Damn the Excuses! Full Speed Ahead!: The Golden Key to Surefire Success

© 2012 by Robert S. Guthrie. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/10/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8727-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8726-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8725-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012907149

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CONTENTS

Author’s Note

Introduction

Chapter I    Make It Happen

Chapter II    The Power Of The Mind

Chapter III    The Power Of The Mind (Continued)

Chapter IV    Take Charge!

Chapter V    Time

Chapter VI    Motivation

Chapter VII    Dealing With Others

Chapter VIII    Take Advantage

Chapter IX    The Decision Is Now Yours: An Epilogue

This book is dedicated to the memory of my father:

Dr. Robert Val Guthrie; served as defender of our country in the U.S. Air Force, educator, author, devoted family man and best friend.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Sometime after the completion of this book, selfish greed contributed to this country and parts of the world going into an (economic crises). Many citizens, far too many lost their jobs and are losing their homes. The new kid on the block for making excuses and alibis for not succeeding is that economic crises. During The Great Depression of 1929 there were certain individuals who stood-out from the masses and created businesses to address certain needs nobody else had the will to act on. During that time in order to get oil for private automobiles it was necessary to visit a filling station and have it pumped from a large drum. One enterprising person acted an idea to make it easier and convenient for private citizens to put in their own oil by inventing canned oil. This individual stood-up and made it happen! This book can goad the reader into arising from all the negativity running ramped throughout the land and go forward up by acting on ideas for betterment. When one individual looks to him or herself for help and is noticed by the public, this effort inspires others to begin helping themselves. It can develop into a chain reaction and perhaps help lead the country out of this massive economic crisis.

INTRODUCTION

This book is written under the inspiration for addressing the problem with making excuses. It derived in part, from an historical war melodrama, where a naval leader became a great leader upon making a bold decision to go forward—to go forward despite the danger involved.

By not retreating into safer waters, a critical objective was attained. An excuse for not going forward would’ve been considered valid and acceptable at that time. His decision to go forward however, dramatically and favorably turned the tide of the war, and with it brought him an historical first in a promotion, fame through all time and honorable mention in historical literature. This famous incident, covered more in debt in the first chapter, exemplifies overcoming the major excuse problem.

Secondly, after pondering this historical data, and observing those who reached the various degrees of success, I came to the realization that great talent, intelligence, and a lot of luck is not necessarily a prerequisite for success. In fact, there are many talented and intelligent individuals going through life in mediocrity, and even failure, not due to bad luck, but because of a peculiar compulsion, a bad habit if you will, of always making excuses and coming up with alibis when it comes down to doing what is necessary to attain success.

Amazingly, amongst the highly successful in the world today, are those with a lack of talent and average intelligence who by way of a refusal to give in to excuses, pave their own way to high achievement. As we can see in that regard, excuses and the obedience to them are the major problems here, regardless of one’s status in life, or the amount of talent or intelligence he or she may, or may not have. This, in essence, becomes the proverbial thorn in the side of those who wish to be successful—the idea and nagging notion that they portray themselves untalented and not smart enough to overcome this problem.

Please take note of the fact that everyone, from the most highly successful to the biggest failures are faced with excuses, and while the mediocre and failures bow down to excuses, those reaching the higher levels of success do not! Concisely, the main problem with not succeeding in our society today is the common habit of making excuses.

Again, this book, written to help those struggling with excuses and alibis, seeks to inspire the reader to conquer or get by that problem and show him or her that regardless of one’s situation or station in life, anyone can become successful at whatever positive objective he or she may desire. It exemplifies others from the past to the present with goals and objectives taking concrete steps to attain such goals and objectives, many of which, the world at a time deemed impossible.

Please take note of the above term anyone. In this country alone, this term has more meaning and greater truth to it than perhaps anywhere else in the world. When Russia and her former satellite countries were under communist rule for instance, the average Soviet citizen and those under this regime couldn’t even own a private automobile, had no freedom of speech without worrying about the secret police, or plan a vacation to another country, or to most anywhere for that matter, without going through a lot of red tape. In addition, no one in this situation could become rich.

In the United States, on the other hand, the situation is totally the opposite. Anyone could own as many private automobiles as one could afford. Every citizen has freedom of speech, never have to worry about any secret police, can plan a vacation to anywhere in the free world on any day of the year, and it is entirely possible for the lowest bum on Skid Row to rise himself up and become a wealthy business person. The true story of such a person doing exactly that—is covered in Chapter IV.

So what about all these excuses people are making? Well, Damn The Excuses! Full Speed Ahead! reveals proof that nobody has to make any excuses, and presents concrete methods for overcoming them. It cites a variety of true stories of various people, including those who went on to fame having valid excuses for not succeeding, but backed by a positive attitude and a burning desire, triumphed over their respective handicap and impossible situations.

Author Mike Hernacki addresses the importance of conquering the problem with making excuses in his inspiring book The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want. Mr. Hernacki stated that at the beginning of his career he went into a number professional fields including teaching, advertising and the practice of law, none of which satisfied the need to feel that he was where he belonged. In time, he developed a virus, which gradually grew worse until hospitalized for respiratory problems.

After different diagnosis from several doctors, it was finally determined that his problem was psychosomatic in the form of an unfulfilled hidden ambition to be a writer. But prior to that, he never pursued that ambition because of excuses not to.

My excuses were endless, he wrote, and seemingly sound. And thus my passion had remained unfulfilled, my dream unrealized.

In an instant upon that realization, he did what most would not have the confidence or courage to do by making a life changing decision to take action rather than remain dormant. His decision was a definite decision by way of making up his mind to quit his job and become a writer. The following day his illness subsided upon putting his boss on notice that he was resigning.

By the time I said, ‘I quit,’ my ‘virus’ was gone, and I was breathing free." Mike Hernacki stopped bowing down to excuses to remain in a job just because of the money and other excuses to punish himself. Instead, he pursued a vocation of his own desire backed by a willing attitude to take the risk of the hard work, lower pay and the fact that writing was not as prestigious as law and some of the other professions I had practiced. Backed by a high interest and resolve, Mr. Hernacki, on a personal level, made it prestigious.

Clearly, one is not to go into a vocational field solely because of the prestigious nature of the job, or the fact that it’s easier and the money is good, or what one’s parents or friends may insist, but because one has a high interest and ambition in that field. After all, we live in a free country to pursue any dream or aspiration we may desire while in an environment with abundant opportunities supporting us to do so. Why make excuses for not taking advantage of these opportunities to attain what really interest you? Of course, you will have to answer that question and decide whether or not to take action. But remember, and I want to greatly emphasize this fact, if you do nothing about a goal—you get nowhere—you get nothing but regret while life moves onward.

THE REAL TEST IS IN THE DOING

Do read this book. Read it in its entirety. Read it with an open mind without prejudice and skepticism. Read it as you would an interesting story or magazine article depicting important beneficial factors. As you read along, highlight words, sentences and principles that catch your interest or you feel of importance, with a highlighter, red pen, colored pencil or crayon. Have a dictionary and a thesaurus on hand, in the event you come across words and phrases unfamiliar to you or that you may not readily understand. After you read the book from cover to cover, go back and study each chapter and all the important principles, suggestions, stories and examples, and follow them as you would a road map to a desired destination. Moreover, while doing so, keep in mind that these principles had been tested and proven by a source, a fact-finding body if you will. Now they need to be proven by another source: Yourself!

At this point, please take note of the fact that life is a testing arena. The wise approach all matters with an open mind and test all things before forming any conclusions. Only the fool,—the unwise—the losers in life—approaches all matters with a closed mind and forms premature conclusions before testing them. Remember: The mind is like a parachute; it only works when it’s open.

I want to make clear a fact, covered more, later in this book, that an attempt at a thing and subsequent failure do not make you a failure. The true failure is one who is in a state of denial, remains in a negative state because he has chosen that path, (throws in the towel) like that of the proverbial Quitter, and blames the situation on circumstance, other people and essentially the world. Perhaps at life itself rather than look in the mirror to see the real source of the problem. While wasting time and energy playing the blame game he gets nowhere in life. Overall, a complete failure is one who falls by the wayside and quits altogether, crawling away a defeated foe.

The possibility of success comes when you put some confidence in a source you understand has proven to work. This bit of confidence causes you to not just take somebody’s word for it, but test the source to learn for yourself.

To exemplify this point, I relay the fact that years ago I was tasked with driving from Norfolk, Virginia to San Diego, California. Before making the trip, I received a mapped out route to my destination from the American Automobile Association (AAA). I followed that map with confidence and arrived in a timely manner without problems or setbacks. If I had honored any doubts, refused to follow the map due to premature conclusions, and had taken alternate routes, surely, I would have gotten lost.

Allow this book to be your guide as I confidently followed that map along a route I had never taken before in my life and see if you arrive at your own goals and aspirations in like fashion.

By following the example I took when traveling the unfamiliar road from the East to the West coast, you too can attain a like outcome in arriving at a destination that held you back due to the habit of giving in to the bothersome notion telling you not to go forward—not to do things for one reason or another.

Let me point out that life itself justifies solutions to all matters in one form or another. The condition of life alone is a connotation that there is no excuse for not succeeding at whatever you aspire to achieve because in life there are solutions of one kind or another to all matters. With this one life, you now have the chance to use it rather than waste it, misuse it or abuse it.

If you want to acknowledge those with the biggest and most valid excuse of them all, take the advice of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale of The Power of Positive Thinking fame, and visit a cemetery, and there would be before you all those with an excuse no one can argue.

YOU HAVE THE GOLDEN KEY

The moment you picked up this book, you have in turn, picked up the Golden Key. Golden; indicating its potential value, and Key; depicting a tool for use at opening the doors to success at whatever you may aspire to achieve. The Golden Key reveals the golden opportunity to pursue a desired objective.

This book, divided into nine chapters that make-up the Golden Key, covers pertinent subjects that guided others on a surefire path to achieve important goals and fulfill worthwhile aspirations and ambitions. Take the Golden Key and turn it to the open position. Turn the knob and push open the door to the answers to attaining success. Turn the pages to this book and begin reading along, and follow its principles with a child-like enthusiasm. Such enthusiasm often leads to confidence. As you move along in this manner, you will learn that valid excuses for not exceeding any negative status and for remaining less than the best can be, according to your mind-set, a non-existent entity. Overall, the Golden Key is the ability to overcome the negative urge to give in to excuses and alibis.

Perhaps you have been dormant up to this point and have failed to do what deep down you always knew you must do. Allow this book to stimulate you into doing what you must in order to achieve and finally arrive at a desired destination.

A potentially valuable asset, the Golden Key will move you into an action perhaps you never took before, and attain achievements you never imagined possible by your own means.

Indeed, there are always excuses of one kind or another for not succeeding when starting-off. This book will assist you in getting past those excuses and guide you through crucial factors by way of the suceeding chapters. Chapters that bring to light the important elements you need to know in order to attain success. Moreover, the Golden Key is the ability to overcome any excuse or alibi that may stand in your way.

The chapters spoken of here are:

1.   Make it Happen!: Identifies the need for each individual to take responsibility to make things happen rather than just let things happen or wait for somebody else to do something for you in order to reach a particular goal.

2.   The Power of the Mind (Parts 1 & 2): This is the starting point to all achievement. What goes on in the mind effects the degree, or a lack of it for one to reach success in any goal or aspiration.

3.   Take Charge!: (Take charge of the situation) by first taking charge of yourself! When you remain in charge of you, other matters tend to take care of themselves.

4.   Time: A factor we all have to work with rather than allow so much unused time to go by. The economy of time is the answer to fuller use and living of life. Remember, it’s not so much the amount of time you have. Rather, it’s what you do with the time you have, and in effect it’s not so much the length of a life, but mainly, and more importantly, it is the quality aspect of the matter. How a life is lived, and what you do within a given time-span is most important.

5.   Dealing with Others: Positively affecting people in a manner that gets their attention and cooperation, and in turn reap positive results.

6.   Motivation: The need to motivate yourself into action. It shows you how to use various factors to stimulate an action.

7.   Take Advantage: Take advantage of the opportunities around you by utilizing what you have to work with to a greater extent in this great country, a country dripping with opportunities like no where else in the world.

8.   The Decision is Now Yours: An Epilogue: Summarizes final thoughts and the overall picture this book identifies as the factors involved in becoming successful.

These chapters will guide you on a proven route to success. By adhering to the principles taught in these chapters, excuses and alibis become irrelevant elements, and revealed as just a nuisance in your way when seeking to attain personal goals and fulfill worthwhile aspirations.

When you really look at it, what it all comes down to is the fact that in the long-run, the success acquiring principles found in this book is based on how to control and defeat your greatest enemy, in retrospect: Yourself. This involves utilizing a factor where success begins: the mind. The human mind is such an extraordinarily amazing and powerful element, that it was necessary to divide it into two chapters to tell about it.

If you are overwhelmed with a compulsion to honor excuses as so many of us are, and seek a surefire means to defeat this problem, this book will be a bugle call to action in the right direction.

Once again, you have the Golden Key in your hands, and time is of essence. In order to make success possible it is you, and only you, who must insert this key into the lock, turn it open and take constructive action without hesitation. This action must be directed towards attaining what you really want in life, and away from what you don’t want, regardless of how valid an excuse or alibi may be, or popular opinion may dictate to the contrary. If not done in this manner, you take the pointless risk of finding yourself a hopeless victim of the timeless, immortal words penned long ago by famed poet John Greenleaf Whittier when he wrote: For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: It might’ve been.

CHAPTER I

Make It Happen

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable; inaction.

—John F. Kennedy

Only acts, deeds, and achievements get any positive results, and you only get results when you face squarely your life.

—Rafael A. Cruz Johnson

We must not be content with waiting for something to turn up; we must try to make something turn up. We must not only strike the iron while it is hot, but strike it till it is made hot.

—William Mathews

Handicaps can be converted into stepping stones on which one may climb towards some worthy goal, unless they are accepted as obstacles, and used as alibis.

—Napoleon Hill

An ancient Chinese proverb teaches that a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. While this puts one on track towards a positive objective in a quest for success, there are many, whom for countless reasons that can’t seem to initiate that first step—as some of those who do manage to get one-step forward are yet, restricting themselves to go beyond that. These are due to one powerful and oft-times irresistible factor; a negative factor indentified and brought to light in the introduction. This factor excuses, when faced with reaching goals and objectives, more often than not, prevents many from even getting to first base. If you fall in this category, it is sought here to help you get started, and reach first base rather than let yourself be thrown out. Additionally, when you initiate that first step you gain more confidence as you go along to move on to yet, another step and then more steps to follow until it becomes a domino effect to the point of arriving at home plate and the goal you always wanted.

By reading this book alone, you have taken a first step. By reading along and then following its teachings, which in turn, is the test, you have taken yet, another step and reached first base. This is an indicator that more steps will follow until finally reaching the ultimate goal. The initial point mind you, is to focus and take that first step, not merely for the sake of taking a step forward and be done with it, but with such a step stimulating more steps to follow until a forward momentum becomes activated, with no stoppage or turning back.

William Mathews, a Nineteenth Century author and professor of English Literature and Rhetoric at the University of Chicago once noted:

Hundreds of persons go to their graves in obscurity, who have been obscure only because they lacked the pluck to make a first effort, and who, could they only have resolved to begin, would have astonished the world with their achievements and success.

This brings forth the matter once again and draws the question: "What stops a person when faced with worthwhile goals and aspirations from beginning, and those who somehow manage to begin, from going beyond that—from following through—from continuing the pursuit of an important objective?" The answer, contrary to popular belief, is not due to a lack of talent, luck and ability. It’s certainly not one’s race, color, gender or genetic make-up, but falls with a habitual compulsion, a bad habit if you will, to bow down to excuses and its associate alibis for not acting on a worthwhile goal while using these factors as justifiable reasons for not doing anything, for getting in the way after taking a first step. This habit has its birthplace in an environment falsely teaching only luck and the right circumstance can bring about success. An environment inhabited by those contented with an average life of mediocre achievements; an environment; a negative atmosphere populated by those who fail to attain their heart’s desire not because they cannot but simply because they will not. This derives from the absence of belief and the lack of confidence, and an unwillingness to test oneself to find one’s true potential.

Those who are a product of such an environment tend to believe mediocrity is their destiny, assignment in life and the best they could possibly do, while unused, and unknown greater talent and ability exist inside them just the same.

Within this and the remaining chapters, you will learn that despite the validity of any excuses, how to tap the hidden talents inside yourself. Perhaps talents you never knew existed while your comrades remain stuck in limbo between success and failure due to a negative mind-set. A mind-set influenced by someone else or some thing insisting what they cannot do while failing to point out what they can. It will show you that when faced with attaining a goal, in spite of what you or another source might think, indeed, you do have an untapped internal ability to get the job done! It will help you develop a positive mindset from a negative one. While the mindset is a powerful stimulus in succeeding or failing, it’s all in accordance to which mind-set you allow to rule your life: positive or negative.

THE EAGLE IN THE CHICKEN YARD

The fable of an eagle living as a chicken in a chicken yard comes to mind. One clear day this particular eagle noticed a massive bird flying high and graceful over the chicken yard in the form of a beautiful eagle.

I sure would like to fly up there like that eagle, exclaimed the eagle down in the chicken yard. The rooster standing nearby retorted, Don’t be silly. You’re just a chicken like the rest of us can never fly like that.

So the eagle in the chicken yard listened to the rooster, and died believing it was just a chicken.

Sadly, many are just like the eagle living in a chicken yard, caught up in a lifestyle far below their greater abilities. Those in that situation tend to honor excuses and habitually make alibis while listening to the negative advice of others.

While browsing through a bit of interesting literature one day, I came across an intriguing statement once made by a highly successful entrepreneur which depicts to a high degree, the fable mention above. This statement was made during an inspirational meeting when this self-made millionaire emphatically advised his people, Never be contented with what you are if you wish to be what you are not. This statement awoken my senses to the truth that many people, most in fact, are doing just that; settling for what they are while wishing to be something else—something better. Effectively, they are superior eagles living in inferior mediocrity.

The reasoning behind this falls with the majority in our society emotionally, intellectually, and habitually affected by an urge to approach opportunities to attain goals and objectives with a negative attitude of saying:

•   I have no time

•   no talent

•   no ability

•   I’m from the wrong environment

•   I’m over-qualified

•   under-qualified

•   I never had a chance

•   don’t want to take the chance

•   have no luck

•   I’m not smart enough

•   not ready yet

•   don’t feel up to it

•   too old

•   too young

•   too big

•   too small

•   too tall

•   too short

•   too tired

•   it’s too early

•   too late

•   too hot

•   too cold

•   too hard

•   too much work

•   too much of a risk

•   too much of a challenge

•   I’m the wrong color

•   from the wrong ethnic background

•   I’m the wrong gender

•   from the wrong side of the tracks

•   wrong neighborhood

•   it’s not my place

•   not my destiny

•   not in my stars

•   I don’t have enough help

•   maybe when the weather is right

•   What will the neighbors say?… and on and on.

Surely, you heard them all before, and you could add to this list of excuses for excuses. Excuses preventing otherwise capable individuals from realizing dreams, goals and higher achievement above the level of mediocrity—for settling for an average life—a dull, listless, boring affair of just getting by as opposed to an exciting life of meeting challenges, fulfilling aspirations and realizing dreams, goals and following through on lifetime plans and objectives.

At this point one may ask as a reaffirmation to that pointed out in the introduction: So what about the successful people of the world? Are they confronted with excuses and tempted to make alibis?

Indeed, they are.

Then why are they so highly successful?

The answer falls with