1) The author realizes that relying on luck or one's temperament for courage is unreliable and will lead to failure or excuses. True courage comes from a sense of duty and responsibility. 2) The author recalls a time when an older man said he would buy an RV if he won the lottery, showing a reliance on luck. However, the author believes we should not rely on luck but take control of our own destiny through courage and responsibility. 3) Courage stemming from duty is reliable and constant, unlike courage from one's temperament which can falter when most needed. The author urges developing a strong sense of duty in order to find true courage and success.

1. Strike a Match for Freedom
by Claude Hamilton
Lana and I are two months away from celebrating 17 years of being in business. As you build a
business and meet thousands of people, not only do you need to develop patience, but you also
realize that success means replacing that patience with principles. Over the years, I have come
to a realization of something very fundamental. This insight came to me, as is so often the case,
when I was least expecting to be taught a lesson.
One time, while I was filling up my bus at a gas station, a guy approached me - he was older,
maybe 55 or 6o, but he looked about 80. So this gentleman, young in age, old in looks, says to
me, “When I win the lottery, I’m going to get one of these buses.” It broke my heart. I don’t
want my dreams and goals to be based on luck. Nor should you. We are the captains of our own
ships. Being successful in this business is not a matter of luck or working the odds. It can be
sure thing.
If we don’t rely on luck, what exactly can we rely on? The answer is courage - starting with the
courage to confess your goals and dreams. Only then will you come to know what you are
capable of.
According to the dictionary, the word “courage” does not mean the absence of fear. Courage is
overcoming and making decisions despite fear.
So, courage is not the absence of fear, it’s acting despite fear. To examine this further, British
essayist Joseph Addison postulated that “Courage that grows from your constitution often
forsakes (an individual) when he has occasion for it.”
To paraphrase the rest of Addison’s quotation, when you need courage the most, it leaves you
but when courage arises from a sense of duty, it becomes uniform – or consistent in nature,
despite what’s happening.
If we are seeking courage that grows from our constitution, first we must ask, "What is
constitution?" Simply, it is the composition or structure of something or, in our case, the
physical or emotional makeup of a person. Your constitution may be feeble, sanguine, or robust;
your temperament is part of your constitution. You may even say that the temperament of the
human body is your constitution.
To illustrate this point, that our constitution is not a reliable precursor to courage (or success), I
can tell you about a lady I knew who was always late. I asked her why this was always the case.
She answered, “It’s just the way I am.”
Answering in this way shows that she is taking no responsibility for her actions. She is
shrugging off her lateness, which is seen as rude and which, in reality, is counterproductive to
success, by claiming she was naive to the fact that she has power over her constitution - that she
can be responsible to her constitution.
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is ignorance. To choose to be naive and ignorant is not
responsible.
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2. Some are mistaken in thinking that having a good life includes having no responsibilities.
Wrong. I love my life because I get to take on responsibility, including the responsibility to
share the truth with you. I love the responsibility of being a husband, friend, leader - doing
something that is awesome. No, ignorance is not bliss – by denying your ability to be responsible
you are missing the greatest joys in life. The more responsibility you take on the more
significance you have.
So, to continue, courage is overcoming and acting despite fear and courage that stems from your
constitution (or temperament) is weak, it will leave you. So what is the answer?
When courage comes from duty, it is uniform – reliable and constant. And you can have faith in
your courage. What is faith? Faith is knowing the sun will come up tomorrow. The sun has a
very good constitution. We know it will come up tomorrow and no one would bet against that.
So how do we get that kind of constitution?
The constitution of the human body will forsake you and supply you with excuses. I am not
perfect, but I try to make it so that people can count on me. When I was in the military, we
would run, do push ups, chin ups, all that, until I would think “I can’t go any longer” and “This is
the hardest I’ve worked in my life” and even “I don’t need to do this, I’m not as good as the other
guys.” I was tired, I couldn’t lift a finger. All these excuses would pop into my head.
Then they would yell “Man Overboard” – and you wouldn’t know if it was a real emergency or an
exercise. I would hear those words and all of a sudden my courage wasn’t based on my
constitution or my temperament or my physical body any more. It was based on my sense of
duty. On the thought that somebody was dying and I needed to overcome everything so
wouldn’t have to sit there for the rest of my life and think I didn’t do what I needed to do. A
sense of duty overcame any excuse that was provided to me by my constitution.
Your constitution will never run out of excuses: “I worked late last night,” or “I’m lazy by
nature,” or even, “I’m a jerk,” or “my wife will do it.” Why are you broke? Your constitution may
answer “It’s just the way I am.” Why you overweight? “It’s just the way I am.” Why are you a
jerk to your wife? “It’s just the way I am – it’s the way I was raised.”
If courage is based on your constitution, which is based on your temperament, your courage is
unreliable and will forsake you. I want to build in you a sense of duty. The Eight F’s provide
more than enough opportunity for you to find where your duty lies. Duty to friends. Duty to
Family, duty to Faith...
Character is what will allow you to follow through on a decision long after the mood in which
you made the decision is gone. Character is stronger than your constitution.
If you’re waiting for the “right mood” to catapult you into success and it hasn’t done so already,
stop waiting.
Do it.
You know this. That’s why you can be in this business for years and each time, at an event or a
meeting with other people in the business, when we impart in you a sense of duty, you will do it.
You will change your life.
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3. And the spin offs are immeasurable. Is it possible to change your life, right now, within this
community without changing others? No! It’s the qualification. You have to change someone
else’s life simply by changing your own. So, instead of relying on courage from your constitution,
rely on something more resilient. Make your quality decisions based on your sense of duty.
From your character - not on your temperament, but from what you believe in your heart.
If your goal is to make $2000 next month, that is one of the most shallow forms of motivation.
Recognition is bigger. Love for your family is bigger – fear of loss, love for your country. The
eight F’s are bigger. Duty to your family, to your team, to your Maker, whatever you think is
important.
Can you imagine the peace you can have simply by doing what you should do? As long as you act
from duty, allow God to take care of the results. If you’re doing it for money there will come a
time (hard as this is to believe) that money won’t motivate you anymore. Sense of duty will.
Most people won’t do what they need to do because they look for courage from their
constitution, which has not been trained well. I have trained mine a little bit better than what I
used to have. It’s somewhat more reliable, but not enough to risk it. That’s what’s great about
this business. Become the person you need to be and you will attract the circumstances you
want.
This bears repeating. If you want the circumstances, become the person you need to become in
order to attract what you want. Most people stay the person they are and subsequently start
attracting the very circumstances they are trying to run from.
Don’t believe the wrong truth. Trying to run away from problems and making commitments
based on feelings does not work. Our constitutions are imperfect. Phillip Brooks said, “Do not
pray for easier lives, pray to become stronger men.”
Don’t pray to have no more responsibilities. Pray that you will have the strength of duty to
invest everything until you make it.
I hope you have some hard times. It’s good to cry now and then – I know myself, through my
own personal circumstances, that a sense of duty can sometimes be born out of shame. I wish a
sense of duty always stemmed from joy, but often it comes from a sense of humility. Don’t’ pray
for tasks equal to your strength, pray for strength equal you’re your tasks.
Moses and Joshua were told time and again to be strong and to be of good courage. Good
courage? Is there such thing as bad courage? Perhaps bad courage is based on your
temperament or your constitution. This is my belief: I know I am a sinner. If I’m going to make
my decisions based on a sinning constitution, really, how far can I get? I need a higher compass.
I need a sense of duty.
Maybe good courage is based on God’s promise, or on duty, or responsibility. Imagine if we
could take the 8 F’s and grow them – growing a sense of duty. I want you to get a sense of duty
about something. You pick it. We’ll help you. We’ll run with you. We’ll serve you. I say to you
this – be strong, be of good courage and do it. God Bless. i
Claude Hamilton
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