What is your perception of how you can be successful? I discovered that most people are capable of defining what success is to them; however, how to be successful is what eludes them. Some believe that success is having certain possessions such as power, fame, or prestige. If this is a person’s belief of what constitutes success, then these things will be their signal that they’ve made it. On the other hand, others may say that success is achieving set goals or reaching that certain place when their soul is completely content and worry free. Despite what you believe what success is for you, how to gain it is an entirely different ball game.
Why is it that most people never reach the pinnacle of their own concept of success? What is the barrier that locks away their dreams and aspirations into a personal prison system and keeps them trapped in their own world of underachievement? It may not be as simple as one blockage, but several blockades. People may live their lives behind a series of cell doors where different keys are necessary to unlock their success from incarceration. Moreover, while people may think there is only one, or maybe two obstacles hindering them, it can be multiple hindrances. The truth of the matter is that if you can define what success is to you, why do you find it difficult to achieve it? Let us take a short walk into your belief system because this may hold the keys to your prison doors.
What you believe about something, based on your subconscious thoughts, can mean the difference between success and failure. You see, some people believe they do not deserve to achieve their personal concept of success because they may not have worked as hard, or because of the bad things they have done in their past. Others may feel that they are not as talented or articulate, and therefore, without fail, they sabotage their success. Now, this may seem odd, but some people believe that God has sentenced them to a life of mediocrity or that God destined only a small number of people to be rich and successful. This could not be further from the truth.
I do not want you to be shocked by this statement; but God wants you successful. However, God left success or being successful up to you. I am asking you to put your defenses down and listen very carefully to what I am about to say. God placed within your DNA the potential to be successful at whatever you put your hands to do. However, our understanding of success may be obscured. The real concern should be… does the attainment of certain particular goals produce genuine satisfaction in your heart. For as much as I know people, getting that top position with the corner office or buying that new car or even experiencing nominal success in your business is only the external picture of success. Moreover, achieving one or all of these does not necessarily guarantee internal success, which is peace and happiness.
If success is not measured in terms of possessions, status or performance, then how can it be defined? It is a great feeling to land that huge deal or to negotiate the biggest sale of your career or to marry the person of your dreams. Nevertheless, what happens to you when the money from your sale or huge deal runs low and the notoriety diminishes, or you have marital problems with the spouse of your dreams? Will your success and happiness go out with the misfortunes? Money is great to have and success is a plus, but understanding what defines you as a person cannot be tied up in your finite understanding of success.
Oftentimes, what we call success really isn’t success at all. When you discover who you are, what you are designed by God to do, and where you are suppose to be, that will be the greatest accomplishment of your life. Life will no longer be an experiment or test to be determined by unchallenged failed results. Thomas Edison, with limited education because he did not attend college, still believed that he would create the first light bulb. After over seven hundred attempts, and believe you me, he challenged every one of his failures, he eventually accomplished his goal. Thomas Edison believed that he could help this world by doing his part…he lit up the world.
Defining yourself does not start with your beginnings. George Washington Carver was born of Missouri slaves, yet he did not allow his beginning to determine his end. He attended Iowa State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1894 and a master’s in 1896. He then joined the faculty of Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. His attempts to find crop alternatives to cotton led him to the peanut; eventually he created more than 325 products from the humble legume, helping to create demand for the plant and establish it as a major American crop. Carver also worked with sweet potatoes, soybeans and pecans, among other plants, and is often credited with changing the face of agriculture in the American south. George Washington Carver once said, “Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth.” You are God’s creation and God wants nothing more than for you to succeed with the life He gave to you. Don’t give up on God; He has not given up on you.
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
~ George Washington Carver
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