7 keys for-success

The 7 Keys to Success
by Will Edwards

For Fay - My Most Excellent Daughter

‘You are a special enterprise on the part of God’ – Mildred Mann

Statement of Rights

You May NOT Change this Book or Sell it
But You Can Get Paid to Give it Away

Copyright © White Dove Books 2006/10
th
Revised: 25 July 2012

Contents
Your Wake-Up Call ................................................................... 3

Commitment .............................................................................. 4

An Open Mind ........................................................................... 6

Persistence ................................................................................. 8

Flexibility................................................................................. 10

Faith ......................................................................................... 12

Thankfulness ............................................................................ 14

Passion ..................................................................................... 16

The Rest of Your Life .............................................................. 18

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The 7 Keys to Success Will Edwards

Your Wake-Up Call

When I was quite young, someone told me, “If you want to be really successful,
find out what God wants to you to do with your life and then dedicate yourself
to achieving it”.

At the time, I didn’t really like that idea; I did not believe that my life could
have any particular purpose and I did not think that anything God might have in
mind would be of any interest to me in any case. Gradually, I have come to
believe that what that person said to me, all those years ago, is true.

As human beings, we all share certain basic wants and needs: we have need for
food, water, shelter, safety, love, respect and self esteem. We all share an in-
built tendency, as Freud stated, to want to move away from pain and toward
pleasure. This tendency is part of the human condition for our own good; it
keeps us away from harm and generally helps us to make good choices. Most
people settle for pursuing a career that satisfies these basic human wants and
needs and never really think beyond them to what their life could be about.

Somewhere along the line, I came to realise that what God wanted for my life,
and what I wanted, were one and the same thing. This understanding came after
I had determined to find out what God actually wanted me to do with my life.

It was a profound moment for me. I gradually came to understand my inner
hopes, dreams and deepest desires as being implanted by God. So pursuing
God’s purpose for my life was, in fact, also pursuing my own purpose. When it
really came down to it, I finally realised that I needed to look within to discover
my own purpose and once I had found out what it was, it then became possible
to dedicate myself to fulfilling it.

So my message to you is simple: it is time for you to wake-up! It is time for you
to start thinking of your life in a different way. It is time for you to fulfil your
dream - whatever that may be. That is why you are here on the planet right now.
By finding and fulfilling your own unique purpose in life you will be living
your life to the full.

It is my hope that you will begin to see yourself as a special person, with a truly
unique purpose in life - because that is the truth!

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Commitment
Committedness: the trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose.

Commitment: the act of binding yourself, intellectually or emotionally, to a
definite course of action.

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

What are you doing with your Life? Would you say you are living your dream
or are you living from hand to mouth, making the best of things; just getting to
the next week; what we might call existing rather than living?

If you are living your dream, then well done: you are truly on the road to
success. If you are not living your dream - or even if you have no dream at
present - then do not despair because this little book was written for you. We are
going to help you to find your dream, develop it and then to actually achieve it!

To live a truly successful life, you do need to first have a dream. As Carl
Sandburg, American historian, poet and novelist put it, "nothing happens unless
first a dream".

If you think about it, nothing at all now exists within our experience of physical
reality that did not first exist in the mind of the person who made it or brought it
into being. In all cases, everything is created twice: the physical creation
follows the mental creation.

To succeed, you must have a dream, or you may prefer to call it a vision, and
you must completely commit yourself to its ultimate fulfilment - that is the
essence of the mental creation.

Here is one of the real secrets of success: you should dream big dreams because
you can have anything you want! Read that statement again and let it really sink
in because it is true that you can have anything you want; you can be anything
you want to be and you can do anything you want to do. This may at first seem
self-indulgent, but remember, your deepest desires were implanted by God.

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What does it mean: to commit yourself to your dream? To illustrate, let me tell
you a little about the story of Charles Lindbergh. You know, of course who he
was - he was the first person to fly the Atlantic solo - non-stop all the way to
Paris. An incredible feat which he eventually accomplished in May 1927.

He used to dream of flying the Atlantic during his long-haul flights delivering
mail. Once he had imagined the possibility of being the first person to do this,
he completely committed himself to its achievement overcoming all kinds of
set-backs. He did not allow the negative opinions of the doubters who
surrounded him to influence his resolve.

When he was unable to purchase the single aircraft in existence that he
calculated would be capable of making that momentous journey, he had his own
airplane designed and built. He didn't have the money, but he got a group of St
Louis businessmen to sponsor him - that's why the plane was called The Spirit
of St Louis - now that's commitment!

Once you have your dream, you too need to demonstrate that kind of resolve -
and let me tell you plainly - you are capable of it!

It requires you to take actions that are congruent with your wishes in order to
translate them into reality, but the first step is to have that dream - your own
dream, not anyone else's ideas about what is best for you in life - and then
absolutely commit yourself to its achievement.

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An Open Mind
Openness: characterized by an attitude of ready accessibility about one's actions
or purposes

Receptiveness: willingness or readiness to receive - especially impressions or
ideas

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

Once you have committed yourself to achieving your dream, you should begin
to notice something rather odd starting to happen in your life: the universe
actually begins to help you to achieve it!

You just need to be Open-Minded - that is, you need to be ready and willing to
receive what the universe (you might prefer to say God) has in store for you.
Some people call this principle the Law of Attraction, but whatever you call it, it
is quite true that you will absolutely set in motion unseen forces which will
definitely assist you with the manifestation of your dream.

People, events and circumstances will be drawn to you that will actually assist
you in the achievement of your dream. You can probably only fully accept this
truth when you experience it for yourself and once you have committed to your
dream, you will begin to experience it. Things will start to happen. They may
seem like co-incidence at first, but you are now living in an altered reality.

As an example of this principle in action, let's take a brief look at the true story
of Rudy Ruettiger. You may know that Rudy had a dream. His dream - now the
subject of a truly inspiring movie - was to play football for Notre Dame.
Everyone told him it couldn't be done. But this is how the universe helped him
to achieve his dream.

When he was 22 years old, a friend bought him a Notre Dame jacket for his
birthday. When he presented it to Rudy, he commented, 'Rudy, you were born
to wear this jacket!' These words resonated with something deep within and he
resolved, there and then, to do something about it. So he took a bus bound for

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South Bend, Indiana with the specific goal of meeting the Notre Dame
Championship football coach, Ara Parseghian, to discuss the matter further.

It turned out that Rudy needed to attend to his grades prior to ever being
considered for Notre Dame which he did by attending Holly Cross Junior
College. With nowhere to live, he slept in the maintenance room and after
numerous applications and trials, Rudy was finally accepted to Notre Dame and
eventually made the football team as a walk-on.

Rudy was not really considered good enough to pay for the team, but he never
missed a practice match and was there suited-up during the final game of his
senior year. Now many people in the crowd knew of Rudy's goal to play for the
team and in the final minutes of the last game, the crowd started chanting: Ru-
dy! Ru-dy! Ru-dy!

Coach Dan Devine was so moved that he put him into the game in the last 27
seconds and in the final play, he sacked the quarterback. Rudy was carried off
the field in triumph on the shoulders of his team-mates.

When you carry your own dream within, you too will be able to touch the hearts
and minds of the people around you in much the same way and it is a truly
wonderful and uplifting experience when you find out for yourself that the
universe does indeed help you to achieve your goal.

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Persistence
Persistence: refusing to give up, especially when faced with opposition or
difficulty; continuing firmly or steadily

Persistence: the act of continually pursuing something in spite of obstacles

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

If having a dream and committing to its ultimate achievement is something like
plotting your final destination ahead of an exciting journey, then persistence is
rather like the engine you need in order to get there.

Persistence is what drives you on to take the next step in your journey;
persistence is what prevents you from getting discouraged by what may have
happened in the past; persistence is where the rubber meets the road!

Here is a story, of unknown origin, that perfectly illustrates what persistence is
all about ...

There was a certain young man who went to meet a famous guru to ask the
question, "which way is success?"

The wise old sage did not speak. Instead, he pointed to some place far off in the
distance. The man, delighted at the thought of quick success, took off in the
appropriate direction. But, suddenly, there was a loud noise – a kind of "splat!"
Eventually, the man staggered back, surprised and a bit bruised too. Assuming
he must have misunderstood the message, he repeated his question. The guru
again pointed silently in the same direction.

The man walked away once more and, after a little time, there was another loud
“splat!” noise. When the man crawled back, he was stunned, hurt, and angry
too. "Hey" he shouted at the guru, "I asked you which way is success? I
followed your directions and all I got splatted! Will you quit all of this pointing
malarkey and talk!"

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Only then did the wise old man speak, and what he said was this: "Success IS
that way, just a little further on than the splat!"

Translating your dream into an action plan and then constantly taking actions,
each and every day that move you in the direction of your goal is what will get
you there in the end. No matter how big your goal, you can get there if you will
keep your destination in mind and then continually take actions that move you
toward the goal.

When you meet an obstacle, as you inevitably will, persistence determines what
you will do; whether you will give up or keep going. Persistence is what gets
you back on your feet, dusted down and ready to go again.

Persistence is what gets you past SPLAT!

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Flexibility
Flexibility: the quality of being adaptable

Flexibility: a measure of the ability to respond to changes in demand

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

It is a sound NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) principle that to become
successful, we need to notice what is working, and what is not, and be prepared
to change our approach in order to get what we want - that is the essence of
flexibility.

A wise person once said, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll
always get what you've always got." That is a wonderfully true statement. In
other words, if you continue doing exactly what you are now doing, then don't
be surprised when you don't see any increase or change in your results.

It is the law of cause and effect in operation. The results you are now getting
(effects) are the product of the causes (efforts) you have set in motion sometime
in the past. To get greater benefits in the future, you need to change what you
are doing in the present in order to produce them.

Whilst persistence is an important quality, persistence without flexibility can
indeed be futile because, without some flexibility in your approach, you could
end up trying to move an immovable object for the rest of your life. The
willingness to constantly change what we are now doing and to also
demonstrate persistence is what gets us around seemingly insurmountable
obstacles.

So notice exactly what is working for you and notice what is not. Change your
approach in some way - you will need to brainstorm various approaches - then
continue to observe. By continually changing your approach and finding what
works and what doesn't, you will literally become unstoppable.

As an example, consider the story of Kevin Keegan, the famous English
footballer (soccer) and eventually manager of England. Kevin was told that he

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would never become a footballer because he was not talented enough, he was
not strong enough and he was too small.

It would have been easy enough for him to just give up after all, these people
telling him he would never make it were all professionals. Surely they should
have known what they were talking about! What did Kevin actually do? Well
there was nothing he could do about his height, so he worked on what he could.
He worked on his physique until he built a strong, powerful frame and he also
worked on his basic ball skills.

After several tryouts, he was eventually signed as an apprentice for Scunthorpe
United in 1967. He became a full professional 12 months later and, in 1971,
moved to Liverpool F.C. where he played on the winning team in the FA Cup
(1974), the European Cup (1977), the UEFA Cup (1973 and 1976) and the
Football League (1972-3 and 1976-7).

Kevin eventually became the captain of England, winning 63 caps between
1972 and 1982, and he became European Footballer of the Year in 1978 and
1979. He did it all by being flexible in his approach and persistent in the face of
unfavourable odds.

Sometimes, I tell Kevin's story at my Workshop events and sometimes people
will say something like this:

'What about all the people who tried and tried but still never made it?'

My answer is that Kevin would also have just been another statistic along with
the rest of them if he had not demonstrated these qualities. Kevin was a winner
and you too can become a winner. To become a winner, you simply need to
internalise these qualities.

If you really want success, in whatever field of endeavour you are pursuing, you
can have it - yes you can! But you need to be prepared to work for it - to do
whatever it takes. Finding out and then doing whatever it takes is the quality of
flexibility.

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Faith
Faith: acceptance of principles which are not necessarily demonstrable

Faith: strong belief in something without proof or evidence

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

There will be many people who will tell you that you will never, or simply
cannot, achieve your dream. They are the 80% of people who once had a dream
but have now settled for something less. They are the children who once stood
in line at school, believing they would one-day become pilots, doctors, actors,
singers, ballerinas, missionaries, air-hostesses and so on.

But their experience of life gradually ground them down and their dreams were
reluctantly put away. Those dreams still live somewhere, deep down within
their hearts, but they no longer believe that they are achievable.

First, their parents worked on them, questioning their abilities, doubting their
chances and telling them that they once had the same dreams. Their parents told
them they needed to grow-up, be more responsible and life would work out just
great.

Then their teachers worked on them, saying that we all have such ambitions, but
in the real-world, you needed a trade, a job, a career - and that life had so very
few of these exciting opportunities. They ingrained the attitude of the 'scarcity
mentality' into their charges, rather than the 'abundance mentality'. They told
these children that there just wasn't enough good stuff to go around.

Finally, their friends worked on them as they also settled for the jobs on offer.
They questioned, what was so wrong with being a sales-person, a plumber, a
secretary or a brick-layer? The world needed these trades-people (and so it
does) and there was nothing wrong with making an honest living by providing
these services. That was how, gradually, their beliefs about the world were
changed and they came to believe that it would not be possible to reach the

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heights they had once dreamed of, and so, they made their decision to settle for
less; much less.

After all this negative conditioning, only a few of those pilots-in-the-making
believed they could still learn to fly aircraft; only a few of those singers still
believed they were destined to sing for their supper. Many people had their
dream literally strangled out of them. And when you are once again ready to
pursue what is in your heart, you need to be aware that you are still not immune
to this negative conditioning. There will still be very many people ready to tell
you why what you are now doing, or about to do, is hopeless!

But, do you know of the work of Masaru Emoto; the scientist who freezes water
and takes photographs of its crystal structure? Well, I don't think you could get
a more powerful demonstration of the power of faith to impact our physical
reality. He has tried a number of experiments which really challenge our
conventional ideas about the power of our thoughts. Amongst other things, he
found that water which was frozen when offered a prayer, formed better, more
perfect crystals than water which was cursed before freezing.

It sounds bizarre doesn't it, but if our thoughts can do that to water, imagine
what they can do to us - we are after all, 75% water! If your thoughts are
positive, affirmative and full of faith, then they are transformational. You
become literally changed and therefore better able to achieve your purpose; the
goal that other people don't think you can possibly achieve.

That's why you need faith - a deep-down belief that, regardless of the evidence,
you are going to make it! You are going to achieve what you have set out to
accomplish. You are going to make a difference in this life.

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Thankfulness
Thankfulness: a virtue and a dynamic - activates the Law of Attraction

Thankfulness: a positive emotion involving a feeling of indebtedness

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

Attitude affects so many things in life. Sales-people are told they must maintain
a positive mental attitude because it ultimately affects their sales, sports-people
are told to cultivate a winner's attitude because it affects their performance. The
laws of success tell us to cultivate a grateful attitude but why should
thankfulness affect our success?

It may be difficult, at first, to see exactly how thankfulness, or gratitude, can be
such an important key to your success, but by seeking to maintain an 'attitude of
gratitude' you are indeed tapping into the timeless laws of success.

Thankfulness is fundamentally related to positivity and negativity. It is so much
easier to be positive about your life and the things that are going on in it right
now when you are grateful. As A. W. Tozer once commented, ‘a thankful heart
cannot be cynical’.

The work-place is full of people who are cynical; ready to run the company
down, run the boss down and run the industry down and, do you know
something? They can, and do, actually produce the evidence that supports their
beliefs. Such people are also employing the laws of success but, by talking
about what they do not like, they are using the principles to attract what they
don't want. Their reality simply reinforces their views about the company, the
boss, the industry and whatever else has been the subject of their negativity.

On the other hand, having an attitude of gratitude impacts your countenance and
your general outlook on life and people, generally, will prefer to work with
happy, cheerful, grateful people than miserable, down-cast, merchants of doom
and gloom. As a consequence, truly grateful people, literally attract
opportunities that others miss or even possibly repel.

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To help acquire this positive attitude, consider the idea of keeping a Gratitude
Journal. Would you, every day for a period of one month, be prepared to
actually write down all the things for which you are grateful? You know: count
your blessings, the way you were taught as a child. What do you think might be
the result of engaging in such an exercise? Consider the results of this scientific
study into the subject.

Two psychologists, McCollough and Emmons, conducted a study on the subject
of gratitude and thanksgiving. In the study, three different groups of people
were required to keep daily journals. The first group kept a simple diary of all
the events that occurred during the day, the second group kept a record of only
their unpleasant daily experiences. The final group made a daily list of
everything for which they were grateful i.e. the kept a Gratitude Journal.

The results of this amazing study suggested that the exercise of daily gratitude
resulted in higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and
energy. So let it really sink-in ...

 A Grateful Heart Cannot be Cynical.
 Gratitude is Fundamental to Maintaining an Optimistic Outlook.
 The Exercise of Thankfulness activates the Law of Attraction.

Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, and
they were much more likely to get involved in helping others. They also
exercised more regularly and made more progress toward their personal goals.
Isn't that amazing? Just by keeping a Gratitude Journal, the study suggests, they
were able to positively impact their chances of achieving their goals!

Thankfulness is an attitude and an important key to success. It is an attitude we
all need to learn to acquire - particularly when we feel we are in difficult
circumstances.

So learn to be grateful.

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Passion
Passion: strong, enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal

Passion: your heart's one true desire or the deepest desire of your heart

1. Commitment
2. An Open Mind
3. Persistence
4. Flexibility
5. Faith
6. Thankfulness
7. Passion

It is impossible to think about passion without reference to the heart. Deep
within your heart, there is a desire, the pursuit of which will bring you all the
happiness, success and fulfilment you really want. To find your passion is to
identify your own unique purpose in life; to live your passion is to achieve the
Deepest Desire of Your Heart.

You can achieve whatever you want. You can be the person you were meant to
be and you can really live the life of your dreams. Those are bold statements but
they are true and more and more people are discovering this wonderful truth for
themselves. But if this is indeed true, then why is it that so many people - we
think the figure is around 80% - are pursuing jobs and careers they don't really
care about?

For our parents and grandparents, growing up in a world with comparatively
few opportunities, it is true to say that their lives were consumed with the whole
business of 'making a living' - looking after what Abraham Maslow called their
physiological and social needs. They worked hard and never really enjoyed the
luxury of considering what might be termed the 'higher needs' of the human
condition.

Many people in today's workplace are indeed seeking to reach higher and often
people think they have reached their peak when they have started to meet their
'esteem' needs, that is, the basic human need for respect, recognition and
responsibility. For many people, this means pursuing an interesting career rather
than just getting a job.

However, for very many people, there is still an inner emptiness. Often, this
emptiness is experienced more starkly when they have actually become

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successful in their chosen careers. They start to wonder exactly what life has
been about. The trappings of success: promotion, automobile and house did not
bring about the happiness they anticipated. This is a consequence, as Stephen
Covey puts it, of climbing the ladder of success only to find when they reach the
top that, all along, the ladder has been leaning against the wrong wall.

To really achieve success in life, you must be bold enough to go even higher; to
consider what Maslow called Self Actualisation. This means becoming the
person you were meant to be and living the life you were meant to live. Only by
doing this, can you possibly hope to find the true success you really desire.

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The Rest of Your Life
You are a truly unique person: you can tell this simply by taking a moment or
two to look at your thumb print. Do that now – go on, humour me – take a look
at your thumb print and know this: you are the only person who has ever lived
who has had that thumb print! Isn’t that truly amazing? In fact, it is even more
amazing than that because, as it turns out, you are the only person who will ever
have that thumb print.

So you already know, in your heart that you are unique. But also know that this
uniqueness extends to your purpose in life. You are called to achieve something
significant with your life! Do not make the mistake of believing that life holds
no purpose for you. Remember that you are here only once. This is your life -
right now - so make sure you find the courage to live the life you were born to
live.

Our mission is to help people to develop their own unique talents, abilities and
passion in order that they may lead more meaningful, joyful and fulfilled lives.
We can achieve this if you will help us to spread our message.

This humble little book contains an important message for the people of our
own time. Just imagine for a moment what would happen if millions of people
were to decide to start living the lives they were born to live - just think of the
amazing transformation that would result. The most astonishing power,
operating for good, would be unleashed within the world if a substantial number
of individuals committed themselves to finding and achieving their unique
calling.

Now is it really possible that millions of people could be so affected? Well, with
your help, I believe we can indeed reach the world with this important message.
For the first time in our history, we do have a method of achieving this. The
internet is truly an amazing place.

To achieve this goal, all that is necessary is for you to recommend this book
anyone who you think would benefit. That really is all that is necessary because
this message will naturally multiply if you will help. Eventually it will reach the
right people and touch the hearts and minds of those people who need to hear its
message.

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So, if you have enjoyed reading this little book and would like to help us to
achieve our mission, please send it to someone you think would benefit by
reading it. Isn’t it exciting to be a part of something that can actually change the
world?

Will you help us?

Thank You,

Will Edwards.

It's Good to Share!

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About White Dove Books
White Dove Books was founded by Will Edwards, in 2003 primarily as an
outlet for his writing. Within its first three years, it became recognised as one of
the internet’s leading Personal Development sites, breaking into the top 100,000
sites on the internet for the first time, according to Alexa’s rankings, at the end
of 2005.

The INSPIRATION newsletter, published by White Dove Books, was started in
2005 as a way of providing useful information including tips and techniques for
living life to the full, interesting articles and free inspirational ebooks to our
visitors.

In 2006, we were granted permission by the talented artist Rameer Tawasil to
use his design as our logo. Although we now have a new specially designed
logo, we continue to fully support Rameer's world-wide campaign for peace.

Today White Dove Books works in partnership with many authors and on-line
publishers of inspirational material to provide a quality online service that
serves thousands of people in dozens of countries across the world.

Our mission is to help people to develop their own unique talents, abilities and
passion in order that they may lead more meaningful, joyful and fulfilled lives

Copyright © White Dove Books
All Rights Reserved.

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7 keys for-success

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