85a – Make Yourself a Success (Part 1)
Think a minute…”Any man can be a success, no matter how poor he started in life.” This statement came from Clement Stone, a highly successful businessman who began his career as a 16-year-old who sold insurance from door to door. After four years, at only 20 years of age, he started his own agency; and later he owned his own large insurance company worth more than $150 million.
Stone says we need to program ourselves to succeed, similar to how a computer is programmed. In fact, the modern computer is only a simple, poor imitation of the far more advanced and powerful computer of our own human mind.
Today and tomorrow, we will talk about the three essential ingredients you must program into yourself for success. First, and most importantly, is your own motivation to make the best choices that will move you to the best actions and changes. A rich owner of a women’s cosmetics company told his secret for success. He said: “I never promised a woman that my products would make her beautiful, but I always gave her the hope of looking better.”
With no hope of improving and changing, you cannot motivate yourself. Hope is your strong belief that you really can reach your life’s dream and expectation. You must believe each day that you are getting closer to your goal, because you know that you’re doing what it takes to get there. It’s not just believing it, but starting to do it now—hour by hour, day by day—until it becomes your way of thinking, living, and working every day.
Another powerful way to motivate is by example. Clement Stone had a young salesman who did not believe he could sell insurance to the kind of people who lived in his town. Stone went to work together with this young salesman for just one day to show him how. Stone asked the young man a few questions about his town’s people. Then Stone prayed and asked God to help him do his very best. Afterwards, Stone confidently went from house to house and sold an insurance policy to every single person he talked to that day! These were the same people the young salesman said would never buy insurance!
Why don’t you start today? Sincerely ask God to give you His kind of hope that is real, and His power to start changing now. With Him in charge of your way of thinking and living, you can become truly successful the way He created you to be. Just think a minute…
85b – Make Yourself a Success (Part 2)
Think a minute…The first, and most important, ingredient for success is motivating yourself to act. You must believe every day that your choices and actions are moving you closer to your goal. You are the one who “makes or breaks” your own success.
The second ingredient you need for success is your skills and abilities that you must keep sharpening by using them again and again. This only comes through practice. “Practice makes perfect.” Experience is the best teacher—if you keep learning and improving each time you do it. That is how you become skilled and professional at what you do. You “live and learn”—but sadly, some of us just live, continuing to make the same mistakes and doing things the way we’ve always done them, whether they’re right or not.
The third ingredient for success is knowledge. For example, a salesman needs to know everything about the product or service he sells, and how to sell it. This kind of knowledge you can get from books, training programs, courses, the internet, and from more experienced people who will teach you. It’s as you continue to learn the new technologies and knowledge that you stay successful.
Success only comes to those who keep trying; so, put your knowledge and skills into action. That way your confidence, passion, and perseverance each day will keep moving you closer to your goal.
A group of teenage boys wanted to get good jobs and do better in school. A successful businessman started teaching them that if they simply learned to work hard and work smart, they could succeed much more quickly than they expected. He especially taught them how to have confidence. In just 30 days, all 16 boys had jobs! And in only 90 days, some of them had moved up in school two years! They chose to pay the price for success by working hard and working smart.
These same principles were taught to hundreds of criminals in prison who wanted to change and succeed. Of the 800 prisoners, 84 percent of them stayed out of prison and got good jobs!
Why not start moving forward on your road to success? The first step is to ask Jesus to take charge of your heart and way of living. Then, He can start helping you as you learn all the skills and knowledge you need to succeed. He will also give you the motivation and passion to fully live His wonderful plan and purpose for your life. Just think a minute…
85c – Buzzards and Bees
Think a minute…Buzzards and bees are so different in their eating habits. Buzzards fly circling above looking for animals that are either hurt or dead. Then they dive down to tear and feast on it until it is gone. But honeybees are the opposite. Honeybees only look for the good, sweet nectar as they fly from flower to flower. Buzzards produce pain, fear, and death in their feeding. But bees produce honeycombs full of sweet, nourishing honey that gives health and enjoyment to others.
Interestingly, both buzzards and bees always find what they’re looking for. Just like a wife can usually find what she’s looking for in her husband. She sees what she wants to see: the good or the bad. If she focuses on her husband’s faults and failures, she will find them. But when her husband feels that she does not respect him, maybe even sees him as a failure and loser, guess who is the last person in the world he wants to be with? He feels he can never be good enough for her.
But if a wife looks for the good qualities in her husband, she can grow to respect and admire him. Then her husband will not only enjoy being with her, but he will also want to be a better man for her. A wise person said: “To your husband’s good qualities be very kind, but to his faults and mistakes a little blind.”
Remember: “Running down your husband is bad for his heart—and yours.”The fact is: “You can do more good for him by correcting your own faults than by trying to correct his…If you spend most of your time improving yourself, you will have little time left to criticize your husband.”
Don’t forget, there’s a big difference between us and buzzards and bees. Animals cannot choose their instincts and behavior, but we humans are able to choose our attitudes, words, and actions. If you have not been the encouraging, loving wife your husband needs, won’t you ask Jesus, and your husband, to forgive you? Then ask the Lord to take charge of your heart, words, and ways of treating your husband. That is when you can start changing into the woman and wife God created you to be, and who your husband needs you to be. Jesus will help you start seeing the good in your husband, who in turn will truly enjoy being with you and want to come home to you every day. Just think a minute…
85d – Rejection Gives Direction
Think a minute…James Macie was a child born outside of marriage. Tragically this marked him for the rest of his life as a second-class citizen in England’s 18th century society. Even though his biological father was Duke of Northumberland, James was never allowed to hold his father’s title. James’ mother tried to restore James’ rightful honor in society, but the British government refused. Consequently, James was denied the rights of most ordinary citizens. He could not enter Parliament, hold a public office, or get a job in civil service. He could not even join England’s Navy or Army.
Shortly after James graduated from Pembroke College, he ambitiously began a career in science. The results of his many advanced experiments were published and James became a highly respected scientist. Yet, while other scientists were recognized by the British government with knighthoods, James was denied that honor simply because of his birth.
James never married, knowing that his country would also reject his children because of him. However, he still gave to others a great inheritance. When James died in 1829, he was a successful and rich man. But instead of giving his wealth to his own nation, he left all of his money to the United States. He disowned and disinherited England just as it had disinherited him.
In his will, James instructed that his money be used to start an institution that would continue to discover and spread knowledge for humankind. His only condition was that it would carry on his family name which was taken away from him at birth. The name he adopted later in life: Smithson. And today the Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum and research complex. It has 19 museums, 9 research centers, and more than 140 affiliate museums around the world, sharing with millions of people its cultural, historical, and scientific knowledge.
James used his “rejection to give him direction” to where he could invest his time, talents, and treasures to make the world a better place. Just because you have felt rejected, it does not mean you have no inheritance or important purpose in life. On the contrary, if you sincerely ask your Maker to take charge of your heart and choices, Jesus, Who will never reject you, will show you His great inheritance and plan for your life—one day at a time. Just think a minute…
85e – Your Little Voice
Think a minute…A man named John bought a fancy new car loaded with modern technology. It included a recording of a voice that reminded him if he had forgotten to put on his seat belt, or warned him if he was running low on fuel. On one of John’s road trips, the little voice began telling him that he needed to stop and fill his tank with fuel. But John was sure he could go a little farther.
Every few minutes the voice told him again to stop for fuel. Finally, John became so irritated that he stopped on the side of the road, found the wires to the voice recording, and pulled them out! He was relieved to have some peace and quiet as he continued on his journey. But shortly afterwards, his car’s engine completely stopped running and he was stranded. Just as the little voice had warned him—he was out of gas!
Our Maker and Manufacturer gave us a factory-installed warning voice. It’s called our conscience. We might think sometimes that it’s just a nag that tries to ruin our fun in life, or that it’s plain wrong. But if we keep ignoring our little voice, it becomes easier and easier to block out and silence until eventually it will stop working altogether.
Like the guy who was trying to decide the right thing to do, so he asked his friend for advice. His friend said: “You’ve got to follow your conscience. Just listen to the little man inside you.” The guy answered: “That doesn’t work for me. My little man is an idiot!”
The fact is our feelings and conscience are not always a good guide to tell us what is right and wrong—because in one way or another we all have damaged and confused our conscience. We convince ourselves that certain wrong things are OK, so we won’t feel guilty about doing them. Like the song that says: “How can this love be so wrong if it feels so right? If lovin’ you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right!” But our confused thinking and feelings cannot change the fact that these things we are doing are wrong and sinful, separating us from our perfectly pure, good God.
It’s clear that we all have chosen to go our own way in life and gotten lost. We need to come home to our Maker who knows the only right road in life. Today, won’t you ask Jesus to forgive you, and to become your life’s Leader and Lord? Only He can repair and reprogram your little voice, and show you the right, best way to live. He will even give you the power you need each day to fully live His right, true way He created you to enjoy. Just think a minute…