Looking back upon the manner and way that my wonderful parents, Kitty and Al Severn, raised me and my two siblings, has given me cause to stop, think about, and then give great thanks and praise for what a great job they did as they birthed and then raised three very good and productive children to adulthood and beyond. What they taught us, how they equipped us and disciplined us, and how they instructed us to conduct our lives under full personal responsibility and accountability was simply a great and wonderful thing in which to play a part. Carefully examining the things we were taught and the way we were raised,…I can clearly see what a tremendous advantage they had given us for this thing called “life” and the “unknown” that laid before us.
The training regimen in my home began at an early age. Expectations for each child were always very high, very specific, constantly reviewed and evaluated, and always examined and honestly and openly discussed.
I came from a good family. Although far from a perfect upbringing and home environment, the conditions and way that we three children were raised provided the basis for proper preparation for the manner and way that each of us would eventually grow and become successful producers and leaders of our own future families. I thank God everyday for the parents He gave to me. I sincerely hope that you personally feel the very same way about your own parents.
Doing right things in the right and righteous way is truly a wonderful and very precious Legacy to leave behind you.
“Well raised” is the cornerstone of the personal foundation upon which people build their lives, and raise their families. A good, solid, and well established personal life foundation built on the basis of honesty and integrity and always demanding that each family member does the right and proper thing is the stuff from which good children grow to become great leaders.
Not every child is so very blessed to have been raised in this described manner. Far too many children grow up in totally dysfunctional family environments, homes in which there is no father and/or mother living together, loveless homes, and/or homes run by abusive parents or other relatives. Alcohol, tobacco, sex, lawlessness, illegal drugs problems and the like are psychological, physical, mental, and spiritual anchors waiting to be thrown overboard,…waiting to be the final nail-in-the-coffin that takes the captain and crew (the entire family) with it to total destruction to the bottom of the sea.
What I have told you is proven everyday by simply observing how many major social problems continue to exist in America. They never seem to reduce in number, only increase in frequency and strength.
God created the human being. No scientific or DNA proven link has ever been found between two separate and distinct species of living things. Dogs and cats don’t evolve,…they are live born. Nor do dogs and cats ever crossbreed and produce some sort of weird Hybrid or newly discovered specie. Consequently God has to be given the credit for the only accurate and recorded account of how and where man and woman came into being on this created earth. These well documented facts are all recorded in the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis,…the first book of the Holy Bible.
Wise men do not argue with their personal Creator. Doing so only insures the one doing the arguing will lose! The facts and truths of life never change and are therefore unarguable.
As I learned from my outdoor-oriented parents, as I was trained as to how to shoot all types and kinds of guns, and as was taught and trained as to how to provide for myself and my eventual future family,…Knowledge, understanding, proper preparation, and correct application of such learned wisdom are the keys to successful and productive accomplishment.
Whenever you are shooting any type of firearm be it a long gun or a pistol, before squeezing the trigger, you must always look beyond your proposed target to insure there is nothing behind the target that might get incorrectly destroyed.
Everything that you do, every action you take, every manner and way you perform all have long-range ripple effects on lots of other things, places, and people. This truth of life is always in play and therefore, you should always exercise great care in what you do and the example you set.
Whether it be within your own existing family,…or your own separate personal activities,…or within your personal business activities and conduct, really makes no difference. Whatever you do, how you think, the actions you actually take,…or the moral and spiritual character you display as you live out your own life are, in fact, the “teaching tools” that you are using to give the example that your own family members, friends, and business and personal associates will observe and duplicate. The question that you always want to be asking yourself is this…“Would I follow a man or woman who displays my type of action habits and personal growth and conduct?”
If the answer is no,…then you had better make some immediate corrections and adjustments to and for yourself!
Please permit me to share with you a sound bit of personal advice…
If you truly do desire to become a great leader of people and a highly successful and prosperous person it is not going to happen to you by accident. Success is not an accident…It is a planned event!…
Success will happen much faster and easier for you if you are adequately and properly prepared in advance of the planned event. Remember that the best way to lead other people is by your own example. What you are teaching others by your own life example…no matter who or what you already are… is precisely what they will grow into and eventually become.
To be a great success, you will want to observe and never violate a common ground rule of life to which all great leaders of people subscribe. Here it is…Never throw away any of your tomorrows.
A story please……
There once was a guest speaker who was racing through the downtown streets of a major metropolitan city in route to reaching his appointed time to deliver his personal speech to a large association of business leaders. He had taken a taxicab from the airport to the convention center at which he was scheduled to speak. The business function agenda was to extend over the next three days. The speaker was to deliver a message on each day of the function.
The guest speaker had not yet finalized his planned remarks for this day’s subject and was not comfortable with what he had so far put together in his own mind. The cab driver informed the guest speaker that with traffic being unseasonably heavy, the ride to the convention center would take at least one hour. He relaxed and was comforted to know that he had at least one more hour to prepare some better and more adequate remarks. He pulled an agenda of the three day event out of his briefcase and began to make some notes of discussion points on the back side of page one. Still the good thoughts and discussion points did come to him easily. Out of total frustration he crumpled his newly started topical outline and pitched it onto the floor of the taxicab, and started another new page of outline notes. His new efforts,…his second try at putting together a substantive speech, began to flow well and come together in a meaningful way.
Soon the taxicab arrived at the convention center. The speaker was somewhat late to arrive at his destination. He was in a great hurry. In his haste of getting out of the cab and rushing to the backstage area of the great arena, he suddenly realized that he had left the first page of the function’s agenda on which were written some of his initial thoughts all crumpled and laying on the floor of the backseat of the taxi. The notes he could get by without having, but the front page of the crumpled paper had tomorrows function agenda printed on it. By accidentally throwing away the crumpled paper or simply forgetting about it, he would be totally unprepared for tomorrow’s activities.
With total gratitude and thankfulness he replied, “Hey, I have got to keep that crumpled piece of paper!” “As he retrieved the important itinerary, he very seriously added, “I almost threw away part of my tomorrow!”
Success will never attack you. You must be the one to pursue and catch it for yourself.
The manner and way in which young people are raised within their own family and their willingness to go the “extra mile” in developing and properly preparing themselves to be a successful person, while still in their youth,…will be what equips them to be far out in front of any competitors they will ever experience in the future. Consequently these well prepared people will achieve much more than most other wanna-be leaders who are attempting to become highly successful people.
Use that which you have been given. Apply that which you already know how to do. Your yesterdays will become the platform from which you launch yourself into your tomorrows.
Leaders Gotta Lead……………….