Motivation Is The First Step To Success

You will undoubtedly have dreams. Whether you dream of having the perfect house with the perfect car, or you dream of settling down to have a family, even if you dream of retiring by the time you're 40, the one key to success is doing something about it. It may sound obvious but if you dream of retiring before you reach 40 and yet you aimlessly skip from job to job with no hope of progressing a career, it is very unlikely you will achieve your goal.

Set goals and ambitions and write them down on a piece of paper. Make sure that you are always striving to reach those goals. Sometimes it can be difficult to get the motivation you require in order to succeed at your goals but you can use the goals themselves as the motivation you require. Keep your piece of paper on you and if you are beginning to feel downbeat or skeptical about your goals then look at your piece of paper and remember why you are pushing yourself.

Structuring your life in this way, may seem like it loses its spontaneity but that doesn't have to be the case. Find a career you like, set up a business, and have fun doing it but always remember that if a good opportunity crops up you should take it with both hands. It is worse not to try something and not know whether it would have been successful than it is to never try anything.

Presuming you have set reasonable goals you should always be able to see a way to fulfill them. If you set goals that are too difficult you will find it incredibly difficult if not completely impossible to meet your goals. You should try not to alter them if possible, however, we don't know what's around the corner so we can't always plan for it. Don't see this as a failure but take the opportunity to reassess your goals and keep going. 

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"11 Great Reasons why Smiling makes us More Successful!"

First: Our smile shows others people that we are friendly. 
If a stranger approached you and gained eye contact with you and then treated you to a broad smile you will have a fairly good idea that they are being friendly and certainly mean you no harm. 

By contrast we would find it far more difficult to offer trust to the stranger that wears a scowl or unfriendly face features. 

Second: A smile can make people happy. 
When someone treats you to a smile, even a stranger, you usually smile back. For that moment you enjoy a flash of positive communication without saying a word. As you walk through a crowed area such as a main street you can do this hundreds times in a very short period of time. 

When you smile at someone who is not already smiling and they smile back you have brought a moment of happiness into their lives which, who knows, could last all day. 

Third: Smiling is infectious. 
When you spend a lot in the company of someone who smiles a lot you will soon discover that their smile starts to wear off on you. It is hard not to return a smile; most of us do it at a subliminal level without thinking. 

Fourth: Smiling can make you popular. 
Which type of people do you prefer? A person that has a tired and listless face. An expression that may reflect their inner thoughts of boredom and worry? Or, would you prefer someone who is always smiling and shows that they have an enthusiastic passion for life. 

I think for the majority of us the choice would be obvious! 

Fifth: Smiling can help you to make new friends 
In the same way few of us would choice a miserable person for a friend. Lets face it we all want someone who is going to be bubbly and a happy and positive. 

Sixth: A smile is usually returned 
When someone smiles back at you it make you feel good inside. You have just made a short but very positive communication and possibly the first step in the process of getting to know or making friends with someone new.


Seventh: Smiling makes you positive and happy inside.
When you smile it is hard to feel unhappy, negative or sad in anyway. Smiling gives you enthusiasm and drive, it is also habit forming.

Eight: A smile makes you look far more attractive.
You don't see many celebrities or media personalities that are not smiling because if you did it is fairly certain that their popularity would quickly start to drop!

Ninth: Smiling also helps make you memorable to others!
Have you noticed that smiling people are usually far more memorable than those that are not? It is fact that you are 3 time more likely to remember the person that is smiling over the one that is wearing a negative or neutral features.

Tenth: Most importantly, smiling is good for your health!!!
When you are smiling you find whatever you are doing far easier. It releases stress, worry and tension that you may have built up throughout the day. Long term, developing the smiling habit will be one of the smartest things that you can do to improve most aspects of your life.

Eleventh: The effects of smiling can last for hours
Whatever problems and challenges you have in your life, smiling temporary puts them and hold. For a while you forget the problems and become positive, and while you are in a positive state you have far more potential and power to advance and improve your life.

Lastly: Smiling is FREE!
You are never going to run short of smiles and will always have enough to go around. When you weigh up the positive points of smiling it is a no brainer decision to do far more smiling and share them with as many people as possible.

Keep smiling. 

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The High Cost of Doing Nothing

Cost is sometimes a difficult term to define. Here, we are not simply discussing cost as it relates to selling price, but ratheropportunity cost. The web site, "Mentors, Ventures and Plans" defines opportunity cost as "The loss of the next best alternative whenever a decision is made involving two or more options". "Investing in Options" defines it as "Choosing the best alternative means that you can't choose the next-best alternative. Opportunity cost is the next-best alternative that must be sacrificed in order to get something else you want. Opportunity cost can be thought of as the road not taken." Inactivity, ordoing nothing, is usually the highest price paid and is often associated with great opportunity cost. Inaction is usually the worst decision one can make, made from a base of fear.

Many of us will freeze when facing decisions. For some reason, decision making becomes complex, paralyzing and even painful for many people. It should not be this way. Making a decision is simply the act of choosing between alternatives. You must learnto weigh the implications of each possible decision and choose the outcome that is best for you and all others involved. For example, when your telephone bill comes due, you may choose to pay it or not. There are real obvious consequences for both actions. The situation becomes more complex however, when our human emotions enter the picture. For instance; you are offered a new job and must decide to leave your current position and move your family to a new location, hundreds of miles away.

What we often fail to realize, is that delaying important decisions or simply not making a decision at all, are actions that often impact us with the highest opportunity costs and worst case scenarios. Inactivity, or the lack of a decision, is actually a decision made, although one seldom made in our best interests. In this case, we unfortunately transfer over control of our lives to external forces and circumstances. We are now positioned to be at the mercy and decision-making of others. This is not your best scenario. There are often unusually high costs associated with doing nothing. 

Decision making is actually a skill set that can be learned and refined. Like all skills, entering into a new area as a novice requires practice and application in order to see improvement. Keep in mind that you will indeed improve! Start small, with less important decisions involving less than crucial outcomes and gradually make more decisions on matters of greater importance. Soon, you will have few if any issues with making decisions. Learn to start small and work your way up, gradually extending your comfort zone in this area. A by-product of learning these new skills is that your confidence will surely improve as well.

Decision making need not be frightening. Think of it as a process that is your own, shedding any external pressurethat others may be applying. Take your time, get your facts and choose the outcome that works best for you. Do not allow yourself to fall victim to the high cost of doing nothing. 

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How to be the Most Memorable Person at Networking Events

Most of the people I hear from hate networking. They go only because they know they "should," but it's like pulling teeth for them. 

If you've experienced the usual clammy grip of fear when it's your time to introduce yourself, the following may help you feel more at home, make deeper, more lasting impressions, and attract voluntary referrals from many of the other attendees. 

First, if you want to take some of the pressure off, it can help to consider your first half-dozen events to be nothing but practice. 

It helps even more if you go specifically to listen and get to know who's there, rather than to "sell" your own story. So take along your business cards, but dump your nice four-color 12-page brochures. There's a better way to make powerful impressions. 

Here's an example that happened to me on Monday. 

My wife does a lot of work for an NGO here in Japan that helps North Korean refugees, but I have little direct participation, other than running their English language website ( http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com ). 

This past Sunday, we flew over to Seoul for the three-day North Korean Holocaust Exhibition to be held at the Parliamentary building. 

The event started with the usual speeches and ribbon-cutting. Then the main organizers all split off, doing individual interviews with journalists. The regular attendees wandered around viewing the exhibits. And those who were there to gather information or disseminate it began mingling, meeting and introducing themselves. In other words, this turned into a networking event.

I wasn't there to sell anything or to persuade anybody, so I wandered around looking for the people who appeared too intimidated or too shy to mingle. These are the folks who hang back by the wall, or who stand alone looking wistful.
I found two ladies who told me they were doing a paper on refugees, so I led them over to the two main activists (I had exchanged emails with the activists for a couple of years, but had only met them in person minutes earlier).

I walked up, tapped both of the leaders on the arm and said, "Excuse me, but you two need to talk with these ladies. They're doing research on your topic. I think they may be able to help you tell your story." Then I backed away and let them have at it.

Later, I met a German journalist who had just arrived in Seoul as the new correspondent for his publisher. I found out what kind of information he was looking for, then led him over to a lady -- one of the refugees who had managed to escape through China -- and introduced him.

Now, bear in mind, I didn't even know the lady, and neither he nor I spoke any Korean, but I took him over and we tried talking with her anyway. Sure enough, some people nearby stepped right up and offered to interpret. Again, I just backed away and let them work.

Later, these people came back to me, appreciative and wanting more information about our NGO and website.

When you concentrate on giving and on priming the pump, good stuff can flow. People WILL remember you if you go out of your way to spread THEIR name around. Boy will they remember you. 

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Survival

Survival is one of the most demanding and challenging issues that we face as humans!

Survival challenges us through many different issues such as: child abuse, sexual abuse, birth, death, job loss, health problems, low self-esteem, relationship ups and downs, parenting, deceptions, breakdowns, poverty, natural disasters, education, addictions and even our own desires to be strong.

Survival comes in little packages and it comes in enormous boxes. It appears when we least expect it, never letting us prepare for the battle. It hides around corners, waiting to pounce on us. It is constantly testing our inner powers and strength.

To live is to survive and without survival you have no life. Survival is a choice. If you choose to survive, you must fight hard. If you choose to not survive, you will die. Simple!

Survival will change who you are many times. How you deal with your challenge and how drastic the challenge is will determine how much of yourself you manage to keep safe. 

A couple of common phrases that we run into many times in our day is, "Only the strong survive" and, "What does not kill us will only make us stronger". These are very good survival attitudes to practice. We need to be strong to survive. It takes pure GUTS to survive and move forward in any situation. It takes having total control of your thoughts, which is one of your best weapons in the battle of survival. It demands consistent striving to reach your goals, stopping at nothing to meet your destiny.



I emphasize the importance of strength, when battling the war of survival.

To be strong is:

to be able to stand your ground and hold onto your inner beliefs, which will be your best strategy to win the game.
to be born into the survival game without knowledge or understanding of the rules, and still overcome all the obstacles.
to be able to clean the skeletons out of your closet that have been haunting you from your past.
to take control of your life and deal with the monsters, whether it be through telling a story or confronting the monster face to 
to be able to look back at the reasons for your pain and suffering and wave at it as if it were just a car going by.
to be able to smile at a happy memory of a loved one that was taken from you without reason.
to be able to say NO to drugs and misuse of alcohol.
to be able to forgive, forget and let the waters flow under the bridge.
to feel physical pain every minute you are awake, yet be able to smile and ease that pain with positive thoughts.
to look in the mirror and know you are the best, and to believe who you are.
to let go of hate and resentment, when your heart has been deceived or broken.
to push forward when all the negative forces feel like they are pushing you backwards.
to continue tearing down walls of negative thinking, and replace them with positive openness.
to open your heart to another after it was forced to close.
to keep searching for answers to a better you, even when all you want to do is quit.
to look to tomorrow for the sunshine, when the rain refuses to stop.
to give birth to a child, and raise him/her with love and respect.
to embrace growing old and never regretting it.
to study hard and achieve all the knowledge that the world has to offer you.
to not allow the material world to confuse you as to what is really important in life
to be a hugger, not a judger.
to smile when you want to cry.
to Live, Love and Laugh.
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"We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun."

William Glasser

"Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered."

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Learn to face difficulty

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."
-- Seneca the Younger

This is a great quote to both contemplate and to apply to your life.

How often do you hear people complain? Pick a topic-love, friendship, careers, etc. The list of issues that people complain about is endless. You and I are no different. Perhaps we don't complain about each of these things but more than likely there is something that we complain about with great regularity.

Now, sometimes complaints are simply a way to vent some frustration at the moment but we don't really want anything to change in this area. However, more often than not, someone regularly complains about one specific problem

If I had a dollar for every time I heard one friend complain about the difficulty of finding a good man I could throw her a huge wedding bash or perhaps simply buy her a husband in some small third-world country. When I thought about my friend Donna's problem and applied Seneca's quote to it a light bulb suddenly appeared above my head just like in the cartoons!

It was true! Donna is having difficulty finding a good man simply because she isn't daring enough. Sure she goes out on dates and tries to maintain an active social life, however she holds herself aloof emotionally. She isn't willing to dare much at all when it comes to her heart-so how can she hope that someone else will do so for her? Sure, there might be someone, somewhere, but she is also missing out on relationships, at least friendships, with some really great guys simply because she is too afraid to dare to care.


That is sad. We all know that love is marvelous but it is also frightening, however we have to take risks in order to experience it fully. Sometimes we might get hurt however more often than not we will find the rewards outweigh the risks. There is no guarantee that is Donna opens herself up and dares to love that she will find the love of her life-however there is certainly a guarantee that a life filled with love is more rewarding than one that is not.

I have another friend who is also afraid to dare. Jeff hates his job. No, that's not exactly right. He loves the work itself but he really hates the company that he works for. He finds the management very difficult to work for (and if even a small percentage of the stories he tells are true then he's right, it is a horrible place to work).

However, every time I suggest he look for a job somewhere else he comes up with some excuse about how difficult it would be. True the job market isn't great, but he's a skilled worker in a high-demand field so I'm sure he could find something. He's doomed his job search before he even started it because he's not daring enough.

It wouldn't be fair to share my friends' examples without pointing to my own shortcomings. Probably the greatest difficulty in my own life is within my marriage and that is simply because I don't dare enough emotionally there. I have become too complaisant and take my husband and marriage for granted. I need to dare more emotionally.

So think about the difficulties in your own life and apply Seneca's rule then decide if you can be more daring! All the best! 

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To Be A Champion Become A Child

Have you ever wondered what successful people have that makes them successful? 

Ever wonder how those champion recruiters in your company manage, month after month, to get the most new recruits, the biggest bonuses, the largest paychecks? 

Well let me tell you a secret. No one starts out as a Champion. Most of them started out like you and me. 

So what is it that makes a Champion different from the rest? 

Champions have an attitude, a mindset that sets them apart from the rest. But most of these qualities are not exceptional. 

Indeed each and every one of us possesses these qualities when we start out in life. But somewhere along the way we tend to lose them and diminish our own potential. 

To be a Champion, you must first become a Child! Let me explain: 

1. Champions are Willing to Learn. 

Children come into this world with an innate desire to learn, to understand the world around them. 

They are like sponges observing and absorbing every fact, every reaction. Because they know that their very survival depends on it. 

One of the most important, and oft-repeated, qualities we need to succeed in business is a willingness to learn - to be teachable. 

To become a champion, you must be willing to educate yourself or be educated, to read about, learn and absorb all the things you need to know, even if they are completely new to you. 

If you don't, you are doomed to failure from the start. 

2. Champions are Willing to Act 

Have you notice how children completely geared towards action? As soon as they learn a new skill, they want to put it into action.

Champions are the same. They put their newly learned skills to use, taking concrete steps to improve their performance, so they can take their business to the next level. 

They know that they must act on what they have learned, even if they haven't perfected it. Which brings me to their next quality.


3. Champions are Not Afraid to Fail

Just as a child picks itself up again and again, every time it falls while taking its first steps, champions are not afraid to fall down or fail.

They know that failure is the best teacher. They learn from their mistakes and keep fine-tuning their methods till they succeed.

Champions have the courage to fall down and not be discouraged. They pick themselves up and keep trying.

4. Champions are Willing to Adapt

Darwin got it wrong.

Survival does not happen to the Fittest, but to the Most Adaptable.

As children, we adapt to long-term change relatively easily. We are more willing to accept situations and adapt our behaviour accordingly.

Unfortunately, as we grow older, we become more rigid in our thinking, unwilling to accept that there may be better ways of doing things.

In a changing business scenario, resistance to change makes us obsolete. We end up losing out to players with a better understanding of changing trends.

Champions are those who can adapt themselves and their business to changing trends.

5. Champions are Willing to Innovate

Children are extremely inventive beings. They come into this world with no preconceived notions of doing things. In their minds there are no limits to what they can do or how they can do it.

Champions apply these very principles to take their business to the top.

They not only learn from what has been done before. They find ways of doing it more efficiently, more cheaply, more successfully.

You don't have to be like a child in all respects to succeed. It's probably not even desirable.

But if your pre-conceived notions, fears and hesitation are preventing you from reaching your goals, try looking at the world through a child's eyes.

At best you will improve your chances of success, at worst you'll remain young at heart. 

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Mental Preparation for Success

Congratulations! You have decided to start your own online business! That's great. There are many online money making opportunities that you are going to be able to take advantage of. I know how you feel right now and what you have done up to this point. You are eager to get started, you can't wait. You have already done some research and it seems that you are pretty sure that you know which way you want to go. You have a detailed checklist that will allow you to get to a fast and organized start. You have set realistic goals that will help you focus on what you need to get done and how long will it take you. You have calculated your budget and know exactly how to spend your money to achieve the best results. That's awesome! It seems that you have done a great deal of important preparation that will allow you to launch your business successfully.

So here you are, looking straight ahead at a long road that awaits you. Your e-engine is ready, just needs you to punch the gas. You are ready to put it in first gear and start your first day of work right away. You check your gauges, everything seems to be in place, you are ready, it's an exiting time! You know it's going to be a heck of a ride! Here you stand, as the countdown begins...

Ready? Set! STOP!

"What happened? I saw the green light "-you must be asking yourself right now-"I checked my gauges and everything seemed to be in place. I did very good planning and preparing to get off to a good start". Yes, you did great preparing yourself to start off right, and that is a very good thing, you should be proud. All the planning you did not only means that you have your head in the right place, but also that you are building a good foundation for what you hope will become a successful business. Planning for success demands something more, though. Let's find out.

Let us go back to the very beginning, the time when you first decided that you wanted to start your own business on the Internet. Look back and try to remember when the thought first came to your mind. Can you remember what triggered it? Was it the need for a source of extra income? The desire for a career changing opportunity? Did you want the freedom and control of having your own business? Remember? Good! Keep that thought in your mind, go get a pen and paper and write it down. Keep this paper handy. Look at it everyday as a reminder of the reason why your efforts are not worthless. This action will be the first step that you will take to mentally prepare yourself for success.

"Mentally prepare myself? Is that what this is all about?" You are probably a little lost and confused at this moment. Don't be. Mentally preparing yourself is not only one of the very important first steps of laying down the foundation to your business, it could mean the difference between the success or failure of it. Yes, it's that important. Think about it. A lot of businesses that begin the right way and execute the right strategies still end up failing or disappearing, specially on the Internet, with so much competition surrounding them. A lot of factors could have come into play for these sad results, and one of them could have definitely been the mental strength and preparation of those that were in command. How so? Most of them probably weren't ready for the roadblocks that came their way, simply because the thought more about clear skies and smooth sailing than about stormy weather. They had probably planned to have everything in place for the good times, but when the unexpected bad times came, the ship sinked. Mental preparation plays an important factor in this case. With this in mind, let's continue analyzing the steps that follow to have the right mental strategies that could help drive your business straight to the top.

To recap, you have already completed step number one: Having clear in your mind the reason why you started your business, and writing down on paper to remember on a continuous basis. This factor will be your drive, your motivation, your rocket fuel. Remember to keep it handy, both on and off your mind, because there will be times you will need to remember the reason why you really started your business and how far you have gotten since you decided to do so. It will help you overcome many difficulties along the way that could have the ability to make you want to give up.


Now, step two: Visualization. Yes, you must visualize yourself running your business all the way to your desired level of success, battling the bad storms that might arise, and never, ever giving up, not even when the very future of your business seems uncertain. You must visualize yourself succeeding, overcoming the bad, taking advantage of the good. Close your eyes and really see yourself getting filled with joy and a great feeling of accomplishment after you have achieved one of your greatest goals. Savour in your mind the great feeling and sense of fulfillment this gives you. Now, with eyes wide open, get right to work, one step at a time. Believe it or not, many professional athletes have been known to use this method right before they have accomplished their greatest performances, and it has be scientifically proven that visualizing your tasks will help you perform them better.

Here we go with step number three, you have probably heard this one before: Mind over body. Trust me, this is an important one, specially for us Internet Business owners. Why? Usually we work on our business from the comfort of home, and the comforts of home can really play a good part in getting us distracted and off track. I remember when I used to get home from my regular job after a ten hour shift, the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and work on my business for another three to five hours a night. I had to push myself, I had to push my body and make sure I spent the limited time I had achieving productive results out of the tasks I was performing. Some times it was really difficult, specially when my body just wanted a nice hot shower, and plenty of hours of replenishment. Most of the times I won the battles. My success over my own "weaknesses" played a huge role in the overall success of my business. Don't let your body take command over you, know exactly what your daily goals are and don't go to bed without having reached them.

For my fourth and final step in mental preparation, I would like to quote Roger Crawford:

"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional"

Wise words that you could very well apply to your business moto for success. Face it, you will have set backs, problems, issues and circumstances where giving up could seem like the only option. You will have challenges. As Roger Crawford said and applied to every aspect of our lives, being challenged on a daily basis by difficult situations is out of our hands. It will happen! How we react to these issues and what measures we take to solve them really determines the outcome of the situation. It is up to YOU to succeed, no matter what, it is up to YOU to make it happen, to break the barriers and keep running all the way to the end, to your final destination, your ultimate goal.

You now know how to start mentally preparing yourself for success, starting with a good foundation and staying strong all throughout your quest. Congratulations! Your checklist looks more complete now. Looking at that long road ahead, once again, you know. It is time to punch the gas, to begin your career, to start climbing all the way to the top. I know. You can't wait. Neither can I. Good luck to you, and your quest for an online business that will flourish tremendously.

Ready, Set... 

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