Smart Money

Dear Reader,

Some time ago I did a show on Habits. They play an important role in your life. Like many aspects of your life, habits can be considered both a blessing and a curse. Robert Russell in his magnificent little book “You Try It” wrote that habit was God’s way of making good automatic in your life.

I had a wonderful friend in Atlanta, the late Dr. Jay Dishman, who wrote an excellent article about habit in his monthly newsletter dated February 1985. I have shared Dr. Dishman’s article with thousands of people around the world. Today I want to share it with you. Here goes!

“Recently I visited Alcatraz Prison. Once it housed the most hardened of criminals. Today it is open to tourists under the direction of the United States Parks Department. Many men have tried to escape Alcatraz; no one is known to have succeeded. As I listened to the tour guide explain the impossibility of escape, I thought of other prisons equally confining but where the doors are never locked, no guards walk the halls, and escape is encouraged and possible. That prison is Habit.”

Our habit is thinking about ourselves and our environment as a jail or a paradise. We need but to look around us to see people who are rich emotionally and materially because they think and feel rich. We also see people who are laden with emotional and material debt because they think lack. Some are inspired with vision, others are encumbered with doubt. Some are moved by ambition, others feel safer in monotony. Some reach for the mountain tops, others huddle in the pits. Some seek opportunity, others wait for it to knock. The sad fact is that more people are confined by their thoughts than are fed by them.

Negative thinking shuts us in a prison, but there is a way out. The apostle Paul said, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Paul knew a lot about prisons, both physical and mental. You renew your life by renewing your mind. You renew your mind when you change your habit of thinking.

Dr. Jay Dishman helped thousands change their habit of thinking in his lifetime. Now hopefully he has helped you.

Bob Proctor

Dear Reader,

In celebration of the United States’ Independence, we bring you this true story of five men who broke through their terror barrier and made a commitment to something huge.

The thirteen colonies (what would become the United States) were being taxed unfairly under Great Britain’s rule. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman were the five men that stood up for the Colonist’s rights. They argued that Great Britain had no jurisdiction to tax the Colonies.

While all of the other Colonists felt that they were being treated unfairly, none of them were willing to say so, as their allegiance was still with the King of Great Britain. It was up to these five men to push for the rights of the Colonists. They met at the Virginia Convention and then again in Williamsburg to declare the Colonies independent. John Adams stood up for the resolution that: “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

When these five men met to draft the Declaration of Independence, there was no working process. They did not have someone to lead the meeting, take minutes or even guide them as to how the ideas should be presented. They were on their own to take control and put all of their thoughts into an organized form that could be presented to Congress. The committee decided on a general outline that the document needed to follow, and then appointed Thomas Jefferson to write the first draft. The weight of the 13 Colonies’ independence now rested on Jefferson’s shoulders. Jefferson only had 17 days to finish the first draft. He then got comments and revisions from the other committee members and wrote a second draft. The document titled “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled” was presented to Congress on June 28, 1776.

These men knew that what was put on this paper could have cost them their lives, did they not receive backup from Congress and the other Colonists. If the King of Great Britain wanted to, he could have had these men executed for encouraging the Colonists to go against his rule. They put themselves on the line in order to gain freedom for the rest of the Colonies.

On July 2, 1776 Congress and 12 of the 13 colonies approved General Lee’s Resolution for Independence, severing ties between the Colonies and Great Britain for good. The next day, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife predicting that July 2nd would soon become a great American holiday. Congress then began to look at the Declaration of Independence. After several days of debating, word changing, and some content adjustment, Congress approved the document on July 4, 1776.

Today America celebrates 232 years of independence and freedom. Because these men did not let fear stand in their way, because they did not hesitate to make the right choice, American Citizens now have the right to vote, the right to free speech, the right to practice any religion, the right to a fair trial, just to name a few.

Paul Martinelli

Editor’s Note: �Are you ready�to stand tall for your financial freedom?

By Michael Masterson

“I don’t dance,” Jane said to her cousin Ray as they watched an older couple dance at the wedding. “I’ve got two left feet. It’s just too embarrassing.”

“I used to be terrible,” Ray said. “But then I took some lessons.”

“I couldn’t even take lessons,” Jane said. “I’d be embarrassed to have the teacher see how bad I am.”

“I know what you mean,” Ray said. “I feel that way about golf.”

I used to feel that way about public speaking. I dreaded the thought of it. And when I was forced to make a speech, I did a terrible job – which only made me dread the next speech even more. It was a vicious cycle.

Then, in the early 1980s, I became editorial director of a newsletter business in South Florida. And suddenly, instead of just sitting behind a desk all day, I found myself in a position where I had to conduct meetings and give presentations at industry functions on a fairly regular basis – something I was ill-prepared to do. So I decided to enroll in a Dale Carnegie program for public speaking.

Somehow, I registered in the wrong course. Instead of focusing on speechmaking, it had a broader goal. And, as I’ve explained before in ETR, that program changed my life. It taught me the importance of goal setting and taking action. But it also, inadvertently, taught me to be more comfortable as a speaker.

My speechmaking skills improved almost accidentally. Every week, we had to read a chapter of Carnegie’s classic book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and then come to class and make a two-minute presentation about how we were going to put the principle of that chapter to work in our lives.

On Thursday evenings after work, I would drive a half-hour to the place where we met. During that drive, I thought about what I was going to say. It was difficult in the beginning, but each week it got a little easier.

By the end of the 14-week course, I was performing at a near-professional level. I had won several awards in competition, and was routinely rated at the top of the class. The final session was a sort of commencement ceremony. Relatives and friends were allowed to attend, which tripled the size of the audience we had to speak to. Everyone did pretty well, as I remember. I gave the last speech. I was still a little nervous when I got up to the podium, but I had learned a lot by then. So I took a deep breath and did my thing.

I got a strong round of applause. Several people I didn’t even know came up to congratulate me, and one suggested I should become a comedian. I wasn’t foolish enough to take his advice to heart, but it did make me happy to think that I had made so much progress in so little time, starting from practically zero.

How did I conquer my fear of public speaking? The same way that you conquer the fear of anything else.

So… What Are You Afraid Of?

There are entire systems of psychotherapy devoted to curing people of their fears. The most effective are those that gradually expose the phobic person to whatever it is that they’re afraid of. If you feared snakes, for example, the treatment might begin with looking at photographs of snakes. Then, once you were comfortable with that, you might move on to watching videotapes of snakes. And then on to looking at snakes in cages… and then looking at them uncaged but at a distance… and then, gradually, getting closer until you could actually handle them without emotional discomfort.

Likewise, if you were afraid of public speaking the therapy would be to make a very short speech in front of a very small audience and then to gradually expose yourself to longer speeches and bigger audiences until you were comfortable speaking for an hour or more in front of a large number of people.

That was what happened to me. The Dale Carnegie course I took turned out to be a therapeutic program of graduated exposure therapy to public speaking.

Fears of specific things – snakes, public speaking, flying, etc. – can be overcome with gradual exposure. But what about more general fears… like the fear of failing?

To answer that question, we’ve got to figure out what, exactly, we are afraid of when we say we are afraid of failing.

Imagine that you are alone in a quiet room trying to solve a difficult crossword puzzle. You can’t do it.

How do you feel?

Now imagine yourself competing in a national crossword puzzle championship. It is down to four finalists – you and three others. The four of you are standing up on a stage in front of large puzzles with markers in your hand. Six hundred people in the audience and millions more on TV are watching you. The timekeeper gives the signal and you are off, filling out the answers as fast as you can. Before you have finished one-sixth of your puzzle, the first winner is declared. Before you have finished a quarter of it, the second winner is rung in. Now it is just you and one opponent. You are halfway done and feeling hopeful. Then you hear the buzzer. He has finished well ahead of you. You are standing there with your marker in your hand. The other three contestants are smiling.

How do you feel this time?

When I tried this little experiment, I had two distinctly different emotions. Imagining the first scenario made me feel a little angry. Imagining the second one made me feel embarrassed.

In the first scenario, I am just an ordinary puzzle player playing an ordinary game. I fail to accomplish my goal, but I am not embarrassed. In the second scenario, I am a national-caliber puzzle solver. I fail… but in front of a large audience. This adds shame to my anger. And that feels much worse.

So perhaps we can say this about the fear of failing: A big part of what we are afraid of is embarrassment – being shamed in front of other people.

Humiliation and Humility

When embarrassment is extreme, we call it humiliation. If you pass gas at a fancy dinner party, you feel embarrassed. If you spill wine on your hostess’s designer dress, you feel humiliated.

Humiliation is what happens to embarrassment when it is mixed with pride. The prouder you are, the more failure hurts.

Which brings us to our cure for the fear of failure: humility.

I’m guilty of pride myself. I’m proud of my writing, for example, and the success I’ve had in business. So I have to keep reminding myself to be humble about those things. But I am not proud of everything I do. I take no pride in my ability to dance or to sing or to speak foreign languages because I do those things so badly. And because my ego isn’t involved, I am not embarrassed to ask stupid questions, to show myself as a beginner, and ultimately to fail again and again as I attempt to master those skills.

The truth is, when I started out in business I wasn’t very good at that either. Again, that made it possible for me to ask lots of questions, look stupid, and make mistakes… which accelerated my learning curve.

The Secret of Accelerated Failure

That last observation bring us to an important principle of success. At ETR, we call it “the secret of accelerated failure.”

The principle of accelerated failure is this: To develop any complex skill, you must be willing to make mistakes and endure failures. The faster you can make those mistakes and suffer those failures, the quicker you will master the skill.

We teach this secret to our managers. We encourage them to allow their employees to fail. Not to fail stupidly. Not to make the same mistakes over and over again. But to feel free to fail at something so long as it was done in the pursuit of knowledge.

If you play golf or practice Jiu Jitsu, you know this to be true. If you tense up and focus on not avoiding mistakes, you will learn very slowly. If you relax, let the mistakes happen, and learn from them, you will advance quickly.

It starts with being humble. Humble enough to accept the fact that when you begin anything new you are likely to do it poorly.

Humility Is Nature’s First Gift

Pride prevents us from admitting we are incompetent. But we are all incompetent when we’re learning.

Think of how a baby learns to walk. He begins by crawling and then advances to “forward falling” (as my brother calls it), and then to walking like a little drunk, and finally to walking masterfully. Babies don’t feel shame because they are not proud. There is a reason that pride does not invade the human psyche until six or seven years of age. There is simply too much to learn before then. If toddlers had pride, it would take them years or even decades to walk and talk properly.

Humility is a much underrated virtue. It provides us with at least three significant advantages:

* It makes us more endearing. Humble people – especially accomplished individuals who remain humble – are well liked.

* It makes it easier to get cooperation. Humble people get more cooperation from others because they don’t try to force strong-minded people to accept their ideas.

* It makes it easier and faster to learn. Humble people are able to ask questions, make mistakes, and experience failure without embarrassment. This attracts good people to them who want to help. Humble people get the best teachers and get the most from their teachers.

If Humility Is the Solution, How Does a Proud Person Become Humble?

Now we are coming to the most important part of this discussion – a practical plan for defeating the fear of failure. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Begin by accepting the truth. You are a good person, but that doesn’t mean you are naturally good at everything. Look in the mirror and think about the skill you want to accomplish. Say out loud, “I accept the fact that right now I am incompetent at (name the skill).” Repeat this exercise until it doesn’t hurt.

2. Admit your incompetence to an indifferent audience. Once you can say it in front of a mirror, say it in front of a living human being. Begin by admitting your incompetence to someone who doesn’t care. Admit to your Spanish teacher that you are incompetent at public speaking. Admit to your public speaking coach that you are incompetent at speaking Spanish. Repeat this exercise until you can do it with grace and good humor.
3. Admit your incompetence to a judgmental audience. Admit that you are no good at languages to your Spanish teacher. Admit that you have two left feet to your dance instructor. Do this not once, but every time you make a mistake or fail in some way. Do it with grace and good humor. As pop psychologists say, “own” the feeling.

4. Admit your incompetence to someone who can punish you. This is the ultimate test. The next time you volunteer for a difficult assignment at work, admit to your boss that you might fail before you succeed. Do it with grace and good humor and you will be amazed at the result. Your boss won’t can you on the spot. (Unless he is really incompetent.) Rather, he will admire you for your humility. After all, he knows you are not yet competent. All he wants is your commitment to carry on until you are.

At Agora Inc. and at ETR, our most productive and successful executives are very comfortable about saying, “I’m going to try such and such. I’ll probably screw it up completely. But if I eventually succeed… just think what good will come of it!”

That’s what you want for your company. That’s what you want for yourself. Defeat your fear of failure by being happy and even eager to try and fail until you finally succeed. That’s how Edison invented the light bulb. That’s how Michael Jordan, a very mediocre basketball player in high school, became the greatest hoops player of all time. They weren’t afraid of failure. You shouldn’t be either.

�Dear Reader,

Accurate analysis of over 25,000 men and women who had experienced failure, disclosed the fact that lack of decision was near the head of the list of the 30 major causes of failure. This is no mere statement of a theory – it is a fact.

Procrastination, the opposite of decision, is a common enemy which practically every man must conquer.

You will have an opportunity to test your capacity to reach quick and definite decisions when you finish reading this lesson, and are ready to begin putting into action the principles which it describes.

Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly, if, and when they were changed. People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.

The majority of people who fail to accumulate money sufficient for their needs, are, generally, easily influenced by the “opinions” of others. They permit the newspapers and the “gossiping” neighbors to do their “thinking” for them. “Opinions” are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by “opinions” when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking, much less in that of transmuting your own desire into money.

If you are influenced by the opinions of others, you will have no desire of your own.

Napoleon Hill
From Think and Grow Rich

Dear Reader,

“How are you feeling?” asked my friendly neurosurgeon Dr. Alex Gol as I lay in my hospital bed in the rehab hospital at 3:30 P.M. after a torturous day in therapy. I could not yet utter a single word after sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) at the age of 19. So I nodded as if to say, “OK.” Dr. Gol then calmly replied, “That’s nice,” and quickly left the room with a smile.

As he was leaving I thought to myself, “Dr. Gol…so nice…so calm…so peaceful.” I tried to reposition myself in my bed as the door closed behind him in order to get more comfortable, but something was not “right” in the hospital hallway as I heard a great commotion coming from there. (True, I could not yet speak; however, nothing was wrong with my hearing and there was plenty of screaming coming from the hall.) I wondered, “What was the problem?”

I soon found out the cause of the chaos: it was sweet, serene and calm Dr. Gol who was causing it.

As soon as he left my room he erupted: “WHO’S THE NURSE TAKING CARE OF MIKE? WHAT’S HE DOING IN BED SO EARLY? HE’S A 19 YEAR OLD VICTIM OF TBI, NOT A 95 YEAR OLD STROKE VICTIM! GET HIM OUT OF THAT BED, AND I DON’T WANT HIM BACK IN BED UNTIL HE GOES TO SLEEP!”

The nurses had never seen Dr. Gol act like that. In fact, they had never heard him raise his voice. They quickly got me out of bed and put me in my wheelchair until 9 P.M.

I was miserable. I wanted to get back into my comfortable bed – well, it was not so comfortable but it was much less uncomfortable than my wheelchair or any kind of chair, for that matter.

As I said, after therapy was over at 3 P.M. I wanted to get straight back in bed; however, throughout the following weeks and months the nurses did not want to face “the wrath of Dr. Gol.” Therefore, after therapy I remained in my wheelchair in my room until I went to sleep. Being in the wheelchair for so long was agonizing!

I hated Dr. Gol after that eventful day when he asked me that seemingly simple question while I was trying to relax in bed. However, years later I loved him as I realized Dr. Gol was only doing what was in my best interest.

When I returned to college after being out for so long, my professors, after learning what had happened to me and realizing that I could no longer read as quickly as before I was hurt, were more than happy to say, “Mike, it’s ok. Just read what you can and we’ll test you on that material.” However, one professor did not say that. Dr. Sheldon Ekland-Olson, a sociology professor, said, “Mike, I understand you have difficulty reading. I’ve had many students with many visual problems. For those students, I refer them to “Recording for the Blind.” They have access to many textbooks on cassettes. Here’s the phone number…”

I “hated” that statement as I wanted to take the “easy way out.” (My feelings of “hate” were very similar to those I had for Dr. Gol on that eventful afternoon in the hospital.) However, I have since learned that the “easy way” is quite often the “wrong way.”

Sometimes everyone needs a “push.” Even I, recently, had to be reminded to push myself as I had gotten “lazy” at the gym. However, a “stranger” reminded me to use my right hand. Even though it was difficult, I thanked him for the reminder.

I have learned that the difficult things in life are often the sweet things in life. One cannot experience “beauty” without experiencing “bitterness.” Remember, “push” yourself to “get through the thorns of the rose bush, to experience the beautiful flower of the rose.”

Every time I think of some difficult thing in life, I close my eyes, see Dr. Gol, and smile.

Michael Segal

Shot in the head during a robbery, Michael Jordan Segal defied all odds by first surviving and then returning to college. He then earned two degrees with honors, married his high school sweetheart, Sharon, and became a father to their daughter Shawn. Mike is a social worker at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston and an author (currently he has two book projects he’s working on: an autobiography and an anthology of his short stories). He also is a popular inspirational speaker sharing his recipe for recovery, happiness, and success. Please visit his site at: www.InspirationByMike.com

Dear Reader,

“There’s a myth that all you need to do is outline your vision and prove it’s right – then, quite suddenly, people will line up and support you.

“In fact, the opposite is true. Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths … whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it’s over.

“If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: Without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it’s unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.”

Seth Godin

Rich people act in spite of fear.
Poor people let fear stop them.

Earlier in this book we discussed the Process of Manifestation. Let’s review the formula: thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, actions lead to results.

Millions of people �think� about getting rich, and thousands and thousands of people do affirmations, visualizations, and meditations for getting rich. I meditate almost every day. Yet I’ve never sat there meditating or visualizing and had a bag of money drop on my head. I guess I’m just one of those unfortunate ones who actually has to do something to be a success.

Affirmations, meditations, and visualizations are all wonderful tools, but as far as I can tell, none of them on its own is going to bring you real money in the real world. In the real world, you have to take real �action� to succeed. Why is action so critical?

Let’s go back to our Process of Manifestation. Look at thoughts and feelings. Are they of the inner world or the outer world? Inner world. Now look at results. Are they part of the inner world or outer world? Outer world. That means action is the �bridge� between the inner world and the outer world.

So if action is so important, what prevents us from taking actions we know we need to take?

Fear!

Fear, doubt, and worry are among the greatest obstacles, not only to success, but to happiness as well. Therefore, one of the biggest differences between rich people and poor people is that rich people are willing to act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.

Susan Jeffers even wrote a fantastic book about this, entitled Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. The biggest mistake most people make is waiting for the feeling of fear to subside or disappear before they are willing to act. These people usually wait forever.

One of our most popular programs is the Enlightened Warrior Training Camp. In that training, we teach that a true warrior can �tame the cobra of fear.� It doesn’t say kill the cobra. It doesn’t say get rid of the cobra, and it certainly doesn’t say run away from the cobra. It says �tame� the cobra.

It’s imperative to realize that it is not necessary to try to get rid of fear in order to succeed. Rich and successful people have fear, rich and successful people have doubts, rich and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them. Unsuccessful people have fears, doubts, and worries, then let those feelings stop them.

Because we are creatures of habit, we need to practice acting in spite of fear, in spite of doubt, in spite of worry, in spite of uncertainty, in spite of inconvenience, in spite of discomfort, and even to practice acting when we’re not in the mood to act.

Excerpt from:
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
T. Harv Eker

Dear Reader,

When I found that I could earn college credits by taking judo, I jumped at the chance. I’d been taking karate for a couple of years and I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I was used to getting punched and kicked, so I figured judo wouldn’t be any big deal.

As I entered the first class, I felt pretty confident. The instructor gave me a hearty welcome and explained that judo was basically like wrestling. I paired up with a guy about my size and the instructor said to “give it a go.” My opponent quickly grabbed me and flipped me over his back and onto the mat. The pain was excruciating. All I could do was lie there in shock. This sure wasn’t karate!

If I hadn’t needed the credits to graduate, I may never have gone back. But I did need the credits, so back I went. And in the next class, my instructor taught me something that changed the way I have since thought about all challenges – physical or mental, personal or business. He taught me how to land.

Landing in judo involves twisting and absorbing the impact of the fall in your leg and hip while slapping the mat with your hand. Do that, and it doesn’t hurt at all.

Once I knew how to protect myself by landing right, I lost my fear of being flipped. A few weeks later – despite being such a novice – I agreed to participate in a judo tournament. And because I was no longer afraid of getting flipped, I actually won a few matches.

It’s amazing how much self-assurance you can suddenly have when you know how to negate the risk of something that had seemed frightening. Of course, learning how to “land” is different depending on the challenge you’re facing. But as long as you know how to minimize the potential “pain,” you can take on almost anything.

Here’s another example. When I first began doing stand-up comedy, I was terrified that people wouldn’t laugh at my jokes. My fears, it turns out, were well founded. I bombed the first time I performed my act in front of an audience. I was so bad, the crowd booed me off the stage. And the agony of that experience dwarfed any physical pain I’d ever felt.

Shortly thereafter, I began training with professional comics in a weekly workshop. There I learned that when you tell a joke that bombs, you’ve got to acknowledge it to the audience. They will usually laugh and be happy to give you another chance. So if I told a joke that got zero response, all I had to say to keep the audience on my side was, “Wow, I guess that joke sucked! It sure seemed funnier when I wrote it.”

The technique worked. No longer afraid of trying out jokes that might tank, I became fearless onstage. (And I still am.)

Learning how to fall in both judo and comedy gave me massive courage where I had once been apprehensive. And this confidence-building technique applies in almost any challenging situation. I call it “The Antidote Strategy.”

Being self-confident can help you get a job, win a new client, or get other people on your side. It can help you try a new hobby, lose weight, or even get a date. By developing an “Antidote Strategy,” you can guarantee that you’ll be at your best when attempting to succeed at just about anything.

Here is how to put The Antidote Strategy to work:

• Identify the possible negative outcome of the challenge.

Let’s face it. A lot of things you could do that might help you become more successful are risky. Let’s say you’ve been working on a new project idea. And to show your boss how creative and innovative you are, you want to present the idea at the company’s next staff meeting. But you’re afraid.

So Step One of The Antidote Strategy is to determine exactly what it is that you are afraid of. Will you feel stupid if your idea is rejected? Will you be disappointed? Will you be embarrassed?

• Create or find a way to prevent that negative result.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Do some research. Chances are many other people have struggled with the same type of challenge and have come up with a good way to deal with it.

Let’s go back to our example. The experts I polled suggest a method similar to the one I use as a comic: self-deprecation. If your new project idea is ridiculed by your boss and co-workers, brush it off. You really can win people over by being humble – maybe even getting a laugh. So just smile and say something like, “You’re right. I guess that wasn’t one of my brighter ideas. But I’ve got more. You’ll be hearing from me again.”

• No matter how scary the challenge you are faced with, remind yourself that you have nothing to fear. You are prepared. If the worst happens, you have an antidote.

A lack of confidence prevents many people from achieving their full potential and reaching their goals. But with your safety net in place, you’ll have a winning edge – the inner strength to take a chance and boldly “jump off buildings”… because you know you won’t get hurt.

By Paul Lawrence

For�Early�to�Rise

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

Author Unknown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsPBVNecOMo