Money certainly won’t buy you happiness….and I am not saying that it will. But one thing I know for sure is….that neither will poverty!
I know of no wonderful and positive things that are generated by being broke all of the time. Money is a requirement for a person to be able to live a nice life-style in America today. Money is the grease that moves the “wheels” of the free enterprise economic system that drives the economy of this nation.
Money is a unit of measure of the amount of service you render to another person. Most people serve only one person…their employer…consequently they never receive very much money for their services rendered. Now it logically follows that if you really and truly want and/or need more money in your life,…then you must find a way to serve more people than just one employer. That is a very difficult challenge for you if you have limited yourself to your own ability to perform. Sadly, that is exactly what you do to your self when you take an employee position. Under these circumstances, you get nailed a second time through another self imposed limitation. You get paid only for that which you and you alone do. And you only get paid for the number of hours you work in any given 24 hour period known as a day.
Let’s see….I want to make sure I got it right…..with an employed position you have automatically limited your earnings to (1) your own ability to perform…you only get paid for what you alone do…and you have automatically limited your earnings to (2)…24 hours a day. At midnight no matter what or how well you are doing it,…you must stop performing. The day has ended. Now you have to start all over again in the morning. It is no small wonder why so many people today are so upside down and stressed out with their way of living.
As I see it, most of us have forgotten one of the basic Facts of Life: You are in charge of yourself. Never relinquish that God-given right to anyone else.
Come with me as we journey back to the beginning of time….to the Garden of Eden. The Holy Bible says in The Book of Genesis 1 : 27-28, NKJV:
(27) “So God created man is His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
(28) Then God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
I have to tell you…..That is a very clear and mighty command. As I read these words, it is plain to me that man is to be in charge of the things that exist on the earth which obviously includes himself.
Here is the big problem that exists in society today. When we were given dominion over this world, we were also given dominion over ourselves. That very event gives a directive for each of us to plot our own map. God is not our navigator. It was never his intention to chart a course for each of us and thus as robots place us all under his bondage. Instead he gave each of us intellect, and talent, and vision to map our own way. He wants us to write our own Book of Life in any manner that we choose.
Author, Og Mandino says this to us as concerns the living of your own life:
“The secret, of course, is choice. You have options in your life. We all do. You need not spend another day wallowing in failure, grief, poverty, shame , or self-pity. Why are there so many failures—unhappy failures—everywhere one looks? The answer is simple, even if not obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure—even you, perhaps—have never exercised their options for the better things in life because they have never been aware that they had any choices!
But you do have choices—and together, you and I are going to review many great life-changing options that are still available, choices that you can begin acting upon immediately, no matter what your present condition may be, so that you can begin to live a better life.”
Mr. Mandino continues:
“The greatest lesson that I have learned in my sixty-plus years of suffering and joy is that life is a game. It’s spiritual, mysterious, and precious, but it’s still a game—and you can’t play in that game with any chance at all of winning unless you know the rules!
Slight problem: Nobody ever taught you and me the rules when we were growing up. At any time or at any level in your schooling were we ever instructed on the simple but powerful techniques we needed to know in order to set goals and reach them, handle adversities, eliminate our bad habits, make friends, accumulate wealth, motivate ourselves and others, generate enthusiasm, and handle stress—to name just a few of life’s challenges and hurdles. And so, sadly, most of us become spectators in the greatest game of all, shunted to the bleachers for a lifetime of watching and envying the successful ones—and we even had to pay to get in!..”
Og concludes his discussion with:
“Okay, let’s take inventory. Did you possibly acquire any skills during all those formative years of schooling that could help you to change your life for the better if you began applying it right now, today?
You bet you did! You learned how to read! With that great ability alone, the ability to read, you are about to work wonders with your life.”
As far as I am concerned, reading is the best way in the world to really learn and find out about yourself. It causes you to look within. Remember what I have said many times before: The Person you will be five years from today depends upon two things: (1) the books you read and (2) the people with whom you associate. That is your mental environment and as a human being you will become like your mental environment.
Leaders Gotta Lead……………..