Need We Have Any Reason (to Build People Up)?

Written by: Daniel Richard

Image courtesy of About.com

Ever thought for a moment on how you would have reacted or acted out as some form of authority or “role figures” to some of the great characters that have graced our history when they were much younger?

Let’s say, your child was Albert Einstein, or you were William Shakespeare’s English language teacher, or even acquaintances of Thomas Edison as examples, what would you have said to them prior to becoming well known figures in our modern century history?

Hypothetical scenarios (way before they hit it big time)

That means, the following quotes are entirely made up, and may not possibly reflect real situations that the following characters faced when they were younger.

English teacher to 10-year old William Shakespeare:-

“Please could you not try to talk like that? We can’t understand a single word you were saying!”

Albert Einstein’s parents to him when he was 20:-

“Stop it with your relativity thing! The only thing about relativity that we can say is that no work means no money!”

Acquaintances to a young mid 20’s Thomas Edison:-

“There you go again. Failed for the tenth time and you are back at this again! Will you just quit it?”

Friends of biblical character Job to him during his early 40’s:-

“Why are you continually giving your offerings while your eldest child isn’t doing the same as you?”

Though we wouldn’t know that if the people around them at that point of time did actually say those, but what I am certain about is that we have definitely read about them turning out to be extremely successful, wealthy, and had their names imprinted throughout time. If that’s the case, I wonder what they had faced during the times when they were still carving out their future when they were in their “stepping stone” stages in their lives.

Maybe you are in a starting phrase in a whole new direction and focus that you are moving towards in today, and have heard similar words as quoted above.

Here’s one assurance and a good news for you…

Not fearing failures: they made it (and so can you)!

And definitely they had done so with much sweat, bloodshed, tears, and tons of hard work after each and every failure, until they tasted the eventual joy (the glory of that victorious moment).

Caught that emphasis in the last paragraph? It was on the word called failure. Time to shed some light on that word now, and let’s have no fear in facing that.

What about: failure?

Here’s what I’ve got from the dictionary on that word:

• An act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success
• Nonperformance of something due, required, or expected
• Condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short
• A cessation of proper functioning or performance

Now, I present to you the counter-approaches and a mindset change that will overcome the fear of failure:

1. An act or instance is only for a moment! Take action with a different or improved method the next time.

Bingo. Failure is never final. However cliché it may sound, but that guy who came up with that sure got it right! If this act or instance proved unfruitful, use another approach instead! Or change a step or two in the process that would improve the creation or progress at the next round. Thomas Alva Edison is best known for making countless mistakes which he used his full diligence to push through for a breakthrough and created the light-bulb. If he had stop at the tenth time, we might have been stuck with either using candles or extreme powered light sources today.

If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search… I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor. Nikola Tesla, New York Times, October 19, 1931

2. Nonperformance in an area today? Change your job, or create work that compliments your strengths!

I was studying for a diploma in Information Technology: Mobile Computing, a course that was supposed to finish in 3 years, but I completed in 4 and a half. Needless to say, I barely passed my overall grade to move on out from polytechnic life with a GPA of 2.07.

However, one thing I realized about my life in those 4.5 years was that I found some things that I had aced in, like in mini modules that deals with people management, or even ethical issues, team leading, and also in presentation giving. Even before graduation, I tried out in applying for a job as a person without any diploma and had secured one for S$3.8k monthly which there will still be bonuses and commissions added through the month (which I had to turn down as I had to complete school which does not allow us to take on any additional work outside)!

Just at the start of the year, I was talking to a senior manager in a well established retail / departmental shopping center, and I checked on the amount that I could receive if I were to join at the end of this year if I was looking for a job to do. The amount increased to over S$5.5k monthly, which definitely isn’t the final amount as it was a sales management position that would come with the commission perks too!

And two months later, some guy actually tried twice and had to be rejected again and again as he wanted to present to me artworks and paintings that are valued at over S$1k each! I didn’t get to see them, but I last heard that he brought a huge bag, and each could easily store about a handful of paintings or more without the frames.

All that exponential increase in value comes not because I was doing what I had majored in with the diploma that took me a while to achieve, all those came as I was doing one thing that mattered the most: being myself (yourself even).

I am a firm believer that if we could not find any career that we would like to do or be in, we have the power to create work that we could be passionate in, and of course, draws in the high margin income while we are at it!

My mom is one testimony on how that which I had mentioned works. She started and is running a profitable home office business that deals with the fashion and accessories market. And it was only last month which she had got to purchase her car while her business expanded and grew in slightly over a period of a year.

So, if you are nonperforming in an area or job that you are in today, cut yourself off and get a new job totally, or go for a safer parallel transfer if you are in a wonderful company already, or create your own work and profit from it now.

3. Falling short or totally insufficient? Sit down, plan, refocus, or… look at what you have today first

Failed due to falling short and way behind your own expectations? Maybe it is time to set some achievable goals in form of milestones rather than going straight out to carry that huge boulder at the first try.

It could be that the goals that you set were actually achievable! Except that you have told yourself that you lack certain stuffs (paper qualifications, skills, manpower, money, resources… just to list a few) that could have made you a huge success in a shorter period of time. This means that you were expecting that you need only the biggest things in the world to create big wealth.

I remembered that there was these few verse from the bible that speaks about a time of desperation for a widow who was about to lose two of her children after having lost the sole breadwinner of the family. And that she needed to raise a substantial amount (read: huge) of money to see a turn of fortunes and prevent the sons from becoming slaves to others.

A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

2 Kings 4:1-7, New King James Version

It was a popular passage that teaches about how we could actually look around us, and that our best form of resources need not have to come from the richest places in the world, but it could be found right after a little searching in close proximity.

For the widow’s situation, one of the things that she found was a jar of oil.

Replace that with what we could replicate, recreate, and improvise with some effort that doesn’t cost the world and could be found within our reach. You would already have a winning formula in the palm of your hands.

Of course, feel free to use that to your advantage and be generous while you are at it.

4. Ceased in proper functioning or not finding your purpose in your work? Set yourself up a whole new standard, give yourself a mission, or adopt a goal which you can work towards to!

In a nutshell, this means you got to do something that you believe it is worthwhile doing! That you can be passionate in, making it fun while being serious and giving full attention to your work.

You only fail if you stop yourself from moving.

However, the good news is that it is possible to adopt a goal or mission that may differ from your own personal task, job, or career too!

It is like listening to your favorite music while creating the next awesome article or graphic design artwork.

One core purpose (or mission) that Winning Everyone was created for is to build people up! This had been the same vision that drives us on in not only writing to spread this message which we could see people to adopt, carry on, and commit themselves into doing. It is the application part which excites us, and it is the interaction to hear how others had done so and found that they work that motivates us to bring Winning Everyone up to another notch of excellence.

What you could do to help is to contribute by words of encouragements, finances, and also sharing this blog to your friends and carry on together in the same vision in building one another up!

They do not need any reason to become a success in the things that they do!

Funny how there will be people who can find reasons on why you should quit doing things and be a “normal person”, and that apart from finding verbal excuses or explanations to make you stop, they might even go one step further and put you on prescribed medication to keep you still and flow with the possible absurdness of living a non-abundant life.

Let’s head back on to the first part of this post where we mentioned four great personalities and how they may have faced various negative comments about the work they were doing.

Imagine if they had stop right after allowing what those words said affected them:

• We wouldn’t get some of the best literature works of the century
  - attributed to: William Shakespeare
• We wouldn’t have heard of E=MC² (which helped scientists in getting more major breakthroughs)
  - attributed to: Albert Einstein
• We wouldn’t have cost-effective artificial light source, and there would not be General Electric (GE: formally known as “Edison General Electric Company”)
  - attributed to: Thomas Alva Edison
• We wouldn’t have a story on how the ultimate killjoy could be humiliated by the humbleness and patience of Job in the bible
  - attributed to: The Book of Job

More examples:

• If her mom actually met a doctor who would not have thought for a moment on the other possibilities regarding the lack of focus and her constant fidgeting around and had gave her some form of medication to get her to be still during classes - there wouldn’t be iconic musicals like “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera” with fantastic theater choreography
  - attributed to: Gillian Lynne
• If he were to stop playing basketball despite his size and accepting defeat about his lack of technical abilities on the court - we wouldn’t be mesmerized by the leadership and fine display of dunks and skills of one of the greatest legends in the NBA with his titular jersey number #23
  - attributed to: Michael Jordan

Thank goodness that they had made it and not let any reasons stop them from doing the things that they love to do and had made it!

So, do you (and WE) need any reason to do live a purposeful and an abundant life?

That photo of Einstein, featured at the start of this article, was taken right after his 72nd birthday in 1951. It was said that he had it with the constant barrage of questions and snapshots by the media and finally showed the tongue after a request to pose for a birthday photograph, and was captured right at the moment by a press photographer (Arthur Sasse). Which after it was published, Albert Einstein saw it and liked the image that he cut it out and distributed to his friends!

Yeps. He had enough of all the reasons that asked him to do something else (regardless how encouraging or with good intentions) by many other people. He knew he wanted to just leave the place and get on by doing his work, and… that’s right, he showed the tongue!

If you have realized, one common thing that all the people mentioned in this article have is their tremendous wealth! And I am not talking only about their mental or physical wealth. It is their personal net worth that I am referring to here.

They are almost all multi-millionaires, and some of them have created a huge following and established companies that are worth in the billions that helped others along the course in their lives!

Now ask yourself these questions… and take action!

Do we need any reason to believe that you can have a change in your life that is better than today?

Do we need any reason to be of a good cheer and a generous giver with an open heart?

Do we need any reason to get our healing today?

Do we need any reason to continue doing what we know would be a strong and powerful success in time?

Do we need any reason to build people up to empower us to be bigger than we can ever see before?

Whatever answer you give to those questions above, let’s take action and be a person who have been built up and became much enlightened, educated, and encouraged now!

Be part of a powerful body of people who are into building one another lives’ up to another level, equipped with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and have a generous heart of a giver, creating a philanthropic culture that waters and grows others as you are increasing in abundance in your own personal net worth today!

The powerful thing about taking action now, is that we break free from other people’s expectations over on our lives, but we set us up our own standards which we can live up to and accomplish over time. And you will definitely get to meet up with great people in your lives, and receive powerful words that will push you through and bring you forward in the goals and visions that you have.

Here’s one verse that a friend of ours have sent that had found from the bible that strongly encouraged us and builds up our foundations of the core vision of the Winning Everyone name:

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

The good part is… I am sure that you will have a life that you can believe in that can make changes and impacting people in your life.

Let’s take action now!

Be a people builder together with us, just as you have been doing.

To be a equipped and join us in becoming people builders and living a life of abundance, subscribe to Winning Everyone right here now! And spread this word to your friends.

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