TrevorNelDailyOnline

He concludes his great book with an Alphabet For Action.

'Winning starts with beginning, and beginning starts with a single action.' he assigns positive, possibility-thinking verbs - action words - to each letter of the alphabet to help us get started with simple positive actions to change our lives.

A... Affirm that you can do it... affirm that you deserve to succeed.

B... Believe that '... somehow, some time, somewhere, through someone's help, you can achieve your heart's highest goal.' Believe that you can make it happen.

C... Commit yourself to a dream. 'When you are inspired with a dream, God has hit the ball into your court. Now you have to hit it back with a commitment. Nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure - he defeated the fear of trying.'

D... Dare to try. Dare to make a commitment. Dare to take a risk. 'Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The people who risk nothing, do nothing, have nothing, are nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free.'

E... Educate yourself. 'Ultimately, the knowledgeable person who has the right answers is the one who will impress the powerful people.'

F... Find the talent, the possibilities, the time, the money, and the way. 'There is a great bible verse: "It is the Glory of God to conceal a matter" (Prov. 25:2) God does not lay it all out into the open. No. The diamonds are buried deep in the earth. Pearls are concealed in oysters. The gold has to be carefully mined. Your real talent dwells deep down within, and you may not have discovered it yet.'

G... Give it all you've got. 'There is a principle: New powers are discovered every time you push yourself farther than you've ever gone before."

H... Hope '...is holding on, praying expectantly. It's never giving up. It's never quitting. The single most important healing force is hope: hope of recovery, hope of loving and being loved, hope of making it, and succeeding.'

I... Imagine solutions to your problem. Imagine yourself scaling your mountain. Imagine yourself crossing the finishing line.

J... Junk the junk food of your mind. Throw away the self-pity, the worry, anxiety, and the fear and negative thoughts. Junk them!

K... Knock out depression, knockout discouragement, knock out all kinds of forecasts of doom and gloom. Take control of your life and your future by knocking out all negativity.

L... Laugh at yourself.

M... Make it happen. 'Do you want excitement? Do you want your dream to come true? Then make it happen!'

N... Negotiate. 'You have to be able to negotiate, to compromise. You can't have your way all the time.'

O... Overlook and overcome. 'You have to overlook your own and other people's imperfections. You can't succeed without a team. There are some problems that can't be solved. However, every problem can be overcome, manipulated, molded.'

P... Persevere; don't give up.

Q... Quit complaining! Do something.

R... Reorganise yourself, your life, your plans. Times change!

S... Share. 'God can do tremendous things through the person who doesn't care who gets the credit and is willing to share the credit, share the power, and share the glory.' 'It's better to let somebody else do a worse job than I would do, than not have it get done at all. The surprising thing is that, more often than not, they do a better job of it than I would have done!'

T... Trade-off that which you are prepared to give up to get or keep what you want.

U... Unlock '...some human values you never experienced before - faith, hope and love.'

V... Visualise the dream before you. 'Don't ever lose the vision. When you lose the vision you're dead. Where there are no dreams, people perish. Success doesn't come through the ways you may think it comes, it comes through they way you think! Think positively. Visualise success!'

W... Work - there is no substitute for work.

X... X-ray your deepest motives. 'There are people who have high moral and ethical integrity in their businesses.' do you?

Y... Yield your life and your problems to God. 'Once you've given God control of your life, it won't be free from difficulty. God has not promised that our skies will always be blue, but He has promised to see us through.'

Z... Zip it up. Schuller zips up his book by closing with... 'Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Rev. 22:13). You can face whatever is ahead of you, and with Christ as your friend, you can succeed.'

Concludes Schuller: ' "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). That is the ultimate secret of becoming tough enough to face the toughest battle and win! Only then can you be sure that your life will prove the truth of the title of this book - Tough Times never last, But Tough people do! - eternally!'

Wow, what a great book... and this review has only just skimmed through it. Get it!

More tomorrow:

posted by Trevor Nel: Developer - INNER Circle Business Forum

Schuller shares a fantastic piece of philosophy - that has had an enormous impact on this writer for many years - that he discovered in the Readers Digest, December 1982, entitled 'ANYWAY'... it reads:

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred... Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives... Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will false friends and true enemies... Succeed anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable... Be honest and frank anyway.

The good you today will be forgotten tomorrow... Do good anyway.

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people
with the smallest minds... Thing big anyway.

People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs... Fight for some underdogs anyway.

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight... Build anyway.

Give the world the best you've got and you'll get kicked in the teeth...
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

Isn't that just great? It is a confirmation of the admonition - "To thine ownself be true."

Says Schuller: 'Prayer is the umbilical cord that allows you - with your embryonic ideas - to draw nourishment from a source that you, like an unborn infant, can neither see nor fully know or comprehend - God our heavenly Father. Prayer is the power that pulls everything together successfully.'

More tomorrow:

posted by Trevor Nel: Developer - INNER Circle Business Forum

Robert Schuller reminds us that the key ingredients in the recipe of success are:

1.) Put your problems in proper perspective
2.) Apply the 12 principles of managing problems effectively
3.) Take charge and control of your situation
4.) Tackle impossibilities with the Ten Commandments for Possibility Thinking
5.) Count to 10 and Win
6.) Apply the Faith that will move your mountain
7.) Apply the One Power that pulls everything together successfully

And... To Schuller... the One Power that pulls everything together successfully is Prayer : '...there must be a steady and unfailing practice of positive prayer if you are to succeed. God guides praying people through tough times until the beautiful breakthrough finally comes.'

He shares a very personal story concerning his own son which highlights God's divine intervention... it makes compelling reading - get to it!

Again Schuller warns, 'But remember, keeping in touch with God won't eliminate your problems... it will only help you manage them.'

He offers a simple mnemonic formula to help you to '...RENEW your strength and spirit' when you're feeling burnt out or smarting from a failure of some kind.

R... Review your past - he suggests that we go back to the great times we've had in the past and work out what it was that turned us on then... to review what was the source of our emotional energy at the time. 'Review your private practices, your philosophy of life, your value system, and your religion.'

E... Examine all the possibilities - he reminds us to do 'what if' scenarios... 'There are far more possibilities than you think. Examine them.'

N... Name the price you're willing to pay - there is always a price to pay for whatever we wish to achieve. When you are willing to pay the price you will receive the rewards due. 'When you feel that deeply about something you are going to make it.'

E... Elect the best possibility no matter what the price - 'Choose the best; shun the mediocrity. Mediocrity has a way of shrivelling up enthusiasm. But commitment to excellence taps an incredible source of energy. Elect the best, no matter what the price tag.

W... Wait and Work - says Schuller: 'Probably nothing is more difficult than to keep waiting, working, plodding, and maintaining patience through dark times. But we must.'

He offers some great advice: 'Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst mood.'

'Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. New feelings will come over you, and they will be positive. Keep waiting affirmatively and positively in prayer for God's strength to return.'

More tomorrow:

posted by Trevor Nel: Developer - INNER Circle Business Forum