Today I'm going to draw lessons on pushing through adversity to succeed from a trio of the best in the game, Roman Stoic Philosopher Seneca the Younger, real estate mogul and United States Presidential candidate Donald Trump, and enduring rock and roll great of The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards.
To begin, you can always count on the great Stoic philosopher SENECA to lay it out for you and get you motivated again:
Check out these TIGER ZINGERS from Seneca's essay, On Providence:
"Evils are not punishment, but paternal correctives like exercise to the athlete or medicine for the sick"
"God does does not treat a good man as a toy, he tries him, he hardens him, and readies him for himself"
"The assaults of adversity do not affect the spirit of a stalwart man"
"A victory devoid of adversity is a victory devoid of glory"
-Seneca the Younger 4 BC - 65 AD
That's just a sampling of dozens of fantastic motivating lines in that work. It's a no-fail slump-buster to read if you ever find yourself in self-pity mode! The big take-away is that God (or whatever you want to call "it") doesn't hate you, it's trying to toughen you up so you can have a great life!
Built to last, It's the OTHER 2000 year old writing to draw massive inspiration from!
And to follow... DONALD J. TRUMP. Anyone who can be Billions in debt, turn it around to be WORTH Billions, then run for President on his own terms has got the kind of drive we all should want.
There's a great line in Donald Trump's 1987 classic book, The Art of the Deal:
"I was relentless, even in the face of the total lack of encouragement, because much more often than you'd think, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure" -Donald Trump
Trump was describing the effort it took to get the holder of the Manhattan site at 5th Avenue and East 57th Street to sell so that he could build his Trump Tower.
Obviously, he eventually bought the site and built Trump tower. I've walked up 5th Avenue in New York City to see for myself and remember feeling how the with-my-own eyes sight of the physical evidence of Donald Trump's relentless persistence hit home. Anything is possible!
Remember that one of the perks of having your name on the door is the show doesn't start until you arrive.
Finally, KEITH RICHARDS! When you have played guitar for the greatest rock band in the world for more decades than we can count on one hand, you begin to boil it down to something even more pure and simple.
There's a section in a book I love, What Would Keith Richards Do? by Jessica Pallington West. Where West puts Keith quotes up against the great Philosophers, this is my favorite:
"What does not kill me makes me stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche
"I'm still here" - Keith Richards
Thrive on adversity. When an effort goes horribly wrong or just takes a lot of elbow grease, drink that resistance like FUEL for your eventual success!
Fierce-Logic.com
