Once you have recognized the Negatives in your life. Once you have decided that you no longer will allow others to sabotage your success. Once you allow yourself to take action, what do you do next? Well, once you have decided to push forward and work towards making your dreams a reality, you need a philosophy. An attitude. To approach the life you hope to create.
For as much as you must recognize and deal with the Negatives in your life, you must also decide in a proactive manner how you will deal with your life. How will you approach tomorrow? How much will you demand of yourself tomorrow? And what level will you perform at tomorrow?
I’m reminded of sports as an illustration because it is intimately connected with effort and the resulting success or failure.
For you see in athletics, most people who are regarded as the best in their field fail more often than they succeed—even though they work to maintain the same level of commitment each day to do their best.
Many of the top golfers in the world have never won a major tournament. That’s right, they have failed each time they have gone out and competed.
The most prolific baseball hitters still fail more often than not. A .300 hitter, which is Hall of Fame material, actually fails seven out of ten times—succeeding only three times. Now does he quit because he fails so often? Does he hang his head in shame as he returns to the dugout after making another out? Does he quit baseball because he can’t even get to the point that he is successful at least every other time?
Of course not! And neither can you. You can’t quit trying just because you failed yesterday. Or failed a moment ago.
The past does not equal the future.
And yet, it may portend the future if you do not take into account the circumstances which led to the failure—and consider the effort you made in failing.
To use our sport’s analogy again, that baseball hitter has to work at a very high level of competence to even reach the .300 mark. In other words, the best effort he can muster is still rewarded with seven out of ten times failure. Now if he does not exhibit that level of competency and excellence, he will sink lower to an average player who fails three out of every four times.
While a life! And yet, being successful three out of ten times is considered a successful hitter—a possible Hall of Famer.
So after you have decided to turn your back to the Negatives, you will have to decide what level of commitment you are willing to make—and more importantly, how you are prepared to react to failure.
For each day, my Entrepreneur, you will be confronted with opportunities and decisions which will affect your outcome. How you deal with those moments will determine the level of your success.
Will you be lamenting your most recent failure when the next opportunity presents itself?
Will you be mentally chastising yourself for saying the wrong thing in an earlier meeting—and miss the opportunity of the present moment. Current opportunity.
You see, concentration is one of the keys to success. What you mentally focus on is the key to what you find happening in your life.
How you approach your life will determine your outcome. Will you approach it haphazardly? Will you approach it in a nonchalant attitude, not really believing your dream will come true?
Or, will you approach it with a conviction that each new experience. Each new opportunity. Is a precious commodity. A precious opportunity which you must recognize and seize in the moment.
For it is part of your Dreamland in Reality. For your vision of yourself and the life you hope to lead in the future.
Well, the key to the future is what you do in the present.
Each time our baseball hitter goes up to the plate unprepared, he sets himself up for failure. He will never be able to erase his actions at that moment. For his season . . . and lifetime average . . . will depend on his actions at that very moment. Imagine that pressure. Imagine there are people counting every at bat for you. People who are chalking up each failure—and acknowledging your successes.
Well, in business, that is called a balance sheet. A profit loss statement. An annual report.
In life, my Entrepreneur, it is reflected in the nature of your very Being.
If you don’t follow the diet that works for you. If you sneak those cigarettes in when no one is looking. If you continue to abuse your body with drugs. All those will be reflected in the nature of your Being. And will affect the person you present to the world.
Your Being is like that baseball player’s batting average. It keeps track of your very actions—what you do today and what you did yesterday. Now, the more positive things you do each day, the better the Nature of your Being.
It does not mean you have to live a perfect life. That you can’t reach for that Godiva chocolate every once in awhile. But it will record whether you have more better days than not. Whether you treated yourself well—or whether you bought into the idea that it really doesn’t matter what you do.
Remember, that ball player to succeed has to do the best he can for himself just to be allowed to play in the Major Leagues. He has to spend countless hours practicing. Countless hours in the gym. Countless hours mentally preparing.
And if he does the work on himself, he may make it to the Major Leagues. He may be in the game.
So my Entrepreneur, start to move towards excellence in what you do. Start to move towards demanding from yourself much more than you have ever done before. Pay attention to your period of Preparation and the lessons it has to teach you.
For my Entrepreneur, to succeed in making your dreams a reality is going to take your best effort. And sometimes you are going to fail—and yet, those are opportunities for you to reach even higher levels of excellence.
So do not fret that this Path with the Heart is difficult—and entirely dependent on how well you participate. For if there ever was a time where you should let your Excellence shine, it is now.
For if you are in tune with Guidance and following the path God wants you to lead, the best you can be is what is necessary. So don’t shortchange yourself.
Embrace the Excellence within yourself each day. And each day you will notice that you are moving towards Excellence in your Life.