Misguided about Success

Stop Playing & Start Succeeding

by Rob Willis

For years I have considered myself a “Student of Success”, I have spent thousands of dollars on Success books, CD’s, DVD’s, Self Improvement programs. Heck I even listened to & read some of this stuff.

Now I constantly listen to different programs every day while driving to and from work, and I loved having a conversation with someone about success principles & personal development. However, that was about all I would do. I would talk & listen, but seldom do.

As stated before, if I was truly a “Student of Success”, then I deserve a big fat F.

I recently read a report by Derek Gehl of the Internet Marketing Centre, titled “Prerequisites to Success”. Whoa, now did this report rock my world. You see Derek described two groups of individuals in this report. One was the Internet Entrepreneur & the other is the Serial “Get-rich-quick” opportunity seeker. Derek had a check list for each of these, and although I felt I scored high in the Internet Entrepreneur list, I also scored way too high in the “Get-rich-quick” group.

Talk about a wakeup call. I realised that even though I was listening to all the right stuff, I was not putting it into action. Funnily enough, one of the reasons I kept buying new programs was that I was looking for that one missing key that would take me to the next level. And all the time it was staring me in the face.

That key was simply, Stop Playing Games & start taking action. A good part of my problem was that I would start on one CD or program & then something else would grab my attention, so I would get sidetracked elsewhere, never finishing off one any of them.

And then when I did listen to a CD all of the way through, I just went on to the next one, & then the next one after that. What I need to do is stop just listening, but study this material, digest it, take notes & then make a plan to implement this into my life immediately.

On the positive side of all of this, I have accumulated a lot of great programs over the years. I have programs by Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, Pat Mesiti, Tony Robbins, just to name a few. So the task now is to go back to the basics, and start truly studying this material.

I know that we would all love to have success handed to us on a platter, but that is not how it works. As Earl Nightingale says, it is like the man that sits in front of the fire & says “Give me heat & then I will put on the wood.” It does not work that way. In order to achieve we must first do the work. If anyone wants to get ahead in life they must put in the hard yards. Some things will be easy, but that will be because you have already laid the groundwork.

I don’t know if you have seen the International hit DVD, “The Secret” (This is another program I have in my library). As good as some of the concepts in this program are, it is still missing a vital ingredient, and that is work, or action. You see we live in a “Fast Food” society. We all want things now. We don’t want to have to do the work that is required to achieve. That is one of the reasons that The Secret is so popular, because it basically tells you that you can have anything you want, just by thinking about it. But there is so much more to do.

The Secret has been great in bringing Personal Development to the world as a whole, and there are some absolutely fantastic teachers featured in this program. But don’t fool yourself in believing that simply by thinking, wonderful things will happen.

Now I fully believe in the Law of Attraction, and positive thoughts do have a powerful impact in your life. However you must follow it up with action. Even the Bible states that Faith without works is useless.

Now I know that I have sidetracked a little here, but it helps to show what my mindset was. I wanted something for nothing. I wanted to go through the proverbial revolving door of life on someone else’s push. But all I found was that I was stuck in the door & going around & around in circles.

To get ahead, you must move ahead. You must stop playing games, & start doing something differently. Don’t just read a book, or listen to a CD, devour them. Write notes, make & action plan, & then get going. Start writing a journal every day & make sure you hold yourself accountable for your life. Nobody else is, it is up to you & you alone.

So if you are happy spinning your wheels & fooling yourself that sitting back & cruising in life is fine for you, that’s great, but get out of the way & let those of us who want to take charge of our lives plough on through.