Post written by Peter G. James Sinclair.
Firstly I need to explain what an acrostic is. The dictionary tells us that an acrostic is a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, etc.
I created an acrostic based upon the word success and I would love to share it with you.
I trust that you enjoy it, and that these simple phrases can help to inspire you to pursue your dreams and goals all the way to fulfillment.
You have what it takes if you first secure your dream, use your gifts, clean your thinking, conquer your fear whilst enthusiastically pursuing your goals as you savor the second while serving with love.
But first, my acrostic…
Secure Your Dream
Use Your Gifts
Clean Your Thinking
Conquer Your Fear
Enthusiastically Pursue Your Goals
Savor The Seconds
Serve With Love
1. Secure Your Dream
Dream a dream, for there is a dream waiting to be found by each and every man, woman and child upon the face of the earth.
Take time to
secure your dream. It is given to you to enrich your life. It will be the deep taproot that will sustain you throughout the fiercest of storms. It will be the anchor that will steady your course.
What stirs you?
What excites you?
▪ Identify your dream.
▪ Picture it.
▪ Invest in it.
▪ Design it.
▪ Focus on it.
What is your dream?
▪ Pursue it.
For there is only one you with a dream that is uniquely yours. As a prospector mines for gold, so too, prospect for your dream. Seek and you will find. Knock and doors will open. Ask and continue to ask, until your questions are answered.
The dream is there, like ripe fruit on an apple tree waiting patiently to be plucked by you, if you simply dare to dream.
2. Use Your Gifts
You are one of a kind.
Unique in every dimension. Knitted together in completeness. Molded and fashioned, muscle by muscle, tendon by tendon, bone by bone, and nerve by nerve. A miraculous creation.
Life, to attain growth, must walk hand in hand with death. For maturity to take place, old ways must die. New ways must live.
Consider the cocoon. From outside we perceive death residing within. For did we not see a living and vibrant caterpillar spin its own coffin?
Inanimate. Yet after a short death there is movement once again. Life pierces the very thing that seemed to hold it. From within the capsule bursts forth something far more beautiful than that which entered the grave; a grave of transformation.
The caterpillar was never born just to crawl. Deep within she possessed the gift of flight. She was born to fly.
You too have a gift. What is it? What brings you joy? Seek out opportunity to use it. Refine it. Practice. Experiment. But whatever you do, don’t allow the dust of the years of neglect, to gather on the gift God has deposited in your life
A gift is to be given, so share it with others.
Don’t hide it, and never, never sit under the shadow of another’s gift. Even though every butterfly has been painted with different shades of colour, every butterfly has been born to fly.
3. Clean Your Thinking
Greatness is a pearl demanding discovery. Not to be flaunted in a fashion that would allow each and everyone to grasp it easily. Yet it is attainable. For within you lies its seed, but it must be developed.
This calls for a disciplined mind. In its natural state it is an unruly beast, needing to be tamed. Without discipline, it will run hither and thither, prancing from subject to subject. It will gallop from the valleys of negativism to the mountains of positive thought in a flash, and then back again. Oh how unruly is the mind.
Transformation comes from a renewed mind.
Discard slovenly thinking that thrives on gossip, dramatic headlines and negative input. Make it your habit to read and listen to positive material, including of course the greatest piece of literature ever written.
Just as much as your body needs to be cleansed on a regular basis, your mind needs to be washed daily with the clean, running water of uplifting and challenging thought. Wherever your mind goes, your feet will follow and your mouth will speak.
Take charge. Harness it. Train it. Feed it. The pearls of wisdom are available for those who are willing to search. It is not easy work, but when you have found it, filled your mind with it, and applied it in your daily life, you will reap the richest of rewards.
The harnessed racehorse that pushes towards the winning post is guided by the jockey. So too, a clean, disciplined mind will move you towards the winning post of your life.
Compete against your own potential and be the best you can be. You were born to win.
4. Conquer Your Fear
War unveils the best and worst in mankind. So fight the good fight of faith, for the best fight to fight is the fight you win.
Don’t accept defeat, but treat it as a minor setback or obstacle that in time, you will overcome. Focus on victory. Have faith in God and yourself. Use upheaval as a time of learning and a time to consider your future. Begin to dream beyond the battle. Turn turmoil into triumph.
Start by declaring that ‘Today is a great day. I will rejoice and be glad in it!’ Don’t dwell on yesterday. Be anxious for nothing.
Use today to think high thoughts. Dream tall dreams. Meditate on them. Engage in contemplation. Plan mentally. Survey visually. Your burning desire is possible.
Write it down. It will drive you to action. It will lead you along the path of achievement.
Your greatest battle will never be found where armies have fought. Your greatest enemies will never be other nations or nationalities. The greatest enemy of enemies, that has slain multitudes upon the battlefield of life, is fear itself.
If you fear a mountain – climb it. If you fear the ocean – swim across it or build a boat and sail over it. If you fear the wind - then set your sail and be propelled towards your goal. If you fear the valley or river – build a bridge and traverse it. Whatever fear you have within, face it head on. Confront. Don’t run. For those who run from fear will be overtaken, but those who run towards it will overcome it.
The battle is yours to win. There will always be war, but know that there will always be victory as you courageously face your life and fulfil your dreams.
5. Enthusiastically Pursue Your Goals
Carry the spirit of a child with you wherever you go and in whatever you do. For within a child there is a fire lit by God himself, which brings energy and vibrancy to everything he or she touches.
Find an idea that overtakes you. Link it up with a definite plan to bring it to fulfillment and you will discover enthusiasm. It will take you over and through whatever obstacles stand in your way.
Build expectancy with each step. Reward yourself every time you have a little victory. You will experience an enthusiasm that you’ll never lose.
Ideas change things. There is an idea waiting to be found just by you.
Allow your enthusiastic idea to take hold of you. Let it fill your thoughts day and night. Watch the opportunities open up before you. Your enthusiasm will create an abundance of energy; the fountainhead of all your accomplishments.
6. Savour The Seconds
Times clock ticks on…
Second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, the hands move on relentlessly. Life’s opportunities are found in the seconds of today. They are not found in the regrets of yesterday nor in the hopes of tomorrow. For that which separates a man’s life from success and failure, is based upon whether he lives each day to the fullest.
Today is the day for decisions. Today is the day for action. Today is the day for change.
Don’t procrastinate. Use today while it is still today. Your every thought, motive and action are shaping your tomorrows. They are the substance on which tomorrow is built. They are the very foundations of your future.
Waste not the minutes. May every waking hour be a joy of discovery, and may it bring joy to those whom you touch with a smile.
Be the master of time. Harness the reservoir you have been granted while alive on this earth, and channel it in the direction that will irrigate the only life you’ve been endowed with.
Plan your time. Time to study. Time to work. Time to play. Time to relax. Time to dream. Time to love. Time to laugh. Many have said that ‘time waits for no man’, but I say, make time wait on you. Let it be your waiter as you feast on the goodness set before you on the table of life.
Make time your friend. Let it be by your side.
Plan tomorrow today. Plan your week in advance. Goals help you harness time so that wastage is minimised.
The sands of time pass quickly through the hourglass of your life. One day you look in the mirror and see a young man or woman. The next day, as you pass that same mirror, an old man or woman has taken their place.
Seize today. Design the life you want to live. It is in your hands.
What do you want to achieve in your lifetime? Where will you be in five years? Take time to think. Take time to write. For in thinking you have captured your thoughts, and in writing you have written upon the tablets of your heart. You have taken charge of your time.
Never be afraid to say ‘no’. For if you can confidently say this to those things which seem ‘good’, but are not necessarily ‘best’, you will use time to its fullest as you travel along the road to success and fulfillment.
7. Serve With Love
To be the least is to become the greatest. The greatest leader is the greatest servant.
Those who rule with an iron fist are despised. They have been devoured throughout the annals of history. Destined for destruction, their self-interest offers no lasting value to humanity.
Sacrificial giving though stands the test of time. It has lasted from time immemorial in the hearts and minds of generations.
Love is the most powerful force known to mankind.
But
how can I serve, you may ask? A kind word, a note of thanks, a gift unexpected, a smile unannounced, a hand unrequested, and when wronged, forgiven.
It is the little things that impact lives. They can change the very destiny of a life, the chartered course of a nation and even the very future of our world.
Sow love seeds wherever you go. Plant them unconditionally and watch the bountiful harvest of your life blossom before your very eyes.
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