“Learn from other peoples’ mistakes because you will not live long enough to commit them all yourself”
Look around, within your immediate family, your circle of friends, your co-workers, your neighborhood as well as the society where you move about. Take note how many people have resigned themselves to their fate. Majority of them have taken the base for their pinnacle. You need to change your vision, your perspective. Start to think of the immense possibilities awaiting your golden touch. You will soon realize that their comfort zone is actually nothing short of shackles they chose to put on their own productivity. Their self-imposed compromise is keeping them tied down where they find themselves helpless.
Such negative-minded individuals are not willing to take the risk for fear they may also lose what little comfort they currently enjoy. They have already whiled away a good portion of their life and this keeps them from breaking out of the box. Because they could not do it themselves, they shudder to think that anybody else from their own level will be able to achieve anything tangible. These naysayers are either scared of their own failure or they are unprepared to watch you achieve the extraordinary due to your sheer willpower.
IT is a very well known but equally under-rated statement that ‘a man is known by the company he keeps: you keep the company of giants and you become a giant; you keep the company of dwarfs and you become a dwarf”. The choice is all yours. Start to circulate amongst those in a slightly more comfortable position than yourself and then graduate to higher levels of society in a consistent fashion.
Remember nobody likes selfish people. When you meet somebody, or for that matter anybody, whether they are in a more comfortable financial position or not, always make it a point to be of service rather than expecting favors. Relationship demands a strong foundation of giving and not taking. Friendship survives in the spirit of giving and helping.
If you are seeking friends who you think can make you rich or pay for you to enjoy five-star luxuries, you are terribly mistaken because it just does not happen!
Any acquaintance started with the intention of taking advantage from is bound to end in disappointment and dejection. Instead, start in the spirit of giving and see the relationship flourish. An example in point that I have seen work in my own life: It happened way back in the year 1990 or so. The fence between my house and that of the neighbor broke in a few places. I had been too deeply engrossed in my growing business. Hectic traveling made me overlook the damage and I neglected to fix the same. When a large portion of that fence fell off in a few weeks, my neighbor went and bought all the material and started to fix it, all on his own.
It is true that we all guard our fences diligently but here I was who could not care less. At least that was the feeling my neighbor got about me. Suddenly, my five-year-old son noticed the neighbor walking into our backyard every few minutes and told me what was going on. I realized my mistake, went out and apologized to my neighbor, offered him the full value of the material that he had bought on his own and actually assisted him to the best of my ability in fixing the broken fence. The singular most important result of raising that fence actually brought down all the visible fences between us and we became instant friends to the extent that we still enjoy the enduring friendship to this day. Try to find a better example of destroying all fences by helping raise one!
Keep planting the seeds of helpfulness in the hope that some of them will sprout. What could be better than to see all of them sprout and find yourself surrounded by a whole lot of help? The more helpfulness you cultivate the more pleasure you will reap and the more pleasure you reap, the more enjoyable your life will become. The more enjoyable your life the more people will lean towards you. The more people you pull the more powerful magnet you will become. The magnetic personality you so acquire will determine your stature in society.
If you still do not believe me, go out and see the fate of those opportunists who come to your door once every four years to beg for your vote. Remember how fast they forget you, even before delivering their victory speech! Have you never seen them fall from grace? Yes, you have, and not once but many times, and in many places. Why is that so? Plain and simple, they did not have the intention to give anything to anyone in the first place. Their only motive was to take and take as much as possible. It is not the fault of the electorate to boot them out but a direct result of their own selfishness.
Remember: ‘you can befool somebody once, you can befool many people many times but you cannot befool everybody every time!’
Truth and Integrity are becoming harder and harder to achieve. The virtue of prudence and knowing what is right and wrong is a fleeting virtue.
You are absolutely right, Lynn! If it wasn’t true, there would be no need for any Coaches, Trainers, Personality Development Gurus and Mentors. However, I strongly believe the terrific changes coming our way at a phenominal pace are bringing in their stride immense opportunities for the younger crowd. Staying on top will take a lot more of their time than to immerse themselves in the present-day feelings of jealosy, bickering and other less desirable negative attitudes.
Thanks a lot for your kind words!
Warm Regards
BM
Great Article Bharat – enjoyed it.
To me the most simple truth of life is to live with Integrity with all people at all times regardless of external circumstances. Thanks my friend.
This is why I believe inconstantly planting seeds of helpfulness everywhere, Dear Jonathan! I am happy to know you agree with me. I also know it for a fact that you have been sticking to the same formula in your life.
I salute you,my dear!