Cory Collins - Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way!

Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way! — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way!" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...25

Cory Collins. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-54396-558-2

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54396-559-9

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Seven years before this book was published, my wife, daughter, and I were visiting my family for the holidays back in my hometown of Hazlehurst, Mississippi. We were all at my parents home convened in the kitchen. My younger brother was there as well.

My wife and I got into a huge argument. Of course, all couples have disagreements, so this wasnt necessarily anything unusual. Wed had minor arguments in front of my parents before, too, but this one escalated. I remember exactly what it was about, but Im too embarrassed to mention the reason in this book. Thats not because it was so bad, but because, looking back, it was totally avoidable. At the very least, it didnt have to reach the level that it did.

My brother hadnt seen us go at it like this before. He didnt say a word. I have no idea what was going on in our young daughters head. She was our only child at the time. My mom tried to intervene several times, but to no avail. My dad was noticeably quiet. I wondered what he was thinking. Soon he quietly, yet abruptly, walked away, adding even more awkwardness to an already tense atmosphere. He headed outside, and told me to come, too. I was flustered, and said that I would be out in a minute. I needed a little time.

After somewhat gathering my composure, I went outside feeling like a kid walking to the principals office. He was out back in his storage shed waiting. I couldnt remember the last time my dad had lectured me. It had to have been in early high school. But when I walked in, he was as calm as could be. The vibe was the opposite of what I was expecting. He began talking. I listened. He didnt choose a side. It wasnt about who he felt was right or wrong. Instead, he told me about times hed been in similar situations, and how simple it is to defuse them. When I first walked in, I wasnt even able to look him in the eye in anticipation of what I thought was to come. But soon, Id raised my head and we were having a good-old conversation about life. At one point, we were even laughing. Not about the situation, but about life.

While some of what he said is a blur now, theres one thing that he told me that night inside the storage shed that resonated profoundly. He said, Life is easy. We make it hard! It was one of those aha! moments. Though it was something that Id always subconsciously believed myself, Id never interpreted, visualized, or articulated this concept in such a clear, concise, and distinct manner. I havent told my father how significant that moment was for me, nor have I thanked him. So Ill do that now. Thank you, dad. You may not even remember it. But I will never forget it!

What really helps me buy into such a bold belief is understanding the difference between something being hard and it being a challenge. We are often too quick to label things as hard. Yes, life can be challenging. Actually, I think life would be pretty boring if it wasnt. But we truly have more control than we think over whether or not its hard. I dont claim to be a life coach, but I do consider myself a life observer and life learner, if there are such terms. I dont pretend to have all the answers about life, either. In fact, much of this book is comprised of quotes from people who are much smarter than me. I also dont claim to be perfect in any way. To be totally transparent, as I sit back and evaluate my own life, I find myself speaking directly to myself in this book. It wouldnt be a stretch to say that I wrote much of this to myself as a reminder, and in some cases, as a lesson, and then decided to share it with the world.

My intention isnt necessarily to enlighten you on these things, but also to reinforce them. As you read, youll find that you already know a lot of whats written. But just knowing it is not enough. I dont believe that mere knowledge is power. I believe applied knowledge is power. One of the biggest gaps in life is that gap between what we know, and what we actually do. For example, we know that we should eat healthy and exercise, but we dont. We know that we shouldnt use our cell phones while driving, but we do it anyway. Individually, the nuggets contained in this book may not make much of a difference in your life. However, a series of small things eventually adds up, much like healthy eating or exercising over time.

When I say life is easy, I am in no way making light of things like tragedy, disaster, disease, or terminal illness. For the most part, these are uncontrollable. Im only considering situations that are controllable, although we often dont realize that they are. Its extremely important to distinguish between the two. Many of lifes frustrations are brought about simply because we dont differentiate.

By the end of this book, it is my hope that you can recognize the areas of your life that youre making hard, so that you can start making them easy!

CHAPTER 1

YOUR JOURNEY

When I made the decision to pursue entrepreneurship, I gave two weeks notice at my job. It was a good, stable job with benefits. I was leaving to go do sales, which I needed to learn before opening my own business. Not only was this something that I hadnt done before, it was completely commission-based pay without any benefits, which is probably the opposite of what most would consider stability. My manager was shocked. After reading the resignation letter, he asked me if I would make one change to it. Based on the date that I turned it in and the date that would be my last day working there, it technically was one day short of a full two weeks. He asked me to work one additional day. His exact words were, I want you to give us a full two weeks notice, because after you go try that little sales thing and it doesnt work out, I want to be able to ask my boss if we can hire you back.

WOW! I thought. I didnt know whether to take that as a compliment of my value to the company, or the belittlement of my future endeavors. I took it as the latter. What a disrespectful thing to say to someone! So I took it personally, and wanted to make sure that I didnt give him the satisfaction of being right. Not only did I not want to ever have to go back to him for reemployment, I didnt ever want him to see that the move didnt work out. In hindsight, what he said was actually a blessing in disguise. It gave me even more of a drive to push forward on my new journey. Whenever I second-guessed myself, I could just see his face and hear his voice. I closed a back door that wouldve otherwise always been open for me to return to my old job.

Ultimately, things worked out and I accomplished my goal of starting a business. This showed me one reason why so many people dont get ahead in life. They simply never go for it. They dont even attempt to go after the prosperity thats available to us all, yet unique to them. But you must realize that the longer you wait for your future, the shorter it will be! Fred Smith, who mentored the legendary author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, said this:

When God lays something on your heart, your only responsibility is to start. When you negotiate with God, you always lose. Its okay to start before you feel comfortable or before youre completely ready, especially if what youre doing is God-size. That means that you can count on his strength and his answers while youre in the middle of it, but hes not going to provide them until you start the journey. He gives you the strength while youre overcoming.

Next page

1234567...25

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way!»

Look at similar books to Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way!. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Rhys Thomas

Discover Your Purpose: How to Use the 5 Life Purpose Profiles to Unlock Your Hidden Potential and Live the Life You Were Meant to Live

Valorie Burton

Listen to Your Life: Following Your Unique Path to Extraordinary Success

Napoleon Hill

The Path to Personal Power

Michael J. Losier

Your Lifes Purpose: Uncover What Really Fulfills You

Yvette Luciano

Soulpreneurs: Live Your Purpose, Lift Your Platform and Leap Into Prosperity

Eric Janowitz

The Synergy Health Solution: The Ultimate Framework to Unlock Your Health Potential (Health Edition)

Graziosi

Millionaire success habits: the gateway to wealth & prosperity

Friedman Cory

Against Medical Advice: A True Story

Robert Kelsey

Whats Stopping You: Why Smart People Dont Always Reach Their Potential and How You Can

Dean Graziosi

Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity

Kelsey

Whats stopping you : why smart people dont always reach their potential and how you can

Jim Collins

Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation in the Scriptures

Discussion, reviews of the book Life Is Easy. We Make It Hard.: The World Wants You to Win. Get Out of Your Own Way! and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.