Salesman’s Prayer

Prayer From The Greatest Salesman In The World … by Og Mandino

Oh creator of all things, help me. For this day I go out into the world naked and alone, and without your hand to guide me I will wander far from the path which leads to success and happiness.

I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my abilities; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.

You have taught the lion and the eagle how to hunt and prosper with teeth and claw. Teach me how to hunt with words and prosper with love so that I may be a lion among men and an eagle in the market place.

Help me to remain humble through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from mine eyes the prize that will come with victory.

Assign me tasks to which others have failed, yet guide me to pluck the seeds of success from their failures. Confront me with fears that will temper my spirit; yet endow me with courage to laugh at my misgivings.

Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals; yet help me to live this day as though it be my last.

Guide me in my words that they may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossip that none be maligned.

Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying and trying again; yet show me the way to make use of the law of averages. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity; yet endow me with patience which will concentrate my strength.

Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown; yet grant me compassion for the weaknesses in others. Suffer me to know that all things shall pass; yet help me to count my blessings of today.

Expose me to hate so it not be a stranger; yet fill my cup with love to turn strangers into friends.

But all these things only if thy will. I am a small and a lonely grape clutching the vine yet thou hast made me different from all the others. Verily, there must be a special place for me. Guide me. Show me the way.

Let me become all you planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by you to sprout in the vineyard of the world.

Help this humble salesman.

Guide me, God.

Goal-setting for the Every Day Person

Why Goals?

Why set goals? Why document priorities? Why plan your life? Why live life on purpose?

Setting smart goals offers focus and efficiency of effort. Goal setting offers a father the opportunity to live their life with passion and do what’s most important to them.  These key purposes offer a life lived on purpose.

Putting your passion on paper and discovering what your true desires are, committing to these things in the form of goals, is a vehicle to achievement and accomplishment. When you truly discover your passions and desires and are willing to write out cogent outcomes in the form of smart goals you are on your way to living a life with purpose and fulfillment.

What Is The Purpose Of Goals?  For one thing, goals concentrate and give focus to our personal energy. When we get the goal setting process right, they do this very well. By defining what we want to do and then set reasonable time limits in which to get things done, goals bring out the best in us. With focused, concentrated goals and reasonable plans to achieve them, we will behave very much like a laser beam. Focused goals, like the light of a laser, can excite and motivate a wide variety of spectacular tasks and follow-through behaviors of all kinds for us.
Goals need to be smart, specific, time driven, challenging, written, and achievable. Vague and hazy goals are not goals at all. Goals must be specific, periodically reviewed, shared with others, and flexible. It’s okay to change your goals and rearrange priorities on the fly. Flexibility is a hallmark of good goal setting. Priorities change-people change-situations change-circumstances change… and so should your goals. Our focus changes as our lives change. It’s okay to change your goals.
The power of the mind, coupled with sustained effort, brainpower, focus, and hard work and diligence create an unstoppable force in achievement and overcoming obstacles. Bringing visions to reality requires the ability to dream dreams, see the big picture vision, and then determine to realize the dreams. Goal setting as a life practice and purpose driven priority planning is a great means to fulfill and leverage your gifts and talents and to live your life and purpose.
You must do the work. You must do the planning and preplanning, execution and review. In order for goal achievement and accomplishment to take place, you must do the work. There is no free lunch in goal achievement. There are no shortcuts. There are no ways to cheat the system. You must do the work.
You must be incremental, methodical, and sequential. This will require faithfulness day to day perhaps for years-but it will be worth it when you achieve what you truly set out to do. Doing something incrementally for 30 minutes a day is far more compelling than the periodic spasms we often have which lead to inconsistent effort and therefore inconsistent results.
Faithfulness in goal setting fuels passion and accomplishment. You must set out to be faithful, diligent, and methodical even when—or especially when—you don’t feel like it. To work on your goals daily, despite feelings of the contrary, is necessary to achievement of goals and therefore a life with purpose. To fulfill your goals, you must be faithful, to be incremental. It takes a diligent faithfulness and loyalty to the mission to go forward on a daily basis in the face of obstacles and challenges, to press onward towards your life goals and accomplishments.
Goal Tools you can use include:  Write down your goals on paper. –They need to be specific, measurable, aligned, realistic, and timely. Accountability–you must be accountable in order to be successful. Inspiration–you need something larger than yourself to motivate you toward your goals.
One way to get started in your passion plan is to take a retreat, a passion retreat. Take some time away to relax, reflect, and experience renewal. Write and keep a log and record your discoveries.

2010 Best of Zen Habits Post written by Leo Babauta.

DadSez.com Quote:”Some people hear voices, some see invisible people–Others have no imagination whatsoever!”