Rich Thinking To Become Wealthy
Rich Thinking To Become Wealthy Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, all great discoveries and inventions, and of all achievement. —CLAUDE M. BRISTOL There have never been more opportunities for you to become wealthy, and more different ways to achieve it, than exist today. More people are starting more businesses in more different industries than ever before. More knowledge, information, and technology are creating more products andservices that people want, need, and are willing to pay for. One new idea is all you need to start a fortune. As Within, So Without The Law of Correspondence works for everyone at all times under all circumstances. This law says that your outer world will be a reflection of your inner world. Everything moves from within to without. You cannot accomplish something on the outside until you first accomplish it on theinside. To be wealthy on the outside, you must think like a rich person on the inside. There is no other way. Poor people think like poor people. They have self-limiting beliefs that hold them back and stop them from even trying. In a study completed a few years ago entitled One Hundred Million Millionaires, the authors demonstrated that if you simply saved Ksh10,000 per month throughout your working lifetime, invested it, and let it grow with compound interest, it would amount toKsh100 million by the time you retired. Why doesn’t everyone do this? Poor thinking! Tony Robbins, in his 2014 book, Money: Master the Game, emphasizes what Einstein said: “Compounding is the most powerful force in the universe.” After extensive interviews with fifty of the richest people in the world, Robbins concluded that almost anyone can start small, save and invest regularly, use the miracle of compound interest, and eventually become financially independent, if not wealthy. This simple method has worked foralmost everyone at all times throughout history. And it can work for you. Reprogram Your Thinking In this article, I am going to share with you a series of simple ideas that you can learn and apply, based on extensive research into the lives and habits of thousands of wealthy people. By the Law of Cause and Effect, if you think and do the same things that wealthy people do, you will soon get the same results that they do.There are no secrets of success. There are simply timeless truths and universal principles that have been discovered and rediscovered throughout human history. All you have to do is to learn and practice them to enjoy all the success that you could desire. REASONS PEOPLE DON’T BECOME WEALTHY There are seven reasons why people don’t become wealthy. Let us deal with each of them in turn. 1. It Never Occurs To ThemIt never occurs to them that they can become wealthy. Because of their upbringing and early conditioning, perhaps coming from a home where no one had ever been wealthy, and associating with poor people, they never thought that they too could become wealthy, just as millions of others have done before them. 2. They Never Decide To Do ItMany people wish, hope, dream, and fantasize about how their lives would be different if they had a lot of money. They admire and envy people around them who are doing better than they are. They worry about money all the time. But they never make a firm, do-or-die decision to become wealthy. As a result, they never even take the first step. They don’t learn wealth-creation techniques. They don’t upgrade their knowledge and skills so that they become more valuable at their work. They make excuses and rationalize their situations by saying that success is simply a matter of “luck” and they didn’t get any. 3. They ProcrastinateIf it does occur to them, and they decide to become wealthy, they never get started. They procrastinate. They move to that wonderful fantasy place called “Someday I’ll.” “Someday I’ll save my money rather than spending it all.” “Someday I’ll upgrade my knowledge and skills.” “Someday I’ll work harder and make myself more valuable.” “Someday I’ll get out of debt.” They end up living on “Someday I’ll” for most of their lives. One of the great secrets of success is for you to “vote yourself off the island!” Stop making excuses and start making progress. 4. They Fear FailureBecause of destructive criticism in early childhood and mistakes they have made as adults, they are paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake, of losing their time or money. Even if they are presented with an opportunity, they go into a form of paralysis. Their fear of failure causes them to create all kinds of reasons not to take action. They don’t have the time. They can’t make the minimum investment. They don’t have the necessary knowledge and skills. Like a deer caught in the headlights, they are paralyzed by the idea of failure, which causes them to never take any action at all. As it happens, most fortunes were started by the sale of personal services. The people had no money, but they had the ability to work hard, to upgrade their skills, and to become more and more valuable. As a result, more and more doors of opportunity opened up for them. 5. They Fear Criticism And DisapprovalMany people think that if they set a goal to better themselves financially, the people around them will ridicule them and criticize them. They’re afraid that those people will watch over their shoulders and gleefully point out all the mistakes they make. Because they fear the disapproval of others so much, they often attempt nothing at all. Here’s the solution. When you decide to become wealthy, don’t tell anyone. Keep it a secret. Go to work on your goal privately, and only tell people when they see your life improving and ask you how you did it. 6. They Stop Learning And GrowingTo achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you must learn and practice something that you’ve
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection Week Three
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection (Week Three) 1. SEE WHAT YOU WANT, GET WHAT YOU SEE Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.—ALBERT EINSTEIN Winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics Visualization is the technique of closing your eyes and picturing yourself enjoying life as if your goals had already been achieved—in rich, vivid, colourful detail. It’s seeing in your mind’s eye the places you would be, the sounds you would hear, the emotions you’d be feeling, and the actionsyou would be taking.Visualization is one of the most effective tools you can use to reach your goals because itaccelerates your success immensely. It allows your brain’s reticular activating system to “let through” ideas, observations, people, and opportunities from amongst the millions of images it processes for you every day. Through The Law of Attraction, visualization attracts to you the people and opportunities that will benefit you. When meditating on your affirmations, repeat them aloud and visualize them in vivid Technicolor so they produce clear images in your mind. Be very specific on the details so that your affirmations release the creative powers that fuel success. Each night before retiring I am confidently reading my list of goals out loud and creating images of the completed goals in my mind. Make the most out of visualizing your affirmations by applying these same principles: Add sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings to your images. What does it sound like at your home on the beach? How does the ocean smell? What feelings would you be experiencing? Use emotions to add fuel to your vision. When confronted with intense emotions, an image or scene can stay locked in our memory forever. Use this phenomenon to its fullest benefit by infusing your visions with emotion and energy! Most of us don’t see things in bright three-dimensional images when we close our eyes; actually, we don’t really see an image as much as we think it. To help you truly see and focus on your goals, find pictures of your dream vacation, you at your perfect weight, a black Lexus LX600, and then glue them to a small poster board. Then display it where you can see it every day. You can also write your personal affirmations on index cards using colour felt markers, then draw illustrations of your dream house or perfect job. By adding sounds, smells, and feelings to my internal pictures, I am multiplying the benefits many times over. Your brain operates very differently from your physical body. To your brain, there is no difference between visualizing something and actually doing it. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, body builder, film producer, and former governor of California, once said, “Create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true.” I’d say that strategy worked pretty well for him.You may not be aware of it, but when you visualize your goals as having already been achieved, your subconscious mind will find a way to turn your current situation into the new vision that you have been feeding it. If you feed your mind pictures of a beautiful home, a loving relationship, and an exciting career, it will work on achieving those things. On the other hand, if you are constantly feeding it negative pictures, like a stressful job, an impossible feat, or a failing relationship—guess what?—it will work to achieve those, too.Set aside time each and every day to visualize every one of your goals as already complete. This is one of the most vital things you can do to make your dreams come true. Some psychologists say that an hour of visualization is equal to seven hours of physical effort. That’s a pretty big claim, but still, imagine what would happen to your life if you did that every day! I am heightening the impact of my affirmations by focusing and clearly visualizing them. 2. ACT AS IF Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.—CHARLES F. KETTERING Engineer, businessman, and inventor with over 186 patents One of the greatest strategies for success is to act as if you are already where you want to be. That requires you to think, talk, act, dress, and feel like you have already achieved your goals. Acting “as if” projects to the world a sense of confidence and achievement, sending powerful messages to your subconscious mind, which is designed to find unique ways to solve problems. It also programs your brain’s reticular activating system—the function that allows into your awareness useful information from the millions of pieces of information you process every day—to make you aware of hidden resources that may help you. What’s more, when you act as if, The Law of Attraction comes into play, since acting “as if” sends strong vibrations to the Universe that you are committed to achieving your goal—and that you are open to accepting and applying anything it sends your way. In the book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach writes, “To fly as fast as thought, to be anywhere there is, you must first begin by knowing that you have already arrived.” Pretty sound advice and one of life’s greatest lessons. I am believing and acting as if I am already where I want to be. You can begin right now to act as if you’ve already achieved the goals you set for yourself. Once you start acting successful, that outer experience will create the inner experience—the feelings, emotions, confidence, and thoughts—that will lead you to the fulfilment of your goal. How would you act if you were already a straight-A student, a bestselling author, an Olympic athlete, a top salesperson, a celebrated musician, or a successful entrepreneur? How would you think, talk, carry yourself, dress, treat other people, handle money, and so forth? There are a couple of very important lessons we can learn from the behaviour of successful people: they exude self-confidence, they’ve learned the power of asking for what they
The Qualities Of Skillful Leadership
The Qualities of Skillful Leadership “Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we’re part of the stars.” “Part of the task of leadership is learning to spend eighty percent of your time with the twenty percent of the people who are doing eighty percent of the work.” “We can’t win everyone’s dedication and belief at once. What we can do is work on ourselves, refine our philosophies, and trust that the believers will be there.” “If you share a good idea often enough, it will fall on good people.” The Great Challenge of Life If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. I call leadership the great challenge of life. What is important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here are some specifics: Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It’s not even a good substitute. Next, learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness is not weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell somebody the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion. Next, learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you have to walk in front of your group. You have to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the first sign of trouble. I think we all agree that farming is not an easy job.Farmers must face the weeds and the rains and the pests straight on. Likewise, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have to be bold. You have to seize the moment. Here is the next step. You have to learn to be humble, but not timid. You can not get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It is an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder. An awareness of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we are part of the stars. Here is a good tip: learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to win the day. It takes pride to build your ambition. It takes pride in community. It takes pride in cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is being proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It’s intolerable. And it can be expensive. A young newlywed couple gets some money from their parents to buy a new set of outdoor furniture. The young couple goes to the supermarket and picks out the perfect set. Whenthey go to pay though the cashier counter, the clerk scans the UPC barcode. The couple says, “Hey, there are four chairs in this container. You’re only charging us for one.” “I know my job!” the clerk responds arrogantly. “I scanned the container. Don’t you think I know what I’m doing?” Well, the young couple tries to explain that she is wrong. The clerk won’t listen. So the young couple gets four beautiful outdoor chairs for the price of one. Do you think the supermarket clerk will change her arrogant attitude when it’s time to close out her cash drawer? Probably so. Ignorant arrogance is the worst kind. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that’s just too much to take. The next step is learning to develop humour without folly. That’s important for a leader. In leadership, we learn that it’s okay to be witty, but not silly; fun, but not foolish. Next, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony. Just accept life like it is. Life is unique. Some people call it tragic, but I’d like to think it’s unique. The whole drama of life is unique. It’s fascinating. Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. But the fundamental skills of leadership can be adapted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community, and at home. Building a Successful Team Once you’ve set a goal for yourself as a leader—whether it is to create your own enterprise, energize your organization, build a church, or excel in sports—the challenge is to find good people to help you accomplish that goal. Gathering a successful team of people is not only helpful, it’s necessary. So to guide you in this daunting task of picking the right people, I’m going to share with you a four-part checklist. Number one: check each candidate’s history. Seek out available information regarding the individual’s qualifications to do the job. That’s the most obvious step. Number two: check the person’s interest level. If he is interested, he’s probably a good prospect. Sometimes people can fake their interest, but if you’ve been a leader for a while, you will be a capable judge of whether somebody is merely pretending. Arrange face-to-face conversation, andtry to gauge his or her sincerity to the
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection Week Two
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection (Week Two) 1. LEVERAGE THE LAW OF ATTRACTION What you radiate outward in your thoughts, feelings, mental pictures, and words, you attract into your life.—CATHERINE PONDER Author of The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity Have you ever tried to turn gravity on or off? Probably not because you realize that it can’t be done. Well, there’s another powerful force in the Universe that—just like gravity—surrounds us and affects us. It’s called The Law of Attraction, and maybe we can’t turn it on or off, but we can harness its tremendous benefits. To be successful, you must learn how to use The Law of Attraction to create the life you really want. If you’re already working on implementing the principles in your life, think of this as a fresh opportunity to brush up on your skills and check your progress. It takes time and consistent effort to train ourselves to behave, think, and speak in only positive ways, but the Universe rewards us exponentially with abundance, joy, and unlimited benefits. Basically, we reap what we sow, and we can freely choose to sow seeds of positivity! I am aware that positive actions and emotions attract positive outcomes; I am choosing to radiate positive energy into the Universe and reaping the bounty it reflects back to me. Basic chemistry tells us that a physical object, such as a house or a dog or your phone, is made up of billions of individual atoms—tiny parcels of energy—that bond together into different forms such as water, metal, and plastic. Similarly, our thoughts are also a form of energy—easily detected as brain waves by standard medical equipment—that can interact with our physical world just like any other form of energy does. When we understand this basic science, we realize that our thoughts can actually interact with the physical world and help bring about what we want to happen. The core tenet of The Law of Attraction says: What you think about, talk about, believe strongly about, and feel intensely about, you will bring about. Once you know that, by using your thoughts, you can help bring about the opportunities, resources, and people who can help you accomplish your goals, you’ll start paying greater attention to the direction of your thoughts and what you focus on throughout the day. I am constantly aware of the power of positive thinking and I am supported by the Universe as it brings me endless opportunities for growth. Everything—including you—is vibrating at a specific and unique frequency. That means you can learn to use the power of deliberate thought to stay in a state of higher vibration and attract what you want in life. Here’s how: Step One: Ask for what you want. Decide what you really want and use words that focus on that goal. Replace negative images and thoughts with positive ones. Consistently ask for what you want and then let the Universe worry about how you’ll get it. Step Two: Believe you’ll get what you want, then take action. Believing means being confident that you’ve put your future in the hands of a greater power and that your goals can be accomplished. Taking action is another form of belief—after all, we would only take action on goals we believe are possible to begin with. Step Three: Receive what you want. One of the best ways to bring yourself into vibrational alignment with what you want is to use affirmations—statements of your goals and desires already achieved in present time. Repeat them regularly so that your subconscious mind maintains a vibrational match to what you want. I am asking for what I want several times a day, believing that I will receive it. 2. SET GOALS THAT INSPIRE YOU If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.—ANDREW CARNEGIE American steel industrialist and one of the richest people in history. Success is not only an attitude and belief system, it’s also a science. Experts on the science of success know that the brain is a goal-seeking organism, and when you give it a specific goal, it will work overtime to achieve it. Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University conducted a study proving that people who write down their goals, then create action steps to achieve them—and make regular progress reports to a friend—have nearly double the success rate at achieving what they want! Think about it: by taking a few extra steps, you can be twice as successful as those people who merely think about their goals. It may surprise you to also learn that the small percentage of people who write down their goalsand regularly review them earn nine times more over the course of their lifetimes than those whodon’t. This alone should motivate you to write down your goals! I am clear about what my goals are and I know that I will accomplish them. If you have no criteria for measuring the successful completion of a goal, you don’t have a true goal—you simply have a good idea. An actual goal that inspires action and unleashes the power of your subconscious mind must include how much (a measurable quantity) and by when (a specific time and date for completion). One of the best ways to get clarity on your goals is to write them out in detail. When you write it all down, your subconscious will know specifically what to work on, including which opportunities to focus on to bring about success. Reread your goals three times a day—close your eyes and picture each one as if it were already accomplished and imagine how it feels to actually be living with that achievement. Most of our goals represent incremental improvements in our life—get new car insurance, organise my house, finish the project presentation. But, what if you could work toward accomplishing a breakthrough goal—something that substantially improves life as you know it, such as buying your
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection Week One
Affirmations For Meditation And Reflection (Week One) 1. TAKE 100% RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR FUTURE We don’t naturally want to take responsibility for our lives. We want to give the responsibility to someone else. We blame them when our lives aren’t good.—DONALD MILLER Author of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story Let’s start with some really good news: You have total control over the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take. How you use these three things determines everything you experience in life. On your journey to a life of happiness, abundance, and success, taking 100% responsibility for your future is the starting line. Here is where you are today, and there is where you want to be—it is the fulfilment of your hopes and dreams. It is the realization of your life purpose and your ultimate goals, and I am going to show you the way to get there. Together, we are going to embark on an exciting journey that is based upon using daily affirmations—positive statements that affirm who you are, what you believe, and the fact that you already have everything you need at your disposal to succeed in reaching your goals. You may not think that you do, but I am going to show you how to change your thinking and build a blueprint for success. I am easily improving my life—moving with ease from where I am now to where I want to be. Positive energy will get your day off to a great start. Set a few minutes aside every morning and repeat your affirmation aloud with conviction and intention. Do this again at night and let your subconscious mind apply that positive energy as you sleep. When you let it empower your thoughts and dreams during the night, you are training it to think differently—to automatically lean toward positive opportunity and action while you are awake. Repeating affirmations will help you consciously improve as long as you take full responsibility for your life—that means every success, every failure, and every indecisive thought or action you have experienced. Regardless of the circumstance, placing the blame on the event or outcome won’t make a difference because it’s your response to it that is the game-changer—and your response, whether it’s your thoughts, images, or behaviours, is totally up to you. The truth is, you don’t have to settle for anything in life because you can keep changing your response to the circumstance you may face until you get the result you want. If you don’t like your current results, simply begin to do something different. I am confidently creating better circumstances and expanding opportunity for myself—responding with intelligence to events as they occur. It’s easy sometimes to think things “just happen” to you—that you were an innocent bystander or an unwitting participant. Don’t let yourself be tricked into playing that game. You are the one creating or allowing it to happen. Start paying attention to what I call “yellow alerts.” There are always signals that tell you something is off or something is about to happen. If you don’t pay attention to the internal and external yellow alerts, you will needlessly suffer. External yellow alerts are things like news trends that your industry is fading or the smell of alcohol on your teenager’s breath. Internal alerts are things like gut feelings, intuitive messages, and feelings of stress, tension, or pain. Paying closer attention to your internal and external yellow alerts will enable you to change your actions or responses once you become aware of them. Let this thought encourage you: Life becomes much easier when you take control of your own destiny. Don’t accept that things “just happen” to you—choose to create the life you really want! I am choosing to change my thoughts, images, and behaviours to respond differently and produce better outcomes. 2. BE CLEAR WHY YOU’RE HERE Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities aroundit.—BRIAN TRACY Author of Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Everyone has a unique calling in their life—something only you can do, something only you have the unique skills and wisdom to accomplish. Identifying, acknowledging, and honouring this life purpose may be the most important thing that you do on your way to creating a successful life. It’scertainly one of the most fulfilling. But, without a clear understanding of what you’re here on this Earth to do, and pursuing that purpose with passion and enthusiasm, you will almost certainly fall short of any goal you set. Most people haven’t a clue why they are on this Earth. Maybe they think knowing isn’t really important, or they are waiting for a personal awakening, or they’re hoping that the answer mysteriously appears on their daily to-do list. The problem with not knowing isn’t just that you lose time making U-turns, getting stuck, and backtracking to the fork in the road—but that you get lost, side-tracked, or become stagnant. When you lose your sense of direction, it can cause untold emotional setbacks and turmoil, leaving you feeling hopeless, useless, or frustrated. I am joyful and fulfilled, living in perfect alignment with my life purpose. Below is an exercise that will help you identify your life’s purpose and find meaning and direction. The life purpose exercise 1) List two of your unique personal qualities, such as leadership and innovation.2) List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others, such as to support and to inspire.3) Assume the world is perfect and that each of us is living our unique calling. What does the world look and feel like? Example: Everyone is working in their ideal field, in harmony with each other and without conflict or damage to the Earth.4) Combine your answers above into a single statement that defines your life purpose and tells how it contributes to an ideal world. Example: To use
The Foundation Of Self Confidence
The Foundation Of Self Confidence There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. —William Shakespeare Self-confidence is an attitude about your skills and abilities. It means you accept and trust yourself and have a sense of control in your life. You know your strengths and weakness well, and have a positive view of yourself. You set realistic expectations and goals, communicate assertively, and can handle criticism. Your thoughts and feelings about yourself, and what you can or cannot do, are the sum total result of a lifetime of experience and conditioning, and usually have little relationship to what is truly possible for you. In personal development, there is a principle, or a law of becoming, that simply says that each person is in a continual process of becoming, or evolving and growing, in the direction of his or her dominant thoughts. Your body is also in a state of becoming. At a normal rate of cell death and replenishment, you have a brand-new body every seven years. Whereas your physical evolution in becoming is effected by the food that you put into your body, your mental evolution and becoming is largely determined by the thoughts that you put into your mind. You Become What You Think About The law of concentration says that “anything you dwell upon grows in your reality.” Anything that you think about long enough and hard enough eventually becomes a part of your mental processes, exerting its influence and power on your attitude and your behaviour. If you constantly think thoughts of boldness and courage and self-assertion, you become progressively bolder and more courageous and more self-assertive. The more you dwell on the person you would like to be, with the qualities you would like to have, the more you implant those deep into your subconscious mind where they become part of your ongoing evolution. What you habitually think about eventually becomes a part of your character and your personality. In this sense, you are a self-made man or woman. You are where you are and what you are because of the thoughts that you have allowed to preoccupy your mind. Whatever you have dwelled on over the past months and years, you have become, and you are, right now, today, the result of all those thoughts. Not only have you made yourself into the person you are today, but you are continuing with the job of construction with every thought you think. Because this is an unavoidable fact of life, the smartest thing that you can do is to persistently think the thoughts that are consistent with the kind of person you would like to be. Personal Growth Is Not Easy However, for most people this is too big a leap. Most people continue to think about and talk about exactly what they don’t want to happen, and then they are constantly amazed that exactly what they were hoping to avoid happens to them again and again. One of the most profound discoveries in all of human history is that “thought is creative.” Thoughts held in mind, produce after their kind. Like begets like. Your thoughts become your realities. You do become what you think about most of the time. You cannot harbour one kind of thought and experience a different kind of existence. This law of cause and effect works perfectly, everywhere and always, for everyone. The development of unshakable self-confidence, therefore, begins with you taking full, complete, systematic and purposeful control of the contents of your conscious mind, disciplining yourself to think consistently about only the things that you desire and to resolutely keep your mind off the things that you fear. All of life is from the inside out. It is from the inner to the outer. The law of correspondence, perhaps one of the most important of all the mental laws, says that “your outer world will be a reflection of your inner world.” What you see on the outside is largely a reflection of what is going on inside you. This is not only true for you; it is true for everyone around you. Your Inner Life Predicts Your Outer Life Many times we see people who seem to be very nice and pleasant on the outside, but who seem to have continuous problems in their personal and business lives. We wonder, “How could these unhappy things happen to such nice people?” The unavoidable fact is that, with few exceptions, most of what a person experiences in his or her outer life corresponds exactly to something that is going on in their inner life, something that you seldom know, and it cannot be otherwise. True happiness and success comes from living your life in harmony with the laws that govern your being. Even though these laws are invisible, they are like the law of gravity, which is also invisible but is to be violated only at your own peril. Happy people are those who obey and follow the laws of nature and live their lives consistent with those laws. Start with Your Inner Life If you want to enjoy self-confidence on the outside, you must practice complete integrity on the inside. The foundation of self-confidence is for you to live your life consistent with your innermost values and principles, while thinking and acting in harmony with your highest aspirations. Men and women with the most rock-solid self-confidence are those who are absolutely clear about what it is they believe to be right and good and worthwhile, and who live their lives consistent with these values. Everything they do or say is an expression of their innermost convictions. Your whole world can fall down around you, but as long as you know that you are doing the right thing, you will have a deep inner sense of calm that will manifest itself in an attitude of confidence and self-assurance in any situation. You will have many ups and downs in life, but what is most important
The Power Of Happiness
The Power Of Happiness As your success, income, and responsibility grows, you can’t neglect your happiness. If you are not consciously defending it, it can slip away. I’m going to share with you the 10 Happiness Habits that can make happiness the core of success (rather than success the core of happiness). Yes, you read that correctly: happiness leads to success, not the other way around. In our society, we often think that if we’ve got tons of money, are the head of a profitable company, and have a lot of fame as well as fortune, we’re going to be happy. In fact, one of the biggest things that stops people dead in their tracks from living an actual fulfilled life is the assumption that if they find success, happiness will follow. Take your own life, for example. Have you ever thought that if you got a certain job or started your business, then happiness would result from it? Have you ever felt that once you made a certain amount of money, or once you have a wife that loves you or a husband that loves you, or once you have children, or once you lose weight, then you’ll be happy? Well, I hate to break it to you, but many people who think this way eventually find out that they’re wrong. I would be doing you a huge disservice if I failed to let you in on this secret. And yes, you can attract next-level wealth with the right habits, but why deny yourself happiness? Wealth without fulfillment is emptiness. Let me help you achieve it all. What if we’ve had it backward for all these years? What if happiness is the prerequisite for everything else? What if it is the prerequisite for success, abundance, prosperity, weight loss, passion, intimacy, and love? What if most of us don’t really know how to be happy, but instead we think we’ll figure it out once we get somewhere? Think of what we tell ourselves: “All I needis to get my business up and running, and I’ll be happy.” Or: “As soon as I buy that dream house, I’ll be satisfied.” You see, most of us let our desire for external things guide us. We think once we have that new house or that new job, then we’ll be happy. But guess what? The excitement of external things fades. Have you ever thought, once I get a raise or to that next level of income, that is when the fun begins? Then it happens, and you spend accordingly, get some new stuff, upgrade your house, and think, I’m making more money so now I’m happy! But then a few months pass, and the additional income and what you bought no longer satisfies you. As much as I am an advocate for growing your wealth and your success through the right habits, no amount of money will make you happy unless you find internal satisfaction. But combine that with more money, and it’s time for next-level and real fulfillment. The outside world can only give you temporary happiness. We all want that next level of income, the ideal weight, perfect health, a great lifestyle, more money, true love, intimacy, and passion. Trust me, I get the desires that exist and the accompanying perks. But all that goes away unless we learn how to be happy on the inside. And here’s the crazy part: If we find happiness on the inside—not an easy task—then suddenly all of those other things we want are more obtainable. When you learn to create happiness internally, those things become a by-product of the happiness you’re creating, which is the opposite of what most people think. Most people believe success, money,fast cars, and jewellery come first and then happiness will materialize. That is completely false, and the source of so many people walking around depressed. So let’s look at happiness and what I’ve learned about it. I’ve created a list of 10 specific habits and thought processes that I think are the fastest and quickest way to happiness. In this article, I just want to give you the recipes, ingredients, and instructions that will get you to your definition of success the fastest. 1. DEFINE WHAT HAPPINESS LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE TO YOU Imagine that we’re sitting in a restaurant right now and I ask you this question: “From the deepest part of you, what makes you happy?” Would you have an answer? Do you know what it would be? I believe that’s a hard question for all of us. And I think it is a difficult question because so many times we try and compare our definition of happiness to others. Just because someone else’s definition of happiness is an expensive car and a mansion, doesn’t mean it has to be your definition! Honestly, if you were to ask me that question just five years ago, I probably would have fumbled to come up with an answer. Back then I don’t think I was crystal clear on what happiness truly meant to me. It would be easy to say, “Being with my kids,” and even though that is true, that was a default and not a truly thought-out answer. But I want you to get crystal clear on what makes you truly happy! Take the time right now and think through or start writing down ideas about what makes your heart smile, your eyes brighter, and causes you to be alive with joy. What truly makes you happy? Come on, do this. Don’t default to a few answers that have become your reflexive response. Think back to when you were a kid, or earlier in your life. When did you feel at peace? What lit you up? What made you smile? Is it spending time in nature with your kids playing games and breathing fresh air? Is it going to a sporting event or going for a roadtrip? Do you like being by the ocean and feeling
Self Discipline
Self Discipline “We must unweave every strand of our cable of habits, slowly and methodically, until the cable that once held us in place becomes nothing more than scattered strands of wire.” “How do you get a miracle going? It’s all a matter of discipline. And it begins with one simple step: doing what you can do.” “Once you have seen and felt your ideal future, you will be ready and able to pay any price to get there.” The Bridge Between Thought and Accomplishment If there is one magic word that stands out above all the rest, it is self-discipline. Self-discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment, between inspiration and achievement, between necessity and productivity. Remember, all good things are located upstream from us. The passing of time takes us adrift, and drifting only brings us the negative, the disappointment, and the failure. Failure is not a cataclysmic event. It is not generally the result of one major incident, but rather of a long list of accumulated little failings. The danger is looking at an undisciplined day and concluding that no great harm has been done. But add up these days to make a year—and then add up those years to make a lifetime—and it will become apparent how repeating today’s small failures can easily turn your life into a major disaster. Self-discipline is like a set of magic keys that can unlock all the doors of wealth, happiness, culture, high self-esteem, pride, joy, accomplishment, satisfaction, and success. The first key to self-discipline is awareness of the need for and value of self-discipline, especially the discipline to make the necessary changes. What will it take? What must I do and what must I become to get all I want from life? The second key is willingness. More than that, it is the eagerness to maintain your new discipline deliberately, wisely, and consistently. The third key to self-discipline is the commitment to master the circumstances of your daily life—to see and harness the opportunities to make something of the good as well as that which comes in the guise of misfortune. Self-discipline does many things, but most important of all is what it does for your mind-set—it makes you feel better about yourself. Even the smallest discipline can have an incredible effect on your attitude. And the good feeling you get—that surging feeling of self-worth that comes from starting a new discipline—is almost as good as the feeling that comes from the accomplishment the discipline brings. A new discipline immediately alters your life direction. You don’t change destinations immediately—that is yet to come—but you can change direction immediately, and direction is very important. Self-discipline cooperates with nature. Everything strives. It is a common life function. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it can. Everything strives to become all it can possibly be. And that is what self-discipline is all about… striving to fulfill our natural potential, to become all that we canbe. The human will in action—driven by inspiration, enticed by desire, tempered by reason, guided by intelligence—can bring you to that high and lofty place called the good life. Self-discipline attracts opportunity, which is always attracted to ambition and skill in action. Self-discipline taps the unlimited power of commitment. Self-discipline: those unique steps of intelligent thought and activity that put a lid on temper and a faucet on courtesy; that develop the positive and control the negative; that encourage success and deter failure; that shape lifestyle and control frustration; that enhance health and curb sickness;that promote happiness and manage sadness. Self-discipline: the continuing process that brings all the good things. Remember, anyone can start the process. It’s not, “If I could, I would;” rather, it’s “If I would, I could. If I will, I can.” So start the process. Begin a new habit, no matter how small it is. Size isn’t important; whether or not you start and whether or not you continue are all that matter. A Spiral of Achievement What’s at the core of achieving success? It is not learning how to set goals. It is not learning how to better manage your time. It is not mastering the attributes of leadership. Every day in a thousand different ways, we are trying to improve ourselves by learning how to do things. We spend a lifetime gathering knowledge—in classrooms, in textbooks, in experiences.And if knowledge is power, if knowledge is the forerunner to success, why do we fall short of our objectives? Why, in spite of all our knowledge and collected experiences, do we find ourselves aimlessly wandering? Settling for a life of existence rather than a life of substance? There may be many answers to this question. Your answer may be different from that of everyone else you know. While there may be many answers to this question, the ultimate answer may be the absence of discipline in applying our knowledge. The key word is self-discipline. It doesn’t really matter how smart you are if you don’t use your knowledge. It doesn’t really matter that you graduated with a first class honours if you’re stuck in a low-paying job. It doesn’t really matter that you attend every seminar that comes to town if you don’t apply what you’ve learned. We spend our lives gathering: gathering knowledge, gathering skills, gathering experiences. But we must also apply the knowledge, skills, and experiences we gather in the realms of life and business. We must learn to use what we’ve learned. And once we’ve applied our knowledge, we must study the results of that process and refine our approach. Finally, by trying and observing and refining and trying again, our knowledge will inevitably produce worthy, admirable results. And with the joy and results of our efforts, we continue to fuel our ambition with the positive reinforcement of continued progress. Pretty soon, we’ll find that we’re swept into a spiral of achievement, a vertical rise to success. And the ecstasy of that total experience makes for a