Believe in Yourself

Success doesn't come to those who only hope for it, or those who "think" they might be able to accomplish it. You must believe that you can do it, and that you are in control of whether or not you achieve what you desire. Whether you think you can or cannot, you are right. Achievement starts in your mind.
Whatever your goals or desires are, stop your mind from thinking about all the obstacles in the way, and how hard it will be to get there. Think only about getting there, and tell yourself that you will get there. Even if you do not really believe it at first, tell yourself anyway as if you do, and you will find your mindset slowly changing until you do in fact believe you can.
Remember to surround yourself with others that are a positive influence on you. Don't share your goals or desires with those who will only be negative and hurt your belief in yourself. People that think they can't are great at telling you that you can't either. Share with and be around those who also believe in you, and know you are capable of achieving what you desire.
Whatever the mind can concieve and believe, the mind can achieve. Don't limit yourself to only what you think is possible now. Whatever your mind can think up, you can achieve it if you believe that you can. It will take effort and dedication, but you can do it if you focus your mind on believing that you can and doing what it takes to make it happen.
If you find yourself not believing that you can achieve something, try to figure out why you think that. Is it that you have never accomplished something like that before? People accomplish new things every day. Is it that you don't have the skills neccessary? Find out how to get them, or find other people who have them who you can partner with. Whatever your "excuse" there is always a way around it if you look for it.
Practice shifting your mind to belief in yourself and what you can accomplish. Throw out any negative thoughts, and change them to positive ones. Believe you can accomplish anything, and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Success Through Passion

Unless you are Passionate about what you are doing and what you are working for, you will never be successful. Earl Nightingale said "The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment." We cannot be successful in something we do not really care about, or reach goals that do not drive us!
If you are not doing something right now that you are passionate about, take a long look at your situation. What could you be doing instead? Could you change directions and start doing something else? It is never to early or too late to try something new, especially if you are moving into something that you will be passionate about. There are opportunities out there, you just have to look for them.
Some people have never found their passion, or do not know what they are passionate about. If this is you, I encourage you to sit down and discover it. Everyone is passionate about something; sometimes it just takes a little bit of digging to find out what it is. Ask yourself what makes you tick. What do you really enjoy doing? What are your hobbies? When you are the most relaxed, what are you doing or thinking about at that time? If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be? Now, some of these questions could bring about answers that you know just are not going to happen. If you're in your 40's and you've always dreamed of being a professional baseball player, that's probably not going to happen. However, maybe you've wanted to be a baseball player, and you are good at writting. Seek opportunities to write about baseball so you are around what you love and have that passion to make it happen. Search around your passion. Be create and see what other opportunities are out there that have to do with what you are passionate about.
You also need to be passionate about your goals. If you are not driven forward by your goals, they are either too big for your mind to comprehend (see the newsletter on goals), or you are not passionate enough about the results. Whatever you are striving to achieve, you need to focus on why you want to get there. What is the real reason you want to achieve those things? If you want financial success, why? Just wanting more money is not going to drive you enough to succeed. It will never give you the perserverence to keep going when things get tough. Do you want more money so you can be free to do what you want? To be able to spend more time with your family? To not have to worry every month about if you'll have enough money to pay the bills? Those are the things that will drive you. Look for the "reason within the reason".
You need to make sure you are focusing on the passion in your life, both in what you are doing as well as in where you intend it to take you. Without it, there is a slim chance you will ever achieve your goals or reach your true potential. Maybe you will achieve success to some degree, but it will never be what you could have otherwise achieved, and it will be without the joy of the journey and the accomplishment that could have been there had you been passionate about it.
If you don't know what your passion is, discover it. If you do, seek opportunities to incorporate it into your life. Set goals that will drive you. Use passion as your benchmark, and you are sure to find success.






Learning is a Lifelong Process

Mortimer Adler said "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live." In order to be successful, you must realize that learning and growing is part of the process. You must become a lifelong learner.
If you are not a studious person, don't worry. Learning can be a lot of fun if you give it a chance. There are a lot of books and programs out there that make it fun, throw in some humor, and make learning an experience instead of just a task. There are even educational games you can buy for various topics, such as finances.
Remember this: if you are not learning and growing, you are not really doing anything! Who wants to stay stagnant their whole life? Isn't life all about learning, exploring, making yourself a better person and challenging yourself? That's what makes it fun!
Set learning goals for yourself; read at least a book a month, listen to an audio program in your car instead of listening to music. As with any goals, start small if you are not used to doing these things so you can build youself into making it a routine.
Make sure that when you are doing any of these things, you make it interactive and participate as much as you can. Your mind comprehends things and remembers them better if you are doing more than just listening or reading words. When you read, highlight or underline anything that sticks out to you or you want to remember. Keep a journal with all the new things you are learning. If you are listening to an audio program in the car, make it interactive by rewinding and relistening to anything important. Repeat it back to help yourself remember. Try to involve as many senses in the learning process as possible. The more you involve yourself, the more effective it will be.
Learning should be a part of your life forever. By learning, you will not only gain knowledge, but with that knowledge you will gain more confidence and will find more success. Make a goal today of how you will grow in your knowledge, and constantly be looking for opportunities to learn something new.






The Key to Success

Having a positive mental attitude is key to reaching your full potential. “You become what you think about” and “whatever your mind can conceive and believe, your mind can achieve” are not just popular sayings without meaning. It is a fact that if you concentrate your mind on positive thoughts, you will achieve positive results. This includes focusing on your goals and picturing yourself achieving them, visualizing yourself with the things you desire, and so on. It is also true that poisoning your mind with negative thoughts is detrimental to your success.
In addition to the thoughts themselves, surrounding yourself with others who also have positive attitudes is huge. Whoever you spend the most time with is who you will be like. If you are around positive people, you will in turn be positive. If you are around negative people, it is almost impossible to be positive yourself. Spend your time with positive, successful people, and if you are not like them yet, you will be soon. This can sometimes be difficult to do. If you work with negative people, it is hard to avoid them and the negativity they bring. However, make sure you use the time that you can choose who you are with to be around those who will be a positive influence.
For some people these things are easier said than done. Your thoughts are a habit, so if you are in the habit of thinking negatively, you must change that. Habits are not easy to change, so it does take some work to take those negative thoughts, throw them out, and replace them with positive ones.
Whatever it takes to get a positive mental attitude, start working towards it now. Maybe you need to start hanging out with a different crowd. Maybe you need to focus on shifting your mind to positive thoughts whenever a negative one tries to find its way in. It could take a while for the new habit to form, but keep it up and it will happen.
If you’ve never heard it, I highly recommend listening to Earl Nightingale’s “The Strangest Secret”. It is an inspiring classic and talks about having a positive mental attitude and achieving success through your thoughts.
Of course, all this positive thinking does not take away from the fact that you must take action. Think positive, spend time with positive, successful people, and take action towards your goals. If you take theses steps and make a consistent effort, you are sure to achieve them.



Learn to have a positive mental attitude:

“The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale – Book or Audio

Having the Best 2009 Possible

Having the best possible year in 2009 takes a lot of preparation. You can’t just make a few resolutions, have a general idea of what you would like to do, and hope for the best. You must have defined goals and a clear path to follow. Without having clear goals you do not know where you want to go, and unless you know where you want to go, how can you possibly plan how you are going to get there? Imagine getting in your car and driving without knowing where you are trying to get to. You may get somewhere you want to be, but there is a good chance you will not. In addition, not having a clear path or plan, even if you know where you want to go, means you do not know how you intend to get what you want. If you do not know how to get where you want to be, you are just shooting in the dark. You are wishing to get there, but it is mostly based on luck. Now imagine getting in your car and you do know where you want to go, but you have never been there before and you have no idea how to get there. Are you going to just start driving and hope you get there? Of course not. You need directions on the best way to get there in the shortest amount of time. Doesn’t it make sense to do the same thing when it comes to your life?
Another thing that causes people to not reach their goals is that they make too many at once. It’s great to be driven and to have a multiple goals. But when you have too many, you lose the clarity that your mind needs to be able to focus on your goal and reach it. You also cannot do your best when you are trying to do too much, and it is easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged, eventually wanting to just quit.

Focus on one or two areas that you would like to change this year. Is this the year you take control of your health? Your finances? Maybe you want to significantly increase your income this year, and work a little bit harder on eating healthy and working out. Also, don’t set your goals too high. You definitely need to have big goals, but don’t make your short-term goals too far beyond where you are right now. Work in increments towards your long-term goals. Having goals that are too big can also overwhelm you when you feel pressured to reach them in such a short period of time.
You also want to make sure that whatever your goals are, they are measurable. You need to be able to know if you have hit your mark! Many people set goals that are too general, such as “lose weight”, “get in shape”, or “earn more money”. While these are good starting points, they should not be considered goals. How much weight do you want to lose? What do you want to be able to do to consider yourself in good shape? How much money do you want to make per year or month? The key phrase in goals is “How much, by when?”
The great news is that there are tons of amazing tools and programs out there to help you get your goals set and your plans laid out. Check out some of the resources and programs below. These are some of the best out there to help you learn how to be effective in setting and achieving your goals.
With the new year upon us, now is the perfect time to start fresh. Make big goals, believe in yourself, and do what it takes to make it happen. Here’s to an amazing and successful 2009!

Giving

With the holiday season here, I thought it best to talk about one of the major topics during this time - Giving. Why give? We all like to receive, but somehow for most it is a little harder to be on the giving side, especially when things are tight and the economy has an uncertain future. Why is that? I don't believe that it is because we do not care. I don't believe it is because we cannot. Mostly, I think it has to do with habit. We are simply not used to giving the way we were intended to. If you've ever given something that someone really wanted or needed, you know the joy that giving can bring. Giving is an activity that brings some of the best feelings of satisfaction, yet we often avoid it and keep things for ourselves.
Albert Einstein said “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” These words are so true. Everyone is capable of receiving. It takes no special effort. But giving, that takes sacrifice. You are giving something up for yourself so that someone else can benefit. That action creates joy inside of both parties, especially the giver.
People often think that the wealthy are greedy and hoard money for themselves. In most cases, this is far from the truth. Those who are wealthy understand the laws of money, and one of those laws is that money does not flow to the greedy. Those with money are often some of the most generous and caring people in the world. They understand that they must give out of what has been given to them to bless others around them and make a positive impact on the lives of others. In your quest for wealth, this should be one of your ultimate goals as well; to have the opportunity to bless the lives of others through your fortune and your blessings. That is true success.We are all capable of giving something. Maybe it's not money or a physical gift. Maybe it's time, or wisdom, or love. The point is that you are giving something of yourself to bless the life of another person. Everyone is capable of this, and if it's been a while since you have experienced the joy of giving, I strongly encourage you to take the step, make the sacrifice and find a way to bless someone else's life. Start slow if you must, but start. Then keep doing it-make it a habit. Make it something you are used to doing. When you make it a habit to be consistently blessing the lives of others, your life will change as well. You wont regret it.

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

WSJ.com: Commercial Real Estate