30 Who Do You Think You Are?
We listen to others when they tell us that we’re good enough or we’re not
good enough, or not smart enough, or we can’t do this, we can’t do that. The
only person who is really qualified to opine on our strengths, our weak-
nesses, our credibility, and our capabilities is ourselves.
Sure we should be honest with ourselves; we should admit and
accept that which we didn’t do well and right, or the mistakes that we
have made in our life. But at the same time we should be equally honest
about all the things we have done well and right. We should be able to
embrace and accept and appreciate all the times we didn’t screw up, all
the times we didn’t get it wrong, all the times we didn’t make a mess of
something, and put them on the same level – on the same scale – as we
put our screw ups. And if we were to do that, if people were to do this
one simple little drill, just compare their successes against their failures
(and a success is any time that you didn’t fail) they would see that they
have succeeded a hundred times more than they have ever failed. This
would give them the strength to overcome whatever adversity they’re
facing presently.
I think we should keep it simple. There’s no need for me to give
you the eighty-four steps to success, because honestly there aren’t eighty-
four steps. There’s just learning how to live with yourself, learning how
to be yourself, learning how to be happy being who you are, what you
are, the way you are right now. It’s so important to enjoy the moment.
Yes, we can strive for more and be on a path to have more, but we should
never be in “deferred gratification” mode where we have the mentality
of “well I’m going to be happy later if I work real hard now.” No! Let’s
be happy now.
It doesn’t matter which God you believe in. I’m very spiritual
and I have a strong sense of personal belief, but I try really hard not to
put my beliefs on anybody else because I don’t think that’s my job. I
don’t think that’s what I’m here to do. No matter which God you believe
in, that God believes in YOU, and wants you to be whatever you can be.
He also wants you to be happy being what it is he’s already made you.