Success is Not for Cowards

Successful people are just like the the mundane, mediocre, average people around them; except for one thing, they all possess a never-give-up-no-matter-what attitude. That is the element of success that is necessary for you and I to possess if we ever hope to reach our dreams and goals in life. No, success is not for cowards!

I have been doing some research on the bloodhound dog. Bloodhounds are known for their keen and unique tracking abilities. They say you need to keep a good leash on your bloodhound at all times because if he catches the scent of a rabbit or anything he decides to track, you can scream his name as loud at you want, but he will react as if he can’t hear you. Why? Because the bloodhound is on the trail of his target and nothing or no one can break his focus.

This is an awesome picture of what we must become on our way to achieving our goals and dreams. We must “FIX” our attention steadfastly on the thing and refuse to be distracted by the outside chatter of life that causes us to become side-tracked from our focus.

When the bloodhound drops his head to the ground to track the scent he’s after, the droopy folds of skin around his eyes  fall down and become like the blinders that riders place on the eyes of horses to keep them from seeing anything but the track ahead of them.

We, however, do not have the built-in blinders around our eyes and therefore we must deliberately fix our eyes on the prize and refuse to allow life to distract us from moving forward toward our destination.

The bloodhound has large floppy jowls that sway back and forth as he tracks his prey. Each time these hanging jowls swing back and forth, they are serving to fan a fresh whiff of scent into the nostrils of the dog continually renewing his mind to what it is he is after.

Your mind is the greatest tool you will have in reaching your goal. Every move you make is one that you have thought about and decided to make. Your brain tells your hand to put food in your mouth, or to walk, or to talk.

The greatest motivational took is the power to continually encourage, refresh and renew your goals each day. When you renew your commitment to tracking your goal, you are refreshing the scent of that goal in your spirit and mind. You are bringing new focus in your thoughts and turning away from everything that would distract you from your vision.

Let’s face it, life is one long succession of distractions. There are a hundred things you could be doing today so it is up to you and I to decide which ones will serve to bring us closer to our goal and which ones are only distractions.

You have the power to decide! Such a simple sentence, yet there is life-changing power in a decision. Decisions are not always easy to make. Saying Yes to your goal means saying NO to everything that does not serve to get you there. Saying NO is a learned behavior, it gets easier the more you say it. Say no to the list of distractions that accost you throughout the day. Even at the risk of sounding unfriendly, the focused person has learned to say no to the parade of parties, family functions, employee get-togethers and a hundred other distractions that do not serve to move him closer to his goal.

They say, “If you want to destroy a mans vision, give him two”. When you are doing everything you will never be able to accomplish that ONE THING you want most.  Having a vision for your life is like having optical vision, double-vision is not a good thing. Double-vision causes a person to stumble, and keeps him from being able to clearly see anything. Yet, how many times have we casually set out to hit a target with one eye on the goal and the other eye on something else entirely. St. James, in the bible, said, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”.

It’s time to make a decision about your goals. Then renew that commitment each morning, get a fresh scent of the dream into your spirit. Place the blinders on your mind and start tracking anew and when you do, nothing will hold you back from achieving everything you have fixed your mind to accomplishing! No my friend, success is not for cowards!