Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 573 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Value of Confidence – Results

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 573 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

Currently, we are on an extended multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I have adapted it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This week has been extremely busy with client work as we have multiple projects we are currently working on. In addition to that, we are finishing up the renovation of the downstairs bathroom. We are replacing the claw foot tub with a 4’ shower unit, replacing the toilet, adding a cabinet/counter space and replacing all the light fixtures. We are on week three of the project, and hopefully, this will be the last week.

We also have the special treat of having our grandson Kip with us this week, but it does change the dynamic of our work schedule. We certainly enjoy the blessed time having him stay with Granny and Gramps for the week.

It is a balance to cover all basis because we realize that if any aspect is neglected, then it will intensify future challenges. As we continue on our extended trek, our 4^th trail is The Trail of Results. Today we will explore the value of confidence in determining our results.

If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and continue on the fourth trail of this extended trek as we cover…

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek – Results Part 7

As a reminder, our overall extended trek covers these five trails:

1. Philosophy

2. Attitude

3. Activity

4. Results

5. Lifestyle

1. Neglect Intensifies Future Challenges

While challenges can serve a worthwhile function in helping you to achieve your goals, there is no need to deliberately invite them into your life. Ten years from now you will be somewhere, the question is where? Now is the time to fix the next ten years. Life will present you with enough obstacles without purposely attracting them to you.

One of the best ways to minimize future challenges is to anticipate the results of your current neglect. Anticipating the results of your current neglect begins with asking yourself important questions about your attention to the basics:

• How many books have you read in the past ninety days?
• How regularly did you exercise last month?
• How much of your income have you invested this past year?
• How many letters or emails have you written in the past week?
• How many times have you written in your journal this month?

The answers to these and many other questions will provide you with vital information about your potential for progress and future rewards. If you cannot discipline yourself in the small things, you will lack the discipline to capitalize on the great opportunities when they appear. Every error defeated by disciplined activity paves the way for your future success. That is how the trails of life are completed, a single step at a time.

2. The Value of Confidence In Determining Results

If you are to pursue the rich and satisfying life, you should never settle for less than the best you can be. Doing less than your best has a disastrous effect. It erodes self-confidence and diminishes your self-worth. Doing less than you can inevitably affects your attitude. It leads to a bottomless pit of degrading emotions and produces embarrassing and discouraging results.

Doing less than you can creates guilt, guilt leads to worry, and worry gives birth to self-doubt. Then comes the inevitable loss of self-confidence, and the blueprint for failure is now virtually complete. The less capable you feel, the less you do. And less activity means fewer results. As your results decline, so does your attitude. The negative spiral has now begun, and your life is soon spinning out of control.

And how did it all begin? When you allowed yourself to do less than you could have done. The growing weight of things left undone undermines your confidence not only in yourself, but also in the possibility of a better future.

There is a solution for those whose lives are caught up in this negative spiral. By going to work on your attitude, you put yourself in a better position to begin the process of taking action. From increased activity, you can produce new results. From these early results, your self-confidence will once again begin to grow. As your confidence increases, you push yourself into new activities which produce new results, and that improves your attitude even more. Suddenly, what was once a life spinning out of control is a life headed toward the pull of the future. It begins with doing whatever is necessary to change your attitude. This is the beginning point of all human progress and achievement.

Most of the time the best prescription for a poor attitude is activity. You may find yourself with an acceptable attitude, and need only involvement in which to apply your talent. It has been wisely said, “Weak is he that permits his attitude to control his actions, and strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts.” Whether the recipe for success begins with activity or attitude, the essential step is to go to work on one or the other, or preferably both. It is inactivity, regardless of the cause, that is unacceptable.

Action can begin with writing a long-overdue letter or making an important, but difficult telephone call. It can be the purchase of a journal or the reading of a book. It can be the simple act of turning off the TV or radio and taking a training course, listening to a podcast, or reading a good book that will provide new insights.

Whenever your life is turned upside down, you must find something worth doing to change things for the better. You may do it with wavering confidence in the beginning. You may have to do it despite the presence of fear. Inevitably, your doubts and fears will step aside when your unyielding commitment to take action comes into the picture. The results produced by these initial acts of faith will become the foundation upon which to build a whole new life.

Results are more than just an objective; they are the seeds of future joy and prosperity. Every result we experience, no matter how small, is another certain step taken toward a life of achievement.

Ultimately our self-confidence is built on the confidence that we have in God to give us the wisdom, insight, and understanding to carry on. As Hebrews 10:35-36 tells us, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue our hike today on the Trail of Results.  Today you learned that you must not fall prey to neglect and that you must value confidence to determine positive results. This applies to all areas of your life.

Next Philosophy Friday we will finish up the Trail of Results before moving on to our fifth and final Trail of Lifestyle. So join us next Friday for these additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek is on Monday, and we will continue our series called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack where we will equip you with the tools you need to impact the lives of others. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe through iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!