True success isn’t luck. Doyle Brunson, the famed poker player who has won numerous World Series of Poker titles in his career, recently said that he would risk everything he owned on a single bet if he felt it was a reasonable bet. He wasn’t afraid of losing everything. He said that was because if he lost it all, he had faith in his ability to rebuild his bankroll. In fact, he had already done that once earlier in his career. He went broke. He then gathered a small amount of money, and started rebuilding his bankroll, and became the legend that he is today.
This type of success, the kind that you create from inner resources rather than just outside luck or circumstance, is the kind of success that you don’t have to worry about losing. This type of person attracts success like a magnet attracts iron. No worries. Just confidence in one’s abilities.
A lot of people who fall into success fear that they will lose what that have. And they compensate this fear and insecurity with drugs and alcohol. Just look at the number of people who have experienced great and quick success succumb to the pressures of wealth and fame. Rock stars, movie stars, and sport stars all share this tendency. They don’t have this faith that a Doyle Brunson has.
If you look at success from a holistic perspective, you will see that inner knowledge is paramount. It’s inner knowledge that gives confidence in the abundance of life. With hearts and minds open, life presents more opportunities than we know what to do with. Success become simply a matter of saying yes to life. The focus is not on the small self of the ego and its accomplishments but the infinite self that is connected to everyone and everything. True success doesn’t just happen to these people, it falls in love with them. You could say that the law of attraction becomes attracted.
The success of people who are not connected with source of being actually put their lives in jeopardy. Their egos get distorted and their values become skewed. They lose their sense of humanity. They become hyper focused on values that are important only to the preservation of their success. Their tortured lives become the targets of tabloid reporters, wanting to get the details on another life going down the tubes.
The success of people who are connected to source of being expands out to others. They thrive in the connections and oneness of life. They know that what they have increases when shared with others. They radiate enthusiasm for life, and that is the secret of true success.
I found in my experience many years ago, that a truly successful person can be measured by how he or she relates to people less fortunate, or on a lower social ladder. In other words, you know how big a peson is by how they relate to little people.
I have had the opportunity to interact with a number of famous people over the course of my life. The ones that were the most humble were in my eyes the most impressive. One that stands out was Dan Rather stopping on a sidewalk after midnight in Washington, DC to talk with me when I was a college student. His wife said, “Dan, come on, we don’t have time for this.” And he basically told her to cool her jets. He told me to call him the next morning and gave me his phone number. I called too early and woke him out of bed. But he called back a couple hours later. That was a case of someone who was famous who hadn’t lost his sense of humanity. And that is true success.
