We are all rich with choice!

On 06.09.10, In Advice, Inspirational Quotes, By Tommy

The 19th century success pioneer, Orison Swett Marden wrote, “The sculptor will chip off all unnecessary material to set free the angel. Nature will chip and pound us remorsefully to bring out our possibilities. She will strip us of wealth, humble our pride, humiliate our ambition, let us down from the ladder of fame, will discipline us in a thousand ways, if she can develop a little character. Everything must give way to that. Wealth is nothing. Position is nothing. Fame is nothing. Character is everything.”

In America, we are all rich with choice. And our choices reveal who we really are. We have unprecedented freedom to make ourselves and our lives into something that excites and pleases us. If we can’t make it here, we can’t make it anywhere. As Americans, we can also earn inequality with fellow citizens as a natural result of deliberately developing our character. However, we are living in a time characterized by a surplus of information but an obvious deficit of wisdom. Consequently, many essential principles and assumed truths from generations past have been packed away and abandoned, not only on the national level but on the personal level as well.

If we do rejuvenate this great land, it will be principles, not programs that make it happen. We must return to the sound fundamentals of success both as individuals and as a nation. The founding fathers knew that for the American experiment to last, it would require the election of virtuous leaders and for this to be possible, those who elect our leaders must be virtuous as well. The former cannot work without the latter.

Character is everything! Equip yourself and your kids to better understand the cultural, political, and spiritual challenges currently facing our nation. www.stopthewaronsuccess.com

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Until We Are Committed

On 03.18.10, In Advice, By Tommy

Until We Are CommittedCommitment is the indispensable iron quality of character that paves the way for every great accomplishment. Fortunately, commitment is not a trait we are born with. Rather it is a virtue that can and must be tuned into and then woven into our approach to life if we are to tap into the deep reservoir of potential we’ve been blessed with.

Commitment is the learned ability to persist even after enthusiasm diminishes. It’s the willingness to be flexible, to improvise, to adjust course, to do whatever it takes to deliver what was promised. We must have a large supply of commitment to excel as individuals, in our marriages, and in our family life, not to mention the commitment necessary for high achievement in business.

If the fire in our belly stayed as red hot after we established our HUGE goals as it did when we were contemplating them – commitment might be optional. If our passion and enthusiasm remained as high for our marriage after the wedding ceremony as it did on and before the big day, we wouldn’t need commitment. If raising happy, healthy, and self-confident children were as easy as it looked on a 1960’s sitcom then, just maybe, we could skip the commitment.

I think we need commitment!

It is precisely because our feelings fluctuate that commitment is critical! As human beings, our feelings are wired to our volatile short-term emotional appetite. This means that if we allow our feelings to drive our decisions, we will likely feel good in the short-run but under perform in the long run. We’ll be playing now but paying later, as opposed to delaying gratification and reaping a much higher return down the road.

Our likelihood of following through on important commitments is strongly influenced by our self-image. Our self-image is how we unconsciously see and think of ourselves right now. It’s based primarily on our interactions with others, particularly those closest to us. We tend to always act in a manner consistent with this self-image or current picture because that’s exactly what you we will feel like doing.

Our feelings support our current self-image and, as a result, bully us to maintain the status quo, to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Upgrading our self-image, and, by extension our life, requires growth. And useful growth inevitably involves resistance, struggle, and tension. Sometimes this is a solo experience and sometimes it involves other people in our life. To follow our feelings, instead of our goals, is to follow the path of least resistance and to miss out on the abundant life that is available to us. This is the road most traveled.

A worthy goal requires us to let go of the status quo. It requires that we break out of the comfort zone and shift into the achievement zone. We must first make the inner transition from feeler to doer. High achievers, we know, are motivated by pleasurable outcomes (their goals). On the other hand, underachievers are motivated by pleasurable methods (how it feels along the way). Either path is a learned approach to life.

Which path will you choose? Share your comments here.

If you’ve got 2 minutes to invest, it’s worth your time to take a peek at my other blog post where I explain The Six Commitment Cliffs which, if you are unaware of them, endanger your full potential. In order to make the transition from a feeler to a doer you must steer clear of these natural human tendencies.

Click here to see what I mean…

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“those who torment us for our own good”

On 03.17.10, In Advice, By Tommy

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C.S. Lewis

www.stopthewaronsuccess.com

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An enemy at the gates is less formidable

On 03.05.10, In Advice, By Tommy

Cicero, the great Roman philosopher and a favorite of our founding fathers, put forth a stern warning when he said,

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those with the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politics so that it can no longer resist.”

www.thewaronsuccess.com

 

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The Fairness Fallacy by Thomas Sowell

On 02.09.10, In Advice, By Tommy

February 9, 2010 12:00 A.M.
The Fallacy of ‘Fairness’

Nature’s discrimination completely dwarfs man’s discrimination.

If there is ever a contest to pick which word has done the most damage to people’s thinking, and to actions to carry out that thinking, my nomination would be the word “fair.” It is a word thrown around by far more people than have ever bothered to even try to define it.

This mushy vagueness may be a big handicap in logic, but it is a big advantage in politics. All sorts of people, with very different notions about what is or is not fair, can be mobilized behind this nice-sounding word, in utter disregard of the fact that they mean very different things when they use that word.

Some years ago, for example, there was a big outcry that various mental tests used for college admissions or for employment were biased and “unfair” to many individuals or groups. Fortunately, there was one voice of sanity — David Riesman, I believe — who said: The tests are not unfair. Life is unfair and the tests measure the results.

If by “fair,” you mean everyone having the same odds for achieving success, then life has never been anywhere close to being fair, at any place or time. If you stop and think about it (however old-fashioned that may seem), it is hard even to conceive of how life could possibly be fair in that sense.
Read the rest of the article here.

Check out chapter three in The War on Success, “Trophies For Everyone” to better understand the fallacy of fairness and the motivation of statist who promote it.

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Saints Win, President Obama Redistributes Points, Game Rescored A Tie

On 02.07.10, In Advice, By Tommy

While the Saints just officially won the Super Bowl, can’t you just hear the discussion inside the West Wing…

“The Saints displayed unfair drive, ambition, work ethic and therefore have created for themselves an unfair advantage resulting in a victory that could have gone to an equally deserving Colts team. The unexpected and innovative on-sides kick to begin the second half caused an emotional disparity that lead to an uneven quality of play for the Saints. Government should step in immediately and create some regulations that even things out a bit. Maybe we can make this new legislation retroactive.

And let’s not stop there. Let’s abolish the worn out notion of ‘losing.’

Never again will there be so many teams who have to watch the Super Bowl from home. We should be inclusive and bring more teams, all teams under the tent of the Super Bowl…

In the NFL, we should all rise and fall together!”

TROPHIES FOR EVERYONE!!

Reality or Satire?

GOOD GRIEF

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Principles worth Practicing

On 02.01.10, In Advice, By Tommy

If we are not aware of them, or worse yet, we choose to ignore them, the principles of life tend to be equal opportunity destroyers. Take gravity for example. If no one ever explained the nature of gravity and we accidentally stepped off the two story deck at our neighbor’s home, we’d all go straight down, never up. It wouldn’t even make a difference if we were in a protected demographic class and had special rights; we’d still go down. That’s how natural law works. It is incapable of discrimination, which is, I suppose, why social engineers harbor such antagonism toward it.

When we align our life with timeless principles or Natural Law, we experience a surge of confidence, competence, and unparalleled optimism for the future. But the responsibility for learning about these principles and then living in a manner consistent with them is completely up to each of us as individuals. We cannot take the default position of simply making up our own little pet laws of life. We see the destruction and despair all around us; the natural consequence breaking Natural Law. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” We can break man-made laws and frequently escape without a penalty.

Timeless principles have a way of tracking us down and serving us with the unpleasant consequences despite our ignorance or best intentions. If we are serious about developing all the potential within us, we must avoid the trendy “principe du jour” mentality that has smothered our society. Be on the lookout! It is common for current political leaders to use the word “principle” in lieu of other less appealing words like “idea, notion, theory, program, and whim.” However, I’ve been coaching entrepreneurs for nearly twenty years and it has become abundantly clear to me that when an individual’s life or business is off track, it is inevitably the result of drifting from proven principles.

When entrepreneurs recalibrate with authentic principles, their business or personal life becomes more successful, productive and harmonious. It is no mystery. It is not an accident. And it is the same for our country as a whole.

Principles matter most.

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Now that we have clearly spotted trouble ahead

On 01.09.10, In Advice, By Tommy

Time is running out.

Now that we have clearly spotted trouble ahead, we must fight back against the architects of the War on Success who aim to “remake” our country into their own image, into something our Founding Fathers never envisioned.

We must seize the opportunity to fight the forces that have undermined our nation’s foundation and threatened its economic, cultural, and moral health.

We can no longer deny the destructive growth of government in this country. Our national character is at risk of being lost forever or diluted beyond recognition.

As prudent, patriotic, and grateful citizens, we must not vote “present” at this critical juncture in our nation’s history. Now is the time to mobilize.

Please join me in the fight to STOP THE WAR ON SUCCESS!
www.thewaronsuccess.com

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Feelings, unaccompanied by reason, smother virtue.

On 01.02.10, In Advice, By Tommy

We are all, of course, vulnerable to life-altering mistakes, particularly if we have no plan in place to avoid them. Most of us can look back on our life and readily acknowledge that the decisions we regret the most were those where we temporarily suspended the thought of consequences and just did what we felt like doing.

But, if we continue to make national decisions in this manner, based on how those decisions makes us feel, or someone else feel, in the short term, then we can expect nothing less than the same self-inflicted misery that befalls personal moral compromise.

Drip by drip, week by week, we have drifted away from being a thinking country, not just on the personal decisions we make, but on how we deal with the bigger issues of the day that impact the nation as a whole. Have you observed what I’ve been describing?

Feelings, no doubt, should play an important and positive role in our lives, but they predictably wreak havoc, sooner or later, when they are permitted to stand on their own. Feelings, unaccompanied by reason, interfere with wisdom and smother virtue. The cultural obsession with feelings deemphasizes principles and clouds any sense of the “true north” that our nation so desperately needs at this moment in history.

Let’s clarify true north, reclaim our virtue, and STOP THE WAR ON SUCCESS!

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A Fundamental Transformation

On 12.28.09, In Advice, By Tommy

What’s underway in Washington is not a slight tinkering or a fine-tuning of our free market system. That would be reasonable, constructive and tolerable. Rather, in his Inaugural Address, President Obama told us to “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and remake America.” This statement should frighten reasonable Americans of any party affiliation! After all, what does the president mean by “remake America?” Do we abandon the principles of our free market system in favor of a “Euro-socialist democracy?” This appears to be where we are headed.

A short while later on April 28th outside of St. Louis, the president affirmed, “We have begun the work of remaking America” as he proudly reminded the audience of his “bold and sustained” efforts during his first 100 days in power. But from where does Barack Obama claim authority to do such a thing? Are we willing to submissively let this happen on our watch?

I keep waiting for Ty Pennington to grab his megaphone and shout, “Bus driver…move that bus” so we can see the end result of the “extreme makeover” or more accurately, “extreme takeover” that the president is kicking into motion for all of us and generations to come.

We must not be deceived; we are at risk of losing that which is unique and distinctive about America. We are on a path to join the western European countries in steady, perpetual, and irreversible decline. Trapped between historical significance and perpetual irrelevance, Europeans find no interest in either procreation or innovation?

With no legacy to leave behind and little faith to look forward to, most Europeans are sheepishly content to have their behavior regulated and their security guaranteed with cradle-to-grave welfare. With its striking resemblance to all other unions, the European Union is aptly named.

Europe is a nice place to visit, but…

Let’s STOP The War on Success!

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