Don't Give Up! You Are Stronger Than You Think

By Canaan Mash

Written from the life and wisdom of Canaan Mash, ‘Don't Give Up!’ teaches readers from all backgrounds how to “walk through” life’s many crises, using the insults and despair thrown at them as vital fuel for their inner fire. In a world where millions of people are on the verge of giving up on life, Mash’s wholly-unique new book has the power to bring them back from the edge and give them the power they need to pursue their dreams. It’s all for the taking…

While everyone faces crises and setbacks in life, most believe that the ability to emerge stronger is nothing but a roll of the dice; a simple pot-luck game of chance that leaves some better off than others. Having inspired thousands of young people and groups with his uplifting and empowering talks, Canaan Mash knows the reality to be different. In short, it’s all about resisting the temptation to give up, walking through one’s problems and coming out the other side stronger and with a more powerful perspective on life.

“Through a series of to-the-point pep talks and the sharing of actual stories, I unravel the personal, practical and psychological issues that surround life’s often endless crises,” explains Mash. “The book was written for those in despair and on the brink of giving up; people who wish they were fearless and could know the secrets to keeping their focus in life. For what I firmly believe is the first time in literary history, I share the secrets so readers can keep their focus and have the life they have always dreamed of.”

In ‘Don't Give Up!’ Mash lays out a proven blueprint to dealing with life’s crises and developing the mental and emotional stamina necessary to fight back – hard.

Canaan Mash lives in Royal Berkshire, England - author and speaker. He studied at Haggai Institute of Advanced Leadership Training, Singapore; NISIET Institute, Hyderabad, India; United Christian Church & Ministerial Institute, Cleveland, USA; Thames Valley University, London, United Kingdom; University of Wales, Lampeter, Wales. He is married to Elizabeth with kids.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canaan Mash
• Release date: Mar 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781326444020

Book preview

Don’t

Give Up!

You Are Stronger Than You Think

Canaan Mash

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored, in any form or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-326-44402-0 

Printed in the United Kingdom

Contents

Dedication 

Acknowledgement

Why this Book    11

Chapter 1:  A Fresh Perspective     15

Chapter 2:  Don’t Quit!    19

Chapter 3:  Refuse to Give Up!    32

Chapter 4:  Persistence Pays    40

Chapter 5:  Go Forward!      65

Chapter 6:  Mental Toughness    77

Chapter 7:  Bounce Back!    92  

Chapter 8:  Attitude is Power  100

Chapter 9:  The Success Formula  115

Chapter 10:  When the Odds Are Against You  126

Chapter 11:  Quitting is Not an Option       134

Chapter 12:  Self-Motivation        145 

Chapter 13:  Power of Perseverance    157 

Chapter 14:  The Champion in You!      168

Chapter 15:  Champions Are Grateful    185 

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my children Charity, Victor, Prince and Kevin;

To every person, young or old, employed or unemployed, educated or uneducated, male or female, who dreams of becoming financially independent, build a happy, successful and rewarding life, but is too intimidated to give up.  It is the hope and dream of this writer that this book will give you that Push;

To all readers all over the world, who work every day at making their lives a success and our world a much better place in which to live; and,

Finally, this book is dedicated to you all with love, appreciation, and many thanks for allowing it to be a part of your lives!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Special thanks to my wife, Elizabeth for her encouragement, contribution and emotional support

I would like to express my gratitude to my mother, my brothers Peter, his wife Shumirai and children; Obert, his wife Miriam and children and the rest of the family, all my brethren, friends and associates who continue to pray, support and encourage me in spite of all else.

Above all I want to extend my huge thanks to the many people who urged me to write this  book; to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed me to quote their remarks and assisted in the editing, proof-reading and design of this book, thank you all.

Why this Book

For every person who closed the door in my face, thank you. For every person who told me I wasn't good enough, thank you. For every person who laughed and told me that I was wasting my time going to college, because I was going to fail, thank you. For every person who tried to break me, thank you. For every person who took my kindness for weakness, thank you. For every person who told me I was wasting time chasing my dreams because I would fail, thank you. It could have broken me. From the core of my heart, I thank you. I truly mean it, because if it weren't for each of you I wouldn't be who I am today. I wouldn't have spent hours and lost sleep studying. I wouldn't have developed tough skin. You pushed me to think about what I really want out of life. You pushed me to master my craft. You helped me develop the drive, passion and determination. You pushed me to not wait for someone to believe in my vision, but to find a way to make things happen. I know you didn't intend to, but I thank you for teaching me to believe in myself! AND you taught me to TRUST in God and lean on my faith, not man. Thank You! (Yvonne Pierre)

It’s not always going to be easy to reach our dreams or to complete our assignment on Earth. The loftier the dream the more challenging the path. Life demands patience, persistence and determination. Sometimes it’s going to seem impossible, and especially, when you’re taking on something that requires consistent, sustained effort.  It is a battle of will to endure to the end. Many times, everything in front of you will point you to the door. You will be tried, tested and tempted to give up.

In moments like these, you remind yourself of why you set out to do what you were doing in the first place. That moment when you’re on your last legs is the exact moment when you CAN’T quit. And here’s why. Because that’s when your breakthrough is about to happen. That’s when your dream is just around the corner. That’s where the growth happens. And that’s the stuff that success and mastery are made of! You understand!

We can’t escape pain; we can’t escape the essential nature of our lives. But we do have a choice. We can give in and relent, or we can fight, persevere, and create a life worth living, a noble life. Pain is a fact; our evaluation of it is a choice. ~Jacob Held

Genius involves figuring out who we are, and owning ourselves. It’s about amplifying our best traits and compensating for the rest. Geniuses grab life by the horns. They persevere amidst setbacks. They take control of their lives, instead of waiting for others to open doors for them. To this end, greatness is completely and utterly made! Sadly, human beings haven’t evolved enough yet to deal well with setbacks.

Dealing with setbacks has to be a pretty recent invention of our brains. The idea that you could recover from setbacks at all is pretty new to most of us. Our brains aren’t optimally equipped to deal with a world where experimentation and perseverance are more important personality traits than caution and prudence.

Most modern and everyday problems present setbacks of the non-fatal variety. Poor career choices, failed relationships, missed deadlines, etc. These are all painful, but they’re hardly lethal. Yet we still have a massive psychological barrier to dealing with setbacks in a constructive, positive manner.

Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity.

~Joseph Sugarman

The road to long-term success is seldom a straight line. New products get launched with great fanfare—and the next minute they suddenly disappear from the scene. Companies make big bets on strategies—only to discover that the playing field has shifted once again. All-too-human executives use poor judgment or permit just one ethical lapse—and find their reputations tarnished forever. There is no success without failure. Yet the mythology we've created about humans rarely allows us to recognize this simple fact.

It’s not where you start in life, it’s where you end up that counts. Successful people, we've come to believe, never make a bad call. They never make a dumb decision. They never, under pressure, choose to do something they would later regret.

"Like everything in life, it is not what happens to you but

how you respond to it that counts." ~Steve Backley

Negative energy limits us. It steals precious energy from us. Makes us feel bad. Keeps us from achieving our dreams. In a world that isn’t perfect, only positive energy will help us grow into our greatness. The best success strategy is to protect yourself from all forms of negative energy. What would you do if you were more motivated to succeed? More hungry for success? More driven on a day to day basis? Purpose driven and more focused? What would happen if you had more vitality and more vision? This book will address these crucial questions and offer strategies of how to deal with and overcome setbacks in life.

Life is a continuous discovery, keep going...

ONE

A Fresh Perspective

Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give. (William A. Ward)

Live life with intention and attention. Accomplish something. Explore your hidden potential. Be creative. Be purposeful. Be mindful. A good steward of time and resources. Time is a precious commodity!

Open your eyes. Make choices consciously. Pay attention. Act with intention. Know what you want. Be aware. What gives your life meaning? What do you value? What do you hope to contribute to your generation? Release your energy, talents and abilities. Stay focused!

"You’ve got to be willing to crash and burn.

If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far"

~Steve Jobs

This is your life. You live it every day. You create it every day. With every decision. Every action (or inaction). Every reaction. Along with your attitude. Your focus. Your beliefs. You are shaping your life and destiny. Both the reality and the experience of it. So, be intentional. Be deliberate. Think about where you’re going. The kind of life you want. What do you want to accomplish? Who do you want to become? Your attitude can either make or break You!

In a world that is demanding, hectic, busy, impatient and hurried, intention is a rare commodity. Many simply drift along. It’s tempting to put our lives on autopilot. But that’s not how we were designed to get to our destiny. Don't let failure stop you. Let it be the jolt you need to succeed.

I’ve rarely interviewed a successful entrepreneur or CEO who hasn’t risked failure. In fact most successful people don’t even see ‘failure;’ they see a result that didn’t have the intended outcome. ~Unknown

Decide the trajectory and focus of your life. Don’t wake up one day only to realize that you really didn’t live the life you intended. Or worse still, you didn’t intend anything at all and just barely existed. That’s a waste of human destiny!

We don’t live in a vacuum. We are constantly bombarded by demands, distractions and decisions. A myriad of issues pulling us in every direction. It’s easy to get lost in the current of busyness. To let others decide for us. To get stuck in a cycle of inaction, indecision, and discontent. Or worse still apathy!

As an individual you have the capacity to change your lot in life. Dictating your circumstances is not the easiest of tasks to achieve. But it can be done. Putting yourself in a position where it’s either win or bust. Motivating yourself. Self-motivation is a learned skill. To get out there and face the challenges head-on. To become the best you were created to be. To make the most of your life! To raise the bar on Yourself!

The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do. ~Dennis Waitley

You are here to grow. To transcend. To discover the treasure trapped on the inside of you. You are here to meet problems, difficulties, and challenges. And then, to overcome them. The joy is in the overcoming! There is fulfilment in overcoming obstacles, failure and difficulties! Medals are given to overcomers. Honours are bestowed on champions. There is great pride in accomplishment. You can’t afford to simply fold your arms and stand by the side-lines watching your life pass by. Remember, you are the main character of your life!

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door ~Unknown

It is in overcoming that we develop character. Character is destiny! It is within our capacity to rise above any challenge we face. Refuse to accept failure as final. Never resign yourself to any situation. You