I think most everyone would agree that Abraham Lincoln was most certainly a successful president. He did not reach this office easily. In fact he achieved this life dream because he refused to give up.

But refusing to give up was not the only secret to Abraham Lincoln’s success. He himself clearly defined the secret to his success. Abraham Lincoln was a man who recognized that giving is the secret to success, and his life demonstrated that indeed he was a giver. He knew that in order to receive a harvest, you first much plant the seed.

Planting the seed comes before the harvest.
There can be no harvest, unless a seed was first planted. Every farmer knows that. In fact I am sure that at some time in your life you too have planted a seed, in the ground or in a pot and watched a plant grow.

Today’s affirmation is #157 from the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club that we are following in this series, reminds us of this important key to a life of positive living. (Remember: Positive living is living the life of your definition of success.

Tithing is giving 10% of your income. Tithing is like planting the seed in the ground. You have to return some seed to the ground so that your harvest can continue to come.

Remember, you can only expect a harvest AFTER you have planted a seed.

Today’s Challenge:

• Take some time to make this declaration today:

I am a Generous and Joyful tither

• Take some time to stop and ask yourself: Am I planting the seed needed to produce the harvest that I am expecting in my life?
• If you find you are not planting enough seed, make a decision (and ACT on it) to make that change in your life starting today!

Remember: giving is like planting a seed for the harvest. That is why giving is the secret to your success.

I know that you are a seed planter because:

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.

Photo credits:
Abraham Lincoln on Flickr
Seeds of Rice on Flickr

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. – Denis Diderot

I am sure that you have a deep desire to do something great. We were all born with this desire. It may not necessarily be something that would compare with Winston Churchill or Abraham Lincoln, but nevertheless it would be something that would give us a sense of achievement beyond the “normal”.

The problem is that many people have allowed the conformity virus to contaminate their lives, and have thus resigned themselves to a lie that tells them they may never achieve their dreams.

I know that sounds ludicrous, but the tragedy is that there are thousands, if not millions of people on this planet who have the above mentality. Some of them fit into the mentality category: “my only hope of achieving success is to win the lottery”.

Let’s come back to reality!

1. No one needs the lottery to succeed in life.
2. We all have a deep desire to do something great. The only problem is that some have that desire buried in all kinds of emotional and mental rubble.
3. We all have the ability to achieve the deepest desire of our hearts.
4. We simply need to be willing to make the effort and take the risks to achieve it.

Now, you may think that all of these are bold statements, and they are. Boldness is one of the characteristics of those who have achieved greatness in life.

The dictionary defines passion as a strong feeling or emotion, a heart warmth, an object of warm feeling or devotion, Passion involves the heart.

I was recently challenged about this when attending our local Jazz Festival where Dave Brubeck and his group were playing.

Now Dave is 88 years old and he is still playing in Jazz Festivals with the same enthusiasm as he did years ago.

Dave Brubeck is certainly an example of someone who has lived and continues to live his passion. He is still doing what he loves to do at 88 years old and this passion is keeping him alive in all senses of the word.

We can do many things just because we may have the ability or skill to do them, but not everything we are able to do is something that we can get excited about.

Is your life filled with doing things that involve your passions or are you working at things you really can’t put your heart into and longing for the day when you can be free to do the things you really want to do?

So, let’s take a moment to reflect. Do you know what your passion is?

Here’s an exercise that will help you find your passion:
Ok – so find a place alone for at least 30 minutes, take a piece of paper and write down your answers to the questions (in italics above). Be honest with yourself.

Now write down all the things you think you would like to do while on this planet. Everything that comes to mind should be noted down until you find yourself jotting down something with tears welling up in your eyes. NOW you have found your true main purpose in life (your passion).

Now you have found your passion it will take BOLDNESS to make the decision to DO it.

In future articles we will certainly look closer at what it takes to follow our passion in life.

Today’s challenge:

• Do I know what my passion is?
• Can I really define my passion? Is it written down?
• What would it take to follow my passion? (Write down a 3-5 step simple draft plan to get you started thinking about reaching that goal).
• Do I have the courage or boldness to follow my passion?

58 successful entrepreneurs were given 30 days to start again from scratch and recover their wealth, Could they do it? They had already reached success once.

Now with everything taken away from them could they recover in just 30 days? Did they really have a passion for success? Read their stories here.

Let’s go out and do GREAT THINGS.