Success Comes From The Soul

"I have discovered that no method is strong enough to give us discipline and passion. That doesn't come in a system. That comes from the soul. Go inside and find those two words and make them active in your life and then a lot of methods will work for you." - John Maxwell

I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by a local paper as a high school student because of a test score. They asked about my success.

"Formulas and rules," was part of my reply.

I hope, for the sake of the values Mom and Dad taught me, that I was explaining a successful test strategy rather than a life approach.

I suppose there are some rules that apply to most people:

- They want to feel that their lives have a purpose.
- They want to be loved, or at least to belong.

Some formulas seem to work pretty well, too:

- If you smile at someone, they'll smile back.
- If you tell someone how they should live, they'll resist.

There is an absolute truth too, that everyone is different. Which ironically is why using a method, or formulas and rules on people is pretty useless ultimately.

Discipline and passion, that's a different story. Because we do have complete control over ourselves. When we plug ourselves into something that brings us alive, when we steel ourselves against the ups and downs of the hour, we achieve self-mastery. Then instead of viewing success is something to be chased, we take the opposite view - imposing our success upon all that we touch.