Stepping Stones to Success by Jerald Simon

I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, "Music, Motivation, and More - The Positivity Podcast."

My name is Jerald Simon, and I am the host of "Music, Motivation, and More - The Positivity Podcast.

I am the founder of Music Motivation® (http://www.musicmotivation.com) and the creator of the Cool Songs Club (https://www.coolsongsclub.com).

In this episode, 010 - "Stepping Stones to Success", I talk about the following:

1. Intro/Opening: You are only a few steps away from success. 

2. Positive Perceptions: "There are many stepping stones..." pg. 34 from Perceptions, Parables, and Pointers by Jerald Simon

3. Motivation in a Minute (a motivational/inspirational topic): "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up..." pg. 170 from Perceptions, Parables, and Pointers by Jerald Simon

4. The Music Within: Pulse by Jerald Simon (from the album "Pulse" techno-pop music - by Jerald Simon

5. Poetry that Motivates - "What is Success" pg. 19 from my first poetry book, "The 'As If' Principle" (motivational poetry) featuring 222 motivational. inspirational poems I have written.

As a music educator, I have written 25 music books featuring original music I have composed and teaching piano students worldwide about music theory, improvisation, and composition. I refer to them as Theory Therapy, Innovative Improvisation, and Creative Composition. You can learn more about the various music books I have written on my website, http://www.musicmotivation.com. -

I began composing what have become known as Cool Songs to help motivate teens to want to play the piano - the FUN way. You can learn more about the fun, COOL SONGS I composed each month that have accompaniment minus tracks so students can play along with drums, guitars, keyboard synths, and other instruments and sound effects on my COOL SONGS website at https://www.coolsongsclub.com -

Here is a link where you can download a FREE PDF book on motivating teen piano students ("20 Ways to Motivate Teen Piano Students to Want to Play the Piano - the FUN way): http://www.coolsongsclub.com/freebook. After entering your email where you'd like the FREE PDF sent, the page will then refresh and you can learn more about the COOL SONGS Club.

You can join the COOL SONGS Club FaceBook group on my COOL SONGS FaceBook group page at this link: http://facebook.com/groups/coolsongsclub/ - If you know anyone who would be interested in joining this new group, please invite them. I'm excited to share ideas, suggestions, and hear your thoughts, ideas, and tips on motivating and inspiring piano students - the FUN way!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

These stepping stones to success are the small steps that help us scale our lives to greater Heights of success because we continually press forward even when things seem dark, even when things seem difficult, we push ourselves, we learn, we grow, we fail at times, but success is about moving forward.

Speaker 2: 0:32

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Speaker 1: 0:32

come to music motivation and more the positivity podcast. I am your host, Gerald Simon. Every weekly podcast is sponsored by various businesses, groups, associations, and organizations. Today's podcast has been sponsored by the cool songs club

Speaker 2: 0:59

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Speaker 1: 1:01

Today's podcast is titled stepping stones to success. I want everyone to know that you are only a few steps away from success. Now, it may feel at times as if you have so, so far to go, and that may be true if you look at the long road ahead, but the simple steps to success are truthfully taken one step at a time and day in and day out, one hour after, another minute by minute. These stepping stones to success are the small steps that help us scale our lives to greater Heights of success because we continually press forward even when things seem dark. Even when things seem difficult, we push ourselves, we learn, we grow, we fail at times, but success is about moving forward and the simple steps to success. Help us realize that we are not alone, that we are all pushing forward and that we all can help each other improve and be better today than we were yesterday. For the positive perceptions segment of this podcast, I would like to read a paragraph on page 34 from my book. Perceptions, parables and pointers. This is what it says. There are many stepping stones on the road to success. One of the very first steps towards success is believing in yourself. You must have confidence in your abilities. You must believe in your potential. If you don't believe you can succeed, it won't matter what you do or attempt to do in life. You must believe in yourself. Don't focus on what you can't do. Focus on what you can. Don't focus on what you don't know. Focus on what you do know. Stop thinking about what you have not accomplished and begin dreaming about what you will accomplish. Start your steps towards success today. Your success is only a few steps away and so I'd like to have you think about what simple, small steps towards success you would like to accomplish today and focus on doing today. Sometimes when we focus on success, we think about monetary gain and that may be a portion of success, but we need to think about spiritual success, physical success. We need to think about our relationships. We need to think about increasing our intelligence. See, we can be successful in many different areas of life and yet far too often, too many people only focus on being successful as being materially well-off, wealthy, well to do, and then they compare themselves. If they do not measure up to the standards of success that have been set by society, I believe that we can break those standards of success. The truly successful person is the individual who knows what they want to do with their life. They are the man or the woman who has a plan who says, I'm going to accomplish this or I'm going to learn how to do this, or one day I want to become this, and then they begin to work toward that goal. See, the truly successful person is the individual who knows what they want out of life and knows that they can make a difference regardless of what others tell them, regardless of the setbacks they encounter along the way. Now for some, this may mean great financial reward. This may be the ticket to becoming successful financially speaking. For others, they may set their sights on improving their own spiritual standing and helping those around them focus more on their feelings, their emotions, things of the spirit. Now that then becomes their reward. They serve others, they help others without expecting anything in return, but they are wanting to help people and that then becomes their success. Sometimes we hear about the starving artist. Now the starving artist syndrome as sometimes I refer to it is more of a mental condition. Yes, sometimes and I've been there as an artist where you try to figure out how you can support your family with your music, with your artwork, with your photography, with your poetry, whatever it may be. Because even though you have created something, you have not learned how to sell it, which there's a difference between the creation process and then the distribution process. However, those artists are successful even though society may tell them they are not, they still are successful. See, everyone can be successful at what they do when they do it well, when they do it intentionally, when they are focused on trying to commit to what they have told themselves and the world they will do, I would recommend five simple steps to help you become more successfully minded. One, first and foremost, you need to believe in yourself. If you cannot believe in yourself, you will not be able to see yourself as a success. That belief is paramount because if you don't believe you can succeed, you never will. It does not matter what people say to you, what people do for you. If you don't believe in yourself, it does not matter who believes in you. So the first stepping stone, I would tell individuals to believe in themselves. Step two is investing in yourself. Now when you invest in yourself, that may mean making sacrifices. That may mean spending more time studying, reading books, learning, increasing your intelligence, going to the gym to exercise workout. So you need to set aside time for yourself because it's an investment in you. If you want to learn more, you need to read more. You need to study. If you want to make more money, you need to learn about the basics of money. You need to take some budgeting classes, courses you need to to understand how money works. You need to learn about investing. You need to start saving, setting aside money. If you want to be more physically fit or a more health conscious, then you need to spend time at the gym. You need to set aside time every day to work out. Set up a schedule where you run maybe two, three times a week. You play sports. See you are investing in yourself. So step one is to believe in yourself. Step two is to invest in yourself. Step three is to create a game plan. Now, in other podcasts, I've talked about this before, but it's creating a map. Think of it as a roadmap for success, where you have your desired destinations all mapped out, what you would like to learn, where you wouldn't like to go, who you would like to become if you don't know what you would like out of life, what you hope to accomplish, who you eventually will become. You're never going to achieve that because first you need to know where you're going, know what you're doing. And that comes by creating a roadmap. Step four is to pay the price. Now, this is all about our work ethic. Again, sometimes it, it takes sacrifice, it takes commitment, it takes perseverance day in and day out. The work may be hard physically, it may be hard. Mentally, we may need to build up our own stamina and strength so that we can be prepared. Sometimes it may require late nights. Other times it may demand early mornings. It's a sacrifice. It takes work. But we need to learn how to work and we need to increase our work ethic. Step five is to never give up. Far too many people quit right before they begin to see any true success. You think of how many piano books are produced that are level one piano books. It's because the market knows that they will have tens of thousands of individual start the piano, but only a handful will continue on. So unfortunately the way the industry is set up, they will produce tens of thousands of book one books and then with each advancement and each level, as the levels become more and more difficult, the amount of books decreases that are produced and printed by the publishing company because the publishing company, they know they're going to sell a lot of beginning level books. They understand that people are not going to stick with it. They're going to quit, they're going to start something and then they won't finish it. And sadly we see this in every area of life. People start a weight loss diet and then they quit. They move on to something else and then they start a different weight loss program. Now if we will stick with something, whatever it may be, we will begin to see results. Most paths lead to success. Some paths are a little easier, some are a little more challenging, but most of the paths that we can take will take us where we want to go and we will become successful. Now you can see small and simple successes, which is what you need to have and you need to be able to create situations where you see simple successes along your way because that then gives you more motivation to continue doing what you are doing. And most people when they don't see those small successes, they stop and then they are not prepared for the true success that is coming. It's as if they are digging in a tunnel and they're mining gold and they work day in and day out and they spend so much money, they've invested in themselves, they have invested in finding out where they want to go. See that they've done all the steps along the way. Initially they had the belief and then they invested in themselves and then they created a roadmap. They knew where they wanted to go and then they worked as hard as they could. But if they don't persevere, if they don't stick with it, if they don't continue, if they don't keep doing what they began doing initially that led them down that path, they will quit. And you think of a, a gold miner digging in a cave and maybe they're looking for precious or they're trying to mine precious gemstones and they dig and dig and dig and they create an amazing tunnel and they get so far into the tunnel that then they, they think all is lost and they quit and give up. They turn around, they stop. Even though they've put so much time and effort and work into what they have started, they don't see it through. And because they don't see it through, they don't finish. And if we could see behind that rock where they have been digging, it may be only another five or 10 feet. And yet they quit and they gave up and they turned around before. Seeing the true success and then they start something new and then they have to start back over at the very beginning level and it takes time. That is why once we have invested in ourselves, believed in ourselves, we have created a game plan and we have put in the work. We need to continue doing what we believe in because if we truly believe in ourselves and if we truly believe in what we're doing and we've created that roadmap, that game plan, then we will become successful. We will accomplish what we want to accomplish, whatever it may be. So focus on that in all you do for the motivation. In a minute segment of this podcast, I would like to read a quote. This is on page one 70 from my book perceptions, parables and pointers and it says this, our greatest weakness lies in giving up the most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time and that goes hand in hand with the last or fifth step that I talked about just a minute ago explaining about continuing to persevere, to keep going. Don't stop, stay focused, stay committed. And as Thomas Edison said, the most certain way to succeed is always to try. Just one more time for the music within portion of this podcast, I would like us to listen to pulse. This is a techno pop instrumental piece that I composed from my album. Also titled pulse and this has a very techno pop sound about it has a lot of interesting instrumentation, but it features the piano is one of the primary instruments, but it has a lot of keyboards since drums, keypads, electronic sounds and sound effects. So it's really kind of a fun, upbeat piece. Great for working out. A lot of gyms will play this to get people hyped up and excited about working out, but listen to pulse. Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy this.

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Speaker 3: 16:39

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Speaker 1: 17:04

Okay.

Speaker 2: 17:28

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Speaker 3: 17:37

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Speaker 2: 18:27

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Speaker 3: 18:51

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Speaker 1: 19:22

for the poetry that motivates portion of this podcast, I would like to read a poem I wrote from my book the as if principle, motivational poetry and this features, this book features 222 motivational poems I have written, but let me read this poem is titled what is success? What is success? Success is a series of accomplishments woven together with work. Success is the dreamer who does what he loves, not the slacker who knows how to shirk. Success is a series of lines that wrinkle with the times. It's the wisdom of age, the all-knowing Sage who knows where to draw the line. Success is the servant to the master who knows the path he will walk each day it is given to him who has prepared a plan and is already on his way. Now, it's a short poem and I wrote it for myself as all of these poems in this book. Truly they were written for me to help inspire and motivate me to keep going, to do what I needed to do, but I want to read this. The second paragraph says, success is a series of lines that wrinkle with the times. Now, truthfully, you can be young and be successful, but there is a level of success as you grow older because you see that what truly is most important is not what you thought may have been the most important area to focus on when you were younger. As you get older, you start thinking about family, you start thinking about a legacy. People come first. You focus more on serving, helping, giving, learning, living and less about stress and worry and anxiety and about accomplishing everything on your to do list and trying to be the perfect person and trying to gain as much success, neuro, rioty, wealth, all the things that the world is trying to push you to achieve. The acclamations, the applaud, the fame, the fortune. As you get older, you start to realize that those things don't really matter as much. People do. Creating memories, it means more and you start to shift your perspective of success to what is truly most important for you. Thinking of your children, thinking of your grandchildren, thinking of your spouse, the level of success that you have been so preoccupied with obtaining or achieving becomes less and less important as the quality of the success. Being successful with your spouse, being successful as a father or a mother being successful as a grandparent. These things start to matter more and it's a shift on what is truly the most important. The last paragraph of that poem says, success is the servant to the master who knows the path he will walk each day it is given to him who has prepared a plan and is already on his way. So that is my hope that you will come up with a plan and that you will already be on your way to success. Because success is truly only a few steps away. It takes planning. It takes hard work. It takes dedication. It takes sacrifice and commitment. But to be successful at anything, you need to believe in yourself. You need to invest in yourself and you need to do what it takes. You need to work as hard as you can, but realize that where you spend your time, how you spend your time, it can have a lasting impact and influence on you, on your spouse, your children, grandchildren, your loved ones, your neighbors. So focus on what truly is most important to you. Only can decide what success means to you. Don't let the world dictate what success is or how successful you should or could become. You know what success looks like to you. You know how you want to be successful. So learn about it. Implement these five simple steps to success that I talked about today. But once you come up with a game plan and once you start working, realize that you are the best resource you have. Be positive, be optimistic, increase that optimistic outlook, find the good in yourself and in others and do your best in all you do. Hope you've enjoyed this. Have a wonderful day. Keep up the great work every day. We have an opportunity to do our best, to be our best, to be better today than we were yesterday. And that is what I am striving to do. I'm not perfect. I know no one is perfect, but we all are learning together. We all are improving. It's just one step after another, step by step, day by day, minute by minute, hour by hour. And as we do these little things along the way, they will help us improve and be better. So thanks for listening. Smile all the while. Be happy. Do your best and have a great week. Until next time. Keep up the great work and do your best. Thanks so much. See you. Bye. Subscribe to music motivation and more the positivity podcast with Gerald Simon to receive updates about each new weekly podcast. Every Monday a new podcast is released to help motivate and inspire individuals to learn to grow, to do, to be and become the very best they can become. These are all motivational messages that inspire men and women of all ages to do and be their best, to set goals, to work on improving who they are and who they would like to become. Thank you again for listening. Connect with us on social media to become part of the conversation as we all work together to motivate each other to do and be our best. You can learn more about my music and various books I've published by visiting my website, music motivation.com my music is available on Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, iTunes, and can be found on all online music stores and streaming science. My motivational books and poetry books can be purchased on Amazon from Barnes and noble, various online bookstores, and also traditional bookstores as well. If you'd like to learn more about motivating and inspiring piano students, please visit my website, cool songs, club.com to learn how and why I began composing what had become known as fun, cool songs. These cool songs were composed to help motivate piano students the fun way, especially during their teenage years. So I hope you check it out and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything. My contact info is found on my website, music motivation.com but I would love to connect with you and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. Thank you again for listening. Hope you guys have a great week. See you. Bye.