There are definite "keys" that can make your business — your family — your LIFE — more successful.
Few know what they are!
WHY do many ASSUME that life should be drab, mediocre, uneventful? Why, especially, do so many religious people assume God designed it to be that way?
It's time you ask yourself these questions — and answer them!
Did you know an abundant, successful life is the very thing God's WAY is intended to produce?
Let's UNDERSTAND how!
You SHOULD Be Successful
Surprising to many, the Bible directly encourages those who read it — and believe it — to live successful and PROSPEROUS lives.
Jesus Christ Himself said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more ABUNDANTLY" (John 10:10). The Greek term for "abundant" means just that —a full, happy, prosperous and interesting life.
The apostle John was inspired by God to write a fellow Christian: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (III John 2).
Those two qualities — health and prosperity — certainly play an important role in making our physical lives happy and successful.
These New Testament scriptures clearly indicate that God wants us to be SUCCESSFUL and happy. However, you need to learn the WAY to success.
The Ambassador Colleges teach the principles of success to students through many classes, forums, assemblies and special activities. Through this article, you can share some of the insights we have gained toward truly SUCCESSFUL living.
What IS Success?
Roughly speaking, there are three broad areas of success for the average individual.
First would be the satisfaction that comes from the continued mutual sharing of love, affection and fellowship with family and friends. Certainly this is an extremely important area of life — and one that will make anyone's life more complete if handled properly.
A second major area for success in life — and one that is often put first — is the area of business, career and financial success. This, of course, involves much more than making money. For the intelligent person, his interest in and satisfaction from the building of a successful career or business is one of the high points of life.
In this area of life, everyone will certainly acknowledge that there are definite "keys" which can aid one greatly toward progress and ultimate success.
The third area of life in which success should be achieved is the personal and spiritual sphere. This, of course, may have different meanings to different people.
However, there is no question but that the ability to find out why you are here, where you are going — whether to "excel" or not and in what direction — these understandings are basic ingredients for TRUE SUCCESS in the personal and spiritual aspects of everyone's life.
Define Your GOALS and Plan To SUCCEED
Having briefly discussed three broad areas in which you should work toward success, it now becomes imperative that — within these areas and perhaps others of your own choosing — you define your specific GOALS.
For instance, in the "family, friends and social" area you may have definite feelings about the type of family and social life which will fit your background, personality and ability and give you a deep sense of personal satisfaction and fulfillment. If you are a bachelor, you may have in mind a certain type of girl — though not, too specifically, we hope — who will best complement you and happily share with you your overall "family-friends" goal.
If you already have a family, perhaps you may realize the need to write for our free booklet on The Plain Truth About Child Rearing so that you may become a more effective parent and have the loving, obedient and disciplined children which you realize will make your life, their lives and the lives of others more happy.
In the "business and financial" area, you may genuinely wish to remain in the field in which you find yourself but simply become more effective and more successful in this field through developing better attitudes and more successful working methods.
Or, if you are young or just starting out, you may wish to change the field of endeavor in which you are now beginning. This, of course, is not a thing to do lightly and should only be done after much thought, wise counsel and advice.
In all these areas of life, however, one thing is certain — you must find out your own basic tendencies, strengths, talents, abilities as well as weaknesses and dislikes, and choose and CHART your own course toward success! Otherwise, you will simply lose by default and be buffeted about by circumstances and the winds of chance to a final destination of mediocrity or abject failure.
So in each of the above areas of success, define your own personal and practical GOALS.
Do be practical and reasonable and take your own talents, tendencies and weaknesses into account. But on the other hand, insist that your goal be high enough to give you something to "reach for" and to satisfy your own deep-down realization of what "success" for you should be in each particular area.
Area by area, write these goals down!
Have a purpose — PLAN for the future! Kindle within yourself a sense of enthusiasm, drive and anticipation of achieving your worthwhile goals.
Then begin to work toward these goals systematically and continually. Think, read and educate yourself toward achieving each of these goals. Don't go overboard or get unbalanced or silly. Use wisdom and common sense. Get the advice and counsel of others whom you respect on how best to achieve the goals you have in mind.
Remember that unless you want events and blind chance to control you, you will have to set your sights and MASTER yourself and your environment. You will have to define your goals — absolutely determine to succeed — and DRIVE toward achieving your goals with relentless zeal and enthusiasm!
Develop Successful Working Methods
Whether in planning activities in your work or business or in considering the need to spend time in family fun and fellowship or in child rearing, you need to learn to schedule and organize your time.
Nearly every successful person knows this. Very often this is one of the out-standing KEYS to their success!
Taking into account your individual goals in the three areas of success we have described, learn to plan or write out an overall schedule for each day, week and month.
Allow yourself enough time in the area of business and career success including extra reading and self-education assignments. Allow plenty of time for family, friends and fun — especially to really build the right relationship between you and your mate, and with your children as well. Then be sure to plan and schedule enough time for development of personal and spiritual interests.
Many of you will find it extremely profitable to buy a book on the proper use of time in scheduling. There are several such books available which are worthwhile. One of these I personally recommend is, How to Gain an Extra Hour Every Day, by Ray Josephs, published by E. P. Dutton Company, Inc.
In scheduling your day, you should certainly allot definite periods of time for study and prayer on the BIG questions of life — why are we, what are we, where are we going and how are we progressing toward the real PURPOSE of human existence.
In your personal work day, learn to write down the things you want to do. This in itself saves much time and effort later on. Many people call these little slips or cards "to do" lists.
Put First Things FIRST
William I. Nichols, Editor of This Week magazine, says that learning to write it down was the equivalent of his Harvard education!
Learn to put first things first. Don't neglect minor issues, but get at the big jobs early in your working day and allow plenty of time for their accomplishment.
Concentrate on one thing at a time! As you begin on one project, learn to discipline yourself so that other jobs, interruptions and mind-wanderings do NOT intrude. If at all practical, stick with this one job until you finish it. Put all your energy and mind-power into this one thing and complete it with zest!
Former President Eisenhower is a strong believer in one thing at a time. So is, the famous Counselor of Presidents, Bernard Baruch, who says: "I find my greatest time saver is to do one thing at a time and stick to it until finished."
If you've got a particularly important job coming up on a certain day and you know that office interruptions — or "child interruptions," if you're a mother — may interfere with its accomplishment, then learn to get up early and get going full blast before these interruptions can interfere.
Or, if your mind and body function better the other way, occasionally work until midnight when the office is quiet or the children are already in bed. You will gain time for uninterrupted thoughts and work in this way.
It may sound old-fashioned or "difficult," but the really top leaders in business and industry often find themselves doing this sort of thing in order to get the job done.
Another key is to learn to speed up your routine tasks and learn to be more efficient. Again, you may wish to read and think about how to solve this problem. But you will undoubtedly find many ways in which certain of your tasks can be done in less time — and probably much more efficiently.
Learn to organize your desk or work space. You may save a great deal of time and effort simply by learning to have a definite place for everything — and keeping everything in its place.
A well-organized file cabinet and filing system is of inestimable value to a business or career man. Even in the home, a limited filing system may help the modern wife far more than she realizes until she tries it.