Our greatest glory is not in never falling; but in rising every time we fall.  [PDF]
–Confucius

Perseverance is a great element of success.  If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.  [PDF]
–Longfellow

It ain’t over till it’s over.  [PDF]
–Yogi Berra

Remember, Babe Ruth struck out 1,333 times.

Be bold.  If you’re going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the ball.  [PDF]
–Billie Jean King

You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
–Wayne Gretzky

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated failures.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. [PDF]
–Calvin Coolidge

The secret is this: strength lies solely in tenacity.
–Louis Pasteur

A hero is no braver than an ordinary person, but is braver five minutes longer.
–Emerson

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
–Albert Einstein

In a calm sea, every man is a pilot.  Strength is proven in adversity.
–English proverb

Men do not fail, they give up trying.
–Eliku Poot

Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.
–Pubilus Syrus

In soloing, as in other activities, it is far easier to start something than to finish it.
–Amelia Earhart

I’ve been positioning this company for overnight success for nine years.
–Stephen Brightbill

What you want to be eventually, you must be every day.  With practice, the quality of your deeds will get down into your soul.
–Frank Crane

The secret is this:  the strength lies solely in tenacity.
–Louis Pasteur

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  [PDF]
–Thomas Edison

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
–Henry Ford

Popularity: 2% [?]

Never give up.

You become what you think you can become.

Keep the right attitude.

Take some chances.

Make decisions.

Show up.

Believe in yourself.

Don’t wait until just the “right” moment to take action.

Focus, focus, focus.

Think big.

Do small things very well.

Think for yourself.

Invest all your heart; then work your ass off.

Enjoy the ride.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Today I want to share part of a conversation I’ve been having with Stephen Hopson.  Stephen and I met through our interest in writing and article distribution on the Internet at the Ezine Articles site.

Click here for an earlier post I made in reference to Stephen’s incredible story.

MW:  From your website, I see you were born deaf.  How did you learn to speak?
 
Stephen:  For several years throughout elementary, junior, and senior high schools, I went through daily speech therapy sessions at school, with more at home with my mom.

MW:  Did you attend a deaf school or were you mainstreamed?
 
Stephen:  With the exception of kindergarten, I was put in the public school system where all of my teachers and peers were hearing.  I was often the only deaf student in the entire student body.

MW:  That’s really phenomenal, Stephen.  Of all the people in your life, can you name one or two who had a profound influence on you?
 
Stephen:  Mom and Dad (count as one) and Mrs. Jordan, my fifth-grade teacher. (Click Adversity University, Stephen’s blog, if you’d like to learn more about Stephen’s teacher.)
 
MW: You’ve experienced enormous success in the worlds of Wall Street and aviation by becoming an award-winning stockbroker and the world’s first deaf instrument-rated pilot.  How did you do it?
 
Stephen:  First off, I believe strongly in myself.  Secondly, I have faith in God’s ability to provide what I need in terms of having the right people in my life, the right resources at my disposal, and ideas to take action on.

MW:  Well, you must have a very strong grounding then.  Anything else that you would attribute your success to?

Stephen:  Sure, lots of things, but really it has come down to persistence, with the ability to be flexible with changing conditions and to have a strong passion for what I am doing.  I also try to stay very focused on whatever challenge I face, and to carry out ideas with integrity as best I can and know how.
 

MW:  What obstacles did you encounter on your way to success? 

Stephen:  Perhaps the single biggest thing is overcoming other people’s pre-conceived notions of what a deaf person is capable of doing.  I’ve also had to deal with a lot of rejection from potential customers.

MW:  Well, you must have really had a hard time, then, with getting your pilot’s license.

Stephen:  Sure did; the FAA regulations prohibit deaf pilots from becoming instrument rated, because they need to hear the radio while in the clouds.  Also, I have a tough time with people who mumble (MW side comment:  We all do, Stephen!), talk too fast, or have facial hair covering their lips, because I lip read.

MW:  How did you develop your writing skills?
 
Stephen:  After I left Wall Street in 1996 to pursue my dreams of becoming a motivational speaker, author, and pilot, I started a private dairy, letting myself write whatever came to mind.  This freed up any potential writers block and allowed me to access my creative writing skills.

Then later I did some writing exercises using Julie Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, (MW Note:  The Artist’s Way is a phenomenal book — it’s by no means just for artist’s — and I put it in my Top5er list, so get it if you work with any sort of artistic, writing, or creative endeavor).

After that, I started submitting stories to various websites, eventually leading to the publication of three stories in best-selling books including Chicken Soup for the College Soul. Nowadays I write at least one article a day and submit to Ezine Articles, my blog, and my website.
 
MW:  When you give speeches, do you use sign language or do you speak on your own?
 
Stephen:  I speak on my own because most of my audiences are hearing.  On rare occasions I speak to deaf audiences where I use sign language for their benefit.
 
MW:  Stephen, a tough one now . . . you’ve obviously handled a bit of adversity in your life, so how do you keep going when the chips are down?
 
Stephen:  As I mentioned before, i have a strong faith in God and really believe that everything happens for a reason, even the challenges that come before me.  I view setbacks as opportunities in disguise.  I also believe that I have a special purpose in life – that I am here to help others succeed.
 
MW:  What are the most important qualities of a successful person?
 
Stephen:  That’s easy, Michael:  integrity and maintaining an attitude of gratitude. I go crazy from time to time with handwritten thank-you notes, thanking people for whatever they did for me, whether they had faith in my abilities, helped me with a referral, helped me with a sponsorship, gave me an opportunity to prove myself, or any number of other things that have helped me along the way.
 
MW:  Stephen, you’ve had so many wonderful experiences, but what was the most significant turning point in your life?
 
Stephen:  When I realized that I was born deaf for a purpose.  It became clear to me that I was given certain talents to make an impact on the world, and for me that was using my ability to speak articulately and in a way that audiences are able to bond with me.  This ability to communicate opens the way for them to learn, grow, and find their own life’s purpose.
 
MW:  How would you define success, then?

Stephen:  Success is seeing your dreams come to pass, especially when there was no evidence of it ever coming true in the first place.  Success is also being able to hit the pillow every night knowing you did your best to make a difference in other people’s lives and feeling a sense of inner peace about it.

MW:  As I think you know, Dream Jobs Dialog reaches a lot of life seekers and dream job searchers.  What advice would you give to someone who is unclear of their place on this planet and their role in the world of work?  In other words, how would you advise someone to seek their own dream job?

Stephen:  We are all here to serve others by carrying out our life’s purpose.  The way I found mine was by paying attention to my innermost passions.  I am successful because I always believed in the old adage, “Follow your passions and the money will follow.”  Yes, I’ve hit rough patches along the way (more than a few!), but I never starved nor was I ever without a roof over my head.  God has always come through for me simply because I believed and trusted. 
 
Start by writing down all your passions — think about the things you used to do as a child that made time fly by.  What were they?  Whatever they were most likely defines why you came here.   
 
If, on the other hand, those childhood passions no longer excite you (which is quite possible, because we do change as we get older), then I would encourage them to think about the things that you’re excited about today.  Then make a list.  Pray about it.  Believe in the possibilities.  Surround yourself with supporters.  And ,finally, listen to your intuition for ideas to take action on.

MW:  Thanks much, Stephen, it’s been great talking to you.  I hope you’ll stay in touch with us as things evolve in your life.

 

So, Dream Jobbers, holler if you have questions for Stephen of if this interview has sparked you in any way.

Popularity: 10% [?]

This is first time I’ve decided to include a guest posting at Dream Jobs Dialog.  However, after stumbling across a young Australian entrepreneur, Yaro Starak, I became so entralled with one of his articles that I asked him if he’d mind if I reprinted it.

Yaro usually writes abouts business, so it was interesting to find his take on happiness, as I think what he has discovered will be of great help for anyone here who’s fighting hard to find a meaningful career and place in life.

So here goes . . . Yaro Starak and his key to happiness.

At the bus stop near my house where I catch my ride into town on a regular basis is an unusual piece of graffiti. I often walk to the bus stop, sit down and turn my head to the ground and read the line of words neatly scrolled on the pavement that I guess you can only call vandalism, but it seems somewhat inappropriate to label it so -

“You Deserve Happiness”

The first time I read this, I had a chuckle because it felt wrong to be reading a statement intended to be uplifting in a format usually reserved for rude comments or political statements. I put it down to the fact that my suburb has an unusually high proportion of New-Age hippy types with an affinity for positive affirmations. I love people like that. I’m one of them too, so I’m living in the right place.

Positive Affirmations

Over the more recent years I’ve worked hard on my own self-talk to improve the way I speak to myself. You probably know your own inner voice quite well. It’s that little trail of thought in your head, that little voice that says things to you throughout the day, that reacts to what other people say, to what you say and what you do. It probably says too much, but it has an opinion on absolutely everything so it’s hard to get it to shut-up.

In my recent history my inner voice was part of a problem I had. I can’t wholly blame it for all my issues but it was a major contributor to something I suffered through in my late teens and early twenties. I remember quite vividly the first few times I suffered the symptoms.

I jumped on the bus from university to go home after a day of lectures. I don’t think it was a day any worse than any others. I showed the bus driver my ticket and, being the cool guy that I was, went to the back of the bus to sit down with all the other cool back-seaters. I can’t remember what I was thinking at the time, but I remember feeling that it was quite inconsequential - everyday worries about university and life - the sort of thing most people would think about when they were a university student.

Suddenly out of the blue a feeling of absolute fear gripped me. It felt like it came from nowhere. My heart raced, my thoughts rushed, I couldn’t sit still and I had this horrible feeling like I was going to die. The sensation passed within a few moments.

I went on to experience this many times, sometimes in really obscure places like in the middle of watching a movie at the cinema, walking home just talking to a friend, sitting in bed before going to sleep and listening to a particularly boring lecture. It was all quite random and strange and not something I enjoyed at all.

Eventually with the help of my counsellor mother I figured out I was suffering from panic attacks. My story was not unusual, as I read a book about the problem. Apparently one in five people suffers from the disorder at some point in their life. Whether it is because of brain chemical imbalances or for whatever reasons it is quite prevalent in our modern Western culture and I was its lucky latest “victim.”

For people who have never experienced a panic attack it can be hard to fathom what it is like. It is pure fear. An awful rush of emotion that causes your body to react in ways it should not react given the present situation. As the book explained to me, my panic attacks were the result of a very animal instinct, a fight or flight instinct that in normal circumstances would come on in situations of life-threatening danger. The rush of blood, increased heart rate and alert senses were meant for me to be able to run away from or fight whatever it was threatening my existence, just like any good animal would. However, sitting in the movies is not a situation of life-threatening danger so clearly something was messed up.

Learned Behaviour

Over the course of the months and years from the point when I first had a panic attack, I went through therapy to help improve my situation. With verbal guidance from my mother and father, a helpful book or two and lots of self-development, I managed to curb the problem. I did go through several recurrences, especially during difficult times in my life, and I can’t really say that I am 100 percent cured even now, but I feel totally in control of that aspect of my life.

As a result of that experience, I gained a very powerful skillset - the ability to control my thought process. The benefits of being able to do this go way beyond helping me deal with panic and anxiety - I can now control my emotional state by changing the way I think.

Can you imagine how helpful that is? Think about any time you have been depressed, demotivated or reacted adversely to situations with anger, or frustration or self-loathing or hatred or by beating yourself up by drinking too much or taking drugs. While positive thinking and being in control of your emotional state is not a cure for life’s problems, it’s pretty close and I am very thankful for its benefits.

Positivity Training

Some people scoff at positive affirmations and consider them useless but, as anyone who has had panic attacks will tell you, at the root cause of them are the opposite - negative affirmations. As a result of spending most days thinking negatively and repeating self-talk that beat myself up, my body reacted with panic attacks. You may not have the same reaction I did, but if your self-talk is negative, it’s holding you back from achieving your dreams and can certainly be a cause of things such as depression, feeling like you have no control over you life, and an inability to feel happiness.

Here’s an exercise for you in positivity training - you are going to need to expand your awareness somewhat if you haven’t done this before. Today stop and take note of how you react to situations and be aware of what your little voice says to you as you go about your daily activities. Pay particular attention to how you react when other people speak to you, when you receive feedback directly relating to you or something you have done and when you see other people enjoying something you want.

You may be very surprised to notice that your self-talk is terrible and you spend a lot of your day beating yourself up over your inabilities, inadequacies and perceived failures. It’s amazing how easy it is to be down on your life and reinforce that attitude by telling yourself that it’s all your fault or you are just not “lucky” or you have no talents whatsoever. What is the “truth” doesn’t matter, what is important is to change your attitude, react positively AND think positively.

By changing the dialogue in your mind you become the greatest life coach you could ever have. Your trainer will be with you at all times, ready to pick you up no matter how bad your reality is. Then, and here’s where the magic really starts to happen, by simply telling yourself positive things and believing in positive outcomes you want and deserve they actually start to manifest. Whether it’s an active result of your positive attitude, a subconscious motivator or some great spiritual force doesn’t really matter (and all you negative-thinking skeptics will never experience this, not because it doesn’t work, but because you don’t change your attitude), what matters is that you will actually notice an improvement in two of the most important things in your life - you will feel great and you will start to achieve things you used to beat yourself up over because you lacked.

The Key To Happiness

During a particularly angsty period of my life searching for the meaning of it all I went looking online for answers. Who do you turn to when looking for answers? Why, Google of course.

I typed in “what is the meaning of life?” and came across one of my now favorite Web pages that I often refer people to when they are really down in the dumps and questioning everything. The page is mostly plain text and aptly titled for good search rankings although I doubt the author knows anything about SEO -

The Meaning of Life

This page attempts to answer quite a few questions and, while my intellectual side thoroughly enjoyed the discussion, it also helped remind me of a very simple fact -

You Choose To Be Happy

Happiness is ultimately not in anyone else’s hands or controlled by any external element at all. It’s purely a choice you can make. As often as I can, I choose to be happy. It’s not always as easy as that, but by undertaking to change the way you think and create an ongoing positive dialogue with yourself you are both working towards the same goals - that’s you and your little voice - both aiming for happiness.

Remember what the sidewalk tells us -

“You Deserve Happiness”

Yaro Starak
Happy

Popularity: 4% [?]

Anyone know Bob Parsons?  He runs a great domain-name registry company called GoDaddy.

Bob and I have followed somewhat similar paths through the years, and I’ve learned a lot from watching him and his companies succeed. Prior to GoDaddy, Bob started an amazingly succesful software company called Parsons Technology, and he was running it about the same time that I started up InfoSource, Inc., the online learning company for education, business, and government entities.

The following comes from a recent post at Bob’s blog at Bob Parsons.

Late in 2004, I was asked by BizAz Magazine (a local Phoenix magazine) to speak at one of its “Business Beneath The Surface” breakfast meetings. As part of the event, participants have the option of submitting questions to the speakers, which are then answered during the breakfast.

One of the questions directed toward me was, “What advice do you have for someone who is just starting a business?”

I liked Clint Eastwood’s rules.
Also at that time, I happened to pick up a copy of Men’s Journal. Clint Eastwood was on the cover and an article featured 10 items called “Clint’s rules.” I found his rules to be interesting. They were things like, “You are what you drive,” “avoid extreme makeovers,” and things like that. As Clint Eastwood is a pretty easy guy to respect, I thought the whole rule thing was pretty cool. And the more I thought about it, I realized that over the years I had accumulated a number of principles (or rules) that I tried very hard to adhere to — and these rules (in many ways) have become the foundation for whatever successes I’ve had.

So, a few weeks before the meeting, I sat down and started typing — in no particular order — the rules I try to live by. At the breakfast meeting, I read my rules at the end of my presentation. The response was amazing. I was swamped with requests for copies of the rules. An edited list was published in the Arizona Republic newspaper a few days later. I was even called and interviewed by a local radio station about the list.

Since then, some of the rules have been edited, some consolidated, and a few new ones added. Despite those changes, the list of rules I presented that morning are pretty much what appears at the end of this post.

My rules come from the significant life events I’ve experienced.
As I write this, I am now 54 years old, and during my life thus far I suspect that I’ve encountered more significant life events than most people ever dream about. Here’s some information about me:

I grew up in a lower middle class family in Baltimore’s inner city. We were always broke. I’ve earned everything I ever received. Very little was ever given to me.

I’ve been working as long as I can remember. Whether it was delivering or selling newspapers, pumping gas, working in construction or in a factory, I’ve always been making my own money.

And, of course, not all life events are happy ones.
I was stood up to be executed during a robbery of a gas station where I was working when I was 16. To my amazement, my would-be executioner could not muster the nerve to pull the trigger. This saved both of us. I lived, and while he went to jail, he did not go there forever. Even though there were other witnesses to the gas station robbery and assault, and other crimes he and a partner committed, I was the only one who testified against them. They both received major jail sentences.

I was with a United States Marine Corps rifle company in Viet Nam for a short while in 1969. As a combat rifleman, I learned several key life lessons that resulted in some of the rules I try to live by. I learned first hand how significant a role “luck” or karma can play in our lives. The rifle company I was assigned to, Delta Company of the 1st Batallion, 26th Marines, operated in the rice paddys of Quang Nam province. We operated on the squad level (7 to 10 of us, depending on casualties), and most every night we left our command post and went several kilometers out into the rice paddys and set up in ambush. While there are many who saw significantly more combat action than me, I did see my share. After 5 or 6 weeks, I was wounded and medevaced to Japan. I returned to Viet Nam several times after that, but came back as a courier of classified documents. Although I requested (at least twice) to return to my old rifle company, the transfer was never approved.

After the Marine Corps, I used the G.I. Bill to attend college, and graduated from the University of Baltimore with a degree in accounting. I attended college mostly at night. After college, I took and passed the CPA exam. I worked only a few years as an accountant. The lion’s share of my career has been spent as an entrepreneur.

I’ve been very lucky when it comes to business.
I started a successful business division for a company called LeaseAmerica. During the four years I was involved with this business, it grew to 84 employees and wrote over $150 million dollars in small office equipment leases. Its success helped redefine how business in that industry is now conducted.

Not long after I started the division for LeaseAmerica, I started a software company in the basement of my house. I started it with the little bit of money I had, and named it Parsons Technology. I owned this business for 10 years, grew it to about 1,000 employees and just shy of $100 million a year in sales. Eventually, we sold Parsons Technology to a company named Intuit. Because my then-wife and I were the only investors, and the company had no debt, we received the entire purchase price.

Shortly after selling Parsons Technology, my wife and I decided to go our separate ways and did the customary “divide everything by two.” I then moved to Arizona and retired for a year. This was a requirement of my deal with Intuit.

Retirement was not for me.
Retirement wasn’t for me, so after the mandatory year passed, and using the money I had from the sale of Parsons Technology, I started a new business. This business eventually became The Go Daddy Group. I started this business from scratch, did it without acquisitions, and developed our own products. In the process, I came spooky close to losing everything I had, and actually made the decision to “lose it all” rather than close Go Daddy. Today, Go Daddy is the world leader in new domain name registrations, and has been cash flow positive since October 2001 (not bad for a dot com). As of this writing, I continue to be the only investor in Go Daddy.

Throughout all of these life events, I came to accumulate a number of rules that I look to in various situations. Some of them I learned the hard way. Others I learned from the study of history. I know they work because I have applied them in both my business and personal life.

And one more thing.
I’ve read many times that original ideas are rare indeed. This is particularly true when it comes to the rules herein. I can’t imagine that any of my rules represent new ideas.

My contribution is that I’ve assembled these ideas, put them to work in my life, and can attest — that more often than not — they hold true.

While I put my 16 rules together in response to a business question, I’ve been told by others that they can be applied to almost any pursuit.

Here are the 16 rules I try to live by:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think. There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”

6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems. You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There’s always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time.”

A special word of thanks.
I owe a special thanks to Brian Dunn. When I first wrote these rules down and was thinking about compiling them into a book — that book, like most books I suppose, has been half-done for a while — Brian read them and suggested a title. His suggestion was, “They Can’t Eat You.” I like Brian’s suggestion for two reasons: 1. It reminds me of my Dad. I sure miss him; and 2. It’s true. No matter how difficult things get, you’re going to be OK. It’s very important to realize that. Thanks, Brian.

The above rules for survival are included with the permission of Bob Parsons and is Copyright © 2004-2006 by Bob Parsons. All rights reserved.

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’m going to conduct what I believe will be the world’s largest “Success Experiment.”  And, if not the largest, perhaps the most interesting.  And, if not the most interesting, at least we can have some fun and raise a little dough for some organizations that do some interesting work and also help people learn more about themselves — whether it’s finding a dream job or not.

BACKGROUND
Before I provide the details, here’s a little background:

As I’ve been dealing with Dream Jobs for several years, one thing I’ve learned is that many people go about their careers, and the jobs that comprise them, in quite a haphazzard fashion — jumping into one job because it seems right at the time, only to find out later that it doesn’t come anywhere near fulfilling them.

And, because many people equate the “right” job with success, without even quite knowing how they’d define success, I thought it would be interesting to survey as many people as I possibly could to find out what their own definitions of success are.

Because, if I could provide hundreds or thousands of success definitions, it might make it easier for others to come up with their own and to match them with their career aspirations and needs.

So, define success first, and match the dream job to that.

SUCCESS EXPERIMENT!
I want to find 10,000 people to give me their definition of success in the following format:

I believe success is ____________________________________.

That blank space can be a word, the completion of the sentence, or several paragraphs.  Your call.

When you have your definition, please send it to my attention at success@dreamjobsdialog.com.  (Do not post your response here.)

Also, please provide your name, current position, organization, and title and indicate whether or not I may publish it along with the definition.  In addition, please feel free to provide a brief bio of yourself, including your current and former professions along with any websites, blogs, or other activities you’re involved in.

Because no peeking is allowed, and to encourage originality, I won’t publish any of the definitions until I’ve collected all 10,000.

THEN:
I will donote $1,000, in $100 increments each, to 10 of the organizations listed in an earlier post (click here for details), all of which are involved, in one fashion or another, in international volunteer activities.

I will subsequently publish a compilation of everyone’s comments and definitions and make it available to all contributors at no charge, and publish the most interesting contributions here in a future series of posts.

10,000 personal definitions of success.

Kinda cool; a lot of fun.  And, I think we’ll all learn something.

Here’s to your success!

Popularity: 3% [?]

If you hang around the Internet much, you’re bound to run across the gurks — this is the term my pal Eldon Sarte (of Human Golf fame) coined to refer to the get-rich-quick community of online hucksters who’re trying to make a buck by getting you to spend more than just a few of your own bucks with them.

I’d guess that, after online gambling and pornography, people trying to convince other people they can get rich tomorrow on the Web is likely the third biggest money-maker around.  And, not for you . . . for them.

Gurks come in many flavors — some are just straight-out-blast-you-between-the-eyes with an overpowering sales pitch, many are more subtle and provide free introductory courses that then try to get you to buy the big kahuna, and a few actually provide some quality information interspersed among their gurkiness.

One such publication that falls into the latter category, but not a Top5er, is Michael Masterson’s Early to Rise.

I like using publications like this to jump start my brain into a higher level of creativity.  Just be careful not to believe every pitch you hear, though.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Can you define success?

If you’re looking for your dream job and you can’t, you’d better take a step back right now.

If you don’t know what you’re aiming at, why are you shooting? I mean, come on, what’s the point?

Kind of reminds me of Alice (from Wonderland fame) when she came to the crossroads and asked the Cheshire Cat which road to take.  CC told her, “Well, Alice, now that depends on where you’re trying to go.”

You see, success is like that too, like Alice’s crossroads.  If you haven’t figured out how you can measure success (and believe me, if it’s about money, you’re likely on the wrong road), what’s the point of trying to find your dream job?

Define success; get dream job that matches your definition of success.

That’s it in a nutshell.

Stay tuned for a freebie offer.

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No matter where you’ve been, or where you want to head, remember that everything that has happened before has brought you to this moment.  Now, right now, is the time to begin the next phase of your life . . . and if it’s a job — a dream job — that you’re seeking, make the next step now.

Here’s a small passage from the introduction to Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles:

Of course, any change requires sustained effort to overcome years’ worth of internal and external resistance.  Initially, you may find yourself getting very excited about all this new information.  You may feel a newfound sense of hope and enthusiasm for the new vision of your life as it can be.  This is good.  But be forewarned that you may also begin to experience other feelings as well.  You may feel frustration at not knowing about all of this earlier, anger at your parents and teachers for not teaching you these important concepts at home and at school, or anger at yourself for having already learned many of these things and not having acting upon them.

Just take a deep breath and realize that this is all part of the process of your journey.  Everything in the past has actually been perfect.  Everything in your past has led you to this transformative moment in time.  Everyone — including you — has always done the best they could with what they knew at that time. ** Jack Canfield

So, how can I help you take that next step?

 

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Canfield’s Success Principle #1:  Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life

One of the most pervasive myths in American culture today is that we are entitled to a great life — that somehow, somewhere, someone (certainly not us) is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, nurturing family time, and blissful personal relationships simply because we exist.

But the real truth is that there is only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live.  That person is you.

So, take a step back and ask yourself, in the 3:00 o’clock-in-the-morning hour, how much you believe what Canfield says here and how much you’re really willing to take responsibility for yourself and your actions.

More specifically, just what are you doing today to pursue your dream job?  And, how much are you letting others or circumstances hold you back?

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