Thought for Today

Are you ready to take that first step toward a better life? If you are, this “gift” should hold special meaning. No one else can live your life for you. No once else can progress toward greatness for you. This not an easy world to live in. It is not an easy world to be decent in. But it must be lived in, and in the living there is one person you must absolutely believe int. The business you are in, the business we are all in, is the business of living—and the sooner you learn who you are and how you became the person you are, the sooner you will be able to deal with the challenges that may have frustrated you in the past.

There is a spirit that rest within, you can feel it and even see it within those who have mastered the process we call success. You can see it in the manner in which achievers approach their work. There is a flicker in their eyes—a sense of urgency, a zeal to perform. As a young man, S.B. Fuller, entrepreneur extraordinaire, sought the habits of success by dedicating his life to continuous self-improvement. A key factor in his turn-around form poverty to plenty surfaced when he realized that life is a game with laws and regulations. “Never be content with what you are,” Fuller warned, “if you wish to be what you’re not! Poverty is a disease of the mind. Everyone is born with a spark of divinity. It’s up to you—the individual—to fan that spark.” Every morning for more than fifty years, this black cosmetic tycoon would gather his salespeople in a classroom at his corporate headquarters Chicago and drill them with maxims like these. Moments later, Fuller would unleash them into marketplace, His list of virtues included:

• Salesmanship is statesmanship. “The only way America recognizes you is for industrial and commercial achievement.”
• Start early and stay late. “Thank God every morning that you have something to do that day—whether you want to or not.”
• Read. “Reserve a special time for daily reading and meditation. Ignorance is the root of misfortune.”
• Lead. “Leadership means initiative, courage, loyalty, integrity, and wisdom.”
• Dare to reach forward. “It’s contrary to the law of nature for humanity to stand still. You either move forward or the eternal march will force you back.”
  
  

Virtues keep us centered in an imperfect world. Within the nuances of business, people break promises, letters go unanswered, phone calls, go unreturned, banks deny credit, applications are lost, and names are forgotten. But the dreamer—the spirit-filled achiever—rises above the clutter and see that character eventually pays off. Within the game of life the mission is clear: Service and goodness are credited, trustworthiness is an asset. Everything counts. Nothing goes overlooked. The winners get the cup. “Give till it hurts,” Fuller, coached. “If people disappoint it’s because they failed to see the bigger picture. Don’t worry; your deeds of kindness will come back to you in the end.”

The fundamental law of the universe is that every form of life holds within itself every element it needs for growth, maturity, and development. The seed only survives when it casts off all outside support, and places its dependence solely upon the life force that created it. Only then it will draw to itself whatever it conceives to be necessary to its own expression. It doesn’t mater who you are; nor should you be concerned with your present circumstances. The seed of life in you has the same power that rests within your hands waiting for you to use it. Will you use it? Only if you value the greatest gift.