CHANGE YOUR AFFIRMATIONS AND YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR FUTURE

"I will only get fatter even I exercise."

It's quite sad to hear this all the time. I believe that all of us have goals and dreams that we want to achieve. We want to feel attractive and well-received by other people.

The issue lies with the words that we speak to ourselves.

Isn't it time to start taking control of the way we speak and our thoughts? Are you really serious about moving towards your goals and dreams? It is possible when you start training your subconscious mind to work with you rather than against you.

You will be amazed at the rate of positive results you will achieve by making this simple change.

Always remember that the thoughts you have bring about energy. You always act and move toward your dominant thoughts and images you have in your mind. If your present mental pictures are not bringing you closer to your goals, it is time to use affirmations to change them.

An affirmation is a positive phrase that you speak to yourself repeatedly until it enters your subconscious mind.

Imagine for a minute that you're a sales rep. Until recently, you have been speaking repeatedly to yourself how much you dislike calling your prospects. Since energy follows thought, you just wasted one hour of productive timing where you need to call your prospects. You will feel miserable for the rest of your day too.

Since your future depends on this job, you need to put an end to this negative self-talk. You might try an affirmation like "I am an excellent sales rep. I convert every call into sales."

Here are 3 tips on how to use affirmations effectively:

1. Make sure you are not agitated

An affirmation works best for a calm and balanced mind.

2. Believe in yourself

Your subconscious will not accept any suggestion that you do not believe in. That is the key reason why people are not getting the results that they desire. Select a statement that's both empowering and believable and you'll get much better results.

3. Back it up with actions

You need to convince your subconscious mind by taking actions straightaway.

If you are disciplined enough to use these three tips in your affirmations, you will be impressed with the amount of results you can achieve with it.

-  Edmund Yeo

BASIC TECHNIQUES ON HOW TO BECOME A EFFECTIVE PERSON

Personal development focuses on the growth and progression of a person over time. Personal development allows people to explore their mind and discover ways to improve themselves and their quality of life. The personal development advice in this article will help you if you wish to improve yourself.

In order to create a serene environment for yourself you need to take steps to organize your home. Many people start off their day poorly because they are not able to find their keys or their phone in the morning. Taking the time to place those items in a designated spot can help you start your day off well and thus create a better day for yourself.

There are many kinds of musical instruments that you can focus on in order to improve yourself, and you don't have to feel guilty for this. Research shows that people who take the time to learn music, often have better attention spans, concentration, and critical thinking skills. So your musicality can translate into improved work!

A good first step for someone seeking to help themselves is to go to the self help section of a book store. There you can find a plethora of different books on different self help topics and find the one that suits your particular situation the best. This allows you to get exactly the help you need.

Find out what you want to do with your life. If that seems too far fetched for you, try figuring out what you want to do within the next 5 years. Make goals for yourself and set out to achieve them. Live your life to meet the goals you have set for yourself.

Reach for goals that may be just out of your grasp. You will never grow unless you challenge the limits of your comfort zone. You do not want to try and attain impossible goals, but you do want to attempt new things. This is the only way that you will change and grow as a person.

To ward off feeling sluggish and fatigued, increase your activity level while reducing saturated fats. These fats from fried food and some meat products will cause poor circulation by blocking arteries and smaller blood vessels. Keeping your heart rate up and restricting these foods creates a faster thinking, more ambitious feeling within you.

When you are stressed out, exercise. This is one of the best remedies to relieve stress. Exercise releases adrenaline that stress produces. You will find that almost immediately you will feel better. Try to make exercise an enjoyable daily habit and not a chore, so you can get into the routine of it.

If you are interested in personal development, look for a way to upgrade your computer skills. You will make yourself more marketable in the job market, if you can gain more skills in computer applications that are commonly used in businesses. Skills in word processing and spreadsheet usage, are always sought after by businesses.

One of the best ways to succeed at making big changes is to break it down into smaller and more manageable components. Don't set out to run a marathon! Start out with running a mile, or a 5k. If you don't set goals that are within easy reach, you're bound to get frustrated by the lack of progress.

Sometimes achieving personal growth is as simple as finding that negative voice in your head, and silencing it. Sometimes that voice will tell you that you are not good enough, that it is simply not possible, or that now is a bad time. Silence it and you will see progress.

One way that you can help yourself manage stress is to do progressive muscle relaxation. One at a time, tighten a muscle, hold it, and then release the tension. This helps to relax your body, and studies have shown that people's mental stress goes down as their body tension is reduced.

Be someone that people want to come to for information and ideas. You do not want to always be the one asking questions. This will provide you room to ask questions when you have them. A two way relationship with peers is better than having to go down a one way street.

When trying to tackle a long to-do list, one effective technique is to do the most difficult tasks first. That way, you get the hard stuff out of the way early in the day. That sets up a great mood of success for the rest of your day and you will feel free to tackle all the relatively easy things that are left. Remember, do the tough jobs first for maximum productivity.

As you can see from the list of tips, you can really make a difference in how you feel about your life. It takes a lot of work, a lot of planning, and tons of patience, but it is all worth it in the end to become a better person. You will get more out of life.

 -  Harry888

RESHIFT YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOU WILL FIND A SOLUTION

We all face challenges and problems on a daily basis – small ones and not so small ones; from work related issues with our colleagues and clients and our superiors to family stuff: our spouses, kids and relatives. There seems to be a never ending "supply" of hurdles that we are being exposed to. So obviously life cannot be about avoiding hurdles altogether but rather how to overcome them in as fast and as effective a way as possible.

What is it that we usually do when faced with a challenge? We put all of our energies into it. The bigger the challenge the more we invest. We of course have the best of intentions as we want to resolve the issue as fast as possible and go about our life. But in many, many cases all we achieve is feeling stuck and overwhelmed as the more energies we put into the situation the bigger it seemingly gets. We might end up so frustrated and helpless that we won't be able to see the forest for the trees anymore.

There is a way out. Shift your energies. Shift your focus. Help your mind so that it can help you. Withdraw completely (or at least as best as you can) from the problem at hand. Leave it behind and focus on something completely different. What I do, is go on a walk.

Every day I go on a power walk. When I say power walk, I truly mean a power walk! No "window shopping" or leisurely stroll through my neighborhood – wherever that might me, given how much I travel. Once I start my walk I am on a focused and determined journey. I get my heart rate up and get my sweat glands going. It is exercise. I engage all of my body. My legs of course and my arms. I breathe in and out consciously. Why am I doing so you might ask? I want to break myself free from the paradigm that I was in when focused on my work and problem.

Pulling myself away from the task gives my mind a break and my own tension levels go down. Because I start relaxing when on a walk, I untie all the bound energies from before. My mind feels free. With this new set-up my mind starts to shift its focus on the solution and while I am walking I am connecting with the universe seeking a result. It is amazing to observe how our mind works and how it can subconsciously tap into the cosmic energies and create solutions. Usually, by the time I am finished with my walk, I have a solution or at least a part solution to my problem.

Even if I am not faced with a hurdle, I go on my daily walks. It is a routine I do not want to miss. It is my way to show my mind and my soul how grateful I am for everything that I have and experience and that I appreciate life, myself and the solutions that I can come up with if and when needed.

Try this out and you will be amazed about the results. Let me know how this is working out for you!

-  By Q Moayad

Standard Strategies On Exactly How To Turn Into An Effective Individual

Self-help is written off by many, to be ineffective or a waste of time. In all likelihood, these critics have not paid attention to specific techniques that exist to pursue an organized, directed self-help strategy that slowly but surely, yields results. This article lists some of these techniques in a straightforward, easy-to-implement manner.

Create goals that are personalized to you. You aren't going to respond well to goals of another because only goals that are personalized to you take your personal limits and capabilities into consideration. If you are able to create goals tailored to you specifically, you will find it easier to reach your goals.

Have plenty of self confidence in yourself. Never doubt that you cannot do what you set out to do. Set realistic goals for yourself, things that are attainable and within your reach at the time being. This will ensure that you never feel self conscience and always have plenty of self confidence.

There are seven secrets to success that will bring about true personal development. They are direction, destination, action, reaction, acceleration, completion and reproduction. Go through these steps in order and make sure to share your success with others. Success becomes more real to you when you can talk about it.

While the term "self-help" implies that you can lift yourself up by your bootstraps and better your life, you can never do this alone. Seek out colleagues and mentors who can give you wisdom or advice during crucial times. By building a network of supporters and asking for help, you make yourself better-equipped to help yourself and survive troubled situations.

Reach for goals that may be just out of your grasp. You will never grow unless you challenge the limits of your comfort zone. You do not want to try and attain impossible goals, but you do want to attempt new things. This is the only way that you will change and grow as a person.

If you focus too much on what you want, then you create reasons for why you can not have what you want. This leads you to dwell on your weaknesses. Rather, focus on gratitude. Every day, you should focus on things that you are grateful for. This will give you a positive outlook on life.

There are many ways to learn life's lessons. One way to learn a lot while at the same time helping others is by listening to other people. We all need a listening ear, and too many people do not take the time to do this. Listen to others, and you will see a marked difference in your life.

In order to really feel the need to make a change, you have to be dissatisfied with your current situation. If you are not completely happy, you will want to improve yourself. Just be cautious so that you are not getting down on yourself, but are giving yourself motivation for change.

Use mistakes as growing points. Everyone is going to make mistakes from time to time, whether serious or very minor. Either way you go, you have to understand that these mistakes are sometimes inevitable, and the best thing you can do is learn and grow from these mistakes, using them to propel yourself forward instead of letting them hold you back in frustration and discouragement.

Do not just react to whatever events are taking place in your life. Always be proactive more than reactive. Being reactive is just accepting whatever events come your way. Being proactive isn't just taking care of those events but also creating your own events. Stay away from just being reactive and become proactive.

A great personal development tip that every single person should really follow is to love yourself. Really truly love the person you are no matter what aspects of yourself you are upset with. Understand that you can always better yourself, but before you can, you have to really love yourself.

Don't forget to make time for yourself. No matter what your ultimate goals are, if you fail to make time for yourself you're most likely setting yourself up for failure. No one can do everything that life requires of them (work, family, etc) in addition to striving for personal goals if they don't periodically take a break and breathe.

When seeking to develop your personality it is key that you seek purity as opposed to seeking eloquence. In other words, seek wisdom that is both pure and powerful. Learn how to discern the difference between truth and wickedness. Once you distinguish the difference between these two you will gain both understanding and insight.

The tips listed in this article, provide a wonderful way for anyone to start a wonderful journey of self-help. Common criticisms of the self-help process are often rooted in the thought of self-help as unorganized or nonsensical; however, by using the tips in this article, you can direct yourself in a calculated manner and achieve your personal goals of improvement.

-  By Harry888

ARE YOU COMMITMENT SHY?

I have often wondered why it is difficult for people to make committments. Could it be that after going through some disappointments in life they are scared to try again? Or they think they can never be ready to commit to a particular situation e.g. marriage?


Let us look at marriage for instance. Some people have been bruised and hurt in relationships more than once and the scars have probably not totally healed. They now become so scared of trying again that the mere mention of the word 'marriage' to them have them breaking out in cold sweat.


How do you convince such people that marriage is not really as bad as they think? That they could meet really nice people abd begin again? It is a tough call but through prayers and encouragement they could heal enough and be more careful in making another choice. It just takes for people to be patient and understanding with each other. There is nothing love cannot heal.


Another instance could be business deals. A lot of people go into businesses with very high hopes and expectations. Yes, they have made their plans and set their goals. They even probably had their ideas burning in their minds fiercely and won't rest until these ideas are brought to light. In all their preparation, the sky is not just their limit but their stepping stone. The excitement of finally taking off is palpable. And then, one error of judgement with that business partner whom you so trusted and everything goes down the drain. All your efforts, plans etc just get blown off!


How do you start again? How do you even recover enough to think of starting again.


But like a fighter, you should rise again and be more determined. If you were able to come up with those ideas before, what makes you think you won't be able to come up with better ones? The good side is that you are more experienced than the first time and now know which pitfalls to avoid.


So, my friend, don't lose hope over every disappointment you have. Get up and take the next bold step that will make you better thna the first or second time. If every inventor gave up after sveral tries, then we would not have so many of the things we take for granted.

HOW TIME MANAGEMENT PLAYS A ROLE IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

Time management is very crucial in determining successful completion of many works. Time management is very important when you have a lot of things to accomplish within a specific time period allotted. We know that time and tide waits for none as they are not in our hands. So the better way is to adjust our activities as per the time constraints. It asks for higher efficiency to finish a particular task with the deadline allotted. Only if you can finish the work in a limited time period, you will be treated as efficient in managing time. You should be able to manage the time as per your convenience and not the other way round. Suppose a manager in a company has a lot of things to perform as part of his job within 6 or 7 hours of work time in a day and if  he does not care about proper time management to accomplish each of the task assigned to him, then he may have to accept himself as an inefficient manager and finally loose his job. This does not mean that unrealistic deadlines can be met with proper time management. Proper time management means reducing the inefficiency at the maximum and meet the optimum utilization level of work. So that maximum output can be given within a short period of time. Importance of time management can be best analyzed in the context of people who say that they do not have time and always busy leading to avoid some appointments.

In the case of children, they need to have proper time management to study various subjects on a daily basis. It necessitates allocation of time periods for performing specific task. Otherwise all the work will be in a chaos manner leading to utter confusion. A proper time management can help you to finish the very important one at first and will ensure that you will give greater importance to all activities depending upon their priorities. The importance of time management lies in the fact that it can aid you to enhance your productive capacity and gain maximum result out of your efficient work.

Most of the successful people are able to possess a good time management schedule in their life and work. That is the key to their success and hence to so many whoever wish to follow their strategy. If you follow a proper time management in your life and career, it is no doubt that you too can be a successful person. Hence the importance of time management is very much related with the success or failure of a person. If you are successful you will be a happy person and vice versa. So it can affect your happiness and a healthy life. You will be appreciated and recognized by your friends and colleagues for your best strategy of time management towards success. If you consider all these aspects of time management and its consequences in your life, you will also pursue behind time management in your daily life. Hence the importance of time management is very big in your life.

- By Loo

YOU CAN NEVER FIND TIME, BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS MAKE TIME

I am sure that you cannot remember the last time you had too much time on your hands. If you are like most people, you try to squeeze so much into your schedule every day, it is physically impossible to complete everything written into your daily planner.  You mistakenly believe that you will somehow find the time to carry out the myriad of activities you schedule into your day. Nothing could be further from the truth, you will never find time for anything; each hour just seems to blend into the next throughout your day, as you lose yourself in your constant cycle of busyness. This on-going cycle, where you are trapped on a hamster wheel of constant activity, which delivers very little productivity, sees you spin your wheels faster and faster every day, but nothing meaningful ever seems to happen.   

The only way to break free from this cycle of constant busyness and your perception that there is not enough time in your day, to carry out the activities that will allow you to achieve your dreams, is to accept that you will never find time in your day to carry out these actions, but you can always make time. Until you schedule time into your dairy every day to carry out the activities you know are necessary to change your life, so that you can create the future you desire, something amazing will happen, NOTHING! You will remain trapped on a treadmill of discontent, where every day just blurs into the next and nothing ever improves.  

 Activity Log

One of the easiest ways to make time and gain a few extra minutes or even hours in your day, is to use an activity log to measure how you spend your time over a seven day period. At the turn of each hour, spend a minute or two, exploring how you spent the last hour. Do not analyse anything at this point, only record the facts, in your activity log. This exercise should take about 2 minutes each hour.

At the end of the week, take a look at your activity log and access how much time you waste each hour, speaking on your phone, distracted by emails or Text messages on your smart phone, chatting to or shooting the breeze with people, watching TV, listening to the radio or using your time to carry out activities that are not the best use of your time. Everyone that has invested the time to carry out this exercise properly has astounded themselves, with how much time they waste each hour on unnecessary activities.  

After the week has passed and you have identified all the areas where you are wasting time. Make a list of these and strive to avoid wasting any time during your day on them, from that moment on. Create a new habit of sitting for a few seconds at the end of each hour, throughout your day and ask yourself this simple question: "Was the last hour the best use of my time"? Becoming more effective and efficient is not an event, it is a process. Practice this new success habit, of evaluating your time usage every hour and within a very short time, you will stop investing your most valuable possession, namely your time into wasteful activities.    

 Meet your Future Today

After mastering your time, as described above, by striving to only allocate your time to high priority activities, throughout your day, you can then introduce an additional concept to help you achieve your goals. I have called this concept "Meeting your future". This is a really simple strategy, where you sit once a week (I find Sunday evening best) and schedule time into your dairy each day to carry out the really important tasks necessary to achieve your dreams. This is effectively time you schedule to carry out the prioritised activities, which over time will help you to unlock the future you really want.

Yes these are meetings with yourself, but as they are the most important meetings every day, (what could be more important than your happiness and dreams) nothing must be allowed to disturb you during these meetings. Your phone must be off; your door must be locked and you must give 100 % attention to this activity.

Since I have learnt new productive time habits, where I aspire to only invest my time into high priority activities and have introduced the concept of "Meeting my Future" into my life, I have accelerated my growth and am living a fulfilling and meaningful life. I want the same for you, give these simple concepts a try, they will completely change your life.

- By Andrew Horton

ARE YOU GENERATING REVENUE EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY?

In the business world everyone wastes time. You need to get in the habit of generating revenue for your company every minute of the day. List what you have done every half an hour today. How much of that generated revenue for your company - my point is made!

If you are a senior manager, or even the owner of a company, you need to practise getting into the mind set of using all your time to do things that generate income. If you don't set the example then no-one else under you is going to either. Why are you paid? So that you can create at least three times that sum for your employer - otherwise why would they want to employ you?

So how do you change your habits and lifestyle to bring more focus into creating cash. The easiest way to start is to write down 3 actions every morning over breakfast that you are going to do today to generate cash for you personally, or for your employer. Start with the easiest action first, complete it and then the others won't seem so difficult. I write the actions on my business cards and then cross them off when they are completed. It's a great, positive feeling.

Now that you are developing the habit of thinking about revenue generation set a target for this week. Let's say you want to do ten things that will bring £1000 into your company. Again list the actions you need to do, some may even be delegating actions to others more knowledgable than you, but you can still claim credit for starting the action. Let everyone know what you are trying to do. It's amazing how infectious the skill to create wealth is. Quickly others will start to follow your example.

When that happens organise a weekly stand up meeting to agree the key cash generating things you will do as a group this week. Then do them.

Now that you are in the cash generating habit let everyone know about your successes. Success breeds success and promotion will follow as your managers realise what a star you are.

So here is the formula for wealth success:

1. Every day write down and complete three cash generating ideas
2. Once you see how easy it is to achieve this, start to increase the ideas and get in the mind set of not wasting time on non revenue generating activities.
3. Broadcast your successes and gather around you other like minded cash generators.
4. Now work as a team each day. More cash generators create more success.

The first million is the hardest, then it gets easier!

Mike Ellacott worked in ICI for 32 years in senior management positions. He maintained brand leadership for ICI Perspex for many years across Europe. He has advised many companies on how to sell effectively. He has been an Enterprise Advisor in schools and colleges in the UK for 8 years.

- By Aliva

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

A lot of people, simply don't know how to grow as an individual and improve on their personal development. You have to remember it's just like anything else. You have to educate yourself if you hope to be successful. So keep on the look out for new information, at all times, that can help your personal development, like the tips in this article.

Make sure that you are well-rested. Working when you're tired can really make your work sloppy and it can really stress you out. It's also not that great for your health. Sometimes, even taking a nap can clear your head and you can be more productive after you wake up.

Never allow a bully to strip you of your dignity. Do not let their opinion shape your self-image. Shrug it off and focus on your positive traits. However, when bothered by negative personal comments from associates, look honestly at what could be a valid corrective criticism and evaluate its worth. If the criticism is valid, accept it; if it's not valid let it go.

If you are working on personal development, learn how to take responsibility for things that go wrong in your life. You are the person who made the choices in life that may not have been the greatest. Once you are able to accept responsibility for your actions, you can better change them.

A great personal development tip that every single person should really follow is to love yourself. Really truly love the person you are no matter what aspects of yourself you are upset with. Understand that you can always better yourself, but before you can, you have to really love yourself.

For greater self-awareness and a boost of spirits, enjoy or create art. It is so easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and limit our view of the world. When you look at truly stunning and magnificent art, it opens your awareness and helps you envision possibilities. When you create art, it awakens playful and childlike aspects of your mind.

Surround yourself with nature and seek out the healing power in enjoying God's creation. His creation testifies to his name, and being in nature is very soothing and comforting. Take a nature walk, sun yourself in the backyard, enjoy a swim, go bird-watching; whatever you choose to do, incorporate this into your plan.

Knowing where you should improve is valuable information to obtain. Many times you may see that your attitude needs adjusting or your values may be shifting. The key here is to recognize whether or not these are based on a lack of fundamental principles within. Get to the deeper roots of your development and assess the needs you may have at your core.

On your path to personal development, always remember to ask questions. Never take information at its face value. Everything comes with an intention and a deeper meaning. Investigating new information allows you to compare it to your base values and current knowledge, which will help you decide whether it's useful to your purposes.

Make yourself take a new risk. It is often very hard to take that first step to make a change, but by allowing yourself to take a new risk it will show you that you can do it and you can make changes in your life. Once you succeed with this new risk, it will give you the motivation to keep taking new risks.

If you find that you feel as if your life is missing something or need some kind of an outlet for stress, consider taking up a hobby. It will fill your time with something productive instead of worrying about the things in your life that you cannot fix. These hobbies can be just about anything that interests you.

Personal development is a process of setting goals and working hard to achieve them. Some goals are their own rewards. Other goals could use a more tangible reward, though. Rewards for success should be set in advance so they can be used for motivation. Treating yourself to a reward for a goal achieved also reinforces the success of the personal development process and encourages you to stick with it.

Identify areas for improvement. When you take the time to analyze areas in your life that are within your control and need improving, you acknowledge that you are not perfect, and you give yourself permission to change. It also helps to write down what you want to change and keep it in a place where you can't help but often see it.

Get up early. The earlier you rise, the more time you have to start your day in a relaxed fashion instead of running around trying to squeeze all your morning activity into precious few minutes. An early wake-up time allows you to leisurely walk into the day instead of racing into it. That will make you feel calmer and more in control of your day.

Small changes over time make for big rewards in the end. The tips above outline a few of the changes that we can make to garner those rewards. All we have to do is to start working on them. Soon, the negatives that characterized our lives will be a thing of the past.

- By Harry888

MAKE A GOOD CONNECTION

Shortly after meeting, Barb says to Jane, "My husband doesn't talk to me," and Jane replies, "Neither does mine." The two of them have an instant bond.

A man and woman start chatting one day in the coffee room at the place they both work. They quickly discover that they both hate their jobs. Their instant connection blossoms into an intimate relationship.

Within five minutes of the first hello two women discover they had both survived sexual abuse as children. Wow! Each knows the other understands and they bond.

A man and woman are medicating their unhappy lives in a bar when they meet. They connect through their unhappiness and their liquid solution.

The problem with all these scenarios is that the connection is formed at the level of the wound, problem or complaint. It's hard to build a happy, productive life or a lasting relationship on a complaint. People get tired of their marriages and their friendships. They often feel stuck and sometimes hopeless.

The question is, how do you avoid starting relationships based on a negative focus? If you are already caught in one, is there a way to fix it?

At the heart of any solution is language. Pay attention to your language, the questions you ask and how you respond to questions from others.

It doesn't matter that Jane and Barb's husbands have been poor communicators; what matters now is how they get their husbands talking again and rebuild their marriages… or leave them and move on.

It doesn't matter that the two people in the bar have used alcohol to medicate their unhappy life situations; what matters now is how they will turn their lives around so they can be happy. Getting out of the alcohol sinkhole is only one piece of that.

If someone starts a conversation with a complaint, respond with a question or comment around solution. If they engage in discussing solutions, you are off to a good start in a new relationship. If they insist on focusing on the negative, move on.

If you are in a relationship based on a negative, use language, the only tool you have, to shift the focus. If you fail to steer the relationship into a positive focus, with or without outside help, move on. You have no obligation to stay in a negative, unhappy place.

People often take their more serious complaints and problems to healthcare workers, and the endless stream of people's problems leads many to burn out. Furthermore, the suicide rate for healthcare workers is much higher than in the general population.

The principles I've just outlined, however, apply to healthcare workers too. People come to them with horrendous problems, some dating back to childhood. Often most of them been there too, but that is not where they connect. Yes, they deal with past stuff, but only to the extent necessary for creating a better present and future. They focus on what is needed to restore hope and happiness and achieve whatever other positive outcomes the client seeks. That way, clients get what they want and the social workers don't burn out.

You ought to reflect on how you have used language to connect with others. Do you tend to connect on a positive? Or a negative?

- By Neill Neill

STRIVE FOR SUCCESS ALWAYS!

What's the difference between the average person and the most successful people in our society? The answer to this question has really intrigued me but it has also inspired me to look deeper at the attributes of the most successful people and the key difference between those who just watch from a distance. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that fame, in no way equates to you being a successful human being, neither does having obscene amounts of money or power. These are the perks of successful behavior but those things on their own are not the blue print for success.

Truly successful people are those that are wealthy and can openly and freely bless other people with what they have because their wealth does not own them. Successful people are those who have incredible relationships, in family, in work and amongst their peer groups. Successful people are those who can win the admiration of people without striving to be liked. But most of all successful people are those who live extraordinary lives that are so profound that the rest of world benefits significantly from them being alive!

So how does a person become successful in this way? This only happens when you are operating at your absolute best, at your peak performance! So how do you operate at this level? If you look at any of the top athletes and sports men/women in the world they all have coaches and trainers to push them past their level of good in to the realms of great and beyond into the zone of exceptional performance. Coaches look at the link between training the body and the outcome of their athlete's performance. In the same way to become your best you have to do the same but within your own personal circumstances. The catalyst for everything we do starts in the mind, "what the mind conceives it can achieve!" In the same way that you are what you eat, I would suggest you are what you think and what you believe for your life will come true, because your mind produces what you continually think about.

So what are the top performers doing that the average person does not?

Here is just a very brief example of a few core actions.

 1. Top performers have a plan and a vision for their life and what they want to accomplish years before they achieve what they want. Successful people make up the 3% of the world who plan and write a personal mission statement for their life, with strategic milestone points of what they want to achieve and by which time they will accomplish their goals. In contrast studies have shown that the rest of the world who make up the other 97% do not properly plan their future. This means that even if they think about what they would like to achieve by what stages of their life these thoughts don't go any further. The key difference here is that the plans of the successful people are written down and used to refine and focus the person.

2. Successful people create powerful habits, which lead to success. Habits are actions, things we always do without consciously thinking about doing them. Successful people explore their daily actions, making themselves conscious and aware of the habits they display. They identify those habits, which will help them achieve or get closer to the things they want in the fastest amount of time. Successful people learn quickly what works and what doesn't work and begin to ruthlessly cut out unprofitable and negative behavior from their lifestyle and their daily routine. The key is that for every negative habit they stop, they put a success forming habit in its place; the key here is to never leave an empty space.

 3. Successful people never go it alone. One thing that I've noticed in life is that there is no such thing as the term self-made millionaire; this type of person simply doesn't exist! Every person who is successful has had the privilege of mentors and coaches who can guide and direct them in the direction they need to go and help to sharpen their resources and talents as they improve. This works in two ways, it works to highlight and enhance our strengths and abilities, which we may not be able to give ourselves credit for but in the same way it's an insight into the areas, which we need to build up and improve!

 4. The top performers recognise their uniqueness as their greatest strength. Depending on your outlook in life, you can either see yourself as the outsider, the odd one out or even the freak! But successful people see their individual and unique character and personality as their greatest advantage and No.1 selling point! So many times we can look at our flaws and compare ourselves to others whishing we could be like them, look like them, have their abilities, live their lives! However if the most successful people had thought that way we would never have the societies, the history and the incredible legacy of those who stood out from the crowd and refused to think and be like everyone else! What if Martin Luther King, Lance Armstrong, Steve Jobs and Mother Teresa had just decided to blend in and ignore their unique perspective and their personal contribution in life, how would our world now be?

 ACTION POINTS

 Have a vision for your life – Write down what you want, really explore all the options that you need to achieve your plan. Who will you need to help you, what resources, by what time and where?

Form successful habits and break negative ones – Habits are actions that we practice, so for every fruitless habit practice forming a new habit in its place. For example if you are forgetful, start writing structured lists to remind yourself, put alarms on your mobile phone, put lists on your fridge, in the bathroom, by the bed, in your car! If the habits you want to break are extreme you need to go to extreme lengths to break them!

GET a mentor or a coach – I have an incredible mentor, who has been with me for years, with his help I have achieved the seemingly impossible for my life, remember what appears hopeless to you alone is always achievable when someone else can take some of the weight of the issue, two heads are better than one! So get yourself a good mentor!

You are your greatest and most valuable resource – This is huge! The most successful people are no smarter or any more talented or gifted than anyone else. In fact quite often on paper they are actually less likely to be successful. Richard Branson, struggled all the way through school and is very dyslexic, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both dropped out of college and have both had tough times in business along the way. No one can discredit the phenomenal accomplishments each man has made!

 What unique qualities can you and should you be sharing with the world today?

 What would happen if you stopped beating yourself up over what you can't do and what you do wrong and started enhancing the areas of your life, which you are good at?

I hope this starts to fuel your thinking on what you can achieve with discipline, a forward thinking positive perspective and the right people in your life! I am aware that I am only just scrapping the surface of what contributes to people operating at their peak performance and achieving their absolute best. Are YOU fed up with being held back by fear, self-doubt, struggling with a lack of direction or just need more confidence to be your authentic self and fully enjoy your life? How is your business doing, is it on the mountaintop or in the valley?

- By Luke Havard Coaching

BOOST YOUR SELF ESTEEM

We have all gone through ups and downs with our self-esteem. For many of us, the lows have outlasted the highs. When that happens, it can be hard to pull yourself up out of that funk and put a smile back on your face. That's when you need to shake things up and get that spark back into your life. It is that spark that keeps us going and lifts us up.

Here are some of the best ways to boost your self-esteem and get you back onto the path you want to take!

Stand up for yourself!

In order to have more confidence in yourself, you can't allow others to disrespect you. By letting other people's treatment of you weigh you down, you are giving yourself an emotional punch in the stomach. And a punch in the stomach makes it hard to stand tall. The great lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Write your life mission statement.

When you have a clear-cut mission statement, it can really define the person you are or hope to become. It is an affirmation that you are going to be the best you there is. Write it down and keep it in a conspicuous place so that you can always see it and be reminded of your purpose.

Set your personal goals and start doing them.

Without a clear set of goals, you are going through life without a path. This is a lot like taking a trip without a map. You'll end up lost and frustrated. When you lay out a plan for your life with goals to accomplish along the way, you will feel more fulfilled. When you finally achieve your goals, you will feel more confident in yourself.

Sign up for classes.

Acquiring more knowledge and skills can help build up your self-esteem quickly. Whether it's an educational course at the local college or a cake decorating class at the nearby craft store, adding new things to your repertoire will give you more confidence and just plain make you feel good. It is one more step in giving you control over your own life.

Get out there and take action!

Stop being afraid to take chances. If you are thinking of starting your own business, then go out there and do it! You don't have to fit yourself into other people's dreams. You are free to blaze your own trails. Taking controlled, positive risks in your life can help you feel invigorated and ready to tackle anything that comes your way.

Start socializing.

There are tons of ways to meet new people who share the same interests as you. Join groups and clubs in your area. You can sign up on any social network and find groups of people in your area that focus on thousands of different topics, from knitting groups to book clubs to car collectors. When you are part of a group, you will have a sense of belonging and being accepted.

Volunteer your time.

One of the greatest ways to boost your self-esteem and give back to your community is through volunteering. There are many people in your community who will benefit from the help you can give. There may be a women's shelter you can help with or the local food pantry. When you see gratitude and thanks from others, your own self-worth will skyrocket.

Take that step and come out of the deeps, work on yourself and boost that low morale!

- By Deb Lamb.

Be Proud of You!

Have you ever wondered why bullies succeed? Because we let them!

Do not ever let people define who you are by their own standards. You have to be proud of who you are and stand up tall. A lot of peolpe because of their own insecurity would want to judge you by their own definition of how you should live your own life. That is rather unfair and you would be doing yourself a world of injustice if you succumb to them.

Learn to stand up to them, look them in the eye and tell them you know what you are doing and you are proud of who you are. You may think it will take you a lot of courage to do that but all it really takes is just a lot of self confidence. Refuse to back down and you will be suprised at how easily they will back off. Bullies usually succeed because most times their victims ted to back down and run away. Take a decision to stand up to them every time.

Never ever let people get to you. They cannot pull the trigger if you do not give them the gun!