If you are reading this blog, you are a unique individual who values and seeks out personal development. In layman’s terms, you want to be a better person and make the world a better place. You may be a member of the Tremendous Tribe because of your desire to put your aspirations into overdrive, to write and publish a book filled with your life’s masterpiece, to find great titles to read that will transform your inner terrain, or to learn to live every day tremendously. These are all noble, and character building desires.
Every tremendous transformation starts with the statement, "I want to do ‘x.'" After I give a speech, an audience member occasionally comes up to me and says, "I want to do what you do and speak." I am humbled and refreshed whenever I hear those words. However, the real question we all must ask ourselves is, "Do I want to do what it takes to do ‘x'"? Also, the ever-important intentionality card, "Am I willing to do what it takes to do ‘x’”? For example, my next remark to the fan (after a hug and heartfelt thanks) is, “Do you want to do what it takes to be a speaker” and “Are you willing to do what it takes to be a speaker?”
I love speaking life into others because I have a passion and gifting for receiving and delivering clear, direct wisdom to someone else to help edify and build them up or to help them deal with something specific. I got this gift from both my earthly father and my Heavenly father. I was recently talking to a someone who had a personal crisis of the worst kind and had to go back into the workforce after 20 years. I know times have changed, but much of technology has made learning new things infinitely more manageable and quicker. I gave them various tools to use to as they worked toward their desired solution.
But the real issue in our 30 minute conversation that needed unpacking wasn't, "I want to go back into the workforce and acquire a full-time position with benefits to provide for my family", but rather "Do I want to do what it takes to dust off my resume, pursue any and every possibility, and have faith in myself that I have the aptitude to learn whatever it is my new position requires so I can acquire a full-time position with benefits to provide for my family?” and “Am I willing to dust off my resume, pursue any and every possibility, and have faith in myself that I have the aptitude to learn whatever it is my new position requires so I can acquire a full-time position with benefits to provide for my family”?
The critical component of getting you from ‘what you want’ to ‘what you have’ is staying power, and you must start the course to stay the course. Here’s what Charlie “Tremendous” Jones had to say about the course:
"In 1951, my first full year in the insurance business, they made me the Man of the Year. People say, "Boy you were really good." And I say, "No. I was the Man of the Year because everyone else had quit. I was the only one left." The point of that was that all the good guys had quit. They are still running around trying to find something in life, and I stayed committed. The secret was commitment. Some people are always quitting. Commitment is not about how things are going. I have learned to stay where I am. Don't try to get a better job; do a better job, and you'll have a better job!"
Becoming the next version of tremendousness is simple: Spark your willpower; fuel your staying power; and watch your tremendous power become a reality. Write down what you want to do with your week, your month, your year, your life, then ask yourself the two follow-on questions. Once you can answer yes to both, add healthy doses of people, books, prayer, self-discipline, and self-belief, and you’ll be on the path to a tremendous transformation.
