Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!

~*Happy New Year 2023*~

Thank you for using my blog!

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Recently, I read book titled Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! written by Dr. Robert H. Schuller. This article presents "As Is" excerpts (important highlights and quotes) from this book. However, it is no replacement for the experience and joy of reading it. Moreover, it is not review of the book too. I just compiled this information for my own ready reference. Dr. Schuller presents each and every aspect with real life examples in order to reinforce the faith of Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!  

The book presents the secret ingredient of tough people that enables them to succeed. In this international bestseller Dr. Robert Schuller translates his philosophy of ‘Possibility Thinking’ into an action plan for success and demonstrates how to turn your dreams into success, setbacks into new beginnings, and successes into newer possibilities.

The one battle most people lose is the battle over the fear of failure…

try…

start…

begin…

and you’ll be assured you won the first round.

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Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary amounts of determination.
Nobody is a total failure if he dares to try to do something worthwhile.

When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t!

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The book is divided into three parts. Dr. Schuller begins with the inspiring life stories of the tough people in the Part 1 of his book i.e. stories of Mary Martin, Benno Fischer, John Prunty, and Carol Schuller. These stories highlights that it’s impossible to fail totally if you dare to try. And reinforces the thought of Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! In the Part 2 of the book he presents How You Can Be Tough Too! He presented different principals to sail through tough times. This section of book highlights the philosophy of “Possibility Thinking”. In the Part 3 of the book he presents Alphabet for Action.

Never let a problem become an excuse.

Six Principles to Put Your Problem in Proper Perspective:

1. Every living human beings has problems.

2. Every problem has a limited life span.

3. Every problem holds positive possibilities.

4. Every problem will change you.

5. You can choose what your problem will do to you.

6. There is a negative and a positive reaction to every problem.

Today’s decisions are tomorrow’s realities.

Twelve Principles for Managing Problems Positively

1. Don’t underestimate the problem or your potential power to cope with it creatively.

2. Don’t exaggerate the problem.

3. Don’t wait. Patience is not a virtue if you sit back and wait for your problem to solve itself.

4. Don’t aggravate the problem.

5. Illuminate your mind. Get smart and then get smarter.

6. Motivate. Consider all of the positive reactions, you will be motivated.

7. Bait.  You have to head out for the open waters, cruise, and throw out bait.

8. Date. “Dating” is a principle of problem management. For example, how do you find husband or wife?

9. Sublimate. Every problem, even yours, is loaded with possibilities. Try “POSSIBILITIZING”. Believe that every time one door closes, another will open. Sublimate your problem. That means believing that every adversity holds within it the seeds of an undeveloped possibility.

10. Now dedicate. Most people fail, not because they lack intelligence, ability, opportunity, or talent, but because they haven’t given their dedication to the problem they’ve got!

11. Communicate. Manage your problem by remembering that oftentimes the solution lies in help from some other source. Do you need help? Then ask for it i.e. Communicate.

12. Insulate. Do insulate yourself from negative forces and negative personalities.

God’s delays are not God’s denials.

Take a chance! Take charge!!  Take control!!!

1. Don’t surrender leadership to outside forces, faces, farces, fences, frustrations, fantasies, fears, fatigue, faults, facts, frenzies, fates, forecasts, your foes, your friends, the fracturing experiences of life, the flattening-out experiences of life.
2. Do surrender leadership to one thing—faith.

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.

Ten Commandments of Possibility Thinking

1. Never reject a possibility because you see something wrong with it!

2. Never reject a possibility because you won’t get the credit!

3. Never reject an idea because it’s impossible!

4. Never reject a possibility because your mind is already made up!

5. Never reject an idea because it’s illegal!

6. Never reject an idea because you don’t have money, manpower, muscle, or time to achieve it!

7. Never reject an idea because it will create conflict!

8. Never reject an idea because it’s not your way of doing things!

9. Never reject an idea because it might fail!

10. Never reject and idea because it’s sure to succeed!

Remember this. You won’t start winning without a beginning.

Count to Ten and Win! It is called as “Playing the Possibility Thinking Game”. According to Dr. Schuller, this formula will never fail you. For example, how to solve problem of raising $1,000,000?

1. Get 1 people to give $1,000,000.

2. Get 2 people to give $500,000.

3. Get 4 people to give $250,000.

4. Get 10 people to give $100,000.

5. Get 20 people to give $50,000.

6. Get 40 people to give $25,000.

7. Get 50 people to give $20,000.

8. Get 100 people to give $10,000.

9. Get 200 people to give $5,000.

10. Get 1,000 people to give $1,000.

Don’t kill the dream — execute it!

The Faith That Can Move Your Mountain: In the darkest times, simply remind yourself that faith can move any mountain. There are five phases to the full cycle of mountain-moving faith.

1. The Nesting Phase

2. The Testing Phase

3. The Investing Phase

4. The Arresting Phase

5. The Cresting Phase

Now — Believe and You Will Achieve

Prayer - The Power That Pulls Everything Together Successfully: There must be a steady and unfailing practice of positive prayer if you are to succeed. How to RENEW yourself whenever you feel you’re about to burn out?  

R - Review your past.

E - Examine all the possibilities.

N - Name the price you’re willing to pay.

E - Elect the best possibility, no matter what the price.

W - Wait and work.

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by

the smallest people with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for some underdogs anyway.

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

Beginning Is Half Done!

Alphabets for Action

Presents journey from A to Z for Possibility Thinkers.

A - Affirm	Affirm that you can do it.
B - Believe	Believe that somehow, some time, somewhere, through someone’s help, you can achieve your heart’s highest goal.
C - Commit	Commit yourself to a dream.
D - Dare	Dare to try. Dare to love. Dare to make a commitment. Dare to take a risk. If you don’t dare to take a risk, you’ll never get ahead. You’ll never solve your problems. To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To believe is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure.
E - Educate	Educate yourself.
F - Find	Find the talent, the possibilities, the time, the money, and the way.
G - Give	A giving attitude is the secret to successful living.
H - Hope	Hope is holding on, praying expectantly.
I - Imagine	Imagine solutions to your problem. Imagine yourself scaling your mountain. Imagine yourself crossing the finished line.
J - Junk	Junk the junk food of your mind.
K - Knock	Knock out depression, knock out discouragement, knock out all kinds of forecasts of gloom and doom.
L - Laugh	You must keep a sense of humor and be able to laugh at yourself.
M - Make	Do you want your dream to come true? Then make it happen!
N - Negotiate	You will have to be able to negotiate, to compromise. You can’t have you wall all the time.
O - Overlook and Overcome	You have to overlook your own and other people’s imperfections. When you overlook, you’ll be able to overcome.
P - Persevere	Persevere; don’t give up. Tough times never last, but tough people do.
Q - Quit	Quit complaining because life isn’t as nice as you want it. Quit remembering all of those negative, haunting memories.
R - Reorganize	When you fail or succeed, you will need to reorganize.
S - Share	Share the credit, share the power, and share the glory.
T - Trade-off	When you begin to reorganize and share, then you will have to get ready to trade-off.
U - Unlock	Unlock some human value you never experienced before—faith, hope, and love.
V - Visualize	Visualize the dream before you. Visualize success!
W - Work	There is no substitute for work.
X - X-ray	If you’re pursuing a job, if you’re on your way toward a goal, if you’ve got a dream, and you’ve gotten this far, then it’s high time you stopped once more and x-rayed your deepest motives.
Y - Yield	Yield yourselves unto God.
Z - Zip it up	Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last”. Therefore, Yield it all to God, then you come to the end and you can zip it up.

Treat ideas like newborn babies.

Treat them tenderly...

They can get killed pretty quickly.

Treat them gently...

They can be bruised in infancy.

Treat them respectfully...

They could be the most valuable things that ever came into your life.

Treat them protectively...

Don’t let them get away.

Treat them nutritionally...

Feed them, and feed them well.

Treat them antiseptically...

Don’t let them get infected with the germs of negative thoughts.

Treat them responsibly!

Respond! Act! Do something with them!
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Always ask these questions, to yourself, to God, to your loved ones:

Who am I?

Where have I come from?

How did I get here?

Where do I want to go?

How can I get there?

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You can face whatever is ahead of you, and with God as your Friend, you can succeed.

There will never be another now - I’ll make the most of today.
There will never be another me - I’ll make the most of myself.

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