Originally written for the World Success Alliance (www.worldsuccessalliance.com), the only place where all of my work can be found.
"In order to succeed in today's world, you must capture the spirit of the pioneers of old."
This, my friends, is some of the best advice you'll ever receive. For a moment, allow us to put our optimism aside and face some unpleasant facts: most of us, especially those who aren't successful financially, don't live in environments that are beneficial to wealth. Just the opposite: most people's immediate surroundings flat-out prevent them from getting rich.
Think about it: what do you see when you open up a newspaper or turn on the TV? Stories about debt, theft, murders, bankrupcies, layoffs, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, and so on. When you come to your friends or family members with a new business idea, what do you hear? Skepticizm, criticizm, warnings. What kind of a reality does all that create in one's mind? This, unfortunately, is the distorted reality that nearly everyone who isn't rich is living in, and most people will remain in it for either the rest of their lives, or until they wise up.
If or when they wise up, one of the most important realizations they'll make is this one: you become what you think about most of the time. If on a daily basis, you flood yourself with the kind of garbage i outlined above, that's exactly what you will attract into your life. At the sime time, simply because you're not focusing on them, you will repel the things you really want: happiness, wealth and peace of mind.
So what do they when they begin to understand? They begin to change. When they understand that while poor people watch TV for an average of 5 hours a day, rich people often don't watch it at all, they follow suit and disconnect their cable. When they understand that while poor people go over every depressing news story they can find in the paper, rich people couldn't be paid to waste their time on that, they cancel their subscriptions and start buying books. When they understand that while poor people surround themselves with skeptical, negative friends, rich people avoid people like that like the plague, they start looking for new, better friends.
"In order to succeed in today's world, you must capture the spirit of the pioneers of old."
If what is seen on TV, read in the papers or discussed negative people is a plague (and it certainly is), this spirit is the cure. It is the spirit that gave birth to the great ancient empires of Rome and Persia. It is the spirit that made Columbus seek out America, and the spirit that drove Edison to invent the electric bulb once there was an America. It is the spirit that a century ago gave birth to Ford and just years ago, to Google. It is the spirit of optimism, courage, faith, determination and persistence - a testament to the truly unstoppable power of the human will.
In order to succeed, you must let go of your distorted reality and capture this spirit in your own life. The question on the tip of your tongue right now must be: how? Read! Read, read and then read some more! There is an astomishing wealth of information out there (including autobiographies) about the people who posessed this spirit (you know them, because they're the most recognizable names in history). Learn about them, study the way they thought and you will realize that all of them, to the very last one, have firmly grasped this spirit. With time, you'll literally be able to pin-point where and how they made use of it in their lives, and with your knowledge of it, will come the ability to use it yourself.
Then, you will be unstoppable.
Note: click here for a list of books i'm reading right now. At the moment, the three books on that list that are helping me capture this priceless spirit tell the stories of Alexander the Great, DELL and McDonalds. Someone else in that thread posted about a book that tells the story of a miserably poor Austrian boy named Arnold, who went straight for the top in bodybuilding, entertainment and now politics. Check the list out for some great reading ideas, and post your own!
"In order to succeed in today's world, you must capture the spirit of the pioneers of old."
This, my friends, is some of the best advice you'll ever receive. For a moment, allow us to put our optimism aside and face some unpleasant facts: most of us, especially those who aren't successful financially, don't live in environments that are beneficial to wealth. Just the opposite: most people's immediate surroundings flat-out prevent them from getting rich.
Think about it: what do you see when you open up a newspaper or turn on the TV? Stories about debt, theft, murders, bankrupcies, layoffs, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, and so on. When you come to your friends or family members with a new business idea, what do you hear? Skepticizm, criticizm, warnings. What kind of a reality does all that create in one's mind? This, unfortunately, is the distorted reality that nearly everyone who isn't rich is living in, and most people will remain in it for either the rest of their lives, or until they wise up.
If or when they wise up, one of the most important realizations they'll make is this one: you become what you think about most of the time. If on a daily basis, you flood yourself with the kind of garbage i outlined above, that's exactly what you will attract into your life. At the sime time, simply because you're not focusing on them, you will repel the things you really want: happiness, wealth and peace of mind.
So what do they when they begin to understand? They begin to change. When they understand that while poor people watch TV for an average of 5 hours a day, rich people often don't watch it at all, they follow suit and disconnect their cable. When they understand that while poor people go over every depressing news story they can find in the paper, rich people couldn't be paid to waste their time on that, they cancel their subscriptions and start buying books. When they understand that while poor people surround themselves with skeptical, negative friends, rich people avoid people like that like the plague, they start looking for new, better friends.
"In order to succeed in today's world, you must capture the spirit of the pioneers of old."
If what is seen on TV, read in the papers or discussed negative people is a plague (and it certainly is), this spirit is the cure. It is the spirit that gave birth to the great ancient empires of Rome and Persia. It is the spirit that made Columbus seek out America, and the spirit that drove Edison to invent the electric bulb once there was an America. It is the spirit that a century ago gave birth to Ford and just years ago, to Google. It is the spirit of optimism, courage, faith, determination and persistence - a testament to the truly unstoppable power of the human will.
In order to succeed, you must let go of your distorted reality and capture this spirit in your own life. The question on the tip of your tongue right now must be: how? Read! Read, read and then read some more! There is an astomishing wealth of information out there (including autobiographies) about the people who posessed this spirit (you know them, because they're the most recognizable names in history). Learn about them, study the way they thought and you will realize that all of them, to the very last one, have firmly grasped this spirit. With time, you'll literally be able to pin-point where and how they made use of it in their lives, and with your knowledge of it, will come the ability to use it yourself.
Then, you will be unstoppable.
Note: click here for a list of books i'm reading right now. At the moment, the three books on that list that are helping me capture this priceless spirit tell the stories of Alexander the Great, DELL and McDonalds. Someone else in that thread posted about a book that tells the story of a miserably poor Austrian boy named Arnold, who went straight for the top in bodybuilding, entertainment and now politics. Check the list out for some great reading ideas, and post your own!
