What is a Successful Life?
November 27, 2009
By James Jolie
How do you define a successful life? Is it becoming a millionaire or a sports champion? Is it finding the cure for an illness? Or is it raising happy, well adjusted children?
Luck is not the factor that determines our success. Success is the realization of your goals. Ask any successful person what they want to achieve in their life and they can tell you exactly what that is.
It is Bill Gates dream that everyone has a computer at home. He became an extremely wealthy man in the process but it is not the money that makes him successful. He has virtually realized his dream.
In fact, if you look at a lot of people that we consider successful, very few were motivated purely by the money. People who are successful usually get a lot of material rewards, which are hard not to be attached to, even when they weren’t the original reasons for them striving for success.
Roger Bannister didn’t break the four minute mile for money, but to prove it could be done. Mount Everest was the mountain Edmund Hilary wanted to conquer.
Mother Theresa wanted to help the poor but she probably never dreamt she would start a charitable organization responsible for helping millions of unfortunate people worldwide. Although she died poor, it was the general opinion that she had been successful in life.
If you are spoiled and lazy, can you be successful? In fact, I would disagree; I would say that dedication, resilience and hard work are the real secrets to success. You need the ability to pick yourself up and start over when things don’t go according to plan.
People who are successful see setbacks as opportunities. To have a successful life, firstly you need to look at what success means to you personally.
Forget about other people’s definition and find your own. You need to be committed to making this work. This may mean putting in longer hours than anyone else. It may mean studying and working at the same time. No matter what you have to do, the commitment and energy to achieve it will be there for you.
It is only when you know exactly what you want to achieve and make that your goal, will you recognize opportunities being offered to you to help you get to your destination.
If you don’t know what you want, how will you recognize when life is giving you a chance? To be successful you need to use a guide and it’s just like using a map to reach a new destination.
Know your destination, how to get there and be determined to do anything to make it.
Whether you are successful or not in life is not your parents’ fault, the fault of your genes or your third grade teacher. Accepting total responsibility for your results in life so far will help you create the life you want.
If you think you can or think you can’t, you are usually right! Henry Ford (1863-1947).
Self Improvement – Achieving Your Dream
November 20, 2009
By Jeff Boo
Are you afraid of change and trying out new things? If you are, do you know why? Is there any past bad experience you had which deter you from taking up challenges and missing out all those rare golden opportunities? Well, if you just too afraid of taking that first step, you should just need to take some time to digest the idea that all things happen to you with a purpose. By allowing yourself to be overcast by the shadow of your past failures will only deny you from achieving what you should deserve in this life. Treat all negative past experiences as your self improvement lessons so that you will become wiser when coming to your next attempt to achieve your dream.
So what does self improvement have to do with achieving your dream? Well, to be successful in life, you need to have what it takes. And with that, I mean you must have those great personalities in you to walk through the uneven path towards your dream. Hence, self improvement is one essential quality you must have to develop those great personalities in you.
1. Self-esteem
You need to develop high self esteem in thyself in order to believe in yourself. Past failures are simply some great lessons learnt and you should be moving on with your adventures. You can only expect others to have the confidence in you only when you have the self-confidence in yourself.
2. Be Positive
How can someone with a negative mindset be successful in his endeavors? Yes, you may still be successful with a negative mindset but you need a lot, and I mean a lot, of luck. Stay positive in facing all challenges in life and believe in yourself that you can do it if you want to. Everyone has problems and this is a fact. The only difference is how you view them and how you are going to deal with them. A person who sees problems positively is actually having a higher chance to solve his or her problem more easily as he or she doesn’t waste the precious time in worrying and complaining.
3. Self-motivation
With great positive mindset, you should develop that self-motivation in you so that your energy will not run out. Are you waking up every morning feeling excited and can’t wait to start your day? Or are you someone who has to force yourself up and drag yourself to work? Yes, that is one difference between a person with self-motivation and a person without any. When you have the motivation, you will develop that passion in you to get you job done. You will not be focusing on the tons of “work” waiting for you to complete, but you will be concentrating on the end results that you will bring about.
4. Goal Setting
If you have a dream, set your goal to achieve it. With all the enthusiasm in you but without a goal, you will only end up hitting against a wall. Set your goal very clearly and set the time as in when you are going to achieve it, then you are all well prepared to set out the journey to achieving your dream.
It takes you some effort, time and great self improvement personalities to achieve your dream. Don’t ever hope that you may one day be attaining overnight success. It will only happen if you are talking about lottery but I suppose we shouldn’t define that as being successful. There are indeed many areas where self improvement is concern and I cannot be possibly mentioning each and every one of them here or this article will become a book. So, start today to explore through the world of self improvement so as to increase your speed towards achieve your dream in life.
You Are Here (and how to get over THERE)
November 18, 2009
by Dr. Joe Vitale
Yesterday I drove into Austin and met with the staff who run my Miracles Coaching program and my Executive Mentoring Program.
I had some exciting news to share with them, and some astonishing news arrived while I was there.
In the morning The Today Show called, wanting information on my forthcoming book, Zero Limits.
That’s pretty big, but not as big as the news that came later.
At lunch I handed out the recently completed bibliography of my life’s work so far — 45 pages of books, e-books, audios, videos, software, fitness formulas, and more — an entire listing of everything I’ve created up to now. The heft of the document alone impressed even me.
But that wasn’t the biggest news of the day, either.
At lunch with the staff, I stood up and told them something that I felt inspired to share.
I put a dot on the whiteboard on the wall and circled it.
“You are here,” I said.
I told them the whiteboard is like the map at the mall where all the stores are listed and a little box says “You are here” to give you your bearings.
“Where do you want to go from here?” I asked.
“Up,” someone said.
“Off the whiteboard itself,” someone else said.
“This is all good,” I went on. “You all want to move up. You want more sales, more results, more wealth. Right?”
They all agreed.
I then put another dot on the board, way up at the top of it, and circled it.
“That represents where you want to go,” I said.
I then asked the key question, “How do you go from where you are to where you want to be?”
They were quiet for a moment, but then began saying things like “Take a straight line,” and “Do one thing at a time,” and “Make more sales calls,” and so on.
“That’s all good,” I said. “Those are all practical answers. But I want you to think in terms of the movie The Secret and my book The Attractor Factor.”
I added, “I’m going to tell you what I think is the greatest secret to manifesting whatever you want.”
They were quiet, not sure where I was going with all this.
“Does anyone want to know what the secret is?” I asked.
They all burst out laughing. They definitely wanted to know.
I pointed at the little “You are here” dot and said, “The secret to getting what you want is to totally appreciate this moment. When you are grateful for this moment, then whatever is next for you will bubble up out of this moment. You’ll be inspired to take action of some sort. That will lead you up. But the only way to get to the upper dot is to live in this dot with gratitude.”
They’ve all heard this before, but I wanted them to truly get it.
I then told them about my Maui friend who says my favorite line these days: “I’m totally satisfied, I just want more.”
That’s the key to success, I explained.
It’s wanting more without needing more.
I went on and on about being grateful, and how it leads to that upward climb. Most of us aren’t happy right now, thinking we will be happy when we get to that other dot. But the great joke is that when you get to the other dot, you won’t be happy. You’ll be looking for another dot on the map. You’ll use unhappiness to whip yourself forward. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Just be happy now.
Out of this now will come the miracles you seek.
The group got the message. They shook my hand. Smiled. Showed light in their eyes. Walked away with a spring in their step.
Now here’s the really juicy part.
I got a phone call right after that meeting. It was Suzanne, my assistant. She almost never calls me, and she knew I was in a meeting. So I knew this call had to be important.
I took the call and to my delight I learned that Oprah’s people wanted my media kit.
And they wanted it by midnight.
Oprah’s folks are considering me as a guest for a show.
Now get this: I was happy in the moment. As I’m happy, the next moment brings it’s own rewards. As I’m happy in that moment, it too gives birth to more joy.
You can do this, too. You may not have Oprah call you, but you will get what is right for you. I explain all of this in the book, Zero Limits. But the essence of the message is this:
All you have to do is embrace the dot that says “You are here” and do what it tells you to do.
And when the phone rings, answer it!
Ao Akua,
Joe MrFire.com
PS – If you want more information on either of my coaching programs, see www.MiraclesCoaching.com and also www.joe-vitale-executive-mentoring.com/info.html. Enjoy the dot.
