It doesn’t matter what you’ve got, whether inborn, purchased or gifted to you from another. Unless you’re putting it to good use, you might as well not have it.

Here we see a couple who, according to conventional thinking, have less than you or I, but who have dedicated themselves to using what they DO have to the uttermost. And they’re beautiful. The dancers’ names are Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei, and here’s their story.

In a Chinese modern dance competition that was televised, These two were among the top winners. The lady, in her 30′s, had trained to be a dancer since childhood. Then she lost her left arm in an accident and fell into deep depression for several years.

When she was asked to coach a Children’s dancing group, she regained her love of dance. So, she began attempting some of her old routines, but, with one arm missing, she had little sense of balance.

It took her a while to relearn how to do the simplest turns and spins without falling. Then she heard of a man in his 20′s who had lost a leg in an accident. He had also fallen into depression and anger. She decided to find him and talk him into dancing with her.

He had never danced, and to dance with one leg… what kind of cruel joke is this? “Impossible!”

But she didn’t give up. Finally, he reluctantly agreed, thinking, “I’m not doing anything else anyway.” She began teaching him to dance. The two argued and split several times because he had no idea of how a dancer uses his muscles nor how to control his body. He didn’t even know the basics of dancing. Anytime she grew frustrated and impatient, he would walk out.

Eventually, they both overcame their own self doubts and began training seriously. They hired a choreographer to design routines for them. And they entered the dance competition and ended up winning not only one of the top prizes but also the highest respect of everyone who witnessed their dazzling and graceful routine.

Ruth, a member of my mastermind group turned me on to this video, and I was blown away watching it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

One of the things that especially struck me was how the man, a non-dancer with no background or experience turned into a graceful, commanding presence on the dance floor. His teacher never wasted time asking if he had any talent or not. She just intended an outcome and started working to see it achieved. The secret of all achievement!

So I return to the title statement: It’s How You Use it (and not what you’ve got) that make you an amazing person.

So What DO You Have?

When you sit to make your list of things you have, what’s on that list? Does it include two arms, two legs? Be thankful. Can you see or hear or speak? Think gratitude. (And if you don’t have one or more of these, then consider the couple in the dance routine and the example they’ve set for us.)

And what about your list of things you have but are not using, is it almost as long as your first list? Does it include all the books on your shelf? All the CDs, the Manuals and DVDs and training courses? All the PDFs and MP3s on your hard drive?

And what about your time? How is it being used? All your non-job related hours? Are you storing up weeks and years of memories of TV shows? Or is your time spent doing things with your loved ones? Are you expending effort and sweat and energy to pursue a dream, like the dancers did? Or are you potatoing on the couch?

“Oh, but that’s hard…”

Well, yeah, it is. So what? So is coming to the end of your life and looking back on all the things you were going to do “someday” but never did, and now the show is almost over.

I repeat – what’ve you got that you’re not using? What could you do about it?

“Oh but I don’t know how…”

That’s a pot of malarky. We have the Internet. We have access to more experts, more teachers, more speakers and coaches and consultants and libraries and resources and assets than ever before in the history of the world. What’s lacking is not knowhow.

What’s missing in most cases is want-to… motivation. We’ve never trained ourselves to make decisions and put forth effort on demand. Our world makes survival easy, so we take it the easy way.

If you’d like to gear yourself up to be a real achiever, maybe for the first time in your life – or if you’re already an achiever, to shift it up to another level – there’s lots you can do. And I stand ready to help you.

The BullsEye Club

Later this month, I’ll unveil my new BullsEye Club dedicated to teaching self motivation skills to anyone interested enough to sign up.

The first thing I want to give you is this fact: Self motivation is simple – dead simple. There is absolutely nothing complicated about it. Nothing even particularly difficult about it.

And I’d like to prove it to you. On December 10th I’ll announce the details about the BullsEye Club, and on December 15th I’ll start accepting applications. Look for more information soon.

Remember, it’s not what advantages or talents you were born with, it’s how you’re using what you have. Pure and simple. In the meantime, hold onto this thought – self motivation is simple stuff.

Cheers from Charles

Related Posts:

1. Self Motivation Is Super Simple! Part 2
2. Self Motivation Is Super Simple! Part 1
3. What’s in the BullsEye Club for You