May 15, 2007
PERSISTENCE
by Les Brown
I believe there are three kinds of people. The first group is winners, who know what they want and understand their potential and the possibilities. They take life on. The second group is losers, who don't have a clue as to who they are. They allow circumstances to shape their lives and their self-image.
The third group is potential winners — I call them wayward winners. Their lives are just slightly out of alignment. It may be that they just need to learn how to be real winners. Perhaps they've hit a bump or two that has knocked them off course and they are temporarily befuddled. Many things can send us off course temporarily — a failed relationship, a lost job, financial problems, unformed goals, a lack of parental support or illness, for example.
Wayward winners are not lost souls; they just need some tweaking, coaching and nudging to get them back on course. A map might be nice. Many of these wayward winners are easily identifiable because they are always searching.
Right now, there are many wayward winners out there braving rain, sleet and snow because they too still believe that they have untapped talents. They attend motivational seminars and listen to inspirational tapes and they plunge onward, believing that sooner or later they will find their way again.
Other wayward winners have temporarily given up. They are damaged and disoriented, their confidence badly eroded. They tend to drift through life numbly. Their friends, relatives and loved ones may see that they are out of sync and wonder why they can't be satisfied. . .why they don't settle down. They wonder how people who have such obvious abilities and great potential can be so disoriented and unsure.
It is difficult for others to understand the rawness of a broken heart or the aching emptiness of an unguided spirit. You and I know. We have been there. Wayward winners know that there are possibilities out there, but too often they feel locked out of them. Some are afraid to risk any more because of what they have risked and lost already.
I know now that as difficult as it may be for you wayward winners to do, it is necessary to continue to test yourselves. Even though you have been hurt before, it is the only way to grow. We all have the capacity to change, to lead meaningful and productive lives by awakening our consciousness.
You know there are going to be tough times as you go about changing your life, so brace yourself and you will be able to handle them. When you get into your seat on an airplane, what is the first thing they tell you to do? Fasten your seat belt. Brace yourself for the turbulence.
When you decide to move your life to the next level of accomplishment, you must fasten your mental and spiritual seat belts because it is going to be a while before you reach that comfortable level again. You will reach it, but you must endure the turbulence of change in order to grow.
Try this technique to help you through the difficult times of change and growth. Find four reasons why you cannot succumb to your fears and your troubles. Find those deep sources of motivation that can lift you out of the turbulence and above the clouds.
You must change your life because, for example:
It is in these rocky early moments of bringing change to your life that you discover who you are. In the prosperous times, you build what is in your pocket. In the tough times, you strengthen what is in your heart. And that is when you gain insight into yourself, insight that leads to self-mastery and an expansion of your consciousness as a life-force in both your personal and professional lives.
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Les Brown is the founder of Les Brown Enterprises. To learn more about Les and his trainings go to his website www.lesbrown.com.
© 2003, Reprinted with permission from Cutting Edge Media's Weekly Training Newsletter.
Filed under Affiliate Marketing, Home Business, Leadership, Personal Growth by Vic Bilson
Comments on PERSISTENCE »
Oh, how I wish I had that magic "persistence" pill that people could take to keep them moving forward toward their success.
I wish that I would have had one years ago when my life was in turmoil and the changes I was experiencing seemed to keep knocking me down. I can't count the number of times I gave up and had to start all over again. I was a wayward winner, as Les Brown describes in the article below.
Had I not quit… I would have experienced success much sooner in life. You see, my success has always been just over the next hill… only I couldn't see it because of the difficulties that clouded my vision.
Then, one day several years ago… all that was about to change. I woke up to the fact I had been striving my whole life with little to show for my efforts. And, why was that? Because I was always giving up too soon. That was going to change!
When I finally took responsibility for myself and mapped out a plan for success - a plan that DID NOT include failure, I began to experience the success that had for so long eluded me.
While I don't have a pill called "persistence" - I did discover that quality hidden within myself and as I began drawing upon it, the cloud that impaired my vision began to clear.
You, too, have that quality of persistence within yourself. I believe you can find it if you'll only look. And, you'll begin to experience more success in your life as you claim it for yourself.