Excellent article ! it’s people like you who make the world so much better, by contributing excellent articles like the above one. i agree with you totally about the purpose part. many people who get a lot without working hard basically have to just set a higher standard. If anyone if achieving a lot without working too hard, just imagine what you can do if you step up the gas and work really hard. for those of you working hard and not getting much, let me remind you

You may not get what you worked for but you

Have to work hard for whatever you get. Steve carry on the excellent work and I hope more amd more people benefit from you.

Cheers !
Bobby

but social stuff, life, happiness should not be sold out for hard work. imho

http://www.slackermanager.com/slacker_manager/2005/03/blog_showdown.html

Hard work is good and to be admired, yet it’s necessary but not sufficient for happiness. It may not even be necessary. I think there are some people out there genuinely happy with mediocrity. And who am I to tell them that they are wrong to like that? Sure *I’D* be miserable in their situation, but I’m not them after all.

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For some this skill is easy to master, for some it’s difficult.

People who can’t work hard should check themselves for medical problems. A friend of mine had serious problems with the amount of work he could do. He then discovered he had high blood pressure. He treated the condition, and poof, his working power increased a lot - he can work a lot more hours now than before treating the problem.

Working problems can also appear because of low quality food. I used to eat canned food and fast food, and din’t have a lot of energy. Now I eat home made soup and home cooked meals, and I’m a lot more energetic.

I wonder why they don’t make a “healthy fast food” - with really good made soup and cooked food, served fast. I tried a classing restaurant but a meal took 50 minutes without desert, so I cook once a week and eat what I cook at home.

For the first time in my life, I’ve started to take personal development seriously and I see a lot in common with your advice and the advice of Stephen Covey, Napoleon Hill, and Zig Ziglar (the only authors I’ve gotten to so far).

Thanks again.

1) This was a gradual realization over a period of years, not a single one-shot event. Reading and applying ideas from personal development authors over a dozen years ago and seeing serious results lead me to realize there was a whole new level of performance possible that came from stepping outside the comfort zone. I also came to understand that no matter how much or how little control you exert over life, you’re still 100% responsible for the results; you’re the one who must live with the consequences. So it makes sense to assume as much control over those consequences as life will permit. If you’re in a car speeding down the highway, you’d better grab the wheel.

2) Truth is truth. Whether people love it or hate it is up to them; I don’t claim ownership over other people’s reactions. Nevertheless, getting pissed off after reading something that challenges you is often a step in the right direction. If people react emotionally, at least they’re thinking about it. People don’t have an emotional reaction to something that is obviously false. If I post a bunch of nonsense, an intelligent reader will just dismiss it as such. But if there’s some truth to it, that will often lead to a defensive emotional reaction. There’s no way around that though. In order to communicate with people on a deep level, it’s necessary to bust through the defensive shields that maintain false beliefs.

I’ve noticed that you have strong words against those who avoid hard work and don’t try to do more for their lives. I have a few questions:

1) When did you first realize that personal growth was so important? What influenced you to stop thinking about life as something you flow with and start thinking about life as something you make happen?

2) Some people might not realize that they have the ability to make their lives more meaningful. I know that I didn’t realize that I could do so much more until sometime in the last year. I also know I have a lot more to learn. But some people don’t know. “Go with the flow” is such a common expression that people assume it is a principle of the universe. Are you concerned about insulting the people you want to help when you refer to them as useless in the world? Or do you purposely use such strong language because you know that someone reading it will realize that it describes him/her perfectly?

Thanks,
Gianfranco