I Am the Author of My Life: A Students Guide for Success

By Bob Urichuck and Prof. C.F. Joseph

First of all, this book is not about getting you high for a day or two. It is a self-discovery companion and planning guide, for teenagers, that will enable you to make a significant difference in your life. Based on Bob Urichucks internationally acclaimed and time-proven 12 Disciplines, Born To Excel will lead you to understand what success, attitude, motivation and that most important person YOUare all about. You will commit first to yourself and
then to your dreams. As you read, think and write your way through these 12 essential and meaningful steps, or disciplines, you will literally author your own future stepby- step, and make your dreams a reality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Nov 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482843514

Book preview

Author of my life

A Students Guide for Success

BOB URICHUCK

AND

PROF. C.F. JOSEPH

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Copyright © 2015 by Bob Urichuck; Prof. C.F. Joseph.

ISBN:         eBook         978-1-4828-4351-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

Contents

Acknowledgment

Introduction

Part 1—Motive

Understanding Success, Attitude, Motivation… and That Most Important Person—You

Do You Want to Succeed in Life? What Kind of Professional and Personal Life Do You Want?

To Start

Discipline #1—Know Your Rights

Discipline #2—Make a Decision

Discipline #3—Take Control of Your Life

Discipline #4—Know Yourself

Discipline #5—Know What You Want Out of Life

Part 2—Action

Authoring Your Future,

Creating Your Future, One Step at a Time

Discipline #6—Group, Categorize and Prioritize

Discipline #7—Identify What You Are Prepared to Give in Exchange

Discipline #8—Create a Goal Logbook

Discipline #9—Commit to Your Action Plan

Discipline #10—Be Action-Oriented

Discipline #11—Monitor and Measure Your Progress

Discipline #12—Be Thankful

Conclusion

The 12 Disciplines for Living the Life of Your Dreams: Master Self-Motivation and Personal Leadership

Useful Definitions

Summary of Quotations

Untitled

The Golden Rule

Time

Bibliography

About the Authors

Endnotes

Personal Companion of:

Name

Starting Date

This book is dedicated to all the students in the world. You were Born To Excel. May you have the capability, strength and discipline to live your life from the inside out, and may you maintain a firm belief in yourself and in others with whom you come in contact. You are the author of your future; may you live the life of your dreams.

Acknowledgment

This book represents many years of experience—experience gained through good times and bad times, success and failure in our own lives and in the lives of those we have interacted with. When we look back, we both think appreciatively of the many people who had an impact on our lives. There are far too many to mention here, but I (Bob) would at least like to recognize my co-author, Professor C.F. Joseph who has worked with thousands of students and has made significant contributions in making this book a reality.

We both also acknowledge the inner power that guides us, all the way from idea creating to attracting the people and circum-stances to make the ideas a reality.

Finally, there is one other person, a person that you may not know as well as you should. That person is you—the most important person in the world. Without you, there would be no reason to write this book. Enjoy!

Introduction

We all have dreams, but in order to make these dreams into reality it takes an awful lot of determination, self-discipline and effort.

Jesse Owens

D o you know who you are? As a student, do you love and enjoy learning? Have you ever thought about what you want out of life? Do you wake up and get out of bed ev-ery morning eager to go to school and make the best of a new day?

Irrespective of whether your answer is yes or no, this book will provide you with clear-cut methods to a rewarding and posi-tive lifestyle not only now during the teen years but also through-out life.

Our objective in writing this book is to help you help your-self. We want to inspire you to take control of your life and move toward living the life of your dreams. We will provide you with a step-by-step approach which we have labeled Born To Excel, You Are the Author of Your Future, and we have included personal exercises. Living the life or the lifestyle of your choice requires a conscious effort on your part in order to master the 12 Disciplines. However, it is a simple course of action available to everyone even though you may have to change some of your habits or behaviors.

Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what your dreams are or what your future will be. Only you can do that.

In most organizations, management devotes enormous energy to setting work objectives and conducting performance reviews for individual employees. Corporations go through this time-consuming and costly exercise to ensure the most favorable results for their firm. In most professional services like lawyers, doctors, dentists and sales, considerable time is spent discovering and understanding the needs of clients in order to provide a recommended service action plan.

In contrast, how much time and energy do you expend discover-ing your own needs and desires, and then consciously setting objec-tives, developing action plans with measurable performance standards, and finally reviewing your own performance? By engaging in such an exercise, you will be doing something about your life. You will be going to school with real dreams for yourself and your future.

What’s different about this book? First of all, this book is not a craze to get you excited simply for a day or two. It is a self-discovery compan-ion and planning guide that will make a significant difference in your life. It is based on proven learning principles and the adage that I could give you a fish and feed you for a day, or I can teach you how to fish and feed you for life. Our intention is the latter, to provide you with the tools you need to follow your dreams and to succeed. There are millions of books on the market regarding this topic. However, they all tell you what to do. Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what your dreams are or what your future will be. Only you can do that. So after sharing some of our own experiences with you, we ask you some questions. We have left space for you to write out your answers. This question and answer process allows you to dig deep within yourself and honestly answer from the inside out. You see, writing down the answers makes them clear. When you write the an-swers on paper, you know the answers are yours and not someone else’s. You now own them, and this leads to a higher level of commitment. You are making a personal commitment merely by writing an answer to a direct question. You are not only Born To Excel but fired up to become disciplined for life, you literally become the author of your future.

To benefit from this book will require discipline on your part as you learn about self-motivation and personal leadership. You must complete each exercise as it appears. As you complete them one by one, you will realize that only you can make the difference in your life. By doing the exercises, you are going through a self-discovery process. As you discover who you are and write out your answers, you take ownership, and that is what makes the difference. Because it is your idea, you own it and you are more committed to making it happen.

Discipline is the key. Discipline is a commitment to the most important person in the world. It means doing what you have to do, even when you do not want to do it.

You now have in your hands the ideas and tools, combined with an internationally proven learning process, for you to make the dif-ference in your life. The choice is yours, but it will take discipline.

This book is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a process of self-discovery and self-understanding. In Part 1, you get to understand your motives. Once your concept of success is defined and you know your personal rights, you can make the decisions needed to take control of your life. Meanwhile, you will learn about yourself, what you want out of life, and how you want to be remembered.

In Part 2, taking all the elements of Part 1 into consideration, you will crystallize your dreams into an action plan. This book’s techniques and tools will guide you through the process. You just have to do the work and put your plan into action.

The process will be driven by you and it is hard work. We tried to make it as easy as we could for you by sharing some of our personal life experiences and offering examples. However, if you complete each exercise as it appears, and if you monitor and measure your progress every month, we promise you that you will be rewarded far beyond your expectations.

As teenagers, we didn’t know either what we really wanted to do or where we wanted to go. Our minds were just as cluttered with conflicting ideas from school, religion, family and friends. We didn’t even know who we really were. We tended to accept what others told us about ourselves. Our young lives were driven by how others portrayed us. We let the outside influences affect our self-esteem.

Nevertheless, during our teenage years, when we began to explore the powers of the mind and how attitude plays a significant role in ev-erything, we became obsessed with them. Everything we read during our spare time was about attitude, motivation and goal-setting. We hope to impart to you the importance of leading a healthy and well-balanced life while at the same time staying focused on your goals.

This was written by the great poet Longfellow. He was inspi-rational and a definite influence on us during our teenage years.

In order to take full advantage of this book and your life, high-light your favorite passages and write down your thoughts. Start now by writing your name at the front of this book. Complete all the exercises in the order that they occur, and add your thoughts in the space provided at the end of each discipline. Keep this as your personal journal and reference book. Unlike a diary, where you note your past, this book will serve as a diary of your future or the road map for your life as you want it to be. Only you can be the author of your life.

Unlike a diary, where you note your past, this book will serve as a diary of your future or the road map for your life as you want it to be.

Only you can be the author of your life.

You will learn a lot about yourself. By taking your time, think-ing things out and writing down your thoughts, you will immedi-ately begin to reap the rewards.

Your self-image, self-respect, self-esteem, and the manner in which you portray yourself to the world will improve. You will lead yourself toward the life of your choice. Why? You have to, because nobody else will. You are the only person responsible and accountable for you.

One final note: Before moving on from one discipline to the next, you should recognize and reward yourself by celebrating the completion of all the exercises in that particular discipline. It is a fact that any behaviour that gets recognized and is rewarded gets repeated. Start rewarding yourself for things you enjoy once you have disciplined yourself to take action and completed the task.

There are many support tools available to you in this book. Additional support tools can also be found on our website at www.borntoexcel.org

Each of us has different modes of learning, and we want to ensure you have all the tools available to you in the form in which you learn best.

Now let’s move on to Part 1 and discover what success, attitude and motivation is all about. Have fun!

Motive

Part 1—Motive

Understanding Success, Attitude, Motivation… and That Most Important Person—You

You must like yourself for who you are and accept your individualism. Always do your best no matter the chal-lenge and be honest and true to yourself

All of your dreams can come true—if you have the courage to pursue them.

Walt Disney

Part 1

Do You Want to Succeed in Life? What Kind of Professional and Personal Life Do You Want?

We have interacted with many teenagers who have asked them-selves these questions at some time during their teenage years. A good number of them we know ask these questions repeatedly so as to maintain the level of motivation they need to achieve their personal goals. We congratulate all teenagers who have asked these questions and who continue to ask them. We encour-age every teenager who wishes to achieve something worthwhile in life to begin asking these questions and to look for answers from within, especially now during the best years of life—the TEENAGE years.

Our observations and experiences from life tell us that success or failure in our lives depends on the degree of preparedness with which we enter various stages of our lives. It also seems to depend on the degree of energy and effort we afford every stage to emerge stronger and better equipped for the next stage of our life.

It is like the story of a butterfly that was trying to get out of its cocoon. An elderly teacher and a little boy approximately 6 years of age sat watching a butterfly trying to get out of its cocoon. As they watched, it struggled repeatedly. The little boy felt that it might suffocate and die within the cocoon. He requested that the friendly teacher help the butterfly lest it die in there. The teacher advised the boy to keep watching. He assured the boy that a beau-tiful butterfly would emerge out of the cocoon very soon. The boy in wonderment asked really sir? The teacher replied Yes, son.

The boy was very eager to see the butterfly come out of the cocoon. He just about held his