Deepak Chopra – The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success
Sally Jessy Raphael
Just Do It
Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.
– Henry Ford
Ralph Waldo Emerson offered some simple advice, which, if followed, can transform your life. He said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear are certain.”
I know this advice makes good sense, but some people are just too afraid to act. Remember about the steep price you pay when you let your fears dominate you.
In the end, running away from your fears is a losing strategy. It will only bring you frustration and unhappiness.
There’s nothing wrong with having some fears. Successful people have fears. The difference is that successful people take action and move forward despite being afraid. It’s not always easy, But you’ll always feel better about yourself when you face your fears.
As Burke Hedges often says, “Don’t be one of those who let his regrets take the place of his dreams.” So, stretch yourself. Confront your fears and be willing to expand your comfort zone. The courage muscle can be developed just like any other muscle – with exercise. And when you do an activity outside your comfort zone a few times, you know what happens? That same activity becomes part of your comfort zone!
There’s another bonus when you’re willing to expand your comfort zone. When you push through fear and take action in some areas of your life, you’ll develop confidence in other areas, as well. It’s true!
You can try to dance around it all you want. But you won’t develop your abilities to the fullest unless you’re willing to be uncomfortable. Life doesn’t reward those who refuse to expose themselves to difficulties and challenges.
It’s important that you put yourself in a position to win – and that means taking action despite fear. Confront your fears… and you’re on the way to developing your potential and leading the exciting, fulfilling life you deserve. It’s a decision you’ll never regret!
She couldn’t pay her credit card bills for 26 years. She moved 25 times looking for work. She was fired 18 times. She worked for 26 years before she earned an annual salary of $22,000.
She occasionally lived on food stamps and slept in her car. The “failure” described above is well-known TV talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael. You see, despite all of her setbacks, she refused to give up her childhood dream of a career in broadcasting. She was willing to keep failing… and keep failing… until she succeeded. Sally Jessy Raphael has earned millions of dollars and has enjoyed a long and successful TV career.
All because she kept a great attitude despite years of failures.
In The Beginning
How is it that someone like Sally Jessy Raphael can endure 26 years of failure and keep going? If you look back to your own childhood, I think you’ll see that you, too, demonstrated tremendous resilience in the face of repeated failures.
Remember when you learned how to ride a bicycle? You probably began with training wheels. Eventually, when these crutches were removed, keeping your balance became more difficult. You struggled to stay upright, maybe even falling a few times and scraping yourself. You were learning an important early lesson about failure.
As you practiced, it’s likely that one of your parents walked beside you shouting instructions, encouraging you and catching you as you lost balance. You were scared… but excited! You looked forward to the time when you would succeed, when you would at last ride free on your own. So you kept at it every day, and eventually mastered the skill of riding a bike.
What contributed to your ultimate success in learning how to ride your bike? Well, persistence and sheer repetition, certainly. You were going to stick with it no matter how long it took! It also helped that you were enthusiastic about what you set out to achieve – that you could hardly wait to reach your goal. And finally, let’s not underestimate the impact of positive encouragement. You always knew your parents were in your corner, supporting you, rooting for your success.
As a six-year-old learning to ride your bike, you were optimistic… thrilled… and eager to meet the challenge. You couldn’t wait to try again. You knew you’d master it eventually. But that was a long time ago.
Yesterday and Today
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
– Winston Churchill
Now let’s examine how most adults approach the development of new skills. Would you say they’re optimistic… thrilled… and eager to meet the challenge? We both know the answer to that question is “NO.”
Let’s assume we asked a group of adults to learn a new software program or to switch to another position in the company. How would most respond?
They’d try to avoid it.
They’d complain.
They’d make excuses why they shouldn’t have to do it.
They’d doubt their abilities.
They’d be afraid.
What happened to that six-year-old brimming with vitality and a sense of adventure?
How did that child turn into an adult moaning and groaning about learning something new? As adults, most of us become a lot more concerned about the opinions of others, often hesitating because people may laugh at us or criticize us.
At the age of six, we knew we had to fall off the bike and get back on to learn a new skill. Falling off the bike wasn’t a “bad” thing. But as we got older, we started to perceive falling off as a bad thing – rather than an essential part of the process of achieving our goal.
It can be uncomfortable to try something new, perhaps even scary. But if you take your eyes off the goal and instead focus your attention on how others may be viewing you, you’re doing yourself a grave disservice. To develop a new skill or reach a meaningful target, you must be committed to doing what it takes to get there, even if it means putting up with negative feedback or falling on your face now and then.
Successful people have learned to “fail” their way to success. While they may not particularly enjoy their “failures,” they recognize them as a necessary part of the road to victory. After all, becoming proficient at any skill requires time, effort and discipline… and the willingness to persevere through whatever difficulties may arise.
