In business and in life, we all feel the need to give up at times. Perhaps it is only once in a long while, or once every month, or even more often. In any case, we need to pick ourselves up and continue our pursuit to success. When someone, or an entire group of people, believes that you will never succeed, it can be nearly impossible to convince yourself that it is worth it to continue striving toward your goal. The following story examplifies that the will of one person can be stronger than the disbelief of many.
The Man With The One Track Mind
Eddie Arcaro dreamed of becoming the world's greatest jockey but after watching him ride a horse for five minutes, reality reflected a harsh contradiction. He was awkward and clumsy, and in his early years in the saddle he couldn't do one thing right. He was left behind at the post, he got trapped in traffic jams, he got bumped and boxed in. In his first 100 races he never even came close to winning. Still, he got right back on and tried again.
Even as a schoolboy, Arcaro had set his own track in life. Because he was only a little over five feet tall and weighed barely 80 pounds, the other students shunned him. So he played hooky instead, hanging out at the local race track where a trainer let him gallop the horses. His father reluctantly agreed to let him pursue a career as a jockey, even though he knew it was a long shot. The trainer had told him so. "Send him back to school," he said. "He'll never be a rider."
No one was betting on little Eddie Arcaro, no one that is except Arcaro. He was determined not just to ride, but to become the world's greatest jockey. But first someone would have to give him a chance. He pleaded and persisted until he finally got to ride in a real race. Before it was over, he'd lost his whip and his cap and had almost fallen off the saddle. By the time he finished the race, the other horses were on their way back to the stables. He'd come in dead last.
After that, Arcaro went from track to track, looking for any opportunity to ride. Finally, an owner who felt pity took him in and gave him his next chance. One hundred trophy-less races later, he was still giving him a chance. The trainers saw something in this unlucky jockey, something they couldn't define. Perhaps it was potential, perhaps it was resilience, perhaps it was sheer obstinacy, but no one was willing to send him home. And Arcaro was certainly not going to quit.
There were long years when he was broke, homesick, and almost without friends. There were also many brushes with death and several broken bones. Every time his delicate 63 inch body was trammeled by hoofs he would get patched up and return to the saddle.
Then it happened. Arcaro began to win...and win...and win...Now, instead of leaving a path of destruction, he was leaving a path of devastated opponents. In thirty years of riding, he won 4,779 races, becoming the only jockey in history to win the Kentucky Derby five times. By the time he retired in 1962 he was a millionaire and a legend in his own lifetime.
From the moment he walked out of school and onto a track, Eddie Arcaro had his mind on a finish line. And although the race took thirty years, he never quit until that line was crossed.
Cynthia Kersey
Cynthia Kersey is the author of Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women
Copyright 1998 by Cynthia Kersey
Visit Cynthia's web site at: www.unstoppable. net
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
It's Nothing at All 'til We Call It
Dear Readers:
I found this article to be very inspiring. It contains a great message, one we can all live by.
:-) Sue Berry
"It's Nothing at All 'til We Call It"
By Rebecca Fine
In long-ago China there lived a peasant farmer by the name of Chang Wei-Kung. Now in those days, in that country, a subsistence farmer like Wei-Kung relied heavily on his sons to help with planting, cultivation, and especially to bring in the harvest. But Wei-Kung had only one son — named Chi — a big, strong, strapping fellow, of whom his father was very proud.
One day, as father and son were walking to the fields to begin the harvest, they were so caught up in their conversation that Chi didn't notice where he was stepping, and in a flash he had fallen and broken his leg.
"Oh, no!" his father cried, "This is terrible!" And, in truth, in those days a broken leg WAS a grievous injury, one that could even result in death if left untreated. But soon the doctor came and set the leg and assured both men that it would heal just fine.
Wei-Kung was, of course, relieved. Yet he still faced a dilemma: How to bring in the harvest without Chi's help. Despite his relief that Chi would live and be healthy, a dreary air of gloom and despair settled on him. He'd just have to do the best he could, maybe find others to help, but the specter of losing his harvest loomed bleakly before him and his heart was heavy. Wei-kung was thoroughly convinced that Chi's accident was a disastrous misfortune.
The next day, as Wei-Kung prepared to go to the fields and get done what he could manage alone, he heard a far-off rumble that he soon recognized as the sound of hundreds of hoof beats. A bit startled, he delayed his departure and waited to see what was happening.
Soon he got his answer, as a massive army led by a fierce-looking warlord thundered into his dooryard. "All able-bodied men come forward!" the warlord's lieutenant called out. "You are hereby pressed into service and will come with us now!"
Wei-Kung bowed and explained that he had only one son and that he was unfit for the army as he had broken his leg just the day before. The warrior chief scowled and sent a man into the house to see for himself if Wei-Kung's story were true. When he was satisfied, he simply nodded to his lieutenant who quietly raised his hand, and the horde of men and horses disappeared over the hill as quickly as they had arrived.
"Such a blessing!" Wei-Kung shouted, as he embraced his son. "How wonderful it is that your leg is broken and you are not to be taken from me!"
Now, I ask you to bear this story in mind as you review this passage from Wallace Wattles' life-changing forgotten 1910 classic, The Science of Getting Rich:
"To do things in the way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think. This is the first step toward getting rich. And to think what you want to think is to think TRUTH, regardless of appearances.
So what was the TRUTH of Wei-Kung's situation? Was Chi's accident a terrible thing — or a wonderful thing?
In a recent edition of my ezine, The Certain Way, a quotation that fits this story quite well was featured. The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote this:
"Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently."
Sometimes we can get ourselves into the habit of seeing things in a negative way, a way that doesn't serve us. But we DO always have the CHOICE of how we see. And sometimes, as with Wei-Kung, we need something to come along and kind of smack into us to jar us into seeing and thinking a different — better, more positive, more creative, more USEFUL — way, don't we?
You know, Thomas Edison awoke one morning to find his laboratory and his life's work had been destroyed in a fire. And he looked at the ashes and said that he was glad. All his mistakes had been wiped out and he now had the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Mary Manin Morrissey, the author of Building Your Field of Dreams, told a story recently about a good friend of hers and that friend's daughter, people she's known more than 30 years. The daughter had called her mom with the news that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mom was startled, of course, and immediately blurted out exactly what Wei-Kung said, what most of us would say in the shock of the moment and before we were able to absorb that shock: "Oh, no! That's terrible!"
But her daughter — brought up in what you might truthfully call "the certain way" — calmly answered, "No, Mom. It's nothing at all 'til WE call it."
And so it is, my friend. Whatever happens, however grim it may initially seem, there IS a gift wrapped up in there. Many gifts, actually. Finding the gifts — the blessings, the benefits, the lessons, the messages, the silver linings — all depends on how we choose to see the situation. Is it good? Or is it bad?
It's NOTHING at all 'til WE call it.
Rebecca Fine is the founder of The Science of Getting Rich Network where you can download your free copy of the amazing 1910 forgotten classic, The Science of Getting Rich. http://www.scienceofgettingrich.net/ ©2001 Certain Way Productions.
Dear Readers:
I found this article to be very inspiring. It contains a great message, one we can all live by.
:-) Sue Berry
"It's Nothing at All 'til We Call It"
By Rebecca Fine
In long-ago China there lived a peasant farmer by the name of Chang Wei-Kung. Now in those days, in that country, a subsistence farmer like Wei-Kung relied heavily on his sons to help with planting, cultivation, and especially to bring in the harvest. But Wei-Kung had only one son — named Chi — a big, strong, strapping fellow, of whom his father was very proud.
One day, as father and son were walking to the fields to begin the harvest, they were so caught up in their conversation that Chi didn't notice where he was stepping, and in a flash he had fallen and broken his leg.
"Oh, no!" his father cried, "This is terrible!" And, in truth, in those days a broken leg WAS a grievous injury, one that could even result in death if left untreated. But soon the doctor came and set the leg and assured both men that it would heal just fine.
Wei-Kung was, of course, relieved. Yet he still faced a dilemma: How to bring in the harvest without Chi's help. Despite his relief that Chi would live and be healthy, a dreary air of gloom and despair settled on him. He'd just have to do the best he could, maybe find others to help, but the specter of losing his harvest loomed bleakly before him and his heart was heavy. Wei-kung was thoroughly convinced that Chi's accident was a disastrous misfortune.
The next day, as Wei-Kung prepared to go to the fields and get done what he could manage alone, he heard a far-off rumble that he soon recognized as the sound of hundreds of hoof beats. A bit startled, he delayed his departure and waited to see what was happening.
Soon he got his answer, as a massive army led by a fierce-looking warlord thundered into his dooryard. "All able-bodied men come forward!" the warlord's lieutenant called out. "You are hereby pressed into service and will come with us now!"
Wei-Kung bowed and explained that he had only one son and that he was unfit for the army as he had broken his leg just the day before. The warrior chief scowled and sent a man into the house to see for himself if Wei-Kung's story were true. When he was satisfied, he simply nodded to his lieutenant who quietly raised his hand, and the horde of men and horses disappeared over the hill as quickly as they had arrived.
"Such a blessing!" Wei-Kung shouted, as he embraced his son. "How wonderful it is that your leg is broken and you are not to be taken from me!"
Now, I ask you to bear this story in mind as you review this passage from Wallace Wattles' life-changing forgotten 1910 classic, The Science of Getting Rich:
"To do things in the way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think. This is the first step toward getting rich. And to think what you want to think is to think TRUTH, regardless of appearances.
So what was the TRUTH of Wei-Kung's situation? Was Chi's accident a terrible thing — or a wonderful thing?
In a recent edition of my ezine, The Certain Way, a quotation that fits this story quite well was featured. The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote this:
"Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently."
Sometimes we can get ourselves into the habit of seeing things in a negative way, a way that doesn't serve us. But we DO always have the CHOICE of how we see. And sometimes, as with Wei-Kung, we need something to come along and kind of smack into us to jar us into seeing and thinking a different — better, more positive, more creative, more USEFUL — way, don't we?
You know, Thomas Edison awoke one morning to find his laboratory and his life's work had been destroyed in a fire. And he looked at the ashes and said that he was glad. All his mistakes had been wiped out and he now had the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Mary Manin Morrissey, the author of Building Your Field of Dreams, told a story recently about a good friend of hers and that friend's daughter, people she's known more than 30 years. The daughter had called her mom with the news that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mom was startled, of course, and immediately blurted out exactly what Wei-Kung said, what most of us would say in the shock of the moment and before we were able to absorb that shock: "Oh, no! That's terrible!"
But her daughter — brought up in what you might truthfully call "the certain way" — calmly answered, "No, Mom. It's nothing at all 'til WE call it."
And so it is, my friend. Whatever happens, however grim it may initially seem, there IS a gift wrapped up in there. Many gifts, actually. Finding the gifts — the blessings, the benefits, the lessons, the messages, the silver linings — all depends on how we choose to see the situation. Is it good? Or is it bad?
It's NOTHING at all 'til WE call it.
Rebecca Fine is the founder of The Science of Getting Rich Network where you can download your free copy of the amazing 1910 forgotten classic, The Science of Getting Rich. http://www.scienceofgettingrich.net/ ©2001 Certain Way Productions.
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