书城外语当英语成为时尚:生活全由你创造
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第61章 Set Yourself On Fire, Light Your Success! 点燃自己,点亮

Anonymous

心灵寄语

一个人不可能生来就是注定成功或是失败的,成功的机会是靠自己争取的,等待机会的人永远无法品尝成功的果实。不要等待他人点亮你的人生,只有行动起来,点燃自己,才能点亮成功!

Fred was a hugely successful Canadian NHL player and coaches with a string of many hundreds of wins and numerous awards and accolades1 to his name. Pretty good going, but it"s not his sports record that I admire. What I love Fred for is something that he once said,“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion2. You must first set yourself on fire.”

Reading that sents lightning bolts through my spine, as there have been many times in my life when I"ve been sitting back, subconsciously3 waiting for the world to bring me the success I thought I wanted. To be completely honest with you, even now I sometimes find myself expecting someone else to“set fire”to me, waiting for spontaneous combustion rather setting myself on fire and finding my own success.

I have to catch myself when I slip into4 that way of thinking before it sets in, because Fred"s absolutely right.

People all too often wait for success to happen to them.“If only it would fall into place……”,“Surely someone will discover who I am and what I can do soon……”or“Just a little while longer and it"ll all come good……”are examples of the things we say while we"re waiting for success to come along.

Of course, the big thing I"ve come to learn is that it doesn"t work that way. Finding success—real success—isn"t a passive thing. It"s not something that happens to you like watching a movie or getting your hair cut. Finding success is something that happens in you.

Here are 4 things for you to think about:

1.What does success look like to you?

What comprises success?How much of it is material?How much of it is emotional?How much of it is spiritual?Get specific about what success does and doesn"t mean to you.

2.Imagine yourself towards the end of your life

Picture yourself towards the end of your life as happy and content as you can be. What is it about that future you that tells you as clear as day that they"re happy and content?Picture yourself walking up to them and asking them what it is that allowed them to reach that point. What single piece of advice can they give you?

3.How focused are you on working on your success?

What are you willing to do to get the kind of success you want?What are you waiting for the world to deliver to you so that you can have that success?

4.Are you driving your success?

How would it be if you were driving that success rather than waiting for it?What changes do you notice in how you do things and how you feel about things?

I"m not suggesting for one minute that you can"t ask others, the world, the universe or whatever higher power you happen to believe in for help. I"m not even suggesting that you become wholly focused on working towards your success. That"s missing the point.

The point is that we humans tend to be focused on working towards happiness and success and assume that until it comes along we have to spend time being unhappy, suffering or struggling.

You don"t have to struggle……