Last night I watched a brief Facebook video. It was a short Arnie Schwarzenegger speech about being successful. Arnie isn’t a man who’s taken life lying down. He has seized opportunity and applied an absolute unwavering discipline to himself and his goals. This isn’t about Arnie, though. It’s about you, me and all those other people who are teetering on the fence over belief in themselves and lying down and letting life walk all over them. It should be an easy choice.
The Choice to Begin is Easy. Everyone Begins.
Hayley in front of the centrepiece pagoda within the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour.
Yesterday, Hayley and I were in Sydney for a test drive of a Tesla. When we booked it, we could drive the Model S or the Model X. Why mentally settle for second best? As a result, I chose the X. I didn’t choose it necessarily because I liked the style, shaping or configuration of the X more than the S. I chose it because it would be harder for me to attain. Those of us who have goals in our heads will ALWAYS get closer to them than the people who have none.
Zero multiplied by any number is still zero.
In another words, if you have no goal, you’ll get no result.
Aspiring to own a nice car or any nice stuff for that matter is fine. We are living in a material world (eloquently put by Madonna). However, don’t mistake the material reward as the real reward. It is an illusion that traps the unwise into false happiness. Look at anyone who has won the lottery and obtained easy money. They spend it or invest it (it doesn’t really matter) and they find they are no happier in any meaningful way than when they didn’t have the money. It’s as if the new money has opened up a void of other different problems relating now to greed, selfishness, fear, suspicion and judgement. The person who had lofty goals of self-improvement and applied that to their field of work and spent equal time on both their job and the development of themselves finds that when they become as financially wealthy as the lottery winner, their skills to attract their own inner happiness are independent of the money they’ve earned.
The Key is Self-Discipline
We have these moments in life that we call lightbulb moments. It’s like an instant knowing, like “I got it!” I had one of these yesterday. After coming off the high of driving a performance vehicle around Sydney, I walked out of the store and it hit me;
“The car doesn’t matter. It’s that strong, sustained sense of satisfaction and contentment I’m getting now from expending the energy (mental or otherwise) into pursuing important goals which means the most to me. It’s the self-discipline required to fight off the urge to eat bad food, to get up earlier than everyone else and to put more into my craft than I knew was possible. The [car and the other material goals] will be a byproduct of these actions.”
We also caught up with my sister and brother-in-law while we were in Sydney. They had come down from Newcastle to see Shania Twain on Saturday night and comedian, Jim Jefferies on Sunday.
“Make a habit of being happy with what you have until you can get all that you want.” – Jim Rohn.
That does not mean you shouldn’t aim to build your material wealth. And this is coming from a guy who, for a very long time resisted the forces of the system we are in. We should simply see money as a means of exchange. No more, no less. What you do to attract it matters, as does how you spend it. I view the scientific method the same way. Science is simply a way of knowing. What someone does to acquire the knowledge (think about testing on animals or humans) should be scrutinised as should what we do with the knowledge (ways to kill and maim sentient beings) when we have it at our disposal.
On a side note, I was delighted when I woke up to a message directly from Rich Tomasso, himself. Rich is a comic book artist and writer acknowledged for his latest work on Dry County. I did a write up over six months ago sharing his work with the world (we should always share work we admire). He expressed his appreciation and told me he shared the article. Collaboration in action!
To Your Success,
Nick.
Please UPVOTE this article. Your vote keeps me writing my best content.
All content is original and belongs to 
Disclosure: This article was not a paid promotion and was not self-upvoted. Nor were there any affiliate links.
I’m looking for an artist to cover my work on the fantasy saga, Adventures in Elowyn Glade. Click the link!
You didn’t think you’d leave here without me shamelessly plugging my other work, right?
Our Trip from Adelaide to Melbourne.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Restaurant Reviews (and Tesla Showroom)
[100% VEGAN] Shift Eatery Surry Hills
[100% VEGAN] Matcha Mylkbar, St. Kilda
[100% VEGAN] Lentil as Anything, Newtown
Da Orlando Wood Fire Pizzeria, Wollongong
Do you enjoy gory mystery-thrillers?
Two devious, psychopathic minds go head-to-head trying to out-kill one another. Who will die at the hands of the two and how far will it go until the entire state is on the hunt for the duplicitous duo?
Check out The Coroner. Part 1 and Part 2 are linked.
So, you're a Star Wars fan? I almost wasn't.
In a two part micro series, learn of the devious practical joke my uncles played on me as a child. You'll never think of Darth Vader the same way again.