CHAPTER 1
If you stay focused and stay on track, you will get to whereyou want to be.
—Michelle C. Ustaszeski
Principle 1: Focus
Focus on the Right Destination
Being successful in life is not guaranteed. It is easier to fail than tosucceed. Take the gifted professional athletes who make a lot ofmoney playing sports, wealthy preachers, successful lawyers, influentialmayors, and company presidents who sometimes lose their focus andfind themselves in scandals, locked up in prison, or dead.
It always amazes and disappoints me when I hear about athleteswho were worth millions of dollars and later in their careers findthemselves financially broke and struggling to get by. Jim Rohn oncesaid, "Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight.Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day."
It is easy to get off course trying to pursue our desired destinationsor goals by making those little, insignificant errors in judgment everyday until we find ourselves so far off course we just don't know how wewound up there. If you get the right flight ticket, you can always checkto see where you should be going. Your goals are like flight tickets tokeep you focused on your main destination. Your focus, or goal, shouldbe clearly mapped out on a course that is comprehensible and verydistinct. Referring back to your flight ticket from time to time allowsyou to stay focused on your goal. These properly prepared flight ticketsare the road maps for your goals. They will let you know where you aregoing. Well, you may ask, how do I know that I have the right ticket oram pursuing a worthy goal?
Know Your Destination
As we pursue our lifelong endeavourers, whatever they are, here isthe secret you need to know: the first step is to know what you want.Next, you will determine how long it will take to accomplish it. Thereare two types of goals that you to need to focus on: long-term andshort-term goals, and they should be smart goals. Smart goals are goalsthat are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive.Sometimes you find people with short- and long-range goals linkedtogether; in a sense, it's like having connecting flights to get to yourfinal destination. There is nothing wrong with having both short- andlong-range goals. In fact, in some cases, it is the right thing to do. Iwould like to focus on long-range goals.
You must have a clear goal, a planned destination. If you don'tknow the airport you want to land at, it doesn't matter which flight youtake; you will not get there. As you began to put the necessary energyand time in to developing and focusing on your goals, be open-mindedto the fact that everything is possible.
If you begin to wonder where you should start, let me give you agood starting point. Most people have a passion for something thatthey love to do or a special skill that has put them above the averageperson. For example, you may be good at public speaking, teaching,or taking care of other people. Here are some suggestions to get youthinking: What do you read about for hours when you are bored? Isthere something you find yourself researching to learn more about? Isthere something you loved to do as a child but have abandoned becauseyou got older? Do you have a hobby that you are currently doing onthe side that could be turned into a full-time business?
You should also look around your room to see what items youfind yourself collecting. This could give you clues to some hiddenpassion. Always keep your mind open, so you can focus on that littlepassion that pops up from time to time. Try to remember the timeswhen you had a strong desire to do something positive or rewardingto make people's lives easier or better. Put a little time and effort intodeveloping this thought. It just may be of some value to everyone.In most cases, these passions and desires you have could be worthpursuing in life.
I heard a wonderful story, which I believe will prove my pointabout pursuing your internal, burning passion.
An elementary school teacher was giving a drawing class to a groupof six-year-old children. At the back of the classroom sat a little girlwho normally did not pay much attention in school. In the drawingclass, she did.
For more than twenty minutes, the girl sat with her arms curledaround her paper, totally absorbed in what she was doing. The teacherfound this fascinating. Eventually, she asked the girl what she wasdrawing. Without looking up, the girl said, "I'm drawing a pictureof God."
Surprised, the teacher said, "But nobody knows what God lookslike."
The girl said, "They will in a minute."
Consider these points to help validate you desires:
• Ensure the desire is legal and not life threatening; then it wouldbe worth pursuing.
• Make sure your purpose helps more people than just yourself.
• Pray about this burning desire and ask the question: would thishelp someone to change his life in a positive way?
Finding this right goal to focus on is not easy, so before you purchasea ticket for the journey, be sure you are certain. Sometimes the hardeststep to make toward any process is the first step.
Staying focused on your goal or main mission is like taking avacation. The first things you should do is get prepared for the vacation.Once the destination and departure date are known, you shift intopreparation mode. Start preparing yourself immediately for your newgoal or position.
For example, let's say that you want to win a marathon. You wouldstart focusing on getting in condition for a race. You would prepareyourself to eat right and make sure you have the best running gear,including running shoes and sweats. A good runner knows that it isimportant to know the terrain and the possible weather conditionsduring the race, so it's important to practice in similar conditions.
Keep in mind that this is all about staying focused on what you aretrying to achieve. It is important to be prepared for the target you areaiming at, because once you hit it, you should be ready to step rightin. You may have had a dream to be a commercial airplane pilot fora major airline. I would tell you this: if your passion is to fly planes,go for it. But start preparing to be a commercial pilot. Work on yourpeople skills while you train. Then, once you reach your milestone asa pilot, you will be better suited for the job, because you have beenpreparing for it.
Here is the point: all this preparing is a good way to keep focusedon the target. Sometimes the preparation is frustrating, because youfind yourself sacrificing a lot of your time from friends and familyto pursue your goal. Those individuals who are willing to focus ontheir goals and prepare themselves mentally and physically will surelyreach them.
Look at Tiger Woods' early childhood. We all know that TigerWoods is a gifted and passionate professional golfer; there is noargument about that. But it was his father's love and observation thatrecognized his talent. If it were not for his father's focus and personaldrive to help prepare his young son, Tiger Woods would probably notbe the golfer that he is today. In Tiger's case, he is always preparinghimself for the match.
Here are a few thoughts worth remembering:
• What is your passion (hobbies and things you enjoy doing)?
• If you can see it, if you believe you can, it will happen.
• Take the time to prepare and be ready to perform when youreach your goal.
CHAPTER 2
Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without ahumble but reasonable confidence in your own powers youcannot be successful or happy.
—Norman Vincent Peale
Principle 2: Faith
There is a higher being, a force that protects us, guides us,and loves us. I would admit that I'm in no way deserving ofthat unconditional love; however, I do believe that this force exists.Sometimes our actions may show something different; otherwise,I have to admit that believing in this invisible but powerful force isreal. On the other hand, when it comes to believing in ourselves, it isa different story. My faith is strong when it comes to these differentbeliefs. I define faith in this section as the substance of things hopedfor and the evidence of things not seen.
When I boarded the plane for the flight from Dayton to Houston,I had faith that I would make it to Houston. But when the planesuddenly veered off of the runway to go through another deicingprocess before taking off, my faith dropped for only a second. For onlya second I lost faith in the plane's ability to safely fly, the pilots' abilityto control and steer the plane, and the weather's ability to stay as it wasand not get any worst. But my lack of faith lasted for only for a minute,because my focus was on going to Houston and I was committed tostay the course.
You can read many books on faith. The Bible would be the best toread, in my opinion. They would all say something similar in nature;however, I strongly believe that having this unshakable faith is a veryimportant step on your journey to being successful. Let's say that youmust master this little five-letter word. You must learn to: trust it,believe it, live it, and never doubt it.
It's important to understand all the forces that come into play whenyou have unwavering faith. If you can stay focused and have faith, thenyou will know and believe that you can conquer your problems andovercome any adversity that you may encounter. Taking on any taskthat you have set your mind to allows you to approach those challengeswith a difference mind-set.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 17:20 that if we have faith like amustard seed, we will be able to move mountains. I believe this to betrue. Sometimes our problems seem like mountains, and sometimespeople give up too soon. They lose the faith.
When you decide to go for something, really focusing on it showsthat you are 100 percent committed. You need to work on stayingfaithful to your goal or, in my case, destination. When things start tolook like everything is getting out of control and you began to doubtyourself, please hold on to your faith. You must take the time to reflectback to a time when you found yourself in a situation where you hadno control and somehow you made it though. Those are the timeswhen you kept the faith.
It's like having the confidence knowing that you will reach yourdestination even if you have to detour through a couple of differentcities to get to where you are going. So in those times when you feelgrounded, remember the successes you had before. This will let youknow that you can do it.
Learn to have faith in the things and people around you.Sometimes God puts the right pilots in place to fly your plane for you,someone to protect you and guide you along your journey. Sometimesthe situations that you are going through seem hopeless, and thensomeone or something comes along and helps change your situationfor the positive.
I would have to admit that I get a little nervous at high elevations,and for a long time I was scare to fly. I had enough fear about lookingout the window of a tall building or flying that I tried to avoid thosesituations whenever I could. When we lose faith, we allow fear to moveinto our thought processes and destroy our dreams and goals.
So let me make it clear. There are two types of fear we deal with.The fear that exists in our minds and the fear that is real and tangible.If you allow yourself to listen to the fear in your mind, it will find a wayto slowly destroy your self-esteem and ultimately your will to pursueyou dreams. The best way to deal with this type of fear is to bring it outof the darkness of your mind and into the light. In other words, dealwith it or get help to conquer it. Having the fear in your mind that youwill fail at something before you've even had the chance to try it is aexample of letting fear and worry control you.
Dealing with fear that is real, life-threatening, or frightening istotally a different subject. For example, being threatened by someonepointing a handgun at you is something to be concerned about. Sowhen I talk about fear in this chapter, just remember that I am referringto the fear in the mind not the physical or threatening.
I am reminded of a Bible story about three young men wholooked fear dead in the eye and knew faith was backing them up. I'mreferring to the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego as toldin Daniel 3:13-30.
King Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, andAbed-Nego before him so he could asked them if it was true that theydid not worship or serve his golden god. The king told them that hewas going to give them a second chance, and if they didn't fall down andworship the statue he'd made, they would be thrown into the furnaceof blazing fire. The three told the king that they didn't need to givehim an answer. They knew that if the God they worshiped existed, hewould save them if he willed it, so they wouldn't fall down and worshipthe king's statue. This really made the king mad; not only did his facialexpression changed, but his rage increased to a point that he orderedthe furnace to be heated seven times higher than normal. The threeyoung men were tied up fully dressed and thrown into the furnace.
Just imagine for a second these three guys standing there, watchingthe furnace being heated seven times hotter than normal and knowingthat they are going to be cremated. If they were going to fear something,this would be a good time. They didn't lose their faith; they didn't say"Wait a minute. We were just joking" or "Hold on a second. We aregoing to worship your statue." Starring fear in the face is not easy. Ittakes faith.
Remember that when it seems like your dreams and goals areslipping away, it's important to not give up. Keep pressing on. That'swhy it's so important to have your goals written down. It allows you tohave something you can see in writing.
Well, you know how the story ends. Shadrach, Meshach, andAbed-Nego were not harmed at all while they were inside the furnace.Only the ropes that bound their hands and feet were burned off, andmiraculously, there was a fourth person in the furnace with them.This blew King Nebuchadnezzar's mind to the point that he had toknowledge that the God that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Negoworshipped must be acknowledged and respected.
This story should bring home how important it is to have faithand not let fear cripple you. Maintaining your faith in what you aredoing is not going to be easy. When you find yourself losing yourfaith, focus on your goal again. If you get excited about the journeyyou are on, you will feel the desires and the emotions, plus your faithwill began to reemerge.
CHAPTER 3
We can never be certain about the future and therefore wemust continue to be flexible and adaptable so that we canreact quickly to the needs of our clients and our marketplace.
—Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
Principle 3: Be Flexible
Planes do not fly very well with ice covering their wings and fuselage.In 2010, there were total 828 fatalities in several different planecrashes in the United States. Equipment has been destroyed and liveshave been lost in airplane crashes. Nevertheless, every day you can seeor hear a plane in the sky. This is still the safest way to travel; there isnot a doubt in my mind.
When you focus on your goals or your destination with faith, youwill find a way to see it through. And having the wisdom to change ifyou need to is priceless. Having the courage to be flexible allows you tomake things better. It frees you up and allows you to look at differentoptions. You may wonder how being flexible makes some thing better.For example, having our trip to Houston interrupted because the pilotfelt the plane needed to be deiced again only made the flight possibleand safer, so no one had a problem with it. We were flexible with ourdeparture time. Getting there safely outweighed the risk of flying withextra weight. We felt good about the flight.
Sometimes you spend a lot of time mapping out life's master planonly to find yourself in a storm of trouble that threatens that plan. Youshould not give up. When you try to analyze why this happens, youcould become discouraged. Be flexible to adapt to the sudden changeand find new ways to overcome your adversity.
Some people make the mistake of thinking that what they are doingmust work, and they spend their money trying to prove to themselvesand others that their plan is well thought out. Even when it's clear it'snot working, they find themselves recalculating and pondering overwhy the plan is not working but refuse to change something to the planso it would have a better chance of succeeding. If this is the case in yourlife, you may need to take another look at your situation. It may be thatthe conditions have changed and you need to be a little flexible to getthings back on track again. Let's be clear on the definition of flexible inthis section. Being flexible means having the ability to be able to adjustto change and being adaptable when situations change.
The following story is an example of this.
When Mike was in is midforties, he began a job as a welder for aFortune 500 oil and gas company. He realized that his skill was a veryvaluable commodity. He realized that if he could hire a few people andstart his own company, he could really make a difference in his life.
After several years of working as contractor for this company hedecided to go into business on his own. He turned down offers frompeople who wanted to hire him. He ignored the people who tried toscare him by warning him about failing and losing lots of money. Hedecided to stay with this idea of starting his own company.
I believe that if Mike would have listened to the negative forces ofhis friends and relatives and not had the courage to step out in faith,Sonntag Lease Service wouldn't be a reality today. This example is moreabout adapting to those unforeseen forces that try to destroy your dreams.The future is unpredictable, and the world is unfair at times. You needto be able to take a little pain with the joy, but whatever you do, donot take your eyes off your goal. Stay flexible and have a backup plan.
