SUCCESS---A MENTAL CHALLENGE

Gordon MacDonald, pastor and author for over 40 years and Pastor Emeritus of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, writes of ways to improve one’s life by changing two things:  (1) your Thought Processes and (2) your Expectations.  The health of both these qualities are vital to success in life.

Those who have not been taught how to think or who have allowed their mind to grow lazy often live lives according to the thoughts and opinions of others, existing by following rules, regulations, and apps with no original thought or creativity intruding on their routine.  Such individuals are in a proverbial rut---how sad.  Instead, the successful person dares to pursue new knowledge, seeks ways to stimulate the mind and grow thought processes, moves on well thought-out plans, and takes calculated risks.  Success most often follows such efforts.

The second aspect MacDonald discusses, Expectations, means raising the bar, increasing your expectations.  An old story tells of a man who went to a fortune teller to learn about his future.  She told him, “You will be poor and miserable until you’re fifty.”  “What happens then?”  he asked.  Her answer:  “By then you’ll be used to being poor, and misery will cease.”  Message from this little tale:  only by raising expectations, ridding oneself of apathy and negativism, will a person move higher up the success ladder.  Raise your expectations to experience new challenges, increased enthusiasm, renewed commitment, and higher energy levels.  Greater success will follow.