Episode 27 – The Horse of Circumstance

I heard a story about a man riding a horse at breakneck speed. It appears he’s going someplace very important. A man standing along the roadside shouts, “Where are you going?” To which the rider yells back, “I don’t know. Ask the horse.”

This seems to be essentially the story I’m hearing from lots of people today. They’re riding the horse of circumstances, their habits or other people’s expectations. If that describes you, it’s time to grab the reins and move your life in the direction of where you really want to go.
One of the defining moments of my life occurred 1988 when I somehow got a copy of a cassette tape recording of Earl Nightingale called The Strangest Secret. The central message was this – We become what we think about. That opened a door to a whole new world of possibilities for me that has never been closed.

Lets dive a little deeper into this idea that, “You become what you think about most of the time”
In 1989 a Buddhist spiritual text called “How to live without Fear and Worry” stated:
     “The thought manifests as the word,
      The word manifests as the deed,
      The deed develops into a habit,
      And the habit hardens into character.
The words in this text actually echo what Buddha said more than 2500 years ago, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”
In more modern times this sentiment was expressed in relation to sowing and reaping. In 1950 in the Sunday News and Tribune of Jefferson City Missouri it was expressed as:
     “Sow a thought, reap a word; 
      Sow a word, reap a deed; 
      Sow a deed, reap a habit; 
      Sow a habit, reap a character; 
      Sow a character, reap a destiny.
My favorite version of this idea comes from an American entrepreneur, Frank Outlaw, late president of the Bi-Lo Stores. His version goes like this;
      “Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
       Watch your words, they become actions;
       Watch your actions, they become habits; 
       Watch your habits, they become character;
       Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
I’ve been in the marketing business most of my life and I have heard different versions of what Earl Nightingale said but I never really understood it until I watched a movie called “The Secret.” After I watched this film I reflected on the ideas that where expressed about the law of attraction. I began to understand just how powerful our thoughts are; just how much what we think about affects our lives in every way. 
I began to see examples of this idea in scripture, I began to see how people like Joyce Meyers and Joel Osteen are able to tap into this concept with their motivational sermons. There are so many things today that consume our thoughts.
I know that in my own life I have found that when I changed what I thought about most; when I began to concentrate on what I wanted to achieve or have, instead of concentrating on my failures or what I lack; only then things began to change. Believe me, when you go through unemployment there are lots of things you lack in your life that you can dwell on but I decided throughout the entire ordeal that I would concentrate my thoughts on what I wanted to accomplish in life; to concentrate on all the things that I wanted to become and to have.
And you know what?
I felt better every day. I had purpose. I felt as though I could have or become anything and with that new mindset I saw opportunities before me that I would have never seen otherwise. I met people that would make a difference in my life, people like Dr Wallach and Brandy Brogdon. Folks like Dr Corey Gold and Tom Chenault. Eric Worre and Ray Higdon. I would have never met them had I not been concentrating on future success instead of present or past failure.
Because of my unemployment, I began working more on my personal development. I began reading books written by some of the most influential and successful people of our time as well as throughout history. Book after book, Video after video, Speaker after speaker, Andrew Carnegie, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Vince Lombardi, they all seemed to express one common theme. The same thing that Earl Nightingale said, “You become what you think about most of the time.
This idea has really consumed me. “You become what you think about most of the time” begs to answer the question, what do I think about most?
Jim Rohn said, “When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.
What do I want?
TO be self employed? More money? Things? Time freedom?
What do I really want?
Zig Ziglar said, “The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now.” And “Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.
So what do I really want?
According to Napoleon Hill, “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.
He also said that “Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.
So what do I want? Where do I start?
Jim Rohm said “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us?
So that’s where I started. I looked at where I’ve been and where I would like to go in the future.
Albert Einstein once said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” so I asked myself the question, if I keep on doing what I’ve been doing will I get there?
Well of course the answer was no, so for the first time in my life I mapped out both short term and long term goals and I began exploring ways to achieve them. I began thinking outside the box. I began to activate the law of attraction and to follow what Earl Nightingale said, “You become what you think about most of the time” and that is when I began to meet people the folks I mentioned a moment ago, Dr Wallach, Dr Corey Gold, Tom Chenault, Paul Kroto, Sheryl Morley. That’s when I took a deeper look into the home based business industry that they were all involved in and I began to see just what the possibilities truly where. Every one of these people that I met followed the idea that Napoleon Hill stated so well, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
So a I have taken a leap of faith and teamed up with all of these fine people because as I saw it, as Napoleon Hill also said “The person who takes no chances generally has to take whatever is left when others are through” and I was tired of the crumbs that where left over.  I was sick and tired of working long hours making others rich while I clung on to the hope that I would be able to keep my health. Why? So I can work for corporate america until I died or until they decided I was no longer of use for them?
Well, since I began following these folks and became a part of their team, I have created a steady stream of income; a residual income; an income that continues to come in despite the fact that I have taken some time away from the business these last few years to do some personal and professional development training. I’ve created a stream of income that will continue to grow until I one day replace what I had been making working 70 hours a week for someone else.
To have that freedom is what consumes my thoughts most now. Freedom to spend time with my family and not worry about my income. Freedom to not be owned by a corporate job. Freedom to become all that I can become while helping others.
As Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it” and I have now proven to myself that I truly can do it.
What do you think about most?
Do you think about the things you don’t have?
Your lack of financial means to do the things you want, to have the things you desire?
Are you consumed with thoughts about your debt?
Maybe you think about and worry about your health, how you can’t seem to lose those pounds you want to shed. Maybe its your high blood pressure or diabetes.
Or maybe you think most about your lack of time; time to spend with your spouse or children. That field trip you missed and the weekend scouting or sporting events you weren’t able to attend.
Are your thoughts consumed by your job, whether or not you will get that promotion, or constantly worried about whether or not you will keep your job or even be able to find another job?
What do you really want?
I think for most of us, certainly for me, what it came right down to is Freedom! I wanted freedom and my guess is so do you.
You want options.
You want to be of value, to make an impact.
What would that feel like?
What would it feel like to be free?
What would it feel like not to have an alarm clock?
What would it feel like to take your son or daughter to the dentist without asking your boss’s permission? To go to that school play or Christmas pageant?
What would it feel like?
There is an even bigger question though, WHO do you want to be?
What really changed for me is when I asked myself that question. I no longer want to be a statistic, working 70 hours per week; trading my time for money. I no longer want to be someone that questioned my worth. I no longer want to be someone that moped around and just wasn’t present. I no longer want to be that.
So who did I want to be?
I want to be someone that makes an impact. Not just in the area of health but also in the life. I want to be someone that touches, moves and inspires people. Who do I want to be, not just my why, because I have had the same why most of my life. I thought while I was working those 70 hour weeks, I thought I was working toward my why?
Focusing on who I want to be really drives me and gives me  the vision to keep going. Dr Michael Beckwith says “Pain pushes you until vision pulls you” so I ask you, what vision is pulling, you after all “You become what you think about most?”
What are you thinking about most? If your mind is controlled by the bad economy, the recession, underemployment, the unfairness of the company you work for, the hurt of a past relationship, or the limitations of your formal education, then your “horse” will be taking you toward scarcity, misery, and unhappiness.
Where is your thinking taking you? Is some wild horse of circumstances misdirecting you, or are you moving exactly in the direction of your dreams?
I love the power of intentional choices. You can decide in advance what you’re going to do and then change your actions to go along with that to reach your goals, build your business, find a job and more
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you did please click on the link on this page to subscribe. If you found this video through Youtube then please visit my blog site at AIMHighWithKeith.com and subscribe.

I would love to talk with you about what you REALLY want out of life. I would love to show you how you can make it a reality so you can become what you think about most.



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