| Walking in the Footsteps of
Success 2005 by Bob Miller The secrets of the rich and famous are not secrets. The question
has never been, “Can you be successful?” The question is, “Are you
ready?”
On this webpage are time-tested words about a philosophy/approach that will get your name
on a door and dollars in your pocket.
Skill & Knowledge-
"Skill is fine, and genius is splendid’ but the right contacts are more
valuable than either.” Sir Archibald McIndoe
Money & Success-
Having authored two books that fit nicely in the spiritual and/or religious genre
I’ve encountered my fair share of those who advocate that money is evil. Money feeds
hungry children, buys medicine for the sick, cares for the old and disabled. Nevertheless,
those who see money as happiness, a cure-all for worry and a fountain of joy, will be
disappointed if they ever accumulate any.
"Had I but plenty of money, money enough to spare,” wrote Robert Browning.
Most successful people will tell you that they had a burning desire to attain a goal. I
have asked hundreds of people the question, “What do you want to accomplish
today?” 99% of them did not have an answer. Do you?
Lawrence Peter wrote, “If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably
end up somewhere else.”
"Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing to go through
anything to get it,” wrote Don Marquis.
You can't see electricity, but it's there-
How is it that some can see the value in something like a home computer that the masses
cannot?
Our spiritual guides will take us under their wings and nourish, teach, and show us the
path to attainment. The hard part is getting us to believe that we are entitled to and
worthy of it.
Character & Good Judgment-
Develope a sense of fair play and the ability to make appropriate decisions. Cooperate
with everybody and acquire your own self-worth. Follow constructive criticism and advice
after you've evaluated it carefully.
Lord Byron wrote, “There is rapture on the lonely shore.” And if you
attain your goals with poise and sincerity, you'll find warmth and love at the top, not
the cold loneliness pictured by the jealous.
Opportunities-
William Jennings Bryan wrote, “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a
matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
Careful, don't let opportunities slip by; create new ones as you see them. “Wise
people make more opportunities than they find,” said Francis Bacon.
Having a plan and working the plan-
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there,”
said Will Rogers. Don't be paralyzed by inaction; rather act upon your own convictions.
Aristotle Onassis worked eighteen hours a day to maintain his fortune. He started
as a welder and aimed for the top.
J. Paul Getty acknowledged his hard work: “I have no complex about wealth. I
have worked hard for my money, producing things people need.”
Richard Bach, the author of the best selling Jonathan Livingston Seagull
wrote, “You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it
true. You may have to work for it, however.”
This is the best example of resolve that I’ve ever read. Queen Victoria
admonished, “We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.”
Aesop said, “Beware that you do not lose the substance by grabbing at the
shadow.” Know exactly what you want, then go for it.
The writer Thomas Wolfe wrote, “I had been sustained by that delightful
illusion of success which we all have when we dream about the books we are going to write
instead of actually doing them. Now I was face to face with it, and suddenly I realized
that I had committed my life and my integrity so irrevocably to this struggle that I must
conquer now or be destroyed.”
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I have learned this at least by my experiment:
that if you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and endeavor to live the
life which you imagine, you will meet with success.”
Risk & Reward-
"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work,
is as impossible as it is to live without being born,” wrote A.P. Gouthey. I
suspect that most every person who has achieved something rewarding has worked for that
goal.
"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one
has reached, as by the obstacles which are overcome while trying to succeed,” wrote Booker
T. Washington.
"The message from the moon is that no problem need any longer be considered
insoluble,” wrote Norman Cousins. And you can attain anything that seems
impossible.
Are you ready for success? Do you have a need and the desire to succeed?
"The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the
difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become,”
wrote Ashley Montague. One of the saddest people I ever met was a man who
realized too late that he had accomplished only a small part of what he was capable of
doing.
Sophie Tucker sums up everyone's worldly outlook: “I've been rich and I've
been poor,” she said. “Rich is better.”
Accomplishment-
"I believe there is no escape from the rule that we must do many, many little things
to accomplish even just one big thing,' said James Dupont. “This gives me
patience when I need it most.”
“In business, the earning of profit is something more than an incident of success. It
is an essential condition of success. Because the continued absence of profit itself
spells failure,” said Justice Brandeis.
"Profitability is the sovereign criterion of the enterprise,” wrote Peter
Drucker.
Actions, good or bad, soon fall prey to habit-
“Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movement and
changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to
shape the clay of this life into the sort of thing he wishes to be… Everyone has it
within his power to say this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow.” Louis
L’Amour
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