The Key To Your Problem

Well let me first state that the key to our problem is that we don't post faithfully enough, but that is going to change in 2012, we promise.  So now I would like to welcome you back to Vintage Tidbit Tuesday.  This is where we feature a little bit of wisdom from the 1954 book we purchased at auction titled "How to Develop A More Successful Personality For a Winning & Magnetic You!" by Joe Bonomo.   It's amazing how much from this book still rings true today.  So onto today's topic........The Key To Your Problem.

So you've got a problem. . .everyone has problems! One executive who was noted for his go-getting ability declared that he like problems. . .that his whole idea of business was finding more problems to solve.  Solving them equals success.  And in the business of life. . .problems can really be blessings.

Stop, look and listen.  Analyze your own problems now.  Is it the same problem you had ten years ago or twenty?  Why certainly not.  If you ever kept a childish diary you will be amazed to re-read some of the problems that loomed big in pigtail days.  You can smile to yourself over these big little problems now.  Time has a way of showing you the solutions. 

What about those problems now?  Is it something you cannot have?  Someone who will not do as you wish he would?  Or is your problem simply yourself. . .your shyness, your fear, or anxiety?  Or some handicap which you feel is holding you back?  Whatever it is. . .there is a key for that problem.  Finding that key will make you a happier, more carefree person.

So it's important to you to know what to do about a problem.  You won't want to beat around the bus and go out of your way to avoid deciding what it really is.  You won't want to blame it on somebody else when it's really your problem.  You must decide just what your problem is.

Most problems are in the nature of daydreams.  They may be real problems to be sure. . .but they are still what we might call daydream problems. 

Take worry, for instance.  Just being busy and active has a way of banishing worry.  Worry belongs to that shadowland of "perhaps" and "maybe".  Half the time what you worry about never happens. . .or like the speech you have trouble with. . .it would go off much better without much worry.

Fear belongs to that same shadowland. . .that fantasy world that paints things bigger than they are.  Such fantasy concocted by you in your own mind can actually be your own undoing. . .because you'll try convincing yourself it's real. . .not just fantasy.

So our first job is sorting daydreams.  Some daydreams can be good. . .they can be very good.  The prophet said that "Without vision, a people will perish. . ."  Daydreams and visions are the stuff poets and dreamers are made of.

All great men and women have daydreamed their success first.  The daydream was to the success as the architect's blueprints are to the finished house.

So you have an important task right here and now to sort those daydreams. . .to discover for yourself the miracle of plan and action which is like the good soil in which to plant your daydream.  A lotus seed buried in an Egyptian tomb for two thousand years didn't grow because it wasn't properly planted.  Found later and planted in correct soil, it grew up and blossomed!  You don't want to postpone the fulfillment of your highest hope for two thousand years.  That isn't at all necessary.  You can start today making that daydream come true for you!

Every June-time, you read about some young man or woman who has become a doctor or a lawyer or a nurse.  Maybe they did have to wait on tables and earn part of the way. . .but they started with a daydream.  That gave them the plan for action.  In every Sunday supplement. . .you'll read accounts of men or women who have launched out on a shoestring and succeeded in starting a business or a school or some other worthwhile enterprise.  Actual real life cases of people who took a daydream and turned it into a tangible success.

But maybe they had more to start with than I have, you wonder.  Maybe, and then again?  If you once start reading biographies in your library, you'll be amazed at the handicaps great people overcame.  Often the person with the handicap goes further than the person without.  Why?  Because he tries just a little bit harder.  He knows he's go to win. . .and it's just this extra effort which carries him to success!

Too often, the hale and healthy and hearty are unwilling to give the little extra effort.  How often have you seen a diffident young man or woman who thinks he'll do "just enough".  It doesn't work that way!  There isn't any such thing as "just enough".  The individual who really achieves what he wants out of life is the one who always does the best he can.  A baker's dozen is always good measure.

It's up to you to select your right daydream. . .plant it carefully in soil where it will be nurtured.  Give it all the encouragement you can.  Do everything you can to make it come true.

This doesn't mean just today. . .but tomorrow and next day too. . .next year even!  Here's where patience comes in.  After you've outlined a program for yourself and have done your best and all that you possibly can do to make that dream come true. . .it's up to you to relax and believe!

And just as surely as the combination of the nourishing soil. . .the gentle stirring of the wind and rain. . .bring the lotus to bloom. . .so, too, will your daydream cease to be a dream.  It will be a reality.  YOUR SUCCESS!