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Success...It's All in the Letter P By now we are familiar with Nigel Lythgoe, the British television director and producer, who created such smash hits as Ameri... |
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Time to Be a Better Everything
Original Publication Date:
March 2007
Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying—planning and dreaming—then what? What do you do with all those hopes and dreams? Do your goals ever become reality? Do your ideas ever make it into action? Or do they languish on the vine or worse yet become reduced to some sad, stale, all-too-familiar, could-a-been a contender stories repeated to anyone within earshot after too many brews on a Friday night?
There's something about this New Year that feels good to me. It feels like people are poised to make things happen. It feels like they are getting unstuck and out of the muck. It feels like they are on the other side of the struggle. The struggles of the past years have been many and seemingly have kept even the most ambitious and talented among us frustrated and down; but these obstacles have now been overcome and are clearing the way for opportunity and accomplishment. People are eager and prepared and ready. Look around you. There is already movement on many levels and many fronts. Do you see it? Can you feel it? Are you part of it?
But in order to turn that million dollar idea you and your wife hatched in your kitchen—quite by accident, into more than an idea, you have to do better than you did in the past. In order to start that business you've been meaning to start you have to do better than you've previously done. In order to win that competition you've always craved you have to do better than you have up until now. You're going to have to crank it up another notch. You have to decide to raise the bar a little higher on your life. That means you'll have to train a little tougher, study a little harder, stick it out a little longer, commit a little firmer, persevere a little further. You have to do more and be more of what you used to do and who you used to be in order to ultimately get to where you want to be.
This is the time to go for the brass ring. For this to happen in your life you have to decide to make it so. The better you can be at any and all aspects of your life the better your chances at making those dreams and goals come true.
Just today I had the pleasure of speaking with a delightful and adorable young 9-year-old named Zachary. Already Zach knows what he wants to be in life. First, he wants to play football—probably wide-receiver. Baseball is another love of his and he can actually hit from both sides making him an invaluable asset to his T-ball team. Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter are his heroes (along with his dad) and Zach is determined that one day he'll play these sports on a scale beyond his current level of Little League. Oh, and in addition, Zach is going to be an actor. He and his 8-year-old sister are seasoned veterans when it comes to the audition process for modeling, commercials, and films, and he has learned the cold world of rejection when the part is given to another boy who is deemed better suited for the role. The wonderful thing about Zach, and what struck me most, is this little guy isn't just talking the talk, but he's walking the walk. He has a wide-eyed enthusiasm for life that we adults could stand to emulate. Shy, yet confident, Zach sees himself as a winner in life. His goals are lofty by any standards but for him are very much in reach. He isn't sitting around playing video games for hours in a dark room. With the encouragement and support of his loving parents, he's doing what it takes to be a better football player, a better baseball player, a better actor, a better student, and, it appears, a better person. At age 9 he has his whole life ahead of him and plenty of time to be good at something, but for Zachary the time to be good at everything is now. The same can be said for the rest of us.
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