Simplicity

Will — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:52:36 +0000

The Art of Manliness is a great blog for men. Thanks for the good work guys.

There, I found this gem from way back in 1905 about the Greatness Of Simplicity. (exerpted from the book “Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty” by William George Jordan) The language is definitely old school, but the message is timeless.

“No character can be simple unless it is based on truth—unless it is lived in harmony with one’s own conscience and ideals. Simplicity is the pure white light of a life lived from within. It is destroyed by any attempt to live in harmony with public opinion.

Public opinion is a conscience owned by a syndicate,—where the individual is merely a stockholder. But the individual has a conscience of which he is sole proprietor. Adjusting his life to his own ideals is the royal road to simplicity.

Affectation is the confession of inferiority; it is an unnecessary proclamation that one is not living the life he pretends to live…”

“The longest Latin derivatives seem necessary to express the thoughts of young writers. The world’s great masters in literature can move mankind to tears, give light and life to thousands in darkness and doubt, or scourge a nation for its folly,—by words so simple as to be commonplace. But transfigured by the divinity of genius, there seems almost a miracle in words…”

“The individual can attain self-control in great things only through self-control in little things. He must study himself to discover what is the weak point in his armor, what is the element within him that ever keeps him from his fullest success.

This is the characteristic upon which he should begin his exercise in self-control. Is it selfishness, vanity, cowardice, morbidness, temper, laziness, worry, mind-wandering, lack of purpose?—whatever form human weakness assumes in the masquerade of life he must discover. He must then live each day as if his whole existence were telescoped down to the single day before him.

With no useless regret for the past, no useless worry for the future, he should live that day as if it were his only day,— the only day left for him to assert all that is best in him, the only day left for him to conquer all that is worst in him. He should master the weak element within him at each slight manifestation from moment to moment. Each moment then must be a victory for it or for him.

Will he be King, or will he be slave?—the answer rests with him.”

Would you like to read the whole book? Good Ol’ Google scanned it for you. Get it here. You can download it as a PDF. You know…around the turn of the last century, it seems like a lot of timeless material was written for us to discover now. ”It Works” by R.H. Jarrett and many others seem to distill the great lessons of life into a fine wine of meaningful thoughts.

The Lesson Of The Shelf

Will — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:26:07 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, Jim Rohn passed away on December 5th. One of his quotes, “Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better.” really hit home with me. The world is definately a better place because he was here. The good news is that he’ll always be here since he created so much great stuff.

The first time this article posted was on my old blog site. Today, I need to add another book that was on my shelf. The book is Surefire Sponsoring by Mark Weiser.

In a way, it’s a lot like Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring, but Weiser’s take on posture is a must read.

My point is don’t read these books once and let them collect dust on your shelf. Get them out and reread them every once in a while. You’ll be amazed at what you missed the first time.

Here’s the original post from July…

The first time I attempted network marketing I failed completely! The second time was better, but still not what I wanted. I knew in my heart that I wanted to succeed, but I just didn’t have the tools…or did I? I’d like to share a few observations with you. Thank goodness I hung in there.

First problem; I wasn’t all in. I thought then that it should be easier than it turned out to be. Now I know that I shouldn’t have wished it was easier, I should have wished I was better. (Jim Rohn Quote)

I bought books and tools, but did not know how to make the most out of them. I went to meetings, but did not know how to make the most of them either. I tried the system a little, but didn’t rehearse or practice enough to make it work for me. I didn’t ask for the help I needed. I became very discouraged and quit. In a nutshell, I’m sure I wasn’t exactly the kind of rep my sponsor hoped I would be.

I bought a book way back then, “The Magic Of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz. For those of you who haven’t read it or who aren’t aware of it, it is one of the most mentioned “Best books I ever read” by ultra-successful people around the world. But I digress…

The first time I read the first little bit of the book and was totally bored. I put the book on my shelf and forgot about it. Then 20+ years later, I came across it again. This time I knew it by reputation, but I remembered my first experience with it and nearly put it back on the shelf. When I started reading though, I became engrossed and then obcessed with its message and methods. This small book has literally transformed my thinking and taken me to a higher level of thinking.

Here’s the thing …”The man who won’t read is no better than the man who can’t read” – Mark Twain

Now I think of how much time passed from the time I bought the book until the time I actually read it. I had the knowledge…kind of. The knowledge was on my shelf all along, I was the one who didn’t take advantage of it.

What book, video, or audio is still in its wrapper or on your shelf? I propose you get one out and look at it again to see if you’ve become ready to receive its message.

What books or resources do you recommend to others who want to succeed? Let us know.

My best to you all,

Will Adams, writing tonight from Racine, MN

7/29/2009

Will Adams - Online » reread books

Simplicity

The Lesson Of The Shelf