Lack of Sucess: Lack of a Well-defined Purpose in Life

This is perhaps the major cause of most failures. Most people spend more time planning a two-week vacation than they do in figuring out what they want to do with their life. People who do not succeed in life blame it on just about everything. There is an old saying that if you are not planning to succeed, you most certainly are planning to fail. When do you start planning for success? You plan now. People do not plan for success. If they did, every writer in the world would write a book called Success for Dummies.
A key word in cause number one is “purpose.” A life purpose is measured in service to humanity. A purpose in life is not measured in dollars and cents. In some cases, we measure life purpose in terms of financial wealth. But more often it is measured in personal happiness, satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment.
I made a lot of money in my life but my purpose in life is to write this book. I started this book on my seventieth birthday yet, I don’t feel as though I should have completed it sooner. Quite frankly, I couldn’t have even written it ten or fifteen years ago.
It is better if you don’t worry about money and look for a life purpose that will really make you happy. Then, see if you can make other people happy. Then, see if you can turn it into a financial success.

Today’s Exercise: Get a diary or a planner with blank pages in it and start to define your purpose in life.
Today’s Affirmation: I do only those things that make me successful.
Points to Ponder: If you are not planning to succeed you most certainly are planning to fail.

Ambition

Before you can make accomplishments, you must be possessed with ambition. Before you can feel ambition, you must have a preceding hunger to accomplish things. Anything that will stimulate that mental hunger will arouse ambition and thus create that eagerness for action and attainment.
How can you produce that mental hunger? In order for mental hunger to be manifested, it must first have ideals presented to our subconscious. If you are content with your present life and want nothing better, it’s because you have seen nothing better: have heard of nothing better, or else you are mentally and physically lazy.
I heard an interesting story when I visited Berlin. Do you know what caused the fall of Communism and the literal and figural destruction of the Berlin Wall? It was VCRs. VCRs were smuggled from Sweden and Finland, into Russia and East Berlin. When people saw how the free world lived, they wanted a part of it. They had a burning desire to share in the good life and Communism disappeared practically overnight. Instead of the bombs and money spent on the military to defeat Communism, all they had to do was send over all of the extra VCRs and videotapes. They had a mental hunger for our way of life; a free life.
With the dawn of ambition comes the arousing of the will and a strong will aroused a strong desire. Maybe we ought to send all our old VCRs and videotapes to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and a few other choice locations.
To manifest ambition fully, you must first have an eager desire for ambition. A mere wanting or wishing for it is not enough. You must have a fierce, eager, all consuming hunger, demanding satisfaction. Then, you must have a strong will aroused sufficiently to get that which you desire.
If you want something bad enough, the easier it will be to achieve it.

Today’s Exercise: Look in the paper for real estate and check out the million dollar homes.
Today’s Affirmation: I am enthusiastic and confident.
Points to Ponder: When people saw how the free world lived, they wanted a part of it.

A Stress Busting Attitude

Developing a positive, stress-busting attitude, is the first step to taking charge of stress. Remember: Your can’t control many things that happen to you, but you can control your attitude. One technique to thwart stress involves doing a “Gross Impact Activity.” Pound something to release tension in a productive way. Opportunities to fight stress range from hitting a punching bag, running, jogging, or cleaning up the garage or yard.
As pressures build in the office, you may vent in frustration or anger, which only raises the level of stress around you. Other employees may absorb the pent-up stress that you release.
Accountability is one of the keys to defusing stress. You may not be operating from a position of accountability. I recommend these steps to build accountability.
1. Adopt the right attitude.
2. Be accountable yourself.
3. Hold others accountable.
4. Write down your priorities.
5. Make and expect commitments.
6. Get and give support.
In order to manage yourself, I recommend creating two types of lists:
1. A master To Do List
2. A six month, Important Things To Do List
Remember:“ If you change the way you handle stress, the stress you handle will dissipate.”

Today’s Exercise: Make your lists.
Today’s Affirmation: I am a calm, peaceful and patient person.
Points to Ponder: Accountability is one of the keys to defusing stress.

What Is Faith?

For most of us, faith is a term used by all religions in sermons and theological books as a position we take when we don’t understand something. Faith has no practical place or meaning in the physical world. This is the world we live in and perform most of our actions. So consequently, faith is for the little old ladies sitting in the back of the church or temple. Yet, we need faith to jump start enthusiasm and we need enthusiasm to jump start action for without action everything is academic.
However, we believe that the most important reasoning of practical everyday life is based on faith. We can’t guarantee the sun will rise tomorrow and the Universal Law or the Law of Causation says, “The same causes, under the same conditions will produce the same effects.” If you are looking to change your life for the better then it is absurd for you to keep doing the same old thing and expect different results.
So, in order to succeed, you must change your thinking from mostly negative to mostly positive. Faith is not difficult, you have faith every time you board an airplane that the captain knows how to fly the plane, the plane is in excellent condition and that you will arrive safely at your destination. Millions of people fly every day, without faith, they will not board the plane.
If you believe that a person is dishonest, incompetent, or crazy, you would not trust your affairs or money with that person. You have faith in that person’s wrongness not rightness but it’s still faith. Every belief without one hundred percent positive knowledge is a form of faith. Since we rarely have one hundred percent knowledge, we practice some form of faith every day.
Knowledge, experience, or intuition helps us to decide what we should have faith in. There is the Law of Averages or the Law of Probabilities that helps us to make decisions, and it comes down to faith. You cannot get away from faith in your thoughts and beliefs concerning the present and the future any more than you can avoid death. Without faith, there is no desire. Without desire, there is no determination. Without determination, there is no persistence. Without persistence, there is no action. Without action, there is no accomplishment. The Bible says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.”

Today’s Exercise: Take your best friend, stand in front of him/her and say, “I’m going to fall backwards, catch me. Then, fall.
Today’s Affirmation: The kingdom of God is within me.
Points to Ponder: If you are looking to change your life for the better, then it is absurd for you to keep doing the same old thing and expect different results.

The Mind

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.”
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

Your Subconscious Mind is your soul. It is the direct and only link to God. Your Subconscious Mind is infinite, thus, you are infinite, and your soul is one, one with God, one with the universe. God has separated humankind from all of his creations by giving humankind the ability to think, to create, and to know the secrets of the universe.
Eighty-seven percent of the people on this planet do not know how the Subconscious Mind works and how to use it to gain success and happiness. Our Subconscious Mind creates into reality all of our thoughts and words.
This chapter will change your world forever. No longer will you be the victim of circumstance, luck or prejudices. You are the master of your ship, the captain of your soul. We carry around the secret of success and happiness twenty-four hours a day in our Subconscious Mind.

Monthly Affirmation: My Subconscious Mind will make into reality whatever I ask of it.