if the majority of the population believe that we are in the midst of a recession come election time (and many people already do believe that), there is absolutely no way a Republican candidate will be elected President. For those of you who don't know, a major indication of a recession is an increase (particularly a sharp increase) in the rate of unemployment. Unemployment has held steady of late and has even dropped a little. So where is this recession? I'll tell you where. It is in one of the most dangerous places of all - our minds.

Recession Breeding Ground

At the rate that the so-called recession is becoming the most talked about subject in the media, in schools, in our work places and in our homes, we will end up in a recession.

Why?

Simple.

The more this subject is tossed about, the more fearful people become. And when we make decisions based on fear, we usually make the wrong ones. Those of you who recall the movie The Secret of My Success may remember that when Michael J. Fox's distant uncle's corporation was targeted for hostile takeover, his uncle ordered his executives to find ways to "cut to the core" operations and expenses to try and save cash. Fox, posing as an executive (although he had been hired to work in the mailroom) was adamant that doing so would open them right up for the hostile takeover and that they needed to expand and make the company stronger than their competitor. Then they go and take them over! Unfortunately, most of the executives, including the key senior executives, believed they should just follow the direction they had been given by their superior. The result was that they opened themselves right up for the hostile takeover. (I won't ruin the ending by telling you any more than that.)*

(*Note: If you haven't seen The Secret of My Success, be advised that, while it is a humorous movie, it is rated PG-13 for some language and sexual themes. If you find that offensive, I do not recommend this movie to you; not even when it has been edited for television as the sexual themes play such a large part in the film that they are impossible to edit out.)

So what does this have to do with us? Allow me to explain.

Everyone gets more and more fearful of a recession. They start saving money for potentially hard times ahead. Profits drop for major corporations because people are buying less. They start cutting jobs to reduce expenses and preserve profits. Unemployment rates start rising and we end up in a recession. The danger of this is that when fewer and fewer people are working, two things happen:
1. Fewer and fewer people have jobs to provide money to purchase products to increase profits to induce companies to hire more people.
2. As profits drop, prices go up to make up the difference which reduces our buying power and so we buy less which in turn causes profits to drop.So you can see how the recession would perpetuate itself.

As critical as opponents have been over President Bush's Economic Stimulus checks and how it won't make a difference, he does have the right idea. More people need to buy more products to pull back from a recession. The government can't fix this, only we can.

So, how can I decline participation in the recession?



My Declaration of Declination

"I decline the opportunity to participate in any real or imagined recessions. I choose instead to participate in an expansion of personal prosperity. I do so by focusing on literature, news and topics of study that enhance my life. I accept the events of life as being neither inherently good nor bad but simply opportunities for growth and learning. I recognize that I cannot change these events themselves but I can determine my own outcome by choosing the proper response for the outcome I desire. I look for and take advantage of financial and personal opportunities that create a better future for me, my friends and my family. I will share every opportunity I discover with all those I come in contact with and encourage them to choose for themselves as well."



Selective Media Blackout

The worst things in history have happened when people stop thinking for themselves, especially when they allow themselves to be influenced by negative people. That’s what gives rise to dictators. Avoid that at all costs. Stop it first on a personal level, and you will have contributed to world sanity as well as your own.
~ Donald Trump

The first step I have taken in declining participate is to choose not read about, listen to or think about the chance of a recession. Some people may think that is a stupid idea, but let me tell you why this is important. As I pointed out above, the more it is talked about, the more people fear it and, like a nearby rattlesnake that is poised to strike, they focus and fixate on it. And, by the Law of Attraction, that which we focus on and lend emotion to (and fear is an emotional response), we will attract. Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, you can see how it applies by my earlier illustration of how our fear-driven actions will bring about the recession. I choose instead to focus on uplifting, motivating, inspiring and educational topics instead that will actually benefit me.

E + R = O

Some areas I have chosen to focus on are the beliefs, habits and life lessons shared by successful and wealthy people. One of those people that I have enjoyed studying is Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Jack taught me about the life formula E + R = O, which means an Event + your Response to that event = your Outcome. He shares a story about a Lexus dealer in the middle of the recession of the early 1980's. Nobody was coming in to buy his cars and he knew he would have to do something different or he would end up going out of business. So he started to ask himself, "Where are the people that can afford to buy my cars?" Well, he came up with that they were probably hanging out at the country clubs at the golf courses, the yacht clubs and so on. So he rounded up all his salesmen, drove a bunch of cars to the local country club, walked in and asked who would like the opportunity to drive a brand new Lexus.

After people had the opportunity to test drive a car, he would tell them to continue to drive it for a week and he would take their car in to the shop, clean it up and detail it free of charge. After the week was up, these drivers would come to trade in the Lexus for their personal vehicles. Now, anyone who is reading this that has driven a brand new car and then gotten back into their old car can probably relate to what happened next. When you get out of a new car and get back into your old car, it doesn't feel as good and doesn't seem to drive as nicely as the new car. The end result was that the dealership sold more cars in the middle of that depression than they ever had in the past all because he changed his response to a situation to get a better outcome.

Opportunities Abound

When we choose our response to life's events, we really take control of our lives. Most people live life in fear, stress and frustration because they feel powerless to deal with unwelcome circumstances. They feel like they have been dealt a bad hand and they have no chance of winning. What they don't realize is that it doesn't matter what cards we are dealt, it is how we play them that matters. As illustrated by Jack Canfield's story above, there are always opportunities. Most people just have a habit of looking at the way things are rather than how they can be.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
~ Sir Winston Churchill

If under the aforementioned Law of Attraction, focusing on a recession will bring about a recession, why not use the same law to turn it around? The easiest way to do that is to ask yourself what you would be doing if the economy was thriving. You would be trying to cash in on it, right? So, the next step in declining participation in a recession is to follow the example of the Lexus dealership owner and look for and take advantage of opportunities for financial growth and prosperity. If we continue to live life the way we have been, look for opportunities to enhance that life, and encourage others to do the same, there is no possible way we will experience a recession.

Give So That You Can Give More

There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Mark 6:38) A lot of people translate this to mean you must give to receive, but that is a selfish attitude to take which does not suit the doctrine presented in the book. I believe it means give to give more.

It is my hope that what I have given here will evoke responses and comments that will enhance what little I have presented; a way of giving more to the reader. I further hope that all who read this will share it further with others at every opportunity. By so doing, we can inspire our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to choose expansion over a recession and build a more prosperous community for everyone to enjoy.

Life! Focus! ... ACTION!!!!

So, come on, everyone! Shut out the negative prophets of financial doom and replace that with media and topics that fulfill you, enhance you and bring you joy. Choose a better outcome to your circumstances by choosing a better response to events. Look for opportunities to expand your finances, your circle of friends and acquaintances and, thereby, your moments of fun and pleasure. And lastly, tell everyone to do the same! Together, we can turn those financial gurus on their heads and show them a thing or two!

A Personal Apology

It has been nearly 2 months since I last posted in this blog. If there is anyone out there that has been checking back regularly, I apologize for my absence. There have been many a time that I thought about writing a new post to inspire, encourage, advise and to breathe new life and ideas into the reader who comes by for a visit, but I just couldn't do it. I was just too discouraged, stressed and depressed.

Those of you that know me personally may be well-acquainted with my imperfections and flaws, but what many of you may not know is that depression was something that I struggled with for years. Under very special circumstances, I received inspired counsel at the age of 14 from a religious leader that did not know me personally in which I was told to beware of depression as that was a temptation that I would struggle with. Knowing that I was going to struggle with depression, however, did not provide me with the tools necessary to overcome it. It took me many years to figure out why I was depressed so often.

I don't want you to think that my life was especially miserable or difficult. I was pretty much an average American teenager. I had many bright, happy and very enjoyable moments in life, but they seemed to slip through my fingers so easily leaving more than enough room for the darkness that flowed into its place. I eventually learned that a major cause of my depression was my focus on all the things I did not have in life rather than being grateful for the abundance of health, talents, friends, education and wealth that I had been blessed with.

I may not have been the strongest or fastest individual, but I had a complete, healthy, relatively disease-free body that enabled me to play any sport I desired at an average to above-average level.

I may not have been the most-talented individual at sports, music, art or any other area of interest, but I could play sports, picked up on how to play the piano and guitar, re-taught myself how to sing after a throat injury (you can read more about that here), I could draw, paint and sculpt better than the average person and could virtually do anything that I set my mind to if I was willing to put in the time.

I may not have been the most popular individual, but I had many fun and loving friends of all ages in spite of my tendency to behave as a shy person would and hang in the background.

I may not have been the smartest kid in the class or pulled straight A's, but I quickly learned anything I wanted to and could retain the bulk of what I read freeing me from having to put in very much time reviewing and studying.

And I may not have had much money or material possessions growing up (in fact, my family's income was below the average and my parents had to make the dollar stretch with six kids), but I had more than kids in third-world countries, I had the ability and opportunity to work, and everything I listed above along with my family and many other things I did not mention gave me a very blessed and abundant life.

This last category has been the reason for my latest struggles. It is very difficult to focus on long-range goals like completing The Millionaire Marathon when my urgent, short-range issues keep rising up to slap you in the face every single day. I became frustrated, despondent and withdrew into myself to relive the pain again and again and again.


I am happy to say that I have overcome that through the application of an important lesson we all must remember when we are not happy with the way things are:

Do something; anything!!!

I couldn't change the whole situation in that moment, but I could tackle one small part of it and I did. I went to work with an urgency and focused on a future happy outcome. Just in the moving and the doing, hope revives and faith starts to rebuild. Making any sort of progress, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem, is a million times better than doing nothing at all.

Am I out of the woods, yet? No. But I am closer this week than I was last week and I will be even closer next week. I am just taking it one day at a time and making sure that my head and my heart stay in the right place.

As far as posting to this blog, I will resume my efforts to relay and share uplifting, motivating and hopefully inspiring material as often as I am able to do so. I am still working on the Universal Law series that I mentioned nearly 2 months ago and will finish it when I can, but I have some financial projects that take priority right now. So check back from time to time to see where I am at and, if you feel like doing so, leave a comment to let me know you are following and what you find interesting and helpful. If there are topics that you struggle with that you would like some input on, let me know and I will be happy to offer what I can.

I also invite you to come over to my personal blog at http://www.niceguyblogging.blogspot.com/ and read about the Million Step March challenge that I am participating in and the progress I am making with it.

Which Price Will You Pay?

The other day I was reading in Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Laurence Leamer. He was relating a conversation Arnold was having with another, more experienced bodybuilder just before Arnold was to take his turn flexing and posing on stage. Arnold asked his competitor suddenly if he believed that he could have everything he wanted. The competitor, surprised by the question, pondered it a second and replied that a man cannot have everything he wanted. As Arnold's name was called he shot back, "No! You're wrong! You can have everything you want. You just have to be willing to pay the price."

The Price of Success
There is nothing that we cannot attain if we are willing to pay the price of success. Talents are developed when we pay the price of remaining teachable and practicing daily. Relationships grow when we pay the price of taking time to listen and share and interact with others. Fortunes are made as we pay the price or working to increase income and disciplining ourselves to save and invest rather than spend. Bodies are strengthened when we pay the price of pushing through painful and exhausting workouts.

Is there something out there that you wish you could be, do or have? There is a price to pay for it. Figure out what that price is and determine to pay it no matter what struggles you encounter and you will receive what you wish for.

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

Do not fall into the trap of thinking you can set the wages, though. Life is not a deal-maker. Life will not grant you a $100 reward for a $2 effort. You get what you pay for! You can't say, "I am willing to eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day, but I refuse to give up my soda pop, chocolate and doughnuts," and expect to start losing weight. You can't say, "I am willing to practice the piano for 10 minutes every other day, but that's it," and expect to learn and progress and develop at the same rate as someone who practices for a minimum of 30 minutes every single day. Do not think you can set the wages and avoid the pain. You must pay the price and push through the pain to succeed.

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Price of Failure
Whatever path you choose, there is a price to pay. Just as the champion must pay the price of discipline to enjoy the rewards of success, there is another price to be paid by choosing not to pay the price of success. In economics this is known as the opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is lost benefits you could have enjoyed had you pursued a different course.

The athlete who does not practice and develop his or her skills has the opportunity cost of never being a starting player or perhaps not even making the team. The business person who does not consistently work their business has the opportunity cost of never enjoying the profits or the financial freedom it may have brought had they chosen to work it consistently. The man or woman who does not take the time or make the effort to eat healthy and exercise regularly has the opportunity cost not having as much energy or the self-esteem that a trim, healthy body would give them.

The difference between the price of success and the opportunity cost of failure is that the price of success diminishes over time. Muscles grow, habits form, fears diminish, experience is gained, talents develop and the actions you take grow easier and easier and easier. The opportunity cost of failure does just the opposite. Where the price of success diminishes, the opportunity cost of failure grows. Muscles atrophy, motivation fades, fears grow, self-esteem diminishes, apathy sets in and you regret more and more everything you don't have or experience. And you start blaming anything and/or anyone for your sad experiences in life while you envy the accomplished and successful.

It isn't anybody else's fault, though. You choose the price. And, once it is chosen, you will pay that price until you make the decision to change it.

What do you really desire in life? Are you paying the price to get it? If not, take the first step and start paying it now!

What did you choose not to pursue? Is the opportunity cost too high? If it is, choose to start paying the price to succeed! Do it now!!!

The choice is yours.

How Winning Is Done

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!"

~ Sylvester Stallone as Rocky in Rocky Balboa

I've Been Shot!

I have noticed a tendency among people that is a little bit frightening. It is a tendency that makes any goal difficult to achieve if not all-together impossible. Here are some examples of that tendency:

• A man wants to have a happy and successful marriage, but enjoys a final fling at his bachelor party the night before the wedding.

• A woman wants to lose weight and so she hits the treadmill after she finishes off a chocolate bar.

• A couple want to be more secure financially but they buy the big screen TV on credit and then make a budget to live on.

• A student wants a good grade in a class but puts off studying until the night before finals.

I could go on and on with examples. Instead, let me let you in on an obvious, yet well-ignored secret:

Your chances of winning any race are significantly greater if you don't shoot yourself in the foot right before you start running!

We have the incredible ability to adapt to challenges and overcome them. What I don't understand is our tendency to make a challenge more challenging than it needs to be through self-sabotage. Do you do that?

Take a look at your goals and dreams and take a good hard look at what you did, and may very well be doing still, which is holding you back from achieving all you ever wanted. Take responsibility for your failure and make the decision to stop failing and start succeeding. Do this and you will sprint across the finish line rather than collapse upon it!

SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US! Remember that FORGIVENESS--FAITH--PRAYER-- PRAISE and HOPE...all are excellent ways to "SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the wells in which we find ourselves!

- Author Unknown