Reflections:Lets Decide Now!

                           

Why do some people succeed, while others always seem to fail? How can we define success?

Is success the teacher who is teaching school because that’s what he or she wanted to do? Or the mother who wanted to become a wife and mother and is doing a great job of it? Or the salesperson who wants to become a top notch salesperson and grow with the organization? Or the entrepreneur who starts their own company because that was their dream?

 Success can be defined as the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Is there a secret to success and failure? The answer is yes. We become what we think about.

Now, how does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, here’s a story that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision.

We’re comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what we plant in it. It will return what we plant, but it doesn’t care what we plant.

Now, let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand—one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds—one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters the seeds, and takes care of the land. What will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted. Remember, the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants—one corn, one poison. The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal... or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But it will return what we plant.

The human mind is the last, great, unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

Let’s decide now. What is it we want? Let’s plant our goal in our mind. It’s the most important decision we will ever make in our entire life.

Earl Nightingale (1921 – 1989)