It is widely and commonly known that success does not attack.  Because of this truth, a person will never be able to succeed in life if all he or she does is sit or stand around patiently and unproductively waiting for a bolt of success to strike them.  It just seems that so many folks are standing on the “dock of life” intently gazing out across the surface of the waters, waiting for their ship to come in, when all the time their ship is still securely tied to the very dock on which they are standing!  They are waiting for their particular ship to come in, but in reality they have never before actually sent it out.

You see dear friends, it may come as a surprise to some of you, but common sense demands recognition of the fact that before any ship is even able to “come in” or return to its original port,…it must first be sent out!  Once your ship has been sent out, you now have the choice to either (a) wait for it to return to the dock or you can (b) make things happen in your own favor by swimming out to meet the returning ship.  The Life Lesson from this scenario is really quite simple….you must first be the one who initiates action required to produce your desired result,….before you have any right to expect a valuable return for your own efforts….

Now there are always at least two distinct and separate ways to do most all things in life.  The same philosophy applies to my example of the above paragraph.  Here it is: Standing on the “dock of life,” you can send your ship out into the open waters on a mission for benefit and profit, i.e. (1) you can “try” something new or you can make an attempt at achieving something good, successful, and profitable in your life.  And, then you can try to do all of the things or work ethics necessary to accomplish it, and then hope that everything works out in your favor and success actually happens for you, i.e. your ship comes back to its initial port of entry, it actually “comes in” for your own benefit…or…(2) you can attempt a success producing effort or take advantage of a given opportunity,  then insure that you indeed actually do all of the work required to achieve your desired success in a consistent and persistent manner without breaks, vacations, or sabbaticals, or any other type pause in your work ethic.  And you stay on task until the work is done and the results achieved, i.e you actually do achieve your desired results and rewards for your own benefit.  I hope you can see that by working the way of option (b) you are indeed causing good things to happen and rewards to be earned by your willingness to swim out to your ship and correctly sail it back into port and into its original dock slip. 

The real difference-maker in either of these two choices is you and your own committed work habit.  You, personally, always have been and will always continue to be the real secret to your own success.  It is your personal choices, related work ethics, and commitment level that will ultimately make the difference in your own success in any given arena,….in any given endeavor.  That is exactly why no one is capable to succeed for you.  There is no such thing as surrogate success!  It just happens to be one of those things that you just simply have to do for yourself.

There are basically two different ways that you can perform the work required to produce and complete your desired projects and opportunities that will permit you an opportunity to become economically successful.  Now always remember that you, without exception, will be able to accomplish much more with a organized, committed group effort than you will ever be able to do by yourself.  One is really too small of a number to use so as to accomplish great success.  

The first way or method to attempt to become successful is really by chance…..start out on your own, and give the work required a whirl and hope that something good will happen.  This technique rarely, if ever, produces any real results.  However it sadly is the trail most taken by “success-wanna-bes.”  The truth is just that, it is the truth.  Consequently if it is indeed your heart’s desire to become successful then you must do what is required to be done in order to achieve that which you are pursuing!  Getting close to completion, doing most of what is required, performing on an almost consistent manner is never enough.  Such work habits never lead to great results….they only lead to great disappointments.

Success has a price tag.  There are no bargain basements or sale prices when calculating the full price that must be paid in the accomplishment of your own success.  Never try to short cut, “deal over,” or look for bargain basement pricing when paying the price for your own success.  Always be eager to pay full price.  That way, once you achieve your desired success you can really enjoy the full price benefits that go with it, and feel really good about receiving them….You will have no regrets,…because you paid full price!

Now if achieving success were so easy and simple, then all of the real winners in life would have to look for something other than what they did to achieve their current success.  Winners, achievers, real leaders are looking for a real challenge.  These type people are not satisfied with the easy way out,….with the status quo.  They fully understand that the more you have to do to succeed,…that the greater the price you have to pay to achieve your desires,…then the better will be the person you become once you reach your planned destinations.

You grow into a truly successful person in the course of achieving your own success as a result of the personal growth that develops within you in all of the areas of your life.  That is God’s way of doing things.  Success is an inside-out proposition.  Internal growth always precedes external growth. 

So let us carefully examine this subject of internal growth.  

People have often been likened and compared to a rubber band and the purpose for which it was designed.  Rubber bands are useful only when they are stretched.  The very same can be said of us as humans.

One of the most astonishing facts of life that I have discovered over the 38  years of my odyssey toward success is that there are so many people who really do want to become successful, but who simultaneously do not want to work long and hard to achieve it.  I call it the “free-lunch” syndrome.  It really is a “something-for-nothing” attitude.  It seems as if most of the younger people of our nation, and very many of the older ones too, seriously believe that they are owed a first class lifestyle without having to work hard and long to get or earn it.  Entitlements are government give away programs, that must be funded by someone, namely the hard working honest taxpayers of our country.  Always remember,….when somebody gets something for nothing, then somebody else had to give something up and get nothing back for it.  That is simply the way life works.  Wealth can only be (1) Created. (2) Produced or (3) Stolen…That’s It!  

The truth is that few, very few people in America today truly want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h themselves out of their comfort zones and into the fringe of fear so as to be able to grow to a higher level of life.  Mediocrity is the accepted norm of the day.  Average, i.e. -0-, nothing, nada….seems to be the standard to which we compare ourselves.  Workers in supervisory roles all too often discourage hard and ambitious efforts from those they supervise.  All too many times an industrious worker is admonished to slow down, hold off on his personal efforts and/or production as he is making the slower workers look bad or in some cases even lazy.  May I remind you that it is only the mediocre person who is always at his best.  

Here are the cold hard truths…..Most folks are indeed lazy.  They are under- achievers.  They are easily satisfied with average performance and most usually never push themselves past a half-hearted effort.  They are content to use only a small portion of their abilities and rarely, if ever, strive to reach their full potential.  They possess no real desire to grow internally or invest in themselves to become more than they already are.  They have no real longing to s-t-r-e-t-c-h themselves out of their individual comfort zones.  They lack commitment and greatly dislike being held accountable for their own personal actions or lack thereof.  A recent study of high school and college graduates confirms what I am saying.  33 % of high school and 42 % of college graduates never read another book after they graduate with their degrees.  How pathetically sad is that?  

The most valuable income producing asset of your own being is your brain.  If you don’t regularly feed it, it cannot grow and be used to increase the amount of income and other great blessings in your life.  Without continual reading and self-improvement of your own life from listening to tapes, CDs, or DVDs,…without guidance and counsel from two-way communication with people who are wiser and more experienced than you are,…there will be no mental growth….no internal growth.  Hence, the gap between where you are and where you could be just widens and deepens.  The amount of income in your life will consequently begin to dwindle instead of increase like you would prefer it to do.

Too many people are carelessly willing to settle for average in life.  Personally I cannot stand the idea of settling for average, can you?Average is the worst of the best,…or…the best of the worst.  Average is the bottom of the top…or…it is the top of the bottom.  Average could also be defined as the cream of the crap.  I tell you the truth, within the circles of success-oriented people, nobody admires average.  The best organizations don’t pay for average.  Mediocrity is not worth shooting for.  It is not worth accomplishing,…because you are really no where once you achieve average.

If you truly desire to be come highly successful in the living of your life, then prepare yourself so as to enable you to launch yourself into one specific and focused supreme effort that will in fact s-t-r-e-t-c-h you out of your comfort zone, into the fringe of fear, and on into your own full capacity.  Live on the edge of excitement and fear and just trust your God to help you along the way.  Close the gap between your own potential and your accepted present capacity.  Let the tension of that gap motivate you to strive and keep on striving to become a better producer and a better person overall.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h yourself into the fringe of fear for that is where success will occur.   Grow internally first.  The external growth will always follow.

Always remember…you will g-r-o-w the most when you s-t-r-e-t-c-h the most…..That is the way it was all divinely designed to work.

Leaders Gotta Lead………….