Archive for put your dream to the test
Quitting is more about WHO you are than WHERE you are.
Posted by: | CommentsBack in December, I wrote about the importance of starting well. In the comments, many people agreed with me, but they also pointed out the critical nature of continuing after you start. They were right. Like I said at the time, starting and finishing are the two covers of the book. The main part – the pages – represents the day-to-day labor needed to achieve your goal.
Unfortunately, in many ways starting is the easy part. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.”
What about you? Are you merely a starter? When the enthusiasm for a new idea fades, when the passion cools, when the odds against you increase and the results diminish, when it looks as if success is impossible, will you maintain your intensity and keep going? Are you tenacious?
Consider the fact that Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he succeeded. Oscar Hammerstein produced five shows that were flops on Broadway before staging Oklahoma, which had a record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Thomas Edison failed in his attempt to create a workable lightbulb 10,000 times before creating one that finally worked. To achieve your dream, you need to be able to keep going when others quit.
To develop tenacity, keep in mind that…
Quitting is more about who you are than where you are.
Everyone faces difficulty when working toward a dream. And if someone fails, he can make excuses for what went wrong, how the unexpected happened, how someone let him down, how circumstances worked against him.
But the reality is that the external things do not stop people. Those who achieve their dreams don’t have an easier path than those who do not. They just have a different internal attitude about the journey. The great artist Leonardo da Vinci once declared, “Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed on a star does not change his mind.”
The one who achieves the dream sees the journey differently.
Instead of thinking, “Not enough people believe in me. I’ll never make it,” he says,
“My belief in myself is enough; I can make it.”
Instead of, “It’s taking too long to realize my dream,” she reminds herself,
“Dreams are realized one day at a time.”
Rather than, “Enough is enough! I’ve taken enough hits!” she declares,
“I’ve come too far to give up now.”
Instead of, “I don’t have the strength to hold onto my dream,” he tells himself,
“Hold on a little longer. The darkest hour comes just before the dawn.”
Novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe said, “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
And I love how H.E. Jensen expressed an achiever’s way of thinking: “The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee.” The only real guarantee for failure is to stop trying.
So when things go wrong, when the obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going. If you stop, it won’t be because of what happens around you. It will be because of what happens in you. Choose to see things differently. Success is probably closer than you think. Just keep moving forward.
Fight for your dreams in 2011
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Image courtesy of photobucket
Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you spent some time in the past few weeks reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the coming one. I’m already excited about what’s in store for the next twelve months!
What dreams do you have for 2011? Or maybe a better question is, do you have dreams for 2011? For some people, dreaming is easy. Your mind is full of dreams just waiting to be expressed. But what about those who find it hard to dream? What if you’re not sure if you have a dream you want to pursue?
Let’s face it: Many of us were not encouraged to dream. Others had dreams, only to see them actively discouraged. The world is filled with dream crushers and idea killers. Why? Some people without dreams of their own hate to see others pursuing theirs. Other people’s passion and success makes them feel inadequate or insecure. Others think they’re being helpful: keeping us from risk or hurt.
Business professors Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad wrote about an experiment conducted with a group of monkeys. Four monkeys were placed in a room that had a tall pole in the center. Suspended from the top of that pole was a bunch of bananas.
One of the hungry monkeys started climbing the pole to get something to eat, but just as he reached out to grab a banana, he was doused with a torrent of cold water. Squealing, he scampered down the pole and abandoned his attempt to feed himself. Each monkey made a similar attempt, and each one was drenched with cold water. After making several attempts, they finally gave up.
Then researchers removed one of the monkeys from the room and replaced him with a new monkey. As the newcomer began to climb the pole, the other three grabbed him and pulled him down to the ground. After trying to climb the pole several times and being dragged down by the others, he finally gave up and never attempted to climb the pole again.
The researchers replaced the original monkeys, one by one, with new ones, and each time a new monkey was brought in, he would be dragged down by the others before he could reach the bananas. In time, only monkeys who had never received a cold shower were in the room, but none of them would climb the pole. They prevented one another from climbing, but none of them knew why.
Perhaps others have dragged you down in life. They’ve discouraged you from dreaming. Maybe they resented the fact that you wanted to move up or to do something significant with your life. Or maybe they were trying to protect you from pain or disappointment. Either way, you’ve been discouraged from dreaming.
Take heart. It’s never too late to start dreaming and pursuing your dreams. My friend Dale Turner asserts, “Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.”
If you haven’t done any dreaming yet this year, set aside some time to explore possibilities and commit yourself to new opportunities. It’s never too late to dream.
~Adapted from my book Put Your Dream to the Test
Destiny calling? Let VISION be your guide
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What is your destiny? Where will you be in five years? Or 10, or 30?
Of course, no matter how hard we search, no one can answer that question with certainty. But while we can’t know our destiny, we CAN know and change our direction.
The journey toward destiny always begins with VISION. Vision is the roadmap to your destiny, the picture of your purpose. Without it, you may find yourself off course — or worse, going nowhere.
I feel so strongly about the power of a vision that I devoted my 2009 book, Put Your Dream to the Test, to that very subject.
But even without the help of a book, you can start discovering your vision today. How?
Take some time to LOOK…
- Within you: What is your passion?
- Behind you: How have past lessons and experiences prepared you to pursue your passion?
- Around you: What’s happening to others in this area (the trends)?
- Ahead of you: What do you want to accomplish?
- Above you: What part does God play in your life and dream?
- Beside you: What resources are available to you?
- Alongside you: Who can partner with you in this pursuit?
Hubert Humphrey was a man with vision. He took his first trip to Washington, DC, in 1935, and wrote the following to his wife:
Honey, I can see how someday, if you and I make up our minds to work for bigger and better things, we can someday live here in Washington and probably be in government, politics, or service… Oh gosh, I hope my dream comes true – I’m going to try anyhow.
Hubert Humphrey’s dream carried him all the way to the United States’ vice-presidency. Where could your vision carry you? The vision you have truly will shape the person you become.
Leadership answers; no waiting!
Posted by: | CommentsThree weeks ago, here and on Twitter I sought your input on books that you’d like to see from me in the future.
Within minutes, the comments here and the replies on Twitter came pouring in. And when we finally compiled all of your responses, we had close to 30 pages of ideas.
So many of you took the time to really consider the needs you see today, and then communicate them to me. Thank you! I’m excited by all the themes that really stirred my ideas for future books.
Now, what probably shouldn’t have surprised me was how many requests came in for topics that I’d addressed in previous books. Here’s the good news: You don’t have to wait a year or more for the book you requested! Since the books already exist, they can give immediate answers to your questions.
Here is just a sampling of your actual replies/comments (without names, to protect the innocent), along with the existing Maxwell book(s) that answer those questions.
I hope this is a helpful resource to you.
On Direction and Purpose:
- I train elite athletes. Our dreams go to the wayside during the daily grind. We need a process to keep the achievable dream in focus.
- Finding your true calling in business and in life. How to do what you want.
- Interested in how to find purpose within internal processes that require collaboration when adversarial environment is prominent.
- A book about discovering your passion in life, what it is you are “meant” to be, how to identify talents.
- How do you know what you’re supposed to do in life? How do you plan for it after you know?
I’m happy to say that the answers to the above questions can be found in my new book, Put Your Dream to the Test.
On Working for a Difficult Boss or Leading from the Middle:
- The problem I face is having to read my boss’s mind and dealing with his micromanagement. He gives me feedback (99% bad, things that irritate him) days or weeks after an event has happened, and when he does he lashes out from the build up of irritation. He questions the work my coworkers and I do, and assumes no work is getting done if he’s not updated on every detail. He’s a real demotivator, and I’m trying to shield my team and keep them going. Any advice?
- How to deal with different types of leaders – a follower’s perspective.
- A book about “followership” – How to be a good follower, (especially) under bad leadership.
- How to lead a company from the middle. How middle management can change the direction of a company and how to get your ideas heard.
- One for followers on how to help the leader.
- A book for middle managers trying to break through to the next level.
The 360 Leader addresses all of these questions – and more – on leading up, down, and alongside.
On Various Leadership Issues:
I received many specific leadership questions. This is just a sampling:
- Hiring eagles versus ducks.
- Leading yourself (toughest leadership challenge there is)
- On self-discipline and tools to train my staff in same area.
- How to recover when you’ve violated laws of leadership.
- Qualities of a leader of significance. The seasons of leadership, enduring legacy.
- On working with boards, or a section on group politics.
- Courage to make tough decisions in shaky economic times.
These questions and many more are answered in Leadership Gold, which contains the hardest-won leadership lessons of my life in one book. In 26 chapters, I share the nuggets of wisdom that I gained through my successes AND my failures.
I’ll stop here. I received so much feedback that I can’t address it all in one post. So stay tuned for another installment in this series very soon.
But in the meantime, don’t miss my next post!
I’ve got an exciting announcement regarding my 2010 book – and how YOU can have a part in creating it!
Chatting with Dave Ramsey about dreams and financial peace
Posted by: | CommentsMy trip to Asia is still going well. I’m in Shanghai, China for the next few days. Thank you for the prayers, kind thoughts, and warm welcomes you’ve sent my way.
But for today’s post, here’s an interview I did last month (May 12) with my friend Dave Ramsey for his TV show on Fox Business Network. I love spending time with Dave, and I think his message about wise money management is especially needed in today’s new economy.
As you might expect, we talked about dreams. I hope it serves you well:
Entire episodes of the Dave Ramsey TV Show are available for viewing on hulu.com. (This episode is not yet posted, but it will be eventually.)
And on DaveRamsey.com, you can listen to his daily three-hour radio show live (or download a podcast). Plus the site itself offers a wealth of resources to help you get out of debt and be a wise steward of your resources.
