I have often been asked the question, "What is true success?"

Unlike many, I do not grade success by how much money one has or how many claims to fame they possess. Success is not based on facts and figures. Success is a state of mind.

However in saying this I want it to be known that once the mind has entered a level of satisfaction, other more accepted aspects of success begins to surround the individual in a myriad of ways.

Our pursuit of higher interests builds a gratifying position in life, because we go beyond the accepted norm, which usually keeps one mesmerized in complacency. I find too often people lack characteristics that would enable them to enhance their life.

Often many find themselves within a mold seemingly unbreakable, trying desperately to get out, yet finding no door of escape. They tend to sit back in the recliner of apathy believing there is nothing more for them to gain.

"What you got is what you got", tends to be their motto in life. Unabashedly, they revel in their lot of despair thinking the good things in life were always meant for someone else!

Yet there is a far more expansive problem existing here. Too many allow set backs and failures in their life to dictate to them their future. Thus they pretend being unhappy is a sort of an accepted divine punishment. Yet they clutter their unhappy world with pretense and deception, telling others they are content to hang on to their misery like a badge of honor. They have accepted their lot in life and they simply have no desire to change.

There are two types of people on this planet, those that do, and those that don't!

The first group is made up of those that see an obstacle as a challenge to be met head on. They see past failure as a stepping stone to ultimate success! They come to a ravine seeing no bridge, and they build one!

The second group believes life is being carved out for them and they have little to nothing to do with it. They see themselves as being pawns on the great chessboard of life. They feel their lot is within the hands of another feeling ever so futile to establish himself or herself with surety.

I lived a great portion of my life being part of the majority, the second group. I had felt for so long there was little to nothing I could ever do to change my reality. I existed, but I never really lived.

Like many others I saw failure as a divine report card telling me what I can or cannot do. When something did not go correctly according to my established hope or desire, I had felt I was being corrected, and straightened out to be reestablished upon the road to nowhere.

When I attempted to assert myself towards a better and more creative lifestyle, I met up with the wolves of disparity and groaning. I took this to imply I was heading in the wrong direction.

Time and time again I would get up and try once more just to hear the ringing bells of negativity from one to another saying; "he just never seems to get it. He keeps trying to go beyond reality to make great things for himself, and it just isn't going to work."

Yet I saw something in me that seemed different than others. One by one I seem to pass my peers leaving them behind as I continued to try to break this ungodly barrier deceptively appearing to keep me at bay.

Deep down within I had always known the truth yet it was a hard sell trying to convince others when they were so assured of themselves that life is what we get stuck with and not what we make of it.

After years of one failure upon another I finally came to recognize, that I was attempting to prove to everyone else what the secret to life was rather than simply doing it myself.

I realized that I was using the scorecard, which was created by the second group, I wanted to try to find acceptance with those that settled in apathy rather than going beyond and designing a brand new report card, one that I created and was accepted by me!

It was then that I began to see the futility in one living their life on the creeds or beliefs of another.

The first sign of failure is when one attempts to base their reality upon another.

There can be no personal creativity if you continue to allow others to dictate design.

Each individual has unique abilities and talents, and it takes seeking for the highest plateau to finally reach your destination!

Often too many attempt to find the inner quality of success without making a move in that direction. It is tantamount in picking up a bowling ball and trying to heave it over a 500-foot hill in hopes of gaining the momentum once it reaches the top it will simply glide forward without much adieu toward the other side. People often term success in this venue, believing success is just luck or having something most others do not.

Yet they fail to comprehend a simple truth, success needs to be catered to one step at a time. You can not launch your talent out and away hoping it will find the apex of success and then sit back waiting for the fruit of your labor to excel. As with the bowling ball, it will continue to come back at you time and time again to haunt you, making you feel ever so lacking to attain your desire, finally frustrating you into defeatism.

There is not enough strength in the entire world to throw your talent on top of the hill in hopes it will find its reason for being. If you want to excel to the apex then you must begin the walk one step at a time all the way to the top. You must carry the bowling ball, carry your talent with you all the way to the very top, and then and only then will you have garnered the success you required wherewith your talent will take on a life of its own.

I want you to think deeply about what it is that I am saying, once you master this thesis of understanding you will begin to master all equations in your life, and business.

A man once upon a time told me something that I found to be absolutely amazing. He said, if someone were to come to me and take away my last million dollars, I would have it all back within a couple of years. He went on to say, however if I were to give someone a million dollars that never had it before, they would surely lose it all within a couple of years.

This may seem out of context but in truth it fits to a tee. The individual that had it, feeling confident that they could have it again had a key characteristic. They did not come about the million dollars by luck, gift or some unique situation.

They found a desire deep down within, and they pursued it in spite of what anyone said or did. They created a reality for themselves that mastered the technique of advantage and gain. The million dollars was simply an end result of their pursuit. It came about as a reaction to every action.

There is a law called reaping what you sow, if you sow a good tree you will reap a good tree, if you sow a bad tree you shall reap the same thereof.

When someone is handed over the results of someone else's fruit of their labor, they are only getting the end result. They did not reap this gain; it fell into their lap. So therefore they have no established technique or belief on how to amass the same for themselves. They see the result but they never saw the stepping stones leading up to that result.

Thus to the individual that created the success, the million dollars is an asset. To the contrary though, the individual being handed over the million dollars, it will become a liability. When the first one loses his last million they simply go back to the drawing board and recreate it. When the other gets their only million, they simply extinguish it in the fire of life having no ability to recreate it.

This is the true definition of success. Success is a building ladder, not the end result. Let me paraphrase, success is not having the million dollars; it is learning how to create better things in your life and thus the end result can be many things, such as the million dollars.

There is a big difference, and it is equaled to the OLE saying, I can give the starving a fish and they can eat for a day, or I can teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime.

Successful people know how to fish, they will not rely on someone else's effort to gain the fish.

All too often many try to acquire success by the efforts of others, and it never works. Even if somehow they actually get their hands on the end result of someone else's labor, they have 'no clue' what to do with it and it surely will fade away.

Take the Multilevel Marketing idea that has been around for decades. Time and time again over years of testing and trying, the numbers have never changed. Nearly 95% of everyone that joins MLM opportunities never make any real profit and most never make any money at all!

Over the years MLM has been given a bad name, it has been called a fraud, Pyramid Scheme, gimmick etc? It seems to be obvious if 95% of the people cannot make a go of the system, then the fault must be with the system, RIGHT?

Wrong!

Multilevel Marketing has been used by some of the biggest corporations in existence. It is probably the most valid way to truly make a success of oneself in business operations. But sadly why do the numbers disagree with this assessment?

The answer stares us right in the face all the time. The numbers yield their own statistics like a reflection in a mirror. The fact is 95% of nearly everyone that joins an MLM program are there on the pretext of reaping someone else's yield.

Now I am not here to promote MLM, but I am defending it. WHY? Simply because if you go in pursuit in life seeking to reap the efforts of another, then you will reap what you sow. Each individual's efforts are creating their own dynamic life-changing effect. These individuals are reaping great gains. And it is true that because of their sowing techniques, their harvest can often overflow into someone else's field.

However these numbers don't lie?

No matter what overflow comes to you it will never be a success. You are simply being handed a piece of someone else's success. It is not yours to begin with. You did not build it; you did not create it, so you will not have it for long!

The fact of the matter is each person's success is built one step at a time. If you are looking to someone else's success to tap into, that is alike throwing the bowling ball up a 500-foot hill. It is simply going to keep coming back down again and again.

Forget looking to others for success! Begin to realize that no one is doing anything that you cannot do yourself. Success is not complicated.

I recall hearing an individual say; the energy that creates success is the exact same energy that creates failure. So where are you placing your energy?

Are you going to walk your bowling ball up to the top of the hill or are you going to continue to heave it from below?

John V Panella

Author and teacher of the Metaphysical. Using the lessons of the ancients to supply a greater awareness today!

http://www.icbm.ws