Do the impossible!

I enjoyed this email letter from Jim Rohn. You will too.

April 30, 2012 How to Turn Nothing into Something

by Jim Rohn

Have you ever wondered how to turn nothing into something?

First, in order to turn nothing into something, you've got to start with some ideas and imagination. Now, it might be hard to call ideas and imagination nothing; but how tangible are those ideas? That is a bit of a mystery. I don't believe that ideas that can be turned into a hotel, ideas that can be turned into an enterprise, ideas that can be turned into a new vaccine or ideas that can be turned into some miracle product, should be called nothing. But tangibly, you have nothing. Interesting! Think of it; ideas that become so powerful in your mind and in your consciousness that they seem real to you even before they become tangible. Imagination that is so strong, you can actually see it.

When I built my first home for my family in Idaho all those years ago, before I started construction, I would take my friends and associates out to the vacant property and give them a tour of the house. Is that possible? Is it possible to take someone on a tour through an imaginary house? And the answer is, "Yes, of course." "Here is the three-car garage," I used to say, and my friends would look and say, "Yes, this garage will hold three cars. " I could really make it "live." I would take them on a tour throughout the house…. "Here is the fireplace, and look, this side is brick and the other side is stone." I could make it so real…. "Follow me through the rest of the house. Take a look through the picture window here in the kitchen, isn't the view great?" One day, I made the house so real that one of my friends bumped his elbow on the fireplace. I mean, it was that real.

So, the first step of turning nothing into something is to imagine the possibilities. Imagine all of the possibilities. One of the reasons for seminars, sermons, lyrics from songs and testimonials of others is to give us an idea of the possibilities; to help us imagine and to see the potential.

Now here is the second step for turning nothing into something: You must believe that what you imagine is possible for you. Testimonials, like "If I can do it, you can do it," often become a support to our belief. And we start believing. First we imagine it's possible. Second, we start to believe that what's possible is possible for us.

We might also believe because of our own testimonial. Here is what your testimonial might say: "If I did it once, I can do it again. If it happened for me before, it could very well happen again." So we believe not only the testimonials of others who say, "If I can do it, you can do it; If I can change, you can change; If I can start with nothing, you can start with nothing; If I can turn it all around, you can turn it all around." Then we also have the support of our own testimonial, if we've accomplished something before. "If we did it once, we can do it again. If we did it last year, we can do it this year." So those two things together are very powerful. Now, we do not have actual substance yet, although it is very close.

Again, step one is to imagine the possibilities. Step two is to imagine that what is possible is possible for you. Here is what we call step two: faith to believe. In fact, one writer said this, "Faith is substance." An interesting word: "substance," the powerful ability to believe in the possibilities that are possible for you. If you have faith to believe, that faith is substance, substance meaning "a piece of the real." Now it's not "the real," it's not this podium, but it is so powerful that it is very close to being real, and so the writer said, "The faith is a piece of, the substance of." He then goes on to call it evidence, substance and evidence. It is difficult to call substance and evidence "nothing." It is nothing in the sense that it cannot be seen except with the inner eye. You can't get a hold of it because it isn't yet tangible. But it is possible to turn nothing, especially ideas and imaginations, into something if you believe that it is now possible for you. That substance and evidence becomes so powerful that it can now be turned into reality.

So the first step is to imagine what is possible, the second is to have the faith to believe that what is possible is possible for you. And now the third step is that you go to work to make it real. You go to work to make it a hotel. You go to work to make it an enterprise. You go to work and make it good health. You go to work and make it an association. You go to work and make it a good marriage. You go to work and make it a movement. You make it tangible. You make it viable. You breathe life into it and then you construct it. That is such a unique and powerful ability for all of us human beings. Put this to work and start the miracle process today!

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A MUST WATCH - Secrets of Successful People

http://vimeo.com/18629799

Gary Tuerack shares in this hour video about the secret successes of great people.

I must thank Austin Fish, 2009 graduate of Brownsburg High School and State Champion, for sharing this with me. Austin is a business and leadership major at Indiana University at this time.

Baseball - A Fresh New Perspective from America's Great Philosopher - John Rawls

I have not appreciated the game of baseball to the degree that many have or do, but after reading this letter from John Rawls addressed to Owen Fiss at Harvard about a conversation John had with Harry Kalven, I think I will appreaciate it more.

http://bostonreview.net/BR33.2/rawls.php

Dear Owen,

Many thanks for sending me the bibliography of Kalven’s writings and the copy of your memorial address. When classes are over at the end of next week I hope to read some of his essays listed that I haven’t gotten to yet. I have until the end of May to revise the lecture (a copy enclosed) for publication in the Tanner volume. A lot needs to be done on it, although I feel better about it than I did around March 1st when I was having trouble deciding how to give a useful example or two and bring the thing to a close. Here especially, Kalven’s writings were most helpful. I look forward to seeing the MS should that be possible.

It is curious that although I only saw Kalven once to talk to, and that was in the summer of 1961 (I think, otherwise 1962) at breakfast while attending a conference sponsored by the Encyclopedia Britannica at Santa Barbara at Hutchins’s madhouse among the palms, we talked about the only subject that you never seem to have gotten around to in your conversations with him, namely baseball. I distinctly recall the conversation because he brought out to me many splendid features of the game which, though obvious, require his sort of brilliance to see the significance of. For example, he gave these reasons for why baseball is the best of all games.

First: the rules of the game are in equilibrium: that is, from the start, the diamond was made just the right size, the pitcher’s mound just the right distance from home plate, etc., and this makes possible the marvelous plays, such as the double play. The physical layout of the game is perfectly adjusted to the human skills it is meant to display and to call into graceful exercise. Whereas, basketball, e.g., is constantly (or was then) adjusting its rules to get them in balance.

Second: the game does not give unusual preference or advantage to special physical types, e.g., to tall men as in basketball. All sorts of abilities can find a place somewhere, the tall and the short etc. can enjoy the game together in different positions.

Third: the game uses all parts of the body: the arms to throw, the legs to run, and to swing the bat, etc.; per contra soccer where you can’t touch the ball. It calls upon speed, accuracy of throw, gifts of sight for batting, shrewdness for pitchers and catchers, etc. And there are all kinds of strategies.

Fourth: all plays of the game are open to view: the spectators and the players can see what is going on. Per contra football where it is hard to know what is happening in the battlefront along the line. Even the umpires can’t see it all, so there is lots of cheating etc. And in basketball, it is hard to know when to call a foul. There are close calls in baseball too, but the umps do very well on the whole, and these close calls arise from the marvelous timing built into the game and not from trying to police cheaters etc.

Fifth: baseball is the only game where scoring is not done with the ball, and this has the remarkable effect of concentrating the excitement of plays at different points of the field at the same time. Will the runner cross the plate before the fielder gets to the ball and throws it to home plate, and so on.

Finally, there is the factor of time, the use of which is a central part of any game. Baseball shares with tennis the idea that time never runs out, as it does in basketball and football and soccer. This means that there is always time for the losing side to make a comeback. The last of the ninth inning becomes one of the most potentially exciting parts of the game. And while the same sometimes happens in tennis also, it seems to happen less often. Cricket, much like baseball (and indeed I must correct my remark above that baseball is the only game where scoring is not done with the ball), does not have a time limit.

Such, as I recall, was the substance of the conversation one morning with Kalven as I and several others had breakfast with him. And having played baseball some I tried to draw him out a bit. I’m sure there were many more things I’ve forgotten, and I’m also sure he could have gone on forever, if we hadn’t had to stop.

Again many thanks for sending me the things. They will be most helpful to me.

Best,

Jack

Rohn talks of Christ - perfect after Easter!

Read the words below. Which side describes Christ?

indifferent - Passionate

indecisive - Certain

doubtful - Faithful

worrisome – Assured

overly-cautious – Risk Taker

Then Read

http://hoopthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/04/defeating-enemy-from-within.html

SHINE - Be like Christ today!

To the wold you just may be one person; to one person you may be the world!

Never doubt your importance to your family. Who was the 23 President? Who won the 1993 World Series? Who was the NBA MVP in 2003? Who won the gold medal in the 100 meter dash three Olympics ago? Who invented roller skates?

We don't remember the above answers. However, we do remember that family vacation, Dad's cologne, the time when we went fishing together, or our hero who came to the rescue after that bike accident. Be your children's hero today. Everyday is father's day!

http://www.fatherhood.org/fathers

Toughness and Distractions

Brad Stevens once quoted another individual and said,

"Toughness is the ability to block out all distractions while working to accomplish one's goal."

Those who can be single minded and focused will take their game to the top. SHINE!

NBA

The success of our lives depends upon our "Next Best Action." Doing "the next right thing right" is imperative. How do we know what the next right thing is? Apply your action to this test. 1. Does my action glorify God? 2. Does my action make me a better husband/wife? 3. Does my action make me a better father/mother? 4. Does my action make me a better professional? If you say "no" to any of these....don't follow through with it. So chose water over the soft drink; chose turning the t.v. off and playing with your son; make great choices with your time! SHINE!