The Measure of Greatness

Be Yourself

Responsibility

Responsibility

Conquer Yourself

Without Goals and Plans

Who Are You?

Climb Your Mountain

Self discipline and success

Find your spark

You Are Never Too Young Or Too Old To Be Successful

Sean Black was a kid in my class. He was 13 years old, and had a love of life. We were talking about money one day after singing the song: “Money, money, money,” by Abba and the kids were saying how they would love to have a lot of money.

Well, we started dreaming aloud about having more money, and Sean then said that he was very frustrated about the fact that he always had to ask for money; he wanted his own money. Did I know of anything he could do because he was too young to work and had to do chores in and around his house in order to earn some pocket money.

We started dreaming around what kids could do and I said: Why don’t you start a car washing or a pool cleaning business? You get a lot of people to sign up to get their car or pool washed every week. Then you either go and wash it yourself, or you get someone to do it for you. You pay them half the money, and you pocket the other half. 

Sean decided to go and give it a try. He kept us up to date for a couple of weeks. He had a lot of employment problems and discovered that other people aren’t reliable. Besides, washing cars was hard work, and took a lot of time if he couldn’t get others to help him. He was just wondering what to do about it when he spotted an ad in the paper.

The ad had nothing to do with car washing, but was about bouncing castles. He read the ad with interest, and then went to talk to his dad. He said: “Hey Dad, I have a business proposition for you.” Dad was surprised, but went to sit down seriously, and asked how he could help. Sean told his dad that he had made $200 with his car wash business, and about the problems he was having with reliability. He then told his dad about the ad and asked his dad if he would like to help him with finance of $1000 so that he could buy a bouncing castle. He offered his dad $250 as a deposit, and showed him that if he helped him, the castle could be paid off in four weeks. Then they would have pure profit.

His dad was very impressed with the deal, and decided to help his son, taking his deposit, and giving him a loan. The last time I saw Sean, he and his proud dad were both watching their bouncing castle at a school fete.  Apparently Sean was able to pay his dad back in two weeks. His dad helped him to invest the rest of the money he made. They were planning to buy a second castle. 

There are some lessons in here for all of us: 

1.       You can be successful in business at any age.
       You need to dream first, and then find a way to make that dream a reality.

3.       Don’t look at the problem. Look at the solution. You will always find one.

Find your Passion – Achieve Your Brilliance!

"When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it."

Jim Rohn: was an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker

All of us had dreams and imaginations when we were children. Yes, all of us. I remember having a wild dream and my parents saying: “That’s impossible. It will never happen.”

The wild dream was that one day we could have a phone where we can see each other. (We didn’t have Television in our country at the time) I was saying it would be nice to be able to speak on the phone to the Grannies, and be able to see them. I felt like a fool for dreaming up something so silly that my parents had to tell me to stop having such impossible dreams and to live in reality.

Yes stupid me: Obviously it is impossible to see someone on the other end of the line, right?

Slowly but surely, I lost my imagination, and I started to live in the “real” world, dealing with “reality.” 

Another example comes to mind as I write this: Two boys trying to build something that will help them be able to fly; People walked past and laughed shaking their heads saying: “People can’t fly! That will never happen!” then admonishing the boys to stop dreaming and get back to reality. Unlike me, and perhaps because there were two of them, they didn’t give up on their dream. They kept going and going. The Wright Brothers eventually built the aeroplane. 

I am sure you may also have had dreams when you were a child, and perhaps you also had to “stop having these silly dreams and get back to reality.” Look what happened to these two dreams above: Today we chat on Skype or videophones and we can see the people that we are talking to. We drive in aeroplanes when we do long distance travel. Both those dreams became reality.

There is nothing that you can dream that you cannot bring into reality. There is nothing that you conceive that you cannot make real. Walt Disney said: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”

What did you dream? Did your dreams become real? Or did you let someone steal your dream?

You have only to look at your dreams to see your potential. What can you become?

Are you achieving your full potential?

Now go: Climb that mountain. Run that marathon. Build that business. Achieve your brilliance!

You Are No Different

By Bob Perks

Picture in your mind the most incredible thing designed by mankind that you have ever seen. Perhaps the Empire State Building, the Shuttle built by the technicians at NASA, The Golden Gate Bridge or even the intricate detailing in a painting you've seen.

What name comes to mind when I say the words "creative genius?"
Who do you think of when I mention God-like compassion, caring and loving?
What author's name do you think of when I mention "poetry," "drama," "mystery," "fiction," and "comedy?"

What do you see when I say "strength," and "stamina?"

Finally "winner," "successful," or "role model?"

I'll bet you a Kids Meal at McDonald's you never saw yourself in any of those images. And yet...

Look at your hands. Are they not the same as the hands of the skillful artist, architect, mason, or technician?

If you were to x-ray your skull, would you not find the same brain matter that takes up the space between the ears of Einstein, Plato, and Disney?

Hold your hand to your chest. Can you feel the beat of a heart capable of paining for the homeless and starving? Have you not the same heart that beat in the chest of Jesus, Gandhi, Mohamed or the thousands of missionaries around the world?
Look at your fingers. Are they not like the fingers of Frost, Churchill, Stevens, Wilder and King that held tightly the pens that wrote the words that shaped the world?

Look at your feet. Show me the difference between yours and gold medalists of the Olympics or the rescuers who carried the people out of the rubble in a tragic earthquake.

Finally. Close your eyes as you stand in front of a mirror and picture in your mind that man or woman who you think of as a success, a winner and role model. Open your eyes and explain to me the difference between you and that person.

There is no difference...except in how you perceive yourself.

You have the mind, the hands, the feet, the fingers, the heart to be exactly what you want to be. The only thing that is stopping you is the person you see in the mirror.

You have all that it takes.


Bob Perks
Bob Perks is an inspirational author and speaker. Bob's new book I Wish You Enough has been published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. A collection of stories based on his Eight Wishes expressed below. Available through your favorite bookstore or online. Visit www.BobPerks.com