To Have Success, You Must Be a Student of the Game

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

To live a successful life, you must first live a disciplined life. What does it mean to be disciplined? Well if we were to define discipline we would read that we are constantly training our mental, moral and physical powers through instruction, control and exercise. Hum interesting? Let’s look at that for a minute. Instruction - That means teaching. Control - That’s Discipline. Exercise - That’s Building. Now we will look at the three best attributes of how having proper discipline in your life will lead to a life of successful living. To live a successful life, along with discipline we also need.

Preparation - the action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty.

Competition - the act or process of competing : rivalry: as a: the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favorable terms b: active demand by two or more organisms or kinds of organisms for some environmental resource in short supply a contest between rivals. There is nothing better then good friendly competition; as it will stretch us Philippians 3:12-14 it will make us work hard and earn what we are aiming to achieve Colossians 3:23 and competition builds character 2 peter 1:5-8.

Victory - the overcoming of an enemy or antagonist an achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Success is something that most of us want in our lives. We might have a hazy picture of what it looks like? “Lots” of money, a jet-setting lifestyle, a great relationship, and achieving a particular status within a career the problem is, none of these things are easy or even possible to achieve. How much money is “lots”? What counts as a “great” relationship? If you chase vague definitions of success, you’re never going to be satisfied. Plus, you might well achieve “success” in the eyes of the world only to find that it seems hollow and empty to you. Also remember that you do not have to follow someone else’s idea of success, to be successful, you should follow your own ideas and trust them.

We’ve all got different values and motivations. Some people are content to work in a tedious job because it carries a good paycheck. Others would prefer to work at something creative and fulfilling even though that means living on ramen noodles. Neither path is objectively “right” they could each be perfect for different individuals. It’s up to you to decide what success means in your life. Don’t get stuck following someone else’s path. For you, success could be: Never having to worry about money note: this isn’t necessarily the same as “being rich”. Being healthy and fit Playing a vital role within your family whether that’s as a parent, sibling or child, going back to college and getting a degree, downsizing to a home in a rural area, writing a book and having it published or almost anything! Success doesn’t have to be about money or status and be Specific about Your Goals When you’re deciding on your personal definition of success, make it as concrete as possible. If you simply want to “be rich” then you’ll struggle to ever feel like you’ve managed it. A better goal might be and make $100,000 a year.

Your success should be measurable. You might not be able to put a number to it, but look for some way to record your progress towards your goal. For instance, if your “success” means “being happy and content with my life” then you might want to journal about your thoughts and emotions regularly. Be clear about what success means, and set specific targets to reach. See Failure as a Step on the Path You might be familiar with this Thomas Edison quote:” I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Often, failure is just part of the path to success. If you’re starting up your first business, you might fail: that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Your early failures pave the way to later success. Think back to being a child you failed constantly while learning to walk, to talk, to read, to write but those failures were necessary in order for you to finally succeed. Failure is something you do, not something you are. Sure, you might fail again and again before you do succeed. But isn’t that better than never even trying?

Why You Must Be a Perpetual Student of the Game When we are born, we know nothing. We are an empty vessel. The great mass and wealth of human knowledge is unknown to us. We each start completely from scratch, possessing none of what humanity has captured over the centuries. Animals need only their instinct to survive. We need quite a bit more than our instincts, many of which no longer serve us. Unlike any other animal, we have the power to overcome our basic evolutionary instincts. We can suppress our base animal instincts, and we can use our free will to make decisions and choices about our lives and our futures.

It would be wonderful if at birth we could pick up right where humanity left off, knowing everything we need to know right from the start, and then building on top of that. It doesn’t work that way. We each start anew sort of. Learning What Is Known. We humans are clever creatures. We have come up with some ways to pass on what is known. We have found ways to make certain that every new human doesn’t have to relearn everything that is known from scratch. We have cultures that pass on certain ideas, customs, and behaviors. We have tribal knowledge and tribal wisdom that is passed down through the generations. We have stories and legends that capture certain ideas and fundamental truths and explain why we do what we do, and why we are who we are. We have societal rules and norms that establish boundaries and protect the culture and the individual from harm. We also have parents, families, and communities that pass on prior lessons and knowledge. And then, of course, we have an educational system, a system that was designed to educate young people and provide them with the skills and knowledge to succeed even if it is presently only

One of the primary reasons we stop learning is that our culture and our society strongly suggests that, at some point, we have completed the task. You finished high school which prepared you to work in an Industrial Age society, you finished college which may have prepared you to work in a knowledge worker role in an Industrial Age society, and then you entered the workforce. Our culture and our society suggest that you know enough. We stop learning, in part, because we have outsourced the responsibility for our education to third parties, to organizations that are designed to take us only so far in our acquisition of knowledge. When they are finished, we incorrectly believe that we are finished learning. We stop learning, in part, because we are so busy working, raising families, and living life, that we lose our focus and some lose their desire to learn, to know more. We spend our time instead of investing it. We stop learning because we are rigidly attached to the idea that we know what we need to know to succeed. Too much is changing for any of us to stand still or to believe that no further investment in ourselves in necessary. What to Do about It Human knowledge is growing at an exponential rate. We are acquiring greater knowledge of how our universe works, and we are acquiring greater knowledge into why we are who and what we are. Not that the long-known universal truths are less important or less true than they might have been; they aren’t. But the rate of change is increasingly disruptive. We are falling further and further behind as more and more is known. All of this leads to the conclusion that it is likely that you have already stopped learning generally, and within your own domain and area of your expertise. But there is more for you to learn. There is more for you to know. You must become a perpetual student.

Reading: I once told an undergraduate class I taught that they should cheat their way through life. I told them that the best and most effective way to cheat was to read books. An author spends a lifetime studying, collecting ideas, synthesizing those ideas, and publishing them in a form that makes them easily consumable by others. For $9.99 and 6 hours of your time, you can know everything that the author knows about their subject without spending the 10,000 hours or more it took them to learn the same material.

Thinking: How can I know what I think until I see what I say? You have to spend time thinking about what you spend time thinking about. What do you already know? What do you already believe? What do you still need to learn? Like Forster, you can learn a lot by discussing ideas with other thoughtful people. There is a lot to be gained for thoughtful people who are open to acquiring new ideas and having theirs challenged. Discussing and sharing ideas, especially from diverse groups of people, can help you acquire new knowledge, new understanding, and new ideas that you can apply to your life and your work. Much of what we do here on the Internet is discussing ideas. You can spend time thinking about how you can apply new knowledge to what you do and what you believe. You can do what most successful professionals recommend and keep a journal of ideas and the decisions you made to see how they later turn out; you can examine your thinking and see how it progresses.

Writing: You can also learn a lot by writing. You can distill the lessons that you have learned, adding other ideas to what you know, and modifying your ideas and beliefs. Reading to identify new ideas, spending time thinking about the new ideas and the knowledge you obtain, applying that new knowledge to your life and your work, and then writing about it is a killer combination in the way of gaining knowledge and understanding. These are some of the way you can become a perpetual student of the game of life, or any other game. When it comes to success, your life training is like grade school and high school. It gives you a basic foundation, and it provides you with the very minimum that you need to know to be acceptably mediocre at your chosen craft, your profession.

There are countless lessons available to you, and unless you are very aggressive and proactive about learning and capturing those lessons, they are lessons that you will miss. Unless you take your personal development into your own hands, you will be less effective than you would be otherwise, and you won’t be the value that you need to be. Each of us starts at knowing nothing. Too much is changing too fast for those who would be successful to stop learning. It is our own responsibility to cure ourselves of our own ignorance by becoming a perpetual student of the game, whether that game is life, Sports, Business, or some other game. True success in life comes from pleasing God. What pleases God is love. Since God is Love obeying Him is the way that we operate in the best form of love. Jesus says, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." We enter into God's joy through experiencing His love.

So does God want you to succeed? Of course, God wants you to succeed!” you retort, but I want to challenge you on that. It’s not a question of if He wants you to succeed, but what He wants you to succeed at. Matthew 16:26 - What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Think about that scripture for a second. If you’re a successful entrepreneur and you finally “make it,” have you really made anything at all? Sure, you’ve got a killer blog, marketing materials, clients lining up around the corner, and your profits have increased year over year, but are you really making a difference? I define success not by how many come through the door, but by how many I impact on the way out. God wants us to make an impact with our businesses not just money. Your business should be the storefront of your soul offering people an array of products and services to meet their physical needs and connect spiritually. That’s why God impregnates us with the entrepreneurial spirit; to give birth to wealth, provision, and a way to spiritually connect with others no matter where we are. I want to share something with you that I believe will change your entrepreneurial life. If you want to make more money, get more clients, make an impact, and not just make a paycheck, then here are 5 steps to succeeding in God’s way.

Trust Him once you’ve got that killer business idea dropped in your spirit you’ve got to make a decision and trust God to give you everything you need to succeed. You have to It’s making a clear decision in your mind that you’re going to give “God a try.” Did you know that Heaven roots for your success by the vary thought of you trusting God? Have Faith after you’ve made the decision it’s time to do something about it. Faith is one part belief and one part action toward the end result. The Bible also says that faith without works is dead. So, you can believe you’re successful all you want, but if you’re not working toward it then you might as well sit on the bench. Follow the Blueprint God gave us the greatest player in the game of business –Jesus and He left us his play book - the Bible. What greater tools could you possibly want in order to succeed with your business? Jesus led with integrity, humbleness, and had incredible vision for his destiny. All we have to do is follow his example. Use Your Gifts you think you’re a good drawer by chance? I think not! God gave us all gifts to be blessed and to bless others. I wasn’t the best artist in the world, but I was decent enough to go to an art college. While I was there I met a guy that owned a design firm and he taught me the basics of graphic design. From our fateful meeting I started designing logos and even taught myself web design. Soon after I started my own graphic design company and the rest is history. Don’t over-look something you used to do well but don’t exercise anymore. It may be your ticket to success.

Do Your Part that’s right, you’ve got work to do too! Pray by staying in constant communication with God you’ll receive guidance, direction, and every answer you could possibly need! Fast – Sometimes you’ll have to starve your flesh in order to make your spirit more sensitive to hear from God. You can go on a Daniel Fast, total fast, or eat at specific times of the day. Doing so puts you in a state of spiritual awareness and makes you more productive. We must Give; A major key to being financially successful is your tithe and offering at your local church. It’s a Biblical principle and it works, trust me! By giving a tenth of your income God has to move on your behalf. What does that mean? It means, the doors of God’s provision, prosperity, and protection are open for your life and business. Do you realize how awesome that is? Let me break it down for you;

A. Provision – you’ll have everything you need to succeed!

B. Prosperity – you’ve got no choice but to succeed!

C. Protection – nothing’s going to stop you when you succeed! So, does God want you to succeed?

Absolutely, but it’s got to be in a meaningful way that will prosper someone else as well as yourself. Looking over the list above it may seem like God is asking a lot of you. But, is it to much to ask, for abundance of life, prosperity, and a sizable return on investment in life after death? So your success all boils down to your work habits, your commitment and simply just how bad do you want it? God does want you to have success and not only does he tell you in His word, but He also encourage's you. He also tells you, that in order for you to reach the ultimate success in your life, that you must be a student of the game ~ Donnie Bolena