Friday, June 27, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Beliefs, Opinions and Purpose
The things I hear about me. Some are so imaginative, I wish they were true. Some are so malicious, I wonder if I could even be capable of doing them.
I have done a lot of things in my half-century on this planet; some of which have been great things, most have been quite ordinary things and some have been bad things. I am also reputed to have done some astounding things that I don't remember having done. Of course, I recognize that other people quite often have a totally different perspective on the things that actually happened than I may have.
However, when I hear about some of these things I am reputed to have done, sometimes I wonder of there are three of me wandering around on this planet: 1) the wonderful saint, 2) the badass sinner and 3) plain old ordinary me. Anyway, my take on me is here for you to explore.
It is my belief (opinion) that most people don't have clue why they believe what they believe. They are unaware that their personal reality picture is shaped by the consensual reality picture of their culture; that they are in fact, brainwashed; that is, their culture has become their cult. They have assumed a set of beliefs without examining them for veracity or usefulness and thus, instead of being empowered by their beliefs, they are imprisoned by them.
Beliefs: I use the following criteria to examine the beliefs I choose to hold:
• What do I believe about ________________?
• Why do I believe that?
• Where did that belief come from?
• What evidence do I have to support that belief?
• What % of that evidence is experiential?
• What % is merely anecdotal?
• Did I consciously choose this belief?
• Did I inherit or assume it?
• What purpose does it serve to believe this belief?
• What is my intent in holding that belief?
• How does it serve me to hold that belief?
I always remind myself that, no matter how profoundly I hold to a certain belief, it is only my opinion. And, I also always remind myself that my beliefs shape my reality; NOT, my reality shapes my beliefs.
Opinions: So, with all that said, here are some of my opinions:
• The physical Universe is created anew in each moment by a Universal metaphysical consciousness. That same consciousness exists within its creation just as its creation exists within this all-encompassing consciousness.
• Individual human consciousnesses are contained within this universal consciousness and each also contains this universal consciousness
• Universal consciousness seeks to empower its component parts, including individual human beings, to become as self-aware and self-actualized at it is itself in order for itself to become more.
• Human beings have, therefore, an infinite capacity to grow and become more; but many are inhibited from doing so by adopted false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• The institutions that people depend on for truth, support and succor are more interested in retaining power over individuals than contributing to individual empowerment and therefore are continuously reinforcing false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• Therefore, it is necessary for individuals who seek empowerment (and who desire to harmonize with the Universal urge to become enlightened) to opt out of the institutionally manufactured meta-memes or consensual societal group mindset.
Purpose: The purpose to which I have dedicated my life is to provide individuals with the information, ways and means to become free, empowered and consciously creative participants in the ever-unfolding universe. My purpose is to empower, enlighten and enrich the lives of others.
Passion: A life without passion is not a life, it is merely an existence. The why of my life is to revere, relish and contribute. I am passionate about recognizing and honoring the sacred in all things. I am passionate about enjoying the gift of life and consciousness. I am passionate about making a contribution to the universal by contributing to my fellow human beings.
Past: Everything that has ever happened was necessary for me to be who I am and what I am capable of doing. Therefore, I am grateful for all that ever has been and all that is now. However, the past is not evidential of anything that the future holds for me.
Present: Nothing that has ever happened or will happen is as important as this present moment. It is all I will ever have, ever. Eternity is now. Revere now; relish now; contribute now; be grateful now.
Prescience: (future) The future is created by thought and desire, belief and intent. I am creative. The future is mine to design.
Questions I ask myself: What more can I become? What more can I contribute? How much love can I receive and give? How big is my imagination? What do I need to let go of? How much am I willing to accept?
I have done a lot of things in my half-century on this planet; some of which have been great things, most have been quite ordinary things and some have been bad things. I am also reputed to have done some astounding things that I don't remember having done. Of course, I recognize that other people quite often have a totally different perspective on the things that actually happened than I may have.
However, when I hear about some of these things I am reputed to have done, sometimes I wonder of there are three of me wandering around on this planet: 1) the wonderful saint, 2) the badass sinner and 3) plain old ordinary me. Anyway, my take on me is here for you to explore.
It is my belief (opinion) that most people don't have clue why they believe what they believe. They are unaware that their personal reality picture is shaped by the consensual reality picture of their culture; that they are in fact, brainwashed; that is, their culture has become their cult. They have assumed a set of beliefs without examining them for veracity or usefulness and thus, instead of being empowered by their beliefs, they are imprisoned by them.
Beliefs: I use the following criteria to examine the beliefs I choose to hold:
• What do I believe about ________________?
• Why do I believe that?
• Where did that belief come from?
• What evidence do I have to support that belief?
• What % of that evidence is experiential?
• What % is merely anecdotal?
• Did I consciously choose this belief?
• Did I inherit or assume it?
• What purpose does it serve to believe this belief?
• What is my intent in holding that belief?
• How does it serve me to hold that belief?
I always remind myself that, no matter how profoundly I hold to a certain belief, it is only my opinion. And, I also always remind myself that my beliefs shape my reality; NOT, my reality shapes my beliefs.
Opinions: So, with all that said, here are some of my opinions:
• The physical Universe is created anew in each moment by a Universal metaphysical consciousness. That same consciousness exists within its creation just as its creation exists within this all-encompassing consciousness.
• Individual human consciousnesses are contained within this universal consciousness and each also contains this universal consciousness
• Universal consciousness seeks to empower its component parts, including individual human beings, to become as self-aware and self-actualized at it is itself in order for itself to become more.
• Human beings have, therefore, an infinite capacity to grow and become more; but many are inhibited from doing so by adopted false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• The institutions that people depend on for truth, support and succor are more interested in retaining power over individuals than contributing to individual empowerment and therefore are continuously reinforcing false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• Therefore, it is necessary for individuals who seek empowerment (and who desire to harmonize with the Universal urge to become enlightened) to opt out of the institutionally manufactured meta-memes or consensual societal group mindset.
Purpose: The purpose to which I have dedicated my life is to provide individuals with the information, ways and means to become free, empowered and consciously creative participants in the ever-unfolding universe. My purpose is to empower, enlighten and enrich the lives of others.
Passion: A life without passion is not a life, it is merely an existence. The why of my life is to revere, relish and contribute. I am passionate about recognizing and honoring the sacred in all things. I am passionate about enjoying the gift of life and consciousness. I am passionate about making a contribution to the universal by contributing to my fellow human beings.
Past: Everything that has ever happened was necessary for me to be who I am and what I am capable of doing. Therefore, I am grateful for all that ever has been and all that is now. However, the past is not evidential of anything that the future holds for me.
Present: Nothing that has ever happened or will happen is as important as this present moment. It is all I will ever have, ever. Eternity is now. Revere now; relish now; contribute now; be grateful now.
Prescience: (future) The future is created by thought and desire, belief and intent. I am creative. The future is mine to design.
Questions I ask myself: What more can I become? What more can I contribute? How much love can I receive and give? How big is my imagination? What do I need to let go of? How much am I willing to accept?
Friday, June 20, 2008
Action Speaks Louder Than Words
I have written much about how, in order to have more of what we desire in life, we must first do more and, that, in order to do more, we must first become more. In fact, the focus of the majority of my articles and books is about how to become more. I reiterate, time and time again, how important it is to acquire the specific knowledge of success if you want to have success.
I also make it a point to emphasize that knowledge alone is not power; that it is applied knowledge (or action) that begets the personal power to create. Nevertheless, I get many emails from people telling me that they have spent years studying and learning the metaphysical principles of success, without having any demonstrable increase in abundance, prosperity or material success. "Why?" they ask does this stuff not work for me.
In most cases, after some email discussion, I find it is because these people are not actually doing the necessary things to make a practical application of their education.
Just as you can obtain a degree in medicine, but cure no illness or save no lives if you do not actually work at being a doctor; you can know all the principles of success, but if you do not actually put them into practice, they will not work to produce results for you. You must act.
You can, for example, fully understand how the law of attraction works and you can have a harmonious mental attitude; but, if you want to create material abundance or financial success and you do not enact what you know by applying it within the available and proven ways to produce success, then your knowledge and education is wasted.
Many people mistake the self-satisfaction they get from acquiring knowledge as being sufficient unto itself. It is, perhaps, enough, if your only goal is to become more educated. It is not enough, however, if your goal is to use that education to produce measurable effects in your personal world.
Financial abundance, or success, is attained, not just because you know certain things, but when you also DO certain things. Things like applying money management techniques. Things like creating or providing valuable goods or services that people will pay you to obtain. Things like marketing your goods and services so that people will know what value you have to offer.
Use your understanding of the metaphysical principles of success and creation by taking action. If you have or represent a product or service that would appeal to a certain segment of society, then use your understanding of the law of attraction in your marketing activities. Don't expect those people who want and need what you have to offer to just somehow find you . Your harmonious vibrations won't stand out that much amongst all the noise and commotion of the world unless you do the necessary marketing.
Enhanced or advanced knowledge and education produces an enhanced ability to perform; but it is the performance, your actions, that produce the results (or circumstances or effects) in your life. Your actions do speak louder than your words. Don't tell me, or the world, what you know and understand; SHOW me and the world by enacting that knowledge in practical, result-producing, ways.
The ultimate value (and proof) of what you know is in the application or use of that knowledge. Do the doing and you will produce results. Face up to the fact that if the results you have in life are not to your liking, then it is likely that your doing is incorrect. If you don't know what to do to create success, then get the knowledge of success; but don't stop there, do something about it. Make the application.
Of course, indiscriminate action is not an effective way to produce your desired results. You can run around like crazy, climb 100 mountains, cut down forests full of trees and be generally frenetic enough to power up a small city without producing the exact results you wish to have. You must do the correct things in the correct way. That is why you must get the knowledge...so that you will know what to do.
Become more, so that you are capable of more. Then, do more of what needs doing. Then, and only then, will you get to have more of what you want.
I'll say it another way... enlightened actions produce desired results.
Understanding how things work is not enough. You must also do the things that work.
You can sit and stare at your navel all you want, but if you don't actually pull the lint out, it will still be there tomorrow.
I also make it a point to emphasize that knowledge alone is not power; that it is applied knowledge (or action) that begets the personal power to create. Nevertheless, I get many emails from people telling me that they have spent years studying and learning the metaphysical principles of success, without having any demonstrable increase in abundance, prosperity or material success. "Why?" they ask does this stuff not work for me.
In most cases, after some email discussion, I find it is because these people are not actually doing the necessary things to make a practical application of their education.
Just as you can obtain a degree in medicine, but cure no illness or save no lives if you do not actually work at being a doctor; you can know all the principles of success, but if you do not actually put them into practice, they will not work to produce results for you. You must act.
You can, for example, fully understand how the law of attraction works and you can have a harmonious mental attitude; but, if you want to create material abundance or financial success and you do not enact what you know by applying it within the available and proven ways to produce success, then your knowledge and education is wasted.
Many people mistake the self-satisfaction they get from acquiring knowledge as being sufficient unto itself. It is, perhaps, enough, if your only goal is to become more educated. It is not enough, however, if your goal is to use that education to produce measurable effects in your personal world.
Financial abundance, or success, is attained, not just because you know certain things, but when you also DO certain things. Things like applying money management techniques. Things like creating or providing valuable goods or services that people will pay you to obtain. Things like marketing your goods and services so that people will know what value you have to offer.
Use your understanding of the metaphysical principles of success and creation by taking action. If you have or represent a product or service that would appeal to a certain segment of society, then use your understanding of the law of attraction in your marketing activities. Don't expect those people who want and need what you have to offer to just somehow find you . Your harmonious vibrations won't stand out that much amongst all the noise and commotion of the world unless you do the necessary marketing.
Enhanced or advanced knowledge and education produces an enhanced ability to perform; but it is the performance, your actions, that produce the results (or circumstances or effects) in your life. Your actions do speak louder than your words. Don't tell me, or the world, what you know and understand; SHOW me and the world by enacting that knowledge in practical, result-producing, ways.
The ultimate value (and proof) of what you know is in the application or use of that knowledge. Do the doing and you will produce results. Face up to the fact that if the results you have in life are not to your liking, then it is likely that your doing is incorrect. If you don't know what to do to create success, then get the knowledge of success; but don't stop there, do something about it. Make the application.
Of course, indiscriminate action is not an effective way to produce your desired results. You can run around like crazy, climb 100 mountains, cut down forests full of trees and be generally frenetic enough to power up a small city without producing the exact results you wish to have. You must do the correct things in the correct way. That is why you must get the knowledge...so that you will know what to do.
Become more, so that you are capable of more. Then, do more of what needs doing. Then, and only then, will you get to have more of what you want.
I'll say it another way... enlightened actions produce desired results.
Understanding how things work is not enough. You must also do the things that work.
You can sit and stare at your navel all you want, but if you don't actually pull the lint out, it will still be there tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
How Do You Spell Success?
A person who is illiterate can look at a word without knowing what it means. Perhaps he can recognize the shape of some of the letters; perhaps she even knows that certain of these shapes are representative of certain sounds; still, the veil cannot be pierced. Each written word (‘success’, for example) becomes an arcane mystery like Egyptian Hieroglyphics before the discovery of the Rosetta stone. There is a code that enables a person to see and understand the meaning of a word, but, for the illiterate, it is a secret and undiscovered code.
For most people, success (the actuality…not the word) may as well be an arcane secret. Success might as well be a word written in Hieroglyphics. Like the illiterate person who can look at the written word ‘success’ and not know how to translate it into their spoken language, the average person can look at the ideal of success and not know how to translate it into their day-to-day life or reality.
It is a shocking and sad fact that about 20% of people over the age of 15 (or almost 1 billion adults) remain illiterate and cannot discern the secrets of written language, cannot see the word success and read it or translate into a spoken word; but it is even more shocking that over 90% of people are in the dark when it comes to being able to discover the secret of applying the word—success. They can look at the word and read it; they can even say it; however, they are unable to translate it into a meaningful and applicable message.
These people are also functionally illiterate. The word success has no real meaning.
It may as well be another word, any other word…like ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ (from the song in the movie ‘Mary Poppins’). It can be read; it can be said; but it has no meaning. It is nonsensical.
It may even be fun to say it, but it has no real meaning. This is how the word success is for most people…it is fun to say (it sounds nice to the ear), it is repeated over and over again (like a song lyric), but it has no real meaning.
Close your eyes. How do you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Now, what does it mean? Define it. Achieve it.
Close your eyes. How do you spell success? What does it mean? How do you define it?
How do you achieve it?
Some people imagine success means having more.
I imagine that success means enjoying more.
Some people imagine that success is defined as greater accumulation.
I imagine that success is defined as greater contribution.
Some people imagine success is achieved by doing more.
I imagine that success is achieved by becoming more.
Some people imagine that it is spelled succe$$.
I imagine that success is spelled with 3 ‘c’s (see below).
Clarity, Constancy and Congruency of ideal, purpose, belief, passion, intent, thought and action are necessary to create (spell) success.
This is how I spell success...
Sincerity is genuineness and authenticity. You are you; you are true.
Unique is distinctness and exclusivity. You are special; you are one of a kind.
Clarity is lucidity and preciseness. You are clear; you know what you are about.
Constancy is fidelity and persistence. You stay the course; you persist.
Congruency is harmony and accordance. You are whole and holistic in word and deed.
Excellence is quality and worth. You give or produce value.
Spirit is strength and élan. You know that the inner reality creates the outer reality.
Service is benefit and sacrament (to make sacred). You are a gift and you offer you.
Success is the ideal you define; it is the purpose you live; it is the way you walk through life; it is the passion that drives you; it is the joy that you derive from each day; it is the gratitude you feel and express for the gift of life and the opportunity to be, do and have that which you aspire to; success is the way you become. To be successful is to be self-actualized. You don’t have success. You don’t do success. You be success.
Those are some of my thoughts on success. I’ll leave you with some other thoughts from some successful folks.
"People are anxious to improve their circumstances but unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound." –James Allen
“What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”—Bob Dylan
"If money is your hope for independence and success, you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability." –Henry Ford
"Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others." –Danny Thomas
"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life." –Charles Schwab
"Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, "What's the secret of it?" I shall say simply this: "I get up when I fall down." –Paul Harvey
"If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing." –Will Rogers
"There are only two real requirements for success in life. The first requirement is deciding exactly what you want. Most people never get to that point. They never decide exactly what they want in life, and because of this they simply go around in circles. The second requirement, after a person has decided what he wants, is determining the price he's going to have to pay to get it and then resolving to pay that price.” -H. L. Hunt
All of the above may be insightful and even, perhaps helpful and inspirational; but the most important thing of all is this…what are your thoughts on success??????
What is your ideal? What is your belief? What is your purpose? What is your passion? What exactly is your intent?
What is your passion? What is your purpose? What are you idealizing? What are you becoming? To what end do you journey through life? Each day? Each moment?
Answer these questions and you will know and have success. You will have found the key to translate the previously indecipherable and inapplicable to your life. Success will now have real meaning.
For most people, success (the actuality…not the word) may as well be an arcane secret. Success might as well be a word written in Hieroglyphics. Like the illiterate person who can look at the written word ‘success’ and not know how to translate it into their spoken language, the average person can look at the ideal of success and not know how to translate it into their day-to-day life or reality.
It is a shocking and sad fact that about 20% of people over the age of 15 (or almost 1 billion adults) remain illiterate and cannot discern the secrets of written language, cannot see the word success and read it or translate into a spoken word; but it is even more shocking that over 90% of people are in the dark when it comes to being able to discover the secret of applying the word—success. They can look at the word and read it; they can even say it; however, they are unable to translate it into a meaningful and applicable message.
These people are also functionally illiterate. The word success has no real meaning.
It may as well be another word, any other word…like ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ (from the song in the movie ‘Mary Poppins’). It can be read; it can be said; but it has no meaning. It is nonsensical.
It may even be fun to say it, but it has no real meaning. This is how the word success is for most people…it is fun to say (it sounds nice to the ear), it is repeated over and over again (like a song lyric), but it has no real meaning.
Close your eyes. How do you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Now, what does it mean? Define it. Achieve it.
Close your eyes. How do you spell success? What does it mean? How do you define it?
How do you achieve it?
Some people imagine success means having more.
I imagine that success means enjoying more.
Some people imagine that success is defined as greater accumulation.
I imagine that success is defined as greater contribution.
Some people imagine success is achieved by doing more.
I imagine that success is achieved by becoming more.
Some people imagine that it is spelled succe$$.
I imagine that success is spelled with 3 ‘c’s (see below).
Clarity, Constancy and Congruency of ideal, purpose, belief, passion, intent, thought and action are necessary to create (spell) success.
This is how I spell success...
Sincerity is genuineness and authenticity. You are you; you are true.
Unique is distinctness and exclusivity. You are special; you are one of a kind.
Clarity is lucidity and preciseness. You are clear; you know what you are about.
Constancy is fidelity and persistence. You stay the course; you persist.
Congruency is harmony and accordance. You are whole and holistic in word and deed.
Excellence is quality and worth. You give or produce value.
Spirit is strength and élan. You know that the inner reality creates the outer reality.
Service is benefit and sacrament (to make sacred). You are a gift and you offer you.
Success is the ideal you define; it is the purpose you live; it is the way you walk through life; it is the passion that drives you; it is the joy that you derive from each day; it is the gratitude you feel and express for the gift of life and the opportunity to be, do and have that which you aspire to; success is the way you become. To be successful is to be self-actualized. You don’t have success. You don’t do success. You be success.
Those are some of my thoughts on success. I’ll leave you with some other thoughts from some successful folks.
"People are anxious to improve their circumstances but unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound." –James Allen
“What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”—Bob Dylan
"If money is your hope for independence and success, you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability." –Henry Ford
"Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others." –Danny Thomas
"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life." –Charles Schwab
"Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, "What's the secret of it?" I shall say simply this: "I get up when I fall down." –Paul Harvey
"If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing." –Will Rogers
"There are only two real requirements for success in life. The first requirement is deciding exactly what you want. Most people never get to that point. They never decide exactly what they want in life, and because of this they simply go around in circles. The second requirement, after a person has decided what he wants, is determining the price he's going to have to pay to get it and then resolving to pay that price.” -H. L. Hunt
All of the above may be insightful and even, perhaps helpful and inspirational; but the most important thing of all is this…what are your thoughts on success??????
What is your ideal? What is your belief? What is your purpose? What is your passion? What exactly is your intent?
What is your passion? What is your purpose? What are you idealizing? What are you becoming? To what end do you journey through life? Each day? Each moment?
Answer these questions and you will know and have success. You will have found the key to translate the previously indecipherable and inapplicable to your life. Success will now have real meaning.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Top Ten Reasons People Do Not Succeed
I’d like to be able to tell you, like some motivational speakers I’ve heard say, that there is no reason why you cannot succeed, but the sad truth is that there are many valid reasons why people do not achieve any great measure of success in life. In fact, there are so many reasons why people fail to achieve the success they imagine they want that I could not possibly list them all; so I present only the top ten for you to ponder.
#10 Lack of opportunity. This is not, for you who are reading this, a valid reason.
Perhaps it is possible to say that a child born into extreme poverty, with severe handicaps, in a small impoverished third world country, does not have, and may not ever have, the opportunity to succeed; but this is not you. The mere fact that you are reading this puts you into a privileged group of people with boundless opportunity to create a successful, prosperous and fulfilling life. If you ever think, or are tempted to say, that you did not have the opportunity, then you are making up excuses, not providing a legitimate reason, for your failure to create a successful and fulfilling life.
The cold hard truth is not that you do not have (or have not had) the right opportunity; it is that, when the many opportunities that have already come your way were open to you, you were not the right person to take advantage of these opportunities. Right now, all around you, opportunities abound. You may like to pretend that they are not the right opportunity for you, but the reality is that you are not the right person for whatever opportunity is right in front of you. Fortunately, whenever you want to, you can become the right person in the right place at the right time for the right opportunity. Yes, whenever you want to finally and definitively decide to choose success, it is right there just waiting for you to say yes.
#9 Bad influence. Here are two tough but enlightening questions for you…
First: Who are you hanging around with - winners or losers? Many people suffer from being in the wrong peer group. There is a perverse comfort in hanging around with other losers, but it will do you no good to associate with people who affirm paucity and struggle or who have adopted the societal groupthink of mediocrity. Winners hang around with winners so that they can mutually affirm their own right to success. If you are really determined to create a successful life, then you will need to learn to choose your friends and associates carefully.
And second: From whom did you receive your basic education and/or fundamental attitudes about life? I know that it is likely that your parents loved you and that your teachers were probably well-intentioned; but, be honest with yourself… if they really knew how life works, then why were they not successful? Did you pick up a bunch of inappropriate information about how life works and are thus subconsciously programmed to be, to do and to have less than you deserve? If you truly desire to be successful, it is probable that you will have to re-program your mind to expect success.
#8 Fear. This is the big crippling inhibitor that prevents many from succeeding.
The primary fear that stops many from even attempting to achieve outstanding success is the fear of failure. This is truly ironic. People do not attempt great things for fear of failing; yet the simple choice to not make the attempt actually guarantees failure. So you shoot and miss. Big deal. Every shot not taken misses the goal. Babe Ruth may have been the home-run-king of baseball, but he also struck out more than any other player. Do you imagine that when he stood up at bat that he was focused on the fact that he was the strike-out-king of baseball? Everybody fails sometimes. Winners know that they will fail often. Some extremely successful people that I have interviewed have told me that the only reason they were able to achieve more success than others is simply because they failed more others or were more willing to accept the possibility of failure than others.
Strangely enough, the second biggest fear that prevents people from attempting to go for the gold is the fear of success. They may fear that success will change them and change their values. They may fear that success will cause them to lose their friends. The fear of success then, when clearly seen and understood, is the fear of change. This is another of those infamous good news/bad news things. The bad news is that, yes, success will change you. It will change your values, your perspectives, your lifestyle and your attitudes. It is also likely that your unsuccessful friends will drift away from you; because they will seek comfort and reassurance that their own choices are ok by hanging out with other losers, instead of winners like you. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your values, perspectives and lifestyle will change- for the better; and you will end up hanging around with new successful friends. You’ll be ok with that. In fact, you might be deliriously happy about it.
#7 No faith. Belief — that big lurking monster in the closet. I could give a week-long seminar on belief and how it shapes your reality.
I will, in this case, keep it short and simple. Much of what you believe does not serve you and has been imposed on you to keep you enslaved. You need to adopt some fundamental new beliefs about life, about yourself and about success. If you do not adopt these beliefs, you will not likely succeed; and, if by some chance, you do manage to create some measure of success, you will probably find a way to sabotage that success by losing it or by being unable to enjoy it.
Here are those basic core beliefs: 1. You deserve success. 2. The universe and/or whatever you choose to call divinity desires your success and is all set up to provide you with the success you envision and desire. 3. Success is not related to morality or spirituality. It is not morally superior to be poor and it is not spiritually pure to forsake material success. 4. It is your own method and quality of thinking that will bring you success or failure, not how things are in the world around you.
Have faith. It can move mountains. But be very careful where you place your faith. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your ability to create a self-designed destiny. Have faith in your right to have the success you desire.
#6 Lack of education. Most folks, even the highly educated, don’t have the right knowledge or information to succeed.
I believe, quite strongly, in the value of formal education. In fact, I think that the classic, university-level, liberal arts education is a great foundation for anyone who wants to be able to live a fulfilling and contributory life. However, a person can have a PhD in any discipline offered in the best universities and still know diddly-squat about how to succeed. And you can have little or no formal education and still have figured out, like Andrew Carnegie or Richard Branson and many others, how to create enormous success.
There is a science of success. There is a technology of success. There is a specific knowledge set that is needed to create success. If you want to succeed, you will need to obtain that knowledge and then apply it to the way that you live your day-to-day life. You spend your coin on so many frivolous things to satisfy some passing fancy. You spend your time learning so many meaningless things like the game score or the date that some historical event took place. Make a wiser decision: invest your time and money into getting the education that will empower you to create a successful and fulfilling life. One way to do that is to buy, read and apply what is available to you in the Prosperity Paradigm website. It has worked for others and it will work for you.
#5 Fuzzy ideals. Most don’t know exactly what they want. Their ideals are not clearly defined.
Almost everyone will say that they want to be or to have success. Ask them what that means, however, and they will be unable to tell you with any exactitude. Fuzzy thinking. Whenever someone says to me, “I want to be wealthy.”, I ask, “What does that mean?” The common answer is, “Well, you know, to have lots of money.” Well then, “How much is lots?” ??? What does success mean to you? Can you define it in one written paragraph? Can you tell someone in a sound byte at a noisy cocktail party? If not, then you don’t know exactly what success means to you. Without that knowing, you have no clear vision of where you want to end up.
Undefined ideals are intangibles that seldom, if ever, become tangible. The simplistic statement of “I want to be successful,” is no more meaningful than, “I want to have a nice haircut.” Would you trust your hairdresser who has purple spiked hair today and blond streaked hair tomorrow with giving you an undefined “nice” haircut? Get exact. What do you want????? The universe has infinite possibilities. How can it know what you are asking for when you say, “I want to have success,”? Fuzzy thinking produces fuzzy results. Get clear about what you desire.
#4 No passion. The average person just plain doesn’t have enough desire to succeed.
Wanting success is not enough. You have to have a burning desire. This may be a crude example, but this point must be emphasized… You must develop the ‘tear your clothes off right now’ type of lust if you truly desire to create success. Wishful thinking does not make things happen. We all know that simple truth. Passionate desire, however, does have the necessary vibratory energy to bring forth things from the un-manifest into the manifest.
Become passionate. Light a fire in your belly, in your heart, in your mind for the realization of your ideals. Feed that fire with the fuel of belief and don’t let anyone put it out with negativity or words of caution or even reasonable doubt. The side benefit about being passionate about something is that you get to feel more alive. A life without passion is not a life; it is merely an existence.
#3 No resolve. Resolve, grit, gumption, tenacity, determination, persistence, discipline are major attributes of a winning attitude.
You might as well know in advance that when you embark on the journey to creating success, your tenacity will be tested. In order to succeed, you will need to develop a kick-butt attitude a firm resolve. Your results will be determined by your determination.
Fortunately, if you have clearly defined ideals that you are passionate about seeing realized, then your resolve to succeed will come easily. You may need to dig a little deeper in moments when it seems like nothing is going right with your plans. Which brings us to…
#2 No game plan. How can you expect to win the game if you have no plan to score goals?
The majority of people don’t have specific written goals. If you want to succeed, you have to define your goals. They are the specific objectives you must reach as you proceed to realizing your ideals. Goals are so critically important to your success that I won’t even try to summarize goal setting in a couple of paragraphs. Instead, I’ll point you to the article I wrote about the subject called The 11 Basics of Goal Setting.
#1 No action. The single biggest reason that most people do not succeed is simply because they don’t do anything about it.
People do all kinds of things. In fact, most people are so busy doing stuff that they actually don’t take time to examine why they are doing what they are doing. Look around you and you will see lots of frenetic action without any apparent purpose. Stop for a minute and ask yourself, “Why am I doing the things I do? To what purpose? To what end? What exactly is my intention in doing what I do on a daily basis?”
Assuming for a moment that you have the desire to create a successful life, even if your concept of success is not yet specifically defined, are you taking the actions that are necessary to create the results you’d like to have show up in your life? Everybody has dreams and desires. Not everybody does what is necessary to fulfill those dreams and desires.
In fact, most people do not even get started. They procrastinate. They make up excuses why they will start tomorrow instead of today; or they say, “I’ll start when the conditions are better, or when my financial situation permits, or when the stars are aligned properly, or when this current project, distraction, TV program, whatever, is finished, then I’ll start.”
NO. NO. NO. Start Right Now! Right now. This minute. Create a vision. Create a game plan to enact that vision. Start doing what is necessary. Keep going. Create momentum. Don’t stop.
Most people never get started; and then, sadly, most of those who are inspired to get started, quit too soon. They get distracted. They allow obstacles to deter them. They lose sight of their goals and ideals. They lose the motivation. They resign themselves to mediocrity. Do you desire success? Create a vision. Believe in its reality. Stay focused. Never give up. Never, never, never, never give up. If you persist, you will prevail. If you desist, you will fail.
Here’s what you do, right now.
Step One: Clearly and distinctly define your ideals.
Step Two: Write down your specific time-dated goals.
Step Three: Take the first necessary action. Then, the next.
Step Four: Persist.
Make the decision to become a success. Reach deep down inside yourself and find the gumption to act now. Develop the resolve to always continue to reach toward your goals. Affirm your right to have the success you desire. Educate yourself about the principles of success. Read my other articles. Read my books. Get excited about yourself, your life and your goals. Be grateful for the incredible opportunities that lie before you. Be grateful for all the blessings that you already have in abundance.
Yes, there may plenty of reasons why you may not succeed; but all those reasons can be made meaningless, invalid and inapplicable if you will only do one simple thing… make up your mind to create the success that you desire and that you deserve.
#10 Lack of opportunity. This is not, for you who are reading this, a valid reason.
Perhaps it is possible to say that a child born into extreme poverty, with severe handicaps, in a small impoverished third world country, does not have, and may not ever have, the opportunity to succeed; but this is not you. The mere fact that you are reading this puts you into a privileged group of people with boundless opportunity to create a successful, prosperous and fulfilling life. If you ever think, or are tempted to say, that you did not have the opportunity, then you are making up excuses, not providing a legitimate reason, for your failure to create a successful and fulfilling life.
The cold hard truth is not that you do not have (or have not had) the right opportunity; it is that, when the many opportunities that have already come your way were open to you, you were not the right person to take advantage of these opportunities. Right now, all around you, opportunities abound. You may like to pretend that they are not the right opportunity for you, but the reality is that you are not the right person for whatever opportunity is right in front of you. Fortunately, whenever you want to, you can become the right person in the right place at the right time for the right opportunity. Yes, whenever you want to finally and definitively decide to choose success, it is right there just waiting for you to say yes.
#9 Bad influence. Here are two tough but enlightening questions for you…
First: Who are you hanging around with - winners or losers? Many people suffer from being in the wrong peer group. There is a perverse comfort in hanging around with other losers, but it will do you no good to associate with people who affirm paucity and struggle or who have adopted the societal groupthink of mediocrity. Winners hang around with winners so that they can mutually affirm their own right to success. If you are really determined to create a successful life, then you will need to learn to choose your friends and associates carefully.
And second: From whom did you receive your basic education and/or fundamental attitudes about life? I know that it is likely that your parents loved you and that your teachers were probably well-intentioned; but, be honest with yourself… if they really knew how life works, then why were they not successful? Did you pick up a bunch of inappropriate information about how life works and are thus subconsciously programmed to be, to do and to have less than you deserve? If you truly desire to be successful, it is probable that you will have to re-program your mind to expect success.
#8 Fear. This is the big crippling inhibitor that prevents many from succeeding.
The primary fear that stops many from even attempting to achieve outstanding success is the fear of failure. This is truly ironic. People do not attempt great things for fear of failing; yet the simple choice to not make the attempt actually guarantees failure. So you shoot and miss. Big deal. Every shot not taken misses the goal. Babe Ruth may have been the home-run-king of baseball, but he also struck out more than any other player. Do you imagine that when he stood up at bat that he was focused on the fact that he was the strike-out-king of baseball? Everybody fails sometimes. Winners know that they will fail often. Some extremely successful people that I have interviewed have told me that the only reason they were able to achieve more success than others is simply because they failed more others or were more willing to accept the possibility of failure than others.
Strangely enough, the second biggest fear that prevents people from attempting to go for the gold is the fear of success. They may fear that success will change them and change their values. They may fear that success will cause them to lose their friends. The fear of success then, when clearly seen and understood, is the fear of change. This is another of those infamous good news/bad news things. The bad news is that, yes, success will change you. It will change your values, your perspectives, your lifestyle and your attitudes. It is also likely that your unsuccessful friends will drift away from you; because they will seek comfort and reassurance that their own choices are ok by hanging out with other losers, instead of winners like you. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your values, perspectives and lifestyle will change- for the better; and you will end up hanging around with new successful friends. You’ll be ok with that. In fact, you might be deliriously happy about it.
#7 No faith. Belief — that big lurking monster in the closet. I could give a week-long seminar on belief and how it shapes your reality.
I will, in this case, keep it short and simple. Much of what you believe does not serve you and has been imposed on you to keep you enslaved. You need to adopt some fundamental new beliefs about life, about yourself and about success. If you do not adopt these beliefs, you will not likely succeed; and, if by some chance, you do manage to create some measure of success, you will probably find a way to sabotage that success by losing it or by being unable to enjoy it.
Here are those basic core beliefs: 1. You deserve success. 2. The universe and/or whatever you choose to call divinity desires your success and is all set up to provide you with the success you envision and desire. 3. Success is not related to morality or spirituality. It is not morally superior to be poor and it is not spiritually pure to forsake material success. 4. It is your own method and quality of thinking that will bring you success or failure, not how things are in the world around you.
Have faith. It can move mountains. But be very careful where you place your faith. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your ability to create a self-designed destiny. Have faith in your right to have the success you desire.
#6 Lack of education. Most folks, even the highly educated, don’t have the right knowledge or information to succeed.
I believe, quite strongly, in the value of formal education. In fact, I think that the classic, university-level, liberal arts education is a great foundation for anyone who wants to be able to live a fulfilling and contributory life. However, a person can have a PhD in any discipline offered in the best universities and still know diddly-squat about how to succeed. And you can have little or no formal education and still have figured out, like Andrew Carnegie or Richard Branson and many others, how to create enormous success.
There is a science of success. There is a technology of success. There is a specific knowledge set that is needed to create success. If you want to succeed, you will need to obtain that knowledge and then apply it to the way that you live your day-to-day life. You spend your coin on so many frivolous things to satisfy some passing fancy. You spend your time learning so many meaningless things like the game score or the date that some historical event took place. Make a wiser decision: invest your time and money into getting the education that will empower you to create a successful and fulfilling life. One way to do that is to buy, read and apply what is available to you in the Prosperity Paradigm website. It has worked for others and it will work for you.
#5 Fuzzy ideals. Most don’t know exactly what they want. Their ideals are not clearly defined.
Almost everyone will say that they want to be or to have success. Ask them what that means, however, and they will be unable to tell you with any exactitude. Fuzzy thinking. Whenever someone says to me, “I want to be wealthy.”, I ask, “What does that mean?” The common answer is, “Well, you know, to have lots of money.” Well then, “How much is lots?” ??? What does success mean to you? Can you define it in one written paragraph? Can you tell someone in a sound byte at a noisy cocktail party? If not, then you don’t know exactly what success means to you. Without that knowing, you have no clear vision of where you want to end up.
Undefined ideals are intangibles that seldom, if ever, become tangible. The simplistic statement of “I want to be successful,” is no more meaningful than, “I want to have a nice haircut.” Would you trust your hairdresser who has purple spiked hair today and blond streaked hair tomorrow with giving you an undefined “nice” haircut? Get exact. What do you want????? The universe has infinite possibilities. How can it know what you are asking for when you say, “I want to have success,”? Fuzzy thinking produces fuzzy results. Get clear about what you desire.
#4 No passion. The average person just plain doesn’t have enough desire to succeed.
Wanting success is not enough. You have to have a burning desire. This may be a crude example, but this point must be emphasized… You must develop the ‘tear your clothes off right now’ type of lust if you truly desire to create success. Wishful thinking does not make things happen. We all know that simple truth. Passionate desire, however, does have the necessary vibratory energy to bring forth things from the un-manifest into the manifest.
Become passionate. Light a fire in your belly, in your heart, in your mind for the realization of your ideals. Feed that fire with the fuel of belief and don’t let anyone put it out with negativity or words of caution or even reasonable doubt. The side benefit about being passionate about something is that you get to feel more alive. A life without passion is not a life; it is merely an existence.
#3 No resolve. Resolve, grit, gumption, tenacity, determination, persistence, discipline are major attributes of a winning attitude.
You might as well know in advance that when you embark on the journey to creating success, your tenacity will be tested. In order to succeed, you will need to develop a kick-butt attitude a firm resolve. Your results will be determined by your determination.
Fortunately, if you have clearly defined ideals that you are passionate about seeing realized, then your resolve to succeed will come easily. You may need to dig a little deeper in moments when it seems like nothing is going right with your plans. Which brings us to…
#2 No game plan. How can you expect to win the game if you have no plan to score goals?
The majority of people don’t have specific written goals. If you want to succeed, you have to define your goals. They are the specific objectives you must reach as you proceed to realizing your ideals. Goals are so critically important to your success that I won’t even try to summarize goal setting in a couple of paragraphs. Instead, I’ll point you to the article I wrote about the subject called The 11 Basics of Goal Setting.
#1 No action. The single biggest reason that most people do not succeed is simply because they don’t do anything about it.
People do all kinds of things. In fact, most people are so busy doing stuff that they actually don’t take time to examine why they are doing what they are doing. Look around you and you will see lots of frenetic action without any apparent purpose. Stop for a minute and ask yourself, “Why am I doing the things I do? To what purpose? To what end? What exactly is my intention in doing what I do on a daily basis?”
Assuming for a moment that you have the desire to create a successful life, even if your concept of success is not yet specifically defined, are you taking the actions that are necessary to create the results you’d like to have show up in your life? Everybody has dreams and desires. Not everybody does what is necessary to fulfill those dreams and desires.
In fact, most people do not even get started. They procrastinate. They make up excuses why they will start tomorrow instead of today; or they say, “I’ll start when the conditions are better, or when my financial situation permits, or when the stars are aligned properly, or when this current project, distraction, TV program, whatever, is finished, then I’ll start.”
NO. NO. NO. Start Right Now! Right now. This minute. Create a vision. Create a game plan to enact that vision. Start doing what is necessary. Keep going. Create momentum. Don’t stop.
Most people never get started; and then, sadly, most of those who are inspired to get started, quit too soon. They get distracted. They allow obstacles to deter them. They lose sight of their goals and ideals. They lose the motivation. They resign themselves to mediocrity. Do you desire success? Create a vision. Believe in its reality. Stay focused. Never give up. Never, never, never, never give up. If you persist, you will prevail. If you desist, you will fail.
Here’s what you do, right now.
Step One: Clearly and distinctly define your ideals.
Step Two: Write down your specific time-dated goals.
Step Three: Take the first necessary action. Then, the next.
Step Four: Persist.
Make the decision to become a success. Reach deep down inside yourself and find the gumption to act now. Develop the resolve to always continue to reach toward your goals. Affirm your right to have the success you desire. Educate yourself about the principles of success. Read my other articles. Read my books. Get excited about yourself, your life and your goals. Be grateful for the incredible opportunities that lie before you. Be grateful for all the blessings that you already have in abundance.
Yes, there may plenty of reasons why you may not succeed; but all those reasons can be made meaningless, invalid and inapplicable if you will only do one simple thing… make up your mind to create the success that you desire and that you deserve.
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