What Is Success?

This was sent to me as a guide for success in life and I have posted it exactly as it came to me, typos and all, but with one sexual vulgarity removed.

Allow me to assure you that this is almost completely, Grade-A, 90%, USDA-approved crap. Take a gander and than I'll tell you why after the cut. However, one item of interest: I do believe that points 1, 2, 7, and 9 have true wisdom behind them as well as the phrase, "conscious mind focus leads to focused energy.".

The author put this in the public domain

First, let me address one issue and that is why I think I'm even remotely qualified to talk about success. I am, after all, nothing more than a country-bumpkin preacher, writer-wannabe with only a handful of published stories. I wish I had time to tell you my story, but trust me. With my early physical and emotional challenges, years of abusive schooling and background and other hurdles and walls, I'm a success story. True, I'm no Bill Gates, but people who knew me 50+ years ago are surprised and delighted to see me where I am today. Some of them are stunned.

Specific Goal + Focused Energy = Success is correct. Many of you have heard of the Law of Attraction, a New Age belief that what you concentrate on mentally, you will automatically draw to you like a magnet. That is nonsense, but because it is partly based on another real law, there is some truth hiding behind it. The Law of Focus simply states that what you focus on will become an important part of your life in some manner assuming the object of focus is realistic and attainable.

Case in point: Let's say you want to become the world's greatest expert on Pre-Raphaelite paintings. For the next three years you invest your life in doing nothing but talking about, reading about, studying about, collecting, and immersing yourself in the world of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. After 10,000 hours you will be a recognized expert on the subject. In fact, there is a rather certain rule of thumb that investing 10,000 focused hours of immersion in anything is guaranteed to make you an expert in that field.

And I actually believe that.

However, it does not necessarily mean you are going to have a great life which is why I do not have that highlighted. You may have some enjoyment, but if you sacrifice things like health, relationships, making a living, and other important facets of our everyday existence, your focus will eventually end up biting you in the backside.

Also, because the Law of Focus is such an important part of our growth, you can see why I highlighted conscious mind focus leads to focused energy and #2. Both of these deal with focus, though in the latter, I don't have a clue how to force your "unconscious mind" to do anything. It's unconscious! (or more correctly, subconscious).

And allow me to assure you that #'s 3 to 6 and # 8 are not going to work at all.

Don't even bother wasting your time with "affirmations" and visual imaging. They simply don't work.

What does work is accomplishment.

Here's the skinny. Most of us have an internal critic who is one harsh mistress. She puts you down nonstop and appears to delight in your failure as she constantly screams about your mistakes and errors and points it out. Affirmations and visual imaging are never going to shut her up. NEVER.

The only thing that shuts her up is accomplishment, because accomplishment is the only thing she can't argue against. (By the bye, my apologies. My own internal critic for some odd reason I perceive as female. Your actual mileage may vary.)

Let's say you want to learn to speak Spanish. The internal critic is already giving you reasons why you can never try such a thing even if you have never thought of such a thing before. "You're too stupid." "You don't have the time." "You'll fail just like you've failed at everything you've always touched."

However, if learning Spanish is a true goal of yours and it is a realistic and reachable goal, what you do is start out with what I call "small victories."

That means for the first week, you only learn five words.

Yup. Just five.

You review them on index cards you've turned into impromptu flash cards several times a day. You say them out loud. You review and review. At the end of the week even if you truly are lacking in the IQ department, you'll have those five words down.

Now take another five index cards and add five more words to your growing vocabulary.

In twenty weeks (4 months) you will have the vocabulary of at least an 8 year old for whom Spanish is their first language. How can I say that? Because for every language in existence, most concepts can be communicated in just 100 words.

Not that hard, huh? Reduce it to the ridiculous and you can practically achieve anything.

And you will notice that as time goes by, your internal critic starts losing her authority. She can't argue against accomplishment.

Let's say you want to be a writer? Same strategy.

Just write 500 words a day. Write more if you want, but all you're going to commit to is that you are going to write 500 words a day at least 5 days a week.

It's like eating an elephant. Anyone can do it if they take just one bite at a time.

At the end of the first week, you'll have a short story. In three-and-a-half months, you have a novella. In 8 months, you have a novel.

Got it? Understand it? Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Accusations? Death threats?

No?

Okay. Now taking small steps and focusing on your goal, go out and accomplish.

God's grace on ya.