The Formula For Failure And Success

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day, its a hard and sometimes painful learning experience.

Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.

On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision or a wasted hour generally doesn’t result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds.

If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn’t seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters!

Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year… because it doesn’t seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices—choices that didn’t seem to matter.

Failure’s most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don’t seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to repeat.

But we must become better educated than that!

If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment and the sky had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to make sure that the act would never be repeated. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents’ warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.

Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter.

Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to follow: It’s a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success? The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy.

Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true, why don’t more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn’t seem to matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow.

But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we would be able to take the necessary action to change our errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our errors and develop new habits to replace the old.

One of the exciting things about the formula for success—a few simple disciplines practiced every day—is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our diet, our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence, when we choose the people we spend time with more carefully,life becomes more valuable. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily, will produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at developing new disciplines.

The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend our thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence—not once we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!

If you are thinking about buy your first home you may need to considering doing it now!

FHA Limitations on Seller Concessions Revised Proposal cuts maximum concessions in half Feb. 23, 2012 By MortgageDaily.com staff

A proposed policy that cuts the maximum seller concessions in half on residential transactions financed with government mortgages has been revised in response to strong public feedback. Seller-paid closing costs on mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration are limited to 3 percent based on a proposal by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But a revision to the proposal extends the limitation to the greater of 3 percent or $6,000. Current regulations allow up to 6 percent to be paid by the seller. Reducing the limit on seller-paid fees will align FHA policy with the rest of the market, according to HUD. Conventional loans are limited to 3 percent unless putting a down payment of 20% or more. Statistical data cited in a July 2010 notice reportedly illustrated how loans to borrowers who received more than 3 percent in seller concessions generated more losses than those with 3 percent or less in fees paid by the seller. HUD explained, “Seller concessions include any payment toward the borrower’s closing costs and other fees, by any third party with an interest in the transaction, including the seller, builder, developer, mortgage broker, lender, or settlement company.” The revised definition removes homeowners association fees, mortgage interest payments and mortgage payment protection plans, among other payment supplements, from acceptable seller concessions. Closing costs, prepaid expenses and discount points were already considered acceptable concessions when paid by the seller. Interest-rate buydowns were also in this category. The proposal adds up-front mortgage-insurance premiums to the list of items that fit the acceptable definition of seller concessions. “All other third-party contributions are considered inducements to purchase, resulting in a dollar-for-dollar reduction to the lesser of sale price or appraised value before applying the appropriate LTV factor (96.5 percent),” the notice stated. “This excludes closing costs and prepaid items paid by the lender through premium (rebate) pricing.” The $6,000 limit can increase each year at the same rate as the FHA national loan limit floor. The housing agency will accept comments on Thursday’s revised proposal for 30 days. The reduction in seller-paid fees was one of three initiatives to restore the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund that HUD proposed in July 2010. That proposal generated 902 public comments from lenders, Realtors and home builders as well as other interested organizations during the 30-day public comment period. Most of the comments were about the limitation on seller concessions. The strong response prompted HUD to delay the implementation of that initiative. After considering the feedback, the limitation was extended by adding the $6,000 maximum — which eases requirements for FHA borrowers in lower-priced neighborhoods since some fees are fixed regardless of the purchase price. In September 2010, HUD published a final rule implementing a minimum credit score of 500 as of October 2010 and cutting the maximum loan-to-value ratio to 90 percent on FHA-insured loans for borrowers with credit scores less than 580. HUD said it is in the process of implementing a third initiative that tightens standards on manually underwritten loans. That initiative is expected to reduce risk while ensuring that borrowers are offered sustainable loans. FHA market share was 17 percent during its fiscal-year 2010. Three years earlier, in 2007, FHA only captured 3.4 percent of the market.

 

Worry

Worrying about the results will not change them. I certainly recognize that a certain amount of worry is just part of being human. People have concerns about many things. There are legitimate concerns about money and financial security. There are legitimate concerns about health issues, and there are concerns about our personal and professional relationships. People want all of these things to go well in their lives, and a certain amount of worry and concern is normal. But there is another kind of worry that is not only dangerous to your health; it is dangerous to your success. The kind of worry I’m talking about is “imagined worry.” Imagined worry is when you spend a lot of time thinking about the future and what might happen in your life that could be terrible. “Worry is a misuse of the imagination,” 

Now you might be wondering why I’m so concerned about worrying and what it has to do with success and expecting to win, so I’ll tell you. Worry is the most significant factor that relates to the root of negative thinking. As a matter of fact, worry just might be the engine that starts negative thinking, and if you are involved in negative thinking, you will not expect to win. If you spend an excessive amount of time imagining all the bad things that can happen in your life, you will become a person who is problem-conscious, not solution-conscious. There is perhaps no greater example of how this can be so dangerous than when it involves worrying about health issues. I have known many people who receive bad medical reports, and when they hear the news, they begin to worry so much about it their life may as well have ended at that moment. We all know people who suffer this way and we suffer with them. There doesn’t seem to be a single thing we can do or say to encourage and lift them up.

On the other hand, we all know people who suffer in the worst way and never make mention of their struggle. In fact, they seem embarrassed if we catch them grimacing in pain or taking a bad step. They don’t want attention focused on what they can’t do or how they hurt and suffer; they want to be “others” centered and get their mind off of their disability. These individuals have accepted their issue as a part of life and have decided to make the very best of their circumstances. They are an encouragement and example to everyone blessed enough to know them! Yes, they have bad days, but they choose to focus on the good days and what they can still do. They live in the moment and know full well that tomorrow will be what it is and they can deal with it when it arrives, not before.

Zig Ziglar