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by: Jim Rohn - -Excepted from the book The Five Major Pieces to the
Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight.
Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and
poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few
errors in judgment repeated every day.
Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish
as to
repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that
it
matters.
On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor
oversight,
a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant
and
measurable impact. More often than not, we escape from any immediate
consequences of our deeds.
If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days,
this
lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our
lives.
And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we
repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it
goes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the
great
danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that
it
matters!
Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future
health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of
the
future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink
too
much go on making these poor choices year after year after year...
because
it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in
judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are
seldom
instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning
finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices -
choices
that didn't seem to matter.
Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term
those
little errors don't seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be
failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur
throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since
nothing
terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to
capture
our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the
errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and
making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday;
therefore
the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable
consequence, it is probably safe to repeat.
But we must become better educated than that!
If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the
sky
had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to
ensure that the act would never be repeated again. Like the child who
places
his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would have
had an
instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.
Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents
once
did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to
be
able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy
guiding
our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more
aware that each error really does matter.
Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the
formula
for success is easy to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced
every
day.
Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change
the
errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the
formula for success? The answer is by making the future an important
part of
our current philosophy.
Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the
inevitable
rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this
is
true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer
is
simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem
to
matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some
human
beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow.
But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes
every
day to look a little further down the road? We would then be able to
foresee
the impending consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that
valuable
information, we would be able to take the necessary action to change our
errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by
disciplining ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to
change our thinking, amend our errors and develop new habits to replace
the
old.
One of the exciting things about the formula for success - a few simple
disciplines practiced every day - is that the results are almost
immediate.
As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily disciplines, we
experience
positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our
diet,
our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start
exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin
reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of
self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will
produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at
developing new disciplines.
The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend
our
thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a journal,
attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be
the
first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start
today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent
effort
to change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding
disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence - not
once
we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Join Jim Rohn, Chris Widener, Brian Tracy and Denis Waitley live in
Anaheim,
California this July! Click here for more details:
http://jim3day.jimrohn.com
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