Success Built on a Moral Foundation

All successful people say that success is based on hard work. That if you work really hard and work harder than everyone else you will be successful. I do not necessarily agree with that. There are people who work hard all over the world every day and struggle putting food on the table. What I do believe is that success is built on a foundation that is morally sound. When this foundation is, laid success will look different from what the majority expects. 

To begin building a moral foundation you must be a person with integrity. I define integrity as you and your word being one in the same. You are not a person who is wishy washy because you do what you say and you say what you do. This, of course, is based on moral soundness. Meaning that you do what is right regardless of the cost. To add to this, you must also be concerned about others. You will be a person who realizes that you cannot get to where you are going without the help of others and in doing so you bring them up as well. You must also be a person of character. By this, you must focus on build yourself into a person who is the same regardless of where you are and who you are with. Building one's character requires that you take an honest look at yourself and face the real you. Then begin the demanding work of dealing with your character flaws and reinforcing the good about you.

Success is not just working more hours or dedicating more effort to a project. What success is, is the building of a moral foundation where you look to succeed by being a person of integrity so that others around you know that you and your word are one in the same. People will rest in the fact that you are not a chameleon but that you are true to yourself and others at all times. This foundation also rest on knowing that your success is based on others around you so you focus on making those around you better as well. So maybe I got it wrong. Success does require hard work it is just centered on building a moral foundation.

Character Key of the Day: Live Life

Learn to live life and enjoy it for what it is. Do not be so consumed with trying to live such as earning money, paying bills and all of that other stuff. Of course we have to do all of the mundane things but you should not get so caught up in the mundane that you forget to live. Even if you are at a job you do not enjoy do the things you do enjoy when not at work and if possible try to find a job that encompasses your passion. Enjoy family and friends because life is nothing without them and without them memories cannot be made. Pursue your passion with intensity and let success be the pursuit of your passion and not money or fame. We all have one life to live and the choice to live it to the fullest or just make do. Live life!

The Illusion of Power

 

     Through out history all over the world people have chased after power and have often used all kinds of means to attain it. This quest for power has lead to wars, the deaths of many as well as the oppression of many people. In our society, power can come in many forms such as through possessing a lot of money, position (government, politics, business, etc.) and physical. Even through the imagination of man he has created characters such as Superman and other comic book characters to satisfy his longing for power. The problem with attaining power in any form requires that you must work even harder to keep it because of the fact that others want what you have.

     What is true power?  I believe that if one has real power then no one, regardless of who it is, can deprive you of it. True power is not found in money, position or physical means but is actually based on a different set of rules that few have come to master. In order to have true power it must come from within and it must be realized and not acquired. Power is based upon realizing who you are and developing yourself so that you are in the position walk in your destiny. Having true power enables you to control your own destiny instead of others controlling it for you. Just like supporting a cause isn't support until you invest time, money and effort into it, you must have skin in the game to obtain true power. All one has to do is look at great people of history who had true power and they all had something in common. They knew who they were, developed it and had skin in the game (made a sacrifice). With true power, you can be an employee but get paid what you think you worth instead of settling.

     True power can only come from within and it never seeks to dominate others but instead causes others around you to improve. You be willing to invest in yourself and make the sacrifice of doing the hard work of looking within and dealing with the good, bad and the ugly. Never have a false sense of who you are and learn humility and meekness (strength under control). Dealing with who you are on the inside while at the same time developing your talents and gifts will cause you to become a very powerful person, which is someone who writes their own story and controls their own destiny.

Experiencing Growth Pain

As a parent it is always interesting to see your children grow and go through all of the stages of development.  Some of it is amusing to experience while some of it can be down right painful.  I remember experiencing growth pains in my legs as I grew taller.  It was not all that enjoyable because I did not understand the reason for the pain until my mother explained to me what was happening.  I can also remember the emotional growth pains I experienced wanting to be my own person and making my own decisions.  Although we are now adults we still experience growth pains.  Growth is a constant in life and if we ever stop growing we start to experience death and with growth there sometimes comes pain. This pain has a purpose and when we realize this we can begin to focus on the end result instead of the discomfort.  Many people often give up during the growth process because the pain and discomfort is too much to bear which is a travesty because many times the finished line was very close.  Learning how to endure to the end is key to allowing the growth process to work because life is a long distance race and not a sprint.  Focus on your vision and most of all never lose hope and keep the faith. 

Character Key of the Day: Enjoy Life

It is very important that you learn to enjoy life.  To enjoy every moment of life whether it is the good,the bad and the ugly, enjoying every step of the way. It is so important to enjoy the entire ride because at the end of the day life is about the memories you make.  Trouble doesn't last always so it there is no reason to dwell on it.  Get the lessons that you can out of the difficulties and just enjoy the ride and remember that you will be able to look back on those times and laugh.  Enjoy!

The Quiet Radical

All across the country there are quiet radicals.  They are the ones who are not satisfied with the status quo but no one will listen to them.  They look at the world differently than most and have creative solutions to problems and don't believe in getting more strict and doing the same thing only harder but calling it different.  They are dreamers who dream about doing great things.  They have visions that can turn the world upside down.  The only problem is that no one will listen.  The question is why won't anyone listen?  The answer is that they are unconventional and that scares most people.  The quiet radicals are not like outspoken people who get listened to.  Outspoken people are conventional and safe who people listen to because they are just simply loud.  Quiet radicals feel like outsiders and because of that they can only see the problems but see the solution very clearly.  Because of the fact that they are unconventional they are never listened too and these creative solutions are never heard.  To be honest, most are not interested in listening.  Isn't our society based on mutual respect and listening to different ideas?  The quiet radical is exempt from this.  As we look at history we see quiet radicals changing the world.  Ignored at first they were and are persistent until that breakthrough comes.  So if you are a quiet radical please stay persistent and keep that dream alive until your breakthrough comes.

Why Everything in Life Will Cost

The other day I took my wife and children to the dollar movies to see the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon." It was a very interesting movie about a group of vikings that are seeking to destroy all of the dragons that live in their area. The chief viking has a son named hiccup who has arrived at the age where he must learn how to kill dragons himself. The only thing is that he really doesn't want to. He befriends an injured dragon and helps this dragon to fly and along the way learns that what the vikings know about the dragons is all wrong. He ultimately ends up in a climatic battle at the end and it ends up costing him a lot.

What occurred to me was that there is a cost to everything we do. What keeps that average person from committing crimes is that they are not willing to pay the price of being a criminal. People who become successful in life have to pay the price for success. Sometimes that means being away from your family or missing important events. Everything has a price and we must decide what we are willing to pay. Even doing nothing will cost you in the long run. So we must master the art of figuring out what to pay in order to get the results we want out of life.