“The very intensity of your longing to do a certain thing is an additional proof that you have the ability to do it, and the constant affirmation that you can and will do it makes the achievement all the more certain. What you dream you can do, think you can do or believe you can do, you will do.”–Orison Swett Marden
I was moved over the last couple of days by two stories I saw on social media. One was about a young Georgia man, Fred Barley, who rode over six hours on his brother’s bicycle to attend college. He carried a tent, as he was homeless when he arrived on campus to enroll in classes. Campus police put him up in a local hotel for a couple of days. As his story spread many in the community offered him help. Barley accepted only help finding a job. Another inspiration was a video of a 14 year-old, young man, named Daron. Daron likes cutting grass, but the houses are too far away. So, he saved to buy a bicycle and built a trailer for his mower, blower, and fuel. These are simple stories, but they are stories of ambition. They are stories of self-determination. They are stories about self-faith. These are two men who will, undoubtedly, see great success and have tremendous impact in their communities.
If you follow this blog and haven’t figured out, yet, I am a big fan of Orison Swett Marden, who founded Success magazine in the late 1890’s. Paragraph after paragraph of his books is chock full of inspiration. There are countless modern motivational writers/speakers, but Marden and James Allen are the originals in my opinion. I read in their words inspiration to reach for success, not for the purpose of fame and wealth, but for the purpose of Purpose. I believe we are all placed on this earth for some Purpose. He is formed for a Purpose greater than self—to have (extra)ordinary success. Unfortunately, most of us fail to realize our potential and our Purpose is largely unfulfilled.
In The Miracle of Right Thought, Marden discusses the importance of “self-faith.” He writes of the error of the ancient theology that man has “fallen from his original grand estate.” He emphasizes “there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that man was to prostrate himself before his Maker like a sneak or a slave.” Rather, “man is to assert his divinity.” In the Christian faith, man is made is the image of God. Why, then, do we focus on our flaws and deem our dreams impossible?
Only the obstacles we create in our own mind limit us. Self-deprecation serves only to distract us from what we are to become. Four times in the Bible, Christ makes the statement: “You of little faith.” Each is followed with one of what have been coined the “enemies of faith”: anxious care (Matthew 6:30), fear (Matthew 8:26), doubt (Matthew 14:31), and human reasoning (Matthew 16:8). One does not have to be a Christian or religious person to see the application of these in principle. These (anxious care or worry, fear, doubt, and our own inferior reasoning) are contrary to the forces that drive success.
‘Can’t’ never did anything. I don’t allow my children to use the word “can’t”. It is self-limiting. It is destructive to self-faith. To utter the words “I can’t” is to give up. Undoubtedly, the path to success will be met with a series of failures, but this does not conclude with “I can’t.” Failure is simple an indication that our efforts are misdirected. Failure is part of the learning process.
To succeed, one must first believe that he or she can do. As Marden so aptly states: “Success is achieved mentally first.” One cannot will not succeed unless one has sufficient faith in oneself. To deny one’s ability is to deny one’s Purpose. True, we may not be as successful as some more gifted in certain areas, but this only limits the magnitude of one’s success—it does not prohibit success.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”—Theodore Roosevelt
Carpe momento!