The Man With The One Track Mind

Eddie Arcaro dreamed of becoming the world's greatest jockey but after watching him ride a horse for five minutes, reality reflected a harsh contradiction. He was awkward and clumsy, and in his early years in the saddle he couldn't do one thing right. He was left behind at the post, he got trapped in traffic jams, he got bumped and boxed in. In his first 100 races he never even came close to winning. Still, he got right back on and tried again.

Even as a schoolboy, Arcaro had set his own track in life. Because he was only a little over five feet tall and weighed barely 80 pounds, the other students shunned him. So he played hooky instead, hanging out at the local race track where a trainer let him gallop the horses. His father reluctantly agreed to let him pursue a career as a jockey, even though he knew it was a long shot. The trainer had told him so. "Send him back to school," he said. "He'll never be a rider."

No one was betting on little Eddie Arcaro, no one that is except Arcaro. He was determined not just to ride, but to become the world's greatest jockey. But first someone would have to give him a chance. He pleaded and persisted until he finally got to ride in a real race. Before it was over, he'd lost his whip and his cap and had almost fallen off the saddle. By the time he finished the race, the other horses were on their way back to the stables. He'd come in dead last.

After that, Arcaro went from track to track, looking for any opportunity to ride. Finally, an owner who felt pity took him in and gave him his next chance. One hundred trophy-less races later, he was still giving him a chance. The trainers saw something in this unlucky jockey, something they couldn't define. Perhaps it was potential, perhaps it was resilience, perhaps it was sheer obstinacy, but no one was willing to send him home. And Arcaro was certainly not going to quit.

There were long years when he was broke, homesick, and almost without friends. There were also many brushes with death and several broken bones. Every time his delicate 63 inch body was trammeled by hoofs he would get patched up and return to the saddle.

Then it happened. Arcaro began to win...and win...and win...Now, instead of leaving a path of destruction, he was leaving a path of devastated opponents. In thirty years of riding, he won 4,779 races, becoming the only jockey in history to win the Kentucky Derby five times. By the time he retired in 1962 he was a millionaire and a legend in his own lifetime.

From the moment he walked out of school and onto a track, Eddie Arcaro had his mind on a finish line. And although the race took thirty years, he never quit until that line was crossed.

Cynthia Kersey

Cynthia Kersey is the author of Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women
Copyright 1998 by Cynthia Kersey
Visit Cynthia's web site at: www.unstoppable.net

Building faith

The other day my 4-year old son and I were sitting in the couch and watching TV his favorite cartoon show.

For some reason I was reminded of the scriptures that talks about Child-like faith.

My curiosity leads me to ask my unsuspecting boy..."Son, if we build our own house, how many swimming pools do you wanna have?"

Without hesitation, he said "Dad, I want 3 swimming pools. One for you, one for mom and one for me."

Interesting answer huh?

If you ask an adult the same question you'll probably hear...

"What are you talking about? You can't even afford to have a bath tub."

Funny but true.

Children are like fearless creature. They trust so much their parents that all things will work together.

Adults on the other hand have fears, reservations, and with very little faith.

No wonder why Christ wants us to have a child like faith to enter the kingdom of heavens.

And Jesus is offering us is a bargain.

He's only asking for a mustard size faith to move a mountain size problem.

Isn't that a great deal?

So how do we increase our faith?

Romans 10:17 says..."faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Fact is, there's no other way to increase our faith but by continuously memorizing and meditating God's Word.

Once we have Bible verses in our memory, it's much easier for us to meditate on it wherever we go.

Scripture memorization is not just an activity but a lifestyle. Make it part of your life and your life will never be the same again.

What's Important

I talk to people all the time who want to invest and earn money. There's nothing wrong with that, in fact it's a wonderful pursuit to reach your financial goals and give your family as many options as possible in how they live their lives. But I frequently encounter individuals who haven't thought beyond "I want to earn a lot of money." Money itself isn't a goal; it just gives you the opportunity to choose. 

In order to really understand yourself as an investor, you must understand what is truly important for you. For me - it's family. The first time I traveled to Croatia was in 1979; I was 7 years old. I saw firsthand where my parents lived as children and got a taste for how they grew up. My mom's home was in a small village in the mountains. Her parents were farmers and their entire home was just one room, maybe 20' x 20' in size. There was no running water or electricity. 

I remember first thing in the morning, we would walk the donkey with a big water jug on its back to a stream four miles away. We would fill it up and head another four miles back to the house. That was our water supply for the day. The life they lived was very hard compared to what I knew, yet they did what they had to do without complaint. My parents were surrounded by unconditional love - something they passed on to me - and they always had a roof over their heads and something to eat. They were always happy as children and never knew about all the luxuries and excess in the Western World. My mom had to walk miles to school, as a child, trying to imagine that was very hard. That summer, we celebrated my brother Mike's, 6th birthday. I remember my Grandma putting on a pot of boiling water on the wood stove while my Grandpa went out to the chicken coup to find his biggest chicken. That was the first time I ever saw a chicken run with its head cut off! This was his prized possession and the best gift he had to give us all to celebrate my brother's birthday. We had a wonderful family feast. 

The trip really taught me to appreciate how easy my life is and that you really don't need a lot of 'stuff' to be content. I think back on the experience and the life I lead today. I help people reach their dreams of financial freedom and peace. Not so they can be the richest person in the cemetery, but so they can choose how they and their families live. That is what is important and it's why I do what I do - to help them accomplish those goals through well thought out financial plans and advice. While I was writing my new book, Set for Life: Financial Peace of Mind Made Easy, I once again had the opportunity to visit Croatia and much has changed, but the people haven't. Their dreams are just as strong as is their love of life. It's proof to me that happiness is still found in the simplest pleasures, and true peace has little to do with the amount in your bank account.

John Svalina

John is Vice President and Portfolio Manager for TD Waterhouse Private Client Services in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He has just released his latest book: Set for Life: Financial Peace of Mind Made Easy

Bob Proctor Shares His Secrets

If I had to pick one thing that allowed me to go from pumping gas in a service station to spending 50 years founding, formulating and being chairman of a number of companies that operate globally in over 100 different countries I would have to attribute it to the coaching I received from the six great coaches and mentors in my life. I want to share with you the lessons I learned from them because I believe you will benefit greatly by them.

Focus on all the Reasons You Can Get What You Want

Ray Stanford entered my life when I was working in the fire hall in Toronto at age 26, exactly 50 years ago. I was earning $4,000 and I owed $6,000 and it never even entered my mind that I could get out of debt. He encouraged me to take an honest look at the results I was getting. He said "Bob, you keep talking about not having a formal education and using it as an excuse for getting poor results." He then said, "Those are only reasons why you're not getting what you want. Set those aside and start to focus on all the reasons you can get what you what." Then he gave me Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich.

He said, "Bob, if you will make the commitment to do exactly what this book says and exactly what I suggest, I'll help you change your life." I didn't really believe I could, but I believed he believed I could. And it was his belief in me that inspired me to begin to study. One year later, I was earning $175,000 a year and, from there, I took it to over a million a year. I didn't know what was happening to me, but I was beginning to realize a lot of the things that I had been thinking weren't true. I thought some people were lucky but others weren't. I was to find out that you and I have exactly the same potential.

Study, Study, Study

I then got a hold of Earl Nightingale's condensed narration of the Napoleon Hill book, Think And Grow Rich on a record. I began listening to that record every day. It was listening to Earl's voice and the information he was sharing that caused me to want to go to work with him. I moved my Family from Toronto to Chicago and joined the Nightingale-Conant Corporation. It was only after I got there that I realized I had a double win. I wasn't only going to work with Earl Nightingale - I would also work with Lloyd Conant. Earl and Lloyd became my 2 coaches. I loved working for them and I got an education that you couldn't buy. They literally originated the self help business in recorded fashion that we know today. In time, the Nightingale-Conant Corporation became the largest distributer of self help programs in the world, and I was working there with the people that originated it. Earl Nightingale taught me how to study. He said, "Don't just read the book, study i t. Attempt to understand the idea the author is attempting to communicate in each paragraph. To do that you might need to study that paragraph for a month."

Take the Lid Off Your Mind and Let it Soar

Lloyd Conant taught me to take the lid off my mind and let it soar. He said, "Bob, nothing is big or small, except our thinking makes it so. No one alive knows what we're capable of doing. Go after something big. Even if you miss, it can be exhilarating."

Know You Have a Magnificent Mind

It was there that I was introduced to Val Van De Wall. Val and I became great friends and he shared one idea with me that literally changed my life. It was a diagram of the mind. He explained we think in pictures but no one has ever seen the mind so when we think of it, we become confused. There is no order in the mind. A doctor friend of his came up with the original drawing. I refer to it as the Stick Person and I've shared it with people all over the world. If I were to be coaching you, I'd teach it to you.

Val introduced me to his coach, Dr. Harry Roder. Harry knew more about the mind than anyone I'd ever met. I'd spent countless hours with him and I began to understand exactly how the mind functions. In fact, Dr. John Mike from Florida said I taught him more about the mind in 1 year than he had learned in 4 years of medical school and 5 years of psychiatric training. I found that interesting because I had merely taught him what Dr. Roder had taught me.

These 5 men helped me answer a huge question . how and why did my life change? Without any formal education, without any business experience, in less than 5 years, I built a company that operated in 7 cities and 3 different countries and I really didn't understand how I had done it. They taught me what I had changed and how I had accomplished what I had accomplished. It was this magnificent knowledge that triggered the enormous desire in me to teach this information to as many people as I could. But I had one big problem . I was quiet and shy.

Believe You Can Do What You Believe Others Can Accomplish

I was afraid to stand up and ask a question let alone stand up and teach. It was at that point in the late sixties at the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago that a man named Bill Gove walked out on a stage and literally captivated an audience of 500 people. Merely by sharing information with them, he had that audience in the palm of his hand. I stood there thinking, "If only I could do that, then I could teach what I've learned." But the thought of it scared the daylights out of me.

At that point, I flashed back in my mind to a recording of Earl Nightingale's that I had listened to a thousand times. He said, "Now right here we come to a rather strange fact. We tend to minimize the things we can do, the goals we can accomplish, and for some equally strange reason we think other people can accomplish things that we cannot. I want you to understand that that is not true. You have deep reservoirs of talent and ability within you that you can bring to the surface and achieve all that you desire."

If you had asked me if I'd understood it, I probably would've said, "Of course!" But here I was watching Bill Gove do something I thought I couldn't. It was at that point that I started hearing the recording in my head and I realized if Bill can do it, I can do it. I switched my thinking to, "If I could do that, I could help people all over the world change their life." And it suddenly dawned on me that we are capable of doing anything. I'm not going to just do that, I'm going to get the man on the stage, Bill Gove, to teach me. and he did. Today I'm able to do what he did and get on the stage and share this valuable information. Bill Gove and I remained friends for over 35 years until he passed away a few years ago.

Pass It Along

All of these men are gone but their legacy lives on, through me and all of the other people they helped. That's how my life changed. These people taught me to earn millions of dollars and invest it back into a business that has helped millions of people. These lessons have allowed me to help people who were in financial trouble become prosperous and companies that were struggling grow into viable organizations. Any way a person can be helped, I've seen it happen because the answers are within us. And, because of what these great men taught me, I was able to pass it along.
Bob Proctor

If you would like to get more information on Bob Proctor's coaching, or facilitator programs send him an email to: bobproctor@bobproctor.com

My Father Is the Engineer

I heard a story about a train traveling through the night in a very violent rainstorm.

The lightning flashes were almost blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong gust winds rocked the train from side to side.

When the lightening flashed and lighted up the darkness, the passengers could see the rising water along the tracks.

This created terror in the minds of the passengers.

Several passengers noted that through all the noise, lightening and wind, one of the passengers, a little girl, seemed to be at perfect peace.

The adult passengers couldn't figure out why the little girl was so calm during all this excitement.

Finally, one passenger asked her, "How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might or could happen?"

The little passenger smiled and said, "My father is the engineer."

End of story.

That's the beauty of knowing that our God is in control everything.

Like the little girl in our story, she's at peace and calm despite people around her are panicking because her father is in control.

Trouble is,...the world is full of sins that feeds our mind unconsciously or subconsciously.

That's why we should be more active and aggressive in meditating God's Word whenever and wherever.

Born to Lose

I recently read a powerful story of Norman Peale from Christianity Today.

The story goes like this...

Once walking through the twisted little streets of Kowloon in Hong Kong, I came upon a tattoo studio.

In the window were displayed samples of the tattoos available. 

On the chest or arms you could have tattooed an anchor or flag or mermaid or whatever.

But what struck me with force was the three words that could be tattooed on one's flesh, Born to lose.

I entered the shop in astonishment and, pointing to those words, asked the Chinese tattoo artist, "Does anyone really have that terrible phrase, Born to lose, tattooed on his body?"

He replied, "Yes, sometimes."

"But," I said, "I just can't believe that anyone in his right mind would do that."

The Chinese man simply tapped his forehead and said in broken English, "Before tattoo on body, tattoo on mind."

Simply stated, if your mind is corrupted with fears, doubts, anger, bitterness and all the negativity in this world...your actions will also be corrupted.

Winning Is Not the Only Thing, but Kindness Is Everything.

Nobody loves motivational quotes more than I do. But be very careful because every once in a while you'll find a quote that might sound good but isn't true. And if you believe that quote, it might actually do some harm.

Let me tell you a story...

It was the most important Little League game of Eric's life. He was 11 years old and his team, the Pirates, were playing the Giants in the championship game.

It was the bottom of the sixth inning and the Pirates were ahead 2-1. But the Giants had the bases loaded with two outs and their best hitter was at bat.

He hit an easy fly ball to Bobby, the Pirate's right fielder. Bobby circled under the ball as everyone held their breath. The ball fell into his glove and then bounced out. Bobby scrambled for the ball, but by the time he decided where to throw it, two Giants had scored.

Final score:
Giants 3
Pirates 2

It would be "wait until next year" for the Pirates.

As the Pirates moped off the field, something totally unexpected happened. Their manager started yelling and screaming at Bobby.

"You lost the game for us. You cost us the championship!"

Crying, Bobby ran off the field and vanished into the woods.

After the game, Eric went to meet his parents in the parking lot, but his dad wasn't there. His mom said he had something to do. On the drive home, a dejected Eric saw something that startled him.

Way in the distance, Eric saw his dad walking Bobby home. His dad had his arm around the kid who probably felt like he didn't have a friend in the world.

Eric never forgot the kindness his dad showed that evening.

As the years passed, whenever Bobby saw Eric's dad, he always greeted him warmly and enthusiastically because he never forgot, either.

So whenever I hear stories like this one, I think of this quote:

"Winning is not the only thing, it's everything."

This quote makes my blood boil because the manager in the story actually believed it. He believed that winning a Little League game was "everything" and that the feelings of a fragile 11 year old boy were "nothing."

The truth of the matter is that winning is not the only thing. Winning is not everything.

Real winners don't necessarily hit home runs or make spectacular catches. Real winners know how to be kind. Eric's dad was a winner.
 

 

Here's a quote that is true and will make you a winner if you believe it:

"Winning is not the only thing, but kindness is everything."

Rob Gilbert
From Bits & Pieces