Resource Box: The Purpose of Creation by Dr. P.C. Simon, Copyright 2003. Also by Dr. P.C. Simon, The Missing Piece to Paradise, an inspiring, informative, and life-changing book. More articles by Dr. Simon can be seen at http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/psimon/book2.htm

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Passport to Success

by

Dr. P.C. Simon

copyright 2003, word count: 1900

Success is prosperous termination of any enterprise. Therefore, success can only be appraised at end, not at beginning. However, to reach end, one has to start. Many people are unable to start an enterprise because of fear, fear that they will fail, fear that they do not have stamina, fear that they do not have resources, education, finance, right age, etc. Therefore, first thing they have to do is to overcome fear.

How do we overcome fear?

When I was training to take a private pilot license, first time my trainer stalled engine, plane dropped a few hundred feet and I was horror stricken. I wanted to quit. But my trainer encouraged me and convinced me that after a few more times I would overcome fear of stalling and I did. I had to have confidence and with that confidence I had to go through experience. This is what we all have to do. Have confidence in your potential and go through experience.

Establish a precise goal. It should remain unchanging until it is reached. The goal should be written down and looked at frequently to reinforce it in our minds.

What do you have to do to reach your goal? Plan out in detail from very beginning. Set goals for each day, each week, each month. At end of each period, check to see that goal set for that period has been reached. If goal has not been reached, don't give up. Reset goal and try to complete it during next interval.

Your plan must be followed passionately. You must have a burning desire to follow plan and to reach your goal.

Napoleon Hill, in his book Think and Grow Rich, writes "to achieve success, one should have:

a. Faith. A persistent faith is head chemist of mind. Faith, love and sex are most powerful of all major positive emotions. when faith is blended with emotional thought and word, it will materialize. Faith is a state of mind which may be created by affirmations. Repetition of affirmation is one of ways to order subconscious to act. The subconscious is that part of universal mind which is responsible for materialization of thought.

"Life's battle don't always go to stronger or faster man,

But soon or late, man who wins is man who thinks he can."

b. Persistence. There is no better example than Thomas Edison. During his life, he patented 1093 inventions. Edison is said to have tested 4000 fibers before he found that white cotton thread rolled in lampblack (soot) could be used as a filament for electric light.

Once, Edison told a co-worker who was disappointed in a series of experimental failures, "Schultz, we haven't failed. We know 1000 things that won't work so we are much closer of finding what will."

At age of 80, he decided to find a native source of rubber. He met with failure after failure. After testing and classifying 17,000 varieties of plants, he succeeded in devising a method to extract latex. His persistence paid off. Success is incumbent on one's motivational ability.

No man can succeed in any enterprise all by himself. All successful people were able to gather others around them and motivate them. To succeed in motivating others, we can take a few words of advice from Dale Carnegie. In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he gives some important points such as: -

1. Get interested in other people rather than trying to get other people interested in you.

2. Learn to remember names.

3. Listen without saying a word.

4. Ask questions or talk about topics he/she is interested in.

5. Make him/her feel important.

6. Don't criticize.

7. Frame your questions in such a way as to get "yes" as an answer.

8. Let him think that idea is his.

9. Talk about your own mistake before correcting other person.

10. Ask Questions instead of giving orders.

Charles, son of Thomas Edison, said of his father, "Father could and often did give orders, but he preferred to inspire people so that they may suggest to him what he wanted them to do in first place. This was one of secrets of his success."

11. Let other man save his face.

12. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.

Successful people can be divided into two groups.

1. Those who underestimated their successful career and thought they had done very little worthwhile in life.

2. Those who recognized they had achieved a lot.

Leonardo da Vinci, a man two centuries ahead of his time, great architect of many inventions, creator of Mona Lisa, just before his death at age of 67 went about scribbling on pieces of paper, "Tell me if anything ever was done."

Tycho Brahe, great Danish Astronomer who measured so accurately motions of planets as no one ever had done before, said at his death bed, "Tell me what have I achieved."