I love hearing success stories, don't you. I found myself thinking that for every success story that I read, there is one that was not told because someone quit.
All of the successful people that I know has told a story of the time they almost did not make it. I love reading success stories when I am tired and discouraged and do not want to have to do the next thing cause it feels like too much. There are common characteristics in each one. Keep them in mind when all you can feel is “it’s too hard, this will never work.”
Fred Smith created FedEx. They may be a global leader in delivering packages overnight today; however, their success did not come quite that way. They struggled over and over and at one point they did not have the money to deliver packages. Their planes were repossessed on the runway.
In Roger Frock 's book, Changing How The World Does Business, he quotes one of Smith’s partners.
By mid-July our funds were so meager that on Friday we were down to about $5,000 in the checking account, while we needed $24,000 for the jet fuel payment… When I arrived back in Memphis on Monday morning, much to my surprise, the bank balance stood at nearly $32,000."I asked Fred where the funds had come from, and he responded, “The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.” I said, “You mean you took our last $5,000 – how could you do that?” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “What difference does it make? Without the funds for the fuel companies, we couldn’t have flown anyway.
Crazy?
Risky?
Irresponsible?
To some it would seem it was all of those things and yet, business involves risk. Safety and security are mirages built out of fear. Risk is simply doing what it takes even if it seems insane. What pushed Fred out of doing what the world would say was responsible into doing what was needed?
Urgency is one of the necessary ingredients to avoid quitting. Responsibility only means the ability to respond. Fred would have been irresponsible had he blown that money in Vegas without a way to respond to being out of cash. His sense of urgency and belief in his business pushed him into a place of radical action. Had he lost it all, I believe he would have found the next person to ask until he put fuel in those planes.How many of you secretly wish you were the success story?
How many of you wish that you were that bold action taker, or that you could put everything on the line for what you believe you are here to do?
You can have or be the success story. Make NOW your best friend based on a sense of urgency. Without that, you will never see success.
Accept that you do have the ability to respond. You do have what it takes or you would not have your desire. You know…that one that you cannot stop thinking about. We do not get another person's dreams and desires. It does not work that way. We get exactly what we need to have the experiences we want in life. This should inspire courage.
It is your dream–your desire and as such, you are guaranteed a way to realize it. Take stock of your value or self worth.
Oprah featured a show about the amazing people who lost hundreds of pounds telling their “why.” No two people had the same reason for taking on the challenge of releasing what no longer served them–in this case, extra weight. One woman lost 530 lbs! Her 'why' for changing? Something reminded her of her self worth. She reported that the rest was easy.
When we get emotional watching or reading about another person's harrowing or demanding struggle to a dream realized, it is our soul that has been touched. It is the knowing part of us saying “I can do that, I want to be that, I know it’s possible.” Who are we to argue with the soul’s code?
Light a fire under your Big Why with urgency. Wrap your dream up in the courage you have gathered from those who believe in you when you cannot. Mix in the biggest dose of “my value is proven because I exist” and have a smack-down on that quitting thing. If desire alone were all it took to have the success story that makes others say “I want that”, we would all be giddily climbing our mountains.
Sometimes it takes getting crazy, being risky.
Quiet your voice that has been holding you prisoner for years and allow another voice to take over:
I am that person who succeeds. I am the one at the top of the mountain. I am the one on television telling my story. I am, I am, I am.
You are. You can. You will (as long as you do not quit).
