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Our ability to succeed is truly all up to us. We are the masters of our own destiny, and we decide if we fail or not. All to often we allow others to decide for us, we listen to the negative inputs from others, allowing that cancer of negativity to eat away at our resolve. As Abraham Lincoln stated:
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
It is our own resolution that will determine our own outcome. We must work hard and over come what ever obstacles are put in our way. Sure, it make be hard work, it may take time, sometimes it takes a life time, or even longer. Think Mount Rushmore
Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal 60 foot (18 m) high carvings of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history. (Source)
The size and scope of the project
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.[1] The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (5.17 km2)[2] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.[3] (Source)
So what is your Mount Rushmore, what project do you have that is monumental in nature that will leave a lasting impression on all? We all have our own Mount Rushmore’s, we all have something inside of us that is striving to get out, to breath and to become a life unto itself. But are we, are you and I, willing and able to be resolved to complete the project. Can we bear the hard work, can we blast away the old rock and carve out a new face?
If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius.Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719)
All to often we do not, all to often we give in, so what can you and I do to change this destructive pattern? Glad you asked:
- Know the goal: Before you can even start to work on the goal, you have to know the goal. I don’t mean just a basic idea of what you want, like “I want to sell stuff on eBay” No that’s not knowing your goal, that’s naming it, but to achieve it, you have to know it intimately. Research it, live with it, understand it, both good and bad points. Know it like you know yourself.
The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
- Count every step: Everything you do towards your goal is an accomplishment, count them, plot your progress, celebrate your success.
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that?s where you will find success.”
– Thomas J. Watson
- Look at setbacks as resets: Setbacks are an opportunity to start over, in building Mount Rushmore they planned on building in a completely different location, but due to the quality of the poor stone, they reset, reevaluated and relocated.
People who make money often make mistakes, and even have major setbacks, but they believe they will eventually prosper, and they see every setback as a lesson to be applied in their move towards success.
Jerry Gillies
- Learn and keep on learning: Learning can never be a onetime thing, no matter the goal, there is always something new, some new research, new considerations or new insights. Keep a journal of your learning, tack it and reread it often.
What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.Martina Horner, President of Radcliffe College
- Accept: Accept that sometimes the goal we want is not the goal we achieve. Think Post it Notes:
Everyone knows what Post-it® notes are: They are those great little self-stick notepapers. Most people have Post-it® Notes. Most people use them. Most people love them. But Post-it® Notes were not a planned product.
No one got the idea and then stayed up nights to invent it. A man named Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research laboratories in 1970 trying to find a strong adhesive. Silver developed a new adhesive, but it was even weaker than what 3M already manufactured. It stuck to objects, but could easily be lifted off. It was super weak instead of super strong.No one knew what to do with the stuff, but Silver didn’t discard it. Then one Sunday four years later, another 3M scientist named Arthur Fry was singing in the church’s choir. He used markers to keep his place in the hymnal, but they kept falling out of the book. Remembering Silver’s adhesive, Fry used some to coat his markers. Success! With the weak adhesive, the markers stayed in place, yet lifted off without damaging the pages. 3M began distributing Post-it ® Notes nationwide in 1980 — ten years after Silver developed the super weak adhesive. Today they are one of the most popular office products available. (source)
One last thought:
Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can’t. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.Kathleen Norris
So what ever your goal, what ever your dream, be diligent and know that only you can stop yourself from creating your own Mount Rushmore.
God Bless
Paul Sposite
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