FORMULA FOR FAILURE AND SUCCESS (PART 2)

Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter. 
Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day. Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success? 
The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy. Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow. 
But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little further down the road?

FORMULA FOR FAILURE AND SUCCESS (PART 1)

The Formula for Failure and Success by Jim Rohn 

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day. Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters. On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds. If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters! Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year... because it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices - choices that didn't seem to matter. Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to repeat. But we must become better educated than that! If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never be repeated again. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.

SERENITY

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control…an indication of ripened experience, and…a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought. 26

A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being (product of his thought). 26

The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others. 26

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. 26

The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. 26

That exquisite poise of character that we call serenity is the last lesson of culture. It is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul. 26

How insignificant money-seeking looks in comparison with a serene life… It is a question whether the great majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control. 26-27

[Humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt.] Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him. 27

Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In the core of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. 27

Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, “Peace. Be still!” 27

VISIONS AND IDEALS

The dreamers are the saviours of the world. 23

As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. 23

He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. 23

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built. 23

To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve. 23

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. 23

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream… Dreams are the seedlings of realities. 24

Your circumstances may be uncongenial (unfriendly), but they shall not remain so if you only perceive an ideal and strive to reach it.

THE THOUGHT FACTOR IN ACHIEVEMENT

All that a man achieves, and all that he fails to achieve (are) the direct result of his own thoughts. 20

A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not another man’s. They are brought about by himself and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. 20

His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His sufferings and happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so is he; as he continues to think, so he remains. 20

…Oppressor and slaves are cooperators in ignorance, and, while seeming to afflict the other, are in reality afflicting themselves… He who has conquered weakness and has pushed away all selfish thoughts belong neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free. 20

Before a man can achieve anything, even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. 21

There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be by the measure that he sacrifices his confused animals thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolutions and self-reliance. The higher he lifts his thoughts, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and enduring will be his achievements. 21

The universe does not favour the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it sometimes may appear to do so. It helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. 21

Intellectual achievements are the results of thoughts consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for the beautiful and true in nature. 21

Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and selfless will…become wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and blessedness. 21-22

Achievement of any kind is the crown of effort (and) the diadem of thought. 22

By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought, a man ascends. By the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought, a man descends. 22

A man may rise to high success in the world, even to lofty attitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him. 22

Victories attained by right thought can be maintained only by watchfulness. 22

All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought. 22

He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly. 22