"We can never succeed until we believe
we'll succeed."
-Keith DeGreen
"We become what we think about."
-Earl Nightingale
In one of his skits, Flip Wilson (dressed
like his famous female character Geraldine) would say, "What you see is
what you get!" As entertaining as
that statement might be, it's not exactly true.
What we see does not always determine what we will get. On the contrary, what we think-what we
believe and pursue with all our strength-is the single most important factor in
determining our level of success, happiness, and joy in life.
That's the lesson taught by the example of
Thomas Edison. Did you know that Edison failed in over six hundred experiments to create
the electric light bulb before finally celebrating the joy of success? Over six
hundred times Edison could see only darkness
and failure, yet HE NEVER QUIT. He knew
that the invention of the light bulb was inevitable-so he determined that he
would be the person to invent it. His
success was not determine by what he saw-but by what he thought.
"What YOU think is what you
get!" This is one of life's greatest success
secrets. Edison
discovered it to be true. So have people
like Armand Hamer, Mary Kay, William Randolph Hearst, George Washington Carver,
Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightengale, Napoleon Hill, and Walt Disney. Study their writings. Read their biographies. These are people who learned to establish,
reformulate, and forever ever amplify their life's goals based on their
visions, hopes, and dreams.
In the biblical book of Proverbs we read "without a vision, people perish." Terrific counsel! So how do we develop a vision for our
lives. I would like to offer one great
suggestion that works for every successful person I know. Follow this suggestion and you will begin to
develop a mental vision for your life that will give you strength, direction,
and purpose.
Keep a Journal. Your journal should be different from a
diary. In a diary we record at the end
of the day our thoughts and reflections on the circumstances of our lives. A journal should begin at the other end of
your waking hours. Use your journal to
record your life in advance. Write down
your hopes and dreams. Do it every
day! Expand your dreams into goals that
can move you step by step towards the fulfillment of your life's
ambitions. Let your journal become your
autobiography in progress.
Study after study of those who engage in
such a process of visioning and goal setting reveals that these persons are
immediately launched into the top 5% of successful people in America
"Without a vision, people perish." Conversely, people
with vision will thrive. Why? Because a vision provides hope! There is nothing like hope to get your mind
and spirit moving in a positive.
Consider the study conducted on
concentration camp survivors. What were the common characteristics of those who
survived the torture and disease in the camps? Victor Frankl was a living
answer to that question. He was a successful psychiatrist before the Nazis
threw him into such a camp. "There is only one reason," he said in a speech,
"why I am here today. What kept me alive was you. Others gave up hope. I
dreamed. I dreamed that someday I would be here, telling you how I, Victor
Frankl, had survived the Nazi concentration camps. I've never been here before,
I've never seen any of you before, I've never given this speech before. But in
my dreams, in my dreams, I have stood before you and said these words a
thousand times."
Remember that it is not what you
see but what you think that determines what you get!
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