How To Use The Power of Intention For Success

Intentions differ from desires, and consciously focusing on your intentions can go a long ways toward achieving success. Simply put, intentions are goals. Another way to look at intentions is as thoughts that help us fill a need. The need can be such things as money, property, love, or relationships. The main purpose of our goals or intentions, though, is to eventually be happy or fulfilled.

In contrast, desire is the act of attaching feelings to a goal. We may desire something without ever achieving it. An important step towards fulfilling your goals is to realize that desire is passive, while intentions imply action. Once you can separate your intentions from your desires, there are a few things you need to do to make those intentions work for you:

Banish Negative Thoughts
Most people develop goals, then are overrun with thoughts as to why they cannot achieve their goals. Sometimes we subconsciously have negative feelings about our ability to achieve a goal which we are not even aware of. Even so, our unconscious beliefs have a way of manifesting themselves into reality, so it is important to examine your own feelings about your goals and intentions. Once you discover the negative thoughts you have associated with a particular intention or goal, you can work to transform them into positive ones.

Renowned psychologist Carl Jung once said, “What you are unconscious of will become your fate.” Take a moment to write your intentions out, then write down the feelings you associate with your intentions. Do not edit your feelings before writing them out. Examine them and see where your negative beliefs or feelings are. Only then can you take steps to make them positive.

Destroy Your Ego
Your ego is how you feel about yourself, who you are, and what you do. We tie our feelings of success to those things that define our egos – what we have and how others think of us. We tend to define ourselves by what we do not have, rather than by what we do have. In order to achieve your goals through your intentions, you must become aware of your own ego, how you view yourself, and how you find your self worth. Learn to value yourself by the good things you have in your life already, rather than by what you are missing.

Only when you can separate your ego from your goals or intentions are you truly free to succeed.

Focus on Your Intentions
Most people tend to focus on what they do not have, or what they do not want, rather than what they do have or what they do want. Again, this type of negative thinking becomes self fulfilling. In order to achieve your goals, think of them in a positive light. Rather than tell yourself you cannot do something, or do not have enough of something, focus on your intention. Tell yourself that you are going to fulfill your goal, and allow that positive focus to be your driving force towards fulfillment.
Take some time and decide what would bring you happiness and fulfillment in life – a fancy car, a loving family, a fast-paced career, or a lot of money in the bank. Do not base your happiness on what your friends or family expect from you, or what you believe is acceptable in society. Dig down deep inside and examine your own heart to determine where your happiness comes from.

Once you know what will bring you happiness, write down your intentions to get there. Start each sentence with, “I am going to…” Make each intention a positive affirmation of ability and action. Once you have been able to identify exactly what you want out of life and how to get there, you will have created your own personal roadmap to bring you success. Whenever you find yourself doubting your own abilities, repeat your intentions to yourself positively. Negative thoughts creep up on everyone, and you must be able to not only identify them when they appear, but turn them around and make positive affirmations from them. It is amazing just how much that simple shift in state of mind can affect the outcome of your efforts.

Personal Coach David Bohl shares the viral message “Slow Down FAST” and helps people raise the roof on all facets of their lives without risking implosion. Get some must-haves for persevering in challenging times! Sign up for David’s online newsletter, The Bohl Report today

 

10 Tips for Increasing Your Effectiveness (No Matter What You’re Trying to Do)

No matter how big our dreams, our time and resources are limited. Moving forward effectively is key. Once you’ve committed to accomplishing something and putting in the effort, you’ll want to get the biggest return on your investment that you can, in the most efficient way. Here are ten of my best tips for increasing your effectiveness and achieving your goals–whatever they may be.

1.Be clear on your final outcome

This may sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to skip this step. Be as clear as you can about what it is that you are working to accomplish. Be sure you know exactly what success will look like and how you will know when you get there. Being “more” of something is not a clear goal–no matter what you’re trying to be more of (more healthy, more patient, more relaxed, more productive . . .). Set a concrete measurable goal and you’ll know when you’ve arrived.

2.Create a timeline and set milestones along the way

Set a date for achieving your outcome. Schedule “milestones” for yourself. In other words, identify the dates that you plan to achieve specific steps towards your goal. This will help you stay on track and recognize the need to make adjustments (if you are having difficulty achieving the milestones you have identified) as you go along.

3.Use deadlines to stay on track

Eliminate as much uncertainty and vagueness as you can. If you have a difficult step to take or are finding yourself procrastinating, set yourself a deadline. You might decide to write three pages of your novel before 3pm, get to the gym three times before the weekend, or get your holiday card list organized by a certain date. Deadlines can be particularly useful when you are struggling to make a decision and are feeling stuck. Set the deadline and commit to simply moving forward by making a decision before the deadline arrives.

4.Rein in your perfectionist

Nothing will get us off track faster or derail us entirely like our inner perfectionist. Perfection is something we can rarely achieve and it’s often not necessary. The belief that we have to get something perfect before we can consider taking another step is a great way to never get anywhere. Work at developing an awareness of when your desire for excellence is working for you and when it has surpassed any definition of usefulness. There is a concept called the Pareto Principle you might want to consider. The Pareto Principle states that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results. The additional 80% of our efforts will only yield an additional 20% of results. According to the Pareto Principle, the first thrust of our effort is the most productive use of our time. Spending time on the back end working to make something “perfect” is often time intensive and nonproductive.

5.Create an environment for success

Surround yourself with what you need to stay on track, believe in yourself, and stay focused on your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, don’t fill your kitchen with junk food. If you are starting a new business, carve out the office space you need and surround yourself with people who encourage and believe in what you are doing. If you are cutting back on spending, don’t spend your free time at the mall. Instead make sure you have frequent reminders of why your hard work is going to pay off for you.

6.Get support

Perhaps the most important part of your environment is the people in it. Create a support system. Find people who know about your goal and believe in you–a cheering section. Ideally you’ll want to include people who are working toward the same or a similar goal. This isn’t about creating competition but support. You want to have someone in your corner who will remember why your goal is important to you on those dark days when you can’t. You want a support system who believes in your ability to succeed and will remind you of that when you need it the most.

7.Be accountable

I don’t know why, but many of us do better when we are accountable to someone else. Telling someone else that you have committed to do and knowing that they will check in on you and ask you how it went is a POWERFUL motivator.

8.Be flexible

Life happens and things don’t always go the way you planned. Sometimes what you learn from taking action is that you are going to have to try a different plan. If something doesn’t go well, don’t view it as a failure, view it as data. Use what you learned to readjust, realign, and remap your course if necessary.

9.Find a mentor

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Chances are, whatever you are trying to do, someone has succeeded at something similar or knows something you don’t. Even Olympic athletes–the best in the world at what they do –have coaches. Finding someone who has the expertise to help you soar can often help you achieve what you want to more quickly and with more ease.

10.Celebrate

High-achievers can be tempted to skip this step. It’s easy to get so used to having your nose to the grindstone that you’ve planned your next project before you’ve completed your current one. DO NOT skip celebrating the milestones and goals you achieve. The pause you take to congratulate yourself and let the good stuff sink in is part of what will energize you, motivate you, and grow your confidence for your future endeavors. Plus, standing on the mountain top and really seeing how far you’ve climbed, is an incredible, soul-feeding experience.

 

Melissa McCreery, PH.D.

 

How Bad Do You Really Want It?

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost

Take two similar people and give them each the same opportunity. One takes it and achieves remarkable success, while the other accomplishes little or nothing. Why? During my three decades in business, I have worked with thousands of people in diverse industries. Most have had similar opportunities. A dozen or so have become overwhelmingly prosperous; many have earned a good living. But the majority of people, when faced with the same chances for success, have little to show for their efforts. Why?

Success is not a matter of luck or fate. Nor is it entirely a matter of intelligence or talent. Winners share one common characteristic: they know how to harness the power of desire and the power of persistence to build the momentum they need to get from where they are to where they want to be.

The reason that self-help books or courses don’t work for most people is the same reason that diets and exercise programs don’t work. Even when people have a great system to follow, most don’t experience great results. It isn’t that there is something wrong with the program or that their actions are wrong. It’s simply that people don’t keep doing them. Why not? Because, they don’t really understand how to transform desire into success!

People who are abundantly successful have learned to transform desire into success by utilizing the power of compound interest, which Einstein referred to as “the eighth wonder of the world.” Those who succeed financially have learned to set aside a certain percentage of their income, investing it, and continuing to reinvest the profits until they produce a passive income that is large enough to provide all of their needs without having to work. At that point their money works for them instead of them working for their money. These people grasp the concept that a small amount of money compounded over a period of time can be worth a fortune. This remarkably creative power is at work in every aspect of your life, every day, every moment, whether you are aware of it or not. It not only works with money, but also with health, personal growth, building relationships, or whatever else you want to achieve.

To tap into the power of compound interest means doing the little things, over and over. It’s easy to do the little things–by the inch it’s a cinch. It’s easy to become financially independent. It’s easy to become healthy and fit. It’s easy to build rich, meaningful relationships. It’s easy to have a fulfilling vocation. All it takes is simple, little actions performed consistently over time, which eventually adds up to huge accomplishments.

Save a few of bucks a day. Get a little exercise daily. Eat healthy food (at least eighty percent of the time!). Read ten pages of a life-enhancing book every day. Tell your loved ones daily how much you love and appreciate them. All simple things to do that will lead to phenomenal results.

You are probably thinking at this point: “Okay if these things are so darned simple and easy, why are so few people successful?” Because they also are easy not to do! Everyone can do them, but most won’t. My question for you is: Would you rather do what successful people do, or what unsuccessful people do not?

No matter how many self-help courses you take, or CDs you listen to, or books you read, if you don’t harness the principle of compound interest in your life by making small daily deposits into your success bank account, you won’t create the results you want.

“Diamonds are nothing more
than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”
– Malcolm Forbes

Success and high level living don’t come from one magnificent breakthrough. They are crafted and honed in the quiet, indistinct moments of each day. They are the products of many little, boring, and seemingly insignificant things performed one at a time in the “nooks and crannies” of daily life.

Think for a moment about someone who would like to lose twenty pounds and get into great physical condition. Imagine that they are contemplating two strategies. The first strategy would allow them to eat anything they please and not have to exercise. But every seventh day, they would abstain from all food, lift weights for a couple of hours, and run five miles. In the second strategy they eat moderately and exercise for a half hour each day. Which strategy would you recommend? Or, imagine a person wanting to become an accomplished musician. Would you recommend that they practice each day for twenty minutes or practice one day a week for two hours?

The answer to these questions should be fairly obvious. The principle of consistent effort is not a difficult concept to comprehend. The difficulty lies in the implementation. If you really want to accomplish great things, focus on doing the little things over and over and over again. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen. Be patient. Keep practicing. And don’t quit. These success principles are universal–they have worked for others and they’ll work for you!

An excerpt from Tom Massey’s latest book titled “How Bad Do You REALLY Want It?”: Tom Massey is an emerging leader in the field of personal and organizational development. He can be contacted at www.TomMasseyInc.com

 

Successful Living, Imagination and the Law of Attraction

Are you aware that there is no such thing as coincidence and nothing happens by chance? Every single event that is projected onto the screen of space and time (appears in your life) was produced by the use (or misuse) of energy and Spiritual Laws. Notice I said laws! The Law of Attraction does not act alone!

Before anything can be attracted to you it is vital to understand the time-tested Principle of Power. Imagination is your key to real power. The Inner You lives in a world that is ruled by Imagination. Learn how to use it and all Spiritual Laws and you will begin to transform your desires into reality. Goals are achieved when you can focus on the realization of your dream and live in the feeling of fulfillment, in complete confidence, regardless of appearances.

Are you pleased with your current reality?

Your mental habits are building your finances, health, career, and relationships into form. The most important factor in releasing the Law of Attraction for financial success concerns your mental blueprints and beliefs about yourself.

You become what you believe and feel to be true. Emotionalized belief can block out, repel or attract to us that which is consistent with our images and beliefs.

Images of the Mind: Blueprints for Life.

The undisciplined mind finds it challenging to claim a result which is denied by their outer senses. Most of us are creatures of habit. Many of our habits are fear-based. Doubts and fears rob us of our deepest dreams. If you want answers as to why you have or don’t have what you desire, look no further than your habits of thinking and feeling towards yourself and others.

Once you evict the mental-cause that is producing poverty and develop a mindset of success fueled from joy – only then will you achieve lasting results. It takes repeated effort and inner conviction to build success through repetition.

From this moment forward refuse to entertain, think about, or talk about failure. Once you accept the idea that you were born to succeed because the Infinite Within You cannot fail, is when the Law of Attraction will go into motion and begin to attract to you everything you need to achieve your goal.

The key to successful living using the Law of Attraction is to know how to tip the scales in the direction of joy and bliss! Your feelings are your point of attraction. In order to manifest your heart’s desires it is essential to practice feeding your mind new ideas until all fear based gibberish stops dominating your self-talk. And it will, if you will persist.

Housed within you is the code to succeed. Use it and you will become a living magnet to wealth and success.

 

By Melissa Zollo: www.presentmemory.com.

 

 

Ten Tips to Achieving Your Goals

In achieving any worthy objective, there must be consistency in the amount of hard work you put in; a day here and there just isn’t going to do it. A week of sustained effort isn’t going to do it either!So what am I saying?I’m saying if you want to achieve your goals, you must remain focused on exactly what it is you want.Starting the process is usually quite easy, especially when you have that initial excitement about a new objective or goal you’ve just set for yourself.

Here are ten ideas to assist you in reaching any goal you care to set:

1) The Right Reasons (personal to you). Doing things for the right reasons is easy; having strong, powerful emotions for reaching your goals will give you the “Get Up and Go” that is needed when things sometimes get tough. If we’re excited and full of enthusiasm for reaching our goals, then the energy and vigor naturally follow. If you don’t have a strong enough reason for doing something, then it becomes more of an effort, requires more discipline, and uses more energy.

2) Think In Ink. Use pen and paper to write down clear, concise goals. When your eyes see your goals written down, it becomes a new permanent picture in your subconscious mind for you to recall any time you choose.

3) See It, Be It. Visualize what it is you want; feel the strong emotions you associate with your goals — the smells, the tastes, the happiness, the sense of achievement.

4) Say It Loud, Say It Proud. Speak to yourself in positive, present-tense terms. I am, I have, I earn, I do, I can. The more emotion you put into this exercise, the more powerful they become, and the more energy you will feel.

5) Destination, Station. You can’t travel in the right direction unless you know where to start and exactly where you want to end up. Your route can change in many ways; the journey will almost certainly not be a straight one, so look ahead for the blind corners before you get to them.

6) Measure Your Treasure. Your goals are something to be treasured; if they’re not, then you probably don’t have “The Right Reasons” in the first place. So measure your progress. You can only adjust your route if you find out where you are; otherwise you will waste a lot of effort to end up a long way from your intended destination.

7) Peer, Steer. Associate with as many positive, motivated, and focused individuals or groups as you can. Meet with them, talk on the phone, in email, or by fax, or join news groups. Set up your own newsgroups if you can’t find any on your particular goal.

8 ) Fewer Goals, Fewer Tolls. By this I mean you should concentrate your efforts on just a few goals at any one time. You can have as many goals as you like, but only have a few priority goals to work on at any point. Don’t pay a higher price en route.

9) Pay Every Day. If you have “The Right Reasons,” you already have a powerful driving force to motivate you to do something every single day to move toward your desired goals. Taking action every day means you can break down your BIG goals into small manageable-sized pieces. You wouldn’t try to eat a whole week’s groceries in one meal. So why bite off more than you can chew?

10) Celebrate and Congratulate. When you achieve milestones, reward yourself and celebrate, even if only in a small way. You’re on the road to overall success, so congratulate yourself on your achievement. The more you do this, the better you will feel; the better you feel, the more likely you are to do it all over again.

Good luck.

About the Author:

Robert Phipps is a Management Consultant & Body Language Specialist with more than 15 years experience:  http://www.robertphipps.com/

 

Beating Procrastination for Good

Every one of us has 24 hours in our day — no more, no less. Yet some people manage to get an awful lot done in that time, and others just can’t seem to get anything done. These latter people fritter away their day, finding other things to do while avoiding the goals and tasks they know they should be working on. They may even want to get things done, but when the day is over, they find their goals list untouched. Especially in the case of a genuine desire to complete your tasks, procrastination can be extremely frustrating. So what can you do about it? How can you move beyond procrastination to become genuinely productive? The first step is to understand just what procrastination is and where it comes from, and that’s what I want to discuss here today.

In my experience, procrastination emanates from the lack of a clear life’s dream, a failure to have a scientific goal structure, and inability to manage your self. Let’s begin with the first of the three components — lack of a clear life’s dream. Procrastination is usually the result of a desire for short-term gratification. When you don’t have a long-term life goal — what I call a legacy — the kinds of rewards and sources of gratification in your life are very limited. There is only the opportunity for short-term gratification. This is where procrastination enters because when you procrastinate, you avoid doing what you need to do for the sake of instant gratification. It’s easy to avoid doing the things you need to do when there are other things that bring more instant rewards, and those are the only real rewards you have in life. Put another way, when you don’t have a legacy to guide your activities, your life-force gets sprinkled into a little of this and a little of that, but not concentrated enough to create anything tangible that evokes a sense of completion. Procrastination is a way of directing your life-force just enough so that you get a trickle of immediate satisfaction from what you do.

To fix this problem, it’s important to spend the time to get clear on your legacy. Once you have a clear life’s dream, you can see how your tasks are connected to that dream — how they contribute to reaching that dream. The satisfaction that flows from the completion of your activities, then, is the satisfaction of moving one step closer to reaching your dream. Your activities have a place in a larger goal and serve a purpose apart from, for example, just bringing in a paycheck to pay the bills. The tasks that once seemed like pure drudgery come to have a value that they lacked before, and the desire for satisfaction or a sense of completion can just as easily be fulfilled now by doing the work that needs to be done.

Without a clear understanding of your legacy to channel your creative energy, that energy is all too easily diffused. Concentrated light makes a laser beam, and a laser beam can be used to get work done that can’t be accomplished without focusing the light. Your legacy is the lens through which the light of your being becomes focused.

Having a legacy is the first and most important step in ridding your life of procrastination, but it isn’t always enough. Many people that have a legacy still find themselves falling into this pattern of distraction. Oftentimes, people will find themselves avoiding their real work because they lack a scientific goal structure. The distance between where you are now and the realization of your legacy can be daunting, and without a clear sequence of intermediate goals and a vision of how those intermediate goals will lead you to your legacy, it’s easy to misdirect your life-force. These intermediate goals plug the task that you are engaged in now into the positive energy of your legacy. The goal structure allows that positive energy to flow into your tasks, and this is what creates the sense of completion and satisfaction when you finish your work projects. Without that goal structure, the energy can’t flow from your legacy, and so the motivation for completing your projects will still be lacking.

The remedy here is to take the time to write down a goal structure for your legacy. The structure should include daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. You can then start your day by writing out how the tasks you need to complete on that day contribute to reaching your legacy. Make the connection explicit and make it real. Once you can see the relationship between today’s tasks and your life’s dream, you’ll tap into the energy of your legacy and find that you have the drive to complete your goals for the day.

Finally, having a legacy and a goal structure may not be enough if you are having difficulty managing your self. Taking care of your day’s goals is a matter of channeling your energy in the right ways, and procrastination is one form of energy mismanagement. If you’re tired, sick, or stressed out, your ability to direct the flow of your energy can be greatly reduced, and it’s much easier to fall back into the habit of procrastination. The short-term gratification of procrastination can be much more appealing in those cases as well because it acts as a sort of pick-me-up, giving a shot of satisfaction when you’re down. It’s the same effect as drinking a cup of coffee when you haven’t eaten all day — it’s an energy boost.

The response to this component of the problem is to take a careful look at your lifestyle. Very roughly, you can evaluate your lifestyle on three dimensions: diet, exercise, and the ability to balance the expenditure of energy with the cultivation of energy. For each of these dimensions, you might ask the following questions:

Diet:

a. How often do you eat quality, organic foods?

b. How many times do you eat each day?

c. Do you skip meals?

Exercise:

a. How frequently do you exercise?

b. What kinds of exercise do you engage in?

Balancing energy expenditure with energy cultivation:

a. Are you drinking enough water?

b. Do you get eight hours of sleep each night?

c. How often do you take time out to enjoy yourself?

d. How often do you allow your mind to focus on the negative aspects of life as opposed to the positive?

e. Do you have a way to relieve stress?

The fundamental point here is there is an intimate connection between the health of your body and the health and strength of your mind and your will. If you don’t have a healthy body, it’s going to be much more difficult to focus and direct your energy. Asking the very basic questions I describe above can help you to see how your lifestyle aids in or detracts from your ability to focus and direct your energies. So learn to manage your self, and you’ll find that you accomplish your tasks much more frequently and effectively.

In sum, the formula for removing the control that procrastination has in your life is to find your legacy, connect everything you do to your legacy, and manage your body, mind, and spirit so that you have the energy and the will to direct your life-force in the way that you want. When you’ve addressed the factors that I’ve discussed here, not only will you find that you’re more productive, you’ll be healthier, happier, and much closer to living a life that is genuinely satisfying!

Paul Chek is an internationally renowned holistic health practitioner, consultant to some of the world’s most elite athletes and business professionals, and founder of PPS Success and the C.H.E.K Institute: http://www.ppssuccess.com and http://www.chekinstitute.com. His workshops and seminars have helped thousands of people from all walks of life to go after and reach their fullest potential.

 

Seven Steps to Maximizing the Power of Association

There is a saying that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. And one negative person can affect everyone they come into contact with.

I was recently sharing some of my short-term business Goals with someone in my professional peer network.

While I do have a tendency to aim high and set some outrageous Goals, I also have the drive and determination to take decisive action, advance them at a rapid pace, and see them through to completion.

When I shared my exciting Goals with my “friend,” their response was not encouraging and enthusiastic. All I got was negativity and discouragement. I knew this friend was having some personal struggles, but I intuitively realized I needed to separate myself from them for the time being.

I realized a pattern had been developing, where every time we talked, I felt emotionally drained after the conversation.

Have you ever had that experience?

There are times in life when some of the people around you become a bit toxic to you.

They complain a lot, they whine, their attitudes are poor, and they act helpless. I have a tendency to try and shine the light on all of the good around them and within them, but sometimes even that is unwelcome. There is a wall of resistance. You can tell because they would rather have a big old pity party, blame others, and be the victim than transform themselves into a more positive resourceful state.

I love coaching people in how to turn things around. It’s easy to do with coaching clients because they pay for that expertise and are typically looking for change. There is nothing wrong with being stuck; however, no one is obligated to be on the receiving end of someone else’s drama or drain.

I believe in serving others, but sometimes the people around you are not receptive to your kind efforts. No matter how hard you try to serve them, sometimes they try to drag you down. I could not remember even one recent conversation where I felt good after a discussion with this particular person.

That’s when I knew… it was time to limit my association with them.

Often when you share your Goals with people, they see everything from their own lens, from their own perspective, and ultimately from their lack of vision and their own limiting beliefs. This is one of the reasons it is so important to have a coach and/or a mentor. Your coach’s job is not to judge, but rather to guide you and help you find the way to your Goals.

Seven Steps for Maximizing the Power of Association

1. Be selective about which Goals you share with which people. Whenever you share your Goals or ask for feedback, consider the source. Ask yourself, Is this the right person to share this particular goal with? Will this person be objective, or will they be negative, cynical, and critical?

It is inevitable that some people around you right now might not understand what you are trying to accomplish. Perhaps they are even a little (or a lot) competitive with you. Sometimes they are downright jealous. Sometimes they are afraid if you become successful, you will leave them.

2. Do not allow other people to determine your chances of success. Ever. What seems impossible for them may very well be within your reach, range, and ability, especially if it is something you are passionately committed to achieving.

If I allowed other people’s opinions to sway me from my Goals, I would have never become a cadet (junior firefighter) at the age of 13.

I would have never become a firefighter/EMT at the age of 18.

I would have never painted works of art in my early 20’s that are now hanging in government buildings and on the walls of some pretty remarkable people.

I would have never started a business of my own, not to mention built the network of companies that were once only a dream and are now a bright, shining reality, and been working with amazing people from all over the world.

I would not be talking to you right now.

I want you to think about the people in your peer network right now.

3. Make a list of your current associations (both professionally and personally). On paper, write down the names of everyone you came into contact with in the past few months.

On the list include all of your friends, your family, your coworkers, and acquaintances.

Everyone.

4. Determine who among them is positive and encouraging. Thank them.

Seriously, write them a note, send them a card, or even give them a phone call and just say “Thank you. Your support and encouragement mean so much to me.” Tell them what it means to you.

5. Determine who among the list of people is negative, draining, and toxic to you. Perhaps it’s time to limit your association with them. Limited associations mean you still love a person, but you do not obligate yourself to spend time with them or talk frequently with them if they repeatedly have a negative impact on you. Sometimes the only way to salvage a relationship is to take a break from it.

6. Get rid of the energy vampires. I mean it. I’m talking about those dream stealers. Don’t give them your time anymore, and if for some reason you must interact with them for professional reasons, limit your time with them. You be the judge on whether or not they are adding to or taking from your energy and what level of interaction seems wise.

You will become like the people you surround yourself with.

You need to continually monitor the effect of the people around you. Sometimes you need to reduce the time you spend or sometimes drop the dead weight and excess baggage in your life in order to expand your network and make room for new, empowering people.

Your time and your energy (both emotional and physical) are two of your most precious resources.

7. Get around people who have Goals. Get around positive people. Get around people who want to help you achieve your dreams and help them with theirs every chance you get.

The most amazing people in my life are usually the ones who read, who hunger to learn, to grow. They are kind and enjoy making positive contributions to the lives of others. They are honest, and they have passions and Goals. And sometimes we have to make room for more of them to enter our world.

Live Your Dreams!

Jill Koenig, the ‘Goal Guru’, is America’s Top Goal Strategist. A best-selling author, coach, and motivational speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management, and Business Success. Her passion in life is helping you UNLEASH your full potential. Get your FREE Goal Setting CD at http://www.GoalGuru.com

 

Visualize And Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide

You have within you an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use. Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields are now starting to use it. That power is called visualization. The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams. Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.

1. It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.

2. It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.

3. It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.

4. It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.

Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.

Mental Rehearsal

Athletes call this visualization process “mental rehearsal,” and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians. All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed. Go through the following three steps:

1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.

2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an “embodied image” rather than a “distant image.” It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.

3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It’s like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.

When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.

Create Goal Pictures

Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture. With today’s technology, you could probably make an even more convincing image using your computer.

Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal

We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on.

When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the “Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!

Index Cards

We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3×5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.

Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization

An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here’s an example of an affirmation:

I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise,
and working just four days a week owning my own business.

Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.

Expect Results

Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.

Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn’t take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.

Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. 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

 

Where Does Love Come From?

The biggest life-changing decision any of us could make is a decision to be happy. Once the decision is made, what is the next step? Training ourselves to focus on everything and anything which feels good. For example: good thoughts, exciting desired outcomes, dreams, happy movies, and beautiful surroundings. It may take some effort to pry ourselves away from the stickiness of feeling badly, but joy and love are possible. To feel good, we need to focus on feeling good. 

Love is a consuming passion for our own happiness. It is a choice we make to be excited, safe, secure. Love and joy are available when we decide we are important. To decide means to conclude. Not based on any proof or accomplishment and not waiting for some magical moment when someone gives permission. Simply deciding who we are and what we want is important. The decision could be made right now, in this moment. There’s no need to lose ten pounds first or achieve the next goal. We decide when we give ourselves permission to decide.

Love is available when we connect with dreams and flow with empowering thoughts. Love is an inner state of being which develops as we decide it is alright to create an exciting, sensuous and enticing partnership with ourselves. It deepens as we align with desired outcomes and focus attention on what feels good. Excitement builds power. This power is necessary to feel good, to move through obstacles, to successfully manifest dreams. Self-love allows the ability to resist the temptation to give away power the moment it is received. Instead, relish in it, feel its vibration, connect it with personal dreams and desires. Ask for more. Trust yourself with power, for who other than you knows what best to do with this power? Feel good in the power, excited in the imaginings of a great life. So much more power is available once we are ready to believe we matter. Love and joy are feelings we allow into us. We become filled with love and our confidence, joy and radiance illuminates our lives and the lives of others.

Self-Love
Self-love is not so much a feeling as it is an absence of self-doubt and self-disapproval. It is a sense of balance and belonging. Respect, responsibility for self, and feeling good are important values. Self-love means that your well-being matters to yourself unconditionally and in practical terms. The following are some characteristics of self-loving people:

Self-loving people focus on feeling good.
Self-loving people allow themselves to be happy and to share this with others.
Self-loving people tend to treat themselves well.
They see fun and enjoyment as a primary goal most of the time.
They do not remain in mistreatment by others.
They are caring towards others. (Because it feels good to do so).
They put themselves first. (Even those they love are a “close second.”)
They find a thought that feels good, and practice it.
They let themselves succeed.

Basic Principles of Self Love
Who we are is more important than what we are.
We are valuable. Nothing can change that.
What we want always matters.

How to Develop and Nurture Love:
Becoming love involves intention. A declaration to self, to the universe, to earth or to the angels, we want to know what it is to feel unconditionally loved and supported. We want to be alive on earth, but only if it feels good and exciting. An intention that we want to know, in this lifetime, while we are alive in this body, what it means to stand in unconditional love, having enough energy to do the things we love.
The biggest life changing decision any of us could make is a decision to be happy. Once the decision is made, what is the next step? Training ourselves to focus on everything and anything which feels good. For example: Good thoughts, exciting desired outcomes, dreams, happy movies and beautiful surroundings. It may take some effort to pry ourselves away from the stickiness of feeling badly, but joy and love are possible. To feel good we need to focus on feeling good. Below are some examples of how to develop love:

Acknowledge and verbally praise yourself.
Have fun often.
Fill the physical body with relaxation.
Think inspiring thoughts.
Focus on desired outcomes.
Fill life with silence, beautiful music, flowers.
Reward yourself often.
Have confidence in your ability.
Love your body and find new ways to inhabit it.
Listen to, and trust, intuition.
Let yourself succeed.
Nurture yourself by imagining desired outcomes to life’s situations.
Offer yourself affection.
Choose to think thoughts that bring inner peace (rather than worry).
Remember and feel gratitude.

On this day, engage in a love challenge and help yourself understand a deeper loving connection. Zoom way out and see a big picture perspective of your relationship with yourself, your body, your thoughts and dreams. Do you think you behave lovingly toward yourself? Do you focus on happy thoughts, desired outcomes? What is something you could commit to right now, in this moment, to bring yourself greater love?By Dr. Annette Colby, RD: http://www.lovingmiracles.com/

 

Cultivate the Character

The character of greatness must be measured in two ways, else the measurement is flawed. First, and by far most popular of all, is by one’s ability to succeed in times of trial where others may fail. But of no less importance, and perhaps foundational to any form of greatness, is one’s willingness to start over in spite of failure, when success seems farthest away.

– Guy Finley