Week 1
“THOUGHTS”
If failure were money I would be a millionaire.
If uncertainty was an educational degree I would have a masters.
If disappointments were rewarded I would be the guest of honor.
If anxiety was a temperature mine would at least be 103. Not enough to kill me but enough to really keep me down.
In spite of these ongoing challenges in life I have managed to earn my living over the years in several capacity’s that from the outside some would say I was not necessarily qualified for. I have been granted access in manufacturing facility’s pitching products or services that were beyond my expertise. I have been trusted with and been on dangerous assignments on offshore and land based drilling rigs where a simple mistake or a moment of indecision could be fatal. I have asked for and been granted appointments with business leaders way above my socio, educational and economic level. I have provided advice, and expertise in areas where some would say I was not qualified for. I have been given guidance and direction from individuals who had nothing to gain from me, and yet were compelled to do just that.
The commonality in all was and is my “thinking”. I am convinced I just didn’t realize I wasn’t qualified, and drive and ambition blindly pushed me forward toward what I wanted to be, do, or have. Given some thought could be that true for you as well?
I know it’s not just that simple, to think and it will be. Yet in 1937 Napoleon Hill wrote a bestselling training and motivational book entitled “Think and Grow Rich”. Maxwell Malts in 1960 wrote “Psycho-Cybernetics”. His work defines the mind-body connection as the core in succeeding in attaining personal goals. My favorite Zig Ziegler wrote “See You at The Top” “The how to book that gives you a checkup from the neck up to eliminate stinkin thinkin and avoid hardening of the attitudes” in 1982 and many others until his passing in 2012.
All of these men studied, researched, and provided instruction as to the importance of what we think. Eastern philosophies touted the benefits and importance of our thoughts. The Bible in addressing maters of the heart or spirit addresses the challenges of what we think and allow into our minds: Simply put, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” Proverbs 23 vs 7.
It has been said we only have control over three things in our life:
The thoughts we think.
The images we visualize.
The actions we take.
I have found that to be true in my life have you?
So what do I do, if how I manage my thoughts and how and what I think is so very important, how do I go about managing what I think? Or can we?
Dwight L. Carter Sr.