The Secret is in the Beginning

"Beginning" is just another way to describe the most powerful six-letter word in the vocabulary of achievers: A-C-T-I-O-N.

Hugely successful people, the kind who go from mediocre to millions almost overnight, know that the major key to their success was taking MASSIVE ACTION.

When Jeff Bezos decided to start Amazon.com, he left his job on the East Coast and headed to Washington State. He had his wife drive him and their belongings across the country so that he could stay on the phone constantly; convincing potential investors and vendors why Amazon would be a success.

Even the smallest of actions, the ones James Allen called trivial and insignificant, can lead to great success. Sir Isaac Newton's principle that a "body at rest tends to remain at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion," definitely applies to the action principle. Once you've taken the first step (even a baby step), the next steps seem easier to take.

It was one of the key principles that almost every single trainer or motivational speaker focused on. That's why Autumn Tate of Colorado later wrote, ""My husband and I have been talking so much about where we go from here, what steps we take next, and what we want to achieve. We have known for a long time that we felt called to reach out in a huge way, but have not been able to put a clear focus on what that means. I know that this has launched us into massive action."

Getting launched into massive action is one of many things you must do now!!! And I am doing it ... NOW!!!

The Magic is in YOU

The Magic is in You - by Vic Johnson
(excerpted from Day by Day with James Allen)

"When he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself." - As A Man Thinketh

I was reading an old classic the other day, The Message of a master by John McDonald, and I was rocked by an incredibly insightful passage: "The cause of the confusion prevailing in your mind that weakens your thoughts is the false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you.

Stop and think about that. What keeps us from attempting greater things -- from reaching for the brass ring in our life? What makes us take that great idea that could make our family financially free and bury it underneath a lot of reasons why it'd never work? What stops us from that career change that would result in working in a profession we could really enjoy, could get passionate about?

There's only one thing that EVER stops us from forward momentum and McDonald nailed it: "the false belief that there is a power or powers outside you greater than the power within you."

As I once heard a speaker say, "The magic is in YOU!" As James Allen tells us, once we realize that we can create our circumstances, then, and only then, are we truly the master of our life and our destiny.

Regardless of your particular spiritual beliefs, you may find these words from the Gospel of John very enlightening, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do." That would indicate to me that we are already "endowed" with the power to do amazing things -- far more amazing than most of us will ever attempt -- if we'd only understand and BELIEVE that the power is within, not without.

Circumstances

Rise & shine, baby! Today you shall start paying more for everything you own, buy, enjoy, eat, drink, & also for the services that you recieved. Welcome to a whole new world!

Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.
- James Allen

Persistence Grows Out of Root System

"The person of good & lawful purpose cannot fail. It only needs that he daily renew the fire & energy of his fixed resolve, to consummate his object." - The Mastery of Destiny

It is the great equalizer for all of those reaching for success. It overcomes lack of education, money, talent, intelligence, looks & all other seeming advantages. President Calvin Coolidge said nothing could take its place: "Persistence & determination alone are omnipotent."

I cannot think of one victory I've ever had that I won without persistence. For a while I just thought that I had to work harder and longer than anyone else in order to achieve because nothing has ever come easy for me. Then I really looked around & noticed that everyone else was just like me. Every mentor I've ever had & every successful person I've ever known has their own story of how persistence was the key to their success.

Here's what Bob Proctor teaches on one of the Universal Laws called the Law of Gender: "this law decrees that all sees (ideas are spiritual seeds) have a gestation of incubation periods before they manifest. In other words, when you choose a goal or build the image in your mind, a definite period of time must elapse before that image manifests in physical results."

One of my most favorite inspirational examples about persistence is the story of an Asian bamboo species that even after five years of watering, weeding & fertilizing is barely visible. Then, in a span of about six weeks, it grows two & a half feet a day to 90 feet & higher. It grows so fast that you can literally "hear" it growing. The question to ask is did the bamboo grow 90 feet in six weeks or did it grow 90 feet in five years?

Obviously it grew 90 feet in five years, for all the time when growth wasn't visible it was developing a massive root system that would later support it magnificent growth.

Can you see where the current circumstance in you life are developing your massive root system? Can you see where you must continue to "fertilize" & "water" yourself even though maybe you can't see any visible changes today?

Napoleon Hill thought that persistence was such a key to success that he devoted an entire chapter to it in the classic Think and Grow Rich. He writes, "Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated….Before success comes in any person's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest & most logical thing to do is to 'Quit.' That is exactly what the majority of people do. More than five hundred of the most successful people this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

And that's worth thinking about.

Vic Johnson
(excerpted from Day by Day by James Allen)