Welcome to the inspirational living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen,

makers of wearable inspiration for a better world.

Today's podcast has been edited and adapted from New Thought Common Sense and What Life

Me by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published in 1908.

Do you ever stop and ask yourself for what you are living?

Is it for a success in some undertaking?

Then what are you doing to produce success?

No matter how hard you may be working,

unless you are finding pleasure and pride in your work, and doing it with cheerfulness, you are not moving forward toward real success.

One month of such application of your powers will achieve more for you than a year of grumbling,

dogged work done with unwillingness and dislike

of the task. Whatever you are doing, reason yourself into a love of your labor until you

can leave it for something more agreeable. One excellent way to reason along these lines

is to see that every day given to an unpleasant

task is bringing it nearer to its completion, when you then can abandon it.

And even if it seems to you that such an end can never be attained, that the work you have in hand is endless,

remember that thought is the greatest miracle worker,

and that thought is energy,

and that by continual determination,

coupled with continual aspiration and effort,

you can bring any change you desire into your life. But no good results can be achieved by angry,

purposeless rebellion or sullen discontent, or work done with hatred and disgust, however well done.

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