Keep It SIMPLE

You Can't Decide The Length Of our Life,
But You Can Control How You Want To Live It.

You Can’t Control The Weather,
But You Can Control Your Mood.

You Can't Change Your Look,
But You Can Smile.

You Can’t Control Others,
But You Can Control Yourself.

You Can't Foresee Tomorrow,
But You Can Utilize Today Wisely.

You Can't Win Everything,
But You Can Try Your Very Best To Achieve That.

Absolutely no one can overestimate the power of the mind and its role in our success! It is imperative to keep our minds right and on the right track if we are to achieve balanced success in our career, finances, health, emotions, relationships and spiritual lives.

The analogy I would like to use here is one of a radio station. For example, there may be a “Success” station. But the only way you can hear a radio station is to be tuned into it. Even a little off and you can’t get the full effect.

The same is true with our mind and success. If our minds and our thoughts get sidetracked, our success will get sidetracked. As our minds stay tuned to “success” our bodies will then carry out our success and we will begin to experience abundance!

So here are some ways to keep tuned into success!

Use your innate ability to decide and choose. One of the things that separate us from the animals is that we live not by instinct, but by choice. Constantly flexing that muscle of choice builds it up and keeps us on track for success. It is like working out. The more we do, the stronger we get. The more “fit” we get. Want to keep your mind tuned for success? Keep it healthy by making good choices and decisions on a regular basis. For example, do you have a bad habit? Then flex your mind muscle and choose to change—today. If you choose to stay the same way (and those are the only two alternatives) you will have just chosen to tune your mind to a different station than “success.”

Put good stuff into your brain. There are lots of things that want to work their way into our minds (and eventually work themselves out again in our actions). There will be lots that we just get from walking around all day. But what about what we put in on purpose? We can choose to put good stuff in on a regular basis. Do you take time each day to put good things into your mind, to tune into success? Here are two things to consider when you are choosing what to put into your mind: First, is it positive? Will it build you up or tear you down? Will it make you a better person, or lesser? Will you grow from it or not? Will it tune you to success or not? Secondly, Will it move you toward your goals in the areas of your life that you want to see success and abundance in?

Keep the junk out. Like I mentioned above, there will always be junk floating around, like a fellow employee who gripes all the time. But what surprises me is how many people who want success, actually willfully choose to put junk into their minds and then expect to be tuned into success. Here are some thoughts on this: First, evaluate everything that you put into your mind. Evaluate what you read, listen to and watch. We live in a fast-paced world and we have little time. Why then would we spend our precious time putting junk into our minds? Does what you read, listen to and watch move you toward your goals or away from them? It is a simple question, really. At least most of the time. And here is my soapbox. Eleven years ago, my wife suggested we give away our television. I was shocked to say the least, but decided to give it a try. Now I am the anti-TV fanatic in our house! I have more time than anyone I know and I don’t have to spend a lot of energy filtering my mind to tune it to success. Just a thought. Just a thought.

Eat right and exercise. That’s right. The way we eat and the amount of exercise we get goes a long way toward our mind’s ability to tune into success. Put the right foods into your body and the brain responds. Exercise on a regular basis and the body releases chemicals that literally ignite your brain for success!

Hope these thoughts help you to get going and keep your mind tuned into success. Put them into practice and soon you’ll be dialed into success and abundance.

--by Chris Widener

This is the last installment in a three-part series of articles.

Increasing Your Resiliency
Resilience is the ability to return to the original form after being bent, stretched or compressed. That’s the dictionary’s definition of resilience. It’s the ability to readily recover from illness, or depression, or adversity.

In our lives, resilience specifically means being able to withstand setbacks, broken hearts and broken dreams, financial crisis, loss of loved ones, loss of enterprise, and loss of health. How would you ever handle it if you lost everything you had today? What would your next step be? How long would you be depressed and upset and angry? What would it take for you to pull yourself up and start all over again? How resilient are you? Could you handle it? Could you learn from all of your disappointments and start all over again? What would it take?

Number one, it would take a lot of self-discipline. It would take a lot of positive self-talk to muster up the energy to begin again. It would take a lot of concentration to block out the noise and the clutter of all the negative voices trying to get through, as well as the negative voices of others around you. That’s a lot! It would take a lot of discipline to balance the fear and anxiety with the knowledge that, if you did it once, you can do it all over again.

It would also take a lot of self-reliance. Whether your losses had anything to do with you or not, your future success has everything to do with you. It would take a lot of self-reliance to avoid blame. What’s happened has happened. You would need to get on with your life and begin again.

It would take a lot of faith. It would take a lot of faith and trust in God to move ahead.

If you lost everything tomorrow and you were gathering all the courage to try again, it would take a lot of self-appreciation. You need to know in your heart and mind that you have the skills, the talent and the strength to do it one more time.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, no matter how large or how small. You lose a client, one of your biggest ones. This client accounts for more than 25 percent of your gross revenue. Losing this client is going to hurt, financially and emotionally. Losing this client is going to negatively affect things for a while. The first thing you do is figure out why you lost this business. What role did you play? In what way are you responsible? You can’t just rant and rave, yelling and screaming at everyone in the office. Even if it was the wrongdoing of someone else, you can’t act like this, because it’s not professional. You’ll lose respect. And respect is hard to regain once you’ve lost it, whether it’s the respect of those you work with, your trusted colleagues or your valuable support people. You have to approach the situation rationally and figure out how to bounce back from your loss.

You have to evaluate the situation and then start a plan to recapture the lost business. Consider how you can increase your market share with other businesses. Maybe you can network with associates to bring in a similar client or even a better one! You can’t sit back and dwell on what’s happened. You’ve got to get back into the marketplace and recapture what’s been taken from you. Get back at it and replace what’s gone.

Perhaps your loss is a personal loss. Maybe you’ve recently been faced with the death of a loved one, a divorce or the loss of a very special friendship. If your loss is a deeply personal one, you must approach the situation a little differently. You must be patient with yourself and give yourself time to grieve, time to mourn, time to regroup.

The stages we go through in loss, be it the death of a loved one, the death of a relationship or the death of an enterprise, are beautifully defined in Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ book On Death and Dying. Whether the death is a literal one or a figurative one, the stages are the same: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And only by going through these stages and reaching acceptance can we rebound and begin again.

It’s said that children are more resilient than adults. Why? Maybe it’s because they don’t evaluate their current situation based on past experiences. They approach it in a fresh way, a new way. In their own minds, they deal with loss much better than adults.

Children who grow up in the unfortunate circumstances of poverty or abuse or neglect and later become successful are known as “dandelion children.” If they can succeed and prosper with terrible conditions, they can grow anywhere. It’s important to be more like a dandelion child. To be able to grow and prosper and succeed despite our current conditions. To be able to grow and prosper and succeed despite our losses. To be resilient.

Cultivating a resilient character turns what others would call failure into success. A resilient person won’t give up. A resilient person will, in spite of all obstacles and setbacks, keep doing it until.

In their book The Resilient Self, Steven and Sybil Wolin studied resilience and found seven key characteristics that compose it.

No. 1: Resilience requires insight. You need to develop the ability to ask tough questions of yourself and be honest with your answers. If you had something to do with your loss, be honest and responsible for it.

No. 2: Resilience is independent. As a resilient person, you can count on yourself to bounce back into life.

No. 3: Although resilience is independent, it’s also tied to others. The more people you are responsible to, the greater your motivation to begin again. The stronger the reason, the stronger the action.

No. 4: Resilience calls for initiative. You need to develop the ability to take charge of the situation, to take charge of the problem. You need to stand up and do whatever is necessary to get back on course.

No. 5: Resilience has an element of creativity. With resilience, you are able to look at a situation and creatively determine the best way out. You are enterprising in your approach toward starting over.

No. 6: A resilient person has humor. You may cry until you start laughing, but a sense of humor is so important when turning your life around. You’ve got to take your goals seriously, and you’ve got to take yourself seriously. But you’ve also got to be able to laugh at yourself and your situation at times. If somebody says, “You’ll look back on this and laugh someday.” Well, maybe today is the day to start.

No. 7: A resilient person has a strong sense of morality. Whatever you do to get back on your feet, whatever you do to bounce back into life, make sure it’s moral. Make sure that your upcoming success is at the service of others, not at the expense of others. Success, if it is yours to keep, must be at the service of others.

The more obstacles you face and overcome, the more times you falter and get back on track, and the more difficulties you struggle with and conquer, the more resiliency you will naturally develop. There is nothing that can hold you back if you are resilient.

--by Jim Rohn

“The ability to adapt is everything!”
--Denis Waitley

“You can’t think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking positively.”
--Nido Qubein

“Imitate until you emulate; match and surpass those who launched you. It’s the highest form of thankfulness.”
--Mark Victor Hansen

“Children have more need of models than of critics.”
--Carolyn Coats

This is the second installment in a 3-part series of articles.

Where the Miracle Begins
Sometimes, defeat is the best beginning. Why? Well for one thing, if you’re at the very bottom, there’s only one way to go—up. But more important, if you’re flat on your back, mentally and financially, you’ll usually become sufficiently disgusted to reach way deep down inside yourself and pull out miracles. Pull out talents and pull out abilities and pull out your desires and determination. When you’re flat broke or flat miserable, you’ll eventually become so disgusted that you’ll pull out the basic essentials required to make everything better.

It’s in the face of adversity that things begin to change, that you begin to change. With enough disgust, desire and determination to change your life, you’ll start saying, “I’ve had it. Enough of this. No more. Never again!”

Here’s where the miracle begins. “I’ve had it. Enough. No more. Never again.” These words and these thoughts really rattle the power of time and fate and circumstances. And these three things, time and fate and circumstances, all get together and say, “Okay. Okay. We can see that we have no power here; we’re facing some major resolve! This guy’s not going to give up. He’s had it. He’s done with all this nonsense. We’d better step aside and let this guy get by!” Inspiration through disgust.

A lot of people don’t change themselves. They wait for change. These poor unfortunate folks accept their defeats and wallow in their self-pity. Why? Because they refuse to take control of the situation. They refuse to take control of their life, their career, their health, their relationships, their finances. They refuse to take responsibility and get sufficiently disgusted to change it.

If you are disgusted, if you are in need of some change, if this book finds you in the middle of your own personal slump, then I have some words to offer. Your present failure is a temporary condition. It is only a temporary condition. You will rebound from failure, just as surely as you gravitated into failure.

One time, when I was in the midst of a bout of failure, somebody suggested that I should tell myself, “This too shall pass.” I firmly believe that you’re only given as much as you can handle, as much negativity, as much failure, as much disappointment. This too shall pass, if you grasp for a new beginning. You need to pull yourself up and move back into the world with a plan.

As foolish as it might sound, you should be thankful for your current limitations or failures. They are the building blocks from which to create greatness. You can go where you want to go. You can do what you want to do. You can become what you want to become. You can do it all, starting now, right where you are.

A father talks about his daughter. She’s gone through some pretty tough times, and as he tells it, she’s a pretty tough person. He has a unique way of describing his daughter’s situation, though. While most parents would be frantic, even for their kids who are grown and gone, this man just smiles and says that his daughter is like a frog in a jar of cream: She keeps kicking and kicking and kicking, and pretty soon the milk will turn into a lump of butter and she’ll be able to jump out. That’s an interesting illustration of tenacity, because that’s how it really works. You’ve got to keep trying and trying and trying. You’ve got to have enough resolve to do it until.

Some of the most inspiring success stories have started with failure. Longfellow started in failure. Michelangelo started in failure. Lincoln started in failure. Rod Serling wrote 40 stories before he had one that was accepted. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper that felt he had no talent. Richard Byrd crashed his plane on his first solo trip before he became one of the world’s greatest explorers. And the success stories continue.

Be grateful for your adversity. At the same time, make sure that it’s working for your future, not against you. Make your failures give birth to great opportunity, not prolonged agony. Make your disgust lead to inspiration, not depression. The world will willingly sit by and let you wallow in your sorrows… until you die broke and alone. And here’s what else the world will do. The world will step aside and let you by, once you decide that your present situation is only temporary. The doors will open once you decide to get back on your feet and make your mark.

You have to care. In your own enlightened self-interest, give a run at adventure. Keep your eyes firmly set on achievement. Don’t settle for mere existence and self-pity. Make a commitment to excellence. And remember, it is your challenge, your own personal challenge, to use all your gifts and skills and talents and knowledge to survive and succeed.

--by Jim Rohn

“The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is — a miracle and unrepeatable.”
--Margaret Storm Jameson

“The next time it begins to rain… lie down on your belly, nestle your chin into the grass, and get a frog’s-eye view of how raindrops fall…. The sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and popping back up like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world.”
--Malcolm Margolin

“The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness.”
--Percival

“Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles.”
--Bob Richards

This is the first in a 3-part series of articles.

Here is a familiar scenario for all of us; you may even be going through something like this right now: You have an exciting goal in mind, you’ve done your homework, you think you’re amply prepared… but things just don’t work out. You’ve probably had times when you thought you were doing what you were supposed to do, but you were misinformed. You thought you had it all laid out, but it just didn’t work. You burned the midnight oil day after day after day, but it didn’t seem to help. You couldn’t seem to change the end result.

These are the times when you have to be your own best cheerleader. And there are two ways to keep yourself encouraged.

Number one: Take responsibility for the missed opportunity or the misrepresentation. Learn from the fact that even though you made the best presentation possible, your client wanted it a different way. Be prepared for the letdowns that happen every so often. Know that this lost opportunity just set you up to take advantage of the next one. Realize that you can make the necessary alterations next time. Make the changes that will make the difference. Study your mistakes and learn from them. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes, simply acknowledge them and learn from them. Remind yourself that you’re smarter than your bank account leads you to believe.

Encouragement practice number two: Remind yourself that you’re bound to get better. Don’t get down on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s the next opportunity that matters, not the last one. The last one matters only in that you must learn from your mistakes. But the next one gives you the opportunity to show that you have learned from your mistakes. You can do it better next time. You just have to practice. Keep trying until. Until what? Until you’ve got it down.

If you figured out what went wrong last time, then you know how to make it right next time. If you figured out what it was in your presentation that didn’t work, don’t say that next time. If you figured out that the reason you didn’t close the deal this time was because you didn’t have all the facts and figures in place, have all the facts and figures in place next time. Don’t beat yourself up for messing up. Pat yourself on the back for figuring it out.

You need to encourage yourself. You need to pump yourself up. You need to be your own cheerleader. Why? Because you can’t wait and hope that someone else will come along and cheer you up… make you feel better… tell you that you’ll do better next time. You have to rely on yourself. You have to have faith in yourself and your ability to figure out what works and what doesn’t. You have to have the inner belief that everything you’re doing, you’re doing for a positive outcome in the future. You have to encourage yourself with future successes.

When you miss an opportunity, are unprepared for an opportunity, or suffer a setback while realizing your goals, you need to encourage yourself by immediately getting back into line.

There’s an old cowboy saying, “Fall off a horse seven times and you’re a real cowboy.” If you fall off a horse, get right back on. If you fall off track, get right back on. If you fall away from your disciplines, get right back to them. If you fall out of habit, get back into the habit. Something goes wrong, do what you can to make it right.

If you fall off… get back on. If you fall off the horse, that is, the horse of habits or disciplines or progress, get back on. It may be hard. It may be a bit frightening. But get back on. Keep your resolve alive and active and well. Cheer yourself on to victory. You can do it.

--by Jim Rohn

“There is no security in life, only opportunity.”
--Denis Waitley

“Pa, he always said a man had to look spry for himself, because nobody else would do it for him; your opportunities didn’t come knocking around, you had to hunt them up and hog-tie them.”
--Louis L’Amour

“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.”
--Stephen Covey

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
--Milton Berle

Some years ago I went into the studio and recorded a 56-minute video for teenagers called Three Keys to Greatness. Although my focus was for teenagers, the principles I shared certainly apply to adults as well.

Recently I was asked to list these three things using one to two sentences for each. Now for your benefit here they are again.

1) Setting Goals. I call it the view of the future. Most people, including kids, will pay the price if they can see the promise of the future. So we need to help our kids see a well-defined future, so they will be motivated to pay the price today to attain the rewards of tomorrow. Goals help them do this.

2) Personal Development. Simply making consistent investments in our self-education and knowledge banks pays major dividends throughout our lives. I suggest having a minimum amount of time set aside for reading books, listening to audiocassettes, attending seminars, keeping a journal and spending time with other successful people. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says you will be in five years the sum total of the books you read and the people you are around.

3) Financial Planning. I call it the 70/30 plan. After receiving your paycheck or paying yourself, simply setting aside 10 percent for saving, 10 percent for investing and 10 percent for giving, and over time this will guarantee financial independence for a teenager.

If a young person, or for that matter an adult, focused on doing these three simple things over a long period of time I believe they will be assured success!

--by Jim Rohn

Have you ever walked into a room and couldn’t remember what you went there for? Have you ever grasped the hand of a potential client and then when the handshake broke, the name seemed to disappear from your memory? Or have you ever left a prospect and as you drove away remembered a key point that you should have shared with them?

Of course you have... we all have. However, I have some great news for you. Your memory is nowhere near as bad as you may think it is. Some time ago, I was a guest at a radio station in Waco. The disc jockey wrote a 50-digit number on a sheet of paper and told his listening audience and then played a three-minute song.

As the listeners enjoyed the song I memorized the 50-digit number. When the song was over we went back live on the air and I handed him the paper. I then proceeded to recite the number forward and then I said it backward. The disc jockey looked at me in utter disbelief, and stunned, he said, “Ron... you are incredible!” I looked him straight in the eye and replied, “You know... you are right!” I said, “Jay, the greatest computer ever created does not come from Dell or Gateway. The greatest computer ever created does not sit on the assembly line of a computer factory. Instead, you and I are the greatest computers ever created. And yes... you are right. I am incredible... but so are you.”

The human memory has the ability to hear a 100-digit number or more once and then repeat it forward and backward. It has the ability to memorize a Shakespearean play word for word or memorize the stats of every baseball player for the last 100 years. And the human memory has the capability to meet 100 people in 20 minutes and recall every single name!

Now, the question is, are you doing these things? If not, the reason is simply that you have not been trained to. Two thousand years ago a Greek named Simonedes developed a memory method called loci. With this method, Simonedes numbered locations in his home. He started in the doorway and then logically proceeded around his home. He reviewed these items so many times mentally that if you asked him what was number 25, he could instantly tell you what piece of furniture that number corresponded to.

These 25 objects were actually mental files for Simonedes. Then, if he had a list of items he wanted to recall, he would place them mentally on these objects in his home. Let’s say that you are a professional who wants to give a speech without notes. Simply turn the key points into pictures and then file them to your “house files.” When you are called upon to speak, simply mentally walk through the house and give your talk without notes.

For example, I gave a one-hour keynote in Atlanta at a homebuilder’s conference. I wrote my speech out the night before. The first thing I wanted to do was talk about the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. So I visualized the book on my front door and then mentally walked through my house and gave the one-hour talk without notes! That can work for you as well. Anything that you want to recall, simply turn it into a picture, place it on your house files and get ready to be amazed! YOU are the greatest computer ever created!

--by Ron White

“Discover twenty key people with whom you resonate favorably and can do vast amounts of business.”
--Mark Victor Hansen

“Networking is simply the cultivating of mutually beneficial, give and take, win-win relationships. It works best, however, when emphasizing the ‘give’ part.”
--Bob Burg

“It’s not who you know. It’s how well you maintain your Rolodex®.”
--Patricia Fripp

“Network continually—85 percent of all jobs are filled through contacts and personal references.”
--Brian Tracy

It has been estimated that we each have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of yours are negative? Sometimes you have to do a mental spring-cleaning to get rid of those negative thoughts that have become ingrained attitudes. Stopping self-destructive thoughts is like stopping any other bad habit—it takes time and effort.

Among the most effective ways to do this are visualization and affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements about yourself that you repeat over and over in your head until they are programmed into your subconscious.

Visualization is mentally picturing yourself the way you want to be. You’ve heard the old saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, the reverse is also true: “I’ll see it when I believe it!” Affirmations and visualizations may not feel true at first—they may not even be true! However, they can become so.

Consider what happens when you tell yourself repeatedly, “I’m lousy at remembering names.” There will never be any improvement there. Therefore, if you catch yourself saying it, stop and immediately say, “I’m good at remembering names.”

Consider the effect of telling yourself, “I’m feeling pretty good today.” “I can lose 10 pounds.” Or, “I am good at getting people to see things my way.” Anything you say to yourself repeatedly will actually influence your reality.

Writing down your affirmations and putting them in some handy place—above your desk, on your bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car—will help keep them in mind as well as in sight. Use affirmations and visualizations to project what success will feel and look like. Imagine, in as much detail as you possibly can, how you feel as the boss singles you out for exceeding your quota, or how the audience hangs on your every word during your speech, or how your confident presence causes heads to turn everywhere you go.

To enhance your charisma and persuasion (while making others feel good about themselves), you can apply the very same techniques by turning them outward. Begin thinking positive affirmations about people you work and live with.

For example, “Bob seems much calmer and patient of late. I wonder what has changed in him.” During your next interaction with Bob, you will most likely remember your positive thought about him and start your conversation with, “Bob, I’ve noticed a change in you. You seem really kind and patient while counseling your new employees recently and I admire that. How did you acquire this wonderful characteristic?”

Bob would likely respond with a smile and a story about a book he found, a consultant he hired or a seminar he attended. Regardless of his reply, you have sincerely complimented another person, put out a positive thought and begun a new habit of approaching others using “appreciative inquiry”—finding the good in another person or situation first, instead of finding fault or flaws.
Criticizing is easy, and sometimes becomes habit, but retraining your mind to find the positive attributes in yourself and others will win you friends, increase your income and make you feel better about being a better you.

--by Tony Alessandra

Miss a meal if you have to, but don’t miss a book.

Some people claim that it is OK to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can if you search long enough, but there is a better way.

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something.

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It’s all available—all you have to do is go to the library. And there’s probably a library in every neighborhood.

Some people read so little that they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven’t read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don’t read won’t help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs $6 or $7. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.

“All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them.”
--Charles Caleb Colton

“If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears.”
--Glenn Clark

“If you want to get out of the pit, stop digging.”
--Ernesto Santos-DeJesus

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
--Hermann Hesse

“The only way things are going to change for you is when you change.”

“Crud!”

His hand hit the dashboard as he said it. “I can’t stand this car!”

That about sums up Michael Jones’ life—crud. And… he can’t stand it.

Forty years old, a wife of fifteen years he doesn’t know how to connect with, and two kids he barely knows. Add to that a boring job that doesn’t challenge him and hardly pays the bills. In a word: crud.

Where had his life gone? Out of college, he and his wife, Amy, had been so filled with dreams. Their lives were ahead of them and nothing seemed impossible. They were full of potential and wanted to do so much. But now they were nowhere near where they had hoped to be.

Michael loved Amy, but it just wasn’t what it could be. They had grown apart through the years, and he had no idea how to fix it. The kids are great, but again, there was just no connection with them like he thought “normal” families should have.

And his job... definitely not what he wanted. A man his age making $40,000 a year with no upside? This was hardly what he had imagined for his life. It was what it was, and it seemed like he was stuck—stuck with a dead-end job and poor relationships. This wasn’t the success and happiness he and Amy had planned for.

But his life was about to change...

This car is the worst, he thought as it convulsed and finally died. Going about 30 miles an hour when it stopped running, he guided it as it coasted to a stop along the road.

He was on his way to a sales call and he had never taken this road before. It was a long, winding road that acted as a shortcut between two major roads. Not many houses on this road, he observed.

After the car rolled to a stop, Michael got out and walked around the car. It wasn’t as though he would be able to tell what was wrong from walking around; he knew zero about cars. He knew how to put gas in it, turn the key over, and that was about it. No smoke, he thought, and that had to be good.

He popped the hood and looked at the engine. All the wires seemed connected. All the caps were on. He didn’t have any idea what to do.

I should have taken shop class in high school, he thought.

Michael reached inside his jacket for his cell phone. He figured he would call a mechanic friend he knew and see if he could get some help. He flipped the phone open and saw the worst—no cell coverage there!

“Just my luck,” he said out loud. “They can put a man on the moon and clone a sheep, but they can’t put a cell site up where I need it.”

He looked around, trying to decide which way to start walking. Up ahead about 200 feet was a bend in the road, and he couldn’t see what was farther on, so he decided to go that way, just hoping there might be a house beyond the bend.

As he walked, he kicked the gravel along the road.

Frustrated, alone, and stuck. That’s how he felt right now. About this situation and life in general.
As he turned the corner, Michael came across something he had never seen in real life before. Sure, he had seen many in magazines and on TV, but never something like this with his own eyes.

Nice pad. Michael found himself standing in front of the most beautiful home he had ever seen. Home may not even be the right word for it. Right at the roadside was a huge gated entrance. The large brick and wrought-iron fence stretched at least 500 feet along the roadside. And the gate was at least ten feet high. Behind the gate was a house that had to be over 10,000 square feet. It was a white plantation style that had twelve two-story pillars across the front—which made sense since the sign at the side of the gate said, “Twelve Pillars.” It was magnificent. Michael stood in front of the gate for a few minutes, just looking in awe at the structure.

Finally, he snapped back to reality and realized that he had to get his car fixed. He didn’t see any other houses nearby, but he didn’t know how to get to the house in front of him either.

Just then, he saw an old man in white overalls emerge from what looked like a workshop just to the right of the driveway. The old man walked toward the gate.

When he got about twenty-five feet from the gate the old man spoke, “Can I help you, young man?”

--by Jim Rohn

“People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.”
--Stedman Graham

“Don’t be disquieted in time of adversity. Be firm with dignity and self-reliant with vigor.” --Chiang Kai-Shek

“The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the keynote of my life. It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.”
--Helen Keller

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.” --Aristotle

Lying to yourself is one of the worst lies we can tell. First, when we lie to ourselves it affects our attitude and our ability to communicate with others. Second, acting like ourselves is more powerful than trying to act like someone else. That’s why honesty is more effective than mirroring personality profiling or other strategies that seek to forge a false bond with clients.

The top 10 percent of salespeople know how to steer clear of dangerous assumptions and lies that the mediocre tell themselves in business. 90% of sales people fall prey to dangerous lies that keep them from succeeding. That’s why I’ve itemized the 4 most lethal lies I’ve witnessed salespeople telling themselves. Some items on the list may seem obvious to you. And that makes them worse.

Treating Prospecting as Something You’ll Outgrow Eventually

After hitting their targets again and again, some find it tempting to start looking at prospecting as something they don’t need to do anymore. Incredibly, sales trainers often hear stories about seasoned salespeople who say they’re too experienced to prospect… or that cold calling is beneath them. That’s crazy! Prospecting is the lifeblood of a successful sales strategy. It’s how you constantly cultivate new business opportunities and grow your client base. Without including this as a fundamental component of your regular business habits, you could be putting your career at serious risk. Everyone needs to prospect… no matter how successful they are. To be effective at prospecting, you need to have more than a system for attracting qualified buyers. You also need a sales funnel that’s three times larger than what you need in sales. Stuck for ideas on where to find prospects? Check out Chapter 4: Exhibit 4.1 for 16 ideas that will keep your funnel full all year long from Honesty Sells (Visit www.HonestySells.com to get your copy)

Believing in the Adage “Nothing Personal… It’s Just Business”

Big mistake. Successful sales professionals will tell you that in business, everything is personal and further we believe that if you are serious about your career you should take it personally! People buy from people they like and trust. And that’s personal! It’s true. In essence, when a client chooses one salesperson over another, what they’re really saying is that—other things being equal—they like one better than the other. Great sales records are built on likeability and trust. Likeability is personal. Establishing and maintaining great personal rapport is how you build trust between yourself and your clients.

Treating Any Prospect as if It’s a Sure Thing

Remember Benjamin Franklin’s sage advice—nothing is certain in this world other than death and taxes. In sales, no matter how great a particular prospect may look to you, things can change in a hurry. Even after a contract is signed, a sale can still fall through. I once saw more than $60,000 vanish into thin air in Plano when a tornado blew through the Texas headquarters of my prospect… while the contract was still being finalized by the legal team. In sales, the most volatile time is the time between when you receive a verbal go-ahead from a prospect and when the contract is received. That’s when anything can happen. So count your deals only as 100 percent in your pipeline once you have a signed contract and a purchase order.

As a buyer, my husband Chris and I have had two real estate contracts fall through in the last year after they were signed, but before the closing dates. It’s never over until the money is received.


Believing “My Success Is Unrelated to My Attitude”

Tennis pro Chris Evert was once quoted as saying:

“The thing that separates good players from great players is mental attitude. It might only make a difference of two or three points over an entire match, but how you play those key points often makes the difference between winning and losing. If the mind is strong, you can do anything you want.”
Colleen’s father, Ted Francis (a now retired but career sales professional), is noted as saying:
“Suck it up! It’s all in your head!”
Both are true.

Ensuring an honest relationship with your client means starting with yourself and your own attitude.

All top-ranked salespeople share this point of view. If you ask them—as we have, repeatedly—what they do that makes them so successful, they’ll answer: “It’s my attitude!” Successful salespeople love what they do. They love the companies they work for, the products and services they sell, and the clients they serve. They also take personal responsibility for ensuring that all of these points remain true. By our measure, they live by four simple rules for being honest with themselves:

Nobody Can Choose Your Attitude for You

If you’re waiting for someone else to come along and motivate you, you will wait forever. Never let others take control of your thoughts. Only you can develop a better attitude for yourself. In trying times, the only way to improve your circumstances is by adopting a positive outlook. No matter what extraordinary sales techniques you learn during your career, these will fail you if you don't believe in yourself, your products, and your market.

The People Around You Are a Direct Mirror of Your Attitude

Attitude is contagious. It’s amazing how individuals who consistently display a poor attitude are the same people who expect their family, coworkers, friends, or employees to remain upbeat. Remember: You become who you hang out with. Think of it as the law of human magnetism.

Maintaining a Good Attitude Is Easier than Regaining One that’s Lost

If you already have a good attitude, great! Do everything you can to maintain it. Read positive books and listen to motivational tapes. Stay away from the news first thing in the morning and get rid of people in your life who are bringing you down. Sure, it’s not always easy, but you will thank us for this advice when you are celebrating as the top sales rep in your company next year.

On the other hand, if you have difficulty expecting the best from yourself and others, don’t give up. Remember item number one on this list—only you can choose your attitude, so it’s up to you to change it.

To achieve your maximum potential, you must first be honest with yourself. Prove your integrity with your words and actions. Find time to prospect every day. Remember that all business is personal. Take it personally so you improve faster. Don’t treat any prospect as if it’s a sure thing. Nothing’s certain. And absolutely everyday work on your attitude. It absolutely affects your sales results.

“Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.”
--Brendan Francis [Behan]

“We must fight our fear to forge ahead and leave the safety of the ledge.”
--Rick Beneteau

“When boundaries are present, there is fear—when wholeness and unity is recognized, fear cannot exist.”
--James A. Ray

“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
--George Herman “Babe” Ruth

Don’t you just hate it when people make excuses for their failures? So do I. But do you know what I hate even more? Finding myself making excuses for my failures! I have a policy that I try to live by: No excuses.

Here are some thoughts on a “No Excuses” policy.

People will respect you. When you say that there are no excuses, that you blew it, and that you take full responsibility to make the situation right, people will be astounded (since very few people make no excuses) and they will come to a greater respect for you.

You will find yourself taking greater responsibility. When you know that your policy is to have no excuses, there will be less room for error because you will be doing everything that you can to make sure the job gets done!

You will become the go-to person. When someone wants something done, they will turn to you because they know that they can count on you to perform. And they know they won’t get any excuses! This will improve your level of success, and that is exactly what you are aiming for, right?

Practice up: “You’re right. There is no excuse for that. I will fix it immediately.” Refreshing!

--by Chris Widener

It has been estimated that we each have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of yours are negative? Sometimes you have to do a mental spring-cleaning to get rid of those negative thoughts that have become ingrained attitudes. Stopping self-destructive thoughts is like stopping any other bad habit—it takes time and effort.

Among the most effective ways to do this are visualization and affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements about yourself that you repeat over and over in your head until they are programmed into your subconscious.

Visualization is mentally picturing yourself the way you want to be. You’ve heard the old saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, the reverse is also true: “I’ll see it when I believe it!” Affirmations and visualizations may not feel true at first—they may not even be true! However, they can become so.

Consider what happens when you tell yourself repeatedly, “I’m lousy at remembering names.” There will never be any improvement there. Therefore, if you catch yourself saying it, stop and immediately say, “I’m good at remembering names.”

Consider the effect of telling yourself, “I’m feeling pretty good today.” “I can lose 10 pounds.” Or, “I am good at getting people to see things my way.” Anything you say to yourself repeatedly will actually influence your reality.

Writing down your affirmations and putting them in some handy place—above your desk, on your bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car—will help keep them in mind as well as in sight. Use affirmations and visualizations to project what success will feel and look like. Imagine, in as much detail as you possibly can, how you feel as the boss singles you out for exceeding your quota, or how the audience hangs on your every word during your speech, or how your confident presence causes heads to turn everywhere you go.

To enhance your charisma and persuasion (while making others feel good about themselves), you can apply the very same techniques by turning them outward. Begin thinking positive affirmations about people you work and live with.

For example, “Bob seems much calmer and patient of late. I wonder what has changed in him.” During your next interaction with Bob, you will most likely remember your positive thought about him and start your conversation with, “Bob, I’ve noticed a change in you. You seem really kind and patient while counseling your new employees recently and I admire that. How did you acquire this wonderful characteristic?”

Bob would likely respond with a smile and a story about a book he found, a consultant he hired or a seminar he attended. Regardless of his reply, you have sincerely complimented another person, put out a positive thought and begun a new habit of approaching others using “appreciative inquiry”—finding the good in another person or situation first, instead of finding fault or flaws.

Criticizing is easy, and sometimes becomes habit, but retraining your mind to find the positive attributes in yourself and others will win you friends, increase your income and make you feel better about being a better you.

--by Tony Alessandra

Miss a meal if you have to, but don’t miss a book.

Some people claim that it is OK to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can if you search long enough, but there is a better way.

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something.

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It’s all available—all you have to do is go to the library. And there’s probably a library in every neighborhood.

Some people read so little that they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven’t read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don’t read won’t help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs $6 or $7. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.

“All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them.”
—Charles Caleb Colton

“If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears.”
—Glenn Clark

“If you want to get out of the pit, stop digging.”
—Ernesto Santos-DeJesus

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
—Hermann Hesse

I was sitting in the gate area waiting to board a flight to Chicago, reading a chapter from "127 More Secrets Of Direct Mail."

Then it happened.

I got to number 123.

It grabbed me by the lapels of my sports jacket.

It really throttled me.

It caught me by surprise.

It wasn't an entirely new concept for me.

It was the words. It was the language. It was exceptional because of its brevity.

Simply brilliant!

These words will surely linger for a long time, like a burning ember.

Look, if you're an entrepreneur or a professional sales person you might want to type these words on a 3 x 5 card and get it laminated. You do not want to forget this sales tip or these powerful words.

The plane's pulling back from the gate and we're now headed to Chicago, and I'm writing this feverishly, so I can capture the essence and the power of what I just read.

It's so simple--why didn't I think of stringing these three words together?


Here's the secret # 123.

"Don't sell. SOLVE!"

Let me repeat this for you, "Don't sell. SOLVE.

So you might be wondering what's involved in the SOLVING PROCESS?

Don't talk and tell, ask questions and listen.


It's that simple.

Based on my observations most salespeople do not ask quality sales questions.

It's been said, you can tell the quality of your sales questions by the quality of the responses
you get.

This is the ultimate sales tip and you don't ever want to forget it.

"Don't sell.SOLVE."

--by Jim Meisenheimer

“People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.”
—Stedman Graham

“Don’t be disquieted in time of adversity. Be firm with dignity and self-reliant with vigor.”
—Chiang Kai-Shek

“The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the keynote of my life. It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.”
—Helen Keller

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.”
—Aristotle

“The only way things are going to change for you is when you change.”

“Crud!”

His hand hit the dashboard as he said it. “I can’t stand this car!”

That about sums up Michael Jones’ life—crud. And… he can’t stand it.

Forty years old, a wife of fifteen years he doesn’t know how to connect with, and two kids he barely knows. Add to that a boring job that doesn’t challenge him and hardly pays the bills. In a word: crud.

Where had his life gone? Out of college, he and his wife, Amy, had been so filled with dreams. Their lives were ahead of them and nothing seemed impossible. They were full of potential and wanted to do so much. But now they were nowhere near where they had hoped to be.

Michael loved Amy, but it just wasn’t what it could be. They had grown apart through the years, and he had no idea how to fix it. The kids are great, but again, there was just no connection with them like he thought “normal” families should have.

And his job... definitely not what he wanted. A man his age making $40,000 a year with no upside? This was hardly what he had imagined for his life. It was what it was, and it seemed like he was stuck—stuck with a dead-end job and poor relationships. This wasn’t the success and happiness he and Amy had planned for.

But his life was about to change...

This car is the worst, he thought as it convulsed and finally died. Going about 30 miles an hour when it stopped running, he guided it as it coasted to a stop along the road.

He was on his way to a sales call and he had never taken this road before. It was a long, winding road that acted as a shortcut between two major roads. Not many houses on this road, he observed.

After the car rolled to a stop, Michael got out and walked around the car. It wasn’t as though he would be able to tell what was wrong from walking around; he knew zero about cars. He knew how to put gas in it, turn the key over, and that was about it. No smoke, he thought, and that had to be good.

He popped the hood and looked at the engine. All the wires seemed connected. All the caps were on. He didn’t have any idea what to do.

I should have taken shop class in high school, he thought.
Michael reached inside his jacket for his cell phone. He figured he would call a mechanic friend he knew and see if he could get some help. He flipped the phone open and saw the worst—no cell coverage there!

“Just my luck,” he said out loud. “They can put a man on the moon and clone a sheep, but they can’t put a cell site up where I need it.”

He looked around, trying to decide which way to start walking. Up ahead about 200 feet was a bend in the road, and he couldn’t see what was farther on, so he decided to go that way, just hoping there might be a house beyond the bend.

As he walked, he kicked the gravel along the road.

Frustrated, alone, and stuck. That’s how he felt right now. About this situation and life in general.

As he turned the corner, Michael came across something he had never seen in real life before. Sure, he had seen many in magazines and on TV, but never something like this with his own eyes.

Nice pad. Michael found himself standing in front of the most beautiful home he had ever seen. Home may not even be the right word for it. Right at the roadside was a huge gated entrance. The large brick and wrought-iron fence stretched at least 500 feet along the roadside. And the gate was at least ten feet high. Behind the gate was a house that had to be over 10,000 square feet. It was a white plantation style that had twelve two-story pillars across the front—which made sense since the sign at the side of the gate said, “Twelve Pillars.” It was magnificent. Michael stood in front of the gate for a few minutes, just looking in awe at the structure.

Finally, he snapped back to reality and realized that he had to get his car fixed. He didn’t see any other houses nearby, but he didn’t know how to get to the house in front of him either.

Just then, he saw an old man in white overalls emerge from what looked like a workshop just to the right of the driveway. The old man walked toward the gate.

When he got about twenty-five feet from the gate the old man spoke, “Can I help you, young man?”

-- by Jim Rohn

“Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.”
—Brendan Francis [Behan]

“We must fight our fear to forge ahead and leave the safety of the ledge.” —Rick Beneteau
“When boundaries are present, there is fear—when wholeness and unity is recognized, fear cannot exist.”
—James A. Ray

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
—George Herman “Babe” Ruth

Don’t you just hate it when people make excuses for their failures? So do I. But do you know what I hate even more? Finding myself making excuses for my failures! I have a policy that I try to live by: No excuses.

Here are some thoughts on a “No Excuses” policy.

People will respect you. When you say that there are no excuses, that you blew it, and that you take full responsibility to make the situation right, people will be astounded (since very few people make no excuses) and they will come to a greater respect for you.

You will find yourself taking greater responsibility. When you know that your policy is to have no excuses, there will be less room for error because you will be doing everything that you can to make sure the job gets done!

You will become the go-to person. When someone wants something done, they will turn to you because they know that they can count on you to perform. And they know they won’t get any excuses! This will improve your level of success, and that is exactly what you are aiming for, right?

Practice up: “You’re right. There is no excuse for that. I will fix it immediately.” Refreshing!

--by Chris Widener

How dramatically we can change our results is largely a function of imagination. In 1960, it was a technological impossibility for man to travel into outer space. Within 10 years, however, the first man stepped out onto the surface of the moon. The miraculous process of converting the dream into reality began when one voice challenged the scientific community to do whatever was necessary to see to it that America "places a man on the moon by the end of this decade." That challenge awakened the spirit of a nation by planting the seed of possible future achievement into the fertile soil of imagination. With that one bold challenge, the impossible became a reality.

—The same principle applies to every other area of your life!—

Can a poor person become wealthy? Of course! The unique combination of desire, planning, effort and perseverance will always work its magic. The question is not whether the formula for success will work, but rather whether the person will work the formula. That is the unknown variable. That is the challenge that confronts us all. We can all go from wherever we are to wherever we want to be. No dream is impossible, provided we first have the courage to believe in it.

--by Jim Rohn

"Good friends are good for your health."
-- Irwin Sarason

"It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction. Fear secrets acids; but love and trust are sweet juices."
-- Henry Ward Beecher

"We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific concrete, individualized unique."
-- Benjamin Jowett

"It may be possible to incorporate laughter into daily activities, just as is done with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day."
-- Michael Miller

Millionaires have more in common with each other than just their bank accounts - for some millionaires, striking it rich took courage, salesmanship, vision and passion. Find out which traits are most common to the seven-figure bank account set, and what you can do to hone some of these skills in your own life.

1. Independent Thinking

Millionaires think differently. Not just about money, about everything. The time and energy everybody else spends attempting to conform, millionaires spend creating their own path. Since thoughts impact actions, people who want to be wealthy should think in a way that will get them to that goal. Independent thinking doesn't mean doing the opposite of what the rest of the world is doing; it means having the courage to follow what is important to you. So, the lesson here is to forge your own way, and let your success drive you to financial spoils - rather than doing it the other way around and trying to chase the money.

Just look at David Geffen. A self-made millionaire with $4.5 billion to his name in 2009, this American record executive and film producer was college dropout, but made millions founding record agencies and signed some of the most prominent musicians of the 1970s and '80s. Although he didn't take what many assume to be the usual path to success, his tireless work ethic and sense of personal conviction about artists' potential allowed him to rack up a sizable fortune.

2. Vision

Millionaires are creative visionaries with a positive attitude. In other words, wealthy people not only have big dreams, they also believe they will come true. As such, wealth seekers should set lofty goals and not be afraid of uncharted territories.

Bill Gates, the world's richest person in 2009, did just that. The American chairman of Microsoft is one of the founding entrepreneurs who brought personal computers to the masses. Gates jumped into the personal computers business in 1975 and held on tight, creating Microsoft Windows in 1985. When consumers began to bring computers into their homes, Gates was ready to profit from this new age.

3. Skills

Writer Dennis Kimbro interviewed successful people to determine the traits they had in common for his book, "Think and Grow Rich" (1992). He found that they concentrated on their area of excellence. Millionaires also tend to partner with others to supplement their weaker skills. If you don't know what you are good at, poll friends and family. Use training and mentors to refine your strong skills.

4. Passion

Billionaire investing guru Warren Buffett says "Money is a by-product of something I like to do very much." Enjoying your work allows you to have the discipline to work hard at it every day. People who interact with money for a living, bankers for example, often love creating new deals and persuading others to complete a transaction. But finding your dream job may take time. The average millionaire doesn't find it until age 45, and tends to be 54 (on average) before becoming a millionaire. Kimbro found that millionaires tried an average of 17 ventures before they were successful. So, if you want to be rich, stop doing things you don't enjoy and do what you love. If you don't know what you love, try a few things and keep trying until you hit on the right thing.

5. Investment

Millionaires are willing to sacrifice time and money to achieve their goals. They are willing to take a risk now for the opportunity of achieving something greater in the future. Investing may include securities or starting a business - either way, it is a step toward achieving great financial rewards. Start investing now.

6. Salesmanship

Millionaires are constantly presenting their ideas and persuading others to buy into them. Good salesmen are oblivious to critics and naysayers. other words, they don't take "no" for an answer. Millionaires also have good social skills. In fact, when writer T. Harv Eker analyzed the results of a survey of 753 millionaires for his book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" (2005), he found social skills were more important than IQ. Just look at Donald Trump. His fortune has fluctuated over the years, but his ability to sell himself - whether as a TV personality or as the force behind a line of neckties - has always brought him back among the ranks of celebrity millionaires.

The ability to communicate with people is essential to selling your idea. Contrary to the traditional view of salesmen, millionaires cite honesty as an important factor in their success. If you want to be a millionaire, be
an honest salesman and polish your social skills.

Becoming a millionaire is not a goal that can be achieved overnight for most people. In fact, many of the world's richest people built their wealth over many years (sometimes even generations) by making smart but often bold decisions, putting their skills to the best use possible and doggedly pursuing their vision. If you can learn anything about millionaires, it's that for many of them, their riches are not necessarily what most sets them apart from the rest of the world - it's what they did to earn those millions that really stands out.

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house."
-- William Makepeace Thackeray

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it."
-- William Feather

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts…take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature."
-- Marcus Aurelius

"Will and I could hardly wait for the morning to come to get at something that interested us. That's happiness."
-- Orville Wright

If you have read my articles or heard me speak, you know that I always come down to action. We need to act if we are going to be successful!

Yet, our success starts long before our actions. In fact, our success begins in our thoughts.

The process is that thoughts become actions and actions produce results. So the equation starts with the thoughts. So the key to success is to start with and control the thoughts that we have. Good thoughts become good actions become good results.

But there is this predicament we have as humans. It is this “battle” we have with our thoughts. Thoughts of depression, negative thoughts, thoughts of fear, etc., constantly creep into our minds and cause us to act in certain ways that are going to produce the antithesis of the kind we want that will produce success.

So what can we do to win the battle with thoughts? Here are a few main points. Apply these immediately and then constantly and you will be on your way to winning the thought battle.

Guard your mind. Pretend that behind that forehead of yours is a very precious thing – your mind – because it is precious. If you had a storehouse of gold in your house, you would hire an armed guard to stand watch and keep all the bad guys out. Yet, many of us let any old thing come into our minds.

We need to keep the bad thoughts, the negative thoughts, O-U-T! Now when I say this, I mean both the ones that start in our heads and the ones that come from external sources.

Proactively place good thoughts in your head. Just like a garden, where you weed, or pull the bad stuff out, and plant, put the good stuff in, so we do the same thing with our thoughts. Buy tapes and music that will produce good, happy thoughts in your head! Watch TV programs and videos that put good thoughts in your head!

Avoid the naysayers. They are all around you. You work with them, you live near them – some are even in your family! Whatever you do, do not let them affect you with their negative thoughts. Spend as little time as you can with them (unless it is your spouse or kids – then you need counseling!).

Act on the positive thoughts that you do have. When a positive thought comes into your head, act on it! This will begin to produce a “bridge” between what you think and how you act! This will then make that transition even easier as time goes by!

Four key ideas to win the thought battle:

- Guard your mind.
- Proactively place good thoughts in your head.
- Avoid the naysayers.
- Act on the positive thoughts that you do have.

Go forth and Win the Battle!

--by Chris Widener

"Habits are like comfortable beds; they are easy to get into, but difficult to get out of."
-- Denis Waitley

"Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits."
-- Mark Twain

"Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding."
-- Harvey Mackay

"You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, 'I release the need for this in my life'."
-- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn't matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later, I'm a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect.

It is not the lack of money - banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity - America, and much of the free World, continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history. It is not the lack of books – libraries are full of books – and they are free! It is not the schools – the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisors.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more... and on and on it goes.

So my suggestion is that when giving the choice of "easy to" and "easy not to" that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, "easy"; but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines.

--by Jim Rohn

1. Health Enough To Make Work A Pleasure.

2. Wealth Enough To Support Your Needs.

3. Strength To Battle With Difficulties And Overcome Them.

4. Grace Enough To Confess Your Sins And Forsake Them.

5. Patience Enough To Toil Until Some Good Is Accomplished.

6. Charity Enough To See Some Good In Your Neighbor.

7. Love Enough To Move You To Be Useful And Helpful To Others.

8. Faith Enough To Make Real The Things Of God.

9. Hope Enough To Remove All Anxious Fears Concerning The Future.

--by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What each of us is doing this minute is the most important event in history for us. We have decided to invest our resources in this opportunity rather than in any other. It is helpful to remember this when we consider the passage of time.

As the years pass, I am acutely aware that the bird of time is on the wing. At my fiftieth high school reunion, I saw old people who claimed to be my former classmates. We all had big name tags printed in capital letters so we wouldn't have to squint with our reading glasses on trying to associate the name with each well-traveled face. It was only yesterday that I was really enjoying high school. What had happened to the five decades in between? Where had they flown?

To the side of the bandstand, where the big-band sound of the late 1940s and 50s blared our favorite top-ten hits, there was a poster with a printed verse for all of us to see. I read the words out loud:

"There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

“One of these days is Yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.

“The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds; but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn. This leaves only one day: Today.

“Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities - Yesterday and Tomorrow - that we break down. It is not the experience of Today that drives us mad, it is remorse and bitterness for something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, live this one full Today."

Malcolm Forbes believed the important thing is never to say die until you're dead, and he lived that example to the hilt. It is, as we realize when we suddenly attend our fiftieth high school reunion, a short journey. But it also is difficult to be depressed and active at the same time. So get active! And make today your best day ever!

--by Dr. Denis Waitley