Finding greatness within

I described Peter J. Daniels to my wife as a cross between Zig Ziglar and Dave Ramsey.

All three men are Christian motivational speakers. Ziglar, who passed away in 2012, was one of the world’s most renowned motivational speakers. Ramsey is a personal finance guru who teaches people how to get out of debt and succeed. Daniels is the so-called international merchant of hope. He spoke last week at Christian City Fellowship and also at a luncheon by the Sealy Chamber of Commerce.

I got to meet Daniels and found myself very inspired by what he had to say. It was right in line with what I have learned from Ziglar, Ramsey and a host of other great thinkers of our age. Daniels is purportedly a billionaire, but I have yet to find documentation of that. He is undoubtedly very wealthy both financially and in wisdom.

I was surprised that I had not known of the octogenarian Aussie before he made his visit to Sealy. In addition do devouring books by Ziglar and Ramsey, I consume as many of the self-help success books and videos that I can find. I’ve read the books and listened to the recordings of many of the great motivators, including pastor Rick Warren, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie, and more.

Given that I have studied so intently and that Daniels is such a profound and prolific writer and speaker, it baffled me that he was so obscure. While I cannot vouch for his fame or fortune, I cannot argue with his philosophy of success.

My life has been fraught with many failures and I long to know the secrets to success. In 2012 I published my treatise on success called “Distilling the Giants for their Keys to a Fulfilling, Happy and Successful Life.” You can find it at joesouthern.hubpages.com.   After carefully studying the masterworks of these great leaders (I call them giants), I distilled the core values they espouse and discovered some very interesting and consistent character traits.

I have concluded that these 10 attributes, in order, are the consistent keys to a fulfilling life: Belief, loving, giving, serving, integrity/character, dreaming/goal setting, purpose, attitude, contentment, and doing/engaging.

Next in no particular order are: Quality, excellence, value, trust, inspiration, focus, learning, creation, and will. It is my intent this year to start expanding that article into a book.

Getting back to Daniels, it struck me how consistent his message was with what I know and believe to be true. What really got me, however, was the way he said things.  One question in particular that he asked has just haunted me. “What are you willing to trade your life for?”

We are all given one life. We trade it for what we do and achieve in that lifetime. Has what I’ve done been worth the price? Have I made a good trade with my time, talent and resources? Can I do better?

I can do better. As I said before, I have seen tremendous failure in my life. I’ve lost a marriage, a business, a home, jobs, my life savings, friendships and my health. I was diagnosed with clinical depression about eight years ago. I made the mistake of letting that diagnosis define me. I believed that I was the victim of the disease and therefore incapable of feeling joy or being successful.

What I have learned is that I am not defined by my failures. I am not my disease. I am who God created me to be. I am what I believe my potential to be. Trust me, I have the potential to be great. Buried in the fog of my doubt and depression are incredible successes.

I am a husband and father with an amazing wife and children. I am an Eagle Scout. I was a three-sport athlete in high school. I am an award-winning journalist. I have climbed mountains, gone skydiving, mingled with celebrities and politicians, photographed pro sports and done a number of things the average person doesn’t normally do.

I don’t say this to brag, but to remind myself that I have made some good trades for my life. I believe Daniels and the other giants when they say that the best is yet to come. I want to thank Daniels for not only being a spark of inspiration, but for being the claxon call that has blown out the fog of my doubts and alerted me to the potential that I’ve been wasting. It is my hope that you, too, will find happiness and success worth trading your life for.