Have you heard of a guy called Fred Shero?

No? Until recently, me neither. I’m not a big sports fan and Fred was a hugely successful Canadian NHL player and coach with a string of many hundreds of wins and numerous awards and accolades to his name. Pretty good going, but it’s not his sports record that I admire.

What I love Fred for is something that he once said:“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.”

Reading that sent lightning bolts through my spine, as there have been many times in my life when I’ve been sitting back, subconsciously waiting for the world to bring me the success I thought I wanted. To be completely honest with you, even now I sometimes find myself expecting someone else to ’set fire’ to me, waiting for spontaneous combustion rather setting myself on fire and finding my own success.

I have to catch myself when I slip into that way of thinking before it sets in, because Fred’s absolutely right.

People all too often wait for success to happen to them. “If only it would fall into place…”, “Surely someone will discover who I am and what I can do soon…” or “Just a little while longer and it’ll all come good…” are examples of the things we say while we’re waiting for success to come along.

Of course, the big thing I’ve come to learn is that it doesn’t work that way. Finding success - real success - isn’t a passive thing. It’s not something that happens to you like watching a movie or getting your hair cut. Finding success is something that happens in you.

Here are 4 things for you to think about:

1. What does success look like to you?

What comprises success? How much of it is material? How much of it is emotional? How much of it is spiritual? Get specific about what success does and doesn’t mean to you.

2. Imagine yourself towards the end of your life

Picture yourself towards the end of your life as happy and content as you can be. What is it about that future you that tells you as clear as day that they’re happy and content? Picture yourself walking up to them and asking them what it is that allowed them to reach that point. What single piece of advice can they give you?

3. How focused are you on working on your success?

What are you willing to do to get the kind of success you want? What are you waiting for the world to deliver to you so that you can have that success?

4. Are you driving your success?

How would it be if you were driving that success rather than waiting for it? What changes do you notice in how you do things and how you feel about things?

I’m not suggesting for one minute that you can’t ask others, the world, the universe or whatever higher power you happen to believe in for help. I’m not even suggesting that you become wholly focused on working towards your success. That’s missing the point.

The point is that we humans tend to be focused on working towards happiness and success and assume that until it comes along we have to spend time being unhappy, suffering or struggling.

You don’t have to struggle…

The truth is that things happen much easier and more readily if we don’t struggle, suffer or assume unhappiness - the assumption that you need to struggle or fight for your success is a false one. Real success comes much easier and becomes more consistent when you operate straight from that place of success instead of assuming it’s out there in the world somewhere.

Go after what’s important to you and get going on all those shiny things you’d love to have, do and be in life, but recognise how much more pleasureable it’s going to be when you’re feeling happy and successful rather than unhappy and unsuccessful.

Fred got it right. Don’t wait for spontaneous combustion or for someone to set light to you. Dive into your own happiness and success, engage with those things and operate from a place where they’re real and present.

Don’t wait, set yourself on fire.

原文鏈接：http://www.yeeyan.com/articles/view/49269/18789/dz

你聽說過一個(gè)名叫弗雷德·謝羅的人嗎？

沒有？我也才聽說。我不是體育迷，而弗雷德是個(gè)非常成功的加拿大全國曲棍球聯(lián)合會(huì)的運(yùn)動(dòng)員，指導(dǎo)了上百次的勝利，自己也獲得許多獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)和贊譽(yù)。成績相當(dāng)棒，不過，我欽佩的不是他的體育記錄。

我喜歡弗雷德是因?yàn)樗?jīng)說過：

“成功不是自燃的結(jié)果。你必須首先點(diǎn)燃自己。”

這句話震撼了我，因?yàn)樵谏钪?，我曾多次袖手旁觀，下意識(shí)地等待這個(gè)世界帶我走向自己想得到的成功。跟你說實(shí)話，我發(fā)現(xiàn)，甚至現(xiàn)在，自己有時(shí)還在期待著別人給自己點(diǎn)把火，寧愿等待自燃，而不愿點(diǎn)燃自己，去努力爭取自己的成功。

每當(dāng)那樣想的時(shí)候，我都努力控制自己，不再想下去，因?yàn)楦ダ椎抡f的絕對(duì)正確。

人們時(shí)常等待成功在自己身上發(fā)生?！爸灰辛祟^緒……”，“不久，一定會(huì)有人發(fā)現(xiàn)我的存在，了解我的能力……”或者“用不了多久，一切都會(huì)好了……”，這是我們在等待成功的到來時(shí)常說的一些話。

當(dāng)然，我得到的最重要的啟示是，那樣是得不到成功的。想要成功——真正獲得成功——不是被動(dòng)的事情。成功不像看場電影，或理個(gè)發(fā)那么簡單。

下面有四個(gè)你需要考慮的問題：

１．你認(rèn)為成功是什么樣子？

成功包括什么？有多少是物質(zhì)的？有多少是情感的？有多少是精神的？具體了解成功對(duì)自己意味著什么，以及不意味著什么。

２．想像自己走向生活的終點(diǎn)

盡可能幸福而滿足地想像出自己的生活終點(diǎn)。未來的你清清楚楚告訴你的幸福和滿足的是什么？想像你走向未來的自己，向他詢問是什么讓他達(dá)到那個(gè)目的。他能給你的唯一建議是什么？

３．在努力爭取成功的過程中你有多么專注？

你愿意為你想獲得的成功付出什么？為了能獲得成功，你在等待世界送給你什么？

４．你在推動(dòng)自己的成功嗎？

如果你正在推動(dòng)自己的成功，而不是等待成功，會(huì)怎么樣呢？你注意到自己如何做事情和如何揣摩事情有什么不同嗎？

我不是暗示你不能向自己信任的他人、世界、宇宙、或能力高于自己的一切請(qǐng)求幫助。我甚至不是暗示要你完全投入到爭取獲得成功的工作中去。那就誤解了我的意思。

我是說，人類容易集中精力投入到爭取幸福和成功的工作中，以為在目的達(dá)到之前，我們必須度過不幸的、痛苦的，或是苦斗的時(shí)光。

你不必非得苦斗……

事實(shí)上，如果我們不去苦斗、不受折磨、或不承受不幸，那么，成功會(huì)來得更容易，更迅速——為了獲得成功需要你奮斗或拚搏的假設(shè)是錯(cuò)誤的。只要你直接從成功的地方入手，而不去設(shè)想成功在世界的某個(gè)地方，真正的成功就會(huì)來得更容易，也會(huì)更長久。

追求對(duì)你來說重要的東西，著手做自己喜愛的那些閃光的事情，一生一世都這么做。不過，要承認(rèn)你正感受著幸福和成功，而不是不幸和失敗，那將成為多么大的快樂。

弗雷德說的很對(duì)。不要等待自燃，或別人為你提供火種。開始享受自己的幸福和成功，參與那些快樂的事情，就從它們實(shí)際存在的地方入手。

別等待，點(diǎn)燃自己吧。

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