Conversations of a slightly complex nature

Becoming All You Can Be
By Jim Rohn

How do you know when you're successful? Do you have to be a millionaire? No, all we ask of you is that you earn all you possibly can. If you earn ten thousand dollars a year and that's the best you can do, that's enough. God and everything else will see to it that you're okay. The key is to just do the best you can. If it's ten thousand dollars a year, wonderful! If it's a hundred thousand dollars a year, wonderful! If it's a million dollars a year, wonderful!

It doesn't matter whether you earn ten thousand dollars a year or a million dollars a year as long as you've done the best you can. The essence of life is growth. It is doing the best you possibly can.

Here's what is interesting: humans are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can. Humans are the only life form that will settle for less. All other life forms except human beings strive to their maximum capacity. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. You've never heard of a tree growing half as high as it could. No. Trees don't grow half. Trees send their roots down as deep as possible. They stretch their limbs up as high as possible, and produce every leaf and every fruit possible.

As matter of fact, you've never heard of a human growing halfway-physically, that is. We keep growing until we're done. It's genetically coded. That's a part of life that we can't control. It's the growing of our minds that we can control, but we tend to neglect this. It tends to get away from us. All life forms inherently strive toward their maximum potential except human beings.

Why wouldn't we strive to become all we can be, to fulfill our potentials? Because we have been given the dignity of choice. It makes us different than alligators and trees and birds. The dignity of choice makes us different than all other life forms.

And here's the choice: to become part of what we could be, enough to get by; or to become all that we can be. My best advice for you is to choose the "all." Earn all you can. Make all the friends you can. Read as many books as you can. Develop as many skills as you can. See and do as much as possible. Make as much fortune as possible. Give as much of it away as possible. Strive for the maximum. There's no life like it. Pick up the challenge. Go for it. When you're focusing on growth, it's easy to do all you can. It's easy to succeed. It's easy to have financial freedom. The more you do, the more you get.

This one's a bit on the serious side, but it agrees totally with my philosophy: do your best to achieve your potential.
- B

And if you really read it right, it's absolute rubbish. Read into the arguments, read between the logic. If you really believe choice is what defines "human", respect that anyone who chooses to not do what he/she can is actually more human than you are. A tree is defined by its cells, it grows because it can, and i really dont know if it can choose not to grow. Tie a wire around a tree trunk and it grows, even if the wire cuts into the trunk.

Be human, choose to eat sleep and be merry; and most importantly find every possible excuse to avoid work..
-V

Don't you think doing your best is something you owe yourself?? may be i am wrong, but for a lazy bum like me, that's the only way to motivate myself :(

If doing your best means taking it easy to achieve relaxation/peace of mind, then so be it...which i just did :D
-B

Lady, perhaps the most sensible and logical reason for doing or not doing something is "because I want to". Every other reason fails. And btw, why the heck would you "owe something to yourself"? Next thing you know you'll be lending yourself stuff and talking to yourself. Get on with the reality program ;)
-V

arey oye, i already talk to myself ;) haven't started the "lending stuff to myself" bit, shd try that if i get bored :)
-B

I dont agree that "humans are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can"..there are other life forms too which do less...like ur bosses...they do less than they can & delegate the rest of the stuff to you...

Humans also send their roots deep in..u should look at the toe nails of my colleague...we dont let me walk on soft soil or he'll get stuck there ..but then we could always stand under him for shade & dogs can pee on him..

Essence of life is not just growth..it could be vanilla or pineapple or rose essence..

And even if we have the dignity of choice we still struggle...just ask any guy the struggle he goes through every morning..he is faced by a severe choice when he puts on his trousers...should he fasten the hooks first & then zip up or does he do it the otherway round...these choices have troubled mankind for ages...thank god for elastic waist band wala pants...man can now spend his time on other important things like digging his nose .

I agree with V that for doing or not doing something is because 'i want to".this is what the sulabh shauchalay people also found out when they did a research on why ppl were still not using them....

u should not let such pseudo philisophy stuff bother you or shape your life...there are other things to worry about ..like ....are u more scared when u are 'shit scared' or 'scared shitless'..wonder would Neishitsche would have thought about it..
-P