You are here: Home / Archives for Success
post

Success Tips from Forest Gump

June 26, 2006 By 7 Comments

Forest GumpWe watched Forest Gump again last night. I get a kick out of it because some parts of the movie were filmed right here in Savannah. I was shocked to see that the movie originally came out 12 years ago. Holy smokes! Where did that time go?

Watching the movie again got me to thinking. What are some of the things about Forest that made him so successful? Even though the movie was pure fiction, could some of those same things apply to us?

Here are some of the things I came up with:

  • Forest was intensely loyal to his friends. He did some really crazy things for his friends Jenny, Bubba, and Lt. Dan. And a lot of the time he was doing good things for them in spite of the way they treated him back, not because of it. Especially where Jenny and Lt. Dan were concerned, Forest helped them in the face of abuse and even after they repeatedly told him they didn’t want his help. They didn’t deserve his friendship, but he gave it selflessly anyway. Often times that same loyalty to his friends paid unexpected dividends that made him more successful than he would have been with out it.
  • Forest was incredibly focused in the moment. He didn’t worry about what might happen if things went badly. He didn’t often let himself get distracted by the why’s behind what was going on around him. Forest just stayed wholly in the moment and did the best he could where he was right then.
  • Forest assumed the best in people he met. Whether it was a drill sergeant, folks at the Black Panther party, the guy who liked to use the f-word a lot, or the girls he met with Lt. Dan, Forest always gave people the benefit of the doubt, and treated them with respect. And he only ever got aggressive or challenged folks if they actually physically assaulted him or one of his friends.
  • Forest accepted the reality of the world around him. Forest knew he wasn’t smart. He knew Lt. Dan lost his legs. Even so, he never let those things get in the way. He never felt sorry for himself because of his own weakness. He just accepted it and pressed on doing the best he could. Forest treated people’s weaknesses as matter of fact, not as something to be glossed over and hidden. Contrast that with Lt. Dan going on a multi-year pity party.
  • Forest invested time and effort into his endeavors. Forest talks about spending years in the army, playing ping-pong, shrimping, and running. Some things he was naturally good at it like running, ping-pong, or the army. Others, like shrimping, he was a miserable failure at initially. But that didn’t matter to Forest. He invested the time and effort it took to get good at the things he knew he was supposed to do.

I know there are tons of other things about Forest that could help us get more out of life if we adopted them into our lives too. But that should be enough to get most of us started.

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS Feed.

Powered by Qumana

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , ,
post

A Non-negotiable for Success

June 20, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday we took a look at how to define success. David and Dave both had some great insights and shared what how they evaluate success.

Now that we have an idea what success is, how do we get there? If success can come in many flavors, are there any critical ingredients that are universally required for success?

Just like you can’t have an apple pie without any apples, what are the non-negotiables for success?

The first one that comes to mind is this:

Success Requires Action

Look at any story of great achievement and you will universally see that something was done. The Bible heroes all did things. Leaders do things. If you want to be successful, eventually you have to get into motion.

I once heard someone say that a universal property of life is motion. All living things move at some level. Even with something like a tree, if you look close enough, say at the individual cells, there is motion. (Of course not all motion is life, but all living things have motion.)

Do you want to be alive? Do you want to make a difference? Do you want to achieve something? Then take action!

Christians especially can seem to have a challenge in this area. I’ve heard all kinds of preachers say things along the lines that we are human be-ings, not human do-ings. I get their point. Just the same, nothing is going to happen without action.

EeyoreI can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some Christian who feels stuck and discouraged in life say, {cue the Eeyore voice} “I’m just waiting on the Lord.”

There comes a time, after all the plans and the prayers, when something has to actually be done if anything is going to change.

Perhaps, just maybe, God is wanting you to get off your butt! Stop moping around! Be bold! Take action!

I once heard someone much wiser than me say

Without work there is no miracle.

The Bible says that when God does His miracles, He is working. (“On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work.”)

There is a time for waiting and resting. For most of us that time has long past.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS Feed.

Filed Under: God, Life, Principles Tagged With: , , , ,
post

Success Defined

June 19, 2006 By 15 Comments

I have been bombarded on the subject of Leadership over the past week. It started when a friend of mine gave me a really good book on the subject. Gorgeous went to a leadership conference this week and came back with her mind overflowing with ideas and possibilities. And she signed the two of us up for another conference put on by one of the speakers a couple months down the road. Then to top it all off the message we heard at church yesterday was on the subject.

It’s a good subject to be concentrating on because everyone is a leader in some way. Whether it is at home in their families, out in the work place, or in their neighborhoods everyone has some level influence and is in fact leading someone somewhere.

The single juiciest nugget I’ve gotten out of all this so far was in our pastor’s message yesterday when he shared his definition of success.

Success is having those closest to me respect me the most.

That’s a really good definition. The people who are closest to us see us more clearly than anyone else. We can fool someone we meet in a business meeting, or the guys in the office, or even (especially?) the folks at church.

But our family and those closest to us see the real us, warts and all. If they respect you in spite of those bumps and warts then you truly are successful, regardless of how others might see you.

How about you, are you successful?

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS Feed.

Powered by Qumana

Filed Under: Principles Tagged With: , , ,
post

Who Wants to Be Rich and Happy?

May 26, 2006 By 5 Comments

Gorgeous and I are having a bit of a rough week. I guess you could say we’re on a passion search.

Don’t get me wrong. We got no problem with our passion, if you know what I mean. But that’s not what I’m talking about. (Besides, this is not that kind of blog. Sheesh!)

We’ve been asking ourselves lots of questions.

  • If money were no object what do you want to do?
  • If you could set aside all the things you have to do and had all the time in the world, what would you want to do?
  • What do you find yourself thinking about when your mind wanders?

Asking those sorts of questions helps refine what your passion really is.

Liz Strauss over at Successful-Blog some advice for folks who are searching to figure out what their passion really is

If you’re after an answer to that question, here’s how to spot something that’s your passion.You have a passion, if what you are thinking about is

  1. a pastime or idea you’ve been interested in from the minute you encountered it.
  2. a pastime or idea you talk about, read about, and write about even when you don’t have to.
  3. a pastime or idea other people know that you know a lot about.
  4. a pastime or idea you would miss sorely if you had to give it up.
  5. a pastime or idea that energizes you when you get to share it with others.

What does it matter what your passion is? Why bother answering these tough questions?

Well it turns out you are likely to be more successful throughout life if you allow yourself to work at something you are passionate about. Curt Rosengren says passion will fuel your success and he tells us why.

Passion is a renewable resource. Doing work that comes from the heart of who you are and what you’re drawn to energizes you. And that is energy you can put into doing the hard work of success.Success in your career doesn’t come with a snap of the fingers. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes commitment. Above all, it takes the energy and inspiration to make it all happen.

Curt feels so strongly about the subject that he calls himself a Passion Catalyst and has made his own career out of helping others figure out their passions.

But here’s the best part about finding your passion and letting yourself focus there. Not only are you likely to make more money because passion pays, but you will be happier too.

Again Curt tells us that to Focus on Money, Prestige, Success is a Recipe for Unhappiness.

So there you have it. Finding your passion can make you rich and happy. And now you’ve even got some pointers on how to get started working out what your passion really is.

All and all a good day.

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS Feed.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , , , , ,