Read about the Great Ones in History [to Help You PROSPER in Adversity]

Reading a book is having a conversation with the author. And as you know, we are transformed by our conversations. 

Install a ritual of reading a book by one of the great women and men of the world for 60 minutes a day. Every day. 

Study how they set up their days, the beliefs on which they conducted their lives, the way in which they translated adversity into victory and how they continued to pursue their mission when they were exhausted, dispirited and attacked. 

Consider all you’ve endured. And how far you’ve come. Sure, you may not be perfect [I sure am not] yet you’re steadily rising. Just living means you’re being influenced and upgraded by the events you’re experiencing. 

Maybe today is the day you’ll become your own best fan. And your life’s loudest champion.

My new book “The Wealth Money Can’t Buy” is full of fresh ideas and original tools that I’m absolutely certain will cause quantum leaps in your positivity, productivity, wellness, and happiness. You can order it now by clicking here.

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Transcript

Every great hero was broken. If you were to look at Nelson Mandela, he suffered more than most people. If you look at Mother Teresa, she went through incredible adversity over the course of her journey. If you were to study Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Shakespeare and Tolstoy, If you look at anygreat artist, a Picasso, a Jean-Michel Basquiat, if you look at the great world builders, they all suffered,l et me put it to you this way with great love and respect, they all out-suffered the majority. You see, what most people do is this is why most good people lose. They stumble and they fall and they become heartbroken or disappointed by life's challenges that happens to every single one of us. I've gone through a lot of hardship in my life. When I was going through school, very few people believed in me,and I was dismissed and called very, very average. And the principal at the school I was at said, you're not even gonna get into university. And you might know my backstory on The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, but that was a self-published book. And I was at the American Booksellers Conference in Chicago with a cover of one of my books around my neck, with all the agents that were coming up the escalator.And when I was a self-published author, I used to go into bookstores and say, would you take three copies of my book? I'll sign them, could you put it on the shelf? And I was treated rudely and I was laughed at. And I was on radio shows and I was ridiculed. And then I've gone through a lot of personal pain in my own life. And I've been on the top of the mountain of victory and I must tell you, I have walked the lonely path in the darkness, in the valley of darkness. But Rumi, the great philosopher, said itso beautifully. He said, allow your heart to be broken over and over and over until it opens. And whatI'm suggesting to you is really to dial into this insight. All great heroes have been broken. But rather than blaming 27 years in imprisonment in the case of Nelson Mandela, rather than blaming his naysayers and his detractors, in the case of Mahatma Gandhi, rather than saying life is hard, why isn't greatness easy, in the case of a Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King Jr., rather than saying why did this happen to me in the case of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to someone on a bus. because she was being treated like a second class citizen because of the color of her skin. These great ones all had one thing in common. They leveraged their pain into power. They turned their tragedies into victories. And I'm not gonna suggest to you that that's an easy process, but if you simply start asking yourself, where am I blaming? my current external conditions for my lack of prosperity, my lack of energy, my lack of mastery, my lack of joyfulness and soulfulness. You actually start assuming something that's very powerful, and I've written about it in my books, and it's called APR, Absolute Personal Responsibility. And the day I grew up was the day I looked in the mirror and said, you know what, I'm responsible for my life, and I took absolute personal responsibility. It wasn't because of... the energy vampires and it wasn't because of the external conditions and it wasn't because of my past, it was because of me. And start saying to yourself, how can I turn my stumbling blocks into stepping stones? How can I turn my hard times into monuments of strength of character and the great virtues and transform pain into power?