Three Ancient Keys to Current Success

Here is an article I wrote that was posted on HubPages that offers classic and insight wisdom to the question of success. Please let me know what you think.

I've also pasted it below.

Three Ancient Keys to Current Success

Very few people can honestly say, "You know I'm successful enough in my life. I've achieved and accomplished everything that I wanted.” If you can say that without breaking the 9th Commandment of not lying, then congratulations!

For the 99 percent of us who are unable to utter that statement with a clear conscience, this post is for you. If you’re looking for more success in your life – I’ll let you define what that means to you – then here are three keys to help you open that future.

Interestingly, all three keys are contained in a single Old Testament passage found in the book of Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.”

That little verse packs a lot of power. Here are the three keys you can glean from it:

1. [the Bible] Shall not depart out of your mouth – this is important because it suggests that the word has first been pondered in your heart and mind, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Even secular motivational speakers know that. First you visualize a goal, then you speak it, then you do it. This portion of the passage combines both visualizing and speaking into a single step.

2. Meditate on it day and night – this is useful as well. Whether you believe it or not, the Bible contains ancient wisdom that has been pushed aside and may have fallen out of “fashion” but that doesn’t diminish its truth. Thinking on its stories, proverbs, psalms and principles can help make you better, because where you focus your thoughts and attention will ultimately shape who you are and how you act.

3. Observe and do according to all that's written – this points back to the first key. We as humans tend to think first, then speak and then act. However, this particular key includes the caveat that your actions must be “according to all that's written.” So it’s not a Machiavellian approach where the “ends justify the means.” This passage in Joshua applies as much importance on the manner in which a thing is accomplished, as it does to the accomplishment itself.

While the ideal of success seems to elude many of us, a clear path was laid out for us more than two thousand years ago. A path that I would contend has tremendous relevance for us today, that is if we have the desire to walk it