The Recipe For Success – In Work and In Life

Author: Craig Lock
Source: free-articles

We hope that the following short extract from my new manuscript on sport psychology, called THE WINNING MIND may be informative and helpful to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. You have permission to publish this piece (formatted to 60 characters, approx) electronically or in print.

“We share what we know, so that others may grow”

THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS — IN WORK AND IN LIFE

by Craig Lock

* Self-imposed limitations impose a ceiling above you, so look to extend yourself to your full potential. The human mind is an amazing thing which can be expanded. Like a telescope!

* Use your imagination.

* Self discipline is an acquired habit. Teach your children this habit (and other good habits … but not point one!) when they are young.

* Establish other good habits. Start your day early. Use your most productive time and especially, your first hour wisely – when you are most alert (if ever?).

* BE ENTHUSIASTIC and AVOID DISTRACTIONS. I think enthusiasm is a vital key to success. You have to enjoy what you are doing and not merely “go through the motions”.

We all have choices in the way in which we are going to live our lives. We can also choose the attitudes we are going to take: whether we are going to hold a positive or a negative outlook on life. Far more on this intriguing and complex subject later; but it is critical to whether you achieve success or not.

So make DAILY AFFIRMATIONS or short positive statements to yourself, eg. say, “I am on the right track”, or “I can do it”. These positive thoughts encourage you, especially if they are repeated frequently. The effects of daily affirmations are that they imprint upon our deeper consciousness, which reflects in the way we function. They make you feel better about yourself and in so doing enhance your confidence.

“A pessimist is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty…” – anon.

It is best to have a positive self expectancy by looking at “the bright side of life”. Mexican wisecracking golfer, Lee Trevino is one of the world’s greatest optimists. He visualizes each shot having the best possible outcome – dropping in the hole; whereas the weekend “hackers” in all spheres of life often think what can go wrong with each shot. And it often does!

It doesn’t happen every time that Lee gets the ball in the hole, but it happens a lot more than most others. Time for a book on sports psychology, perhaps!

Many successful sportsmen and even ordinary happy people EXPECT success and happiness. And they get it ….

It’s all in ONE’S ATTITUDE TO LIFE.

Always bear in mind … “the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

- Walter Bagehot

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooten

Whatever you do, be enthusiastic and avoid distractions. Focus totally on your task at hand. American President Franklin Roosevelt said … “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

Are your fears holding you back? Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Take the blame and the credit for your position in life honestly and openly. You alone are responsible for it.

Break your routines:

Remember,

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got”. Make sense?

Spend 30 minutes alone each day to meditate. Contemplate your life and where you’re heading.

Seek and talk to a person who currently is doing what you want to do most and doing it well. It doesn’t matter how humble or famous they are or what it is they do: acting, singing, or merely being a good parent … or just a hard “plodder”. Get advice from the “experts”. When we talk of success we usually think of winning: the topic of the next section. Not that we all can be winners in every aspect of our lives.

Who and what are winners?

* Winners take responsibility for themselves. They know what they want and set realistic goals for themselves.

* Winners make it happen, losers let it happen (but then losers I believe are only misguided winners). “Losers” probably lack only a right attitude, maybe a bit of knowledge or perhaps motivation or direction at crucial times.

* Winners have a positive self image. They read biographies of famous people. They watch educational and inspirational cassette tapes for self improvement, as well as stimulating television programmes in general. Winners have a quest to gain knowledge and make the most of themselves – they know their time is limited and precious and so they make the most of it.

It is easy for you to become a winner too. You can read positive books and other inspirational works. Like this one. You can listen to motivational tapes, which can also serve to improve one’s attitude to life. At first I was very skeptical, but they definitely do work if you allow them to sink in through repetition (it is not brainwashing, but controlled learning). I feel I am learning something new every day. There is such a great amount of truth and knowledge to be found in books.

Feed your mind continually with positive thoughts.

Remember to take time out to relax and unwind. Before the mind can be relaxed, the muscles must be. A relaxed body makes for a healthy mind, which can absorb information more easily. So you can watch the “soapies”, if that gives you enjoyment and relaxes you! But DO EXERCISE as well. I definitely don’t get enough of that. Winners visualize success and positive outcomes to their endeavours and they know when to relax. Remember how and what you think determines the way your life will turn out; because our thoughts determine our attitudes.

It is said that winners have only 5% of the available talent, but have 95 per cent of the drive. Usually there is not such a great difference between the world’s top sportsmen, in terms of pure talent. Much of what distinguishes the winners amongst them comes from the mind … thinking positively that you are a winner and handling pressure. Think of the sportsmen who got to the top through sheer hard work, far more than their natural talent. I often think of a small man, like South African golfer Gary Player. A man not physically endowed (sounds rude!), who was out-driven metres and metres by the far larger American golfers. He was always at his best when the “chips were down”. Not French fries.

Remember, on your journey to the top (if that’s what you want … and it’s not for everyone), sheer hard work and DETERMINATION is just as important as your intelligence and ability. It is probably the single most important step on your stairway to success.

To be successful yourself, associate with winners – not because they are successful people whose coat-tails you want to hang onto. Rather, because they are positive people who have achieved something in life, no matter how small it may be. They do not have to be rich and famous – as long as you enjoy their company … and them yours. There’s nothing wrong with admiring or envying them as role models.

Ask yourself: Would I like to “fly with the eagles, or scratch with the turkeys”?

Remember:

“Success comes from 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.” – famous American inventor, Thomas Edison and one of the men who has had the most impact on the world in the twentieth century.

*

THE FORMULA TO SUCCESS:

As I see it…

CONCEIVE + BELIEVE = ACHIEVE

VISUALIZE + INTERNALIZE = REALIZE

SUMMARY:

THE STEPS TO SUCCESS

There are a number of important factors that make people successful in achieving their personal goals … and I believe goal-setting is the key ingredient to success. These, I believe, are the crucial ingredients:

* Have a VISION of what you’d like to be. What thoughts would you like to change? Where do you want to go?

* Belief in oneself and the ability to succeed.

* Good self esteem, ie. a healthy self image – being comfortable with who you are.

* Self confidence.

* Self discipline.

* A burning desire to achieve your pre-set goals.

* NB: Personal integrity and good ethics. This is of absolute importance … because once you lose your integrity, you’ve lost everything.

* A desire to give something back to society and to invest in people – a very worthwhile life mission. If you help people get what they want and achieve their full potential in life, so will you.

* Having worthy goals which benefit oneself and others.

* Consistency and commitment.

* An ability to avoid distractions.

* Affirming oneself daily.

* An ability to take calculated risks.

* An ability to learn from your mistakes and overcome the fear of making them.

* An ability to handle stress well. Most important in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world.

* Exercise.

* Relaxation.

* Self motivation.

* Try looking at yourself through other’s eyes.

* Talk yourself and others up (through self-affirmations).

Project a positive self image as often as you can. It’s not always possible though, as we all feel discouraged from time to time. It’s perfectly natural. The difference is that winners can pick themselves up when down.

Remember always: the only limits to your accomplishments in life are self imposed.

* NB: Have a winning focus and a positive attitude. At least as often as you can.

Stay positive and determined, even when “the chips are down”.

Concentrate and contemplate.

Practice and be patient.

Keep pen and paper handy (to write down new and better thoughts and ideas). I keep them by my bedside. Not the thoughts, but pen and paper; then try to decipher my atrocious scrawl, when I wake up in the morning!

Try to understand your unique personality make-up.

Be COMMITTED and PERSEVERE.

Draw on and develop the courage that is within every one of us.

Finally, continually keep your eyes fixed on your ultimate goal, your grand purpose in life. What are you trying to do with it? You can yet achieve it, no matter how far you are down the track of life. I sincerely believe that.

Then have absolute FAITH in yourself and in a Higher Power … and His (or Her)

plan for your life (which is God, the “Great Designer” speaking to you through imagination and inspiration).

* * *

To end off, a few quotations which help inspire me often in my personal journey ….

“Be bold and unseen and mighty forces come to your aid”

“The greatest risk in life is to risk NOTHING … The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing ….”

- Norman Vincent Peale.

“Only the person who risks is truly free. A man’s conquest of himself dwarfs the conquest of Mount Everest”.

- N.V.Peale (again).

The key lies in FINDING YOUR PASSION: what drives you and presses your “hot buttons” …

“A passion for anything will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.” – William Hazlitt

“Whatever you do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Whatever you want or desire in life, remember Hamlet’s words written by the great English playwright, William Shakespeare:

“To thine own self be true.”

Just remember,

You are launched on a great journey

and …

“Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir the blood to action, make big plans, aim high in work and hope.”

- D. Burnham

Craig Lock

http://www.craiglock.com

The “original” Online Creative Writing Course http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html

This short extract is from my new manuscript on sport psychology. THE WINNING MIND and Craig’s other books are available at: http://www.bridgeniche.com/CLOCK/zaniestbooks.htm

THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED

The Ladder Of Life Part Two

Author: Dr. Wm. G. Seavey
Source: free-articles

The Mustard Seed – Lesson For living

No. 20

THE LADDER OF LIFE

PART TWO

As you climb your ladder you will meet others on their way up or their way down. Those on the way down find life to hard to handle and have gone to join the easy crowd at the bottom of the ladder just milling around waiting for something for nothing to show up so they can grab it with minimum effort. But not you. You continue your upward climb taking those with you headed in the same direction and with purpose in mind.

When is a good time to check your progress? Right now would be a good time and everyday thereafter if you are interested in maximum performance. If not, you can just lie around and let the years creep up on you, and believe me, they will before you know it. But suppose that has happened. Suppose you are older now and have come to the realization that you’ve missed the boat and let life rock away and you are still on the bottom rungs of the ladder having made no significant progress. Is it too late? Absolutely not. You can start where you are and with what you’ve got even if it is nothing. You may be on the bottom of the heap, but you can start the forward motion. All it takes is a little push. Hopefully I can provide that push for you as your personal coach and mentor. All you have to do is email me at winnow@earthlink.net and we can get the ball rolling. Sure life is a tough, long haul. When I climbed the Enchanted Rock in Fredericksburg, Texas while in my mid and late 60’s I didn’t make it all the way in one fell swoop. I had to stop every once in a while to catch up. Life is like that but you can make it to the top just as I did. Now I teach people how to get to the top. You’ve got to experience the top before you can bring others with you.

On a scale of 1-10 where are you relative to where you should be? Where should you be at age 25, 35, 50 and older? How far should you go on this success journey? Here is a great question for you. How tall should a tree grow? And the answer is, as tall as it wants to. Have you ever heard of a tree growing just half way and stopping? I haven’t. Suppose the tree says I don’t like it where I’m at. I think I’ll stop growing. I don’t like the climate here so I’ll move to another state. But what if the climate is the same there? What then? What if the tree says I don’t like the weather here? It is to hot, to cold, to wet and to dry. I’m quitting this game called life. Do you know that is exactly what people do? They complain about the seasons of life when that is all they have. Sometimes you just gotta put up with where you are at in life and get on with it. Stop complaining. It doesn’t help if nothing changes because of your complaints.

Now let the bottom rung of the ladder be the minimum and the top the maximum. Use that for your standard of measure. You say, “I’ve not gone very far.” “How hard have you tried?” I would ask. And you would say, “Not very hard.” Then I would say, “You aren’t where you should be on the ladder of life because you haven’t given it your all.” Life demands and expects your all. You cannot take from life all the time and keep expecting her to hand you everything. Pretty soon the well is going to go dry and you’re going to be left holding an empty bucket waiting for the well to fill back up. It is time to start giving life everything you have. You’re probably wondering where IT is. Well IT is on the inside of you. All you have need of is on the inside of you. Now you have to persuade it to come to the surface and you do that by attending the lectures, reading the books, taking the extra classes, listening to the audio tapes and watching the videos, all of which, should pertain to personal growth; your personal growth. And it wouldn’t hurt to sit in on a few good bible lessons and sermons. Who knows what that might bring out of you? You’ll never know until you try. Take the initiative. Don’t settle for someone else’s plan for your life. YOU be a product of your own conclusion. STOP letting people sell you on plans that will not produce anything for you. By the way, you would be surprised at how much you already know and it’s already on the inside of you. The extra time you spend on you will draw it out. You can work hard on the job and make a living. You can work hard on you and make a fortune.

Let’s examine your standard of measure that I mentioned earlier. It is very important to your growth. If you have no standards by which to measure progress, how will you know if you are ascending or descending? Or, how will you know if you have arrived if you don’t know where you are going? The Bible says, “By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you.” The word shall is a mandatory clause. It means it is going to happen just the way it is spelled out. What is a standard? Here are a few definitions.

1.It is a basis for the measure of value given.

2.A standard is something established for use as a rule or basis of comparison in measuring quality.

3.A standard is certain criterion set for usages or practices (moral standards)

4.It is a level of excellence, attainment etc. regarded as a measure of adequacy.

So, what you set as a standard for your life determines the income from your outflow. If you have poor standards, you will receive in like kind. Set poor standards and receive poor measurements. It will not be a full measurement. It will not be running over. The Bible again says that if you give, your return will be overflowing. It will be a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. I would call that a good measure. If you will establish early on in life good standards, that is, those that will produce good results, then your end result will be a running over of good, and more than you can handle. Jim Rohn says if you want to balance your checkbook, give a chunk of it away at various times. That is a good standard to live by. It brings balance to the whole of things. No one then has too much of anything. That is the way it was intended according to Old Testament teachings. But we’ve gotten greedy. Now some have too much and some have to little.

When you buy product at the market place, you want a just weight. If you bought something for $3.00 a pound you would expect to get a pound for your hard earned money. Unless of course you did not care if you were short changed or not and then you would settle for anything, which is what many people do in life. If you paid $3.00 for something less than a pound, you lost. You got the short end of the stick. When you pick up one end of the stick you also get the end opposite.

It is the same way with life. You must get your moneys worth. But if you put nothing into life you will receive back a like measurement. Nothing is a measurement. Nothing equals nothing. You get short changed. It is called a just return, a just weight. The problem is we let so many people short change us by setting standards for us that will not produce profit. Profit is a measure. The measure is determined by what you have put into the product and the product is you. Put nothing in and get nothing out. So, with no set standards of value, you will always receive a poor measurement. You will always be living on barely get along street in poverty city.

Do you remember the foundation I had talked about earlier in this presentation? It was the bedrock upon which you would stand your ladder. But so many times people build upon sinking sand. As you climb your ladder of life, the ladder simply disappears into the sinking sand beneath it. When you reach life’s end, you find yourself on the same rung of the ladder as you started out with. Now that is not called progress. It is called disaster. The one thing that will drive your ladder into the sinking sand faster than anything else is the weight of regret. Regretting that you have done nothing with your time and opportunity up until this day of your life. Everything looks bleak and blah, no hope in sight. Ah, but there is hope. You can start again. All you have to do is move your ladder onto solid rock. And may I suggest to you that it is closer than you think. The bedrock could mean truth, integrity, hope, self worth, a right attitude, a positive outlook on life; a help to others and the list is endless. You can make your own list. Make sure it is a list of things that will withstand the storms of life and prove themselves to be faithful to those who will embrace them.

Have you ever seen someone holding a ladder for someone else to climb? Sadly you will seldom see that in today’s society. Have you ever been asked to hold the ladder while someone else climbed it? Hard to do isn’t it? And the reason is because we don’t want any one else to get ahead of us. If you don’t think so, watch the traffic on a busy freeway at quitting time. Everybody wants to be first in line. Here is the key. No man is an island unto himself. You cannot pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. If you want to be first, be last. Now that is diametrically opposed to man’s philosophy. But God knew man would want to be first so He put that principle in the Bible for man. But, you must USE this principle when climbing your own life’s ladder. Who cares if another person gets to the top before you? That’s what it is all about. Believe me, if you will help enough other people to get to the top, there will come the time when you to, will be at the top. There will always come the time for reaping if you will plant great disciplines in your life. As you grow, share with others what you have learned. Begin mentoring someone. What a change that will make in you when you get you out of the way by putting others first.

Now why this Lesson For Living? It is to get you to start looking at your life and where you are right now. Are you where you should be? Are you where you want to be? Only you can answer that. It has been my experience with people that most are not where they want to be. But a better question is are you where you SHOULD be? To answer that would require some work on your behalf because no one else can give you the answer. Here is one very important rule. Don’t compare where you are in life to where others are. It is foolhardy. Find you where YOU are supposed to be. Read the books on development. Go to the workshops and seminars. Listen to the audiotapes and view the videos. Listen to the sermons and bible studies. Above all, get WISDOM. You would be surprised where it will lead you. Start working on YOU. What a difference that will make in your journey.

I Wish You The Best Of Success,

Dr. Wm. G. Seavey

Email the Doctor for lecturing at winnow@earthlink.net

Web site www.thewinnerscircle.org

Subscribe to The Mustard Seed – Lessons For Living www.thewinnerscircle.org

Dr. Seavey is the author of Lessons For Living and several workbooks all relating to personal development and growth. He leads you through the maze of negativism using age old disciplines and principles teaching you how to live a successful lifestyle one day at a time.