Posts tagged: success

Images of Achievement – Visualize your Success

Are you aware of how the FBI trains its agents to spot counterfeit bills? The FBI schools agents by training them to see all of the characteristics of bills printed by the U.S. Treasury—they deal only with genuine money. An FBI agent learns to recognize authentic ones, fives, tens, twenties, fifties and hundred dollar notes until his or her appraisal of them becomes second nature. An agent studies a bill, both sides of it, until he or she learns every feature that makes it genuine legal tender.

That way, when FBI agents see counterfeit bills, they immediately recognize them as such. Their minds aren’t cluttered with what “might be wrong” or “what usually is left off” or “mistakes that are commonly made.” They know what they’re looking for. They are specialists in the real thing. False bills seem glaringly obvious to them.

If you allow yourself to think about the penalties of failure or all the things that could go wrong, you’re far more likely to infuse your performance with those penalties and mistakes. Continually tell yourself what to do. Don’t concentrate on what not to do.

The mind has a fascinating capability. What you think about most is generally what you do most readily. A mistake most people make is to set goals in negative terms. A tennis player may set a goal of not double-faulting a certain number of times during a match. An employee may set a goal of not being late so often. Goals to lose weight, not talk so loud and fast, and not get upset so often are goals framed in negative terms. We need to stay away from negative goal setting.

Understand this about the mind: A fear is a goal in reverse. The mind can’t focus on the reverse of an idea. The term double fault reminds the tennis player of the condition he or she wants to avoid. Being late reminds the employee of the problem, not the solution. When we think we need to lose weight, our minds store the self-image of being overweight. We need the image of the desired weight we want to attain, not the pounds of fat we want to discard. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate on not being upset.

It’s the same thing as saying, “Don’t make mistakes.” Or worse yet, to a tight rope walker, with no net, “Windy day, don’t fall!” The mind always moves you toward your current dominant thought.

We should say, “First serve in,” for the tennis player. “I’m a punctual, on-time person.” …. “I’m reaching my desired weight.” …. “I speak slowly, clearly and confidently.” …. “I remain calm and relaxed under pressure.” These are all positive goal statements, images of achievement, that pull us in the direction of the desired behavior rather than away from the undesired habit.

This week, stop looking at your life through the rearview mirror; instead, focus on where you want to go!

Reproduced with permission from the Denis Waitley Newsletter.
To Subscribe to Denis Waitley’s Newsletter Use this link
© 2010 Denis Waitley International. All rights reserved worldwide.

Keep going in the pursuit of your dreams

Is Your Life Working the Way You Want it to Be?
by Jack Canfield

Is your life working?When things happen in the world that seem so far beyond our individual control, it can feel unsettling.

But don’t give up on your goals and dreams just because “the time isn’t good”… you can still make 2010 the year you uncover a whole new you for the better!

Even in tough times, you get to decide how to respond to certain conditions, opportunities, and outcomes—both good and bad.

Life will always be a series of choices and YOU get to decide on what will move you closer to your goals, or farther away from them. External forces will always be part of the equation, even during the good times when the world is thriving.

When people ask me about the single most important ingredient to success, I always share the same response: realizing what’s making you achieve success, and then realizing what is stifling your success.

Sometimes recognizing the things that are NOT working in your life can be painful, yet VERY powerful to shaping the life you want.

Don’t try to rationalize them, make excuses for them, or hide them. This is when it’s even more critical to take personal inventory and evict those excuses, rationalizations, and hidden habits that don’t serve you. These things will keep you from the life you want to be living. Let me give you some examples. Ask yourself if you relate to any of these questions:

Do you want to be active, fit, and strong? Then you have to stop making excuses about your weight, diet choices, and lack of exercise.

Do you want to be in a loving relationship based on friendship and respect? Then you have to stop rationalizing why you and your partner are not communicating well.

Do you want to embrace Monday mornings and feel excited about going to work every day? Then you have to stop hiding your true passions and go after whatever it is you really want to be doing day in and day out.

Do you want to lose the debt forever? Then you have to stop ignoring your spending habits and get real about a creating budget that will pull you out of debt and allow you to reach financial freedom.

Do you want to feel more connected to the people in your life, such as your children, friends, and colleagues? Then you have to stop complaining about your poor relationships and figure out why you don’t feel as connected as you’d like to be.

These things can be painful to look at because the truth is that you have to do something about them in order to make it work in your life.

You’ll have to say no to the second helping of dinner and the dessert to follow and go through the action steps to get into shape… You’ll have to confront your partner about the areas that need work… You’ll have to get past fears about changing your job or professional path… You’ll have to cut back on your spending and be a bit more frugal… You’ll have to take a good hard look at your personal relationships and perhaps consider your own shortfalls and weaknesses in communicating your needs and concerns.

Plain and simple, you will have to do something uncomfortable.

Successful people don’t waste time in denial (or complain or make excuses for that matter). They face situations like a warrior. They look for the warning signs, they find out why things aren’t working, and they go about fixing them- even when fixing requires problem solving, hard work, risk, and a level of uncertainty.

It’s okay to identify a problem even though you haven’t a clue about how to go about solving it right away.

The first step is just recognizing the issue, and then having faith that you’ll figure it out with careful attention to it. That’s how successful people live—in constant focus on goals, on results, on problem solving, and on the actions that get them to where they want to be.

Following are three things to do constantly in pursuit of your goals and dreams, however big or small:

  • Awareness: Keep your awareness on the feedback you are getting from life and decide to address the situations immediately. Don’t bottle up feedback, cast it aside, and avoid it like you would a pile of dirty laundry or a stack of unopened bills. Life tells you things every day. Do this. Don’t do that. Think about this. Try me. Forget that. We live in a world that seemingly encourages us to live on autopilot. Successful people fly manually every day and so should you. When those feedback signals come in, listen to them and use them in planning your next step.
  • Commitment: Commit to finding out why things aren’t working and learn what will fix them. Once you start the process it will be much easier to continue. Nothing fruitful stems from inaction.  
  • Trust: Trust that making changes to the situation will ultimately bring about the best results. Sure you might go through a bit of discomfort during the change, and some unlikely or unwanted outcomes, but in the end you will triumph!

So are you ready to admit the things that just are not working out?

Make a list of the things in your life that are working against your success and ask how the situation can be improved. Commit to tackling just one of those issues and be brave!

If you need help organizing those “things” in your life, try using the following list of categories. I recommend reflecting on each of the 7 areas and ask yourself, what’s not working here in each one and then brainstorm 3 potential solutions.

1.) Financial Goals, 2) Career/Business Goals, 3.) Free Time/Family Time,  4.) Health/Appearance Goals,  5.) Relationship Goals,  6.) Personal Growth  7.) Making a Difference

Remember, by facing what is not working, you can only improve your life!  

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Life Lessons From Sport – Are you Playing to Win?

pendulum image http://ursuccess.netI have always believed that sport can provide many valuable lessons for life, team work, discipline, fair play, learning how to lose as well as win, to name but a few.

Watching some of the tactics in recent matches at the soccer world cup made me think about how often in life are we playing to win, or merely not to lose. For many, the fear of failure is so great, that it prevents us from taking the chances necessary to succeed. But in playing safe, we run the risk of never achieving anywhere near our potential.

Thomas J Watson, the founder of computer giant IBM was once famously quoted:

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success, but it isn’t at all… you can be discouraged by failure — or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the far side.”

Think of a tennis match, if the first service goes out, the server will usually try a safer, more predictable second serve. This often results in getting beaten by the return. In cricket, the batsman or team that are merely aiming to survive will often score much less than if they had played with more adventure. Consider also the football teams who are so focussed on defence that they have little or no chance of ever winning.

The same is true for life away from the sports field. Imagine for second a pendulum, with failure to the left and success to the right. The more the pendulum swings into failure, the more it will swing into success. Conversely if it stays in the centre or just oscillated slightly into failure, it can only ever experience little success.

How then can you challenge and embrace failure? Often the perceived fear of failure is far worse than failing itself. Courage isn’t the absence of fear but acting in spite of fear. Take a deep breath and go for it! Build up your courage muscles by taking just a few tiny steps every day.

Are there sales calls that you are putting off or talking yourself out of, is there a business or personal connection that you would love to make, but have convinced yourself that they are going to reject you? Do you desire to learn a new skill, take a course or start a new venture but are fearful of what ‘others’ might say?

As my friend Dr Terry Cole-Whittaker titled her bestselling  book – “What you think of me is none of my business”. Worrying about what other’s might think is truly a waste of time and energy and is a poor excuse for not achieving the success in life that you seek.

As you go about your day today remember that pendulum. Take it back just a little further into failure and celebrate as it swings into success.

The Value of An Hour – John Assaraf

When I was 21 years-old, a gentleman asked me what I thought the value of an hour was. I honestly did not know how to answer the question. He went on to teach me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned.

He suggested that the value of an hour was priceless. This confused me some, so this is what he said to me.

“If you invest one hour each day in understanding yourself and your environment better, you will accumulate nine 40-hour weeks over the course of a year!”

Yikes! As you can imagine I was blown away when he put it to me that way.

Nine 40-hour weeks? This seemed impossible until I did the math. 365 days, times one hour each is…yup, nine 40-hour weeks!

He went on to ask me how good I could get at something if I did it all day, every day for just over 2 months. Well, you already know the answer to that.

I thought I could be awesome!

He went on to tell me that over the course of just five years, I would have invested the equivalent of 1,825 hours of focus on whatever I desired to accomplish my life.

Imagine for a minute, how good you can become at anything that you did one hour a day for the next year. How fit could you get? How much more in love would you get and give? How much more money could you earn?

Let me suggest that one hour is a small price to pay in comparison to the payoff. Just one hour a day may be the razor’s edge you need to really get the results you want in your life.

For me, the decision was easy. I have been studying human potential and the mind for over 20 years. Each time I think I’m getting a good handle on it, I am gently reminded of how much there is to observe and learn.

Is getting what you want worth an hour a day? I certainly hope so.

I still manage to set aside my hour to read motivational stories or listen to inspirational people. They are the fuel for my mind and it keeps me learning and yearning for more.

Please adopt an hour a day for yourself! Pick one area of your life that you want to improve and commit the next 90 days to that one thing.

I assure you that the results you achieve will be well worth the decision! And remember…you can’t take out of life more than you put in.

John Assaraf

Breaking News

John is putting together an interview series with 21 of his friends and influences in what promises to be a fantastic series called Success Manifestors

Even better its FREE! Go here now to sign up

Visualize success in 3D

However you define your particular view of success, taking a 3D view will provide better clarity and help you reach your goals with more speed.

Success can mean different things to different people and each one is right. Whether you are seeking to improve your finances, your health, relationships or connection with your spirit, the good news is that right now there is more information and materials available on the topic than at any previous time in human history.

What then is stopping you from achieving success in any area in which you chose? I believe the answer comes down to the 3D approach.

The first D stands for Desire – are you clear about what you want and why you want it? Is it for you or for someone else? Do you have what Napoleon Hill referred to as a white hot desire that will get you up early and keep you up late?

The derivation of the word enthusiasm is en Theos or through God. In other words when we have passion or enthusiasm for a task or project, we are expressing the divinity within us. Take a minute to reflect on this statement:

Your heart’s desire and God’s will is the same thing

These incredibly powerful words are a key component in you achieving the success you are seeking. If you are in touch with a strong will and purpose you will find the motivation and resources you need to be successful. If you are half hearted or seeking something out of alignment with your true self then it will be all the more difficult to achieve. This is why it is so important to believe in what you are doing rather than trying to run someone else’s race.

The Second D stands for Discipline – the daily actions which take you in the direction of your goals. The word discipline often has negative associations yet can be seen as an expression of self control and mastery.

The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret – Robin Sharma

Let’s imagine your success goal is losing weight and feeling vibrant and healthy. The discipline involved may be to cut out certain foods which don’t serve you, or committing to exercise 3 times per week or drinking 2 litres of water per day.

Discipline is like a muscle which can be developed and just as you would not start at the gym by lifting the biggest weights, you can begin by taking small steps and gradually increasing. Start by setting a goal for something that you can achieve and stick to it. Then gradually build momentum.

Researchers on the NASA space programme found that it can take between 21 and 29 days to create a new habit. The neuro pathways in the brain are like a well trodden path through a forest. At first there is no trail to follow then it gradually becomes clearer, until eventually with regular use the forest trail and the brain connections have been clearly formed.

So if it’s that easy to do why don’t more people achieve success? Because it’s also easy NOT to do it. It’s easy to stay in bed rather than go for a walk or run. It’s easy to eat that cake or smoke that cigarette and that’s the problem. If you have not exercised your disciple muscles for a while then it is easier not to stick with your commitment. So begin with something small, experience success, build the muscle and then look for more.

The third D stands for Determination – this is essential for when the bumps in the road appear. You have your strong desire, you have your daily disciples in place but almost inevitably, things will not always go smoothly. This is when you need you determination to succeed.

You may find that other people are critical or try and hold you back. Visualise crabs in a bucket. When one tries to make a break for freedom the others grab and pull it back. It’s hard to create a new set of habits and routines in your old environment and therefore it makes sense to surround yourself with supportive and energising people.

Look for new associations, whether face to face or online. Read empowering books and listen to uplifting audios. If necessary reduce or even eliminate your old associations which are not in alignment with the new person that you are seeking to become.

So now you have the 3D view of success. Desire, Discipline and Determination. Set your goals, commit to daily action and stay the course. Stop reading and go do it! Your bright future starts right now!

Video – Wisdom from Will Smith

I thought you might enjoy this collage of interviews from Will Smith as he discusses his feelings on success and life.

Stay Focused on Your Dreams

Stay Focused on Your Dreams
by Jack Canfield

“When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s hard to remember
that your initial objective was to drain the swamp!”

I just spent a day conducting my Success Principles Workshop for 200 unemployed men and women sponsored by the Workforce Institute in San Jose, California.

It was a very revealing day.

First, I was struck by the diversity of the people who have lost their jobs due to the cutbacks caused by the recession—computer programmers, salespeople, managers, artists, trainers, architects, landscapers, lawyers, actuaries, truck drivers, painters and teachers.

Secondly, I was struck by the mood of resignation and depression that was present in the room when we began in the morning.

The prevailing belief was that there were not any jobs available and that it wasn’t going to get any better anytime soon. People were preparing their resumes, going to job fairs, going to interviews, but with little or no results.

I was reminded of Spencer Johnson’s book Who Moved My Cheese, in which he reports how rats in a laboratory maze are trained to press a certain buzzer with their noses, and once they are reinforced with a reward of cheese, will keep going back to press the same buzzer even though they are no longer receiving cheese for pressing the buzzer. Their noses will become bloody and they will eventually die rather than press a different buzzer.

Human beings do the same thing. They will repeat a behavior that used to work over and over and over again, even though it is not producing the desired result, hoping that someday it will work again.

There is something to be said for perseverance in the face of an obstacle, but sometimes you have to come to grips with the fact that a particular opportunity may never exist again.

In my book The Success Principles I teach a formula called E + R = O. It stands for Events + Responses = Outcomes.

If a certain response (job search) in the face of a certain event (the current economic situation in your area) is not creating the outcome (income) you want, you may have to change your response.

You may have to try something different, which could include employing a more creative approach to presenting yourself, moving to a new location where the jobs are, changing fields (which might require retraining or re-education), becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business venture, joining a multi-level marketing company, partnering up with other people to start a service of some kind—all of which may require you to step outside of your comfort zone.

A good example of what I am talking about is a woman I read about in USA Today. After losing her job she noticed that all the homes that were being foreclosed in her neighborhood were left in shambles, just as the angry people who were forced out of them. She called the local banks and offered to clean them for a fee so that they would be presentable when the banks tried to rent or sell them. Her little venture was so successful that she had to hire several other people to help. She now has a successful house cleaning business.

I saw a story on CNN about another jobless woman who opened a store to help buy and sell used furniture from the people who were forced to downsize as they were being foreclosed upon or forced to move to smaller apartments. She sold some locally and some on the internet. These are all examples of finding a need and filling it, of getting creative instead of sitting passively by, doing the same old behaviors that are not working.

By the end of the day in San Jose there was a different mood in the air—one of excitement and enthusiasm about pursuing all of the possibilities that lay before them.

They had come in at the beginning of the day simply hoping to figure out how to find a job. By the end of the day they were leaving focused on how to create the life of their dreams.

They had transcended the limited goal of getting back to ground zero and replaced it with a goal of “thrival” rather than mere survival. 

No matter what is going on in the economy…

  • hold fast to your dreams,
  • visualize them with feeling twice a day,
  • keep your self-talk positive,
  • surround yourself with positive people,
  • read uplifting books,
  • trust your intuition,
  • take continuous action,
  • expect the best,
  • respond to feedback by making the necessary corrections,
  • and persevere until you get the result you want.

It’s a formula that always works.

After the workshop had concluded, one of the participants came up to me and said…

“You know, I used to set goals and do the things you were teaching us today when I was younger.  I guess I’ve just stopped doing the things that work.”   

Whatever you do, don’t stop doing the things that work. I promise you, if you work the principles, the principles always work.

© 2010 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Interesting Blogs

Expand Your Prosperity Consciousness

Expand Your Prosperity Consciousness
by Jack Canfield

Expand Your Prosperity ConsciousnessUnderstanding the relationship among consciousness, action, and prosperity is crucial to your success.

In my seminars I sometimes stand in front of the room and hold up a $100 bill, state that I’m willing to give it away, and ask if anyone would like to have it.

Usually lots of people raise their hand – and do nothing else. I keep waiving the dollar bill until someone finally jumps out of his or her chair, walks or runs all the way up to the stage and reaches up to take the bill.

There are two lessons here. One is that money goes to the person who takes the necessary action. The other is that a certain state of consciousness makes it possible to take action – or to avoid it.

When I ask people what kept them from walking up to the front of the room to claim the money, I always get the same answers: they felt shy. They worried about what other people would think. They thought it was a trick. Those answers come from a consciousness dominated by fear, scarcity, and cynicism.

The same forces can operate in our daily lives. In each moment we either feed those forces – or replace them with something better. Following are some essential ways to expand your prosperity consciousness and claim the wealth you deserve.

Monitor Your Conversations

We swim in a sea of conversation. Every time you attend a meeting, make a phone call, or send an email, you start up a conversation. Whenever you listen to an audio recording or pick up a book, you start a conversation with an author. And whenever you write in your journal or just a take a few minutes to sit and think, you start a conversation with yourself.

Consider the combined effect of those conversations. My friend Jim Rohn liked to say that we are the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time. The quality of our conversations creates the quality of our lives.

Who are the five people that dominate the “conversation space” in your life? What did you talk about the last time you saw each person? And did that conversation build up your prosperity consciousness or tear it down?

Stay in Prosperity Conversations

Make it a point to drop out of the “aint it awful” club – toxic conversations with people who dwell on resentments or complaints. Instead, get engaged in conversations that support your path to prosperity.

For example, spend more time with the people who are already doing the kind of work you want to do. Ask them how they entered the field and what it takes to succeed.

In addition, read at least one book per week. Focus on uplifting stories and biographies of successful people. Read more and learn ways to build your skills at managing money, raising happy children, creating loving relationships, and maintaining your health. Feed your prosperity consciousness with a constant stream of useful, positive ideas.

Keep Catching Your Dream

Have you ever shared your dream with someone who then doubted your ability to achieve it? This happened to Mark Victor Hansen and me during a conversation with the publisher of Chicken Soup for the Soul. We asked him how many copies of the book we should expect to sell. The publisher said that we’d be lucky to sell 20,000 copies.

Believe me, that was NOT our dream! Our goal was to sell 150,000 copies in six months and 1.5 million in 18 months. Our publisher just laughed out loud and said it was impossible.

We ended up selling 135,000 copies in six months and 1.3 million in 18 months. We didn’t quite meet our initial goals, yet we sold much more than our publisher estimated. That first book went on to sell over eight million copies in America and 10 million copies around the world.

Whenever you have a dream-killing conversation, you have two options. Give up your dream or return to your original intention with even more energy and commitment. Focusing on your original intention sends an urgent message to your mind: I am going to persist until my dream manifests. Starting right now!

Support this deeper level of intention with affirmations, such as:

  • I always attract the perfect people to work with me.
  • No matter what is going on in the economy, I attract people I can help – and who can help me.
  • Our customer base is expanding.
  • Repeat business and referrals keep coming my way.

Then add supporting visualizations. See yourself holding bigger paychecks, rent checks, or royalty checks in your hands. Visualize people handing you cash.

Give Back

Round out these images with visions of sharing the wealth. Many of the world’s wealthiest people are dedicated tithers, meaning they give 10 percent of their income to charitable organizations.

Visualize yourself doing the same thing. Those who give also receive, and service always comes back multiplied.

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.jackcanfield.com

Visualise and Expect your Success

Dennis Waitley -

Visualize and Expect Success

visualisation image

Our studies of high achievers have shown that no matter how different their personalities, work habits, occupations or gender, the people who accomplish great things in life have visualized and expected success all along. They’ve had the ability to vividly picture their achievements and to reassure themselves in the face of long odds that they would come through.

To visualize the person you want most to become, set aside some time this week in which you can create an atmosphere conducive to re-affirming your life dreams. You may want to be near the ocean, or a lake, or in a park, in a garden or in the woods. Or you might just sit quietly by yourself in a comfortable lounge or chair. Get yourself in the mood for visualizing. When the left hemisphere of the brain is quiet and relaxed, the mind is most receptive to creative inputs. To facilitate this you may want to use soothing recorded music, preferably slow and inspiring like Bach, Handel or Vivaldi if you like classical music, or soft, popular instrumentals from epic movies or other mood music.

Once you’re properly relaxed and optimistic, let your mind focus on who you really want to become. Visualize the future in two time frames: five years from now and ten years from now. First, design a day in your life five years from now. Who are you five years from now? Where are you professionally and geographically? On Monday mornings, where do you go?

What are you doing, seeing, feeling and thinking? Who are the people around you? What’s different about your life five years from now?

Next, project ahead ten years from today. Picture a film of your life at that time. Who is watching it with you? What dramatic moments are depicted by that film? What personal triumphs are revealed? What obstacles are courageously overcome?

Don’t be shy! The purpose of this exercise is to load visualized software in your mental computer. Just as a computer must be configured to accept specific materials, your mind must be prepared to accept the reality of your greater success. By introducing positive images of goal achievement, you’re preparing yourself to translate those goals into reality.

I especially like to visualize myself being introduced at a dinner in my honor. Maybe it’s the Coaches’ Hall of Fame! Don’t laugh! It could happen! The emcee comes to the microphone and reads the highlights of my life and adds some insights as to who I really am. What would the emcee be saying about you if such a dinner were held in your honor ten years from now? Devote a page in your journal to describing the things you would want said about you.

This visualization will put you on a path that leads to your future self that you vividly picture today!

Get Free access to one of the Most Powerful Courses Online, The “Step by Step Action Guide to Activate the Law of Attraction in your Life”, a $47 value + much more here!

Interesting Blogs

WordPress Themes