Happiness can be multiplied by sharing it with others without diminishing the original source. It is the one asset that increases when it is given away.
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With happiness, the more you give, the more you get. The greatest rewards in life do not come from the accumulation of financial assets; they result from the psychic gratification that accompanies helping others achieve happiness. Those who acquire the greatest riches in life have discovered how to link the two; they have learned how to provide a service that creates satisfaction for customers and generates profits for themselves.
When you approach your job with exuberance and a determination to make yur customers glad they chose to do business with you, great benefits will accrue to you. There are never enough happy people who share their joy with others.
** Basic Balance
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by Jim Stovall
Modern-day life here in the 21st century puts me in mind of a high-wire juggling act. It seems there are far too many things demanding our attention, and the consequences for missing a priority are very high.
Years ago, I heard a radio ad featuring a second-grade child leaving a voicemail for their father. I don’t remember what the ad was for, but I will never forget the voice of a seven-year-old saying, “Dad, it’s me. Today was my school play. I was a flower on stage and did a good job. Maybe the next time I’m in the second grade and am in my play, you can come.”
These words are haunting because we all know the second grade and the school play only happen once. Life balance is a matter of establishing and focusing on priorities. If we live lives of success and significance, there will inevitably be days, weeks, and even months when we are out of balance. In my business, I get involved with book, movie, or television projects requiring a great deal of focus and energy for several months. After those projects are concluded, I always strive to focus on other priorities in my life for several weeks or months.
Regardless of these seasons of intensity and focus, we’ve got to be prepared to create a parenthesis or an oasis for extreme priority events or activities in other areas of our lives. I’ve discovered that even the demands of a movie project involving hundreds of people and millions of dollars can be flexible enough to accommodate a wedding, a funeral, a graduation, a friend or colleague in need, or a second-grade play.
Anyone familiar with my work will likely know about me because of a bestselling book I wrote that was made into a movie entitled The Ultimate Gift. This story features a billionaire who, late in life, comes to understand that he and his money have negatively impacted his extended family. He discovers that even though we may go to extraordinary lengths to rectify the problem, we can never retrieve those magic moments in life that we’ve lost.
As a consultant, I get to interact with many high-level corporate leaders. Hopefully, I am able to impart some wisdom and knowledge to them, but each of them inevitably teaches me many things. One CEO of a direct sales group with forty-thousand distributors struggled with time management in order to hold various events across the country. When we went through her calendar, there were several days each month blacked out long before the year began. When I inquired about them, I learned that those were the priceless priority days she had dedicated to family, friends, and causes that matter to her. No amount of success or money could ever take their place.
As you go through your day today, establish your priorities and manage the rest of your days.
Today's the day!
from my Napoleon Hill Foundation email
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November 14, 2024
Make Your Calling Sure
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10)
Although the calling of God is solely by His grace apart from works (2 Timothy 1:9), and although “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29), it is quite possible for a person to believe mistakenly that he has been called, and so Peter urges each professing Christian to make sure of his calling.
In the first place, one who is truly called will love God (Romans 8:28), and such love should not be superficial but with the whole heart and soul and mind (Matthew 22:37). One who is called should “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2). If our lives fail such tests, we should at least “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
God’s call is not only unto salvation, of course, but to a particular service for His glory. Some like Paul were “called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). Many in Paul’s day were actually called to be servants: “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayst be made free, use it rather. For he that is called to the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant....Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God” (1 Corinthians 7:20-22, 24).
Even the apostle Paul, however, could still say (and so should we), “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). We need, first of all, to make our “calling and election sure.” HMM
Hebrews 10:19-25 (nkjv)
Hold Fast Your Confession
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
From Turning Point email
Thursday, November 14
Mountain Peaks of Pearl
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
In Streams in the Desert, James Smetham is quoted as saying, “I suspect that the source of every bit of sorrow in my life can be traced to simple unbelief. If I truly believe the past is totally forgiven, the present is supplied with power, and the future is bright with hope, how could I be anything but completely happy?”1
Recommended Reading:
Hebrews 10:19-25
Could it really be as simple as that? Yes, but we must grow in faith. Jesus looked at some people and marveled at the weakness of their faith; others impressed Him with their great faith. As we spend time in His Word connecting His promises to our problems, we grow in faith. As the trials of life drive us to His throne in prayer, we grow in faith. As we learn to look to Him rather than just at our circumstances, we grow in faith.
If you’re in trouble, acknowledge God’s reliability and admit fear. Then take your burdens to the Lord, knowing He is encamped around you. He will fortify you to rejoice in the past, the present, and the future He is overseeing for your good.
[God’s] faithfulness stands firm and is prominent as mountain peaks of pearl splitting the clouds of eternity.
James Smetham
1 L.B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997), 249.
https://www.davidjeremiah.ca/magazine/daily-devotional?date=2024-11...
** Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the Day
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** Those who give freely of happiness always have a big stock of it on hand.
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As the American educator William L. Phelps noted, “Real happiness is not dependent on external things. The pond is fed from within. The kind of happiness that stays with you is the happiness that springs from inward thoughts and emotions. You must cultivate your mind if you wish to achieve enduring happiness. You must furnish your mind with interesting thoughts and ideas. For an empty mind seeks pleasure as a substitute for happiness.
** Happiness is found in doing—not merely in possessing.
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It’s true. Money can’t buy happiness. Most of us are motivated by aspirations of the lifestyle we desire for ourselves and our families, not by the physical possessions—homes, vacations, automobiles, etc. When you recognize this fact, you will know that you must constantly “raise the bar” to encourage yourself to reach higher goals. Your goals should include the possessions that you desire, but as former Apple Computer chairman and CEO John Sculley said, “Success is a journey, not a destination. Make sure you enjoy the trip.”
Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the Day
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** Happiness is found in doing—not merely in possessing.
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It’s true. Money can’t buy happiness. Most of us are motivated by aspirations of the lifestyle we desire for ourselves and our families, not by the physical possessions—homes, vacations, automobiles, etc. When you recognize this fact, you will know that you must constantly “raise the bar” to encourage yourself to reach higher goals. Your goals should include the possessions that you desire, but as former Apple Computer chairman and CEO John Sculley said, “Success is a journey, not a destination. Make sure you enjoy the trip.”
“[T]here is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humor.”
Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the Day
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** A smile is a little thing that may produce big results.
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In the animal kingdom, baring one’s teeth is a sure sign of aggression, but in the world of humans, the opposite is true. Nothing disarms an angry or aggressive person faster than a heart warming smile. A ready smile will ensure that the welcome mat will always be out for you, and when your request for assistance is accompanied by a smile of genuine friendship, you will soon have more help than you need.
Practice smiling at others until it becomes a natural reaction to flash a friendly smile at those with whom you come in contact—when you’re introduced to someone, when you greet an old friend, or when you arrive at work each morning. Make sure, however, that your smile is genuine. Others can quickly spot a fraud, and nothing turns people off more quickly than a phony smile that has no real feeling behind it.