What if thoughts: 2012

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Discipline: What If We Let the Little Things Slide?

“Until we have learned to take care of the little opportunities life brings our way, we will never master the disciplines for becoming happy and prosperous. The major accomplishments in life begin with the mastery of the small disciplines.” – Jim Rohn in his book Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle

Skills: What If You Wish You Can?

“A tree will drive its roots as deep as possible. It will soak up as much nourishment as it can, stretch as high and as wide as nature will allow, and then look down as if to remind us of how much each of us could become if we would only do all that we can.” – Jim Rohn in his book Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle

Many times, I admire people so good at what they do and somehow I wish that I can surf or sing or paint or play the piano or write even just half as well. What if you wish you can? Just as Napoleon Hill had expressed in his book Think and Grow Rich, a mere wish is not enough to achieve. You need to dream, you need to desire. Dreams are free but their fulfillment is not. If you are willing to pay the price, you can develop the skill that you desire to have. Age and life path are irrelevant in acquiring a new skill. It is never too late or too vain or too silly or too pompous to acquire a new skill.

A skill is a learned ability. You need to invest time and energy to acquire one. More importantly, you need to have faith in yourself that you have what it takes to acquire one. Being good at something requires a number of related skills. If you desire to become a good photographer, for instance, you need to be thoroughly knowledgeable of the various skills that a good photographer requires. As you become aware of these skills, you can develop mastery in as many skills as you can. From the blend of these related skills, you can do that something that you desire in a manner that is uniquely you. Curiosity combined with imagination and creativity can bring out in you your signature style or technique.

Before becoming good at anything, allow yourself to make a lot of mistakes. Permit yourself to be a novice for a reasonable amount of time. Refrain from abusing yourself by comparing your work with experts or professionals too early. Don't hurry. Instead, go gently and slowly. Expect yourself to make progress, not to be perfect. Oftentimes, you need to become your worst before you can become your best.

When you feel that you are not making any progress, that is your cue to push yourself harder, not to lessen your effort or give up. The difficulties you encounter must strengthen your commitment to learning the skill that you desire to have. If you really want to learn this skill, you will surely find a way to seek solutions to the problems that you face. The more challenges you are able to conquer, the more confident you become in the mastery of your skills.

If you don't make any progress at all after a reasonable amount of time, it is either something is wrong with your goals and plans of action, or you don't really believe in your abilities to be able to learn the skill that you desire. If it is the first, then you need to rethink your goals and plans of action and craft another that will work for you. If it is the second, then know that hard work is necessary in developing a skill but it can not make up for lack or absence of faith in oneself.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Achievement: What If We Want Good Results?

“It is actually easy to get the results we want. If we don't, this is because it equally easy to neglect the things that need to be done to get good results.” – Jim Rohn

Many would agree that “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” (Franklin Roosevelt) We are often driven by the need to achieve but “Results do not respond to need. Results respond to effort... to labor ... to activity. If we have done our part, the results we need will appear in a reasonable amount of time.” (Jim Rohn, Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle)

But how? What if we want good results?

I have just finished reading the ancient 1937 self-help book Think and Grow Rich written by Napoleon Hill who is well-known for his motivational quote “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It is a book for people who know what they want and need some guidance on how to achieve what they want. In order to achieve, one must know exactly what one wants. This is Napoleon Hill's prerequisite to achieving something. In Seneca's metaphor, this is because “If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.”
What you want, you must desire. Napoleon Hill wrote that “Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” He expressed that “there is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”
Napoleon Hill hails dreamers. “Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world.” He professes that “A burning desire to be, and to do is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition.” He shares the thoughts of James Allen who wrote in his book As A Man Thinketh that “the greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream” and that “dreams are the seedlings of realities.”

Napoleon Hill believes that “There is no such thing as something for nothing.” If you want something, you must take action to attain it. According to Ayn Rand, “A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.” Similarly, for James Allen, “To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.”

A dreamer's burning desire may be put out by failure. Napoleon Hill warns that “Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.” He points out that failures are only temporary defeats. The ammunition against any setbacks is faith or as Napoleon Hill puts it, “Faith is the only known antidote for failure!” He said that “Nothing is impossible to the person who backs desire with enduring faith.” Similarly, Jim Rohn wrote that “No dream is impossible provided we first have the courage to believe in it.” You may have heard what Thomas Edison said. “I haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.” Faith is the source of self-confidence and self-assurance. Where faith is wanting, fear and self-doubt encroach. “A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.” (Alexander Dumas)
Napoleon Hill said that it is important to have faith in oneself and in the Infinite, which I interpreted as God. He said that faith is a state of mind and that a mind dominated by positive emotions is a favorable abode for this state of mind. “A mind so dominated may, at will, give the subconscious mind instructions, which it will accept and act upon immediately.” He articulated that the state of mind must be belief and open-mindedness is essential for belief. He added that closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, and belief.

An open and imaginative mind can create an idea that will transform one's burning desire into a reality. With dreaming and imagination, we can see possibilities. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” With faith, possibilities become achievable. Faith casts out limitations and hurdles obstacles.

Napoleon Hill's Achievement Formula is:

        Mix the idea created by imagination with faith.
        Formulate a plan for the transformation of the idea into physical reality.
        Put the plan into action.
        Apply and follow-through on the plan with persistence.
        Back it with firm decision until it had been fully carried out.

As you pursue what you desire, remember that “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.” (Zig Ziglar) Bear in mind that “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” (Napoleon Hill) Deal with “temporary defeat” with persistence fired up with a burning desire. If you find yourself lacking in persistence, you may remedy this weakness by building a stronger fire under your desires. “Without persistence, you will be defeated, even before you start. With persistence you will win. Failure cannot cope with persistence.” (Napoleon Hill)
Napoleon Hill articulated that “Willpower and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair.” He wrote that willpower is the basis of persistence and it sustains our burning desire and insures its realization.

In his book Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle, Jim Rohn wrote that “It is actually easy to get the results we want. If we don't, this is because it equally easy to neglect the things that need to be done to get good results.”