You Are What You Think

Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts. ~Earl Nightingale

Earl Nightingale once said that all of our limitations are self-imposed. With that thought in mind, think about times in the past when you wanted to do something, but you were afraid to try. You limited yourself.

People of my age, who were raised by parents born between the 1st and 2nd World Wars, were often stunted in personal accomplishment by an undercurrent of fear and cynicism. Their parents had good intentions, but they passed their own cynicism onto their kids.

Many people of my generation were taught such pearls of wisdom as these:

Money doesn't grow on trees.

Everybody hates their job.

You're a dreamer.

In the late nineteenth century people were spouting these words of wisdom:

If man were meant to fly he'd have wings.

 

Time marches onward and we are learning new things every day. At least, we should be. Just like technology has changed the way we live, the rules of business have changed. The days of working thirty years at some company then settling into a nice comfortable retirement have gone the way of the dinosaur. Pay increases are few and far between. Often, job-hopping is the only way to make more money. Some modern business practices are legal but totally unethical. Employers have little regard for their employees and employees have no loyalty to the company or individual who hires them.

Like successful men and women of the past, there comes a time when you have to take the first step into your future. You have to recognize that your limitations are truly self-imposed. You were programmed to doubt, programmed to fear failure, programmed to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity.

Ultimately, you work for yourself. When you agree to take a job, you are in control. If you decide to quit-- again, you are in control. But, going into business for yourself still doesn't change the fact that you are working for someone else-- in this case, your customers.

In the end, satisfaction, like happiness, comes from within. You are what you think.
 

When you finally realize that you are the captain of your own destiny, you can accomplish just about anything. So, forget about petty annoyances and everyday frustrations. People can be a pain, it's their nature. The road ahead may have speed bumps. Roads are sometimes like that. But, the sun also rises.

Tomorrow is another day and the start of a brilliant future.