The Fourth Power 'P' of Enduring Success

By Preston Squire

Prayer

This is part four of a eleven part series. Also see;
The Power P's of Enduring Success - Patience
The Second Power P of Enduring Success - Persistence
The Third P of Enduring Success - Positivitity


Jesus explains the parable of the seeds as such;

Matthew 4:13 - 20

Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.

The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

As you can see from this parable even when people are taught how to better their lives, so precious few can actually hold onto it long enough to make their lives fruitful.

The first bunch (on the footpath) lack Patience. They like what they are hearing but immediately go back to looking at their unsatisfactory life. They live in the moment with no vision of a better tomorrow.

The second bunch (on rocky soil) lack Persistence. They take in the message of hope. Get all excited, run with it but when things don't go their way, they lose it again.

The third bunch (in thorns) lack Positivity and Perspective. They absorb the lessons and utilize them effectively but then allow circumstances to discourage them or otherwise lose focus on what's really important.

Only the last bunch (on good soil) absorb the lessons of life and utilize them effectively, for the right reasons, consistantly despite adversity, until they bear fruit. What allows this group to succeed when all the others have faded? Certainly patience, persistence, positivity and a proper perspective (hmmm... another P, maybe I should make it 5 Ps?) are all critical to lasting when things are tough. But in order to really endure, when everything seems to be set against you, when everyone around you is telling you otherwise, when there is no physical evidence that you will ever accomplish your goals and dreams, you need to be able to draw on a strength greater than yourself.

PRAYER

Now it is not my intent to preach Christianity, nor do I believe it is the only way. I have seen many miracles happen to people of many difference religions and beliefs. Jesus works for me. It is my understanding of God/Source energy and I draw strength from it but if you do not believe in Jesus then believe in something. Find a religion or definition that works for you.

Prayer is important for a number of reasons.

It helps you to focus your energy. Try to relax, and always ask for what you do want. Be specific as possible. Visualize it. Thank God for it as if it is already yours. Because it is. God loves you. He has set a full table before you with every concievable dish. He wants you to be happy and satisfied. But unless you boldly go forward and claim it, it will remain there.

Given such an array of dishes most people just go forth and take what they are familiar with. It's easy and safe. They look at the other dishes and wonder what they are like but are afraid to try it, in case they don't like it. Maybe it'll be too hot. Or not to their taste. So they stick to what they know.

Many look at some of the richest, most luxurious dishes and desire to sample from them, but ask themselves who are they to be entitled to such as that? That's for people better than they. Like the poem The Wage, these people are asking life for a penny and a penny they shall have. God does not impose such value judgement against us. We impose them against ourselves. Those dishes are there for you to sample. Go boldly forth and do so.

Through prayer we put ourselves in alignment to recieve our desires.

Prayer provides answers to our questions. No, you're not going to hear some booming voice from the heavens (and if you do, let me know your secret) but if you are still, clear of emotional and mental garbage, you may gain clarity. This comes in many forms. A gut feeling. A knowing. A sense of 'rightness'. Your conscience. Timely advice. Meeting someone at a critical time who can help move you in the direction you need.

Most importantly prayer allows us to draw on a source of strength greater than ourselves. When we feel totally tapped out, we can hold onto our faith, and let go and let God.

By being able to hold onto our faith we can envision a way even when no way is evident. All things are possible for God. This keeps us in alignment with our goal, instead of despairing which moves us out of alignment.

Law of Attraction states that whatever we continually focus on we attract. Especially when we focus on it with intense emotion. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. By holding onto our faith we continue to believe that we will achieve, continue to live in a state of optomistic joy and remain a vibrational match for that which we desire. Without faith, we despair, we get caught up in the here and now, and start to push against it. Pushing against it only serves to attract it. If that's what you've focused on, that's what you're attracting.

But isn't that sort of contradicting myself bouncing from Christianty to Law of Attraction, you ask? If God can do anything and he loves you and you're praying to him shouldn't he provide for you despite the fact that you may be looking at that which you don't want? No. Because if you're focusing on that which you don't want, if that's consuming your mind and energy you are not walking in faith. You are praying on one hand but then disbelieving on the other. If you are truly walking in faith then you can only be focused on that which the Lord is providing and not what the world is showing. You can only be in a state of bliss, because you know, deep down, that God has you covered. You stop looking at the here and now and relax, content that somehow, God will show you a way. And that is Law of Attraction in action.

Once we turn to prayer, once we let go and let God, we are relax and stop feeling like we need to fight the world. And in doing so, we allow our blessings to flow.

The Third Power 'P' of Enduring Success

by Preston Squire

This is a continuation of The Power P's of Enduring Success - Patience
and
The Second Power P of Enduring Success - Persistence

Positivity

The difference between people who live their dreams and people who only wish they did, isn't that the former had it any easier, it's that they managed to hold on longer through the challenging times. 

One of the key ingredients necessary to hold on longer than the masses is the ability to consistantly maintain a positive mental attitude.  Inevitably, something will happen to piss you off or frustrate you.  We're not perfect.  It happens to me.  Bob Proctor has mentioned mutliple times it happens to him.  Anthony Robbins too.  But I do not dwell in negativity long.  I spot negative thinking early on and immediately set my mind back to focusing on the positives.

A lot of people like to be 'realists' but really that's just another word for 'pessimist'.  The only difference is realists are looking at what is and using that to determine what will be.   Actually, that's not a difference at all, except they like to think it's different because they are not painting it to be worse than what the current reality is.

But the Law of Attraction teaches us that whatever you focus on, you attract into your life.  If you are focused on what is, you are attracting more of the same.   If you are focused on what you want, you are attracting that.

In more concrete terms, if you look at the current results and use that as your guide then you automatically limit what you can accomplish.  You cannot envision achieving higher heights than what you're seeing.  Since you cannot envision it, you will not strive continuously to accomplish it and therefore will inevitable prove yourself right.   Effectively you are attracting more of the same into your life.

I mentioned my friend and web guru before and this was exactly where he was at when he e-mailed me.  He was feeling like he had plateaued.  That he just couldn't achieve more than what he had achieved before.  That was his current reality.  He was being realistic.  And if he stayed in that mindset, he'd prove himself right.

"Whether you believe you can, or you can't; you are right."  Henry Ford

Fortunately my friend is like me and does not allow those thoughts to linger very long.  After a few hours he was back to his old indomitable self.  He is one person who continually inspires me as he always shoots for more than he can chew, and often gets it.   I don't doubt he'll be surprising me by scoring some position I would never have thought he was capable of getting, again, sometime soon.

By focusing your mind on what is good about any situation and on the results you want, you start to see how the current reality is not taking you away from your goals but conversely, how they are bring you closer.  To begin with, you'll be grateful for the lessons learned, and any little good you gain from the situation.  Gratitude brings you into alignment with God/Source.  Being resentful about life, pulls you away from your connection to your higher power.    Being grateful and positive also allows you to see and be prepared for oppurtunities that you would miss if you are limiting your mindset to only the realistic results.

Once my friend regained his positive mental attitude, he immediately made some calls, and managed to salvage a contract opportunity he was written off as dead.  If he had allowed himself to have remained in his former state he'd have never made those calls, as he'd still be bitching about how unfair life was instead.

This poem sums it up beautifully.

MY WAGE

By Jessie B. Rittenhouse


I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;


For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.

People who look at the present results and allow that to shape their expectations of life are asking for a penny. Why else would you ask for a penny? Only because based on your previous experiences, you feel that's what you are worth and capable of. You ask for a penny because you think it's a just wage for your services, even while you rail at the injustice of how you're suffering through life while others seem to be better off.
If you develop and maintain a positive mental attitude you expect and demand more from life. Why can't you have more? You're as good as anyone else in life. God made us all equally, if differently. And the wage you ask for, consistantly, is the wage you'll earn.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Being positive is a choice, an attitude and a habit.   If you are not a positive person by nature you need to habitualize the behavour until you are.  A positive mental attitude will allow you to continue carrying on long after a 'realistic' person would have thrown in the towel.

The Second Power 'P' of Enduring Success

By Preston Squire

Continued from The Power P's of Enduring Success

Persistence

Nothing in life is more important than persistence when it comes to achieving one's goals.  It's more important than education, skill, talent or money.  Most people give up when things get really hard, when the end is still out of sight, and there's no sign of a breakthrough.  If only they knew that just around the very next corner was the breakthough they were looking for.   If they had known that, 90% would have had the strength to endure that little bit longer but because they can't see it, they despair, tire and allow themselves to lose focus.

Recently I've began regularly going to the gym and working out.   One of the things I like best about it is that it's a very physical and easy to identify reminder of how to live life.   If I want to gain muscle mass, then I have to continually push myself past the point where I want to give up.   It's those last few reps, the ones you don't want to do, the ones your mind is telling you are too hard and should be skipped, that make the difference.   It's not until your body is pushed beyond it's limit that it grows.   This has to be exercised with reasonable precaution of course, injuring yourself isn't going to produce desired results but it's the mental game involved.

After a while you learn that it's at the point where your mind is telling you no, that you start getting excited, because that means you're now producing results. At least you will be if you don't listen to it and do a few more reps anyway.  If I'm aching and sore after, I'm happy because I know I'll be liking what I see in the mirror, and in my girlfriend's eyes, the next day.

Success in any other area of life is pretty much the same story.  Without the persistence to continue when you feel like your totally tapped out, you won't experience growth.   Without growth, you're not going to be playing at the level needed to achieve.

How long do you need to endure beyond when you feel like given it all up?   Surprisingly, usually not nearly as long as you'd think.    The reason being, because so few people do.   95% of people get to that point and give up.  So you only need to hold on a little longer than the 95% to achieve the type of results only the top 5% see.

Of course, you could be one of those early quitters, which means you will have a longer journey as you have to build up your mental muscles.   The only way to do that is practise and repetition.   Keep pushing yourself.  The more often you push past your comfort level the broader your comfort level will become.  You will keep breaking through to higher and higher levels until you achieve that success your looking for.  And by looking for, I mean the one you're willing to settle for, not the one you may be envisioning.    In the end the success we achieve is the success we are willing to achieve.   You may want 25 million but when you arrive at 2.5 million, you may decide that's enough to make you happy and you don't really want to bust your ass enough to earn 22.5 million more. Or it may just whet your appetite for even greater goals.  Either way, what's okay.  Follow your bliss.   Goals are there to serve you not torment you.  Just don't give up and settle for less than what makes you truly happy.