The Foundation Stones Of Success

8/30/18

The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty. – Zig Ziglar

It’s not all that hard to be successful in one thing or another for a short period of time. We just need to focus all our effort, do what people tell us to do, perhaps take a few shortcuts here and there (maybe even break a few laws), put God, family, and friends on the back burner for a while, and we’ll likely find what we seek, but it won’t be as satisfying as I/you/we thought it would be. However, if we want success over a lifetime in all of the areas that we truly find important, we’ll do good to set Zig’s foundation stones:

• Integrity is about being truthful with myself, and it requires that I reconcile the three images of myself:
  • Ideal Self – How I want to be (my vision for the future).
  • Mirror Self – How I see myself.
  • Public Self – How others see me.

Usually, I’m not truthful with myself because I either don’t want to admit that the person I see in the mirror isn’t who I want to be, or I have created (or am trying to create) a public image that’s based on a lie; therefore, I deceive myself to keep from having to face reality.

• Honesty is about being truthful with others. Sometimes the deceptions are obvious, yet other times they are more subtle, like a half-truth, but the reality is that a half-truth is a whole lie, and a lack of honesty will diminish my trust-worthiness and over time it will lead to ever-diminishing success.
• Character is rooted in integrity and honesty – if I score high in these, then I am a person of good character who is worthy of trust because I understand, accept, and comply the rules and expectations of the world that surrounds me. It means I do what I said I’m going to do the way I agreed to do it, even when it’s inconvenient, difficult, or limits immediate success (over time good character leads to lasting success).
• Faith is confidence in someone or something to the point that I have hope that an expectation will be met. Faith allows me to keep moving forward, even when the reality looks very different from the vision. It’s because of my faith in the goodness of God and people that I speak from vision – not reality because I know that if I speak from vision long enough, it will become the reality that I seek.
• Love is a deep affection and care for someone. In this Fallen World, there are different levels of love, which are often regulated by how well we know someone or how well they are meeting our expectations (sometimes unrealistic expectations). When we know someone well and they are meeting our expectations, our love is high – when we don’t and they aren’t… well, not so much, but that’s not the way it’s meant to be. The Bible describes true love best (whether you are of the Christian Faith or not, this is the generally accepted idea that you hear at many weddings)…

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.  (1st Corinthians 13:4-8)

Love (or care and appreciation, if you can’t handle the word “love”) is essential for lasting success because if I do what’s right for others, over the long haul, I will find success.

• Loyalty allows me to maintain allegiance to someone or something, even when vision and reality aren’t aligned. Loyalty is founded in faith and love and becomes evident in the valleys of life.

My Girls, I Hope and Pray that you will build upon these foundation stones of success as you pursue your dreams.

Challenge Question: What foundation stones can you build upon TODAY?

God’s Word: Proverbs 12:22, 21:3 & 4:25-27, 1st Corinthians 3:9-16, 1st Peter 3:14-17 & Luke 6:31