How to Cash It In for Success

I was reading the second chapter of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich when I came across a profound truth that reminded me of a financial lesson I learned years ago. Before I reveal the truth, let me share with you the lesson of Realized Gains and Losses:

If you were to take $3,000 and invest it in the stock market at a price of $10 per share, you would have 300 shares of stock. As it sometimes does, the stock price drops to $7 per share. Emotional investors start to panic at this point. After all, they bought the stock at $10 because it had already dropped to this low price and they expected it to shoot back up. But now it dropped even lower and they think they just lost $900 in the transaction.

But what have they really lost? They bought 300 shares and, even though the price dropped, they still have 300 shares. It isn't until they sell those shares that they REALIZE a gain or a loss. And those panicky people that are dumping their shares at $7 a share are kicking themselves at the end of the week when the price rockets back up to $15 a share.

What does all this have to do with Think and Grow Rich?

In the second chapter, Hill writes of the power of Desire. He lists a number of people who have passed through difficulties and disappointment before they achieved anything of consequence. At the end of the short paragraph on Helen Keller, Hill writes:

"...no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality."
Much like the investor in the example above, you have only lost when you accept that reality and decide to cash it in. Nobody ever becomes great or successful without having to experience setbacks, frustrations and adversity. Anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you. It is only those who continue to believe in their personal value and capability for success that refuse to accept that failure and push on until they reach their success.

What would have happened to Thomas Edison if he had believed the teacher that told him he was too stupid to learn anything and that he should seek a profession where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality?

What would have happened to Oprah Winfrey if she had accepted the judgment that she "had no business anchoring the news in a major market" when she was fired as a TV news anchor?

What would have happened to Walt Disney if he had accepted the assessment that he lacked imagination and had no original ideas" when he was fired by a newspaper editor?

What would have happened to Michael Jordan if he had hung up his basketball shoes when he was cut from his high school team?

What will happen to you if you accept defeat at any stage of your journey? Then nobody will know the real you and the greatness you have to share with the world. Don't let that happen! Do not cash it in until you stand in the winner's circle, triumphant!

Tips for Overcoming Temporary Defeat:

1. Keep your dream firmly fixed in your mind at all times. Create visual reminders like a dream board. Spend a few minutes every morning and every evening visualizing you accomplishing your dream and the benefits that will bring. Really live it!

2. Trust in the value of your dream. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected by 144 different publishers that didn't believe a book of short stories would sell when they tried to get Chicken Soup for the Soul published. But they persisted because they knew people wanted what was in that book. People were asking them all the time where they could read the stories they shared in their presentations. When someone rejects you and your dream, trust that there are people waiting for you to succeed; if for no other reason than to believe that it is possible for them, too.

3. Treat each setback as a learning opportunity. Napoleon Hill said that "every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." Find the lesson in each in every failure and learn from it. It is these lessons that teach you how to become successful.

4. Trust in the power of numbers. Athletes are great examples of the fact that those who are persistent enough to endure failure will succeed. The year that Babe Ruth set the major league record of 714 home runs, he also set another record by striking out 1,330 times. You have to be willing to fail and fail again in order to be successful. This is true in sports, business or any other area of life you are seeking success in. The only people who never fail are those who never try to begin with.

5. Believe and reaffirm your capability of success. I love the quote by Michael Jordan where he says: "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed." This quote may seem to be more in line with the last point, but I use it here because it illustrates the confidence he had in his ability to win. Our egos, our self-esteem can be so fragile at times and they can take a major hit with every setback or failure. When this happens, be like Mike and just keep shooting with full confidence that your shots are going in. Because when you start hitting your shots, you achieve a mind-body-spirit connection that makes you unstoppable!

Welcome to Living the Law of Attraction Lesson #10

Author: Jack Canfield

MESSAGE: Make a conscious decision right now to focus on the positive. The Law of Attraction doesn’t filter out the information we provide. It doesn’t decide what is better for us.

You have free will, and you decide where you want to focus our energy and our attention. The universe just reflects it back to us. If you focus your attention on something (either positively or negatively), it will simply respond with more of it. Doesn’t that make sense?

So, it’s really important to focus on what you do want, not on what you don’t want. State your desires in a positive way. Your mind works in pictures, so if you say “I don’t want to be mad,” you are creating the picture and the vibration of being “mad.”

The universe only receives the frequency of “mad” and responds to that. You must focus on the opposite of what you don’t want. In this case, it would be a better choice to say “I want to be more loving and accepting of the way things are.”

Stop sending mixed signals to the universe and those around you. They will hinder your ability to attract and manifest in a clear and powerful way.

When you claim to be “against” something, you are actually recreating it. You are creating more of the very thing that you want to eliminate! If you want to think “anti-war,” think again.

The operative word here is “war,” and that is exactly what you will get more of. A better choice is to be “pro-peace.” The universe will receive the vibration of “peace” and respond accordingly.

The war on terrorism has created more terrorism. Violence attracts violence, and love attracts more love. Make this simple change in your life.

Make a conscious effort to restructure the way you think and speak, and avoid giving any unnecessary energy to the things you don’t want in your life. Whenever possible, avoid subjecting yourself, your thoughts, and your emotions to the negative people and influences in your life.

ACTION: Think of one reoccurring NEGATIVE thought you have repeatedly each day. What is it? How did it come to be? Okay, when you have it in mind, think up what POSITIVE thought you could have to replace it.

Now I’m not asking you to actually replace that positive thought yet, just practice doing it in your mind as if you were going to do it for real. Just practice now and see how it works for you … how it feels. If it feels good enough, you might want to try a few times for real…

BENEFIT: There’s a profound benefit with the power of substitution, you can quickly and almost effortlessly replace your NEGATIVE thoughts with POSITIVE ones.

If you do this enough times, it may become a habit and maybe even a daily ritual so that pretty soon, you won’t have many NEGATIVE thoughts at all.

About the Author:

This year, after two years of research and work, Jack Canfield released a phenomenal new product to the world – it’s called the Dream Big System. A longtime success and self-esteem coach for people around the world, Jack Canfield is also renowned for his role as Co-Founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul (the most successful publishing empire in history) and Master Teacher in the blockbuster movie, The Secret.http://www.thekeytobetterlife.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Welcome to Living the Law of Attraction Lesson #10

The First Step - Part 2 of 7

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

~ Mark Caine

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing your environment is to blame for where you are in life. Perhaps you don't have the same opportunities as other people who come from wealthier families. You may not be as popular as some people. Maybe you don't have the same training and education that others have received. All of these situations and more can make you feel like a captive in your current state of being.

The truth of the matter is that your environment has nothing to do with you. When you want something bad enough, you will find a way to get it no matter what the obstacles. There are hundreds of stories of people who have overcome poverty, lack of education, shyness, opposition and more to go on to achieve things beyond even their wildest dreams. They simply refused to be held captive any longer. They took the first step and found that taking that step and another and another was far easier than living in defeat.

Action Steps:
1. Write down what areas of your life you feel are holding you captive from the freedoms you want to enjoy.
2. On a separate piece of paper, write down steps you can take that could break you free from your current prison. Be creative.
3. Wad the first piece of paper up into a ball and say to it, "I refuse to be your captive any longer. As of today, I am free!" and throw it in the trash.
4. Choose one of the steps you have written down that will give you your freedom.
5. Take the first step!

The Secret Is Out!

"The 'secret of success' is so simple that it is overlooked by most people. Whatever you want you can have, if you want it badly enough, and if you are willing to persist long enough and hard enough in doing what others have done to accomplish similar things before you."
~ Brian Tracy, Maximum Achievement

I found this in the introduction to Brian Tracy's book, Maximum Achievement. What I want you to take from this is that you can have whatever you want. You just have to:

Want it badly enough - Do you have a burning desire to accomplish this goal? If not, crank up the flame!

Be willing to persist long enough and hard enough - Most people quit on the 1-yard line and don't realize it. Will you? Or are you willing to keep on pushing until you have scored that touchdown?

Do what others have done to accomplish similar things before you - Achieving success is much like opening a combination lock. When you turn to the right numbers in the right sequence, the lock will open for you every time. The right combination of thoughts and actions will enable to accomplish pretty much anything you want, and you can figure that out if you search long enough and hard enough. You can also shortcut the process by watching and studying those who have achieved something similar to what you and learning what it is that they did to overcome their obstacles and their success. You don't have to recreate the wheel to be successful!