We are now living in a golden age. An era we’ve worked towards for thousands of years. America presents endless opportunity for everyone living here.
Let’s take 100 men and women starting even at the age of 25. All of them want to be successful. If you ask them they would tell you that they are eager about life and want to succeed. They have a sparkle in their eye and a spring in their step. But what happens to them by the age of 65? 1 (one) will be rich…4 (four) will be financially independent … 5 (five) will still be working… 54 will be broke! Now… let’s think for a moment… out of the original 100 … only 5 make the grade. All others end up broke or dependent upon others for their livelihood. Why is this?
Over 50 years ago, Rollo May, a distinguished psychiatrist wrote a wonderful and interesting book, “Man’s Search for Himself” and in this book, he wrote, “the opposite of courage, in our society, is not cowardice, it’s conformity”. There you have the trouble in America today… conformity… people acting like everyone else, without knowing why or without knowing where they’re going. Ok, now let’s think about this…in America right now there are over 33 million people over the age of 65 and about 29 million of the 33 million are broke, depending on something or someone else for life’s necessities.
Usually we learn to read by the time we’re 7 …we learn to make a living by the time we’re 25 and usually by 30 or so we’re not only making a living, we’re supporting a family and yet by the time we’re 65, we haven’t learned how to become fnancially independent and yet by the time we’re 65, we haven’t learned how to become financially independent in the richest land that the world has ever known. Why? It’s simple! We conform. And the real problem is that we’re conforming with the wrong percentage group.. we’re conforming with the 95% who don’t succeed. So why do these people conform. I think I know why. They live by the Law of Accident. They think it’s not what you know…it’s who you know…they think it’s simply being in the right place at the right time. They think their lives are shaped by circumstances…by things that happen to them…by external forces, if you like. Well, I know this…successful people don’t believe in circumstances…they create their own circumstances. They control the direction of change in their lives by setting goals. Another reason people conform is because it’s so easy. It doesn’t require much effort, but it does take considerable effort to plan and succeed.
In order to be one of the top 5 out of every 100 people, you must become a habitual goal setter. As Brian Tracy said, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal”. A goal! An aiming point for your life! Goals keep us moving in the direction of our desires. And remember this; it’s not important what the goal is, so long as it’s yours. Dr. Victor Frankl, in his classic book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, wrote “life asks of every individual a contribution and it is up to the individual to discover what the contribution should be”. ~ Mack Newton
