Willing It So
>;Ron Goldman, LLC has purchased the rights to the book (and all related rights) that O.J. Simpson wrote about how he would have done it if he had, in fact, killed the Goldman’s son Ron and Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. As most will recall, a criminal jury acquitted Simpson of the murders but he was later found guilty of wrongful death by a civil jury before whom he was compelled to testify, an act he was able to avoid during the criminal trial under the Constitutional protection against self-incrimination.
Fred Goldman, Ron’s father, teaches us an important lesson about the outcome of where we place our focused attention.
Fred Goldman and his wife suffered an incomparable loss, as no one would deny. Many people never recover from devastating loss and turn their sorrow and their pain against either themselves or others. Some, however, become single-minded of purpose and set a positive goal at which to direct their energies and from which they never waiver.
When all the reporters and paparazzi faded into the background, Fred Goldman remained steadfast in that the jury award the Goldman family was awarded would be collected, sooner or later. And while over the past decade or so there were many setbacks toward that end, his perseverance and single-mindedness of purpose has resulted in his sole ownership of what is likely the autobiography, and public admission, of the man who killed his son. The proceeds from the sale of that book and the making of that movie should go a long way towards satisfying the languishing civil award.
I have a more positive, personal experience in what a focused intention can do.
At age 33, I decided to go to law school. Since I had been out of college for several years , I was deeply concerned that I might not be able to handle the workload or muster the academic resources to prevail though that infamous, grueling, first year.
So, I made a decision. I would not do or participate in or allow anything that took my mind off of my goal.
As an evening student, I spent the next year in classes by night and studying by day. I literally did not eat in a restaurant, see a movie, go out with friends, or involve myself in any of my friends or family’s “dramas.” I spent the year learning and studying.
The result was that I not only survived the first year, I excelled academically. My accomplishment was simply and clearly the result of my focused intention to succeed and my focused attention on what it was going to take to accomplish that goal.
The overriding message is that when we proceed with a focused dedication toward a clearly defined end it becomes easy, seemingly effortless, to make choices that support that end while avoiding
opportunities that would seek to obstruct it.
Try it. Start small. Think of something you really want then put all your attention on it and see what you get.
In 1987 I got a law degree.
Today, Fred Goldman got justice.