It was not so much that the unemployment is now close to 10%, rather how the news media and the government was playing up the victim card, how desperate people had become; all of this in order to drum up support to justify the government’s wanting to spend more on unemployment, making it even more enticing for people to stay unemployed. On top of that, the government wants to pass additional stimulus funding for additional jobs. Up to now not a single new private sector job has been created, only for government positions and to raise wages for current government workers. Remember the old Chinese proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” What has become of us and to the resiliency of the American People? Are we loosing sight of what made this country great?
As I began reading the July 2011 issue of Success Magazine, something profound hit me and tugged at my heart. Each article seemed to be speaking directly to me, including the 3 business owners interviewed on the audio CD. Then I realized something… I am not the only one experiencing doubt, uncertainty, and frustration as a result of negative news and the doom and gloom of our government and news media. Talking down our country long enough, people begin to believe what they hear. The longer people hear doom and gloom, the more people begin to wonder who will help them… who will provide for them… they become believers that only government is the answer for their subsistence.
Even I was falling into the doom and gloom trap; usually I am very positive and upbeat with a positive outlook on life… but when all I was hearing and seeing was doom and gloom… well you get the picture. Then I recalled what I always told my daughter… “you are who you hang out with” and here I was hanging out with these negative inputs to my life. It wasn’t until I picked up Home Magazine and began reading the articles and listening to the CD that I decided to do something to not only help change my life, but something that possibly could help change others, no matter how big or small.
There are some great stories surfacing about people doing amazing things when it comes to helping others move their lives forward. If given the chance, many more of us can do the same without sacrificing much time, energy or money. We just have to keep our eyes, ears and even minds open for ways with which to make a difference.
This month’s issue of Home Magazine (July 2011) focuses on a new kind of revolution, “The Industrial Revelation”. Darren Hardy, SUCCESS publisher and Editorial Director, starts out his “up front” article by stating that “The revelation is this: The way we were… is over.” From there he goes on explaining how technology is changing the entire landscape of our economy. According to Darren Hardy, there has never been a greater time in history to be creative and take charge of our lives. Darren Hardy explains “With the mind-blowing velocity of change and the throng of competition, the skills needed for the 21st century success are less about academic or industrial or technical training, and more about what might be called the “soft skills: Emotional intelligence, adaptability and resiliency, networking, interpersonal and relationship-developing skills self-motivation, accountability and productivity skill; personal branding, social marketing and persuasive communication skills along with leadership, recruiting and people-building skills.” And where did Darren Hardy say we can get these “soft skills”? From Success Magazine… and for sure the July edition certainly substantiated his claim.
Darren stats “Over the last decade, we began hearing the death rattle of a bygone era. The corporate structure and system has begun to crumble.” What was really amazing was his point that “All this deconstruction and loss of control by the few, the behemoths, the entrenched, spells freedom… and opportunity for the rest of us. As entrepreneurs and individual achievers, it is our time to thrive!” Yes, you read that correct… it is important to understand that America is the land of the free, home of the brave, but most importantly, the leader in resiliency, the ability to recover quickly from setbacks without outside interference. It is up to our actions to surround ourselves with winners, with resources that will take us to once again become a resourceful and resilient country, it will force government to once again get out of our way and let free enterprise work its magic… it has every time it has been tried. A great example of this can be seen as far back as the middle of the 1800’s.
Samuel Smiles was an incredible individual, a Scottish author who was born on December 23, 1812 and died April 16, 1902. According to Deborah Huso, author of “Teaching Man to Help Himself”, Samuel Smiles “believed in the importance of strong character, perseverance, thrift, independence and individuality in achieving both self-improvement and success” through many of his articles and in his famous book, “Self-Help”. Samuel Smiles became a student of what works and what doesn’t by surrounding himself with successful people as well as being well read. Sound familiar? Samuel Smiles believed the best way to get ahead in life was through practiced “Self-Reliance.”
Just so you know, “Self-Reliance” is the brilliant work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. This essay, written during the 1800’s, is as relevant today as it was then.
“I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment….” Read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”.“Smiles taught his readers that self-help was “the root of all genuine growth in the individual.” He began to conclude that outside help, such as a government social program, was often “enfeebling” because it removed the “stimulus and necessity” required to make people take care of and advance themselves. “Where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.” For more information about Samuel Smiles, go to Deborah Huso’s article, "Teaching Man to Help Himself."
It is important for all of us to do what we can not only in supporting those individuals having a burning desire to make a change, but guiding those who seem to have lost their way in uncertainty; who are confused and who may seem to believe there is no hope. We know it cannot be left up to the government for solutions… it has never worked. Look at everything that has been tried; there isn’t a single successful government program and yet we are to believe the government and news media when they tell us that we want more? Who have they been talking to? It is up to us as Americans to look out for each other and I know for a fact that in today’s economic uncertainty we have opportunities abound. We need only to keep our eyes, ears and especially our minds open. Rather than look only for a job, be willing to look for opportunities. Always be aware of your surroundings and when an opportunity does happen to appear never jump too quickly. If you think you have found the perfect opportunity, tell yourself to wait, sleep on it for a day or two – do your do diligence. If the opportunity is that great it will still be great the next day after doing your homework, and getting all your questions answered and by all means get others to help with your evaluation; but only those with whom you trust and value their opinion. You can only rely on successful people having the background and credibility to provide constructive and intelligent input. Who in their right mind would ask Uncle Bubba, or Daryl and his brother Daryl to evaluate a business when none of them have ever been successful at anything in their lives?
It is after all, YOUR future!
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