Or: Persistence, Determination, Honesty, Integrity, and a Bucket of Oysters

Whenever I think about positive mental attitude statements and affirmations, my mind always comes back to Erma Bombeck’s classic title:

If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?

Talk about effective marketing!

Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to Eben Pagan interview Joe Sugarman, one of the greatest copywriters and direct marketers of our era, the founder of BluBlocker Sun Glasses. Joe Sugarman sold millions of BluBlockers and made millions of dollars in the process. The story is an interesting one, one for another day.

In the interview, Eben and Joe discussed many topics, topics related to marketing, success, and life. I recommend it if you can find a copy, it is well worth the time.

Of all the topics discussed, the topic of persistence piqued my interest. Persistence and determination are among of my favorite topics, along with desire, perception, perspective, and assumption…as you well know, particularly if you have visited any of my blogs.

You see, I believe the most crucial ingredient, the characteristic that defines us and determines our success, is persistence.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many men and women smarter than I, persistence, and its partner determination, are central and recurring themes in almost every success story I have ever listened to, read, witnessed or been a part of…including my own.

Persistence, when combined with determination and honesty, almost always assures one’s success long term.

If integrity and honesty are not part of your makeup, all of your effort will be for naught.

No one can sustain success long term without integrity and honesty!

Getting back to the teleseminar with Joe Sugarman and Eben Pagan, Joe Sugarman made an interesting comparison, one worth sharing:

Life is like a bucket of oysters. In life, we are guaranteed

success if we persist. In the bucket, we know there is at

least one pearl. Opening the oysters is hard work and quite

often we end up cutting our hands, getting discouraged,

and wondering if it is all worth it when we are only half

way through. However, we know there is a pearl in the

bucket…if we just keep digging for it!

That is exactly like life!

The sad thing about it?

Many people end up losing sight of the reward, giving in and giving up as difficulties ensue. I have known so many men and women who, on the very brink of success, have thrown in the towel, unable to continue, unable to complete the task that would surely yield the pearl they had been striving for.

Like shucking oysters in search of a pearl, success in life demands a combination of skills.

The skills, when combined with a certain finesse, and finally brought to fruition through persistence and determination, often yield rewards impossible to imagine as we hover over the bucket, intent upon the task at hand, opening the oysters.

If we get bogged down in the task, complete with the difficulties, forgetting to focus on the pearl, we may not see it through.

Failure along the way is a certainty. Failure, when viewed as a setback, as a learning experience, can be a valuable lesson, another on the way to acquiring the pearl. Persistence in spite of the failure, and even because of it, will take us one step closer to discovery…and success.

Ultimately, if we keep the pearl in focus, remembering to apply both finesse and persistence, remembering that life will yield a pearl the magnificence of which we can’t possibly imagine, we will succeed.

Interestingly, as we progress through life we will find not one pearl but a succession of pearls, life’s reward for persistence, determination, honesty, and integrity…all along the way to an empty bucket and whatever awaits us in the hereafter.

Another, larger bucket…or perhaps a string of pearls?

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526 (home)
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (personal email)

PS, If you want to read a little bit about Joe Sugarman’s latest venture, something I immediately got involved with because it promises to help so many of my readers with various health issues and challenges…from pain to energy and illness to aging! It is truly an amazing product and the best I have come across, anywhere! If Joe Sugarman is on board you can be certain it is the very best available or he simply wouldn’t offer it!

Life, Paying it Forward, Success, The Power of One, and Infinite Intelligence!

It is always darkest before the dawn. Cliche´ or not, it is true!

When I think back to last November, just 12 months ago, I quite literally thought I would be gone by now. I was making final arrangements and wanted to leave behind some sort of legacy…helping people, “Paying it Forward,” whatever.

I had it all wrong!

Instead of improving my life and the lives of those closest to me, I was fixated on some “larger purpose,” this notion of a legacy.

Silly?

Yes!

But when faced with your own mortality, “The End,” rational thought isn’t always available, particularly when the mind is clouded by all sorts of medications. Not to mention being scared out of your wits! But somehow, I got through it and came out the other end.

Nothing short of a miracle!

I firmly believe the entire battle for life and battles of life are won or lost in the mind, basically in our will.

Free Will?

We either continue and press on…or we give up and give in!

It is during the toughest times of our lives that we are forged into whatever it is we are becoming. The test of an individual, the real test of our mettle, is in being able to make it through these life altering, life changing, even life threatening events a better person.

Profound! Huh?

But true!

There are many people who have never made it, lost it, and have had to make it all over again. It is in facing failure, financial ruin, even death, we find out who we are and what we are made of. It is in working through failure and triumphing in spite of the possibility of ruin and death that we are reborn and forever altered…hardened and focused in a way others cannot, will not understand.

You see, I don’t think we are in full control of where we are going…or why. I believe control is an illusion. Without the illusion, many of us could not, would not be able to make sense of the reality of our existence, either as individuals or collectively, as a species here on Earth.

Many of us, “control freaks” or not, would simply crash and burn without this illusion.

And yet?

And yet control is an illusion!

Why?

Well, there are so many variables impacting and affecting our lives, we simply can’t account for all of them, much less control them. Any researcher will tell you control is an illusion. You may attempt to set up controls but there are so many confounding variables, events and occurrences simply unaccounted for, unable to be accounted for, that complete control is an unattainable construct…it is simply not possible.

And yet we are all fixated on control!

The fact is we can’t even control ourselves. The example many of the 12 Step programs are happy to offer up is about a certain bodily function:

If you think you have control, try controlling yourself when you have (the runs)!

It’s not a pretty example but it is one that brings the point home.

When faced with adversity and with events seemingly beyond our control, it is up to us to press on, get through, and be wise enough to realize that whatever we come out the other side as…it is what was meant to be. Not in the sense that that was the only outcome…it is simply the only outcome you have, the one you must make use of and build upon.

After all, what’s the alternative? There isn’t one!

You are faced with certain events, issues, and obstacles in your life and your success or failure depends solely on how you deal with them…or not!

I am not a fatalist or a determinist…at least I don’t think I am?

I am something of a realist. At least I think I am?

However, being a realist is a difficult thing to be. Realistically speaking, of course! Just look up “Realism” on Wikipedia. Talk about a smorgasbord! You can, quite literally, have it any way you want it, fit the word to just about any classification and definition…within reason, of course.

But we are getting off the subject.

I believe that somehow, someway, as long as we persevere, we triumph. I don’t believe that is predetermined or preordained. I believe it is up to us, we are actively engaged in our own lives, or not, by and through the decisions we make every day.

The decisions we make!

That’s about as close to control as we get. However, our decisions are affected by a myriad of circumstances, many beyond our control. Thus, we are back to the illusion!

The alternative?

If we don’t believe we have the ability to shape and reshape our lives?

We are doomed to continually relive the difficulties of our past…or our present!

I believe there is a synergy of energy, ours and that of Collective Consciousness…or Collective Unconscious (as some people refer to it).

Meaning?

Well, without getting all mystical on you, we all have our own, undeniable energy and power, a certain irresistible force within us and, when we combine our force, our power with that of the collective energy, power, and focus of the Universe, whether you call it a Collective Consciousness, a Higher Power, God, or whatever, the results are incredibly powerful, particularly when focused in our lives…again, both individually and collectively.

An example (and not the greatest, I’ll admit):

Have you ever met a person with what is referred to as charisma or personal magnetism? Have you ever met an individual you were immediately drawn to; their power, energy, drive, and magnetism palpable? I believe we all have that quality, that power within us, it’s just that some people are more adept at tapping into it, focusing it in their lives, either for personal gain or for the “greater good.” The topic of another article, to be sure. We all know this kind of person and we have felt this awesome power.

An integral aspect of success, the linchpin if you will, is knowledge of Self and the ability to focus on, and tap into, this reservoir of power. Significantly, I sincerely believe this resource is available to all of us. Many people fail to understand this power and others are simply ignorant of it, ignorant in the sense that they simply have no idea this sort of power exists, much less being available to them in their own lives.

We all talk about persistence and determination as the crucial ingredients, the key components making success possible. In my opinion, it is this wellspring of Infinite Power, combined with Self-knowledge, determination, and persistence, that defines us and our ability to reshape our lives.

We have all heard the Yogi Berra quotes. Interestingly, many of these quotes are very insightful. Part of Yogi’s charm is the kernel of truth, or at least the reflection of how we perceive the world, in many of his quotes:

1) “If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.”
2) “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
3) “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

This is precisely how most of us view the world and live our lives…

“Whether we are 100% aware of it 50% of the time!” (Yours Truly)

Or maybe…

50% aware of it 100% of the time!

No, that would make sense and be fairly accurate.

But seriously folks…

Think about numbers 2 and 3 for just a moment. This is how many of us live our lives!

Number 2? We get to a fork in the road, we have to make a decision and we make it…over and done! Little thought given to the actual decision. Just Do It! The end result will be what may.

Number 3? This is how 80%, 90% or 95% of the world lives their lives each and every day. The range between 80% and 95%? That’s simply a reflection of research and writer bias. One author or researcher says 80% live this way, others say the number is as high as 95%. I think it is probably closer to the latter than the former but the actual numbers are impossible to know and are irrelevant for this example. The important thing here is that most of us live rudderless lives, being blown this way and that by the strength of current “hot trends” and latest occurrences.

So?

Without a clear destination, mapped out in the form of clearly defined goals and a plan of action, we may take the wrong fork in the road and may be blown repeatedly off course by the slightest wind…or adversity. If we define who we are and what we wish to accomplish, we are ahead of 80-95% of the population! We are on our way to success in our lives.

Now, there comes a point in our lives when we find out just how much control we really have. This loss of control, or the illusion of control, may hit us as an illness, an economic setback, the loss of someone important in our lives or some other unforeseen catastrophic event. It is at this point we must have Faith is something greater and larger than ourselves or we will not make it through, regardless of how much power you may think have and how goal directed you may be.

There comes a point when you must say I need help, this is bigger than I am capable of handling on my own and I need help!

For some, the help will come in the form of organized religion, others will find solace and strength in a personal spirituality and a belief in the power of an Inner Self, still others will find strength in family and friends, and finally, others may have access to a mastermind group of some sort, a group of like-minded

Individuals focusing on similar goals by creating a Collective Consciousness, a mind greater than any one mind…a very powerful concept suggested and developed by Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich.

Regardless of the specific strategy, there comes a time when, if we don’t learn to turn to a source of power outside ourselves, if we aren’t smart enough to “turn it all over” to that group or Higher Power and say, “Help me!” or “Your will be done!”, you will fail.

I am not a religious man, or at least I thought I wasn’t. However, I have witnessed too many amazing things, been provided with second, third, and twentieth chances when I didn’t think I was going to make it through the day, much less be here twelve months later, for me to believe their isn’t this wellspring of Power, in all of our lives and at many different levels. It is up to you to understand it, develop it, and access it for your personal benefit and for the benefit of those around you.

Significantly, this last year started with the overwhelming urge to Pay it Forward, reinforced by a challenge from a good man, and developed by education, not only education in the traditional sense but in the “other worldly” sense. There is something greater, something more profound, something infinitely more powerful than any one of us understand alone. However, collectively we are more than One, we are more than the Group.

When we access this “Infinite Intelligence,” this “Higher Power,” we become greater, in fact we become great, and we begin to realize that indeed:

“All things are possible!”

By understanding that, as William Shakespeare wrote in 1601:

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet to Horatio, Act I Scene V)

In combination, these final quotes bring it all together. We must first accept that indeed “All things are possible!” And, once accepted, we must be willing to accept the belief, and this is where the real power rests, in belief that there is more in heaven and earth…and that it is available to us if we will only act, and believe.

Because:

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” Napoleon Hill (my personal favorite)

Belief, in combination with Faith, Persistence, Determination, and Infinite Intelligence, however Infinite Intelligence manifests itself in your life, is an irresistible combination. When combined with a goal directed life and the recognition of the many being greater than any one individual, anything is possible because:

“All things are possible!”

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

I recently received a CD from Tony Robbins, it is from his Power Talk series and is a bonus for The New Money Masters members. In many ways, this is the most important and certainly, at least in my opinion, the wisest and most useful recording I have received from Tony Robbins since Personal Power II!

The recording defines success in terms of consistency, noting that “it is consistency that creates the fabric of success for a lifetime” and offers a new word to remember and apply this definition, this concept of and for success.

I have been thinking about this almost nonstop since receiving the CD a couple of weeks ago, and it has taken me back to the recording of The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale and to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.

The Tony Robbins Power Talk CD and The New Money Masters series have also reminded me of the videos by Napoleon Hill, done years ago, and now available on video through YouTube.

Talk about an amazingly powerful historical record!

So, not only do we have the text of both The Strangest Secret and Think and Grow Rich, we have the actual recordings available on Google and YouTube!

But Google does this one better. Because of the time constraints on YouTube videos, yes even for the masters like Nightingale, Hill, and now Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy…the videos and recordings must be segmented. The power isn’t lost when you can go right from part one to part two, and so on, in video format. However, I feel something is lost when attempting to follow an audio recording in such a manner. There is something magical about listening to Earl Nightingale uninterrupted.

Fortunately, Google offers the entire audio version of The Strangest Secret free!

The Strangest Secret, listened to from beginning to end in one sitting, is one of the most important recordings in terms of self-improvement, understanding the power of setting and achieving goals, and the true definition of success ever made…period! If you have not listened to the entire thing, you must do so at once…it will change your life!

But wait until you finish this article and have a look around…OK?!

I listened to Earl Nightingale for the first time in the mid-1970s and I have listened to it hundreds of times since, literally! I pull it out every few weeks and particularly when I feel my life getting a bit off course. The power of this single life-lesson is awesome and the lessons immediately applicable…in any of life’s arenas!

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal!”

The definition above has become ingrained in ever person who has ever had the pleasure of listening to, and applying, The Strangest Secret!

Interestingly, Tony Robbins has re-introduced many of the same concepts and philosophies in a new concept he calls CANI!

CANI! Means consistent and never ending improvement!

The Tony Robbins synthesis takes into account the teachings of the early masters and expands upon them by integrating the notion of kaizen, the Japanese word for constant, consistent, and incremental improvement over time, generally used in the context of business and thought to have emerged in Post World War II Japan.

In the aforementioned episode of Power Talk, Tony Robbins introduces the concept of kaizen to his listeners. Robbins expands on the concept of kaizen, and subsequently introduces CANI!. Both terms are introduced in relation to the work of William Edwards Deming, known by many as simply W. Edwards Deming or Edwards Deming, the father of the industrial turnaround in Post WWII Japan. Kaizen, a concept integrated into a way of doing business, but also applied generally to how one lives their life, catapulted Japan from being known for “cheap” products, meaning the manufacture of substandard products in my youth, to being know for the finest quality in the world within a period of a few short years.

Interestingly, and as noted above, the concept of kaizen, the “Japanese way of doing business,” has its origins in an American, W. Edwards Deming, who is still revered throughout Japan, even today. By extension, Tony Robbins thought it appropriate to apply an American term, one he originated, to the American concept and came up with an American term…CANI!

CANI! means constant and never ending improvement.

If you think about it, CANI!, or whatever you decide to call it, is the basis for success…in business and in life. Combined with notions as old as “seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you” and, “ask and ye shall receive,” all the way up to the present day CANI!…the message is the same:

Success is a progression towards a worthy goal and/or ideal…or whatever! As long as the “whatever” is quite specific and the the progression is consistent and never ending!

In other words: CANI!

Why do people fail?

People fail for a myriad of reasons but it all comes down to four things:

1) A ship without a rudder! No goals, no idea where they have been; and, worse yet, no clear idea where they are going!
2) No passion! No idea what they want. People who fail lack a burning desire, something…anything…that captures the imagination and inspires massive action!
3) No consistency! Many think they know what they want, and may even have an idea how to get there! But they lack consistent effort, they work in spurts and quit before half way there!
4) They quit! This ties into number 3 and is the biggest reason for failure! “Winners never quit and quitters never win!” I can’t tell you how many times I have witnessed failure on the brink of success. I have witnessed people quitting just before a promotion was about to be offered, before a deal was about to close, before a goal was about to be achieved!

Quitting is the deadliest of all success killers and it is a habit. Avoid quitting at all costs!

Remember the first post at The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed?

No?

Well, it is on this topic and will get you pointed in the right direction, it relates well to the whole notion of a rudderless ship, goals, and consistency of action…quitting on the verge of success. I hope you enjoy it!

Ultimately, success means something different to and for everyone…but how you succeed is one of life’s hard and fast rules:

Success is a progression, a progressive journey toward a worthy ideal!

Whether kaizen or CANI! or some other phrase or term…the end result is the same if you apply it…success!

The end result is also the same if you do not…failure!

It is more difficult, and more painful, to fail! And yet, many seem to choose it. Incredible as it seems, with a road map in front of us, we still get off course and get lost!

The decision is yours:

Consistent and never ending improvement?

Or

Failure, pain, and remorse!

Success, like quitting, is a habit. That’s why I love The Strangest Secret, Think and Grow Rich, and Personal Power II…they are all about setting and achieving goals, building one day on the day before, one 30 day challenge upon the last…until you have created a habit and a lifetime of success!

A lifetime filled with success!

John

John Zajaros
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

http://www.facebook.com/JohnZajaros

I just received an email from one of my freelancers, hired from one of the outsourcing platforms so popular online. The email took me back to 1967 in an instant and I thought I would share it with you. It is a valuable lesson, one I learned early on, one I still struggle to honor and live up to every day! Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I crash and burn…but I have never forgotten it and it has shaped my life!

Here goes:

When I was a little boy, I went around the neighborhood and asked people
if I could cut their grass for $5.

I had quite a few jobs and quite a few people who said “No thank you!”

I took one job and the lady was very nice. I was no more than 12 and I
still remember her and that lawn 42 years later.

Why?

Because as soon as I started the job I knew I was going to be doing a lot more
work than I had initially thought I was taking on.

The lawn was there, the lady was there, everything was pretty
apparent…cut the grass and get paid.

Well, the job was taking me a long time!

About half way through, I had had enough! I stomped up to the front door and told the
lady I had made a big mistake and that I needed $10 for the job.

She smiled very politely and said, I will never forget this…

“You made a commitment. You took on the job and I agreed to your price, a
price you set in advance.

Two, you can quit right now and I will never hire you again.”

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded and went back to work.

Every bone in my body was screaming “QUIT!”

That lady hired me every week for the next 4 years for one job or
another, I always made sure the money was out of the way up front,
and she also referred me to all of her friends and relatives in the area.

That nice lady was responsible for hundreds of dollars every year.

Not bad for a little kid who almost didn’t finish the job he was
initially hired to do…because it was too much, too big, and too tiring!

That job paid me many times over.

If all I had focused on was that first job…and the extra $5 bucks, what
would have been the outcome?

I would have quit, a bad habit at any age…a black hole at 12!

Instead I bucked up, sucked in my pride, yes grumbled a bit, and finished
the job.

Had I walked away, I would never have made all the money to come over the
years and I definitely would never have learned one of the most powerful lessons
in my life…at any age!

You make a commitment, you keep it!

Commit to a task, you finish it!

Have I broken commitments since then, no one is perfect, but in reality only a few times…
and only when deathly ill. Even then, I did everything I could to honor the commitment
made before finally saying…

“Uncle”

…and finding someone else to finish the task. Even then, it was like being
tortured beyond the breaking point.

I will never forget that lady or the lesson! I owe her a great deal!

The End!

Just thought I would throw that in!

After all, every 12 year old thinks all stories have an ending…right or wrong!

In fact, life is a process, a progression toward an end. The end is up to you!

The process, the progression defines your ultimate success…

and the lessons learned from little old ladies when you are 12 last a lifetime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

Life Delivers!

Life delivers in direct proportion to your belief that all things are possible. When coupled with a burning desire, forged by sheer determination, and driven by concrete action, the meaning of life comes into view, it happens, becomes real. In Internet marketing, as well as in all aspects of business and, in life in general, it is not enough to simply want or desire something. Wanting, wishing, desiring, and/or hoping will not, in and of itself yield the desired results. In order to convert ifs and wishes to a tangible and lasting reality, an aggressive, forward-thinking concrete plan of action must be envisioned, designed, initiated, and carried out. In order to succeed in any of life’s arenas, and there are a myriad, you must be willing to burn your ships! I said burn your ships, not your bridges!

The funny thing about life is that it will provide in the exact measure and to the nth degree…but you must ask of it. Once asked, life will offer and one must be in tune with, and receptive to, its message.

There is a statement attributed to the Bible that applies here, and I paraphrase:

God always listens and answers the prayers of His children. However, He answers them in His own way and in His own time. Interestingly, the answer we wish for, the answer we desire, and the answer He provides for us are not always the same…but He does answer. He also answers in His own time!

I don’t believe God, however you envision Him, Her or It, whether as some fire and brimstone, burning bush kind of God or as simply an Infinite Intelligence providing order and balance to the Universe (capital “U”), He does not always respond as if we were receiving a Western Union telegram. The fact that the answer to our prayers is often obscure, that it isn’t a subject line scrolling on endlessly at the bottom of our 55” Mitsubishi widescreen television like a news update, does not diminish the power of our prayer or His answer…

We simply, or not so simply, must be in tune with the Universe and His message!

The ironic thing about all of this is that our ability to hear, really hear His message does not diminish the role and/or efficacy of prayer or whatever you want to call your communication, your communion with Infinite Intelligence.

In other words, prayer, as with desire, our communication must be a fervent request, a burning desire, and not simply some wishy-washy, kinda-sorta-gotta-hafta message to the Almighty.

The prayer, the message, the communication, the communion must be passionate, it must be from a place deep inside of you, it must be from that ache deep in your soul, within your very being or self that no man or woman can quench.

Your desire must be a fire that consumes you!

The problem with most prayer, with most desire, and with most goals is that they are in fact wishy-washy and kinda-sorta-gotta-hafta messages. The messages, whether to a God, an Infinite Intelligence, or to the Subconscious are simply amorphous masses of gobbledygook that can’t possibly mean doodley-squat to anyone…even to one’s Self!

Hence we come full circle to the point of this message, that it is in fact the message and how it is delivered that takes us to a place where are able to receive His answer…because the answer will be all around us and will in a very real sense take the form of a burning bush.

The challenge?

If we are wishy-washy in our message, we will get nothing or worse than nothing back!

How can an answer be worse than nothing?

Well, it’s kind of like how we understand computers. The Mind and/or the Self is just one big computer; and, if you believe in a God, or not (?), linked to every other computer in the Universe in some sort of mass, information sharing network, an information highway, if you will. Interestingly, even if you don’t believe in a Supreme Being per se but in some sort of Infinite Intelligence or simply, or not-so-simply an Interconnectedness, an Interrelationship with every other form of energy in the Universe, all working together en-mass to some future end we are simply too small to understand or envision, our prayer, our message has real power…or none at all.

It is the “none at all” that confounds us, perplexes us, and puts us in a place where we not only disbelieve. You see, in such instances, we are incapable of receiving because we are not in tune! We just aren’t on the same frequency, and so we dismiss the efficacy of prayer, of communication with a God or our Selves. We fail because we are doing it wrong and are thus incapable of hearing and/or seeing the response, much less envisioning it…a response all around us and screaming to be seen, heard and felt, to be lived!

The lessons here?

1) We must have a clear and concise vision of what it is we are asking for. It is not enough to kinda-sorta-hafta want something.

2) Along the lines of number one, we must want whatever it is we are asking for! We must really want it with a burning desire, a burning desire in the pit of our very Soul! It must be physical, a visceral response whenever we think about it!

3) Once we know what we want, we must then ask for it, send a message to God, Infinite Intelligence, to our Selves in such a way that it is simply impossible for it not to be heard.

4) Next, we must transform our desire into action. Not simply a desire though, a burning desire, into a clear and concise plan, a concrete plan of action as Napoleon Hill would say. Something magical happens when we envision a result, something we want with every fiber of our being, we become a magnet. However, and this is crucial, we must be moving in the right direction, with the proper mindset, or the messages, the signals, and/or the answers, and there will be many, to our prayers will be lost…we will never hear them!

5) Finally, we need to be receptive. It is not enough to want, ask, and implement…we must also tune in. The messages will be all around us, it is our responsibility, in fact it is a requirement for continued success, that we align ourselves with God, the Universe, Infinite Intelligence, and/or our Selves in such as way as to not only hear the messages and signals we will receive but to feel them…and to act accordingly. Without this ingredient, we will ultimately lose that link and the answers will cease.

Ache!

Ask!

Answer!

Apply!

But is that enough, will that do it? If we have a burning desire, get in touch with Infinite Intelligence, tune in, and act…is that enough?

No!

The final ingredient is a biggie! Biggie being a technical term!

The final component in this master plan, the road map taking a burning desire and placing it and your Self on the road to success?

Burn your ships!

Ah!

Bet you thought I forgot about that one? Burning your ships is the final piece of the puzzle, the linchpin that holds all of the above together, it is not only necessary, it is essential.

Burning your ships?

You must remember two things about history, it repeats itself and it is written by the victors and the survivors. A similar story to the Cortez “myth” (based in fact), has been attributed to Sun Tzu, and a historical parallel has recently come to light, via the movie 300. 300 is the retelling of the heroic and inspiring last stand of the Spartans’ stand against a vastly superior Persian army.

History is revised throughout history by each subsequent generation and thus is not a static re-telling but an ever-changing mythology.

What does that mean?

Well, let’s use this as an example, it’s one you may be familiar with:

Start a rumor at one end of a row of 50 people. By the time you get to the end of the row, the story has morphed into something entirely different, rarely resembling the original story.

The same applies to history…ours, there’s, everyone’s!

The illustrative aspect in the story of the Spartans is that almost everyone perished. Burning your ships is not without its share of risk, and it is certainly not for the faint-hearted and/or inexperienced, and certainly never for those with a sorta-hafta-wanna mentality. Burning your ships is for those totally committed, with a clear, well-thought out action plan before them.

Do not!

I repeat!

Do not quit your job, burning your ships, which may also result in burning your bridges, until you are ready. The ships, by the way, Cortez may have simply damaged them, not burned them…as a point of historical accuracy. He also made sure the supplies and provisions were safe-guarded first.

In other words, do not go off and quit your job tomorrow but make sure all of the components above are in place first…and make sure this is indeed a burning, speaking of burning, an ache in your gut, an all-consuming desire, and you have a clear and concise action plan that has been properly tested.

In other words, don’t jump into the English Channel to swim to France if you can’t do anything more than the doggy paddle! You will drown! Regardless of how badly you might like to run the Boston Marathon, if this is your first day running after back surgery, it ain’t happening!

Not yet, anyway. And that’s the key!

Make sure you have a burning desire, a concrete plan, and the tools…and then go for it!

Ultimately, achieving your goals and satisfying your burning desire still requires planning and managing your actions. Every endeavor in life and every goal contains a degree of uncertainty and risk, but risk in and of itself should never keep you from aching, asking, listening for the answer, and acting! Through proper implantation of a concrete and concise plan of action, achieving your burning desire is not only a possibility, it is a reality. Go for it!

I would like to invite you to one of my other blogs, The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed. With The John Zajaros Blog I am attempting to develop a central hub, a single place from which people can jump off to my various web properties, my Internet real estate. So, whether you are looking for information about Internet marketing, online business in a variety of niches, back pain and sciatica, online or in-home tutoring, soccer training tips, football training information, the coolest new stuffed animals and innovative, novel toys on the market, addiction information, the ultimate weight loss plans and more You can come here and then jump off to wherever you need to go…through The John Zajaros Blog.

Or perhaps you simply want to connect with me by way of the various social networking sites like Twitter, facebook, or LinkedIn to name just a few…The John Zajaros Blog will get you there or at least get you started (see the sidepanels for more) !

Or you may wish to visit me at :

The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed, a blog dealing with all aspects of Internet marketing!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

It seems longer, almost an eternity ago. I was living my life from pain pill to pain pill…more like PAIN PILL to PAIN PILL…and doctor’s appointment to hospital stay. It certainly doesn’t seem like a matter of months…it seems like a lifetime ago! Yet, as I think back, it really wasn’t that long ago at all! So, how did I get here? How did it all happen so fast? Is it important to tell my story at all?

Well, to the last question I would say yes…but then, I am somewhat biased. Not egocentric, mind you, just somewhat biased.

You see, I think my story is important. The story isn’t important in the “Here I am!” and “See what I did!” or “Look what I have!” sense but it is in the “See what I’ve been able to accomplish and you can too!” sense. The story is important if only to give someone else hope, to assure others that, no matter how dark their present may be, there is an alternative future just beyond the range of their sight, beyond the horizon, just out of their grasp. It is a life-lesson, passed on from me to you, assuring you that you can get there, wherever and whatever there is for you, if you simply persevere and remember that someone else, in this case yours truly, has been there before you, with you, and has done it, whatever it is…so you can too!

This seems to be a time for baring of the soul, telling how we got here, sharing the trials and tribulations that brought us to the point of self-realization, self-discovery, and finally, of self-knowledge.

But that is way ahead of the story…way ahead of it!

Before we get to all the self-actualization “stuff,” to use a technical term…cuz everybodies got “stuff“! Just ask George Carlin!

Oops! Got off the subject with George there. Hope you came back! Or, better yet, click the link later. It will be worth it, too funny…and true!

Back to self-discovery:

Self-actualization is a term that has been used by psychologists in a variety of ways and for a long time now. The interesting thing about the term self-actualization is that the term is used in slightly different ways by different psychologists at different times. In many instances, as with history itself, psychological thought is a reflection of the times it was written in as much as it is or was about the subject matter itself. While a topic for a different time and a different article, it is interesting to note that our history, and much of social scientific and physical scientific theory seems to reflect the period it was written in, as much as being a reflection of the thought or theory itself. Meaning, like it or not, we see the world in terms of the world we live in…and that is a very difficult bronco to buck!

So, as we seek to understand ourselves, we also need to take a hard look at our context, how we are living our lives and who is shaping our beliefs, consciously or unconsciously…some would say subconsciously.

OK! Back to self-actualization. To quote Wikipedia (Why not? Everyone else does!): “The term was originally introduced by the organismic theorist Kurt Goldstein for the motive to realise [sic] all of one’s potentialities. In his view, it is the master motive—indeed, the only real motive a person has, all others being merely manifestations of it. However, the concept was brought to prominence in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory {Tim Schmidt has incorporated this nicely into his Tribal Marketing concept!} as the final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all basic and mental needs are fulfilled and the “actualisation” of the full personal potential takes place.

In other words, as a consequence of our life-lessons, by way of a journey of self-discovery and the eventual fulfillment of the needs below on the pyramid, below self-actualization on the hierarchy, we come to an awareness of our full potential, our “full personal potential” or our “potentialities.”

I would argue that there is, in fact, a degree above this, true self-actualization takes place when we implement our potentialities, when we put our selves (spelled put our a##es) into gear and get going with the business of living…thus achieving our true potential or potentialities, whatever that or they may be!

Just to be clear, because the image, when transferred, blackened out the labels somewhat, the lowest level of needs in Mazlow’s hierarchy are physiological. Next up on the pyramid are the needs associated with safety. Then come the needs associated with love and belonging. The next level up are the needs related to esteem, and this is where most people get stuck…if they get to this level at all. And finally, we reach the peak of Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs, those needs labeled as self-actualizing, or simply self-actualization!

Whether you agree with the whole of self-actualization theory and Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs or not, it seems apparent, at least to me, that we all search for a purpose, something larger than ourselves to identify with and to incorporate into our schema of the world, the meaningful world we seek to identify with and become linked to.

Why do you think social media is so popular, aside from the whole issue of marketing…spam notwithstanding? It’s because we all seek to attach ourselves to something or someone greater than ourselves! Notice the emphasis here on selves! Something or someone exciting, larger than life if you will…and certainly larger than our lives! Our current lives anyway, the lives many of us wish we could escape, or at least change drastically!

So what is stopping us?

Well, I hear a lot of gobbledygook phrases (wait to click it until after you’ve finished the article, OK?!) like:

Inertia!

Take action!

Visualize!

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe…

You know the remainder of the last one, you finished it without me even writing it out here, didn’t you?

…it can achieve!

Change your state!

Huh? What? How?

We all know the catch phrases, we all know the goobledygook terms…but how the heck do we implement them and what has to happen in our lives, to our lives, in order to get us to the point where we:

1.) Counter the inertia that is our life!

2.) Take the necessary action because we simply can’t stand the pain of inaction any longer!

3.) Get to a point where or when, although it may be difficult, if not seemingly impossible, we know there must be something, anything that ranks higher on the life-satisfaction scale than our lives do now. Something out there that ranks higher in terms of satisfaction, reward, meaning, and here’s the million dollar word…potential!

It is the potentiality, the possibility of potentiality, that will ultimately fuel our action, breaking through the inertia of our inaction that is our lives! Without belief in the possibility of potentiality…we are doomed!

That takes me back to my story!

Phew! Thought we’d never get back here, didn’t you?

The fact is, I thought I was doomed! I was absolutely, totally, completely, utterly, finally (get the idea?) doomed! That was my mindset, just roll me over and stick a fork in me…I was done!

Here I was at the time, a 53 year old guy with a huge gap in his employment history because of catastrophic illness (almost dying in the process-see below). I had finally come through several surgeries to save my life after doctor after doctor (some of the “best” in the word), and hospital after hospital (also a few of the “best,” like the Cleveland Clinic) misdiagnosed me, or didn’t bother to diagnose me at all.

I actually had one doctor, I had to admire is honesty, who told me my back was too big a mess for him to handle and he’d, “rather not touch it!”

Yup! Doomed!

I was in so much pain, I couldn’t crawl to the bathroom, literally. It was horrible! I was on so much pain medication that when I finally found a surgeon willing to operate, I almost couldn’t find an anesthesiologist to do the honors! That would have been the height of irony…and about my luck back then! Fortunately, I found a guy, a good one, who was willing to take me on and it ended up saving my life.

Osteomyelitis!

They woke me up in the recovery room to one of those good news-bad news lines:

“Mr. Zajaros,” who cared if they got the title wrong, “the bad news is, we couldn’t fix your back.”

“Mr. Zajaros,” did it again, “the good news is, we found a massive staph infection throughout the vertebrae and the surrounding tissue. We think it may have been in there for several years…and you are going to live!”

I have to tell you, the pain when you wake up from spine surgery is worse than anything you can possibly imagine! You really think death would be a relief, it’s that bad. But at least I knew all the pain I had experienced up to that moment was not in my head, there was a reason, it was based in a medical reality; and, that was strangely satisfying. Just knowing that I hadn’t imagined it all, that it wasn’t “in my head,” that it wasn’t “rebound pain” or some other ridiculous misdiagnosis…

…I was relieved.

Little did I know, the battle of my life was just beginning.

That was May of 2000.

Several more surgeries, many years in hospitals, yes years, and I can’t tell you how many pills, bills, and doctors I went through on my way to recovery.

“Recovery?”

I walked away from a comfortable 6 figure a year job (well, they got tired of waiting for me to get well and put me on leave), spent months going through our retirement, 401k, IRAs, everything we owned, including the better of the two vehicles (a brand new minivan we had payed cash for), to keep from living in a box…or in the back of a 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier Station Wagon!

Had it not been for amazing friends and the help of Catholic Charities, we would have been homeless, evicted while I was in the hospital having surgery number 13…of 14 or 15?! We had run out of time…and money! Thank goodness we still had friends!

We moved…started over.

Operation.

Moved…started over.

Operation.

Moved…started over.

Operation. Addiction (there is no such thing as a “controlled addiction,” physician monitored or not). Depression. Blackness.

I felt utterly and completely doomed!

Then, in March of 2007, I fell while walking out our door and down the front walk. The winter had lifted the sidewalk and I didn’t notice it. That is, until I was falling into the bumper of my in-laws new pickup truck, denting the bumper with my head, ripping open my scalp (100+ stitches), and the concrete sidewalk (crushing my shoulder). The osteomyelitis had weakened my bones, when I say I crushed my shoulder, I mean it was almost completely destroyed, they pinned it back and rebuilt it as well as possible but, as you can see from the videos, it is still quite a mess!

While recovering from the reconstruction, yet another operation if you are keeping track (15 by now), I had a pulmonary embolism, along with another large clot in my shoulder, congestive heart failure, and a myriad of other health consequences and complications.

By April of 2007 there was little left of our previous existence, I should say our previous lives…because what we were doing by 2007 was existing. We no longer had our lives, we muddled through each day, I on the sectional or in the recliner, taking pain pills to kill the pain, physical and psychological, in pain 24/7, severely depressed, truly at the and of things…all things…or so I thought.

I was doomed in every sense of the word…except one…I had an amazing wife and family!

Each time our standard of living dropped and our prospects diminished…my self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth with them! Yet, my family never gave up on me and I never saw anything but love and respect in their eyes. I will never forget that, I can never adequately express my feelings concerning it…or ever repay what it meant to me or did for me.

I will work the rest of my life, for them, that is my burning desire…my one thing!

It literally kept me alive…their love!

You know, it seems like everyone has a near death story, it’s almost the new Horatio Alger, Rags to Riches thing….

As an aside: Horatio Alger wrote rags to riches stories, yet at the time of his death he was living with his sister and brother in law, he never made a lot of money from his writing. His image today is somewhat tarnished by rumor and innuendo, another tragic fatality of revisionism and conjecture in historical research. But the American Dream, the ideal of a rags to riches life of achievement based on honesty, hard work, integrity, and ingenuity is embedded in American social culture at least in part due to his stories.

Anyway, back to the recent wave of “I Survived…Buy from Me!” stories!

< For a moment, anyway!