Greed

Greed has nothing to do with circumstance; greedy people may be rich or poor, old or young. When you are constantly trying to get something, you prevent yourself from giving. When you are constantly thinking about what you are trying to get, you limit or prevent yourself from giving. You only receive by giving, and the more you give, the more you get. As a Taekwondo instructor, you may be helping a student become a better competitor, only to have that student defeat you in the next competition. Is this a loss for you, or is it actually a gain?

Violating Your Conscious

We all have a conscious. We instinctively know what is right and wrong. Our conscious kicks in when we are faced with moral dilemmas or dangers, so how may we be a success if we violate our conscious. When you do violate your conscious, you immediately know you did something wrong because of feelings of discomfort. You cannot succeed you are in conflict with your spirit. If you accept a trophy when you know a mistake was made in the scoring, if you have a conscious, you will regret it for the rest of your life. If you do not regret it, then you will never succeed in life.

Laziness

Laziness is only doing that which is just enough to get you by in life. Many people are lazy because they think they will not be rewarded for their work hard. You cannot be a success in your life by being lazy, idle, or slothful. To defeat laziness, you need a plan or a goal and you must make progress toward the goal every day.

Students say they want to become stronger fighters, but then they slack off when the class is performing pushups. When I held a Navy’s physical readiness testing on my men, some asked me what the minimum passing number of pushups was. I would not tell them. I told them to do as many as possible. I wanted people who did their best, not just the minimum.

Not Successful?

If you think you are not a successful person, ask yourself these questions:

• Does fear stop me from achieving my life goals?

• Is one of my problems doubt?

• Am I always making excuses?

• Am I a procrastinator?

• Am I greedy in any way?

• Do I sometimes violate my conscious?

• Am I lazy, or diligent, in my work?

Use your answers to these questions to change your behavior and starting becoming successful.