Inspiration Can Be Found Anywhere at Anytime

Inspiration is not a stop-start process. It's like a spigot you just can't turn off. When you have it, you have lots of it. But when you don't have it, it might seem that no matter what you do, that spigot is just never going to crank on again.

Have faith. Inspiration, in and of itself, never stops. It's up to us, then, to step aside from blocking it. To ignite your awareness of inspiration, look into subjects and topics that interest you.

Read inspiring stories; research the people who inspire you. Oftentimes you will find that they, too, struggled with turning on that inspiration spigot ... but they always found a way through.

Action Step:

See, there is nothing different between you and your heroes. That's why you're attracted to the qualities they possess - something about them resonates with something inside of you. Do as they have done to resonate with inspiration.

Act as they have acted to turn that "inspiration spigot" on. Before you know it, you'll be back in that inspired mode!

Yours in Success,

Live a Beautiful Life

[Source: megabookmarketing.com, by Mark Victor Hansen]

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On Competition

Why don't more people build powerful partnerships today? Doesn't it make sense that you leverage your power when you build partnerships with supportive, powerful people? And that you increase your success, while minimizing the effort it takes to achieve what you want?

I believe that part of the answer is that we are conditioned to compete with one another.

One of the most striking facts that my research revealed is that truly successful people never compete. The reason successful people avoid competition is that when you compete, you limit yourself and restrict your ability to create.

Consider the kinds of thoughts that must be created for competition. You must:

1. Compare yourself to your "adversary," and think that someone will win and the other must lose.
2. Believe that there is a limited supply of goodness and success.

Both of these thoughts are in error, and completely out of alignment with the Super Laws. Your success, or lack of it, comes directly from your own thoughts, feelings and actions.

Other people have no power to keep you from your good. So the only real competition you will ever have in life is the competition between the positive thoughts of your disciplined mind and the negative thoughts of your undisciplined mind.

You are only in competition with yourself.

If you must have an adversary, let that adversary be lack of understanding. That is the only thing that will slow your success.

Resolve this week to more fully discipline your mind, to focus your will power, to keep your eyes on "the prize" you want to create to the exclusion of everything else!

To your continued wealth and happiness,

Live a Beautiful Life

[Source: harmonicwealth.com, by James Arthur Ray]

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Purpose, Vision And Goals

Do you have a definite purpose that guides your ambitions, vision, and goals?

It doesn't matter how you think you arrived here on this planet or under whose direction -- the fact remains that each of us has specific talents and gifts that are uniquely coded within our own DNA.

As you go through life, you don't just pick up things you like doing by chance. You discover what you're good at because you were meant to discover it, just as you were meant to figure out what your fingers do, and how your elbows work. Your unique gifts are hardwired into your system just as surely as your lungs are given their blueprint to breathe.

And it's from these specific talents and gifts that you're able to define and determine your definite purpose... the reason why you're here. What's in you cannot be found in another living human being.

In fact, it's quite possible that what you bring to the table hasn't been duplicated -- ever -- since time began.

That's right! This "purpose" is serious business.

If you fail to determine your definite purpose, everything else is wrong.

It's like working with a broken compass -- you may think you're going North, but you're not. You're not sure which direction you're heading, so, you're just wandering aimlessly.

Without your purpose identified firmly in your mind, you will wander through life, never quite feeling that you're "in the flow." I say, then, that it's imperative you recognize what it is you're good at -- what it is you really love to do.

Your purpose in this lifetime is to do the thing that you love.

People will tell you they already know what they're good at, and what they love to do most, but they'll never earn money doing it. Whoever gave you that idea? When you're sorting out your purpose, I don't want you thinking about THAT non-issue at all.

You can earn money at anything. Once you determine your purpose, you won't even have to think hard on how to earn money -- it's as if you're being guided by an unseen hand, heading in the right direction... and everything falls into place.

The key to your life is not that you settle for the "safe" thing that will bring in the money. The key is to turn and do what you really love. Fall in love with an idea. That's your life! That's your purpose.

[Source: sixminutestosuccess.com, by Bob Proctor]

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Accept No Limits

"A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses." - James Allen, As A Man Thinketh

You are not limited to the life you now live. It has been accepted by you as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you're ready to go beyond the limitations currently in your life, you're capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts.

We each earn the income we do today because that is the amount we have limited ourselves to earn. We could easily earn 5, 10, 20 times more if we did not limit ourselves through the thoughts we maintain.

Don't believe that's true? Surely you know people who earn much more than you who don't have your education, your skills, or your intelligence. So why do they earn more than you?

I love the story of George Dantzig that Cynthia Kersey wrote about in Unstoppable. As a college student, George studied very hard and always late into the night; so late that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for class. He quickly copied the two math problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several days to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk the next day.

Later, on a Sunday morning, George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer. But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.

Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't.

Bob Proctor tells us to "keep reminding yourself that you have tremendous reservoirs of potential within you, and therefore you are quite capable of doing anything you set your mind to. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it's amazing how your mind begins to figure out how."

And that's worth thinking about.

[by Vic Johnson, excerpted from Day by Day with James Allen]

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Setbacks are Lessons

"Slow and steady wins the race." It's not glamorous, but it's true. The tragedy is that most people never even get in the race, and many of those who do hope that success comes easily and swiftly.

When it doesn't, they're out of the race, before it really begins. What they don't realize is that the decision to be unstoppable is never made just once. It is made moment by moment, again and again.

Setbacks are inevitable. In fact, they're evidence that we're doing something. The more mistakes we make, the greater our chance of success. Failures indicate a willingness to experiment and take risks.

Unstoppable women and men have learned that each failure brings wisdom and insight that will take them one step closer to achieving their dreams. When we focus on one unstoppable moment at a time and stay the course, the end result will take care of itself.

It's important to remind ourselves that failure is an event, not a person. If you don't achieve your 30-day goal, does that make you a failure? If you don't get a promotion at work, does that make you a failure? If you get married and then divorced, does that make you a failure? Of course not!

Failure doesn't characterize who you are. It is simply an event that happens to you. And when you continue to move forward, despite difficult experiences, you have already won!

Action: Find the gift in the setback

The next time the outcome you had hoped for doesn't transpire, look for the gift. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What can I learn from what happened?
2. What am I grateful for about this experience?
3. What are the potential benefits of this experience?
4. What is the best way for me to move forward?

Commit to finding the gift in any setback. And in advance, tell yourself that you will never, never, never quit. If you don't give up, you simply cannot fail. Not only will you achieve your dreams, but the combination of your commitment, courage, and faith will rise as the greatest triumph of all.

[Source: yoursuccessstore.com, by Cynthia Kersey]

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The Greatest Salesman in the World

by Og Mandino

Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls.

Principle #1 – Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

Keep it always in mind and you will overcome seemingly impossible obstacles that are certain to confront you as they do everyone with ambition. Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.

Principle #2 – I will form good habits and become their slave.

If I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits.
My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.
Each principle in these scrolls will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which brings me closer to success.
For it is another of nature’s laws that only a habit can subdue another habit.
As I repeat the words daily contained in these scrolls they will soon become a part of my active mind.
Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react.
Thus a new and good habit is born.

Principle #3 – I will greet this day with love in my heart.

Love is the greatest secret of success in all ventures.
I will laud my enemies and they will become my friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become my brothers.
Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip.
I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden.
But how will I react to the adversity of others? With love.
For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger.

Principle #4 – I will persist until I succeed.

I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course through my veins.
I am not a sheep waiting to be led to the slaughter.
I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep.
I will remember the ancient law of averages and I will bend it to my good.
I will persist with knowledge that each failure to sell will increase my chance for success at the next attempt.

Principle #5 – I will increase my knowledge of the world.

Within me burns a flame which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than I am, and I will.
I will increase my knowledge of mankind, myself, and the goods I sell, thus my sales will multiply.
I will practice, and improve, and polish the words I utter to sell my goods, for this is the foundation on which I will build my career… Also I will seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted.
I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems are in truth great opportunities in disguise.

Principle #6 – I will live this day as if it is my last.

Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more.
Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow.
Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass? No!
I will avoid with fury the killers of time.
Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence.
The duties of today I shall fulfill today. I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value.
And if this day is not my last, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.

Principle #7 – Today I will be master of my emotions.

All nature is a cycle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall.
If I bring joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter to my customers they will react with joy and enthusiasm and brightness and
laughter and my weather will produce a harvest of sales and a granary of gold for me.
Weak is he who permits his emotions to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his emotions.

If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.
If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.

I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.

Principle #8 – I will laugh at the world.

I will chuckle and my burdens will be lightened; I will laugh and my life will be lengthened for this is the great secret of long life.
And most of all, I will laugh at myself for man is most comical when he takes himself too seriously.
Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humor threatens to depart from me.
These four words are: This too shall pass.
And with my laughter all things will be reduced to their proper size.
I will laugh at my failures and they will vanish in clouds of new dreams; I will laugh at my successes and they will shrink to their true value.

Principle #9 – Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.

And how will I accomplish this? First I will set goals for the day, the week, the month, the year, and my life.
Just as the rain must fall before the wheat will crack its shell and sprout, so must I have objectives before my life will crystallize.
The height of my goals will not hold me in awe.
If I stumble I will rise and my falls will not concern me for all men must stumble often to reach the hearth.
I will always announce my goals to the world.
I will always raise my goals as soon as they are attained.
Yet, never will I proclaim my accomplishments.
Let the world instead, approach me with praise and may I have the wisdom to receive it in humility.

Principle #10 – I will act now.

My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.
All are of no value unless they are followed by action.
I will act now.
I will act now.
I will act now.

Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again each day until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.
Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions.
I will walk where the failure fears to walk.
I will work when the failure seeks rest. Success will not wait. If I delay she will become betrothed to another.

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Stop Thinking "If Only"

"If only I could get a better break."
"If only I had some money."
"If only I would've married the right person."
"If only I worked for the right company."
"If only I had the right parents."

Do you pull back from taking full personal responsibility for yourself? Many of us do. We think that a parent, a teacher, a friend, a boss, a spouse, the company we worked for, or some governmental program should shoulder our burden for turning our lives into what we want them to be.

This approach can't get the job done. Other people and organizations have too many pressing challenges and priorities of their own.

What does this mean? That you'll always be disappointed when you depend on others for the things you must do for yourself.

It's so easy to justify the temptations of freeloading, to slide into being a follower, to fail to see the hidden price tag in the handout. Unless you take complete control of your life and assume full personal responsibility for yourself, who will? No one will.

Every dollar you earn is worth ten given to you. Earned money creates the self-image of self-reliance; given money creates the self-image of other-dependence. This is why some families stay on welfare for generations.

Hangers-on and free-loaders are the most frustrated people on earth because they have created their own frustrations. You can't be successful and happy until you earn the respect of the toughest, hardest to fool, and most important judge in the world: yourself.

[Source: tomhopkins.com, by Tom Hopkins]

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Evaluating Your Goals

In a sporting event, the players are given a break at the half in order to refresh themselves, look at how they played in the first half, and set strategy for the second half. So as you approach halftime, here are some thoughts.

Do you have a vacation planned in the next two months that will give you the needed break and refreshment? If not, schedule one this week! How did you "play" in the first half of this year?

Have you met your goals that you established at the beginning of the year? Here are a few ideas to evaluate where you are at with your goals as you approach the halfway mark.

Take some time to sit down alone and review your goals. How many are you on mark to make? How many have you not even begun on? How many have you achieved?

For those you haven't even begun, my suggestion would be to reset your goal at 10 percent of the original goal. Obviously this goal hasn't been a priority, for whatever reason, and most likely won't suddenly become so. But you can make some ground. Set a small increase for the remaining six months and get ahead a little in these areas.

For the goals you are on pace to achieve, try to stretch about 10 percent. So, to give it a numerical value, if your original goal was 10 and you have already reached 5 after halfway, stretch yourself to try to achieve 11 by the end of the year. This will give you a good reason to kick into high gear as the year progresses.

For those goals you are on pace to break strongly through, try an increase of 50 percent.

And finally, for the goals you have already reached, try to set the new goal at 100 percent of the original goal.

In all of these remember that it is better to try hard, and even fail at a higher goal, than to take the easy route and attain nothing at all!

Best of luck as you re-evaluate your goals!

You Are Made for Success!

[Source: chriswidener.com, by Chris Widener]

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How to Improve Productivity: All Tasks Are Not Created Equal

If there's one thing you must grasp if you wish to experience an increase in productivity and a strong sense of achievement day to day it's the concept that not every task is created equal.

This is especially true when it comes to those things which when completed will lead to a greater sense of accomplishment & feeling of success and achievement.

Far too many people look at having completed the items on their To Do lists as a sure sign that they're achieving at a great level.

The problem with this line of thinking is that in many cases the items which make it onto our lists are little more than busy work -- items which do require attention, but in the grand scheme of things having completed them doesn't serve us in a greater capacity with respect to our larger, more important goals -- the big things that when completed actually move us closer to our grand vision -- the one we hold for our lives, whether personal or professional.

The challenge is that while you may feel like you're making progress, because after all, you are checking items off during the day -- if you're not taking a careful inventory and ensuring that the things you are working on in the first place will yield your greatest R.O.I.O.T (return on investment of time) then it's likely that you will end up feeling as though the larger life plans you hold for yourself aren't making any headway.

Which by the way you would be correct, they aren't, not because you aren't working, but because you're not working and putting forth the necessary effort into the specific task needed to yield the exact true result you are after.

That's why I say, all tasks aren't created equal. Commit this to memory -- and always be asking the question "If I work on this task, when completed will it yield the greatest overall result and sense of accomplishment for me.

Will having achieved it move me closer to my larger plan?" If the answer you get back is anything but a resounding yes then you need to reschedule what it is you're planning to work on and replace it with a task that will yield you the greatest return on investment of time (R.O.I.O.T). It's that simple.

You and I have a choice as to what we give our time to. We don't have a choice as to how much time we have. No matter how hard we try we're not going to be able to squeeze anymore than 24 hours out of our day. The good news is you don't even have to try IF you'll grasp and put into practice the ongoing habit of asking the question mentioned above, and working on those items which when completed will yield the greatest results.

To clarify here's a make believe To Do list item -- I've made reference to an example which will serve you the best and one which might be more in line with "busy work", which may make you feel good to get them done, but in the grand scheme of things won't serve you had you instead chosen to spend your time on other things.

Example item that might appear on your To Do list...

* Vacuuming the house - while this can certainly be a worthwhile undertaking, is it really as important say if you're larger goal was to "increase your sales for the month"?

No of course it isn't.

A far more effective use of your time would be to schedule this as a lower priority item, or find a way to have someone else do it for you if that's a possibility. While it may feel nice to complete this task, it's not going to yield the same result if you were to replace this task with one such as "give a follow-up call to the people I met at the seminar I attended who showed an interest in my product or service".

As you can see the latter is going to move you closer to what you've identified as your most important goals. Plus, once you've completed the tasks which will have the greatest return on your investment of time then you can go ahead and knock out the other things.

The key thing to remember is that you've got to be vigilant in working on and first completing those items which will give you the greatest return on your time spent.

[Source: JoshHinds.com, by Josh Hinds]

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The Best Gift to Give Yourself and Others

I'm often asked the question, "How can I best help my children, spouse, family member, staff member, friend etc. improve/change?" In fact that might be the most frequently asked question I receive, "How can I help change someone else?"

My answer often comes as a surprise and here it is. The key to helping others is to help yourself first. In other words, the best contribution I can make to someone else is my own personal development.

If I become 10 times wiser, 10 times stronger, think of what that will do for my adventure as a father... as a grandfather... as a business colleague.

The best gift I can give to you, really, is my ongoing personal development. Getting better, getting stronger, becoming wiser. I think parents should pick this valuable philosophy up.

If the parents are okay, the kids have an excellent chance of being okay. Work on your personal development as parents; that's the best gift you can give to your children.

If you have ever ridden in an airplane, then you might have noticed the oxygen compartment located above every seat. There are explicit instructions that say "In case of an emergency, first secure your own oxygen mask and then if you have children with you then secure their masks."

Take care of yourself first... then assist your children. If we use that same philosophy throughout our whole parental life, it would be so valuable.

If I learn to create happiness for myself, my children now have an excellent chance to be happy. If I create a unique lifestyle for myself and my spouse, that will be a great example to serve my children.

Self-development enables you to serve, to be more valuable to those around you; for your child... your business... your colleague... your community... your church.

That's why I teach development skills. If you keep refining all the parts of your character, yourself, your health, etc. so that you become an attractive person to the marketplace - you'll attract opportunity. Opportunity will then begin to seek you out.

Your reputation will begin to precede you and people will want to do business with you. All of that possibility is created by working on the philosophy that success is something you attract by continually working on your own personal development.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

[Source: jimrohn.com]

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