as Albert Einstein said try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value this is something that I think about a lot at the end of the day success is incredibly motivating and accomplishing your goals and your dreams is something that I wanted to do since I was a little kid that's been a driving force in my life but through all of that the times that I've felt happiest the times that I felt most secure the times that my anxiety and my stress had been at zero are the times where I felt like I was being most true to myself where I was trying to really become a person of substance I wasn't looking for something extrinsic I was focused inward and trying to develop the person that I'm becoming that I had some code that I was living by that I was really deciding not just what outwardly success looks like but what does it mean to be a good person what does it mean to be an effective person what does it mean to be worthy of trust and those things at the end of the day those things are something that when you invest in finding value in that that it takes you somewhere amazing and as Bruce Lee said knowledge will give you power but character will give you respect and at the end of the day I really can't think of anything better than that I can't think of anything that will keep me company when I'm alone when there's nothing but silence around when all I can hear the sounds of my own thoughts the only thing that is going to bring me or you comfort is respect his self-love is knowing who you are really and knowing that you're true to that even when nobody's looking and that concept that notion of having a guiding light of principle something by which you steer by that you are always true to and then in your moments of stress chaos confusion of desire that in your moments of deepest desire that you're still true to that that all you think about is that Norstar of being that person that you want to be when you let that be your guiding light when you stay true to that nothing can hurt you because nothing will be able to make you feel badly about yourself because once you know who you are and you're true to it nothing else matters people and situations that upset you see there's some people that know just how to push your button they know just what to say but I'm not going to expend any energy arguing with anybody life is too short ladies and gentleman and unpredictable I don't want to spend my time arguing with anybody so I bought situations that will get me upset I don't argue with people draw the line ladies and gentlemen there are certain things that we just go through life just taking and at some point you just got to draw the line and just say enough is enough you got to do that with yourself one negative stroke is 16 times more powerful than a positive stroke and if you have people around you who are not sensitive to who you are and the people that can hurt you the most ladies and gentlemen are the people that you love that you love they're the ones that you are vulnerable to they're the ones that can get to you and if it's insensitive I don't care who they are see if you don't draw the line with people if you just let them run rampant in your life and you let things happen to you that you don't feel good about if you continue to allow it to happen you won't feel good about yourself your image of yourself will erode so you've got to draw the line a lot of people just go to a job where they're miserable day in and day out why do people stay together and they're miserable sleeping in separate rooms arguing are the only thing they have in common paying the bills don't talk don't communicate don't share anything together day in and day out is short and unpredictable but life is being mean to each other what do people do that known Hills are preferable to strange heavens because it's familiar see life is rough ladies and gentlemen it's rough and it's scary it's scary growing it's scary taking a chance it's scary acting on your intuition on your guts it's scary it's frightening they're people that just tolerating things right now and they're immobilized by fear they can see the hammer coming and they afraid to even move because it's scary to go against the dominant thinking of your family friends and those people you associate with every day is perhaps the most difficult act of courage you will ever perform see when you start growing when you start changing the way you walk the way you talk the way you act the way you respond to things the way you use your time when you start saying no I can't do that why you do you're too busy you don't have the time to I have my own agenda so if people can put you on a guilt trip they will and use you and abused you over and over and over again you got to draw the line you have to draw the line on it don't go through life feeling like you're powerless victims of people that are powerless you're not powerless you are powerful you direct the power in your life whatever your life is right now it is a duplication of your consciousness its result of how you have decided to use your power that's all it is that's not who you are that's just a perverted use of your power that you aren't satisfied with and you've got the power to change that wherever you are home I don't know but I know you've got the power to do that but you don't know what has happened to me it really doesn't matter has happened to you see the only thing that really matters is what are you going to do about it that's all that matters that's all that matters you can allow it to destroy you or you can allow it to bill you up we never get to a level where we feel that there's nothing else for us to do that we've achieved certain number of goals and we figure that we're through no no you don't want to stay there and celebrate too long like a lot of people do they do something they consider outstanding they go around talking about what they used to do see let me tell you I used to do this and I used to do that excuse me used to bees don't make no honey what are you doing now you're still here breathing that means you've got some more to give doesn't matter how old you are doesn't matter about where you are doesn't matter about what you have doesn't matter about what you've done life is about growing it's about being productive it's about stretching it's about challenging yourself so you start looking around and decide hey hey what else do I want to do what got me here is a time for celebration but also a time for reflection what got me here what worked what did not work what do I need to do to repeat so that I can get the same kind of results in other areas of my life if the goal is to improve my health if the goal is to improve my relationship if the goal is to improve my income if the goal is to improve something in society what is it I need to do now don't get confused with what you do with who you are don't trip don't go on some type of ego trip by talking about how bad you are none of us do anything by ourselves develop an appreciation for external support as well as good fortune because all of those things play a role the other thing is don't go overboard celebrate you must meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two Impostors just the same you look at hey I did it I feel good about that now you're moving on to the next thing things did not work out the way you wanted them to work out you didn't produce the results you wanted to produce hey miss that win some you lose some moving right on don't confuse who you are with what you do and make your mind fertile ground for the seeds of opportunity thinking you want to experience a sense of fulfillment you've got to have an open mind so that ideas can come in there and take root and grow so part of beginning to have fertile ground you know you got to break that ground up you got to break up that hard crust because if you don't seem to fall there and the wind can blow them away the winds of doubt when you're set in your mind and you refuse to grow and you're not open to new ideas new methods new ways of doing things if your mind is already fixed you become stagnant you can't grow you can't have a sense of fulfillment you become extremely cynical and negative about everything you know it all so you want to begin to look at life and have a sense of curiosity not know it all you want to keep learning keep growing realize that we had a theme you never find out how much you know until you find out how little you know and there are some people you can't tell anything they have all the answers or I've already done that so many months count ourselves out of things prematurely you don't know what the possibilities are up in there so you want to be open you want to continue to learn you want to continue to grow you want to begin to know that their unlimited ideas out here waiting for you to latch on to them and if you don't take advantage of them when they come your way because you're so close-minded do understand somebody else will we've all had ideas that we did not act on and looked around and somebody else had the idea and going with it so be open and receptive become involved in life live your fantasy most people go through life not living their fantasy going sitting up in the bleachers looking out on the field looking out into the arena wishing that they were down to just fantasizing seeing themselves running with the ball decide to live your fantasy see in life you can go through life you can come up with reasons or you can come up with results you can come up with so you can come up with achievements you can go through life blaming or you can come up with solutions the choice is in your hands satisfaction or despair we can choose that so look at your life and decide what it is that you want to do that will give you a life a sense of worth someone said that your life worth is measured by your accomplishments and not by your complaints want to have a fulfilling life decide not to make your life predictable so some people their lives very predictable they got a little routine they do that and they follow that day in and day out day in and day out you don't get much juice and happiness out of life like that if you are predictable you want to change it up variety most certainly is the spice of life here's something else one it created greater sense of fulfillment challenge your fears challenge them look those fears in the face and take them on don't allow them to rule you decide that you're going to take some chances you've got to be willing to risk if you're not willing to risk you can't grow in life life has no power when you're not willing to risk instead to laugh is to risk appearing the fool to weep is to risk appearing sentimental so reach out for another is to risk involvement to expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self to place your ideas your dreams before crowd is to risk their loss to love is to risk not being loved in return to live is to risk dying to hope is to risk despair to trys to risk failure but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing the person who is nothing does nothing has nothing is nothing they may avoid suffering in sorrow but they cannot learn feel change grow love and live chained by their certitudes they are a slave they have profited their freedom only a person who wrists is free