The Life Of Success
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A Swimmer Of Life
If you have ever been down the shore, or at a popular lake, or at a swimming pool this will make a lot of sense to you. So if you think back to the times when you were at one of these places do you remember what all the people in the water were doing?
Besides the kids, who are doing everything, the adults pretty much do one of two things in the water. The first thing, and the most common, is the people who just float around in the water. The second activity, and less common, is people who dive in head first and start swimming! Now on the surface their appears to be nothing wrong with these two activities, and certainly their is not if your are at the pool! However, when we compare this to life you will start to see the differences.
So let's take a look at the floaters first. You ready, let's go!
The people who float around in the water represent 95% of the people. These are people who are a) happy with their lives and are very content or b) have made themselves believe they are happy with their lives. This 95% also represents a type of thinking as well. These people just float around in life, and where ever life(waves) take them that is where they end up, for better or for worse. Being a floater is not the fastest way of traveling through life/water, but it is not hard either. You can really do the minimum amount of work, or below, and still stay afloat. Plus, when you don't like where the water took you you just blame it on the waves!
Now let's get to my favorite part, that second group of people, the swimmers! This group represents 5% of people in life. The swimmers have one major difference from the floaters. Swimmers may be happy with their lives and they may not be, just like the floaters. The key here is that no matter where in life the swimmers are starting they want to be somewhere else in life/water, and they take control of that. They do not let the waves and the tide determine their destination. They start swimming and taking themselves to where they want to go. When the waves get to hard they do not get out of the water and quit and blame someone else. No, they swim harder and longer! They do not stop swimming until they have reached their goal!
It does not matter what you are in life right now. If you are a floater right now make the choice to become a swimmer. If you are a swimmer right now do not let the negative attitude of a floater slow you down. If you are scared of the water read some books and get a mentor! God gave us this life and he gave everyone talents! You do not need any talents or gifts to be a floater! Dig deep inside yourself today and become a swimmer of life!
Besides the kids, who are doing everything, the adults pretty much do one of two things in the water. The first thing, and the most common, is the people who just float around in the water. The second activity, and less common, is people who dive in head first and start swimming! Now on the surface their appears to be nothing wrong with these two activities, and certainly their is not if your are at the pool! However, when we compare this to life you will start to see the differences.
So let's take a look at the floaters first. You ready, let's go!
The people who float around in the water represent 95% of the people. These are people who are a) happy with their lives and are very content or b) have made themselves believe they are happy with their lives. This 95% also represents a type of thinking as well. These people just float around in life, and where ever life(waves) take them that is where they end up, for better or for worse. Being a floater is not the fastest way of traveling through life/water, but it is not hard either. You can really do the minimum amount of work, or below, and still stay afloat. Plus, when you don't like where the water took you you just blame it on the waves!
Now let's get to my favorite part, that second group of people, the swimmers! This group represents 5% of people in life. The swimmers have one major difference from the floaters. Swimmers may be happy with their lives and they may not be, just like the floaters. The key here is that no matter where in life the swimmers are starting they want to be somewhere else in life/water, and they take control of that. They do not let the waves and the tide determine their destination. They start swimming and taking themselves to where they want to go. When the waves get to hard they do not get out of the water and quit and blame someone else. No, they swim harder and longer! They do not stop swimming until they have reached their goal!
It does not matter what you are in life right now. If you are a floater right now make the choice to become a swimmer. If you are a swimmer right now do not let the negative attitude of a floater slow you down. If you are scared of the water read some books and get a mentor! God gave us this life and he gave everyone talents! You do not need any talents or gifts to be a floater! Dig deep inside yourself today and become a swimmer of life!
Victim Of The Blame Game
I want to share with you today something that has been stirring my spirit over the last several days. The topic that has been eating away at me has to do with "Responsibility" and "The Blame Game"! I probably won't make a lot of friends from this discussion but if you don't hold this core value I don't want to be your friend anyway!
We seem to live in an age where everyone just passes the blame on to someone else. It is very seldom that you meet someone who actually takes responsibility for there actions. Everywhere you turn people are blaming everyone else! "We'll its not my fault its the governments" "I was there but it was his idea" "I didn't get the promotion because my boss doesn't like me". Are you picking up on the common theme here?? Not only is this negative talk repulsive but it literally takes you out of the equation, relieving you of all responsibility! How can you take ownership of something when its someone else's fault?
I feel very sorry for people who have this attitude which has been called the "Victim Mentality." You are not the one responsible you are the victim. Therefore you have the right to blame everyone else for your inadequacies. I do not know about you but I am SICK AND TIRED of this attitude!!
If you ever want to live a successful life you need to move away from this Blame Game and Victim Mentality. It is nobodies fault that I am underpaid except my own! It is nobodies fault that I did not make any business phone calls this week except my own! It is ALL my Responsibility and nobody else's!! If my life, or your life, is not how you want it to be you need to take responsibility and take action! Instead of exhausting all your energy on complaining and blaming, use that energy to take the required actions necessary to change the situation your are unhappy with.
The former President Harry Truman had a famous saying: The Buck Stops Here! This is so perfect for what we are talking about today . As I said earlier if you want to live a life of success stop passing the blame/the buck. Its time to take responsibility for your life and your actions/inactions because the Buck Stops Here for you and for me, RIGHT NOW!!
We seem to live in an age where everyone just passes the blame on to someone else. It is very seldom that you meet someone who actually takes responsibility for there actions. Everywhere you turn people are blaming everyone else! "We'll its not my fault its the governments" "I was there but it was his idea" "I didn't get the promotion because my boss doesn't like me". Are you picking up on the common theme here?? Not only is this negative talk repulsive but it literally takes you out of the equation, relieving you of all responsibility! How can you take ownership of something when its someone else's fault?
I feel very sorry for people who have this attitude which has been called the "Victim Mentality." You are not the one responsible you are the victim. Therefore you have the right to blame everyone else for your inadequacies. I do not know about you but I am SICK AND TIRED of this attitude!!
If you ever want to live a successful life you need to move away from this Blame Game and Victim Mentality. It is nobodies fault that I am underpaid except my own! It is nobodies fault that I did not make any business phone calls this week except my own! It is ALL my Responsibility and nobody else's!! If my life, or your life, is not how you want it to be you need to take responsibility and take action! Instead of exhausting all your energy on complaining and blaming, use that energy to take the required actions necessary to change the situation your are unhappy with.
The former President Harry Truman had a famous saying: The Buck Stops Here! This is so perfect for what we are talking about today . As I said earlier if you want to live a life of success stop passing the blame/the buck. Its time to take responsibility for your life and your actions/inactions because the Buck Stops Here for you and for me, RIGHT NOW!!
Water Your Seed Of Hope
Hope is something that we all have in our lives. Some of our lives are filled with more hope than others. Do not worry, if you do not have any hope left in your life I will show you how to get it back! So lets get started!
The way that my brain works is that I have to relate ideas to a real physical object. So when I talk about hope, in my brain, I am imagining or picturing a seed. We were all born with this "Seed of Hope" and we all still have that seed in us. Just like a plant seed though it needs to be watered and nurtured. When you water and nurture your seed it will start to grow. Slowly but surely it will continue to grow and grow and grow. Before you know it your seed has grown so large it has taken over your whole life! This is when you will start reaping the rewards or start bearing the fruits of your seed!
Unfortunately the majority of people do not put the time and effort into this watering and nurturing stage and therefore loose all hope in their life! That is a sad thing to witness. If you ever meet someone who has no hope in their life it is very depressing, and if you stay around them long enough some of your hope will start to disappear as well! When people loose their hopes and dreams they start to justify the things in their life. Let me give you an example.
Lets say you have been working in a job for a long period of time. This may not be your dream job and you may very well hate the job. If you haven't been taking care of your hope seed it will quickly vanish from your life. This is when you start making excuses for yourself like: "I'm not good at anything else", "I don't have enough time or money", "I could never have done anything like that". These are poor excuses that people try to justify their lives with when they have lost hope and thrown in the towel! My heart goes out to people who are in this situation.
If you find yourself in this state, and everyone goes through periods like this, you need to get out of it as quickly as possible. Think back to when you did have hope. What were your dreams? What used to get you excited in life? You need to seek these things out and start pursuing them. Stop doing what people tell you to do and start doing what you want to do! Watch how quickly your seed will come back to life when you start doing this! When you take back control of your hopes and dreams and you start chasing them down you have taken back your life! All you have to do then is to keep watering your hopes and dreams and do everything possible to make sure no one else stops it from growing!
The way that my brain works is that I have to relate ideas to a real physical object. So when I talk about hope, in my brain, I am imagining or picturing a seed. We were all born with this "Seed of Hope" and we all still have that seed in us. Just like a plant seed though it needs to be watered and nurtured. When you water and nurture your seed it will start to grow. Slowly but surely it will continue to grow and grow and grow. Before you know it your seed has grown so large it has taken over your whole life! This is when you will start reaping the rewards or start bearing the fruits of your seed!
Unfortunately the majority of people do not put the time and effort into this watering and nurturing stage and therefore loose all hope in their life! That is a sad thing to witness. If you ever meet someone who has no hope in their life it is very depressing, and if you stay around them long enough some of your hope will start to disappear as well! When people loose their hopes and dreams they start to justify the things in their life. Let me give you an example.
Lets say you have been working in a job for a long period of time. This may not be your dream job and you may very well hate the job. If you haven't been taking care of your hope seed it will quickly vanish from your life. This is when you start making excuses for yourself like: "I'm not good at anything else", "I don't have enough time or money", "I could never have done anything like that". These are poor excuses that people try to justify their lives with when they have lost hope and thrown in the towel! My heart goes out to people who are in this situation.
If you find yourself in this state, and everyone goes through periods like this, you need to get out of it as quickly as possible. Think back to when you did have hope. What were your dreams? What used to get you excited in life? You need to seek these things out and start pursuing them. Stop doing what people tell you to do and start doing what you want to do! Watch how quickly your seed will come back to life when you start doing this! When you take back control of your hopes and dreams and you start chasing them down you have taken back your life! All you have to do then is to keep watering your hopes and dreams and do everything possible to make sure no one else stops it from growing!
Qualitites and Characteristics of Association
Several hours after I had written my last entry I was searching through my several stacks of books that are on the floor in my bedroom. I needed something to read before I went to bed. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, I was just looking. After about ten minutes I finally found a book: What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. This is a religious/Christian book that is basically about getting your life back on track with God.
The book contains eight principles about getting your life back on track. The second principle is what really got my attention. It talks about who you should be associating with and some qualities and characteristics to look for in these select people. So I want to share these qualities with you!
- Support: You need people around around you who will help you shoulder the load in different ways.
- Love: You need people on your team who love you deeply just as you are, faults included.
- Courage: There is safety in numbers, so just having a support team close by will build your courage.
- Feedback: You need honest feedback from people if you hope to get where you are going in life.
- Wisdom: You do not have all the wisdom and knowledge you need to make it through life, so keep your eyes out for wise people who will speak to you and direct you.
- Experience: Seek out the experience of others who have traveled the road before you.
- Modeling: Study and learn from people who are doing what you want to do.
- Values: We learn new values from others, and others support us in living out our values. Stay close to people who share your values.
- Accountability: You need to be held accountable by others who will monitor your progress and keep you on track.
These are qualities and characteristics that can be applied to every aspect of your life. It does not matter whether you are seeking God or seeking new business partners. Surround yourself with people who portray these qualities and soon people will be attracted to you and will be seeking you out!
The book contains eight principles about getting your life back on track. The second principle is what really got my attention. It talks about who you should be associating with and some qualities and characteristics to look for in these select people. So I want to share these qualities with you!
- Support: You need people around around you who will help you shoulder the load in different ways.
- Love: You need people on your team who love you deeply just as you are, faults included.
- Courage: There is safety in numbers, so just having a support team close by will build your courage.
- Feedback: You need honest feedback from people if you hope to get where you are going in life.
- Wisdom: You do not have all the wisdom and knowledge you need to make it through life, so keep your eyes out for wise people who will speak to you and direct you.
- Experience: Seek out the experience of others who have traveled the road before you.
- Modeling: Study and learn from people who are doing what you want to do.
- Values: We learn new values from others, and others support us in living out our values. Stay close to people who share your values.
- Accountability: You need to be held accountable by others who will monitor your progress and keep you on track.
These are qualities and characteristics that can be applied to every aspect of your life. It does not matter whether you are seeking God or seeking new business partners. Surround yourself with people who portray these qualities and soon people will be attracted to you and will be seeking you out!
Guilty By Association
Almost everyone has heard of the common legal phrase "Guilty By Association." Basically if someone is doing something wrong and you are with them, by association you are doing something wrong as well. However, not many people realize how this can be a positive thing and actually work for you!
No matter what you are doing in life, whether its sports, business, or even gardening you want to ensure you are associating with the right people. Robert Kiyosaki says that your income will be an average of the five people you associate with most! Wow!!! That's an amazing statement when you really think about it!! So chances are if you are hanging out with a bunch of broke people who have no motivation you will be lazy and broke as well. Don't get to upset because there is hope!
If you want to begin down the road to your Success Life you will probably have to change some things. You will want to start associating with successful people. If you want to loose weight you need to work with someone who was successful at loosing weight not someone who has never lost a pound in their life. If you want to be successful in business you need to associate yourself with the most successful people you can find in your business. As you begin to associate with these highly successful people their thoughts and habits will begin to rub off on you. Soon you will start to think and act like a successful businessman. Choosing the right people to be around can be a difficult process, but if you choose wisely and surround yourself with the right people your life will never be the same!
