John C. Maxwell - Success: One Day at a Time

PRESENTED TO

BY

DATE

Copyright 2000 by Maxwell Motivation, Inc., Norcross, Georgia 30092

Published by J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee 37214

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

J. Countryman is a trademark of Thomas Nelson.

Project editorJenny Baumgartner

Designed by David Uttley Design, Sisters, Oregon

ISBN 978-0-7180-2986-9

ISBN 978-1-4185-3483-7 (eBook)

Published in association with Sealy M. Yates, Literary Agent, Orange, California

14 15 16 17 18 LS 5 4 3 2 1

www.thomasnelson.com

CONTENTS

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Thomas Nelson Publishers for permission to reprint from the following books.

Maxwell, John C. 2000. Failing Forward:

Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success.

Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Maxwell, John C. 1999. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader:

Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow. Nashville, Tennessee:

Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Maxwell, John C. 1997. The Success Journey: The Process of LivingYour Dreams. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.

JOHN C. MAXWELL

W ho doesnt desire success? It may seem peculiar to ask that question. Yet most of the people you know will never achieve success. Theyll dream about it. Theyll talk about it. But most of them wont possess it. And thats a shame.

Why is that? Because most people dont understand success. It isnt the lottery. You dont stop at the corner convenience store on the way home, buy a ticket, and then wait for success to strike. Nor is it a place you find when you reach some magical time of life. Success is not a destination thingits a daily thing. The only way to achieve real success is to do it one day at a time.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SUCCESS

To be successful, you dont need to be lucky or rich. But you do need to know this:

You are what you do daily.

You first form your habits; then your habits form you.

It is just as easy to form habits of success as it is to form habits of failure.

Every day you live, you are in the process of becoming. Whether you are becoming better or worse depends on what you give yourself to. Please allow me to give you some advice on how to make yourself successful.

SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESS

1. Make a commitment to grow daily. One of the greatest mistakes people make is that they have the wrong focus. Success doesnt come from acquiring, achieving, or advancing. It comes only as the result of growing. If you make it your goal to grow a little every day, it wont be long before you begin to see positive results in your life. As the poet Robert Browning said, Why stay on earth except to grow?

2. Value the process more than events. Specific life events are good for making decisions, but its the process of change and growth that has lasting value. If you want to go to the next level, strive for continual improvement.

3. Dont wait for inspiration. Basketball great Jerry West said, You cant get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. The people who go far do so because they motivate themselves and give life their best, regardless of how they feel. To be successful, persevere.

4. Be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity. One of the greatest lessons my father taught me was the principle of pay now; play later. For everything in life, you pay a price. You choose whether you will pay it on the front end or the back end. If you pay first, then you will enjoy greater rewards in the endand those rewards taste sweeter.

5. Dream big. It doesnt pay to dream small. Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler, authors of If It Aint Broke, Break It, assert, We dont have a clue as to what peoples limits are. All the tests, stopwatches, and finish lines in the world cant measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream, theyll go far beyond what seems to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped. When you think of limits, you create them.

6. Plan your priorities. One thing that all successful people have in common is that they have mastered the ability to manage their time. First and foremost, they have organized themselves. Henry Kaiser, founder of Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Permanente Health Care, says, Every minute spent in planning will save you two in execution. You never regain lost time, so make the most of every moment.

7. Give up to go up. Nothing of value comes without sacrifice. Life is filled with critical moments when you will have the opportunity to trade one thing you value for another. Keep your eyes open for such momentsand always be sure to trade up, not down.

If you dedicate yourself to these seven steps, then you will keep improvingand you will be successful. Your growth may not be obvious to others all at once, but you will see your progress almost immediately. And though recognition from others may come slowly, dont lose heart. Keep working at it. You will succeed in the end.

As you progress on this daily journey, use this book to jump-start your attitude and your insights. Read through the whole thing in a sitting or two. Then put it on your nightstand, in your car, or in your briefcase. When you have a moment, flip through its pages to remind you of what it means to achieve success.

Its going to be an incredible journey! Sometimes you will experience excitement; other times, only discipline will carry you through. But always remember: Success is waiting for you to make the first move. Lets get started.

JOHN C. MAXWELL SPRING 2000

M any people who came before you searched for success and never found it. They thought of it as the Holy Grail or the Fountain of Youthsomething to be captured at the end of a long quest. Some believed it was a relationship to be won. Others supposed it was a position to be earned or an object to be possessed.

But success is none of those things. Its not a destination to be reached. It is a processa journey to be taken. And you do it one day at a time.

It takes most people some time to discover what they were created for. If you are willing, you can explore the world and learn more about your purpose every day. You can engage in activities that help you grow a little more in mind, body, or spirit. And you can perform some actlarge or smallthat helps others.

Success is knowing your purpose in life, sowing seeds that benefit others, and growing to your maximum potential.

The door to your potential is waiting for you. The key is to be on the journey. Keep at it day in and day out. If you are, youre a success today. And youll be a success tomorrow.