Your Very Own Acre of Diamonds
by Robin Sacks
I just finished reading Russell Conwell's Acres of Diamonds...for the fourth time.
It is a wonderfully short and powerful speech easily available on the internet. The words speak to the fact that, while most people believe they have to go "somewhere else" to find riches, we are all sitting on top of a goldmine right here and right now...we just choose not to look for it where we are.
To illustrate the point, check out this excerpt from Acres of Diamonds:
"I told him about that man out in California, who, in 1847, owned a ranch out there. He read that gold had been discovered in Southern California, and he sold his ranch to Colonel Sutter and started off to hunt for gold. Colonel Sutter put a mill on the little stream in that farm and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the raceway of the mill into the house and placed it before the fire to dry, and as that sand was falling through the little girl's fingers a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever discovered in California; and the man who wanted the gold had sold his ranch and gone away, never to return."
The majority of people in our society start "going through the motions" very early in life. They lose themselves.
Are you one of them?
Are you quick to take "you" out of your life so that you can "fit in" somewhere else? Have you been convinced by others that the only way you will find what you are looking for is to look, sound, and act like someone else?
Too many people tend to go through life a little unconsciously, choosing to focus on what is going wrong instead of what is going right, and simply not paying attention.
A common byproduct of that type of thinking is the prevailing (and wrong) belief is that "the grass is always greener on the other side" and that "I could be successful IF I was smarter/better looking/thinner/living in a different city, etc."
Want to know a really COOL secret?
YOU are an acre of diamonds.
Why?
NOBODY is like you.
When you try and "fit in" and look like everybody else, how much competition did you just create for yourself? THAT certainly does not sound like a way to success, does it?
That may be a 180 from what you are used to thinking and hearing. However, realize that the ONLY people who EVER become "successful" (whatever that means to them) are the ones who choose to be different. They choose to "buck the system" and "take some risks."
They make a conscious decision at some point to be themselves. That is when they thrive.
Here is what you need to know:
You already bring positive aspects to the table simply by being you. Your focus should be on how to enrich those positive aspects, not on how to create new ones.
Embrace who and what you are and run with it!
In the end, you will always be who you are. You will never be who you are not. Step back and get clarity on who you really are and what you have to offer. Do not let yourself or others take your greatest assets away. Embrace them and promote them!
WRITTEN by Robin Sacks
Professionally, I am a Confidence & Performance Coach, speaker, author and motivator. Personally, I am a mom, wife, and friend.
I live for bad puns and cozy mysteries.
Learn a lot more at https://www.robinjsacks.com.
