I’ve been masterminding with a group of friends about Think and Grow Rich. Here are a few thoughts I had about one little trait, or skill that is a huge key to success no matter what it is that you call success.
PERSISTENCE:
In today’s culture of instant gratification and multiple opportunities, persistence has been the downfall of many dreams and enterprises. Actually, it is the lack of persistence that causes our failures. It has been one of my biggest problems and caused most of the grief in my life.
A poverty mindset is the natural condition of people. That is, people want the easy way out. They want others to do things for them. They avoid work if they can. I thought I was just exploring my many options and searching for the best one. There were so many opportunities in life. In truth, I was mostly lazy and confused. I was suckered in with the idea that there was a quick and easy way to get rich. After all, there were tons of ads and offers telling me this was so for only a few dollars. The “real wealth secrets” were a little more expensive. That’s why I am deeply in debt with American Express.
One day I “took the red pill” and decided to face reality.
I’d read Think and Grow Rich in the past, along with a fistful of other self-help classics, but as I started re-reading them and focusing on doing the right thing, I paid attention to creating a money mindset and growing out of my infantile poverty mindset.
I wrote down my goals (you can’t believe how long I resisted that simple idea).
I focused my attention an attaining my goals and visualized them.
When an idea popped into my head that told me I ought to do a particular thing that would take me along the path to my goal, I did it. That is one big key to success – doing things instead of just thinking of them.
Next I resolved to reject my “Bright Shiny Object” (BSO) syndrome. I refuse to pay attention to ads, emails, etc. claiming that I must have this great, new, fantastic, easy thing to make me rich. It wasn’t easy, but every time I resist the urge to “click here” I have won the battle for today.
Now, can I share the secret of persistence, since that is this week’s topic?
You persist by deciding every day that whether your goal seems near or far, you will focus on TODAY and take whatever actions you can TODAY that will advance you toward your goal. These actions don’t have to be big audacious actions (although they can be). Small steps every day will take you further down the road to success than one big leap every month or two.
So in a nutshell, the money mind set we want to persist in maintaining is:
1. Define your goal
2. Write it down
3. Focus your attention on that goal
4. Take action daily
5. Just Do It!
