THE SPIRIT TO SUCCEED

By

John G. Sutton

There is a real problem with living life successfully and it pertains as much today as it did generations ago. The problem is one of self belief, or the lack of it. When I was interviewing the author and philosopher Colin Wilson he told me that he believed that in any group of one hundred people there would only be fifteen of that group who would achieve anything of note. That made me think, why, given that all other circumstances are roughly equal, would so few attain anything like their full potential and I concluded that it must be because the majority do not believe that they can succeed. In other words they do not have the spirit to succeed and so they exist at a level far below that which they could achieve if they did but dare to dream.

 

In his book ‘The Magic of Psychic Power’ Dr. David J. Schwartz tries to identify what he terms ‘The Seven Deadly Psychic Sins That Produce Failure’:

  1. Letting other people run your life instead of managing it yourself so you can do what you want to do.  For example you allow your friends or family to dictate the kind of job you have. They can do this to you by causing you to make decisions based on what they might think of you and not what you want.
  2. Blaming other people for your bad ‘luck’ and tough breaks instead of blaming yourself.  For example you fail to gain promotion at work and instead of looking at yourself and your own self imposed failings you concentrate on how others have put you down. Napoleon Boneparte said ‘Circumstances, I create the circumstances that affect me’ and so do you!
  3. Selling your ability short, showing sub-conscious contempt for your own potential.  For example you have an original, creative idea for your future and this you dismiss as being too adventurous  and beyond your ability. The idea was generated in your mind and is intended for you, you received it, it is your idea. To reject this idea as beyond your capacity is to deny your true potential and so you condemn yourself to failure.
  4. Allowing fear to dominate every phase of your life. For example you consider what others might think if your efforts fail. You live in dread of your peer group’s mockery of your attempts and worry that failure would bring ridicule. So instead of trying and achieving you opt for safety and do nothing.
  5. Failing to manage and direct your psychic processes – to organise your mind and achieve goals. For example you allow yourself to just drift along through life without ever sitting down and considering the direction you actually want to be moving in. Instead you just go with the flow, like most people do and in so doing waste your potential and, your God given life.
  6. Becoming so involved in yourself and your fictional inadequacies that you cannot learn the magic secrets for winning command of others. For example all you do is think about yourself and you do not look at the bigger picture of which you are a part. Thinking only about what is in something for you destroys your ability to perceive the full spectrum. What you should be doing is asking yourself how you can help others and your own needs will automatically be met.
  7. Failing to believe absolutely that you can make your mind function the way you want it to function. For example if you believe that you can not possibly win then you have lost from the start. You must have faith in yourself and make your mind up that you will succeed. If you do this and you have the spirit to succeed then you will do so.

 

I fully realise that people have different definitions of success and what is my idea of attainment may be another’s idea of mediocrity. But we all have a certain potential that we can use to achieve our own goals and we owe it to ourselves to at least try. It is identifying attainable goals and planning to reach them that is, in my opinion, the key to success. For example it would be useless of me to set myself the goal of playing football for the England team, I am an amputee and have limited mobility, so that would be an unobtainable target. But being an amputee has not stopped me writing books, appearing on numerous TV shows, managing professional psychics and various other entertainers.

 

At the risk of sounding like I am blowing a trumpet with my name on it I was once advised by a well meaning Disability Resettlement Officer that, in his opinion, I would never be able to work again. My own medical practitioner agreed and refused to sign me fit to work. So I was in a wheelchair, prescribed powerful drugs to kill the pain, suffering from numerous complicated side effects of various operations and as far as the professionals were concerned I was to be medically retired. So I started writing books, I believed in my ability and I had the spirit to succeed, which I eventually did. Regular readers of Psychic World will know that I have been published by many major publishing houses, including HarperCollins, Element/Penguin, Bloomsbury, Piatkus etc. But if I had accepted the verdict of those that said they were acting in my best interests then I would have given up years ago.

 

The point is that we all can achieve far more than we do if we would but try. Why we don’t do so is explained above by Dr. David J. Schwartz.  In my opinion the main reason most people fail to attain anything like their potential is the fear of failure. If you can conquer that fear then you are well on your way to being brave enough to make an attempt on success. You owe that to yourself, don’t you agree? Do not think that you are too old, too infirm or even too poor, just muster the spirit to succeed and you will eventually do so.  As someone once said, this is not a dress rehearsal, this is it.

 

‘The Magic of Psychic Power’ by David J. Schwartz Ph.D is published by Aquarian Press ISBN 0850300126. 

 

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