Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 468 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Danger of Neglect – Philosophy Part 10

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 468 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 in a 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 will be adapting it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a steady week of client work and continuing to make progress on unpacking our Charlotte boxes. I do need to get refocused on the podcast-related projects soon, as they were set aside for a bit as our extra time has been consumed with moving our Charlotte household items and consolidating everything in The Big House.

I would like to make much faster progress on these various project, but continually remind myself that life is a marathon, not a sprint. As with most of life, it is the simple disciplines practiced every day that will allow us to succeed at any project, no matter how large and overwhelming it may appear at times. This is why it is so important that we Develop a Powerful Personal Philosophy.

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 first trail of this extended trek as we cover…

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek–Philosophy, Part 10

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

1. Philosophy
2. Attitude
3. Activity
4. Results
5. Lifestyle

Last week on our hike we focused on the formula for success which is actually quite simple because success is made up of a few simple disciplines practiced every day. As we continue our trek today, we will focus on “The Danger of Neglect” and the importance of “Learning to Listen to the Right Voice”:

1. The Danger of Neglect

The things that are easy to do are also easy not to do. The primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should can be summed up in a single word – neglect.

It is not the lack of money. The banks are full of money, and the government continues to print more. It is not the lack of opportunity. America continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities of any nation in the last six thousand plus years of recorded history, and these opportunities are spreading globally. It is not the lack of books. Libraries and online sources are full of books, and many of them are free! It is not the schools. While there are some issues in education, the classrooms are full of good teachers, and there is nothing stopping you or anyone else from learning on their own. There are also plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors, and advisors to help you in any area of life.

Everything you would ever need to become rich, powerful, sophisticated, and satisfied with life is within your reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect. Don’t let this be the case in your life.  You have heard the expression, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” You may debate the validity of this familiar quotation, but what if it were true? Recent studies have shown that it is. If by performing that one simple act or that one simple discipline, you could be more healthy, alert and active throughout your life, then would it not make sense, and would it not be easy to eat that apple every day?

Assuming the quotation is true, why don’t you eat an apple a day, every day to maintain your health? If it is that easy and there is such a tremendous reward attached to this discipline, why don’t you do it? Maybe you do, and if so, well done. The reason most people do not, because the things that are easy to do are also easy not to do. That is how subtle failure is. Failure is largely a function of neglect. You fail to do the small things that you should do, and this seemingly insignificant license carries over to those things that are important to do. Small neglects have a way of becoming major oversights with the passage of enough time.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout your entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled rich and satisfying life. The danger of neglect lies in not doing the simple things because it is easy to do.

2. Learn To Listen To The Right Voice

Let me ask you this question. Why are you so frequently inclined to do the things that are least important but so reluctant to do the essential things that success and happiness demand? What is that voice that whispers to you, “Just let it all slide? Why worry about all that discipline nonsense?” It is the voice of negativity, a voice that has grown increasingly stronger over the years as a result of being around the wrong influences, thinking the wrong thoughts, developing the wrong philosophy, and making the wrong decisions.

Part of the solution to quieting the voice of negativity is learning to listen to the still, small voice of success that resides within you. The voice of success is constantly struggling to be heard above the loud promptings of the voice of failure. Your own free agency allows you to follow whichever voice you choose.

Every time you allow yourself to succumb to the voice of the dark side of life and are persuaded to repeat errors instead of mastering new disciplines, the voice of negativity grows stronger. Conversely, each time you listen to the urgings of the voice of success, you will be persuaded to turn off the television with its 24/7 spewing of propaganda on the right and the left. Instead, you will pick up a good book, open your journals and record your thoughts, or invest a quiet moment pondering where your current actions may be leading you. It is then that the voice of success responds to these new disciplines and grows in strength and volume as each day passes. Become a disciple of success because each new discipline is another step forward.

You can never totally eradicate the voice of failure from within you. It will always be there, urging you to think, feel, and act in a way that is contrary to your own best interests. Even with this realization, you can effectively silence this destructive influence by developing a sound philosophy and a positive attitude about life and your future.

Creating a new philosophy is actually easy to do. Making new and better decisions is easy to do. Developing a new attitude is easy to do. All of the worthwhile and rewarding topics that we have covered over the past few weeks are easy to do, but the major challenge, the one that could leave you with pennies instead of fortune and trinkets instead of treasures is that it is also easy not to do. The choice is ultimately yours, and it is your responsibility.

You must keep a watchful eye on the subtle differences between success and failure and be ever mindful of the inner urging that would have you repeating costly errors rather than developing new disciplines.

You must each make your own conscious decision to reach out for the good life through the refinement of your thoughts and the careful examination of the potential consequences of your accumulated errors. You must not allow yourself to think that the errors do not matter. They do. You must not allow yourself to assume that a lack of discipline in one small area of your life will not make a difference. It will. You must not allow yourself to believe that you can have all that you want to have and become all that you wish to be without making any changes in the way we think about life. You must.

The journey toward the rich and satisfying life begins with a serious commitment to changing any aspect of your current philosophy that has the capacity to come between you and your dreams. The remaining trails that you will hike on your trek of life can be of little value if you have not first made the firm resolve to hike the trail of developing a powerful personal philosophy completely.

Everything is within your reach if you will read the books, study the information that is available, use the journals, practice the disciplines, and wage a new and vigorous battle against neglect. These are some of the fundamental activities that lead not only to the development of a new philosophy but to a new life filled with joy and accomplishment. Each new and positive activity weakens the grip of failure and steers you ever closer to the destination of your choice. Each new, disciplined step taken toward success strengthens your philosophical posture and increases your chances of achieving a well-balanced life. The first step in realizing this worthy achievement lies in being willing to take on the The Five Trails of Life’s Trek by first developing a powerful personal philosophy.

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly as we learn How to Develop a Powerful Personal Philosophy on our continued hike up the Trail of Philosophy today. This is not an easy hike to make. It requires changing your thinking and changing your habits from failures to success. It requires a few simple disciplines practiced each day and not succumbing to neglect.

Next week on Philosophy Friday we will move onto our 2^nd trail, which is the Trail of Attitude. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life. Our next trek will be Motivation Monday as we explore more trails of how to get and stay motivated to bring value to your world. 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.

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy these daily doses of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person when you meet with them and invite them to come along with us each day. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek so each trek will be downloaded to you 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!