How to be successful. Oceans of words have been written on this topic, video programmes, online courses, seminars.
Who hasn’t read at least one book about success? Or watched the last free video available on the net? Everybody want to be successful. What is that missing element that triggers into success?
I think that there are many factors, but I am really intrigued by a most common situation successful people have faced, sooner or later. Many of these happy beings have been extremely unhappy before to achieve what they did.
If you read a book on personal development, there is a chance that the author will tell you his story, of the days where “everything was going wrong”. Eckhart Tolle, Anthony Robbins, Joe Vitale, Stephen Richards, just to name few, lived an utterly miserable life before to drastically change their living by 180 degrees, from desperation to incredible achievements.
Apart these exceptions, a “normal person” works all day, saving to pay the bills and to cover the mortgage, living an ordinary life made of routine, with dreams in the closet that remain as such.
Our society labels the former as successful, and the latter ordinary, boring people. A person who wakes up early in the morning to feed her family and who tries to protect it under a roof, planning years ahead, to my eyes is not boring, neither ordinary. They show qualities such as persistence, sense of balance, love for they relatives. They must be prized for what they are doing in their lives, for they qualities. They are not successful, though. All their good skills cannot by themselves make them to the top of the achievers.
What is the missing element, the distinction between achieving and surviving, when we have equal powers and capabilities? Many successful people even started from a disadvantaged position, winning the race against any odds.
Is it possible that their sufferance made them experiencing such sudden changes in their lives? How did they change their mindset from clearly a negative one to a winner one?
At some point they believed they could change, they put so much emotional power in their thoughts, they change reality, almost instantly. Eckhart Tolle was inspired after a night where he experienced so much pain that his life was on the verge of being taken away. Tony Robbins lived in a miserable flat in LA suburbs, Joe Vitale was homeless.
I am wondering if sufferance is a prerogative of achievement.
Fortunately is not.
You can manifest incredible things only when you put all your energy in your thoughts, and have a firm faith in change. When we endure extreme conditions we can get to a point where we can change everything, the force of desperation. I believe we don’t need to be desperate to be able to reproduce the exact conditions of many successful people. It’s true that is difficult to be able to gather all the deepest energies at our command without the automatic mechanisms put in motion by our survival instincts, but those conditions can be certainly reproduced, it’s just brain chemistry after all.
The most important aspect is believing. We must absolutely be certain that we can change things with our thoughts and with our consequent actions. Everything we want must be felt real, already there for us. When you visualize something and you can feel that thrill as already in the situation or in possession of the thing, you are on the right way, you are reproducing internal mechanisms in your brain that will yield the right chemicals. Stronger your emotions, closer will be your goal. If you are not convinced 100%, you will have nothing but thin air.
I agree about the extreme challenge to reproduce the exact feelings of a life changing experience, but think about the gains. People with no choice was able to change their life, and you have choice, a clear and conscious decision about who you wish to be.
If you reproduce the conditions, you will reproduce the effects. This means that if one person does something, everybody can do it, and you are in that number, for sure.
There is an old say, “If a fool does something, another fool can do it”
A lot can be said for the struggling aritist who overcomes adversity to succeed. Or the moody, yet talented, superstar, who is forgiven his or her foibles in the name of passion. I like what you’re saying here–succeed and be happy! Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
peace,
mike
livelife365
http://www.livelife365.com/index.php?fuse=Featured%20Videos
I don’t know, Elio…I think that a person does have to experience the lowest of low in order to catapult themselves into a very positive place. There are those who are naturally positive…but most of us need to feel the stress to motivate ourselves.
I come into contact with lots of people who don’t know English and they say they want to learn. I have given several of these types of people the keys for how to learn on their own, and they cannot motivate themselves. I tell them to watch children’s tv, read children’s picture books, and learn new vocabulary every day. I go to the library and rent the books and ‘english for spanish speakers’ tapes and give the materials to them. Not one of the people I’ve done this for would actually read the books, or watch the children’s shows, or consistently listen to the tapes.
I’ve also bought Holosync cd’s for other people and explained the benefits of this type of meditation to them. Neither do these people actually put on the headphones and consistently listen.
So you hit the nail on the head with your comment: The most important aspect is believing.
I’ve realized that I need to first see the desire to learn or change manifested as action (not just words) before I can tell who would pay attention and do the ’studies’ on their own.
I appreciate your blog posts, keep it up!
@Mike
Yes… it looks like it is a matter of how much energy -and its intensity we direct with our thoughts…
@Jessica
You raised an argument large enough to fill a book. When people can’t believe in themselves they will achieve nothing. This happens because of disempowering beliefs, created by social conditions and years of “wrong learning”. Self developement should really be teached at school, as someone said.
Of course we must first tranlate the books:)