FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT: Getting Things Done - Peter J. Daniels (Audio)
Peter J. Daniels, a dyslexic who grew up in poverty, shares nine principles for financial success and Christian entrepreneurship, from mastering procrastination to developing willpower. He frames economic influence as a spiritual calling and warns that Christians have ceded the marketplace to others. His vision: change the world for 300 years.
Chapters
Thank you. Thank you. Please be seated. I'm delighted to be with you here this evening and anyone at 80 years of age is delighted to be anywhere. You learn at 80 years of age that your greatest enemy is the attitude and the altitude in which you're in. But I want to share some things with you before I go into the meeting proper. I am 80 years of age. My wife and I have been married for 59 years to each other. We have three children and eight grandchildren who think I'm the fourth member of the Trinity. I've never been to formal schooling. I've never had the disadvantage of going to university. I did come from a third generation welfare recipient family. I had four fathers and two mothers. And most of my relatives had free board and lodgings with King George vi. That meant they were in jail. I went to school as a normal child went to school, but I'd come out of hospital with diphtheria, which was an epidemic that went right around the world during those years. And I was skinny and weak and they tried to do some assessment with me mentally and they said, well, this kid, he's just one brick short of a load. He's not playing with a full deck, his elevator doesn't go the top floor. And they thought I was brain damaged and they were going to put me with a group of brain damaged children until along came a teacher called Ms. Phillips. I've often thought she could kick start a jumbo jet with her left leg and her shoe off. She said, he's not brain damaged, he's just plain stupid. And for three years she punched me, she kicked me, she slapped me, she couldn't get any sense into me or out of me. And she used to get me by the chin and rattle my teeth and say, Peter Daniels, you're a bad, bad boy and you're never going to amount to anything. That became a self fulfilling prophecy. At 26 years of age, I was an illiterate bricklayer. I had problems in articulating words, problems in comprehension. I am dyslexic, there are many things I cannot do. And I went along to a Billy Graham Crusade on May 25, 1959, and at that point gave my life to Christ and made him lord and master of my life. I didn't become suddenly brilliant, but I knew that. I knew that. I knew that something had happened. My friend said I walked in one person and marched out an entirely different person. But I knew that God had chosen me for something. And as the months went by, it started to develop. I Wanted to see how much money one human being can actually give away in their lifetime. I was poor. We had to reach up to touch bottom. I know what poverty is like. I know what it's like when you cannot pay your bills. And God gave me this dream. And it was in the book of Joel, where it said, I will restore unto you the years. The locust has eate. And no one in my family had ever made any think, we've gone back 500 years. They're all serfs and servants. My grandfather died at 56 with alcoholism. My father died at 56 with alcoholism. My brother died at 56 with alcoholism. We've been through it all. And here I was with this dream. What do you do with something like that? I didn't know what to do, so I purchased three dictionaries. I put one next to my bed. I put one in the bathroom. That's a good place to read. I put one in my excuse for a motor car. Now, I've got to tell you about this motor car. It was a 1937 Ford V8 Clubman sedan that had been rolled three times. All the windows were gone. We cut the doors on with wire, and boy, could this thing burn oil. It was an eight cylinder, but it only went on about six and a half. And I used to get my aerobics when I sat there and it shook. And if I drove it very carefully, I could get 14 miles to the gallon of oil. If anyone showed any disrespect for my motor car, I would bridge it across the evening traffic. They would swear at me. They would blow their horn and tell me to get that junk out of the way. And I'd wait till enough people got behind, and then I'd put my foot on the clutch and slap it on the accelerator, and I would baptize him in oil. But I went through those dictionaries frontwards and then backwards until I understood every single word. And then I read 2,000 biographies, and I haven't got Polygrip. I said 2,000. I then studied law, accountancy, philosophy, theology, modern, ancient history, politics and economics. I found the brain was a muscle and it could be developed. I did not have a teacher. I did not have a babysitter or a mentor. But I knew that. I knew that. I knew that God wanted me to do something. Some months after that, he gave me another dream. To change the world for 300 years. I'm sure you think that's a crazy idea. How can one person change the world for 300 years? Well, Abraham changed the world in his lifetime. Moses changed the world in his lifetime. David changed the world in his lifetime. Gideon changed the world in his lifetime. In more modern times, a man called Mahatma Gandhi. With what he calls Atayagraha, which was soul force. He broke the chains of colonial power. He changed the world in his lifetime. Henry Ford changed the world in his lifetime. When he set the world moving via the automobile. Roger Bannister changed the world in his lifetime when he ran the first four minute mile. And he proved that the effort of human endeavor are yet to come. My hero, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the last great English Bulldog. He changed the world when he sent those young men up on those Spitfire planes during the Battle of Britain, which caused him to say, never before in human progress as so many people owed so much to so few. So let us brace ourselves to our duties and. And so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth would last for a thousand years, men would still say this. This was their finest hour. He changed the world in his lifetime. Bach and Beethoven changed the world in their lifetime. As they expanded our consciousness in the area of symphony and song. And Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He changed the world when there on Capitol Hill, before the television audiences of the world. When he gave that famous speech that said, I have a dream. He said, I have a dream that my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. And we have traveled the longest air flight in the world to come and speak to you, to ask you a very simple question. It's a question that Joseph's father asked his son when he said, my son, what is this dream that you have? What is this dream that you have? For many of you, it was alive and well. When you were a little younger, you'd go for a swim at the beach and lay in the warm sand. You'd stand in front of a wood fire on a cold winter's night or under the starry heavens of a hot summer night. And you would do what men and women in all ages have done. You would contrast that picture. What you are against, what you would like to become. Now, these four sessions we're going to have with you, none of them will be the same. They'll all be different and they will all fit into a matrix. Look, I'm just tired of Christians being broke. It's time to take back the economics. Those that have it in government are not doing such a good job with it. We have a saying in our country, hate enough. A politician is lying. His lips are moving. But as a back I probably should enlarge just slightly. I did go into business after doing all that and I went broke. I mean, that'll clear your sinuses. I paid it back. Went into business a second time, lost it again. Paid it back. You learn nothing new from the second kick from a horse. I paid it back. I was going into business a third time. My wife said to me, peter, don't do this. This is not working. You sure God's speaking to you? Peter Jr needs some shoes for school. Graham needs a sweater when this come in. I'm pregnant again. And you've spent all this money on books? I don't see anything happening. On our 33rd wedding anniversary, I bought her a magnificent necklace. I mean, 49 carat opal with 33 diamonds on. This thing is so big, when she walks, she's got a wife like this. I said, you haven't complained about the books and tapes I bought lately. But I went into business a third time and lost it again. Paid it back. What do you do when your dreams start to fade? You reach for one more dream. As Bible believing Christians, we should never give up, let up or shut up until God takes us up. Now, my biblical hero is Paul the Apostle. And I want to read something to you from Corinthians. I'll just read it to you. You won't have to open your Bibles. And this is Paul speaking from the pages of biblical history. He says, for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win them all. And so to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are who are without law, as without law being without law towards God, but under law towards Christ, that I might win those who are without law until the weak I became weak that I might win the weak I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race will run, but only one receives the prize? Run, run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now we do it to attain a perishable crown. Not a perishable crown, but an imperishable crown. And he gives you the challenge. Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. Now, I believe those words. I live by those words. What Paul is saying to us, that success for a Christian is running the race of life, irrespective of obstacles and limitations, while recognizing and keeping biblical rules. And that race is for a chosen, measurable purpose over a chosen, measurable distance for a chosen, measurable prize. I was at the Hilton Hotel in Australia not very long ago, and I was speaking on biblical economics. And I was talking about figures and numbers. And one man put up his hand. He said, God's not interested in numbers. I said, be quiet. He wrote a book called Numbers. But you see, we don't want to evaluate everything. We want to guess that it's working. You see, it would seem to me at this time in the activity of world events that the Christian church has more outreach than it can support. And the social and moral failure of our nations are a testament to our own ineffectiveness and neglect. We are nearly at the point of malfunction. I want you to consider this is our Christian example made the world better over the last 10 years. Of course, you're not. You're having just as many divorces. You're having just as many delinquents. I mean, I wake up my wife every morning with cafe latte marmalade on toast. People say, that's wonderful. It's called self preservation. She's not responsible for anything she has before she has her coffee in the morning. But what's happening to you, you women, you yakety, yakety, yakety yacking at your husband? I mean, you're beating him up. I know he's grubby. I know he does grubby things. But you gotta understand, God made him from the dirt. And you women, you don't know how powerful you are. We need you more than you need us. And you give your husband a dirty look. And I tell you it takes two weeks for him to get over it. And God will hold you accountable. And, fellas, remember, your wives weren't made from dirt. They weren't made from dirt. He built them. That's why when you first saw her, he said, man, what a build. And we have to come to grips with things. And I want to share with you some concepts tonight. I'm just wondering how far I should go and what I should do. There's just so much like to share with you. But as we contemplate the present world scene, we gasp at the growth in areas of technological achievement. In genetic engineering, in microchips and robotics. In our observation, we must ask the question in respect to this, the 21st century. Is this our great hope for the future of mankind? I don't believe it is. Or should. We scan the world scene in the area of energy, contemplating the advances in producing oil from coal, liquid electricity, fusion power from the tides of our great oceans, solar energy, hydrogen, and consider maybe that is our future. Then of course, we could examine the growth of transportation and speculate its dreams. With visions of rocket speed, interplanetary travel, giant airships and Star wars spectacular. We continue to ask the question, does that hold the key to the 21st century? Then we have these breakthroughs with thought technology. Today we can use the old baroque music to reduce your alpha waves in conjunction with space breathing to quadruple our memory. Then we have these role playing with imagination intensity to program our mind to develop capacity to strengthen our resolve, control stress. And new advances in brain implant microchips to program the human cortex. Could this be the growth factor of the 21st century in this dynamic world that we live in? I don't believe it is. But now they've got these new gurus called futurologists. I mean, with predictions on market trends, population shifts, growth areas, financial collapses, shortages, political upheavals, the reshaping of world power, the pollution, diversity, the fate of common man, the hopelessness of it all. So we have to ask ourselves, are we to continue in the 21st century with gray clouds, uncertain resolve, limitation of choice? Of course we won't. Because our success, our wealth and our safety does not come from technology or from the mineral abundance, or from the production line in our factories, or the manipulation of markets, the vast forests or oceans. Or with the political system, science, mathematics or military might. So you ask the question, where can I find the key to the 21st century? Well, it's been where it has always been. It awaits in the threshold of every moment, ready for the action thrust of the individual and collective human spirit given to us by the hand of God. You can make the difference. You, in fact, can individually change the world in your lifetime. If you are prepared to create a plan and a time frame and trade your life for it. You see, you finally, finally, finally, when you do expire, whatever you've done in your lifetime, that is what you've traded your life for. And the cost of a business. Big dream, a small dream or no Dream. It's still going to take you your lifetime and growth, success, call it whatever you will. And I know there are some Christians that are concerned about success. I'll lose my family. Hey, I know plenty of poor people whose family's in a mess. That's a lot of rubbish. There are questions we have to ask ourselves. Firstly, the economic climate of the times in which we live. We're living in a crisis. Don't waste a crisis. The Asiatic world has a double syllable word for the word crisis. It's danger and opportunity. There'll be opportunities for you that you've never dreamed of. If you can look for them a year from now. You wish that you had done something about your inaction today. Secondly, what you personally are prepared to do as a service to others. And don't let what you can't do be the excuse to stop you from doing what you can do. And thirdly, what you personally are willing to sacrifice along the way to obtain what needs to be done. Now, let me tell you, you do not have to lose your family. That is a lie of the devil. I mean, we're so close in our family. I think if I had a headache, one of my grandchildren could take an aspirin and I'd feel fine. My daughter said to me the other day, she said, dad, you're spending too much money on the grandchildren. Aaron said, mom, leave Poppy alone. He knows his job. But you see, two out of three of those statements depend on you. Success is not a demand on life. It's a vigorous response to life. And if you are not prepared to focus on a plan to commit your life to the values that you claim you aspire to, then your belief system has no value. You see, visionary, committed business entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of a nation. When Jesus came down, one of the first things he did and he started his ministry, he went to the business people. Joseph, Arimathea, Zacchaeus, up on the tree, Matthew the tax collector, the fishing industry. You see, it's through entrepreneurship, not government, that growth and enterprise flourish. You see, if you are a success, then America succeeds and it's the entrepreneurial spirit folded or is stifled, and that which makes any nation great is nullified and void. Now, I should at this stage at least clear your mind that I could probably teach American history. I probably know more about America than what you do. As a matter of fact, in 1998, we did a film called Millennium Money and we submitted it to the film festival in Chicago. We won the gold for the rectorship and the silver for content. And we predicted with mathematics and market trends that America would go into deep recession in 2008, 10 years hence. We were two weeks out. We warned them that gold will go up to 500, then $1,000 an ounce, then $2,000 an ounce, and go up to $5,000 an ounce. They laughed at it, except our clients, they bought it, and they're doing very well today. But you see, we've been through the industrial age, the automotive age, the jet age, the space age, the electronic age. But many believe that we're now in the age of the cortex. Many believe the human mind is on the periphery of its greatness as the last great conquered area of mankind. Now could be the time to cut the fetish from your mind and allow it to soar as it was divinely designed to do so. And as we gather here, here at this place tonight, we must stimulate our souls to contemplate and examine the results of the past, look circumspectly at the present, and with our dreams and our aspirations girded with reality, brace our spirits towards an exciting future. And to do that, you must come to grips with individual responsibility. If my Bible teaches me anything, I am responsible for me. I cannot come to Christ for my grandchildren. You are responsible for you. But, ladies and gentlemen, there's something happening globally. In the Christian church, we got people that say, oh, you don't understand. I had a terrible upbringing. I wasn't brought up. I was dragged up. Well, people don't understand. I'll grow up, grow up. I mean, you are responsible for you. The Bible teaches anything. You are responsible for you. I mean, we have people in the church that say, well, they've got to look after me. I have problems. All of us have got problems. My Bible says I can. I can. I can do all things through Christ who is strengthening me. I want to get in a little deep here before I get into some other material. Dr. Alfred Adler, the great Austrian psychiatrist, he spoke of it. He called it the life lie of the neurotic. I might be ringing some bells out here. He said these words. It is a categorical demand of the patient's life plan that he or she should fail by blaming other people or institutions and thus be free from any responsibility. They're called passengers. Now, I know some people have some psychological problems, and psychologists can help if they start in the beginning. But The English psychologist Dr. Haynes J. Einsaak analyzed 19 reports covering 7,000 psychiatric cases. And he found the rate of cure or improvement with psychiatric help is 64%. Now I want you to remember that with psychiatric help. Then he compared that to a spontaneous recovery rate. That is a rate of recovery for individuals who receive no therapy at all. And that was 66%. Seems to me some of our psychiatrists are driving us crazy. The Canadian psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Price spent 17 months studying Nigerian witch doctors. And his conclusion was that their therapeutic results were about equal to those obtained in the North American clinics and hospitals. What about you? Now, for those who feel as though you're too old. And let me tell you, I hate being with people my own age, they're always glorifying the past. It wasn't that good. I was there. And so many of you, you know, you think you have mental or physical handicaps that prevent you from success. I mean, I. I'm colorblind. I cannot tell her color. I sold more paint in Australia than anyone else. I was married to my wife for 20 years before I found out she wasn't black. What's happening to us? You see, at 100 years of age, Grandma Moses is painting masterpieces. That in 94, Bertrand Russell was active in national peace drives. That in 92 Rubenstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York, Carnegie hall. That at 89, Albert Schweitzer was head of hospitals in Africa. That at 88 Conrad Adnan was Chancellor of Germany. That at 82 Sir Winston Churchill wrote the history of the English speaking people. That at 46 Ludwig van Beethoven became totally deaf. And he wrote his greatest music during those latter years. In Orange county here there's a man called Henry Vistani Jr. He was in born. Born without legs. He is the president of the Human Resource center and founder of abilities incorporated with 13 honorary degrees and nine books to his credit. So my question to you is, what's your problem? Are you an excusiologist? You see, because coming to grips with yourselves, you must understand and apply certain principles if you. If you want to succeed. There are no words that I could use to tell you how difficult it was for me to try and articulate words to try and get. I used to weep alongside my bed and hit my head and say to my wife, nothing will stay in this brain. But you see, I read about Edison. He said, greatness is an ordinary man or woman with an extraordinary attitude. You need to infuse yourself with action. Don't wait for circumstances to overwhelm you because somewhere there is something significant for you to do. And now is the time for Christians to reclaim their right status in society. Because for too long we've accepted our lot in life as a kind of obedient drudgery. For too long we'll listen to the theorists who have continued to walk us through the fog of doubt. For too long we've met at the table of maintenance seekers and sitting bored, hungry at their table. For too long we've sought direction from boneless wonders that are cowards. And they wear masks of piety and they feign deep beliefs and they keep our souls unsatisfied. We have been sitting in the comfort table too long. Sitting around apologizing and compromising for our existence. Too long. It's time for us to stand up. We must win in the marketplace. We must win in the law courts. We must win in the universities. We must win in the media. We must win in the government. We must defend our faith, our churches, our families, to the last drop of sweat, to the last word and if necessary, life itself. No more backing down. And we must stop. And you must stop waiting to be discovered by a spark from heaven to get you off your blessed assurance. Now I believe it's time for America to reclaim the economics of their country. At this stage, you owe $90 trillion. There is not enough money on the face of the earth to cover that $90 trillion. Just give you a little example. If you only owed 5 trillion, you started paying it back a dollar a second. You started 150 years ago. You have to go 159,000 years to pay your bills. You're heading towards one of the greatest depressions in history. Now I have 7,000 years of history on my office wall. And the thing that we learn from history, that we do not learn from history. And I'm concerned, and the world is concerned, the Christian world is concerned that America may be, as Tolstoy said, thrown in the waste bin of history. If America falls, God help Christendom. Well, time for you to own the big corporations instead of being employment fodders, suffocating in the amorphous glob of sameness. And the first law of success. If you forget everything I share with you, the first law of success is mastery over procrastination. Do it now. Do it now. You may delay, but time will not. Procrastination is a grave of all good intentions. It's suicide on the installment plan. And while you wait and continue to listen to the comforting voice that whispers in your ears, wait a little longer. Now, let me tell you a little story. Because my wife and I don't agree on everything I told her. I don't know why we still have these little tiffs every now and then. I'm right 98% of the time for the 2%. It's just not worth it. I'm not going to tell you what she said back, but she doesn't read all the material that I do and in many ways we're quite opposite. But I remember I take my wife everywhere I go. I didn't get married to be lonely, but we were in Western Australia. Now, all of you ought to know where Western Australia is. That's where we took the America's cup from you. We gregariously gave it back. But I had to speak at a men's group and I said to my wife, well, you can't come to this at a men's group. They're calling for me at the hotel at 9 o'. Clock. I'll be back at 5. What are you going to do today? She said, well, I thought I'd go shopping. I thought, oh, my goodness. I said, what do you need? She said, I'm getting a dress. I said, you got plenty of dresses. She said, peter, our eldest son, is getting married. I need a new dress for the wedding. I said, one dress? She said, one dress. We even kissed on her. I came back at five o' clock and knocked on the door of the hotel room and she opened it with flourish. I smelled a rat immediately. I mean, she was hanging on to me and I looked over her shoulder and saw two boxes on the bed. I said, I thought we had a deal here. She said, well, there's an interesting story about this. She said, I went down to Hay street, the main street, and Perth, Western Australia, and I saw in the window there a dress that looked perfect for Peter Jr. S wedding. It had a sign there that said, no credits, no returns. She said, I tried it on. It fitted beautifully. I bought it. There it is. I said, what about the other one? She said, give me, give me a chance. I'm coming to that. She said, it was only 10:30 in the morning. You're not coming back till 5 o'. Clock. What do you expect me to be doing while you're throwing yourself off the platform all over this city? She said, so I caught a bus and I went to Fremantle to see some of the old buildings that convicts built. She said, and suddenly I found myself in a shopping mall. She said, and I had some morning tea. You people have coffee? And she said, I had some morning tea and I walked through there and there's pipe music coming on all the time, beautiful music. And I was having A wonderful time, she said, and suddenly I was arrested by another dress shop. And when I looked in the window, there was a dress better than the other one. And I knew I'd made a commitment to you. She said, but I tried to do what you tell me to do. But she said, but suddenly I thought I heard your voice coming through the amplification system. I said, what did it say? She said, it said, mastery over procrastination. Do it now. And I did. But do it now. Get something done. Do it now. Do it now. You see? What are you trying to avoid? You see, procrastination is like a credit card, is enjoyable until you have to pay the bill. Get it done. You know what you have to do. God's planted something in your heart and you're full of fear instead of full of faith. Oh, but I may fail. Of course you may fail. Well, then you get up and you try again. Well, I may fail the second time when you get up and you try again. I mean, look, they've fed us to the line. They've crucified us upside down. They've cut our heads off. They've burned us at the stake. We're still here and they're not going to get rid of us. Now, the second principle is enthusiasm. Now, many would suggest you become old if you've outlived your. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheo, the God within. I have a sign in my international headquarters says, get enthusiastic within 10 seconds or get out. But see, enthusiasm creates energy and courage. Enthusiasm moves the world. We have to have enthusiasm if we're going to be successful. And it is the outflowing of a pleasing personality and a contagious enjoyment for what you're doing. Because as a seed of genius in the product of enthusiasm. You see, enthusiasm is not void of reason. We have to understand that complacency puts the spirit to sleep. And knowledge is only dormant power until enthusiasm pulls the switch. We know only too well that the years may wrinkle the skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Have you ever noticed that we become energy bankrupt when we lose our enthusiasm? The third principle is develop habit force. Men and women are creatures of habit. You are outliving today some habits that were created maybe three or four generations ago. Have your bad habits become so strong that your life depends upon them? See, man is a creature of habit. Good habits are a safety net that protects you when you may not even be aware of it. You know, punctuality is the cheapest way of building character. Because being on time is a soul of business. Let me give you another little story about habit force. Many years ago, many years ago, we just lived about a half hour from the city. I came home early one day. It had been raining. Robina wasn't home. I walked into our house. I went into the dining room and threw some books on the table. I made a cup of tea and had some cookies. I kicked a shoe off here, a shoe off there. Pulled my tie off, took my raincoat off, put my waistcoat down and sat around. I looked around. It looked like a nuclear fallout center. And suddenly I realized I was a slob. I meditated on for a while. And then I heard Robina's motor car coming up the drive. So I put a chair there. I was going to tell her I was going to make a chain, and I changed. And I didn't want her to go into cardiac arrest. So she came in and I said, I've got an announcement to make. She said, this will be good. I said, you have been conducting a 20 year free pickup service for me. She said, that's the truth. I said, well, as long as I live, you'll never have to pick up after me again. Well, she almost went into seizure. But, fellas, I want to tell you, everything worked out fine for about three days. But I was ready to go through the door of my international headquarters. And suddenly I realized I'd left my pajamas on the floor in the bathroom. How do you handle that? Well, you can change your life by changing your habits. But for the first 90 days, you must never, ever, ever, ever, ever let an exception occur. I took my hand away from the door. I drove all the way home. When I got in the house, Robina said, what are you doing here? I said, well, I left my pajamas on the floor in the bathroom. She said, peter, I could have fixed that. I said, yes, but it would have destroyed my personal accountability. See, some of you are always late for church. Always, always Change it. Change your habits. All of you are always dragging bottom economically. Change it. Learn to save. If you cannot save, the seed of success is not in you. You see, you first make your habits and your habits make you. And you can't stop bad habits until you create good ones. Bad habits are usually formed by neglect. And good habits create and maintain personal character. You are an original, so be the best self you can be without apology number four, a positive mental attitude. My Bible says, whatever are good thoughts, think on these things. Now, the Bible tells us to be positive. Do you ever wonder who you Are if you, you know, used to be a bit of a trend 20 years ago, 30 years ago in the hippie culture. I'm trying to find myself. Well, look in the mirror, you idiot. Do you wonder who you are? Well, make a positive commitment to take up a worthy cause, and you'll soon find out what you are. You see, a positive mental attitude means spending your creative energies finding ways things can be done, rather than exhausting your emotional and mental powers dwelling on the ways things can be done. It means turning a problem into a solution. It means we must develop what we call thought displacement. Stand sentinel at the gate of your mind and challenge thoughts as they come in. You see, a positive thinker usually sees the invisible, fills the intangible and achieves the impossible. That's a positive thinker. And always remember when things go wrong that every exit is. Has a new entrance for a new beginning. William James was probably one of the greatest behavioral scientists of the 20th century. And he said the greatest discovery of any generation is that the human beings can change their life by changing their attitude. You know, the Bible does it better. It says you can be born again. You can give your life to Christ, make him lord and martyr in your life. God will wipe out what's happened in the past. You can't get a better deal than that. Principle number five, Pay the full price. I mean, I get this all the time. I went into business, but I was too honest. No, you were stupid. What's happening? Well, if I go into business, everything will work out all right because I'm a Christian. No, all hell will break loose. The devil doesn't want you to succeed. You see, so many people start on the road to. You know, we say, well, I'm waiting on God. He's out there somewhere waiting for us. And we, me and we sit around scratching our blessed assurance, hoping something will happen. We're going to pay the full price. So many people start out on the road to success and pay a down payment by way of a verbal commitment. They tell you what they're going to do, and then they default in their periodical and final payments. Now, I'm sure we all understand that hope provides a temporary rope to hang onto. But hope is not a strategy. Total commitment to a task, both, is both liberating and exhilarating. So make your commitments strong, but remain flexible in your methods. Success is a price. Look, you don't have to lose your family. That is an absolute lie of the devil. Maybe sometime at question time, we'll show you how we were able to do that. But success is a price. It's a payment. The exchange of sacrificial commitment and personal discipline and mental, spiritual, physical and time output. And yet, so many honest and dedicated Christians with character and intelligence. You wouldn't lie on a commitment to anyone else. But continually, persistently, habitually, you adopt what we call a pseudo rationalization. And you break commitment by way of pseudo rationale, thereby pushing yourself lower in your own esteem. And at the same time, with your own subconscious mind, you strengthen the chains that are already binding. If paying the full price means a commitment to excellence and learning how to excel in dimensions that we have never known before in our life, people say to us, well, how do you get on out in the business world? You must have some competition. We have never in 50 years had any competition. We've never had a court case in 50 years. No one's ever held their fist up to us and said, you did a bad job for us. Why? Because anything we do, whether it's a service or a product, it has to be 40% better than anything else in the world on the market. And we have no competition, no competition at all. You see, whatever God gives you to do, you must know your stuff inside and out. Saturate yourself with it. There is nothing that will put a spring of confidence in your walk and in your performance like being sure that you definitely, concretely and specifically know what you're doing. It won't take you long to find out that success is not on sale at bargain prices. Number six, learn to speak on your feet. Now, why is that important? Because if you're going to build any sort of business, eventually you're going to have to face a television program. You're going to have to talk to a board of directors. You're going to be able to have to handle yourself on your feet. I had tremendous, tremendous problems in this because I could not articulate words. I spent five years just listening to British broadcasting because in those days the English was impeccable. And I practiced for five years. And then I did something. It was the first time in the British Empire that someone had done this for 200 years. And the media came to the door and were driving me crazy, crazy. But I was the best equipped guy in town because I had prepared. I think it was your Abraham Lincoln that said, I will study, I will prepare, and my opportunity will come. Well, I had all these speaking appointments that I had to attend to, but I had a problem. I was full of nerves. I couldn't stand up and speak. I just couldn't handle it. And so if I had to speak to you many years ago, I would have woken up at 2 o' clock this morning. I would have run a mile at 2 o', clock, another mile at 3 o', clock, a mile at 4 o', clock, a mile at 5 o', clock, a mile at 6 o', clock, a mile at 7 o'. Clock. Then I'd run backwards and forward to the bathroom all day. Now, I don't have to paint any pictures, you know what I'm talking about. But a half hour before I'd leave to go and speak, I'd plead with my wife to help me and she didn't like the idea of what I was doing and she'd tell me not to do it, that I'm going to be ill when I get older. That hasn't happened. And finally she'd get half a glass of milk, put some burnt flour in it and some sugar and mix up a glue. And I would glug, glug, glug that down. And then I'd buy him a bowel so I wouldn't have an accident when I stood up. I did that for 15 years. And the pastor asked you to do something and say, oh, Pastor, it's not my gifting. It's got nothing to do with your gifting. It's got to do with your commitment to Jesus Christ. And by the way, when I got home, I'd take chocolate lacks. That's to get it all back to normal again. But if you're going to get on your feet, first thing is, choose a theme. Choose a theme. Secondly, substantiate your claims. Thirdly, put everything into sequence. Fourthly, modulate your voice for emphasis. Five, practice it until it's perfect. And just make sure you've finished speaking before the people finish listening. Number seven, emotion. You know, when Christians go into business and something goes wrong and the wheels fall off, they start blaming everyone. I mean, they really do. It's often far wiser to remain silent until the mind adds and subtracts. Now, we have proven scientifically that emotion is not always subject to reason, but it's always subject to action. And action is a key word. And when you get emotional over something, keep your mouth shut because these words cannot be taken back. Men, go for run around the block, ladies, clean out the cupboards, vacuum the floor, do something. You see, in contrast, emotion is easier done than explained. And that is why we must avoid making important decisions on spontaneous emotion. Handle your emotions. Now, this is an interesting one. Criticism. If you're going to be successful. You are going to be criticized. Oh, boy, you are going to be criticized. I remember many years ago I took fellows. Let me just talk to the men for just a short minute. For goodness sake, stand up for your women folk. I mean, they had a nude stage replay in our city. And it was before pornography took over. And I took it to the Supreme Court. The first time for 200 years in the British Empire. I stopped them from using women as pornographic objects. And I was criticized. I was called Saint Peter and His Fight against the Devil. They had cartoons on the newspapers. I did over a hundred debates on one subject. Good morals is good economics. See, if you've got good morals, you don't need so many policemen. If you've got good morals, your insurance premiums go down. If you've got good morals, the storekeeper doesn't have to put a percentage on for stolen goods. Good morals is good economics. And I would debate with these Ribaunt magazine people and, and they'd expect, you know, a Mequa mild Christian. And I'd rip their guts out on the platform. I remember one time I was closing down these pawn shops and the television guy lay on the ground and took this long shot of me and they played it back at 6 o' clock news and they made me walk very slow. They did slow motion. They had Frankie Lane singing in the background, High Noon. But stand up for our women folk, for crying out loud. The way they're using women around this place. They're not a commodity. They're part of us. As a matter of fact, my son studies ancient Hebrew and it does not say that a woman is a helper for man. It says she is an opposite to man. I bet you can believe that now, okay? And remember that criticism is a weapon of the weak. I like what Mark Twain said about criticism. He said, there's any real power in criticism, the skunk would extinct. Years ago, my friends came to me and they said, peter, they're on the news, they're in the newspapers, they're in the magazine. Everybody's criticizing you. We're going to put a wall around you. We're going to protect you from all this criticism. I said, fellas, back off. I said, how are you sleeping? I said, like a baby. They said, but how can you sleep with all this criticism? I said, criticism has no power. The only power the criticism has is that which you give it while you're tossing and turning trying to work out what that person said or what you thought they meant by what they Said you're giving criticism the power drive to destroy your life. Principle number nine, the law of attraction. Now, I wonder what would have happened here tonight. When the pastor announced me, I came out from behind a curtain and here I was. I hadn't had a shave for about six months. I hadn't had my hair cut, what's left of it. I go to a hairdresser and he says, cut it. I say, no, split it. And I came out here with baggy jeans on and dirty fingernails, dirty toenails coming through, some sandals and I had some worry beads. And I was going to talk to you about. I mean, how would you. The people that look upon the heart, receive me? You're to cancel me out. Why? Because they don't get a second chance on a first impression. Clothes may not make the man, but, boy, they sure do introduce him. And something you need to clean up a bit. Coming to church. This is the house of God. Is it biblical? You bet it. You're talking to a Bible scholar. Now. Remember when they said to Aaron to wear fine robes to give him dignity and honor? This is God's place of worship. So the law of attraction. You know, we say in business, birds of a feather flock together. If you want the scientific meaning of that. Ornithological species of identical plumage tend to congregate in a closer proximity. It'll take you a half hour to catch up with that one. Number 10, persistence. I know that some of you. I just. In general terms, I have to know that some of you are really battling hard and you're just about ready to give up. Let me tell you a story, a true story. A friend of mine, he always sat at the back of the church, in a church probably twice the size of what we have here. He always wore greasy overalls. He was a mechanic. His name was George. He was only 45 and everyone just called him Old George. He had a mechanics workshop and you could get your car fixed up there. But he'd do it in his own time because he loved aeroplanes. And sometimes he was called to be a co pilot and he'd just have a sign there, gone flying. He loved aeroplane. Never had any money. But nobody ever talked to George. When he was coming over Sugar Mountain and the plane started to shake and rattle, smoke started to pour out of the fuselage. He was co pilot. They were going down and as they went down, they crashed on top of a huge tree. George was still alive and cut badly. He opened the door of the cockpit and fell out onto the ground. He broke Both his ankles. He pulled himself away and suddenly it exploded and burnt his clothes off. I said, george, is that where God spoke to you on the mountain when you were on fire? He said, yes. He said, that was it. He said, I didn't have to know the Greek of this or the Hebrew or that. It worked well in English. George spent a long time in the burn unit, and he made a commitment to Christ that he was going to be a different man. He said, lord, you got me out of this. I am going to be a different person. He's never had any money before, but he got a small insurance payout. He started to work out a feasibility study. He saw some land in the place where they lived, and he put a holding deposit on it. And with the rest of the money he did a feasibility study. And he went to the bank to borrow $3 million. Of course, this was old George, you know. He went into the bank and they were kind to him, but they laughed afterwards. I mean, lent 3 million to George. So I said, what did you do then, George? He said, I went the next bank. I said, what happened? He said, well, I got a little better. Did you get it? No. I said, what happened then? He said, I went to the next bank. I said, what happened then? He said, well, I was getting better all the time. I said, what happened then? He said, I didn't get it. I went to the next bank. I said, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. How many banks did you go to? He said, I went to 97 banks. He got it at the 98. George was one of our biggest Christian missionary givers in the world today. Never give up, let up or shut up until God takes you up. Principle number 11, worry. You know, you fret about things that are never going to happen. You toss and turn in bed at night. You know what worry is? It's just creating mental pictures of the things you do not want. Some years ago, I had to do a debate on television. They had a large crowd, about this size. And they were flying in a guru who was an atheist and was against me because I was wealthy. And the makeup was put on and they were leading me to the stage. They said, the other guest is there. The lights will go on a minute and I'll announce you. And you'll have to walk through the curtain and there's a big step. I'll hold your hand because you could fall. I said, well, thank you. And he whispered in my ears. He said, by the way, they do not have one person debating with you now. They have Four. Well, immediately I knew they were in trouble. And the first question, they said, Mr. Daniels, we understand you only own one pair of dress shoes. I said, yes, that's right. They said, why do you only have one pair of dress shoes? I said, well, I've only got one pair of feet. They said, would you drive a gold Rolls Royce? I said, I only got one of them. They said, well, could you give us a definition for your success? I said, yes, the willingness to bear pain. I didn't say be a pain. I said, to bear pain, you see, you stay in the comfort zone. You do not win in the comfort zone. You've got to step into the pain arena. And what is pain? Pain is weakness escaping. You've got to step into the pain arena and you are worrying all the time. It's a misuse of your imagination. Norman Vincent Peale, does that name mean anything to you? Norman was my friend for 22 years. We were very close friends. He told me an amazing story. He was the pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York. He was one of the most famous people in the world. Many years ago, on his book, the Power of Positive Thinking, he was walking down the steps out onto the pavement of New York, and he bumped into someone. They looked up and they said, oh, my goodness, you're Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He said, that's right. Wrote the book the Power of Positive thinking. Correct. Sells 27 million copies. He said, that's right. Oh. He said, this is my lovely day. He said, well, how can I help you? I'm a minister of the gospel. I'll help you in any way I can. He said, these worries, these problems, these problems, all these problems I've got. He said, well, do you want me to help you with them? He said, if you can get rid of my problems, you'll be my friend for life. He said, well, you want to get rid of some of them? All of them? He said, all of them. He said, well, you are indeed very fortunate, because I have just left 100,000 people that have no problems at all. Oh. He said, take me to them. He said, the local cemetery. And he went on to say, problems. Problems are a sign of life. And the more problem you've got, the more life you've got. You see, people don't become successful by running away from problems. They go straight into the problem. They solve the problems. When you get home, if you haven't got any problems, get alongside your bed, put your hand up to heaven and say, lord, don't you trust me anymore? Give me some problems. Give me some problems. Now we're coming to my pet peeve now. Decision making. If we fail in anything, we will fail in this. Sometimes I'm chairman of the board of big organizations where we do humanitarian work around the world. We may have the directors fly in from many countries, maybe to Sydney or Singapore or London or Chicago. And if I'm chairman of the board, we do our demographics, we send out our prayer change, we raise the money, and we'll sit around a boardroom table and we'll go over all the details and finally I'll say, well, look, we're going to call for a vote. Are we going to move ahead? Are we going to keep spinning the wheels? And as soon as I call for a vote, some twit on the board, some knotted, says, Mr. Chairman, I've got a feeling in my spirit about this. I tell them to go to the bathroom, we'll wait for them. What's happening to us? I mean, you can correct something, you can't correct nothing. The Bible says the double minded man is unstable in all of his way. Who can know him? And some people are very decisive in avoiding decisions. Wow. And indecision sometimes is confused with patience. Don't let the dissenters be the deciders. You know, we have been proven that successful people. I want you to get this one. Successful people make decisions quickly and change them rarely. And unsuccessful people make decisions and slow and change them often. They make slow decisions and change them often. That is a proven fact. You see, you can be intelligent without being smart. See, when you make a firm decision, what you're doing, you're taking charge of your life. And I've often found that the traditions often become the hinges of destiny. And I'm going to be talking about that on Tuesday night. A sense of destiny. Number 13. Willpower. Some time ago, I wrote a book called Willpower. Isn't it amazing? In 2000 years of Christianity, we've looked at the saints of old and the wonderful things that they did and the faith that they had. But it would have been useless without willpower. And we have a little tiny shot at something if it doesn't work, we say, well, God's not in it. You see, a weak willpower usually hides in the obscurity of conformity. The Bible says, whatever you do, whatever you do, whatever you do, whatever you do, do not conform. Well, what am I supposed to do? Transform. How? By the renewing of your brain. And to try and get Christians to spend money on their brains is like trying to Remove abscessed teeth. I've said to my wife, according to behavioral scientists and psychologists, they say I have a very unusual brain. I can write a best selling book in 14 hours or longhand without any reference material. And it's usually very, very valuable at the end. I can subtract and do all sorts of things very, very quickly. And I said to my wife, they said, he's got a very unusual mind. We haven't seen anything quite like it. I said, if anything happens to my brain and they're perfect, a brain implants, get me a Christian brain. She said, why? I said, because it's never been used. Straight off the showroom floor. Straight off the showroom floor. You know, there's a thing called willpower. You can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't package it. Rarely can you subdue it. Your influence throughout your life will shrink or expand relative to your willpower. I think of Mahatma Gandhi, one of my heroes. There he stood with his arm thunder folded in front of the greatest empire the world has ever known, the British Empire. The sun never set on the British Empire. He said to them, facing their machine guns, he said, you may beat me up, but I will not complain. You may break my bones, but I will not cry out. You may throw me into prison, but I will sit there peacefully. You may even kill me. What have you got? You've got my body, but you have not got my obedience. That's willpower. You see, we are Bible believing Christians now, people. We have the message, we have ability, we have dreams and aspirations, we have literature, we have mass communications. We have. What we do not have is a plan, the leadership and the will. We might be numerically strong, but we continue to remain actively dormant. Can you believe we've been Christian for 2000 years and we don't have a 10 point plan to win the world back to Christ?
