Working Nine to Five

By Paul Kearley

Back in October, I had the bad luck to twist my ankle while I was out running one morning. The timing could not have been worse... if there ever really is a good time to twist your ankle. At that time, I was on track for getting down to the ideal weight and fitness level that I have wanted to be at for quite a few years now. I was getting to that level, but it was only through my running. I wasn't really doing much about my diet, or anything else, health wise, for that matter. I knew that I could eat poorly, and then go out and run 10 k and still lose a little. I thought it was the ideal plan.

Well, the month of November found me sitting more than I was standing, and I wasn't running or walking or really doing anything to maintain my fitness. Well, I'm sure that you know what happened next, that's right... My pants shrank! I couldn't believe it. All the money that I paid for good quality pants, and they shrank around the waist. The length was still fine, but the waist kept getting tighter and tighter. Seriously though, I had a big problem... if you'll pardon the pun. I was embarrassed to look at myself in the mirror. In just one month, I had gathered 10 pounds of potato chips, ice-crème and chocolate around my mid-section. I still ate like I did before I had my injury, and yet I wondered why the weight was coming on so fast. I was in denial. I thought, "This couldn't possibly be happening to me! I come from a family of very slim people who just don't get fat. I'm sure that if I give it some time, it'll go." Well, it didn't.

So, a month ago, I decided that something had to be done. Other than the fact that I was able to get out running again, I changed my diet, and I thought constantly about fitness, I thought constantly about health and I thought constantly about being thinner. I asked myself what I was doing that wasn't working and I stopped doing it, and that has made all the difference. And today, as evidence of my efforts, my suits fit again.

The same can be said for achieving success in our lives. Many of us get into a routine that is all about taking the easy way through life. We look at life as only nine to five and weekends. We stop thinking, we stop moving, and we stop living.

Many of us have gotten to the point where we are looking for any holiday that we can from life so that we can stop running the wheel and get off, if only for a little while.

Stuart Scott, a very successful businessman from Toronto was heard to say, "Success is what you do before nine and after five and on weekends". What this means to me is that if we are to be truly successful in life, it has to be a way of living that is not dependant on any routine, or getting time off. We have to live it, think it, smell it and actually act it before we can be it. No matter what we do, if we have chosen to be successful in our lives, we must be ruthless with our own accountability. No one can make you successful without your permission.

What habits are you trying to shed, that are weighing you down? How are they working for you? Are you happy with what they are creating for you?

If you are not happy with your current results, then you have to determine which actions are working for you and which ones are not, and then stop doing them! By determining which actions are creating what you want, and which actions are not, you will begin to create clarity, focus and momentum. Success is an uphill battle, and always will be, but climbing hills builds strength and endurance, and that is exactly what it takes to go the long run and reach your goals.

So, this week, as you step on the scales of life to judge which actions need to change, resolve to make the decision to not be a "nine to fiver" in your thoughts and actions, commit to be a lifer!

Make this your best week ever.

Most people want to be successful... as long as it doesn't interfere with what's on television. ~Paul Kearley

© 2008 Paul Kearley CS, For 22 years, Paul Kearley has thrived in the personal development and coaching business. As a Master Business Coach, Paul's passion is in developing and creating increased potential, and coaching people to create success.

A newspaper columnist, and editor for "E-Motion", his own weekly ezine, Paul writes articles that address the everyday challenges we all have and face in life and in business, and offers suggestions for success.

If you'd like to connect with Paul to discuss your personal or business strategies or to subscribe to "E-Motion", simply visit http://www.mustthinking.com or send an e-mail to carnegie@nbnet.nb.ca

Success Secrets Known To Everyone

By Linda Lin

If you know anything about the world and the truth of the world, then you know that what most people believe is not usually fact. Most people believe that if you have enough money or if you have a famous enough family, then you are a success or can be a success. Most people believe that the average guy has no chance in making it big unless he has the money to do so. Most people believe that individuals who are different (than the average person) are people who do not go anywhere. Most people believe lots of things that simply are not true.

Yes, having money helps. Having a connected name helps also. But these things are no guarantee that any one individual will be a success or will even survive in this 90 miles a minute world. The things that society most values usually are not the things that make one successful. So when you are looking through your life and making your plans for your future, you need to decide what is important to you. You can be somewhat successful if you money and a family or celebrity name. But that success is the outward success, and many times it is temporary success. Money lasts just so long and fame lasts only as long as your fans are interested in you. So what determines lasting fame? What do those special people have that the others do not have. What gives a human being the ability to last for seasons and more seasons? Lasting a long time is no mystery. Just sometimes, people have the wrong impression.

What makes people last is just that. They are determined to reach their goals and surpass their goals. They have determination. They have the strength and the determination to never quit. That is why we have planes today because the Wright Brothers decided not to quit. Faith, persistence, determination, these are all things that make us able to succeed. Money, without persistence and faith will soon be gone. Fame without faith, determination and persistence will soon be gone too.

So many worldwide projects and events came from nothing. These things began in someone's kitchen or living room. No one had the assets to begin but they began anyway with faith in themselves and sometimes they had faith in God. Famous Amos began his business by baking cookies in his home and giving them away free to his friends. The Names Project began in someone's kitchen; a few friends got together with this small idea and then it took off and is now a quilt that covers more than three football fields. Anyone who has ever done anything spectacular has been working at it for years without giving up on their dream.

Faith, determination, persistence and having confidence in yourself and in your ability to stick with the job --these are the true signs of success. And as you work with these things, they will become a true sign of great joy and wonderful achievements. What do you have faith in? What do you believe in? Do you use your strength and determination for good purposes? These and other questions will be featured in another article of mine that will be published sometime in July 2008.

Meanwhile, keep on keeping on. Keep on trucking. As long as you keep at it, you will succeed.

The author of this article has had many works published in the USA. She has traveled extensively throughout the East Coast and through the South while observing people and writing about life and everything that is in it. She invites you to connect with her at her website. Contact her through ezine, or reach her through towriteus@yahoo.com

Messages From the Divine Feminine and Masculine Working In Unity Within You

By Kimberly Dawwn

There is much love on the planet right now pouring in from all the anchored light forces in the heavens. We are working diligently this month of February, the month of Love, anchoring the strands of light into your heart so you will know your heart messages that are calling you forth to speak your truth in many given situations that will be presenting themselves to you this month and this entire year.

You are not to fret or worry any longer over "how" you are going to be able to complete the tasks at hand that you have been shown. It is most important at this time that you become a beacon of light for yourself mainly because you lighting the way for others will come naturally after you light the way for yourself first.

There may be anger coming up this month for this is a sign that it is ready to be released. The pent up frustration needs an outlet in the form of getting outdoors, bicycling, hiking, taking a brisk walk in the morning air, painting a picture if you are an artist, or writing your thoughts down on paper to vent. You will begin to feel a stirring of being not quite sure what to do with yourself. This is a divine sign from within and with that one must remember that this elixir of energies coming forth are not to be wasted on old habits of self abuse. Now, more than ever, it is of integral importance to begin to nurture the heart energy by sowing seeds of love into the fibers of your being with self encouragement, exploration, adventure, meeting new people and finding new ways to vent the old frustrations excavating themselves from your old self.

You may sense a panic attic from time to time as the old ties are broken and the amazing light comes in to heal the wounds that no longer define who you are. This is due to not being aware of who you are by nature yet -by nature we mean who you are and have been from the beginning of your soul and who you are morphing into in this lifetime.

There is nothing to fear with this process because it is a new adventure that will take you beyond the self doubt and the lies that were told to you in order to keep you under wraps when you were younger. This year, from 2008 you will see a resurrection of the truth being spoken no matter what. We are no longer going to be able to hide much from one another because we are elevating in our telepathic abilities to a system of realities that are poignant in nature.

There will be nothing you cannot access for your own development or advancement. It is no longer going to be necessary for you to go through a channel, a messenger, or medium, a church, an astrologer or anyone of that nature to get messages for yourself. You are being called upon this month of February to begin your initiations into self to break all old molds and habits that are getting in your way of freeing up your spirit. Who you are is not the habits or stuck energies; who you are is a transformative being that can initiate change at will and can unfold your life purpose with ease.

Your placement of energies will be of utmost important this month and for the next 12 months to come. You are not supposed to hang onto the limiting behaviors of the past. There is nothing relevant in the past that needs to be brought to the surface again and re-created. All situations that are in the past should remain there and the new light worker that you are can change the circumstances at the core. You create the resurrection of self confidence from a place that is unique unto yourself. And we want you to know that YOU cannot be duplicated or replicated in exact form. What works for someone else may not be the solution for you. This is why we ask that you begin to journal and take notes as to what is relevant to you NOW and what's no longer of the highest accord in your life.

We offer you the gift of creating a fresh start this month of February. See yourself entirely as a whole new being of light who is completely made into the likeness of your highest self. Begin a modern outlook altogether, starting now -the past is in the past. You are a beacon of light for the world to see. Allow yourself to be seen and heard this month and don't be afraid to test your wings and be at the forefront of the change.

In late June we will begin the initiations to bring forth your work to the super consciousness of man so what you start now is of utmost importance as to what you will manifest by June of this year. Your creative endeavors and projects of the heart are being blessed by our love and amplified 12 times 12 this month so that your results will be seen in June 100 fold with more ease than past efforts. If you take this initiation this month to go forth with courage and trust, your results will be put into their perfect location on the earth's grid. All beginnings now that are of the highest accord will be magnified and made whole by June of this year.

What used to take you months or years to complete will now only take you days or weeks. This is indeed possible because the connections on the planet are telepathically being aligned to create this momentum of manifesting in its most purest form. Your heart is calling you forth to believe that you have the Midas touch, because it is through your alliances with spirit that what you touch will turn to gold. There is no need to worry about how this will occur, what must happen now is begin to be the change you want to see in others. If you ARE the change you wish to see in others your life will be on track without question.

You are in our presence always and we give you the gift of a new pair of wings. You are made anew and are beginning your journey of flight. You are safe and cared for even while you sleep. Make amends by calling forth new energy instead of stirring up the past. This will prove to be well worth the hours spent. The creative force is now working within you stronger than ever before! The enlightened one is You - we are celebrating You!

In Love, Light and Togetherness,

Kimberly Dawwn, Intuitive Consultant, Speaker and TeleClass Leader for "The Women In Business Intuition TeleClass"
http://www.millionairevibes.com
1.800.931.4905

Secrets To The Greatest Shortcuts To Success

By Koz Huseyin

Why is it some people can succeed in such a period of time, while others work for decades and never even touch on that kind of results? What do they do that is so different from what you do?

* You Need A Mentor!
We can learn a lot from Olympic athletes. Here we have the true successful. Out of all the people on the Earth, we have a select few who had a vision, and are living that vision. Inspiring all, they are good examples to consider.

Every Olympic athlete has 2 important things in there lives. That is a mentor and or coach, and a team. These are a powerful combination and when applied in your life, you will prosper, and your business will prosper.

* The Life Coach
For many people who are achieving big results, we find a life coach somewhere influencing and guiding them to achieve those results. A life coach or mentor is crucial in this process of shortcutting to success, because they know the shortcuts. As Bob Proctor says, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Its true, if you think of for example computers, technology, IT, you will find that if you stop learning, within a few short years, possibly even months or weeks, you will find your skill set is of no use! Many industries are going through major shuffling work, as the learners indeed do inherit the good jobs, while those that keep there existing skill set find that they are outdated like old machinery!

Imagine an athlete without a coach, so why would people do that in the business world. After all a business and success is like a marathon, just without the finish line! A life coach can help you in many ways. Because they have access to so many different successful people, they learn constantly what can make you achieve success in the shortest time possible.

* More Ways To Be Mentored And Life Coached
At this point, you may be thinking that you need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to enlist the help of a life coach. This is not necessarily true. Yes, the best life coaches in the world may ask for huge amounts of money to coach you. However, you can also find good coaches who don't need such a large investment.

There is also a major way to master the information you need to succeed, and that is through tape products, and books, and seminars. These combined make practical ways of success possible. The books can be read in your spare time. The tape products can be used with your car to make what Brian Tracy terms a University on Wheels!

The books are a low investment model, which allows you to constantly learn what is essential to take your business and your life to the next level. The tapes on occasion needing much more of an investment, however still within most budgets - allow you to learn while you doing other things. And the seminars can be a practical way of embedding the information to allow you to move forward.

Discover the best way on how to become a life coach
Shortcut your way to success with a life coach for personal development Money making home business ideas and opportunities.

Improve Your Reading Skills - Why You Should Improve Your Reading Speed And Comprehension

By Adam Harley

Reading skills can make the difference between being productive and not being productive. They can make someone look intelligent, if the person has read a lot; and they can make another look like a fool, if that person hasn't read enough. Reading is the best way to go about learning things in general. They may not be the best way to go if you want to learn how to golf, but later on they will be the best way to go if you want to refine and perfect your golf swing. There is always something to learn from books. If you're interested in increasing your reading speed, and improving your comprehension, and upgrading your reading skills in general, you should learn how to speed read. But more about that later - first let's talk about George Santayana.

George Santayana was a poet, essayist, novelist, and philosopher. You may know him best for once saying "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Classic. But he also said: "The wisest mind has something yet to learn." I think this is even more significant. Santayana realized that absolutely everyone has room to improve and to learn. There is no learning cap. There is no actual reason for anyone to stop learning and reading - even for the wisest of people.

Everyone should continue learning and educating themselves constantly. George Iles agrees with this point, saying once that true students never want to stop learning. His exact words were "Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student." I like to interpret this as: not being educated well enough is the main cause for people to want to stop their education. If they were educated well in the first place, they would want to continue learning more and more.

Once we agree that reading is extremely important, we must also see that it's not the end-all be-all learning method. Lord Chesterfield - one of my favourite "gentlemen" of the 18^th century - once said "Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various facets of them." In other words, your sources of information and knowledge should not only be books, but people too. If you want to learn something new, unpredictable, and possibly engaging, try talking to some people. You'll find that discussions and conversations can be very useful and entertaining - unless your idea of a conversation is "Hey, what's up? See you later!"

But that's not to bring down the value of reading. Reading can be the fastest and most effective way of learning and gathering information. If you're serious about improving your reading skills - which you definitely should be - then click this link and learn how to speed read. Now, keep in mind that real speed reading is much different from what you probably think it is. Do yourself a favour and go to that page to learn more about it.

This author does most of his reading at about 600 words per minute. As he needs to read a lot every day, this fast reading saves him hours and hours a day. Speed reading has become not just a hobby, but a necessity to keep up his productivity level. Go to http://www.speedreadingisreal.com to learn more about how you can start speed reading while maintaining a high level of comprehension.

How To Learn From The Success Superstars Part 2

By Michael Cheney

EVIDENCE THAT WE ALL KNOW HOW TO MASTER MOMENTUM

Have you noticed how almost everyone you meet is excelling in one area of their life? You will know people who are in great health or those that have a great job or are great with their kids. You might know someone who is great with money or great with their community or church. Why is this?

It's because we have all mastered the way of creating instant momentum - we're just not aware of it! That's why you rarely come across people who are excelling in ALL areas of their life. You might be lucky and know one or two people who seem to do everything excellently but usually people have one major strength and a series of weaknesses.

It doesn't need to be this way. The reason it happens this way is that people believe that the area of their strength is a natural gift or talent or something they are especially suited to or enjoy more than everything else. This is true to a certain extent but what we don't realise is that we can begin to feel in this way about EVERYTHING we do if we just start to investigate our one major strength.

THE BRAIN BEAUTIFUL

Take people who are great at body-building for example. They are often the envy of those around with their toned bodies and bulging biceps. But there are tactics and thought processes they have applied to shape their bodies in this way.

Of course, the muscles don't just pop up out of thin air - they are the result of repeated actions over long periods of time. But what is the cause of these actions in the first place? The answer is THOUGHTS.

Body builders have powerful muscles because they have first had POWERFUL THOUGHTS.

Building muscle takes time, discipline, self-control and pain management! There isn't really ANYTHING that people aspire to achieve that cannot be accomplished by using these qualities. And yet we all believe that our one key strength (whether it's health, finances or relationships etc.) is so strong because it's who we are.

If you start to apply the tactics you use to gain INSTANT MOMENTUM when you perform your key strength what you experience is nothing short of a miracle. You start to discover that your real strength lies in your ability to think, motivate and move yourself into instant action by applying a certain set of thought patterns.

BECOME A SUPERSTAR PERFORMER

This is when life becomes really exciting. You start to excel not just in one or two areas but in everything you do. You become a superstar performer across the board.

Think of yourself as round inflated ball. Each part of the surface of that ball is a particular discipline or habit that you perform. Now if you have hole in that ball what you do think is going to happen? That ball is going to deflate! You can be great in 90% of areas but just ONE SINGLE HOLE in ONE area will let the whole thing down!

This can be hard to grasp at first - how could your ability to build wealth, for example, affect your health? Well aside from the direct impact of not being able to afford the best, healthiest foods and gym memberships / equipment etc. there is an even more dramatic effect at play here.

As in the ball metaphor - any one weakness or slippage DEFLATES your self-esteem. There is a small partr of your mind, sometimes even your unconscious mind, that knows you are not performing in this one area. To put it bluntly - your mind can start to think you are living a lie.

"Why are you pretending to be an outstanding performer by demonstrating excellence in this area when it's clear you're not as in this area over here you're not applying the same principles and disciplines?"

DON'T PUT A PIN IN YOUR DREAMS

It has taken me decades to grasp this simple lesson and I hope you are able to learn it quicker!

The quality of your life and the heights that you reach are not determined by the things you do. The quality of your life is determined by your willingness to master specific, momentum-creating thought patterns repeated for every area of your life via daily disciplines.

Or stated another way - it's not WHAT you do, it's HOW WELL you do it and your mastery of what MOTIVATES AND MOVES YOU applied across all areas of your life that will ultimately shape your destiny.

Now get your free daily Momentum Video and free audio at http://www.GetMomentumTV.com

Do You Have The Success Gene? Find Out Today

By Deidre Longe

It has been argued by some that those who achieve what we deem to be success in society, the big house, nice car, gorgeous family ,and end up living the life of their dreams, carry a special success gene.

And, for a second when I examined my own family, I concluded that there may be some truth to this assertion. After all,my grandfather was an entrepreneur and had amassed a huge fortune in his era. My father too had not inherited a penny, had followed in his footsteps and was also a self made man, with me pretty much continuing in their footsteps, with my involvement in business and public speaking.

Why then had it gone so horribly wrong, with my sister? She was almost 40 years old and had not yet bought her own home and was contented to earn $14 an hour, while struggling to provide for her children financially and give them a comfortable existence.

Did she not have the same genetic code?

After all, she was my father's daughter.

This frank examination of my own family, while very unscientific, drew me to the realisation that we all have the success gene. The activation of that gene however, is a matter of individual choice. Each one of us is born with the potential to do far more than we dare to dream. But if we do not activate the side of us which dreams, that potential lays dead and dormant inside us.

Make a decision today to Dream.

What type of life do you want, if you had all the money in the world what would you do with your time? Answer that and you have found what it is you really love to do.

ALL HUMAN BEINGS WERE BORN TO SUCCEED.

Henry Ford once said, if you think you can, you are right and if you think you can't you are also right.

To activate your success gene you simply need to want to be successful and then tell yourself you can achieve it. The starting points of all human achievement are:

1. Desire

2. Self Belief

MAKE A DECISION TODAY about want you want from life and you will be surprised to find that in time you come to LIVE IT, HAVE IT, BECOME IT.

I am committed to working personally with at least 100 people world- wide, this year to help you achieve your dreams. For my free guide on how to plan your way to the life of your dreams, drop me an email at : dlongeql@gmail.com

The author Deidre Longe has triumphed over adversity throughout her life and is a Motivational Speaker, IT trainer, Business Consultant and Coach.

Self Help Books - Do They Help?

By Steven Gillman

I recall seeing a study somewhere that suggested self help books don't really help. I believe it looked at financial self help books. If I remember correctly, three or ten years after reading various "get rich quick" and other money-related books, the readers were generally making more money, but so was everyone else (on average) that didn't read the books. The conclusion was that the books didn't help.

Now that is jumping to conclusions! Consider the assumption implicit in it. Researchers assumed those who didn't read books did nothing special. This seems unlikely, to say the least. From what we see of people, we might wonder if most really want to work on general self development, but we also can see that almost everyone regularly tries to better their financial situation.

In other words, people in the control group were doing things other than reading self help books, and those efforts got them further ahead also. Think about this for a moment. How does this show that the books didn't help? It's like "proving" that a car can't get you across the city because walking and biking and taking a bus can also get you there. They are just different ways to the same goal!

In other words, the books may have helped (on average), just like the other things people tried. Perhaps people choose the things that work best for them. Based on this hypothesis, a better test might be to have one group choose their self help methods while another is forced to use methods chosen by the researchers. If the first group shows more improvement, it suggests that many methods work, and that each person intuitively knows which will be more helpful.

It might show the opposite too. It is difficult to design such research. It is also difficult to have a proper "control," and to start with the best hypothesis. One lesson from this is to be skeptical of research where things are hard to define and measure.

Self Help Books Clearly Can Help

There are those of us who don't need research to prove that a good book can help. We clearly recall a book that changed the course of our lives, or that obviously helped us in our relationships, or even boosted our income. Yes, of course self help books can help us.

Now, there is the question of why they don't always help. You may have a friend who has told you all about a great new self help book or theory, yet doesn't seem to be much affected by it in the end. You may have read some books yourself that got you excited, but didn't seem to "stick" in our mind or change your subsequent behavior or life.

One reason for this apparent ineffectiveness may be that you need to read each book more than once, and that self help books in general help most if they are read regularly. (It is also possible that the effects of such books can be powerful, yet too subtle to notice right away.)

This reminds me of some research on eating I read about once. Researchers had people eat a meal. They then concluded that eating didn't increase the odds of survival, since everyone died of starvation two months later. Okay, I made that up, but do you see the point? Just like you have to eat regularly to get the maximum survival benefit, perhaps you need to get those self help books out again and feed your mind from time to time to get the most out of them.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on Self Improvement, and to get the Brainpower Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com

Success Comes From Action Not Hopes or Wishes

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

With all the talk about hope, many people are being to think that hopes and dreams will get them to where they want to be. This type of behavior amounts to an incredible waste of human potential.

Robert Frost wrote: "A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone."

How many times do we wish or hope for life to get better? Our efforts revolve around what we literally cannot control. We start to believe that someone else will take charge of our life and give us at least what we think we deserve if not more.

When our founding fathers established this great nation, they did a lot of research. One of their models of government was meritocracy. This form of government is where individual merit reigns supreme and allows each individual total control of his or her life.

And being in control of your own life is what truly matters. For only you know what you want! Think about it when someone else sets the goals or agendas? How did you feel?

Many immigrants came to this country because they heard that your individual merits no matter your status in life will be the single most important factor as you work towards to master success. You are responsible for you. Your individuals merits, the results of your hard labors, will be your laurels.

Fast forward a couple of hundred years and this is no longer the case. Individual merit is viewed as being selfish and someone else (the government) can do a better job. People now really start developing that wishbone for their lives and the lives of their children. Hope becomes the guiding strategy and not individual action, responsibility or accountability.

If you truly want to master success in all aspects of life, then forget hope and wishes unless you have a plan with written goals. For only you are responsible for your success. And leave the wishbone for Thanksgiving or for those who still want to be one of the many who fail to master success.

Are you where you want to be? The M.A.P. for Success, a FREE email coaching program may help you begin to chart a course of business, professional or personal success. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/action-plan.htm.

Looking for other success coaching tips and advice? Then visit the success coaching gym.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith with locations near Chicago & Indianapolis helps organizations through business coaching training services to return to the purpose of business that being building raving fans while increasing productivity and profitability. She can assist you to double business results. Call 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching consultation.

Structure for Success

By Liam Alexander

As well as my normal job, I'm currently doing course to qualify as an English teacher to non-English speakers. Although I don't plan on being a full-time teacher for long, it's something I want to do for many years part time. I get a huge sense of satisfaction from helping and teaching people, amongst other things.

But I digress, what I really wanted to talk about now is the participation and pass rate of this course compared, to say, an internet marketing course.

My English teachers course costs $3000, takes about 160 hours to complete, will allow me to earn (at most) $50,000 a year. You know what the pass rate for this course is? Over 95% A couple of years ago I took an internet marketing course that cost $3000, theoretically could have allowed me to earn a 6 figure annual salary, would have taken about 60 hours to do properly. How many hours did I put into it? Probably about 20. The number of people who successfully completed the course? I would guess less than 50%.

So whats the difference? Why the higher work and completion rate for the course that earns less? Its simple - people generally do better when faced with constant monitoring and feedback. Take that away, and it's a LOT harder to complete. You have to motivate yourself. You don't necessarily have the comraderie with fellow students.

There are so many people who excel and advance in school, in the military - where they are placed inside an achievement structure - but don't do so well once they leave this structure. Thus far, I am one of them.

Another thing I notice is that I am MUCH more motivated to do other things no I'm doing my course. Rather than slow down a bit because I am doing a full-time job and a part time course, I find myself wanting to do more and more things (like this blog)without having to motivate myself. Clearly success breeds success :)

Out of the dozens and dozens of wealth creation and personal development courses that are out there, I haven't seen any that have a lot of structure. For example repeated grading of work, feedback and interaction with fellow pupils.I get the feeling were somebody (like me perhaps one day?) to create one with more structure could build a much higher student success rate. Not only benefiting the students and helping them more, but massively helping the career of the teacher too. hmmm....

Find out More about getting what you REALLY want in Life

http://taleofmysuccess.blogspot.com

The Key To Your Success Lies Within You

By Joe D

The word success means a lot of different things to different people. It's something that we dream about, but do we really know what it is? That is the first question you should ask yourself if you want to be successful. What does success mean to you? Most experts agree that visualizing what we want to accomplish is one of the best ways to prepare ourselves for the situations that we may encounter on our road to our dreams. If you don't even know what success looks like to you, then you can't really visualize it, can you?

The first key to achieving your dreams and being successful is defining what success means to you. To some people success means owning their own business. For others it's owning their own home. For some it's having a million dollars, and the list goes on. Once you're able to define what it means to you, success becomes easier to achieve. Now that you have that knowledge of what you want your destination to be, you can focus your efforts on getting there. A lot of times people complain about being unhappy, but don't even know what it would take to make them happy. Unless you spend the proper time analyzing what you really want, your chance of being truly happy is slim.

In our lives we face tough decisions, and a lot of times it means that we have to make difficult choices and compromise our wants for our needs. These challenges and obstacles are what build character in a person and keep them driven to succeed. If you look at the life stories of other successful people, you'll notice that all of them have faced (and eventually overcome) struggles. There's a reason they say nothing worth having ever comes easy. Otherwise everyone would be happy. One of the biggest reasons people get off track is because they give up too quickly. Rarely do our attempts at something new result in instant success. Those with the will and determination to push through are the ones that get rewarded in the end.

The key to achieving your success is to find a way to balance the necessities of your now with the excitement of your future and to keep your eyes on your dreams through the peaks and valleys of the journey. Few people are allowed the freedom to go after their dreams without having to worry about making ends meet in the meantime. So what does it mean for you? It means that more than likely you will have to work twice as hard to reach your vision of success. Balancing your "normal" life with trying to build your "dream" life is a challenge that a lot of people have a hard time handling. It can be rough on you and rough on your family. That's why having a strong support system of family and friends is crucial to your ability to succeed.

Finding success in your life lies within yourself. You are the one that defines success, and you are the one that must show the leadership, will, determination, and passion to see it through. While we lean on our family and friends for support, that support is only in support of our own strength. The great thing about following your dreams is that most of the time it shouldn't feel like work. Use the excitement to get you going, and the steady progress you see to keep you strong during tough times. In the end, you hold the key to your own success. There is a lot of opportunity out there to do just about anything, don't hold your life back from being everything it could be.

Now that you've started thinking about your vision of success, check out our Know The Ledge article on understanding your motivation to keep yourself strong on your journey.

Joe D is the founder and main contributor of KnowTheLedge.org, a site aimed at helping people live their dream life through personal development, financial management, and self improvement.

Functioning in the Vortex

By Michael Daley

As I entered the room, the energy of my vortex consumed all who were near and swept them from their feet into the abyss of success.

A vortex draws into its center all that surrounds it, there are of course bad ones that we must watch out for. Are you smart enough and vigilant enough to avoid being caught up in a whirlpool of mediocrity and failure? I would certainly hope that you are so in tune with your world that you understand the difference.

Many times we see what others are doing and we see it working for them, we immediately get excited and think that we can do it just like they do; however what we are seeing is their energy. Can we duplicate it? Maybe so, but we should focus on creating our own energy, using others as an example is fine, but we must personalize our whirlpool to fit our personality. What works for others, may not, and won't work for us.

We may be doing the exact same business, but we cannot expect that what has made others successful is going to be our ticket to success. In business, one must constantly revise their plans in order to continue operating successfully, search for a niche if you will. Once a niche is found, you must stick with it in order for the energy to grow, of course you may be able to dip into other areas from time to time, but if you don't focus on your niche, nothing will ever come; the energy will take an opposite effect and you will have found yourself arriving at "no where" very fast.

With all your heart and soul, focus on creating a positive vortex of your own, and watch the glory and victory pour into your life from above!

Best regards to all and may your day be blessed.

Mike Daley

Do The Right Things and Shorten Your Journey to Success!

By Cher Hung Seet

All the things we do in life are governed by 2 main criteria; Pain and Pleasure that we receive from doing that particular action. In other words, we all do things to either Gain Pleasure or to Avoid Pain. It all sound quite simplistic doesn't it? If that is the case, how do you account for the number of people into taking drugs, smoking, binge drinking when they know very well that all these actions and activities are going to make them feel the Pain in the near future.

Well, the real truth is that we have to add the Time factor into the Pain and Pleasure equation as well. Like all creatures with feelings, most people would give first priority to the things that would remove the Pain quickly and give instant relief or Pleasure. Let me illustrate this with an example. Why do people take drugs or drink excessive alcohol knowing that these are bad for their health and will cause Pain in the long run? The reason is because taking drugs and excessive alcohol will almost instantly remove any Pain they have and give them almost immediate pleasure.

Most of the things we do in life can be placed into one of four quadrants as follows :

1. Things that do not feel good and are not good for you

2. Things that do not feel good but are good for you

3. Things that feel good and are good for you

4. Things that feel good but are bad for you

The problem why many people are not successful in life, is because we misuse this Pain-Pleasure-Time principle. In other words, many people tend to have a lot of activities in quadrant one, where we do a lot of activities that feel good, but are not necessarily good for us! We give the Time factor too much priority. We want instant gratification!

So, what is one secret to success; a small secret with a potentially very big result? The secret is to identify and replace the things you do in quadrant four with those in quadrant two; things that does not feel so good, but are generally good for you. Some of the activities in Quadrant Four includes smoking, excessive alcohol, sleeping too much, watching too much tv, gossiping, eating too much etc... Activities in Quadrant Two includes exercising, studying and learning, waking up early etc...

What about Quadrant One and Three? We are not focusing on Quadrant One and Three because these two quadrants are usually quite obvious. In other words, very few people will actually do the things that make them feel bad and are generally bad for them and most will actually do a lot of the things that makes them feel good and are good for them.

What's really interesting is that many of activities, especially with regard to the area of feeling good, are interchangeable, depending on who you are? For example, while some healthy sports makes some people feel really good participating in them and are generally good for them, it may not necessarily feel good to everyone. Cycling is generally a healthy sport and some may feel good doing it while some may not. Nobody likes to smoke first time around but over time, they grow to enjoy it.

Identifying the activities in Quadrant Four and replacing them with activities in Quadrant Two is easy. The difficulty is keeping it consistent because most people will find it really difficult to continue to do the things that do not feel good, even though they know it is good for them. There's some good news for most people here. The good news is that while most people may not feel good initially doing the activities in Quadrant Two, they tend to develop a good feeling for the activity for it once they begin to see results. Let's take exercise as an example. Nobody likes to exercise if they can help it. However, once they see what exercise can do for them (as in looking and feeling good), they will begin to enjoy the activity more and more. Sometimes an activity that may be downright boring when performed alone, can become really interesting if performed in a group or with like minded people.

So, while the first secret to success in most things you do is to identify the activities in Quadrant Four and replace them with activities in Quadrant Two, the ability to keep doing the things in Quadrant Two is to slowing move them to Quadrant Three by slowly developing a "taste" for doing them or finding a way to do them so that they become enjoyable!

C.H. Seet is the author of the blog, Ezinspirations (http://www.ezinspirations.com/blog). He has a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration and has a successful career spanning more than 2 decades. C.H. started as a Sales Engineer in Hewlett Packard and then moved on to become Product Marketing Manager in Rockwell Automation. He now heads a Multi-national German Company, located in Singapore and overlooks the whole SE Asian region.

How To Make Every Day a Successful Day

By Charles Brown

Every day is about momentum. If we can get on a successful roll, we get into what NLP practitioners call a "Resourceful State." You may have also heard this state called, "In The Zone," or "The Flow."

Whatever you call it, this kind of state means you feel very capable, almost unstoppable and it creates the kind of day where you have successes in clusters. It's kind of like a baseball hitter having one of those three-home runs-in-one-day, or a sales person closing five sales in one week. Once you get on a roll, the momentum keeps you going for quite a while.

But can you create this kind of zone or "resourceful state" every day? While there are a lot of variables, there is a way to make sure every day is a successful day.

The concept is simple, schedule one "Target Task" every day.

Your Target Task must meet two requirements. One it needs to be something you can get done quickly and easily. This is extremely important because the target task must be something that is just difficult enough to be a challenge but not so difficult that you won't get it accomplished very quickly, early in your day.

The next requirement is that your Target Task must give you a LOT of satisfaction when you do it. For example, sometimes a nagging little detail I've been putting off for ages often makes the perfect Target Task for me. Once I finally get something like this done, there is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I feel really, really good.

What you are aiming for is to create this great feeling early in your day so you can get your day on a roll and put yourself into that resourceful state. If the task is something that you can cross off your list easily and quickly and if it gives an enormous sense of satisfaction, it will move you into the zone you are looking for.

Why do target tasks work so well? Because we all have an internal sense of inertia that holds us back from getting started. While the target task may not be easy to do, it is something that can be done quickly and gotten out of the way in a short period of time.

Then our internal inertial continues to work for us because once we have gotten ourselves moving, the fact that the target task gives a high level of satisfaction keeps us moving onto the next item on our schedule, and the next and so forth. It is a momentum that can carry us through the rest of the day simply because we have gotten ourselves in the "zone," "on a roll," or in a "resourceful state," depending on what you want to call it.

Just a few years after attempting suicide, Charles Brown has learned to literally "re-wire" and "re-program" his brain to achieve success in everything he attempts. He now teaches others how to use neuro-linquistic programming (NLP), subliminal technology, self hypnosis, The Law of Attraction and other methods to make major changes in their lives. He is the author of the free downloadable ebook, The Science of Change: How To Re-Program Your Mind and Transform Your Life. This ebook has 49 pages of transformational information and can be downloaded at http://www.geocities.com/chbrown56

How to Create a Mindset for Success

By Paul Sutherland

Are your relationships less than satisfying? Do you have a job that pays the bills, but you want a career that you can enjoy for a lifetime? Would you like to lose some weight and get fit, but you do not have the willpower to stick with a program? Would you like to be able to do more with your finances than barely keep up with the bills? Then, you need successful life strategies. To begin, create a mindset for success.

First, you must be determined to create a mindset for success. You cannot wait for someone else to do it for you; and, unless you really want to change your life for the better, no amount of motivational speeches or advice can make a real difference. But, if you are really determined to make some positive changes in your future, you are about to get all the help you will need.

To begin, you need to learn how to take control of your life. Regardless of how you have grown up, any past mistakes continuing to haunt you, and any current aspects of your life that continue to weigh you down, you need to take control. You cannot let your past keep you from creating a successful future.

In order to create a mindset for success, you need to discover your talents and realize that you have what it takes to make positive changes. Whether you recognize it or not, you have talent, everyone does. You simply need to discover yours, and make the talent work for change. If you have a talent, you cannot be afraid to use it. So, you may need a little help to boost your self-image and build your self-esteem. When considering making life changes, it is totally understandable to need a little lift.

In addition, you need to learn how to let go of the past, failures and all. You do not need the baggage of past mistakes getting in your way, when you are making great strides in creating a life of success. Looking behind you cannot change a thing, so you will learn how to look forward and believe in yourself.

When you believe in yourself, you will discover that you have great personal power. You can succeed, if you set your mind to change. You have the power and inner strength to make your life something of which you can be totally proud. Once you realize your true inner strength, you will find yourself dreaming bigger and wanting more out of life. Your goals do not have to be small. You do not have to accept the way life is today; you can strive for a bigger and better tomorrow, with the right tools and motivational support.

So, if you want a life-makeover, it begins with "programming yourself for success". You can do it! You simply need to right tools to begin, and the desire to do whatever it takes to create a positive future. Your life is yours to change. Start today!

Paul Sutherland is an Accelerated Business Growth Coach. His company - Daniel Thomas International is also heavily involved in personal development and growth. For that reason a website http://www.perfected-products.com was created. Here you will find some of the very best tried tested and proven methods for creating the life you really want to achieve. Don't make the mistake of trying the same old things and expecting different results. Make a real difference in your life right now and find out what works in the real world.

5 Predictors Of Success

By Rena Williams

Finding a fulfilling career is no accident. A number of traits indicate whether a person is likely to be a candidate for moving into a career that provides a sense of meaning and accomplishments. Some traits may not be naturally strong areas for you, but each can be learned if you are ready to take charge of your career and life. Here's a list of what I consider the top 5 predictors of success to be.

Passion: Bill Gates was able to build Microsoft and become the richest man in the world because he was passionate about his vision of putting a computer on every desk. Passion defined as intense emotional excitement "goes beyond mere enthusiasm" This passion can also be described as what Napoleon Hill calls a burning desire.

Determination: Without determination a person can easily be lured away from his or her path. Just recognize that if you respond to circumstances, any obstacles will send you off in a new direction. But with determination you can establish priorities that will guide you through even challenging and unexpected circumstances. In other words you know how to persist even in the face of temporary defeat.

Talent: Talent allows a person to focus and shine. No-one has talent in every area. Discover where you rise to the top. What are those things you love to do, and will do whether or not you got paid? Sometimes we discover that our first sense of "calling" is guided more by others expectations than as a true reflection of our strongest areas of competence. Nevertheless, some talent is required to be a master in your chosen career.

Self-Discipline: With self discipline a person can easily be swayed by others. Self discipline is the foundation that makes the other predictors work. Knowing those predictors is the initial step, but acting on them always requires self discipline. Maya Angelou persisted in her writings even when others discouraged her. Today she enjoys more than $3 million in yearly income. How much self discipline are you willing to have?

Faith: Even with everything lining up logically or financially, real success requires that step of faith into the unknown. Take for example the story of Norman Vincent Peale. You see as a young boy Norman Vincent Peale fought against strong feelings of inferiority. Over the years he developed and refined the message that anyone could put the principles of positive thinking and strong faith into action and dramatically improve their life. His book the Power of Positive Thinking has sold more than 20 million copies and has been printed in 40 languages. So, by him having great levels of faith really paid off.

As you can see these five predictors doesn't call for no great amount of intelligence, nor a particular level of education, but little time and some effort. Yet, once made a habit to practice these simple steps, it will surely lead one to success.

Rena Williams resides in Florida as a Lifestyle Mentor and a successful entrepreneur. She delights in helping many achieve great levels of success through free mentoring and guidance. Get a free copy of the ebook that changed her life , by visiting http://www.yoursuccesscorner.com

Order Out Of Chaos

By Rocko Chen

Certainty does not exist in this world. Yes it feels nice to assume so, but it simply is not there. People like the idea of having stability like that of a job, as it provides a sense of certainty with every paycheck. They have however ignored the fact that vocational demand relies heavily on performance of employers; i.e. they put their lives at the mercy of the local economies.

Conventional "wisdom" then pushes the idea of luck determining winners from losers of life, mathematicians beg to differ. Most individual events occur with arbitrary outcomes; collectively, respectable forecasts have become possible.

E.g. it is unfeasible to predict how long it takes an individual atomic nucleus to lose energy, or experience "radioactive decay". But studied collectively, the half-life periods of groups of them remain stable. This makes the outcome predictable. Ironic, isn't it?

Finding and exploiting order out of randomness has served many business models well for centuries, most apparently the lottery scheme, casinos, and the financial markets. The minds behind these industries designed the games in deterministic manners.

The sole purpose of them serves to extract wealth from the uninformed public, hence the veil of mystique.

The next logical question lies in how one could learn and understand all this, then apply it to gain an edge in business. (Yes it is all about selling. Even in the form of a job, you basically offer your time for monetary gains in return.)

Statistics & Probability Theory

Learn the math and work the numbers. The path of least resistance lies in finding areas of high demand for particular skills you possess. No sure-fire winning methods exist for success in business, yet a bit of research and planning could provide an immense head start against the majority (losers).

Hard work alone is not sufficient. I have seen plenty of people working very hard at McDonald's. You must learn to plan and research efficiently and diligently. The mind provides much more aggregate value than physical work; this explains why successful corporations focus so much in Research & Development. Educate yourself, make the odds swing your way, it is worth it.

Rocko C. http://www.rocko.co.nr/

Ultimate Success Mindset

By D. Paul Walmsley

It requires strong mental discipline to to set yourself above the crowd and succeed in life.

I can't stress this enough!

You need to get the right information, understand that information and then consistently and persistently apply that information. It follows the saying that knowledge is not power, applied knowledge is power.

Truthfully it's easier said then done and we know this to be true because success seems to elude about 90 - 95% of the population.

We struggle and we fight and we resist and we give up, simply because we don't have a clear understanding of what is required to reach our goals.

Inner strength is a key component to winning in life and we are all capable of utilizing this strength however many of us have forgotten how to access it.

We can all remember occasions when we have been taken out and fallen of track and we need to be able to reset ourselves to get back on purpose and one of the ways to do this is ask yourself, "what do a I want?". That's it, that all you need to do to bring yourself back on purpose, what do you really want?

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? That's usually the point that triggers change in people. It's when the pain of defeat and failure hurt more than the risk of the unknown.

It's when we get miserably uncomfortable with where we are now that some light bulb switches on and we are motivated to change.

But the kicker is..... we don't have to wait to hit rock bottom in order to improve our lives now, we can choose to rocket forward with our ambitions and take positive steps forward and not wait until we have no other option (although that is one way to ensure you do make forward movement because there is no other direction to go).

Write down what it is you want to accomplish and then formulate a plan of action for achieving it. Challenge yourself and then stick to the plan. Don't let yourself become distracted by the many other thoughts that fly through your mind, get clear and focus. It helps to review your plan daily.

Create a winning mindset for yourself, collect information that inspires you, get a clear understanding of this knowledge and apply it. In addition, do not be fearful of what others will think of you and surround yourself with supportive people. Having a strong supportive team around you will dramatically propel you forward and often much quicker than if you were alone.

In sum, the world has enough victims, what it needs is leaders and it starts by us as individuals leading ourselves to our own successes and aspirations.

D. Paul Walmsley Is a Success Rhino in that it requires an individual to have pretty tough skin to thrive as an entrepreneur and charge towards you goals. Find out the seven principles required for personal success in this FREE report titled "Unlocking The Success Code" @ http://www.inspiredtobewealthy.com

Who Else Wants Success By Choosing What They Want In Life?

By Andrew Rondeau

You can choose success. Do you believe this? If you do not then you have chosen (yes chosen) a different route and success will not be a prominent feature! Success is about choosing what you want in life and taking the necessary steps to achieve that goal. Success is not stopping until you get there!

Read the last two sentences again.

Easy to say but how do you get there? What are the choices made by the successful? What are they doing differently from everyone else?

Choose to remove whatever is holding you back.

Has something happened in the past to affect your self-esteem? Do you immediately have negative thoughts as soon as money and success come to mind? If you are not choosing success then it is likely that something is blocking your ability to change and follow a new path. To remove the block you must have focus. To have focus you must first have an all-consuming dream of where you want to be. Only when you have defined that dream can you start to focus on it. Focus so intently that everything you do is done with your dream in mind. Only then can you move toward that dream.

Choose to live your success.

Live your life as if you were successful, as if you had already achieved the goal that you are focusing on. When you are at work, visualise what your workplace will be like when you have reached your goal, and place yourself there. Sit at your desk as if you were running the multi million-dollar business that you are focusing on. When you get into your car, visualise what your dream car will be like and see yourself sitting in it. Visualise yourself driving away from your dream house. When you are in your home - look around it and see your new surroundings. Get inside the feeling - really be there.

The more you do this, the more your subconscious will think that you are successful and move you towards these things. Live your success expecting to realise it. Living it now is a practice run for when it comes to you. After all, you want to be prepared, don't you?

Choose to believe in your success.

What your conscious mind believes, your subconscious strives to achieve. Look around at your friends and acquaintances and ask yourself how many of them have unshakable belief in where they are going. Are they successful? Possibly not - they may be in a good job and have a nice life but they do not have the success factor. Perhaps you do know of someone with unshakable belief. They may not be successful now but they will be moving in the right direction. Watch that space....

Belief is the catalyst, which takes the dream and turns the focus into a plan to get there. Never underestimate the power of belief.

Choose to be emotional about your success.

Belief plus emotion are unstoppable. If you have utter belief then you will develop emotion. If you want something badly enough it is emotive. Maybe it is to get out of debt. If you have suffered the hardships of this situation you will feel everything to do with debt and money is charged with emotion. This is the reason behind so many 'rags to riches' stories. Sometimes only the most devastating of emotional circumstances are the catalyst for change and a move toward success instead of away from it.

You can choose success.

Or you can choose to stay safe and do what you do now. Guess what - you will still be doing the same in ten years time. The question is - do you want to?

Andrew Rondeau transformed himself from a $4 an-hour petrol-pump attendant to a highly successful Senior Manager earning $500k every year. Discover how you can remove your fear and reduce your stress of being a new manager by receiving Andrew's free Management e-Course and report: http://www.greatmanagement.org/

Master Success Tip - What You Do and Your Purpose Need to Be in Alignment

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leonardo da Vinci said: "Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose." Could the reason many people are unhappy, dissatisfied with their jobs, and ultimately unsuccessful be because what they do and purpose are not in alignment? Is the disconnect the real reason for many just stumbling along the road to success because their passion and what they do are not in alignment.

How many people have actually taken the time to write down a purpose statement. In the book the On Purpose Person Kevin McCarthy uses a parable to demonstrate the power of purpose. Rick Warren in his book shares how purpose can actually change your life in his well known book The Purpose Driven Life. Actually I like the McCarthy's book better because of its simplicity. Success Tip: A written purpose statement will help you master success.

What I share with clients is that purpose is the Why we are here on earth at this time. Our purposes changes, evolves as we change and evolve. The purpose of a baby is far different than a person who is in mid-life. Yet, upon reflection, we can many times see one thread that is with us from our teenage years. For me, it was being what I call a trail blazer on my road to success. And as I have continued to grow forward this trait is still very much present.

Within our purpose also resides our gifts. These are our strengths that we bring to the Table of Life. What is interesting to note is those gifts can also be our core values. For example, creativity is a gift, but it is also a core value, at least for me.

Take the time to write down your purpose. This does demand that you truly reflect upon the years gone by as well as to the future ones yet to come. Initially, this will be a work in progress until you feel comfortable with your purpose statement. If you need help, find the book The On Purpose Person. By taking such action, you will live the words of someone whose work appeared on purpose and the added benefit is that you will master success.

Are you where you want to be? The M.A.P. for Success, a FREE email success coaching program may help you begin to chart a course of business, professional or personal success. Visit http://www.processspecialist.com/action-plan.htm.

Would you like to read more articles specific to business as well as your ability to master success? Sign up to receive the monthly Ezine Power Choices

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, chief customer officer, helps organizations through business training coaching services to return to the purpose of business that being building ravings fans while increasing productivity and profitability. With offices in Chicago, Indianapolis and colleagues nationwide, she can help you become the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits. Call 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching consultation.

5 Steps to Success

By C.j. Vallen

There are many absolute truths which should be, and are not enough, remembered and discussed. In life we encounter many tribulations. In the end, most will settle for a less than satisfying job for menial pay and even less benefits. Happiness for those who find 'new' or 'better' jobs, usually lasts only about as long as does that new job smell. One of the absolute truths, the one I want to talk about today, is that you are never truly happy unless you are doing something which you enjoy. If you are doing that, then I salute you. If not, then the time has come for you to start making the 'right' decisions, and to start taking some chances to make your dreams a reality!

Definiteness of Purpose
Many of you have probably already heard me rant about this, and I will continue to do so as this cannot be stressed enough. This is literally the foundation for all you will accomplish from this day forward. But I do receive a lot of questions on this topic and I would like to address just a couple of those here. First, you can have more than one definite purpose. Such is the case for those undertaking several business ventures or projects. You simply need to have at least one to start. Second, you do not always know what your purpose is, and sometimes it requires that you gain some knowledge, or participate in a mastermind group, or collaborate with friends and associates. The fact is, however, that we've all had ideas. Most of us are just not taking the chances or making the decision to put these ideas into action!

Know What You REALLY Want
Most people who have heard of this, confuse it to be the same as having a definite purpose. And in some instances it is. However, knowing what you really want consists of knowing what you want out of life. What makes you truly happy? Where do you want to be in five years? What is it that you would like to achieve this year? These questions all refer to what you REALLY want. You cannot simply say, "I want to be rich". How much money do you want to have, or make yearly, and so on? Write these things down so that your goals are set in mind. Read them everyday and try to realize that these are not unachievable things. They are out there for you...but only you are capable of taking the steps to turn those thoughts into reality.

Join a Mastermind Group
This is another one of those items which simply cannot be stressed enough. Most people who do make an attempt at their ideas or dreams make one fatal mistake. They think that they can go it alone! But the fact is that we all need others to succeed. This is why networking is such a powerful tool. People are our catalyst for success. they feed off of us as we do them and we are all connected. Use this to your advantage! But mastermind groups offer some unique benefits as well. They give you a vast collaboration of knowledge, experience, thought, ideas, and so on. There is nothing more powerful than this, period!

Create a Plan
This stems directly from all of the previous steps. Once you know what you want, and you have found a definite purpose or idea, you must devise a plan to bring your purpose to life. This is also the exciting part, and your mastermind group can help you tremendously in the planning stages of your idea. As I said before, use the infinite knowledge and experience of people to your advantage, so that you can remove all of the red tape and unnecessary action from your plans. These are the types of plans with highest rate of success, which will save you time with regrouping, re-planning, and so forth...all things which you will have to deal with in the event of failure.

Put Your Plan Into Motion
You may find it amazing the amount of simple things people overlook when they think about their possibilities, and their probability, for success. However, this is another one of those mistakes which is commonly made, and people are constantly found wanting because they let their ideas dissipate, and lose that spark they have when they are new and fresh in your mind. People often believe that they can't do anything about the ideas in their heads, or that the time is in the future a ways because they need this or have to accomplish that first. This a big mistake! There is always something which you can do to put your plans into motion. Always! This doesn't mean that you have everything you need at the moment to take your plans to complete fruition, but there is no accounting for preparedness! Write your ideas down, develop plans and further ideas, start contacting people, take surveys on your potential product, etc. Always do something which ensures that your idea does not sit stagnant. This will ensure that you are also prepared when the opportunity to make your idea a reality presents itself.

Never be afraid of your ideas, or believe that you cannot accomplish them. If you believe that a thing can be attained, then you can undoubtedly attain it. Follow these steps, and ensure that you mark your appointment with success so that you may achieve all which you set out to achieve.

C.J. Vallen is an author, lifestyle coach, and professional marketing consultant. Through the use of his system for creating a better life through health and success, C.J. has been able to help many individuals achieve the dreams and lives which they have always desired. It is never too late for you to turn your ambition into fruition! "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." Abraham Lincoln

Success & Results Roadmap Checklist - It Can't Get Any Easier Than This

By Natalie Manor

Your Success and Results Roadmap Checklist...

Can It Get Any Easier Than This?

Have you ever wondered how those very successful people became so successful? And, then the next question is, why can't that be me? Well, it can be you. The very first thing most successful people do is create a roadmap where they are going, and then they just go. They move forward with a sense of passion and urgency. Fear and uncertainty have no place in their lives. You can have the successful life you always imagined with the results you hoped for, too. All you have to do is believe in yourself and follow your roadmap and this checklist. It really can't get any easier than this.

Success and Results Checklist:

• Decide where you are going. Do not determine your goals based on money alone. What are you passionate about? Success is measured by how you feel once you have reached your goals. What steps have you developed in your success roadmap?

• Create a plan, a guide - a roadmap for success. Then implement it. Once you have decided on your strategy, stick with it. However, as you move closer to your goal, your level of experience will change, resulting in new ideas for your plan. As long as you follow your strategy around your roadmap for success, you will be moving in the right direction.

• Take action. You could have the best presentation, the best ideas and the best strategy, but none of that matters if you do not act on it. Put all your knowledge and energy into achieving those goals. If you can put your all into achieving your goals, you will produce successful results.

• Get any extra training you need to get to your goals. Hire a coach. Between classes, the internet, your coach and successful people, you can learn anything you need to develop your roadmap for the successful results you are looking for.

• Start today, don't procrastinate, focus on your goal and work hard for what you want. Success does not just happen. You have to be willing to develop a plan, your roadmap and do whatever it takes to reach your goals.

• Spend your time wisely. We all only have 24 hours in a day. There is no way around it. You cannot change time, nor can you slow it down. Take the time you have and manage your self accordingly. Pay attention to how you perform tasks. Is there a better way? Ask your coach. Maybe take some time to figure out a different procedure to save time in the end.

• Take calculated steps. This is very scary for most people, but life, in general, is a series of steps. If you do not take the risk to move forward on your roadmap, you simply cannot grow. You will remain stagnant. Taking the steps you have planned out on you roadmap will help you grow mentally and financially. It is important to your success to take those first steps in your roadmap. So go for it!

You can do this! You will see it can't get any easier than this. If you think like successful people, you will do the things successful people do and you will succeed. Follow this roadmap checklist, and see your successes and dreams come true.

© Copyright 2008 by Natalie Manor. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Natalie R. Manor, CEO, author, speaker and executive coach, creator of The Roadmap to Your Extraordinary Success series, The Roadmap, Natalie Manor & Associates is your ultimate resource for leadership and communication development success for managers, emerging leaders and executives to maximize your potential and increase your productivity. Success@The-Roadmap.com, (800) 666-2230, http://www.NatalieManor.com

Be Willing To Do What's Hard

By Aaron Loh

There are bound to be challenges, discomfort and hardship when you venture into your new business. But if you persist, do the right thing and stay focus, this Universe will reward you abundantly. You will taste the fruit of success, which is indeed very sweet.

With this, I draw your attention to this man who has a never-say-die attitude.

As a boy, he collected garbage and sold rice snacks to put himself through night school. He often went hungry, when even the beggars who were his neighbours had food to eat. He was also shy with girls. When he sold his snacks outside a girls' school, he would cover his face with a straw hat whenever students walked past.

But he persevered, and won a place at the prestigious Korea University. After graduation, he joined a small firm - Hyundai Construction - as a clerk. His rise up the ranks was meteoric for his time, and he was the firm's CEO when he was only 36. In the next two decades, he transformed Hyundai Construction into a global company, undertaking building projects in a number of countries. His rags-to-riches story is the stuff of TV soap operas, and indeed Mr Lee Myung Bak's life was the subject of two Korean television dramas in 1990. he has now become part of Korean folklore.

And on 25 Feb 2008, he ascended to the highest office in South Korea. He is 66 years old. When he delivered his inaugural speech, he reminded Koreans that dreams do come true.

"A country boy who could not even eat regular meals... became the President of the Republic of Korea," he said.

Dear friends, don't let your complacency and comfort zones become your worst foes in life. You only live once.

Aaron Loh
Founder and Director of Wealth Learning International
http://www.aaronloh.com

Aaron Loh is an avid learner and is always in the pursuit for success in what he's passionately involved in - helping others to constantly learn and upgrade themselves. He faced many setbacks and challenges in this journey. With his strong commitment and determination, plus God's blessing, he successfully changed the lives of thousands and thousands of people.

Perseverance - The Key to Success

By Lowelyn Saavedra

In "Cast Away", Tom Hanks plays an executive who is obsessed with achieving the company's motto: "The World on Time." Chuck Nowland (Hanks) is a supervisor for shipping department, traveling from remote country to remote country to improve services there to the company's standards.

On Christmas, Chuck is called away on an impromptu mission. As he heads off for Asia, he left his wife, assuring her, "I'll be back."

What happened to his flight?

What happened to him after the plane crash?

After a trip around its perimeter and, later, an abortive attempt to escape on a life raft, Chuck accepts that he's stranded alone and likely to stay that way.

Like Chuck, there are days when the whole world seemed against us. There are times wherein we are very discouraged, yet we can survive if we have self-identity and persevered on the path that we know.

I would like to talk a bit about perseverance, and several of its key components. Perseverance is needed if you wish to be true to yourself and your goals, whether professionally or personally.

Perseverance is very hard work. It's believing in yourself, your ideas and your goals. Sometimes during a challenge or crisis the simplest of tasks become extremely difficult. At these times it is important to recognize our actions as persevering, because it may take additional energy to stay with one's plans. Other times if the work isn't actually difficult we may take our actions for granted and not recognize that there are benefits to our work.

As you develop plans it often helps to question your motivation in order to determine if perseverance is worth it.

• Am I doing this for my benefit?

• Am I doing this for others benefit?

• Do my plans have the potential to hurt others or myself?

• What is the benefit of acting now, over waiting to act or letting someone else takes on the responsibility?

The answer to these questions lies within you.

Going back to the movie "Cast Away", Chuck waits to be rescued, but slowly realizes he is likely to die on that island. Over and over we see Chuck fail at tasks and suffer disappointments, and no animal or person jumps out of the bushes to confront or save him. He's alone and he stays alone.

But what is important to note is that he never gave up.

When your challenges seem particularly difficult, remind yourself that you are human. Do not wait around for others permission, compliments or encouragement. Feel good about your progress, and proud of the difficulties you endure.

Napoleon once said that, "Victory belongs to him who has the most perseverance."

It is a statement that is as true today as when Napoleon first said it.

The truth is that only a small percentage of people ever achieve their full potential -- and those who do are the ones who persevere toward their goals.

Not sure about perseverance?

Here are some facts about a well-known man who used perseverance to overcome the odds and finally achieve his goals!

Beginning at age 31 up until age 60, this man failed in business twice, was defeated in legislative races twice, survived the death of a sweetheart, suffered a nervous breakdown, lost three congressional races, lost two senatorial races, one vice presidential race and was finally elected President of the United States of America at age 60.

This man was Abraham Lincoln - and his fighting spirit epitomizes the word perseverance!

So, transform your attitude and commit to persevere in life, and you will finally realize your full potential.

Lowelyn Ho Saavedra is a manufacturing supervisor working in a multinational company in the Philippines. She is a proud working Mom and a dedicated wife.

No matter how big the obstacle is, we always have to do our best

Action, Why So Few Take It Helps to Explain the Inability to Master Success

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Why do so few people take action? Each year millions of people think about doing this or doing that (New Year Eve's Resolutions, anyone?), but fail to do anything. Their goal to master success is never realized.

Theodore Roosevelt stated:

In any moment of decision, the BEST THING you can do is the RIGHT THING; the next best thing is the WRONG THING; and the worst thing you can do is NOTHING.

As I always tell my clients and those when I speak, indecision is a decision to take action.

Possibly, the answer is a lack of an action plan or the inability to consistently set and achieve goals. For many it is the fear of the thought of taking action becomes the fear of success. FEAR for those most often than not is False Evidence Appearing Real.

How often do you fear something, but upon later introspection discover that your fear was unfounded? This fear may be because of something that happened as a child. Or the fear might because of two totally unrelated events happened together and initiated a fear inside of you.

Another potential answer is the people truly are happy where they are. Even if they think they are unhappy because they are not where they want to be, they are actually happy and satisfied where they are. For if they were not, they would take action. This happiness has translated into complacency.

Have you ever tried to take action and have someone tell you it was a bad idea? Most people look at change as negative because they have been negatively conditioned to change from their early childhood.

After observing a lot of people, I truly believe that most people enjoy living in the land that I call misery. Living here becomes a safety net. To venture forth across the Seas of Change and Uncertainty is frightening because of all the waves of Fear.

Yet for those brave and risk taking individuals who cross these seas, they arrive to the Land of Opportunity and Success. Now they continue with their action plan to that allows them to master success.

Action is necessary if anyone wants to improve or achieve where they are now to what they want from live. By not taking action you are assured of two things: staying where you are and happy with being miserable.

Is taking action still alluding you? Maybe you need something more than just another free program. Possibly you may to consider exercising your actions through the success coaching gym?

The Tao of Success Lesson I

By Lori-linell Hall

Finding Your "Way" and Staying on the Path of Success

In my experience as an executive and career coach for physicians, physician dissatisfaction and burnout often stems from physicians attempting to fit themselves into careers, practice environments, or lifestyles that don't match their unique gifts, abilities, strengths or values. These physicians, and believe me I know because I was one of them, are like the ugly duckling that tried to fit in but after much grief finally realizes he is a swan. Chuang Tzu one of the greatest of the Taoist writers offers some sage advice on why it is important for you as a physician to find what fits your nature and to understand what fits you may not fit another.

In order to achieve and stay on the path of success as a physician you must find your "Way" or Tao. And this "Way" is not the same for everyone. Tao can be loosely translated as "the Way," or also the Absolute or Ultimate Principle.

In Symphony of A Seabird from The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton, Chuang Tzu brilliantly illustrates this point. A seabird was blown ashore and landed in the capital of Lu. The prince of the city ordered a reception for the bird. The seabird was offered wine. Musicians played it a symphony. They slaughtered animals to feed it. Dazed by the symphony the unhappy seabird dies of despair.

Chuang Tzu asks "How should you treat a bird?/As yourself/ Or as a bird?" Shouldn't a bird fly over woods and ponds? Shouldn't a bird feed on fish and fly in formation with other seabirds and rest in the reeds? Are you the seabird that likes forming long term patient relationships but are practicing in an emergency department? Dr. H a family practitioner and one of my clients liked working in the office but became very stressed when she had to cover sick patients in the hospital and intensive care unit. First she was able to get out of the call arrangement and only cover office patients. And now she is working with her hospital to start a hospitalist program. Another one of my clients Dr. L accepted an ob job in rural Georgia primarily because of salary. He had always lived in a large metropolitan city. Twelve months after his move both he and his family were unhappy with small town life. Now he is looking less at salary and more at lifestyle. And is willing to accept a smaller salary to be closer to the big city amenities he and his family enjoy. You may be experiencing similar disconnects in your professional and personal life. And these disconnects may be causing you to burn out or figuratively die inside.

Don't be the seabird that was killed by music. Chuang Tzu says "Water is for fish/ And air for men." The key to getting unstuck and back on the path of success as a physician is to recognize that you are a seabird and need to fly with your flock. Some of you may not need to make drastic changes to get unstuck. Simple changes like giving up hospital on call like Dr. H may suffice. Others of you may need to make radical changes like moving to a new city and practice. For all of you it means examining your likes and dislikes and discovering or rediscovering your unique gifts, strengths, and values. It means accepting your self for who you are both professionally and personally without guilt. It means following Chuang Tzu's advice that "Natures differ, and needs with them." And finally when you follow you own "Way" or "Tao" you will be back on the path of satisfaction and success.

Lori-Linell Hall, M.D, P.C.C., is an executive, career, and life coach to physicians and health care workers who want more satisfaction, joy, and meaning in their lives. Dr. Hall helps physicians answer "The Call" to transform and climb the next great hill on the path of success. Contact Dr. Hall at lori@physiciansuccessunlimited.com

The Biggest Common Myth and Misconception of Success

By Barry Share

The number one common myth and misconception of how a person becomes wealthy and successful is that, somehow luck played some part in the process.

I am here to tell you right now, do not wait for lady luck to sprinkle her magic dust across your curly locks, or before you, on the hallowed ground you walk.

I'm sorry it won't happen; you will wait until the end of time. The phrase "can the last man out, switch the light off" springs to mind. Don't rely on luck, it's a known fact that people who perceive themselves as lucky are lucky, but research has shown that the only edge they have over unlucky people is they are more observant and are constantly looking and finding opportunities.

If you are constantly scanning the ground you will be lucky enough to find a penny. Luck is determined by your own efforts what you put into life you will receive back three fold. I think it was Warren Buffet, when asked how much luck played in his very successful trading career answered "It's funny the harder I work the luckier I become" and this holds true for all of us.

Winning the lottery...

What about winning the lottery I hear you ask? O.K. that would be lucky, extremely lucky, as the chances of you winning the lottery are something like 14 million to 1, and the only thing is, you will spend a lot of time and money waiting for lady luck to smile on you.

If you must play the lottery there is only one lottery you want to be in and that is the one lottery you can have a chance of winning one million pounds every month and still get your stake money back, and that's Premium Bonds. Yes Premium Bonds you get the chance to win every month the odds are extremely better and you can take your money out when ever you want.

Another misconception is somehow a wonderful opportunity was placed at the feet of this so call successful person. Well opportunities are there for each and every one of us. I dare say like me you have had and missed many opportunities as you have trudged the road to happiness and contentment. The problem with opportunity is it is like the penny on the ground if we are not aware of it we miss it and somebody else picks it up. Rather than wait for opportunity to find you, you need to find opportunities. This might be watching for business opportunities in the paper regarding small businesses being sold, great real estate opportunities, and investments with stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, taking a talent and turning it into an entrepreneurial adventure.

People that have reached financial status will tell you that they look for ways to seize opportunities, not wait for opportunities or lady luck to come knocking on their door. Most people expect opportunity to knock on their door, it doesn't, and if it did 99% of people will miss it, because they are glued to their TV sets or out at the pub pulling down there local entrepreneur because he has just acquired a contract to supply a Chinese catering company with thousands of chop sticks he manufactures in his garage from the wooden pallets he gets paid to take away from a local canning company. I can hear them now "that guy is so lucky" So your future success, your wealth and happiness cannot rely on luck and you must be ready to see and take any opportunity that is presented to you.

Barry Share is the Founder and editorial director of "The New Lifestyle Programme" Where you can get your copy of the amazing..."Design for your Success" a 7 step plan to achieving wealth health and happiness => http://newlifestylepro.com/dfs-s.html