Success Starts Here...
"No one else can live your life for you. No one else can succeed for you." (Og Mandino)
Og Mandino.
His books have sold more than 50 million copies and translated into 25 languages. He was a mentor to millions through his writings, and even though he passed away in 1996, his words continue to inspire generations.
My dad gave me a copy of his classic tale, "The Greatest Salesman in the World" when I was in my early teens. He told me the priceless wisdom of the ancient scrolls revealed in this book would transform my life if I would but read and apply them to my life.
Success, he said, starts here.
Each time my dad gave me a book, he would share some variant of this line. Something in the pages of a book spoke to him, inspired him in some way, and he knew that inspired him could also motivate, encourage and inspire me if I would but read and apply the wisdom therein.
Success, he said, starts here.
But, it required something of me as well.
I had to take the time to invest in myself, to read the wisdom contained in the pages of each book he gave me, learn the life lessons the author was sharing, and then apply them to my life.
I had to step in the direction of success.
Og Mandino said it well, "No one else can live your life for you. No one else can succeed for you."
Simply put, YOU are responsible for your success, or the lack thereof.
Chinese philosopher Lau Tsu famously said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." You can have the loftiest dreams and the greatest of ambitions, but if you never do anything more than wish, hope, and dream, your dreams and ambitions remain elusive, and outside your reach.
You have to get started to begin.
Success starts here.
It starts with YOU!
One single step is all it takes to get started, yet far too many people remain fixed, unmoving, simply because they haven't taken the time to answer one simple, basic question to get the clarity they need to move forward.
What does success look like to you?
Success starts here.
This question requires you to take time to reflect, to go within, and to first define success, and then to refine this definition specifically to how you accomplish your goals, dreams, and ambitions. It's educating yourself on success.
The Latin word for education is educa, literally "to draw from within." It's going within the recesses of your mind to discover who you are, why you're here, and who (and what) you want to become. It's finding answers to where you want to go, what you want to accomplish, what you need to learn along the way, and how to know when you've arrived.
Success starts here.
It's like you're putting all the pieces on the chess board in preparation to play the game, and win decisively. Each piece, pawn, knight, rook, bishop, has a specific place to sit on the board, and a specific role to play in the game.
As you're engaging in introspective thinking, you're identifying what you're good at, and how each of these skills, talents, or abilities uniquely serves you in your quest to win and experience success.
Socrates said, "To know yourself is the beginning of wisdom."
Going within gives you an opportunity to really get to know yourself, to see yourself for who you truly are, and to determine what is required to become the person you ultimately want to become.
It's taking that first, uncomfortable step on the journey of a thousand miles.
Success starts here.
Why is this important?
You're going to spend the rest of your life with yourself, so you might as well get to know this person better than anyone else. If you don't know who you are and who you want to become, you've already set yourself up for failure.
Why?
Because YOU are responsible for your success, or the lack thereof.
I believe everyone was put on this earth ON purpose, FOR a purpose. You were born to be successful, to rise to your full potential, and to achieve your passion and calling in life.
This can only happen when you know what success looks like to you, and what is required of you to achieve it.
Remember, Black Belt Leaders are MASTERS of who they are and what they do. This only comes from a daily, intentional act to take one more step toward success, learning and growing, and becoming a better version of yourself each day in the process.
I've previously talked about the Law of the Mirror. A mirror shows us as we are, right now, in this moment, including our imperfections. As we're learning and growing, we can return to the mirror and see how we're improving, as well as what we need to continue to work on.
I remember working out as a young man. I'd go to the gym, pump iron with all my might, and run home to see the results. Initially, not a lot to see. But over time, as I continued, my muscles enlarged, my body got stronger, and I could see the results of all the hours of hard work paying off.
Success works the same way.
We start on the success journey, and initially, we don't see a lot of change. But if we are persistent, we continue, and we start to see those tangible signs of growth, maturity, and improvement in key areas of our lives.
It's important, essential, to have those reflective "Man in the Mirror" or "Woman in the Mirror" moments so we can see where we are, remember where we came from, and see what remains to get us to where we want to be.
We get to reflect on what we've learned or experienced, the challenges we've overcome, the things we've learned about ourselves (and others) along the way, and the gifts, talents, and abilities we've discovered, developed, and deployed to make success not just a possibility, but a reality in our lives.
Og Mandino, in his classic tale, said it well, "I will persist until I succeed."
Success starts here.
It starts with YOU!
You can't become a Black Belt MASTER of Who You Are until you first discover who you can become. Understanding what you believe, and why. Discovering things you didn't know you were capable of doing and mastering those things. Learning what has yet to be discovered about YOU that can take you even higher, farther, and faster than you ever imagined.
Success starts here.
It starts with YOU!