- Quality
- Integrity
- Purpose
- Messages
- Create Your Masterpiece
- Achieving Greatness
- There is a Champion in You
- Write Your Own Script
- What They Didn’t Teach You at School
- Confidence is More Than a Cloak We Wear
- The Race
- Keep Your Dreams
- Dream an Awesome Dream
- The Invitation
- Discover The Champion Within
- You Can
- Where Are You Living?
- Try Again
- Hit a Home Run
- Acres of Diamonds
- Would You be Wealthy?
- The Lucky Horse
- Carry Your Own Weather
- Enquire Within about Everything
- Earth Hour Report
- Keep Your Eyes on the Road
- Make a Difference
- Live and Learn
- What They All Have in Common
- The Master Key
- What Do You Think?
- Celebrating You
- The Law of Abundance
- It Works
- The Inner Game
- The 21 Day Challenge
- How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Save the Planet
- The Pareto Principle
- The Magic Story
- Time
- Health Matters
- Are You Worth It?
- Following Through on Goals
- Who Do You Want To Be This Year?
- Believe
- Living Life Your Way
- A Great 2008?
- Follow Your Dreams
- Lessons from Wolves
- What Are Your Prison Walls?
- 'Tis The Season to Be Jolly
- Meet Your Life Coach
- Which Path Will You Choose?
- Let Your Hook Always Be Cast
- Trick or Treat
- The Power of Persistence
- Don't Quit
- Nothing is Impossible
- Break Your Chains
- Success is in Your Own Hands
- Coming Soon
- Are You Ready for the Challenge? II
- Are You Ready for the Challenge?
- Be a Leader
- Seize the Day
- Just Do It
- Are You a Team Player?
- The Power of One
- What Would You Change?
- Speak Up
- The Best Day of Your Life
Acres of Diamonds
There is a famous little book written almost 100 years ago by an American pastor called Russell H. Conwell, entitled “Acres of Diamonds.”
Originally written as a sermon, or speech, Conwell delivered this speech over 6000 times throughout the world, so enduring and profound is its message.
Essentially it tells the story of a farmer, who became obsessed with the idea of finding fame and fortune through the discovery of precious diamonds. So badly did he want to realise this dream that he ended up selling his farm, along with everything else he owned to go off in a futile search for diamonds. Sadly, the man ended his life in poverty and despair, never having found his diamond mine, and drowned himself in the sea.
Meanwhile, the man who had bought the farm from the farmer was tilling the soil in his fields one day and he came across a large stone, which fascinated him by the way it deflected the sunlight as it shone through it. Thinking no more of it, he put the stone into his pocket, to place on his mantelpiece later when he returned home.
Some weeks later, a passing traveller visited the farmer at his home, and was overcome with excitement at the “stone” the farmer was displaying on his mantelpiece, realising immediately that it was in fact a large diamond worth a great fortune!
They immediately rushed into the field where the farmer had found the stone, and running their hands through the soil, soon found many more, each worth a great fortune in its own right.
If the original farmer had begun his search right where he was, instead of selling up and searching elsewhere, he would have enjoyed a vast fortune, instead of ending his life in poverty and despair…
Of course, the central message in Conwell’s story is that if we desire more success, more wealth, more happiness, more opportunities and so on in our lives, then the best place to look is right under our own feet – as he urged his audiences of the time, “To dig in your own back yard.”
Put another way, most often, our future success is already contained in the talents, the knowledge and the experience that we already possess, if only we take the time to look.
Guy Insull,
Founder,
Champions Club
