The Road to Lifestyle

Sometimes we simply need to be reminded... "The key is that when you do run aground, instead of beating yourself up for being such a "failure," remember that there are no failures in life. There are only results."  - Tony Robbins

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently." - Henry Ford And thank God for the opportunity!

Dear Potential Recruit, Something you said yesterday and something you did recently have been weighing on my mind. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you. First off, yesterday you had mentioned that if you were not successful or perhaps if you did not see the outcome you had anticipated you would be “disappointed.” To that I must let you know that part of being successful is learning to discipline your disappointment and beyond that is realizing that “Failure is your teacher. Regret is your enemy.” Most people think that failure is on one side of the equation, success on the other, and that they are in the middle. But it doesn’t work that way. You must blast through failure in order to achieve success… failure is an integral part of the process. Furthermore, “There’s a big difference between what’s lost by not trying and what’s lost by not succeeding.” Secondly, when you filled out the recruiting sheet you annotated the following in the income categories: Income la...

"Would you like me to give you the formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure ... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all ... You can be discouraged by failure--or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the other side of failure." - Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Founder of IBM (as quoted in The Slight Edge: Secret to a $uccessful Life by Jeff Olson)

I've pondered the Cookie Syndrome a bit more... as far as the background: Part 1: My mother taught us to practice self denial... if we were offered something we were repeatedly told to say no thank you... even if we actually wanted what was being offer. Part 2: I attended an event at a hotel for my business and there was a display at the front desk of the hotel with assorted fresh-baked cookies. I wanted a cookie. I really wanted a cookie. But I was not staying at that hotel, nor was I the one paying for the conference room we were using therefore I felt that I was not entitled to a cookie. So I did not take one. My friend on the other hand walked up and started chatting with the front desk clerk, grabbed a cookie, and went on his merry way. He was the one paying for the conference room but I believe that even if he had not been a paying guest he would have taken a cookie if he had wanted one. I know, all of this analyzing over a simple little cookie. But I think it is very telling...

Now, I feel that I must disclose that my ability to visualize is not always at its peak. I have visualized and not been able to manifest that which I tried to conjure. But I take full responsibility for my ineptitude. It was my lack of clarity and focus that caused my failure (there's that word again!). Just last week I was listening to a cassette tape (yes, you read correctly... cassette tape) that mentioned Robert Louis Stevenson--the author, essayist, poet... does Treasure Island ring a bell? When Stevenson's faith waned as to whether or not he was truly in control of his life he was said to perform the following exercise. He would visualize with specificity something that he wanted and he'd wait for it to manifest itself in his life. That day I had a storm cloud hovering over me and my wings seemed to have been covered in mud. I was a bit blue and frustrated with my progress in certain areas of my life; yes! I have those days too! So I decided to give the exercise ...

OK, so back to that word failure... it's still rattling around in my head. I remembered a story I read out of the 2005 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (one of my life goals is to have a children's book on the market that I have both written and illustrated!). One of their featured authors was a woman named Kelly DiPucchio . Kelly was a stay-at-home Mom turned writer and from 1994 to 1998 "...she continuously wrote and submitted her work--and continuously got rejected." In 1999, she got the idea for a book about a family of pigs... Bed Hogs . Having been unable to place her previous work on her own and having received nearly 200 rejection letters in the process, she decided to hire an agent to market her lovely wares. Now, when I first read the story I said to myself, at some point I would have thought, "Maybe I'm just not that good." But Kelly persisted and through her agent was able to land her very first book deal which repo...

OK, so I mentioned that word... failure. It's not truly failure unless you learn something from it. Or is it? Failure is failure! Embrace it, don't be afraid of it! Don't let it hold you back. I love the scene from the animated film, and forgive me because at this moment I can't remember the title but it will come to me--Scout's honor!--where the little boy is asked to repair the peanut butter and jelly squirting machine. And he works on it and he thinks it's fixed. Then he tries to use it and it makes a big mess... I mean peanut butter and jelly on everyone. And he braces himself... for the yells, the screams, the "What were you thinking kid?!?" And the first thing his friends/family say? That was... AMAZING! That was WONDERFUL! That was the most SPECTACULAR failure we have ever seen! And he's shocked and he's excited. You see, he is an inventor and he has now been given the lesson of a lifetime! The GIFT of a lifetime! It will shape his very ...

OK, I have a lot to say. I've been holding it in for a long time. And it's finally time to let it out. Because I can't keep it in any longer. The road to riches is hard. Everything isn't easy. And life isn't worth living unless you share yourself with others. This will help heal the hurts and the sting of failure. I will be victorious. I will succeed. Others have blazed a trail; I walk in the shadows of greatness. There is no such thing as try. There is only do... or die.