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The Secrets of Success

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Contributed by: Gene Scalf on 7/8/2008

Everybody loves secrets...especially when they have the power to improve our lives! In this ongoing column, I will be writing about "The Secrets of Success." I really should not call them secrets for they are not hidden. They are life principles that are available to anyone who will take the time and spend the effort to look for them.

But first, let me introduce myself. My name is R. Gene Scalf. The beginning of my journey was in Corbin, Kentucky in 1932. I graduated from Holmes High School in Covington, Ky. in 1950. After separation from the Army Security Agency, I remained in California and entered college at the Vanguard University where I met Geri, who became my wife in 1959. Since 2000, my home has been in Colorado Springs. The pride of my life is my family: a wonderful wife, 3 fantastic daughters, and 6 grrreat grandkids ranging in age from 8 to 21.

I am and have been for most of my life a self-employed business man of one business or another. Some ventures have been successful and some have been, well--how can I say this delicately--training experiences. As you can imagine, I've experienced my share of life's potholes. Early on, I made a decision that changed the course of my entire life: I decided to become a student of life. Sir Winston Churchill once said: "Many men in life will stumble over a truth, pick themselves up, dust themselves off and move on as though nothing had happened." Early in my life and marriage, I determined not to let that happen to me. I would pause at each pothole and learn the lesson that it would teach me.

As a result, every one of my experiences--good or bad, painful or pleasant--has made a great contribution to who I am today. Someone (maybe me) once said: "We are to enjoy our successes, and learn from our mistakes."

It's an intentional way of living. Learning from truth--even truth that trips us up and gives us a skinned knee or two along the way--is a choice that is available to each and every one of us.

Contrary to many opinions, success doesn't just "happen" because you're lucky ... neither does failure happen because you're unlucky. We either plan for success and get success,or we don't plan for success and we get failure. Those who neglect to learn the principles of success are actually planning for failure. Einstein once said: "There is no darkness, only an absence of light that we have named darkness. There is no cold, only an absence of heat that we have named cold." I say: "There is no failure, only an absence of success that we have named failure."

Are you planning for success? Or are you settling for failure? The choice is yours.

Next week I'll be writing about four specific ways you can learn from your mistakes.

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Gene Scalf is a motivational speaker. He is also a successful real estate investor and mentor. A frequent speaker at corporate and community events, he lives with his family in Colorado Springs, CO. Visit his blog at www.secretsofsuccess.blog.com. You can also write to him at genescalf@comcast.net.

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