In his book, “Awaken the Giant Within,” Anthony Robbins says the following about achieving success:
“Essentially, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It is not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
Remember when someone told you that if you put a little money in the bank every week or from every paycheck, after a while you would have a lot of money? Makes sense, right?
Or how about if you walk every day, or at least several times a week, you’ll lose weight, get fit, drop a size… you name it! You remember?
Okay, how about brushing every day? I know you heard that!
So what the hell do all these things have in common?
No peeking! You actually have to read the article.
Ah OK. We all know and understand that the occasional simple attempt to change our lives, improve them, lose weight or earn more money is not going to work. It is exercise done regularly and frequently over time that improves our body. It is the money that is deposited in the bank from each paycheck that accumulates enough to invest in something expensive. It is brushing our teeth every day that helps control cavities and prevents the dentist from endorsing us.
That little Austrian boy, what’s his name, probably had some good genes going for him. Yet Arnold Schwarzenegger would never have made “Pumping Iron,” gotten discovered, made a lot more movies, married Maria Shriver, and become Governor of the State of California if he only went to the gym once or twice and then I would have left it… .or it only appeared every other Wednesday.
Like many successful people, Ahnald (sorry, couldn’t resist) envisioned a goal for himself, figured out what steps it took to get there, and then was willing to put in the time and effort it took to accomplish those steps on a regular basis. and religious. .
Is it raining and cold today? I have to go to the gym. Don’t feel like exercising? I have to go to the gym. Not only that, if something she tried wasn’t working, she tried to figure out what would work and started over.
Was every step of the way perfect? Of course not. Just watch a few of Arnold’s movies, and you’ll see that some definitely will NOT remind you of the future Governor of California…or Gregory Peck, Charleton Heston, or Gabby Hayes, for that matter. What mattered was that he kept swinging…uh, lifting, and he didn’t give up.
Same with Ronald Regan, by the way.
Or that young black woman born in the segregated city of Birmingham, Alabama, in the mid-1950s? Who would have thought that she would ever have the opportunity to become something. I grew up in the south in the 50’s. I remember what she faced. It wasn’t just two water fountains (white and colored) and three toilets (male, female and colored). That’s almost a drawback compared to being regarded by a large portion of the population as less than human and not being able to even dream of following the paths of achievement open to those who didn’t have the same skin color as her. However, she also had a goal and never stopped working on it despite the obstacles and the almost certain times when she must have felt that her goal must be impossible to achieve.
Today, Condoleezza Rice is one of the most famous and respected women in the world. Her name will go down in history because she had something to work for and she realized that just giving her a casual hit once in a while wouldn’t get her where she wanted to go.
By the way, it was another person with skin the color of hers who would not give up and give up either. Partly due to the sacrifices of people like Martin Luther King, not only was the extra water fountain and bathroom gone, but so were many of the obstacles the girl faced. He didn’t stop trying either, until he couldn’t take it anymore… and that decision wasn’t his.
Choose someone successful. It doesn’t matter if it’s Tiger Woods, Thomas Edison, Donald Trump or Tony Robbins. Heck, Edison even said, “I haven’t failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” How many of us would have given up after two or three tries?
How about that unemployed ex-secretary in Britain? He thought of some goofy characters and wrote a book about them. Twelve publishers rejected his story before one decided to give it a try. Even good friends of his were telling him to give up and get a real job when JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book came out.
An old story I remember from a bazillion (my spell checker says “kazillion” doesn’t exist) years ago was about a sportswriter watching a famous golfer sink a difficult putt. A man next to him snorted and said something like, “I wish I had been lucky enough to be born with his talent.” The sportswriter didn’t say anything at the time, but he thought of all the times he’d seen that same golfer practice over and over again between rounds when he could have been resting.
Yes, we all have different levels of skills and talents. Our parents may or may not have been able to help us. Our genes, or the circumstances of our birth and heredity, may or may not have made it easier for us to achieve this or that. Yet time and time again we can see that the winners…the ones who succeed, aren’t always the most talented, the ones born rich, or the ones whose genes made it easy for them.
So many times in the race of life, the winner is the one who just didn’t stop running.