People often ask, “What is the ONE THING that, if I do that ONE THING, I will have a successful in life? What’s the secret? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” I have to answer that as honestly as I can from my experience. There is no single “secret” to success. Success is not a checklist of things that, if I just check those things off, then I will be successful. No. Success is not a to-do list. It’s a mindset. It is true that success is a process that, if engaged in, you will enjoy those benefits. However, it comes with a change in mindset.
That being said, there is one aspect that sticks out, to me at least, more than the others, and that is the aspect of personal development. In order to change we must know that there is something to be changed. Then we must know how to change it. That is where personal development comes in: giving someone a roadmap to follow on their drive to their life vision.
But, what is personal development? What does that really mean? Very simply and at face value, it means any way in which we can improve, or develop, ourselves. With that definition, everything we do to better ourselves could be classified as personal development. Eating a healthy meal instead of McDonald’s could be considered as personal development. Going to the gym to work out instead of sitting at home and watching the television – or, as some call it, the “electronic income reducer” – could be considered personal development. Listening to Zig Ziglar instead of rock music could be considered personal development.
One of the best definitions of personal development I’ve heard comes from the quote by Jim Rohn that is at the beginning of this blog: “Success is something you attract because of the person you become. So, the key is in becoming a more attractive person.” This is what personal development is ultimately about – becoming more attractive to success, whatever that means for you. Whatever area you approach personal development from, it is ultimately about bettering yourself for your own benefit as well as those around you.
Most people have the wrong idea about what success is and what it takes to be successful in life. They look at life thinking, “What can I get out of life?” They have the formula of success backwards. They think that once they HAVE a million dollars they will begin to DO the things that millionaires do, then they will BE a millionaire. That is the wrong way to look at it. We must BE a millionaire in our own mind FIRST. As I said earlier, success is a MINDSET. If we don’t see ourselves as a millionaire, we will never become one, or if we do, we will never stay one. We must BE a millionaire in our mind, then will we DO the things that millionaires do, and then we will have the $1 million. The thing that we must realize is this: once we have the million dollars what is important is not the money, fancy cars, beautiful house, or successful business. None of the material possessions we pick up on our journey of success are important. Jim Rohn has another great teaching on this. True happiness is not achieved with what we get. Happiness is contained in what we become. It’s the person we become in the process of achieving what we want for our life vision.
What many people think of when personal development comes to mind is the aspect of leadership. This is usually what I mean when I say to listen to personal development material. This is best characterized by my most favorite quote from Zig Ziglar, pictured below. The reason why this is my most favorite quote from him, and possibly from anyone in history, is because it not only tells us why we are where we are in our lives, it also tells us how to get to where we want to go in life.
Think about it for a moment. What do most people allow to slip into their mind? Is the majority of it positive? Is it any wonder then why the world is in such a deplorable state? People always say, “We have to DO something to change the world, or else…” Though they mean it in the best possible way, that is not the way to go about it. First of all, simply TALKING about change does not bring about change. Second of all, change does not start with doing. Success is a mindset, not a skill set.
This is exemplified by Jim Rohn’s “5 major pieces to the life puzzle,” which is the title of one of his books. The first piece that must be put in place is philosophy, also known as our paradigm, worldview, belief system, etc. Action isn’t even the second piece. Positive action, at least that is lasting, comes after you have the success mindset, which creates the attitude of a winner, and only then can the movement toward success, or a better lifestyle, be maintained with any amount of certainty.
The question then becomes, “How does one change his or her paradigm?” This is where Zig Ziglar’s quote comes into play. We change our mind by changing what we allow into it on a daily basis. This is how I have gotten huge progress in my own personal growth, the details of which I will share in a later post. At the age of 15 ½, I was turned on to personal development and changing my paradigms to view myself as someone worthy of success and the admiration and respect of others. In just a matter of months, I noticed an attitude change, not only in my view of myself, but also in my view of the world. I began to see the world as a brighter place. I started to see the good in everything, instead of focusing on the negative. This is what has led to the massive growth that I have experienced in the past year.
When we start at the root of change – i.e. changing what we allow into our mind then letting that cup overflow into attitude, then action, then results, and finally a fulfilling lifestyle – the process may take a long time to complete, if ever. For me, I was only 15 when I started listening to men like Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn, so I had less paradigms to bust open and free myself from. This is different from a person who may be 65 and starts to go through the same process. At that point, if he/she was never exposed to that type of material and teaching before, there are numerous deep cultural gaps that must be crossed, and therefore, the process may take longer, depending on how deeply he/she commits himself to the growth. However, the results are sure to show, no matter how long it may seem to take.
This has been called the “slight edge,” by Jeff Olson in his book by that title. This is based on one of Jim Rohn’s messages on the difference between success and failure. In this teaching, failure comes down to one thing: a few simple errors in judgement repeated every day. Success on the other hand is simply this: a few simple disciplines practiced every day. This is what separates winners from losers. Losers repeat simple errors in judgement daily. Winners repeat little, simple things that seem to not make that big of a difference. This is the reason it is called the “slight edge.” It is the simple things that give winners the slight edge over everyone else.
There’s an old saying that I’m sure that you the reader have heard many, many times: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” That is the simple discipline: eating an apple. The saying is not “A Hershey’s chocolate bar, McDonald’s hamburger, and diet Coke a day…” That is an example of a simple error in judgement: eating junk food. What if we decide to take that little advice and decide to eat an apple per day. That’s not too hard, right? I mean, how hard is it to core an apple and eat it, or simply eat the flesh right off of the core? It’s very simple. Let’s say we do this for a month. Then, one day, we get busy and forget about the apple. What’ll happen then? Will you all of a sudden be sick the next day just because you forgot that one apple? No, of course not. But, does that mean that you will never get sick if you never eat another apple ever again? Again, the answer is no. Just because you don’t get sick for missing an apple that one time doesn’t mean you will never be sick. Just because disaster doesn’t fall on you the first day you make a simple error in judgement doesn’t mean disaster isn’t coming. In this example, you could substitute anything that could help you grow in any area of your life. Health is just one example that everyone understands.
There is an analogy that drives home this point well. Let’s say you want to cut a rock in half with a hammer and chisel. Let’s say you count how many strikes it takes to open the rock, and you find it’s exactly 100. Let me ask you a question: which strike broke open the rock?
Each day is a choice. You can choose to be a volunteer victim of the system. You can choose to take the blue pill. You can, if you want, continue to participate in the perpetual cycle of fear that the powers that shouldn’t be have set up. Or you can take the red pill, as I did, and discover who you really are, what the world is really like, and what the past truly looks like. Taking the red pill has different layers to it, and there are many red pills you can take – vaccines, GMO’s, conspiracy theories, self-empowerment, and a whole host of others – and not all of them are negative. In the realm of leadership, it is about getting past the mindset of being just another cog in the wheel of industry and becoming responsible for your own life and choices instead of relying on the set of choices that someone else has set before you. I have decided to take all of the red pills that I can possibly find. I want the truth. That is my only motivation for doing anything: getting past the lies that the “power elite” have set up.
Either choice, red or blue pill, is one only you can make. No one can make that for you. And whichever one you decide to take, I will respect your decision. I may not agree with your decision, if you choose the blue pill, but the one thing I will never do is criticize your decision. We all have a freedom of choice. I may not agree with what you believe, but I will fight to the death for your right to believe what you believe.
Super Success 