Success - Sister to Sister

He walked over to a canvas covering a pile of tools, “These tools have created great master pieces and will create many more. This tools I give to you, Mason. Use them well.”

The father walked over to the other canvas covered pile of tools, “These tools will create many useful items. These tools I give to you, Sammy. Use them well.”

Both boys pulled the canvas from their pile of tools. Sammy was gleeful, father thought him the most talented and given him the newest tools.

Mason was a little sad. He had always though his father believed him to be the best carpenter but his father gave him the worn, and sometimes repaired, tools. He knew the tools would work as well as the newer ones, so he accepted the tools that would allow him to set up his own carpenter shop and he thanked his father.

Later, Mason saw his father working in the garden and went to join him. He walked by his father's side, both pulling weeds. Finally his father said, “Mason, you are the best carpenter. Do you wonder why I gave the newest tools to your brother?”

Mason hesitated a moment, maybe he did not want to know the answer. But he answered yes.

His father stopped pulling weeds and stood up and faced Mason. “My son, you have worked hard to be a great carpenter and you are the best in the village next to me. It is not the tools that makes a great carpenter. It is love of the wood and love of the work and patience and persistence. Most of all patience and persistence. You have all of that in abundance. No matter what tools you have, you will produce beautiful work.

“Not so for your brother. He works for the praise and recognition. He does not love or understand carpentry. He needs all the help he can get. But, sadly, having shinny new tools will not make him a better carpenter. But with the new tools he will be able to make a living while you produce master pieces. It is not the tool that makes a master piece. It is the man and how he uses the tool. Talent is the result of careful work and love of the work. Shinny tools will not substitute for talent.”

Mason was silent a moment. Then he said “Thank you, father. The tools are perfect and I will make beautiful things using them. Thank you for honoring me by giving them to me.'

A number of studies have shown that when a person is really good at something, it is not natural God given talent. Although some people may find it easier than others to learn a skill, true talent is always the result of diligent and thoughtful practice. Some people practice a lot but never improve. It is because they think practice is the answer so they practice, but sloppy. Practicing sloppy perpetuates sloppy work. Practicing carefully and with diligence makes talent better and better.

If your child wants to do a thing, encourage her. She can become outstanding in anything she loves and in which she is eager to put in time and practice. And that applies to you also. Practice does truly make perfect if done with care.

And a very interesting fact about practice is, you do not actually have to physically practice.  Practicing in your imagination works, too. Apparently, your subconscious can not tell the difference between actually doing it and only imagining doing it.

Press on

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.  Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan 'press on' has solved and always solve the problems of the human race".

Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States (1923–29). Coolidge acceded to the presidency after the death in office of Warren G. Harding.

This is one of my favorite quotes.  Too often people give up just before they would have succeeded when just one more push would have resulted in success. You may fail, but if you quit, you have failed already. As long as you are striving forward, there is always the possibiliity of success.  

The origin of self help books

Self help books are now one of the most popular genres. This flood of self help books, some really good, some just confusing, owe their existence to a much loved man, who for 52 years, was the pastor of New York City's Marble Collegiate Church. Rev. Norman Vincent Peale wrote forty books, was a popular speaker and, with the help of his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale, published the Guideposts, one of today's top fifty magazines.

The Power of Positive Thinking soared to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, where it remained for three years, making an overnight celebrity of its author. Since its publication in 1952, more than 15 million copies have been sold, and it has been translated into 33 languages. It became the prototype for a wave of self-help literature on a variety of subjects.

Rev. Peale submitted his book to many publishers, but they all declined to publish it saying it was an unusual book and would not sell. In despair, Rev. Peale tossed his rejected manuscript into a trash can. His wife, Ruth, reached down to retrieve it, but Rev. Peale forbid her to take it out of the can.

Later, she took the can to a publisher she knew and ask him to read it, but told him he would have to take it out of the trash can himself. The publisher retrieved the manuscript from the trash can and read it. He liked it and published it, and the rest is history.

Rev. Peale was a quiet, observant man and he noticed that what people thought determined how they acted and how they acted determined, to a great extent, what their life was like. The Rev. did not know why this was so, but now we do.

Most of our actions are automatic. When you opened your computer and loaded it, you were conscious of doing it. And yet, it was still done automatically by your subconscious. You entered your password without thought, your fingers typing in the characters without you noticing what the password is.

If you believe your thoughts are just words prancing though your mind, then disappearing off stage, you are wrong. Every thought you have, every action you take is stored in your subconscious. Whether you think you will succeed or think you will fail, your subconscious will strive to make that thought a reality. And your subconscious has a memory far surperior and longer lasting than your conscious mind.

Your subconscious does not judge or decide the value or truth of the information you send it. It accepts every word you think and every action you take as important and true. The more often you think a thought or perform an action, the more important that thought or action becomes to your subconscious.   

Whether a thought or action is positive or negative, your subconscious is a magical genie that will do its best to make your every wish to come true. Your subconscious is the source of your talents and skills. The more you practice a skill, the better your subconscious becomes at that skill. That is why it is said 'practice makes perfect'. But only careful practice.  Sloppy practice perpetuated sloppy work.

Guard your thoughts well. Practice only positive, constructive thoughts and actions For every thought and every action becomes a part of the blueprint for what your life will become, even the bad ones.

Thoughts have power, make your thoughts positive, become the awsome woman you were born to be.