Comments on: The Great Things Never Come Easily

By: Henry

Henry — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:15:14 +0000

A White Crane master, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming tells this story. “I felt so depressed after comparing myself with one of my most talented classmates. I always felt awkward compared to him. I told my master about this. He again looked at me and said, “Little Yang! The reason you want to train is because you want to train. It is the same as plowing a field. When you plow, you simply do it for your harvest. Why do you look around? If you are ahead of others, you will be proud of yourself, you will be satisfied, and you will become lazy. If you are behind, you will become depressed and despise yourself. Why don’t you just bow your head and keep plowing? Do not look around. Just keep plowing. Until one day…He pointed his finger towards my face…when you get tired and take a break, suddenly you realize that there is nobody around you. You have left all the others far far behind and you cannot even be seen.”

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:31:33 +0000

Loved the rhythm of this post. Excellent writing. Thank you.

By: Linda

Linda — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:50:56 +0000

Life can be a beautiful thing. Thanks for the reminder.

By: Evita

Evita — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:50:26 +0000

Great post, well-written and inspiring. Thank you Trent!

By: Joe @ Not Your Average Joe

Joe @ Not Your Average Joe — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:00:39 +0000

Trent, one of your better posts in a blog full of excellent writing. Thanks for this.

By: Sri

Sri — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:43:05 +0000

Trent,
Thoughtful, reflective, and beautifully written! Thanks for sharing. One of the best I have read, and the matter makes so much sense too.

By: MARY

MARY — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:21:09 +0000

Great post,Trent! Thanks for inspiring us!
And #8Kerry-thanks for the quotation!

By: Irulan

Irulan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:19:34 +0000

De-lurking after several years to tell you that this was lovely and inspiring! Thank you for this post.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:04:33 +0000

The 10,000 hour rule is the reason most people fail. Malcom Gladwell is a genius!

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to three words…NEVER GIVE UP

By: getagrip

getagrip — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:29:40 +0000

Nice post. It’s good to remember hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but success doesn’t come without hard work. I’ve never met anyone who is truly successful who doesn’t work at it (especially when you look closer at what they are doing).

It’s also hard because life happens, all the time, and it’s easy to lose focus. Just these last two weeks the motor on the vacuum burnt out, the light hanging over my kitchen table frazzled, the check engine light went on in my car, my home computers’ motherboard toasted, ants are back in the kitchen, bees are building a nest under the front porch, my kid’s car needs an alignment, and my dental cleaning appointment found two cavities needing filling. All this on top of planned activities and costs. While it seems like one step forward, two steps back, when I compare myself now to years ago, it’s been two steps forward and one back. So I’m getting there. It just seems to take so long sometimes.

By: coolkit

coolkit — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:48:19 +0000

Fantastic post, inspirational to the core.

“Dream Fund” can do wonders! I have currently Dream Fund 1 and Dream Fund 2, one is a five year manifestation and the other is 10 years. I know long term, but a proverb comes to mind “Drop by drop a Lake is formed”.

In 1998 I started my first dream fund, and it manifested with me purchasing my first single family home in 2004 with 20% down in great neighborhood with not just all my needs but all my wants too.

Rather than having a vague notion, I set a goal of “what” and “how much” and then worked backwards. The goal was the house, and how much was 20% down and then what neighborhood and what I needed (and wanted) in the house. Like a vision board kept that vision and goal alive, so when I was feeling down and had to make tough choices I knew what I was working towards. Working it backwards informed me on exactly how much I had to save per month. From then on it was simply automated out to the dream fund! There were times when it got tough and I wanted to spend on a vacation or something else, the vision board always came handy.

Another proverb comes to mind “Live like no one else today, and you will live like no one else tomorrow”.

By: SMG

SMG — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:13:06 +0000

Great post Trent!

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:49:45 +0000

Such an inspiring post today, thankyou! :-)

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:19:58 +0000

Trent, question! Why not put your “dream house fund” on your current mortgage? First of all you are most likely getting only around 1% interest on your money, and that is taxed by the government. Inflation is eating away at that money voraciously. If you used the money to prepay on your mortgage, you would shorten the years you have to pay on your house, making the dream house more of a reality. Second you would get a better, and not taxed, rate of return on the dream fund money.

By: Availle

Availle — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 06:44:46 +0000

The great things in life never come easily.
They will happen, but only if you work for them.

So true!

Wonderful post today, Trent!

By: Kerry D.

Kerry D. — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:21:31 +0000

One of my favorite quotations:
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. Helen Keller, Letter to a 5 yr old.

Seems to me to be related…perceiving how the ordinary or mundane activities connect to the big picture.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:47:44 +0000

That was really beautiful Trent.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:50:51 +0000

thank you for a beautiful post. good luck with your dreams. maybe your great novel is a memoir, you write so movingly about your family. thanks again.

By: Fawn

Fawn — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:47:32 +0000

Great article, Trent! I needed that today! I have no wiggle room in my spending for a few months and it is hard sometimes.

I calculated my budget through Feb. and it seems like it is so far away, yet so close! I will be out of debt then! yay! I have you to partly thank for that! Thank you so much!

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:11:11 +0000

Remember to enjoy the journey.