A Successful Life

This world is not lacking in its quest for success, yet so few of us really achieve the success we seek. Perhaps it is because we have not clearly defined success. Merriam-Webster defines success this way: "a favorable or desired outcome." I like this definition because it leaves room for each of us to put our own spin on what success looks like to us. What makes one successful? True success is far more than accolades, money, and degrees. These things can certainly play a role in what success might look like; however, without a clear understanding of what success involves, it will continue to elude us.

So, what does it take to be successful? How do we achieve this "favorable or desired outcome"?

Step one: know who you are. I remember my 8th grade teacher's parting words to me as I ventured on to high school. Quoting William Shakespeare, her advice was, "To thine own self be true." When we are true to ourselves, our lives are governed by our beliefs, our values, and our principles. Consequently, our decisions are based on what is right for us and we stop living to please the rest of the world.

Step two: know who you want to be. This step involves much introspection because, again, it is based on beliefs, values, and principles. It is only after we apply our beliefs, values, and principles to our lives that we can then build a vision of a better self. An old proverb states: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." I take great liberties here to paraphrase by simply saying, "Without a vision of who you want to be, you will surely die without ever knowing who you can become."

Step three: define your mission. A mission is a definite task; it's the reason we exist. I mentioned in a previous article "The Fuel of Motivation" that our mission statement must reflect the values that govern our lives. A clearly articulated mission acts as a vehicle to help you get to your destination-success. Your mission will always depend on what you know about yourself.

Step four: take an honest assessment of your knowledge, skills, and attitude. What do you know about what you want to do? For example, after working through Jack Canfield's program "Self-Esteem and Peak Performance," I realized that I liked speaking and teaching. I also uncovered the fact that I am well suited for this career, and I am extremely effective. It never feels like work to do a seminar, workshop, or keynote. In contrast, I worked once as a data entry clerk-a job I never liked! I had the knowledge and the skills to do the job; however, I was not happy because I did not have the right attitude. I didn't have all of the knowledge and skills to become a public speaker, trainer, and consultant, but my attitude helped me to get what I needed. Assessing your knowledge, skills, and attitude will help you get on the right track to success and happiness.

Step five: know how you're going to get to where you want to go. All successful people set goals. I remember a woman from one of my seminars who mentioned that she did not believe in setting goals because our lives are already predestined. What a tragic way to live! We are all created to live a full and successful life. I don't believe that our achievement is left up to God. I think He leaves it up to us. SMART goals help us take inventory along the way and measure our success. These measurements must be: S- specific, M- measurable, A- attainable, R- realistic, T- time bound.

About 9 years ago, I decided to get serious about my life and began to set goals. It's magical! I have achieved satisfactory results in practically every area I've set a goal in: spiritual, financial, educational, and educational. Two of my major goals were to finish my master's degree and then finish my doctorate degree. Every semester I was able to determine whether I was getting closer to where I wanted to go. If you are serious about achieving success, you must set goals!

Step six: maintain a realistic mind480set about the challenges on the way to true success. A realistic mindset means that things will happen in an attempt to keep you from the success you desire, but you have to keep pressing on. For instance, on your journey to success, you may have to work through a relationship ending, or changing jobs, or suddenly having to take care your elderly parents. Prepare for those moments, and don't let them keep you from your success. I have met so many people in my seminars who started to _____ (you fill in the blank), but they stopped because life happened and they have never restarted. When I was in boot camp for the Army whenever someone started to lag behind during our morning 5-mile run, we would shout "Man up!" In other words, push yourself a little harder now, but do not give up.

Remember, success - on your terms - is within your reach if you will consciously work through these six steps!

Dr. Angela D. Massey, an international motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and author is the owner of Life On Purpose LLC. She is the author and self-publisher of "Going the Distance - Success Strategies for Online Students" and "Turbo Charge Your Team!" She can be reached at http://www.lifeonpurposellc.com

Don Miguel Ruiz

15 Ways To Get Really Motivated

First, recognize that motivation is an inside job. The word motivate means to impel, inspire, hope, stimulate, incite, propel, spur, goad, move, induce, prompt, instigate, fire, provoke, actuate, cause, egg on, drive, excite, and to trigger. Dont wait for someone to motivate you, here are 15 ways you can motivate yourself.

1. Set daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and lifetime goals. A goal is a goal if its writing. Goals get you going in the direction thats right for you.

2. Listen to a motivational tape. Record into a tape recorder your favorite quotes, anecdotes and personal success stories. Play back your tape frequently. Nothing is more motivating than the sound of your own voice. Try it!

3. Get motivated to make better telephone calls by buying Art Sobczaks new book, How To Sell More In Less Time With No Rejection. To order call Art at 402-895-9399.

4. To overachieve every quota you are given take this advice. First write yourself a check dated for 12/31/05 payable to yourself and write how much you want to earn on the amount line. Make three laminated copies and put one in your briefcase, auto console, and home office. Second, always aim higher than the quota you are given. If you adjust your aim, the results will follow.

5. Buy an inspirational book of quotations and keep it in your car. Read three quotes daily. Remember - inspirational words usually inspire us.

6. Invest 15 minutes daily to read books and articles about the selling profession. This is gourmet food for your brain. Dont skip a day.

7. Get a mentor, preferably one outside of your company. The truly successful people never go it alone.

8. To jack-up your sales performance, prepare your own laminated cue cards. Create cue cards for making appointments, your 12 best questions, for handling the price objection, and for asking for the order. Each cue card should be prepared word-for-word. Your performances will sky-rocket.

9. Buy a composition notebook for your car. Record your successes, failures, and daily observations about your selling environment.

10. Read the The Ancient Scrolls an inspiring book by Tim Connor. To order call 800-222-9070.

11. To get motivated about improving your personal financial situation, set a personal net worth goal and write it on a spread sheet, then review it monthly. Self worth increases proportionately with net worth.

12. Tell your family if you achieve 110% or more of your annual sales quota - youll take them anywhere they want to go on vacation.

13. Tell your family when you reach a new monthly sales record milestone, youll take them out to celebrate.

14. Select one song that really gets you moving and play it every morning as you back out of your driveway.

15. Make a dinner date with your spouse tonight then go some place special.

Every day is a great day, especially if you dont see your name in the obituary section of the paper.

It's easy to make every day a masterpiece when you're motivated.

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

Henry Ford

Sales Plan? What's a Sales Plan?

In the past, if you said the word plan to me, I would bolt and run. Im the creative type, a former ballet dancer and choreographerIm terrible with details. When I was dancing professionally, all the details were taken care of; all I had to do was show up and dance. Even when I was choreographing, as long as I met my deadline for when the dance needed to be complete, I could go with the moment, go with the impulse and see where the dance led.

A hearty dose of reality hit when I began to run a dance company. All of a sudden, I had peopleemployees, volunteers and dancerswaiting. I had to know where we were going and how we were going to get there. It was a different world. Every decision had impact down the line. If we were going to have a spring season, I needed to know what we would be performing and where wed be performing it. How many dancers would I need? What about costumes? Were we going to commission music? What would it cost? How would we pay for it all?

It took a long time for me to grasp the impact of having a plan. Because I was running a small, grass roots organization, there never seemed to be enough time, people, money or resources. I was always putting out fires. Every plan I developed changed the moment I keyed in the last sentence and printed it out. Planwho has time to plan? Especially when the plan keeps changing!

Over time, I began to see the planning process as a road map. You know your ultimate goal. You figure out the best way to get there. Your plan needs to include contingencies and have enough space that you can deal with fires and still move forward. And sometimes, the plan changes; it might need some adjustment or tweaking. As long as the goal remains the same and as long as you keep taking steps forward to achieve that goal, your plan will help you get there.

In sales, your goal is revenue-driven. How much money do you want to make? Or a better question: How much profit do you want to make? Then, how are you going to achieve that?

Your basic plan should start with a dollar amount and work backwards. If, for example, you want to gross $500,000 in sales this year, on average, how many sales would that be? What is your average sale? On average, how many prospects do you have to see or speak with to close one sale? So, how many prospects would you need to see or speak with to close the number of sales you would need to reach your goal of $500,000? What steps do you need to take to see or speak with that many prospects?

Wow! What a mouthful! Here is a mathematical formula:

First:
Value of average sale =______________
How many prospects to close one sales: _______________

Then:
Gross sales average sale = total number of sales needed

Number of prospects to close one sale x total number of sales needed = total number of prospects

(This formula is from a dancer who counts up to 8 and starts over again! If I can do ityou can do it!)

2004 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success, is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Her new program, Cold Calling College, can be ordered by calling: (866) 405-8212. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get her free e-zine at http://www.wendyweiss.com.

Motivation

Utilizing The Law of Attraction

The law of attraction states that you will attract into your life-whether wanted or unwanted-whatever you give your energy, focus, and attention to. You are constantly giving off vibrations of energy when you think and feel. These vibrations can be picked up and received by other people. That's why people say, he has good vibes, or he gives off bad vibes. You are constantly giving off vibrations.

If youre feeling excited, enthusiastic, passionate, happy, joyful, loving, appreciative, abundant, prosperous, relaxed and peaceful, you are giving off positive vibrations.

On the other hand, if you are feeling bored, anxious, worried, confused, sad, lonely, hurt, angry, resentful, guilty, disappointed, frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed out, or depressed, then you are giving off negative vibrations.

The law of attraction states that the universe responds to whatever you are offering -- by giving you more of whatever you are vibrating. It doesnt care whether it is good for you or not; it simply responds to your vibration.

If you saw the film The Secret, you saw this explained in great detail.

The problem is that most of the time, you are not aware of what vibration you are offering. You are simply responding to things outside of youcurrent events, the news, how people treat you, the stock market, how much money you are making, how your children are doing in school, whether or not your favorite sports team winsand then having a feeling that is either positive or negative.

When you are simply responding unconsciously to what happens around you, you tend to stay stuck in your current condition. This is why most peoples lives never seem to change very much. They get stuck in a repeating cycle of recreating the same reality over and over by the vibration they are sending out.

It works like this First you observe what you currently have and are currently receiving in your life. You call this your reality. You respond to what you observe with a feeling, positive or negative, which then gives off that vibration to the universe. The law of attraction then responds to this vibration and brings you more of what you were vibrating. This keeps the cycle going over and over, until you choose to change it through the exertion of your will. You are a victim of your lack of awareness of the law of attraction.

The Process of Intentional Creation
It is possible to get out of this vicious cycle and create what you want instead of continually recreating what you already have. It is a simple three step process that you can begin immediately.

If youve been implementing the action steps at the end of each principle I coach you through in The Success Principles: 30-Day Journey Audio Course, you have already begun this process.

Step 1: Identify what you truly desire & eliminate the negative

It is important to focus on what you want rather than what you dont want. You must state it in the positive and filter out the words dont, not and no. Remember, your mind works in pictures and if you say I dont want to be mad, you are creating the picture and thus the vibration of being mad. You must create the opposite of what you dont want.

Step 2: Raise your vibration level

Your job in stage two is to create a vibrational match for that which you say you want to have. How would you be feeling if you already had those thingsthe perfect job, the perfect relationship, the mount of money that you want to have?

Your job is to identify what makes you feel good and do more of it, then learn not to tolerate your negative feelings.

Affirmations are an important component in raising your vibrational level to what it is you want. Remember, the law of attraction does not respond to the words you use or the thoughts you think. It simply responds to how you feel about what you say and how you feel about what you think.

For information on how to create even more effective affirmations, review pages 75-80 in The Success Principles, where youll find my Nine Guidelines for Creating Effective Visualizations.

Step 3. Release it and allow it.

In this third step you simply release your affirmation, your vibration, and your feelings to the universe to take care of your request or order as I call it. But you have to abstain from any doubts. If you doubt you can have it in any way, then you are not allowing it. You are pushing it away and you end up with contradictory messages to the universe

It is only when the contradictory thoughts, talk, and images are removed that your desired results will manifest. The faster you remove your resistance, the faster your dreams can be realized.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: Jack Canfield, Americas Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

2007 Jack Canfield
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Rene Descartes

Using Meditation in Partnership With the Law of Attraction

Anyone who has achieved great success in their life understands the power found within the Law of Attraction. Essentially, you attract everything that you have in your life, both the good and the bad. The key to mastering the Law of Attraction is found within the art of programming your mind on the things that you want, not the things that you do not want. The secret to programming your mind is to use meditation.

What is meditation?

Meditation is the process of opening your mind and training it to do what it is you want. Meditation can be used to improve your study, practice a sport or simply help you to relax. In the 1980's scientists discovered that elite athletes that meditated on doing their sport well, would normally achieve the goals they have set and their targeted personal best times. The reason for this is that our mind controls our destiny and we choose what our destiny will be.

Starting Off With Meditation

Most people when you first think of meditation will think of the Buddhist monks in Asia or the hippies in the sixties sitting under pyramids trying to channel the energy and the sounds of umm echoing in the corridors. In reality, anyone can meditate and it simply requires you to find a quiet spot where you can relax and not be disturbed. Next be seated, on the floor is best. Close your eyes and then just clear your mind and train your self to think of nothing and to silence the inner voices that will drag you off your clear mind meditation. Why dont you try it now! You will find that it will take some practice before you are truly able to clear your mind without the internal chatter.

The clear mind meditation technique is only one of thousands of different techniques available. It is also one of the first you need to master before pursuing other more complex techniques.

How to use Meditation in partnership with the Law of Attraction?

As you practice your meditation technique you will find that you will want to achieve more with it and this is where you can use meditation in conjunction with the Law of Attraction. For example, let say you want to get a really cool job. You can use meditation to program your mind on how you will respond to certain questions and the way you will present your self to the interviewer or interview panel. Meditation in conjunction with the Law of Attraction helps you to see how you are going to achieve the outcome you desire and remove any negative thoughts that may stand in your way in achieving your desired outcome.

The Law of Attraction only works when you truly believe and can feel what it is you want. If you want a new car then you need to program your mind on how you are going to feel when you are in that new car. If you can truly feel yourself in that car, then you will truly achieve that car. Meditation practice will give you the opportunity to open your mind in a free state and then program your mind to know how you will feel when you are in this vehicle.

You must remember this, meditation is simply a tool that when used with the Law of Attraction can open up the possibilities for you to achieve anything that you want. You simply have to believe!

If you are looking for the right meditation music to help you master that Law of Attraction or other comprehensive meditation articles then try our Baroque music for meditation. Suffering from Asthma or breathing difficulties then try out our James Hooper Buteyko Breathing Method Training Kit.

Believeit

How To Make Money From Poetry

Is it really possible to make a living from poetry? Or is it simply impossible to profit from the rhythm of your heart and soul?

Poetry is one of the most popular genres in creative writing. A writer is usually a poet, as the natural ability to express feelings and thoughts in poetic notes flows within every single soul that communicates and believes in writing. Though popular and widely used by all kinds of untrained and professional writers, poetry is still by far the most unprofitable tool in earning income through commercial publications, as many would assume. Many claimed that poetry has very low commercial value and appeal yet thousands of wonderful and passionately written poems are manipulated by internet scammers and plagiarists as they are often placed in public yet non-commercial blogs and writing communities. The authors were not credited for their creative works, made unknown to the public and of course, most of the time unpaid. The reality is, poets and their writings could not only be protected but should also profit from their creativity just like any other artist. There are ways and channels to securely publish a poets works with rightful credits and acknowledgement, furthermore earning profits.

Below is a list providing tips to help with making a living from poetry:
1) Be consistent in writing. If you want your writings to feed you, they need to be sufficient not only in quality but also in quantity.

2) Improve your skills. Read a lot, be in the know of the current issues and trends, learn the art from the professionals and be a real poet!

3) Join online and offline poet communities. Share your work with the same minds, get critiques and get better! Some of them will also know the channels to profit from writing poems or even publish them collectively.

4) Be registered with a poet group or association. It usually publishes works of members in the form of anthologies.

5) Submit your poems to magazines, newspapers, both online and offline. They might be selective but they pay good money with honorary credits. If your first poem does well, the second would be accepted easily but if it didn't the first time, try and try again!

6) Watch out for contests and participate but stay away from tempting contest scams.

7) Do some research for publishers who publish poetry in numerous ways like greeting cards and bookmarks. Poems need not to only be placed in books or magazines; they make fine accessories to souvenirs too.

8) If you have sufficient savings to publish your own poems, why not invest in an anthology? Engage yourself with the poet communities/associations first, make your work known to others, get help and recognition from their publishers and start publishing your masterpiece. Some might even voluntarily write you a preface or introduction to add some spice in it.

9) Venture into other writing genres. Learn copywriting for a start. Develop new skills and widen your avenues.

10) The least you can do is earn some money and recognition by submitting your poems to sites like Helium and Associated Content.

Some poets feel bad about selling their art but it's only fair enough to be credited and awarded for your own hard work especially if you meant to send the message of love, kindness and peace to the world. There's no point of putting beautiful, meaningful words on paper without giving other minds the chance to have a thought and benefit from them. And the best thing about publishing your work through professional publication that pays is you will also learn popular trends in the genre and how things are done. Sharing and marketing are some of the means which will sharpen your views and skills in life. You will not only then be able to write good poems but you might also learn how to make your own anthology with your own touch in the content and cover making.

Take pride in your writings. Write well and make a living from it!

Nurin Zulkifli is a fulltime homemaker residing in the UK with her husband and two lovely children. Family and education are her passion other than writing inspiration al and spiritual notes in poetry form. Striving to be a Work-At-Home-Mom, she loves to learn from other WAHMs and spends her free time sharing her thoughts at her personal blog http://syauqi.blogspot.com and a blog dedicated to expectant mothers http://moms2be.blogspot.com

Viktor Frankl

How Can You Develop Passion For Life?

How can one develop passion for life? We all wish we could wake up extremely grateful to be alive and love what we do for a living. Is this not what would be great in life to pursue your passions and make a great living from doing what you love?

We should never be forced to do what we really do not want to do and what does not make us happy. Yes many people hold jobs that they really do not enjoy. Many people make excuses that they have a family to support and they are scared to pursue something different. We do have responsibilities; however it does not mean that we can not pursue our passions.

If you really desire to develop a passion for life you must follow your dreams and desires. What is it that you truly want to experience? What is holding you back from making it become a reality? Are you scared of failure?

Did you know that failure is a part of life and sometimes it can be a good thing? If you have never failed in anything then you have never taken any risks and have never followed your dreams.

It is sad but many people fall into jobs that they are unhappy with; however as they become comfortable they remain there for several years attempting to convince themselves that they are happy. Unfortunately they never develop a passion for life. They also pass their fear onto their children. Children will take after us, if they notice us chasing our dreams and making them become a reality; then they are more likely to follow their dreams. They will try out for football, they will go to college or whatever else they desire because they will believe that they can do anything they want.

One thing we must remember is that we only have one life and we get the choice of how we wish to live it. You have no on to blame for anything in your life whether it is wanted or unwanted. It is up to you to learn how to develop a passion for life. As you learn how to develop it you will gain the courage to move forward to all your dreams. The best part is realizing that you can have be do anything you want.

It does not take anymore courage to pursue your goals than to just live a life without any goals. Why not begin today and figure out what you wish to experience and begin working towards it. There is nothing wrong if you set some goals and do not reach them, chances are when you do set some goals for yourselves you will reach them. You will be a lot closer to them than you are right now.

Begin teaching your family that there is nothing wrong with following their passions and if they really want to accomplish anything in life; they must be willing to develop a passion for life and begin today to follow all their dreams and goals. If they are not willing to pursue their goals they will never truly be happy with what they experience in life.

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