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“Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” - Charles Lindbergh
How much courage do you possess? Are you someone who gives up and gives in too easily? Are you easily discouraged when other people “rain on your parade:” if someone tells you your ideas won’t work, do you believe them without first trying out the idea for yourself first?
You must have heard Aesop’s fable “The Fox and The Grapes? When the fox is unable to reach the grapes himself, he tells others that they taste sour and are not worth the climb. Sometimes when you are told your ideas won’t work, it could just be a case of “sour grapes” from those attempting to dissuade you from attempting something they failed to achieve.
Overwhelming odds aren’t impossible odds! They are just “overwhelming” for those who allow themselves to be overwhelmed! The salmon that goes back up the stream to lay its eggs has a difficult task to accomplish and yet if it wasn’t successful the race of salmon would have died out many years ago.
Your life and mine display their courage each day by our attitude towards the tasks we have to do. Do we do them with good grace or do we complain all the way? We can know of a certainty the level of our own success when we don’t allow ourselves to be discouraged, when we are willing to struggle against the odds, to face the opposition and yet be quietly confident that our journey will not be in vain!
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“Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.” - J.C. Penny
I don’t know what you thought when you first read these words of J.C. Penny or heard me say them just now, but I can tell you how I felt. No one has ever had a fulfilled life by spending more time at the office! If the cost of a job at the top really was to be drenched in your work, then you can count me out!
However, I know that many people have risen to the top of their professions and had an active family and social life too. It’s not always about working harder, but working smarter that really gets things done and leaves you time to pursue other things.
If the work you do is very demanding, then make sure it is also very fulfilling too! If you do what you love, then you’ll love what you do! If you consider your work to be demeaning or too demanding then in my opinion you need to change job, unless when you crawl into bed each night you feel totally fulfilled.
Those who rise to the top are in my opinion those who love what they do and find great fulfilment in their work. If you are struggling to rise to the top and it just feels like a rat race you’ve got yourself involved with, maybe it’s time to think about the direction your life is going?
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“I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you’re a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you’ll win - if you don’t you won’t.” - Bruce Jenner
What is your level of commitment to your personal goals? Working hard in achieving your goals can be difficult or relatively easy. The difficult way is to imagine all the likely problems you may encounter and to worry about them even though eighty per cent of them will never show up!
The easy way is to expect a smooth passageway to the accomplishment of your goals and to know that you are more than capable of solving the problems you may encounter along the way. Both ways require hard work! That is, you need to take consistent actions to get you to where you want to be, or to accomplish that which you have set your hopes on.
However, the difficult way involves much stress; whilst the easy way is relatively plain sailing. It’s down to your attitude and expectations, whether you will enjoy the journey to your success or not.
The problem for those who don’t enjoy the journey, is that they often give up before they get where they intend to be; or worse still, they never accomplish anything of significance in their lives. In other words our expectations whether they be of faith or of doubt are likely to colour the outcome of the goals that we desire. So if you want something badly enough, remember that you need to be totally committed to it. You need to be willing to work hard; but to exercise faith in your ability to solve the problems that you may encounter along the way, without dwelling on imagined problems that will never exist.
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“Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having except as a result of hard work.” - Booker T. Washington
Have you heard of the lottery winners who are suddenly given a vast sum of money by the lottery operator; who then go on to spend it all (and some even end up in debt,) despite the “sound investment advice” they were given? It’s as if, as a result of not having earned the money, their winnings have little meaning to them!
The self-made man or woman would never allow this to happen! When you have fought tooth and nail to get to a place of financial security, you will value your earnings so much more than someone who has had an inheritance or a large lottery win put into their possession.
The same that is true of wealth is also true of opportunity! If the opportunity to fulfil a dream is given to you, then you won’t appreciate it as much as if you have had to plan, scheme and work towards it. When someone has been ill, or has had an accident and then fully recover they appreciate their health so much more than those of us who enjoy full health every day.
Booker T Washington’s quote has many shades of meaning! However, I hope the one I have given you today will help you to cultivate the “attitude of gratitude” about your life. Maybe even to the extent that you will appreciate life’s good fortunes when they come to you, in a way that maybe you would have previously missed.
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“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.” - Francis Bacon
Sometimes when I am talking to my clients, out of nowhere seems to come some great wisdom. I joke and say: “Sometimes I surprise even myself with the insights I have!” It seems that Francis Bacon had similar experiences to mine, maybe we all do?
I believe what happens is, that as we are in conversation about a subject matter, that we are totally interested in, we open ourselves up to receive new wisdom. I know I have read of song-writers speaking of themselves as being “channels” for a new song. Paul McCartney, speaking of his experience of writing “Yesterday,” one of the most played songs on radio ever; says he just woke up with the haunting melody in his head!
When we are focussed on our life’s purpose we find ourselves aligned with the creative forces, that sent us into this world; and we are then ready to receive revelations that will not only help us in the area of our speciality, but those who are interested and want to have their horizons enlarged too.
To write down the thoughts we have, to keep a journal or a diary of our life, may help us remember some of the more important insights and life lessons we receive, so that we can make use of them in the future. It may also prevent us from having to go through similar problems as the ones we are now facing.
Open yourself up to the wisdom that is available to you, by using your mind and don’t forget to write down any new insights you receive.
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“I praise loudly; I blame softly.” - Queen Catherine II
The way we present ourselves to others has a direct effect on how they perceive us. By being someone who is forever praising the good in others, we will be remembered as someone who can see the good in them, when all others ever seem to do is see the bad.
I used to have a boss who seemed to be always criticising me for every little thing I did wrong and very rarely had any words of encouragement for me. In some ways it didn’t matter, because I had decided to do my best in spite of him, but I am sure speaking to employees in that way is not conducive to getting the best out of them.
We all like to be praised, it helps us to gain self-esteem, and we all remember the kind words that people have said to us, often years after they were spoken. A much greater man once said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!” So, if you would like people to praise you, then it must be worth giving praise where it is due, as the act of giving praise will always be appreciated.
As for blaming, well if you really must do it, then do it quietly. Blaming others usually includes giving away our power, to effect the outcomes we would like. If someone else is able to affect our lives for the bad, we must have abdicated the will to change things to the way we want them to be. So, the fewer people who hear us do that the better!
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“Success is every minute you live. It’s the process of living. It’s stopping for the moments of beauty, of pleasure; the moments of peace. Success is not a destination that you ever reach. Success is the quality of the journey.” – Jennifer James
It’s the road and not the inn. The delight of the journey rather than one moment of arrival however wonderful that moment is! To get good at this thing called life, you need your moments of triumph of course, but the question is can you be content in the humdrum of daily life?
To be alive, to be breathing and to miss the moments of peace, because you are fretting too much over things that you have no control of. To miss the moments of beauty, because you’ve fixed your eyes on something that is troubling you. To prevent yourself from experiencing the moments of pleasure which build up into a joyous crescendo, because you choose to be a realist rather than to allow yourself a positive outlook on life. To do any of these things, then in my opinion you will have only existed and never lived!
So, do you take the time to stop and smell the roses? Or are you the kind of person who rushes around all the time, from one crisis to another? Or maybe you’re always chasing your dreams but missing out on successful living, because you don’t take the time, to just be?
After all you’re a human being not a human doing!
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“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” - Bertrand Russell
Does fear have the upper hand with you, can fear immobilize you?
You can take fear at face value or you can realize it’s just an acronym of False Evidence Appearing Real. If you have ever been metaphorically “Caught in the Glaze of the Headlights” and just not known which way to turn, you will know with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight that the reason that it happened, was due to fear.
It is in our own interest that we learn how to conquer our fears; one day it could end up being a matter of life or death for us. Timidity and shyness may be endearing in some people’s eyes; but to have a steely spirit, to be someone who is willing to “Face the fear and do it anyway!” as Susan Jeffers book called it, will live a more fulfilled life.
My favorite quote from the film Braveheart, is when the character tells his men the reason to fight rather than run was that if they did one day they would still die in their beds, maybe as old men; but what kind of life is the life of a coward or a frightened man? Braveheart then says “All men die, but not all men truly live!”
When we believe in something strongly enough, and if it isn’t true of anything else, it ought to be true of the way we view our own lives, then we should be willing to stand up for it! If you won’t stand for something as important as that, then you will probably fall for anything. Yes conquering fear is a wise move indeed!
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“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
One of the most successful business men I have met, has a saying that for me explains part of the reason he’s a self-made millionaire. “It is what it is!” I have often heard him say!
Many people spend hours complaining at the circumstances that present themselves in their lives. The complaining is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard! Life isn’t always the way we’d like it to be, but when we are faced with a scenario we don’t like, the best thing to do is to roll with the punches.
It was Muhammad Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle” where he laid back on the ropes and allowed George Foreman to punch him, whilst Ali taunted him with “They told me you could punch, George!” and “They told me you could punch as hard as Joe Louis.” Then when Foreman was getting tired from hitting Ali and from Ali’s heavy intermittent jabs to his face; Ali said “Is that all you got, George?” Foreman was weak and Ali knocked him out in the eighth round.
However punishing we may think life has been to us through the circumstances it has thrown at us, if we stand up to those forces eventually we will win! We need to focus on the results we desire rather than the unfairness that may well exist. Every problem carries with it a solution and by accepting what is, we can more easily look forward to changing it to the way that we want it to be, rather than having a pity party.
We need to stand up to our problems and to stand out from the crowd! We should always accept that “It is what it is!” But after that evaluate how we can make it the way we want it to be! If we see each problem as an opportunity for us to grow, we will more easily be able to embrace whatever comes our way.
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