Discipline Your Thoughts—Stop Letting Negativity Control Your Life Motivational Speech
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I'm going to go for it. Come on.

or have water, I'm going after my destiny. You gotta run after your destiny. You can't walk after your destiny. You gotta run. So the most important key to changing your life in any situation is to change results, you gotta change behavior. But to change behavior, you gotta change the emotional state you're in. The mind's like, I wanna be in charge of you. I don't want you to be in charge of me. So it tells you, let's just stop right here.

But once you start breaking through that barrier, you start breaking down that governor, the governor that you've put in your mind, because we forget we are in control of our mind. Where you can try anything you want in order to hurry things up, but things just aren't going to hurry. In fact, there's only one thing that will work, and that is patience.

When you're not sure what you're going to do, you're going to hesitate. And hesitation kills momentum. And momentum is what makes a sports team win. It's what makes an athlete, a business person win. When you get momentum, it's like it takes enormous energy to get a rocket out of our gravitational pull of the earth. But out of the solar system is easy. Once it has momentum, it takes less fuel, less energy. Starting a relationship, starting a business, changing your body, it takes so much in the beginning. But once you get going, it's actually really easy. Discipline.

If there is a magic word that stands out above all the rest, this is the one: discipline. Discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment. The bridge between inspiration and value achievement. Discipline does many things, but most important of all is what it does for you. It makes you feel better about yourself. Even the smallest discipline can have an incredible effect on your attitude.

And the good feeling you get, that surging feeling of self-worth that comes from starting a new discipline, is almost as good as the feeling that comes from the accomplishment of the discipline.

You know how many people do things they don't want to do because they want everybody to like them? Everybody's not going to like you. But you know, there are a lot of people who won't take positions on issues, who won't take a stand for things they believe in, who won't speak up for themselves because they don't want to make anybody mad.

Oh, it was Bill Cosby. He said, "I don't know what the secret of success is," he said, "but here's what I know what the secret of failure is." He said, "trying to please it." Ask with faith. Faith is the childish part. It means believe you can get what you want like a child, not an adult. Many adults are too skeptical. They've lost that wonderful childlike faith and trust. Don't let that happen to you.

Believe in, have faith in yourself and your goals and get excited like a child. Childlike enthusiasm. Nothing can beat it. Kids think they can do anything. How exciting. They hate to go to bed at night and can't wait to get up in the morning. Develop that kind of enthusiasm toward your life and your goals and be curious like a child. Kids can ask a thousand questions.

Just when you think they're finished, they come up with a thousand more. They'll drive you to the brink. But it's really a virtue. Have plenty of curiosity. Ask questions. That's how you learn. Here's something else. Most people are not living their dreams because of fear, ladies and gentlemen. I was in Columbus, Ohio yesterday speaking for a particular Ohio department. Young lady named Karen who greeted me, who organized the event. Very talented, very skillful.

And she was talking about she wanted to become involved in the consulting business. I said, why aren't you doing it? I said, you have the abilities. I said, you're not here because they like you. You're here because you're doing the job. You're making things happen. And she came up with all kinds of ideas. But finally, she said, I guess I can't see myself doing it. I guess I'm afraid. Fear, limited vision, and lack of self-esteem is what keep most people doing things they don't want to do.

I flew from Columbus, Ohio to Denver, Colorado to a major communications company. And the person that picked me up at the airport told me about the fact that the company was planning on having a major downsizing. And they offered some of the employees there an early retirement and some of them would earn as much as $300,000.

And they said this is the last time that you can take this offer. If you don't do it when we have the downsizing, you might be among those who will lose their jobs and all you will get is your severance pay. And only 50% of the people who were eligible to take the $300,000 took it. The others were afraid to take a chance on themselves.

The others couldn't see themselves beyond that company. They couldn't see life after that company. The same reason that people stay in relationships where they're abused or they're unhappy or it's unfulfilling. They can't see themselves beyond that relationship. They can't see themselves enjoying life without that person. They think that this is all that they can do. The same reason that people get stuck at a certain level in life. They can't

see things being better for them and they think that this is it and this is all they deserve. This is all they've ever seen. It's been passed on to them and they think that this is it for them. Oh no. I was looking what Dr. Blanton, Smiley Blanton, who is a colleague of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, what he said about fear. He said, "Fear is the most subtle and destructive of all human diseases." Ladies and gentlemen, fear kills dreams.

Fear kills hope. Fear. Put people in the hospital. Fear can aid you. Fear, ladies and gentlemen, can hold you back from doing something that you know within yourself that you're capable of doing, but it will paralyze you.

Come out here with what you got. You don't have enough money? Don't worry about it. You got the dream. You got the idea. You don't have enough resources? Don't worry about it. You need some help? Don't worry about it. You get out here in the arena, someone will look at you and become inspired and say, hey, can I help you? But if you're sitting up on the bleachers, nobody's going to ask you anything. You've got to get into the flow of action. Francis Hart called me from Chicago.

She had been sitting on an idea of a show that she wanted to produce for 10 years called Mind Body Connection. So someone saw me speaking in Chicago at a sorority convention and said, I saw a guy that perhaps can host this show for you who has energy and charisma. She called me. She was so fired up. I said, listen, on the day that you want to do that, I'm speaking in Chicago. I

can do it for you. And I said, by the way, I met somebody two weeks ago in Baltimore who has an idea of the same kind of show and she's doing it on radio. Why don't you call her? And then she called me back. Who else would you suggest? I say, well, I know Deepak Chopra. He wrote the book called Quantum Healing and Bernie Siegel. Could you get his number? I'll tell you what. I have a friend named Jack Bolin at the Church of the Day. He knows how to get in touch with him. Call him and he will give you the number so you can get in touch with Bernie Siegel.

That lady started calling all around, did not have the resources, but she had this idea and dream. And she said the other night when she came before the audience that had gathered in the studio, she said, I feel like I've been pregnant for 10 years. And tonight you're going to witness a beautiful delivery. And it was.

She said, I couldn't believe, Les, how things began to happen, how it all began to come together. When you want something out of life, you've got to be willing to go into action. Don't wait around for things to be just right. Don't wait for things to be perfect. Don't wait for the ideal situation. It will never be ideal. There will always be a reason. Well, as soon as the children grow up,

As soon as I pay my bills, as soon as I get my divorce, as soon as I get enough money together, do what you can, where you are with what you have and never be satisfied.