When you think about success what comes to your mind? I think for most of us it’s the all mighty dollar. When we think of successful people we have a tendency to think of the big house that they live in, or the nice car that they drive or the successful business that they own . Is having money or the things you would really like to have in life success? The question is what is success to you. You here about people who win the lottery, and all of a sudden have more money then sense, and the story is the same every time. They are broke or in more debt in two years then they were before they got the money. How does that work? How can you get more money then you can ever imagine and be broke in a very short amount of time? The answer to that is not a short one. The one thing I can tell you in this short blog is there are principles to having money and keeping it. People that get a large amount of money without the knowledge to know what to do with it, or how to keep it, or even make that sum of money grow bigger will end up in the same place every time. Broke. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe that money is every thing. Having it is only a small part of being wealthy. That’s what makes this whole thing about success so complicated. There are so many aspects of being successful and we always try to put these aspects into categories. Like money, your life, or the spiritual. You have to remember that we are a three-part being. We are the body, mind and soul. I believe that the principles to success are interchangeable between the three. We also have a tendency to pick out one law of success and think, that’s the ticket! You can think positive thoughts all day long, but with no action to back that up you will go nowhere. The same is true for “taking action”. You can work your butt off for years and never get anywhere in life. I know this for a fact. I was a bricklayer for years, and one day I noticed all of the old bricklayers around me, and they were just that, old bricklayers that were too broke to retire, and these are the hardest working guys I’ve ever seen.
So that being said, what is success? I think that Earl Nightingale said it the best in his book “The Strangest Secret in The World”. His definition is “success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal”. It’s a great book and I recommend it to you if you are serious about changing your life. Most of us have this whole thing backwards, I heard someone else put it this way “success is not a result of money, but money is the result of being successful. Meaning you have to be successful before you can earn money. I believe with all my heart that God wants us to be successful in every area of our lives because we are created in his image. We just have to follow his laws and do things his way. He gave us control over only one thing in this life, and that is your mind. The only thing you have any control over in this entire world is your thoughts. No one can tell you what to think. If you do not take control of your mind, it will take control of you. You may want to read that again! Successful people are the ones that take control over their thoughts. Success is a journey not a destination and there is no easy road to get there. You have to want it bad enough to go through all of the crap along the way. A great place to start your journey is to simply read books on success. Or you can surround yourself with the kind of people you would like to be like. Reading is a great way to get started down the right path and you can find all the books you need at the public library. When you are looking for books, remember there is no one book that has all the answers. You will find some little principle in each one that will help you on your journey. I have also found that some principles will not show themselves to you until you are ready for them.
To start your journey I recommend reading the following:
- How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie
- The Strangest Secret in The World – Earl Nightingale
- Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
- The Law of Success – Napoleon Hill
- The Greatest Salesmen in the World – Og Mandino
- The Science of Getting Rich – Wallace Wattles
- The Richest Man In Babylon – George Clason
- The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Peale
This is enough material to last you a long, long time. Remember that most of these books have instructions for you to follow, so do yourself a favor and just do what they say to do! If you have any other inspiring books that have helped you along the way feel free to share them with us, and maybe let us know how they have help you in the past. Thank you for reading my blog post and I hope you are very successful in all areas of your life!
