Relax and Achieve More

When our manly poodle, Prince, wants something he thinks he should have, he scratches your arm, looks at you with pleading eyes, and then he whines. Sometimes it works; a lot of times it doesn't. The same goes for us; desperately wanting to achieve something sometimes makes us whiney, nervous, and desperate.

According to Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich, There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it (31).

On Tuesday I achieved a goal that had been eluding me for several years and you will be surprised to know how small but slippery this goal was: to run a mile without stopping.

One of the things that kept me from this feat was my insistence in running too fast. My sister, an accomplished runner, kept telling me to run, not as if away from the angry tiger, but to run s-l-o-w-l -y. I would try, but get impatient, speed up, and have to stop from being winded. And sometimes my knees would hurt. So I put that goal on the back burner.

And it's not that I'm in terrible shape. I swim or walk briskly every day and have been an exerciser all my life.

This past Tuesday, at the ECU gym, I decided to run some laps. I started walking, and then decided to run. I ran two laps, and then three, and then four. At that point I knew I was going to make it to 7 laps, which equals a mile. And I did so, easily and effortlessly.

I think it was because I relaxed. If you're reminded of a goal that seems always beyond your reach, think about relaxing and it may come to you in an unexpected moment.

Finding the Right Opportunities in 2009

Do you see the forest or the trees?

When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.

This excerpt is revised and updated version of Napoleon Hill's classic book, Think and Grow Rich. He tells the story about a man, Mr. Barnes, who wanted very much to work with Thomas Edison, and the process through which that desire manifest itself. Barnes had to start with a menial job in Edison's company. It was much later that his opportunity showed up in the form of a business development that everyone else in the office pooh-poohed. The "doomed-for-failure" innovation was the first dictating machine that ending up making a pot of money for both Edison and Barnes.

So, the question revolves around how exactly to recognize an opportunity that is coming in a different form, and from a different direction that what one is expecting. And if it's something unexpected, how can it be recognized?

The reality is, you don't always know exactly which of the multiple options vying for your attention, energy, and other resources is the right one to take to achieve your goal.

What is certain, however, is that inaction and lack of follow-through takes you nowhere.

If you realize that what we often call failure, is simply part of the achievement process, then you understand the importance of moving in the direction that seems to be the right one. Take action now, and the further along you go, the more clarity you gain about what works and what doesn't.

Are You Ready to Make a Difference?

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for opportunity when it comes.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British prime minister and novelist

I don't think high achievers necessarily know all the steps they need to take to achieve their goals. I read an account of Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, who years ago worked on a project to decide which product would best sell online. The model he drew his initial conclusions from, was the retail catalog industry. If you're old enough to remember what it was like to get a dozen lovely catalogues in the mail, you may have trouble recalling any book catalogues, unless it was a special book niche, like for homeschoolers. Nevertheless, he built an incredibly successful online company without knowing in advance that Amazon would transform the retail book industry.

One of my lessons for 2008 was precisely this: you can drive from Atlanta to New York without seeing the whole road. You can even get their in fog and darkness, seeing only a few hundred yards in front of you at a time.

Now one could argue that one does have a map to guide you on the road trip, while the maps for success in life are not so clear. How many times have we wished for the divine to send us a detailed blueprint of what we're supposed to do in our lives?

The truth is, the blueprint may be there, but you haven't taken time to take a close look at it. The reality of a lifetime of achievement, is that the map exists for who you are, not for what you do. Actions are vitally important, but they follow from the person you are.

As you are well aware, Mixonian loves to assign homework, so here's your task for today: Think about the kind of person you want to be. You are mostly there already, but everyone has areas they wish to polish, that's essentially our lifework. If you're not sure what kind of person you want to be, consider what kind of person achieves the goals that you would like to achieve.

For example, what kind of person has her own creative service business? What kind of person earns enough income to be present with his family? What kind of person enjoys a debt-free peace of mind? What kind of person is fit?

I think it was Aristotle who said something like (how's that for specific?): The thought determines the action, the action determines the habit, the habit determines the destiny.

Be yourself of course, but be your best self. Then, not only will you be ready for an opportunity, you'll be able to recognize that golden chance to make an impact.

Do You Have Faith to Achieve?

by Ruben Camacho

On my way back home, while waiting at the airport, I was thinking about the master class I had just given. There was this marvelous young student, who, like many others, had come with a great desire to learn, to improve, and to play very well. Nevertheless, and also like many others do, he carried with him a sense of uncompromising severity with himself, an obsession for not getting one single note wrong, and feeling of being extremely demanding of himself. As I heard him play, he reminded me of myself when I was a young musician. He had clearly assimilated the belief, “No pain, no gain.”

Many people are convinced that achievement only comes through great effort and self-discipline. It’s something we’ve heard all our lives, something we don’t usually question or challenge. But sometimes we find ourselves in a situation in which the tremendous effort we are making doesn’t seem to be enough.

Jesus and Nazareth, Buddha, and other spiritual masters have spoken of the importance of faith in a divine source, and yet it seems we don’t want to listen. Yet, I believe faith is a factor that makes all the difference in our ability to achieve the results we desire.

The importance of faith is also mentioned by great scientists, including William Atkinson, Albert Einstein, and Alexander Bell. In many of their writings, they articulate the idea that one must believe in order to see, not see to believe, as we are usually conditioned.

If you focus on learning or achievement from a perspective of faith, with a clear purpose in mind, the path you need to take becomes shorter and even enjoyable. With faith, you can lose that incredible pressure that being so demanding with yourself generates, and you can achieve wonderful results. Working on any project with faith, and even love, we can achieve more with less wear and tear, and even enjoy the process.

Faith and love can transform your work into joy.