Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do! Robert H
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Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller More than 6 months on The New York Times Bestseller List! Here’s How You Can Be Tough Too! What is the secret ingredient of tough people that enables them to succeed? Why do they survive the tough times when others are overcome by them? Why do they soar when others sink? According to Robert Schuller, the difference between those who win and those who don’t, is the application of the powerful concept of ‘Possibility Thinking’. Winners dare to dream. They commit themselves to it. They dare to try, to take risk. They believe ‘If it’s going to be, its up to me’. They understand that failure is an event not a person. They never quit. 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. ‘Persuasive, inspiring and immensely popular… Dr. Schuller is the obvious successor to Norman Vincent Peale.’ St. Lukes’ Journal of Theology, USA. 1 / 120 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t! In the final analysis, the tough people who survive do so because they have learnt to reach positively to their predicament. They don’t give up. They manage their problems creatively and constructively—and succeed. Tough people think positively. Positive thinking will always get positive support, says Dr. Robert Schuller, the originator of the philosophy of ‘Possibility Thinking’. It is an exercise in dynamic and creative imagination. It provokes you to dream. It inspires you to execute your dreams—and to succeed. In this international bestseller Robert Schuller shares his philosophy of ‘Positive Thinking’ and translates it into an action plan for success. With living examples, he shows how it can be applied to overcome and to win even the seemingly ‘no-win’ situations. The author, Dr. Robert Schuller, is widely regarded as the obvious successor to Norman Vincent Peale. His television program ‘The Hour of Power’ is one of the most widely viewed programs in US TV history. He has written sixteen books, and this one hit The New York Times bestseller list at the same time as his other book, ‘Tough Minded Faith For Tenderhearted People’ creating publishing history. “This book is a hot-to approach to overcoming problems and promises to ‘get you started on the path to success once again’.” St. Luke’s Journal of Theology, U.S.A. Acknowledgements This book would not have been possible without the help of Sheila Schuller Coleman who organized and edited the manuscript. I also want to thank Barbara Hagler for typing the manuscript and Marjorie Kelley for her careful assistance. To my grandchildren Angie Rae Schuller Robert Vernon Scheller Jason James Coleman Christopher John Coleman 1st Indian Edition 1998 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! © Robert H. Schuller 2 / 120 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller CONTENTS Acknowledgments Preface PART 1 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! 1. Tough Times Never Last 2. But Tough People Do! PART 2 Here’s How You Can Be Tough Too! 3. Put Your Problem in Proper Perspective 4. Twelve Principles for Managing Problems Positively 5. Take Charge and Take Control 6. Ten Commandments of Possibility Thinking 7. Count to Ten and Win! 8. The Faith That Can Move Your Mountain 9. Prayer: The Power That Pulls Everything Together Successfully PART 3 Beginning Is Half Done! 10. Alphabet for Action 3 / 120 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller PREFACE Lord, give me the guidance to know when to hold on and when to let go and the grace to make the right decision with dignity. This could be the most important prayer you’ve ever prayed, and this book could be the answer to that prayer. For this book will provoke you to tough action: (a) To hold on until the light breaks, the tide turns, and the times change for the better; to tenaciously dig in and bloom where you are planted; to inspire people with your cheerful attitude while you are going through such obviously difficult times. In the process you will inspire others to choose the noble and positive outlook. Or (b) this book will inspire you to take action to make a bold and daring move; to make a creative transition, recognizing and era has come to an end. The factory will never reopen. The steam engines are never going to be manufactured again. Sometimes the cup has fallen. It is broken. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.” Now you may need to absorb the spills and develop new skills. This book will get you started on the path to success once again. 4 / 120 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller PART 1: Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! 1 Tough Times Never Last… When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t! It was a harsh summer, the summer of ’82. For many, it was as if the clocks had rolled back to the thirties and the time of the Great Depression. Company upon company declared bankruptcy. Unemployment soared. The ‘sever and prolonged recession,’ as it was dubbed by the media, sent ripples of depression across America. Politicians used the depressed state of the country to their advantage. It provided a great opportunity to highlight the failures, shortcomings, and faults of the opposite political party. Democrats found in it an opportunity to blame the Republican administration which was in charge. Predictably, the Republicans, in turn, blamed the “democratic administration that created the problem” which the Republicans had inherited. Everybody was fixing the blame—nobody was fixing the problem! The problem persisted. They grew. The recession ran rampant across the country until nearly everyone was affected by it. No one was immune. I, personally, felt it as pastor of the Crystal Cathedral congregation and head of a national television ministry, which was broadcast on 169 television stations every week. With five hundred people on the payroll, we were operating on a budget of well over twenty million dollars a year. The cost of operations continued to increase dramatically. Like the rest of America, we too were faced with tough economic times. No one could deny that the country had problems. But the biggest problem we had was our attitude toward the economic problem. Negative thinking spread like a plague through all levels of society. It was not easy to protect oneself from the infection of negative thinking, which spread by word of mouth, by conversations with friends as well as strangers, by television screens, and by radio news reports. It spread quickly because in recessive times the tendency is to react negatively. Once and organism, a business, a life, or a country is infected with negative thinking, the infection attacks the mind, the heart, and the soul like termites that secretly gnaw away at the emotional support system. It was in the midst of this national mood that I arrived at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago. I was there to present a motivational lecture at a major convention. 5 / 120 Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! Robert H. Schuller Delivering lectures of inspiration as well as on successful management principles was nothing new to me. Each year I travel from coast to coast, giving nearly one hundred talks to doctors, executives. Educators, you name it. However, I was particularly fascinated by this engagement. My audience would be members of the Ag-Industry. (“Ag” is, of course, the abbreviation for agriculture.) This industry represents those who are involved in the farming enterprises of the Midwest states of Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota. Having been born and reared on and Iowa farm, I looked upon this as an opportunity to touch base with some of the people that came from the same soil I left forty years before. My anticipation of a warm, inspirational evening was quickly doused by a couple of somber- looking gentlemen. The convention badges pinned to their dark lapels identified them as the men for whom I was looking. They greeted me with restrained enthusiasm. “Dr. Schuller? Thank you for coming.” Their words reminded me of the thousands of times I have arrived at some scene of tragedy. In hospitals, mortuaries, courtrooms, and cemeteries, I have heard those words: “Thank you for coming.” I couldn’t help feeling that I had arrived at the scene of some tragedy, rather than at a motivational convention. The younger man spoke: “There are thirty-five hundred people in there waiting to hear you speak.” His companion interrupted. “These people are going through tough times. They don’t want to hear your funny stories. They don’t want to see you grinning from ear to ear like you do on television. They don’t want a pat on the back with a hollow promise that ‘Everything is going to be okay.’” At that point, both men moved shoulder to shoulder to face me as if they meant to block me from entering the platform. The first man spoke up, “That’s right, Dr. Schuller. These people are losing their farms. Their businesses are going bankrupt. Terrible pressures are being placed on their marriages and families.