An "Aha!" Moment...

I love it when I have those little "Aha!" moments that give me a little clearer insight into a principle that is important to me, my family, or those people that I am serving. I had just such a moment when I was reading Chapter 6 of Wallace Wattle's The Science of Getting Rich.

One of the first principles that Wallace teaches in his book is that God does not want us to be poor, but actually wants us to be abundantly rich. This is evidenced by all his creations. A tiny seed is planted and grows to be a large tree, shedding hundreds of seeds to create hundreds of more trees that will do the same.

People struggle with the concept that all the wealth of the earth is theirs to enjoy. Some struggle because they feel poverty and self-sacrifice is more pleasing to God. These are those who believe that the scriptures teach that "money is the root of all evil." What they actually teach is that "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10) and that "it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32) Others may struggle due to the belief that there is not enough to go around and so some people have to be poor. And so they sit at home at night in front of their T.V. lamenting their lack as they watch those who believe that there is plenty to be had as they accumulate far more than they need through their faith, efforts and persistence.

In the sixth chapter, titled How Riches Come To You, Wallace shares the story of a student that struggled to believe that all wealth was his. He was very poor, living in a rented house and struggling to survive on what he made day to day. He wanted to believe he was meant for more so he decided to follow Wattle's instructions to ask for more than he then had. He didn't feel it was unreasonable to ask for a new carpet for his best room and a small stove to heat the house during cold weather. Following Wallace's instructions, he had both within a few months. It then occurred to him that he had not asked enough. He proceeded to go through his home making a list of all the improvements he would like to make to the home and what furnishings he would like to fill it with. Holding that complete picture in mind, he started to live in the Certain Way and to move towards what he wanted. He ended up owning the home and rebuilt it after the form of his mental image.

The "Aha!" moment in all of this is encapsulated in Jesus Christ's statement to two blind men who sought him for the purpose of restoring their sight: "According to your faith be it unto you." (Matt. 9:29)

The man in Wallace's story had little faith that all wealth was his, but he had enough faith to try for the rug and the stove. When his faith was rewarded it grew to the point that he believed he could create the home that he wanted. And as that was accomplished his faith grew even more and he moved on to get greater things.

What things have you wanted in your life that you never received? Where is your faith in relation to those desires?

If you are not at the weight you desire or don't have the figure you want, where is your faith? Do you have faith that you can have that slim figure? Do you have faith that the exercise is going to pay huge dividends? Do you have faith that when you are slimmer you will be able to enjoy your favorite foods without feeling guilty and still keep your slimmed-down shape? Or do you have more faith that you will never reach that size because the exercise will never work, and why should you put yourself through that torture anyways only to never be able to eat a bar of chocolate again without adding back 20 pounds?

If you don't have the income you desire, where is your faith? Do you have faith that there is more money available to you? Do you have faith that you deserve it? Do you have faith that you can increase your income without becoming a greedy person or without sacrificing your marriage or your relationship with your kids? Or do you have more faith that God never meant for you to be rich, that you will never get paid more than you are right now, or that only workaholics that end up divorced can get the kind of income you want to earn?

If you don't have the relationship you desire, where is your faith? Do you have faith that you are worthy of love? Do you have faith that you will meet the person who is right for you? Do you have faith that the person you meet will find the love you have to offer to be fulfilling and never have any desire for anyone else? Or do you have more faith that nobody will love you completely, that your chances of finding Mr. or Mrs. Right are astronomically not in your favor and, even if you did meet just such a person, they would eventually end up leaving you or cheating on you?

Look to the desires of your heart that haven't been fulfilled and analyze what faith you have, if any, in your achieving that desire. If you have a deep and abiding faith that you will obtain the desires of your heart, I am willing to bet that you are happily working and waiting for your desires to be realized, enduring any challenges or trials that come your way. And those trials will come for all faith must be tried and tested to prove it is strong enough.

If you feel hopeless and despondent when you think of those desires, then consider where you have placed your faith that is not supporting you. Reject those weak beliefs that are holding you back and give yourself hope again! You are worthy, capable, ready and able to receive those desires of your heart! Have faith in that and act on the promptings and inspirations that will open you to receive it!

The order has been placed! Your desire is being shipped direct to you! Have faith that you will receive!

Welcome to Living the Law of Attraction Lesson #11

Author: Jack Canfield

MESSAGE: Abundance is your natural state of being. Anything you wish for can flow effortlessly into your life if you understand, apply and “live into” the Law of Attraction.

We live in a world that seems to emphasize scarcity and lack, and yet the truth is, this is an abundant universe. There is no scarcity, there is no lack. There is more than enough food, money, joy, happiness, spiritual fulfillment, and love for everyone.

If you want to create an abundance of love in your life, then focus on love. Be the love you want to attract. Become more loving and generous with others and with yourself.

By creating the vibration of love, you will automatically draw more love into your life. Focus on whatever it is that you want to create more of in your life, and remember to be grateful for that which you already have.

Gratitude itself is a form of abundance, and the vibrational frequency of gratitude and appreciation will automatically attract even more to be grateful for.

If you want to create financial abundance in your life, then start by focusing on prosperity and money flowing into your life. Envision the checks coming in the mail. Write yourself a check for the sum of money you wish to manifest this year, and post it in a visible location.

Every time you see it, believe that it is possible. Make a donation to your favorite charity, and know that you can afford it. You must be willing to give in order to receive. Imagine just how amazing it will feel to have complete financial freedom.

Envision the various things you will do, the places you will go, and how it will change your life. Really let yourself feel it as though it were already so. Now, think of how you will use your financial prosperity to contribute and give back within your community.

Imagine how good it will feel to help others and to really make a difference in their lives. Remember to take a moment to be thankful for everything that you already have. By doing this, you are creating a vibrational match for the financial abundance that you want to attract into your future life.

The entire universe will support you abundantly in every way when you are moving with this kind of purpose and intention in the direction of your dreams. It will respond to the vibration of your passion and commitment.

So, start paying attention to the many synchronicities in your life and become aware of all the opportunities, ideas, people, and resources that you are attracting. Be open to them, and be willing to think outside the box. New opportunities will often present themselves in surprising ways. Do what you love to do, be passionate about it, and believe in yourself.

If you are willing to invest yourself wholeheartedly in your dreams, then all the necessary resources, including the money, will follow.

ACTION: Ask yourself how you can have more ABUNDANCE with your health. Can you take the stairs instead of an elevator when the opportunity presents itself? Can you drink a few more glasses of water, or perhaps take on a yoga practice?

BENEFIT: When you think and act more ABUNDANTLY about your physical health, you’ll find that other parts of your life automatically improve for the better. You’ll think more clearly, have more energy and do everything you normally do with a little more intensity.

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 #11

The Prosperity Game

I want to share with you a tool that I stumbled across long ago that makes an incredible impact on me each and every day that I use it. It is called ...

The Prosperity Game!

A lot of people around the world are struggling right now financially. And even those who are not may be experiencing an unusual amount of stress and fear due to the unstable nature of our current economy. If you fall into either of those categories, The Prosperity Game is exactly what you need. And guess what - it is absolutely free to play!

What The Prosperity Game can do for you is help to shift your mental focus from lack to prosperity. Most of us struggle with the mental aspect of financial success. We fail to recognize that we will only be as wealthy and as prosperous as we think we can be. We have no problem digging right in physically and striving for a goal, but our minds may be more focused on the bills that are due or overdue, how prices are rising, how the economy is declining, and we get stressed out about our current financial situation and often times our future financial situation. We hate looking at the Sunday ads because they are just a reminder of all the things we can't afford right now. And we wonder why our situation is getting worse and worse and worse.

The Prosperity Game helps you overcome all that. Anyone who has been introduced to the Law of Attraction knows that "where attention goes, energy flows." We may say we want to be prosperous and well off or, for some of us, simply financially stable. But where is your attention as you work for that goal? Is it on the being financially stable or better? Or is it focused on your current lack of money and the difficulty you have paying your bills?

Think back to the last time you paid your bills and the level and quality of emotions you were experiencing. This is a good gauge of where you are putting your attention. If you were stressed out or angry, most likely you were not focusing on financial stability. You were focused on instability and wondering how you were going to make ends meet until your next paycheck arrives. You were "resistant" to prosperity and abundance and opening yourself up to the energy of lack, struggle and difficulty. The Prosperity Game has a simple system that enables you to flip that switch, closing yourself off to that negative energy and opening yourself up to prosperity.

The way that it works is every time you log in to the game (not just once a day, but every time you log in so you can use this more than once in a day if you feel the need to), you are given a virtual "check" starting at $100 and growing every single time you play. It isn't an amount you had to work for or struggle for. It is an amount that is given to you out of the abundance of the universe. You are encouraged to focus on the joy of receiving that check for a moment and just experience how good that feels to have prosperity flow to you effortlessly.

Then comes the best part - you spend the check! You outline what you would buy or how you would spend that check that would make you feel good. You are encourage not to just give it away, but I give the first 10% to my church as tithing out of gratitude to God for such great blessings because that makes me feel good. But you spend it how you want to spend it.

The next step is you measure on a scale of 1-10 your desire. What this does is it gets you to start paying attention to your levels of desire because that is a tremendous moving force for becoming prosperous and is a good measure of your energy level.

After measure your desire, you measure your resistance on a scale of 1-10. This is checking how you feel towards this message of prosperity. It may be a bit high for the first little while if you are new to this way of thinking. You may have some internal beliefs to overcome in the early stages of the game that can wreak havoc with your resistance levels at the start and cause it to jump around. That is okay. Just keep playing the game. The object is to ultimately lower your resistance level to a naturally low level on a consistent basis, thus opening you up to the thoughts and feelings of prosperity. It may take more time for some than for others but it will happen.

Then you have the opportunity to record your comments about the experience. How did it make you feel? What changes are you experiencing? It is a great way to record your development as you move from the feelings of lack to the feelings of prosperity.

Two other tools that are included in the game are your own personal Gratitude Journal and your personal list of 100 things you would like to be, do and have.

The Gratitude Journal is an awesome tool because it really helps you shift your focus to what is good in your life. I believe I have posted here before about how you can be grumpy and grumble about your electric bill as you pay it or you can write a simple "Thank You!" note thanking them for the service that lights and heats your home and their efficiency and accuracy in processing your payment and slipping that note in with your check. It is absolutely impossible to feel negative when giving a sincere expression of gratitude!

The list of 100 things you want to be, do and have are a reference point for the game as your "checks" come in. But it also serves to free you from the feelings of limitation. It enables you to think freely and openly about what you really and truly want rather than limiting yourself to thinking about what you can have.

The Prosperity Game really is a simple, yet amazing tool and I hope you choose to play. Let me remind you again that it is 100% free of charge and you can play it in less than five minutes, especially if you really know what you want. It will really change the way you feel each and every time you play and you will begin to feel more prosperous and abundant, which is the first step to fully experiencing that in your life.

If you do choose to play, leave a comment here saying simply "I'm in the game!". Then come back again and share your experiences that result from the game so that others can see how you have benefitted from this tool as well.

In closing, here is a quote about what playing The Prosperity Game can do for you:

By writing checks, using your imagination, writing the memos, focusing as you write, and feeling no resistance as you write the checks because there will be no fear of overspending, you will achieve what is necessary in the achievement of anything: You will have made a statement of desire while you are in the state of non-resistance, or better said, in the state of allowing.

So, not only will you have the benefit of an expanded imagination, but your point of attraction will shift, and your life experience will then shift as well. Not only will your financial situation improve, but all manner of things that you have focused upon with pleasure will begin to flow into your experience.

Joyously playing this Prosperity Game will not only improve your financial state of being, but every aspect of your life will improve as well. It will not only help you to activate more vibrations around things you want, but it will assist you in focusing, more of the time, in a way that allows the things that you want to flow into your experience.

Playing this game will cause you to offer a more expansive, expectant vibration. And it is our promise to you that manifestations will begin to arrive in response to your changed vibration.

-- Abraham-Hicks in Ask and It is Given pages 177 – 181

Are You In A Recession? I'm Not!

Much of the media has been warning us for several weeks that we are in a recession. There is nothing but doom and gloom in the forecast, President Bush's Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate will not make a difference and we had better prepare for hard times ahead. I'm sure you have all been reading the same articles and hearing the same predictions of the coming financial storm. Personally, I have declined to participate in this recession. How about you?

What Is A Recession?

A recession is defined as being two or more quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. What that means is that for two or more quarters consumer, business and government spending decreases while exports and inventory increases.

The interesting thing is that I was listening to Dave Ramsey's talk radio show on the way home from work the other night and he talked about how we are NOT in a recession and how politically biased the media actually is. He pointed out that, if the majority of the population believe that we are in the midst of a recession come election time (and many people already do believe that), there is absolutely no way a Republican candidate will be elected President. For those of you who don't know, a major indication of a recession is an increase (particularly a sharp increase) in the rate of unemployment. Unemployment has held steady of late and has even dropped a little. So where is this recession? I'll tell you where. It is in one of the most dangerous places of all - our minds.

Recession Breeding Ground

At the rate that the so-called recession is becoming the most talked about subject in the media, in schools, in our work places and in our homes, we will end up in a recession.

Why?

Simple.

The more this subject is tossed about, the more fearful people become. And when we make decisions based on fear, we usually make the wrong ones. Those of you who recall the movie The Secret of My Success may remember that when Michael J. Fox's distant uncle's corporation was targeted for hostile takeover, his uncle ordered his executives to find ways to "cut to the core" operations and expenses to try and save cash. Fox, posing as an executive (although he had been hired to work in the mailroom) was adamant that doing so would open them right up for the hostile takeover and that they needed to expand and make the company stronger than their competitor. Then they go and take them over! Unfortunately, most of the executives, including the key senior executives, believed they should just follow the direction they had been given by their superior. The result was that they opened themselves right up for the hostile takeover. (I won't ruin the ending by telling you any more than that.)*

(*Note: If you haven't seen The Secret of My Success, be advised that, while it is a humorous movie, it is rated PG-13 for some language and sexual themes. If you find that offensive, I do not recommend this movie to you; not even when it has been edited for television as the sexual themes play such a large part in the film that they are impossible to edit out.)

So what does this have to do with us? Allow me to explain.

Everyone gets more and more fearful of a recession. They start saving money for potentially hard times ahead. Profits drop for major corporations because people are buying less. They start cutting jobs to reduce expenses and preserve profits. Unemployment rates start rising and we end up in a recession. The danger of this is that when fewer and fewer people are working, two things happen:
1. Fewer and fewer people have jobs to provide money to purchase products to increase profits to induce companies to hire more people.
2. As profits drop, prices go up to make up the difference which reduces our buying power and so we buy less which in turn causes profits to drop.So you can see how the recession would perpetuate itself.

As critical as opponents have been over President Bush's Economic Stimulus checks and how it won't make a difference, he does have the right idea. More people need to buy more products to pull back from a recession. The government can't fix this, only we can.

So, how can I decline participation in the recession?



My Declaration of Declination

"I decline the opportunity to participate in any real or imagined recessions. I choose instead to participate in an expansion of personal prosperity. I do so by focusing on literature, news and topics of study that enhance my life. I accept the events of life as being neither inherently good nor bad but simply opportunities for growth and learning. I recognize that I cannot change these events themselves but I can determine my own outcome by choosing the proper response for the outcome I desire. I look for and take advantage of financial and personal opportunities that create a better future for me, my friends and my family. I will share every opportunity I discover with all those I come in contact with and encourage them to choose for themselves as well."



Selective Media Blackout

The worst things in history have happened when people stop thinking for themselves, especially when they allow themselves to be influenced by negative people. That’s what gives rise to dictators. Avoid that at all costs. Stop it first on a personal level, and you will have contributed to world sanity as well as your own.
~ Donald Trump

The first step I have taken in declining participate is to choose not read about, listen to or think about the chance of a recession. Some people may think that is a stupid idea, but let me tell you why this is important. As I pointed out above, the more it is talked about, the more people fear it and, like a nearby rattlesnake that is poised to strike, they focus and fixate on it. And, by the Law of Attraction, that which we focus on and lend emotion to (and fear is an emotional response), we will attract. Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, you can see how it applies by my earlier illustration of how our fear-driven actions will bring about the recession. I choose instead to focus on uplifting, motivating, inspiring and educational topics instead that will actually benefit me.

E + R = O

Some areas I have chosen to focus on are the beliefs, habits and life lessons shared by successful and wealthy people. One of those people that I have enjoyed studying is Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Jack taught me about the life formula E + R = O, which means an Event + your Response to that event = your Outcome. He shares a story about a Lexus dealer in the middle of the recession of the early 1980's. Nobody was coming in to buy his cars and he knew he would have to do something different or he would end up going out of business. So he started to ask himself, "Where are the people that can afford to buy my cars?" Well, he came up with that they were probably hanging out at the country clubs at the golf courses, the yacht clubs and so on. So he rounded up all his salesmen, drove a bunch of cars to the local country club, walked in and asked who would like the opportunity to drive a brand new Lexus.

After people had the opportunity to test drive a car, he would tell them to continue to drive it for a week and he would take their car in to the shop, clean it up and detail it free of charge. After the week was up, these drivers would come to trade in the Lexus for their personal vehicles. Now, anyone who is reading this that has driven a brand new car and then gotten back into their old car can probably relate to what happened next. When you get out of a new car and get back into your old car, it doesn't feel as good and doesn't seem to drive as nicely as the new car. The end result was that the dealership sold more cars in the middle of that depression than they ever had in the past all because he changed his response to a situation to get a better outcome.

Opportunities Abound

When we choose our response to life's events, we really take control of our lives. Most people live life in fear, stress and frustration because they feel powerless to deal with unwelcome circumstances. They feel like they have been dealt a bad hand and they have no chance of winning. What they don't realize is that it doesn't matter what cards we are dealt, it is how we play them that matters. As illustrated by Jack Canfield's story above, there are always opportunities. Most people just have a habit of looking at the way things are rather than how they can be.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
~ Sir Winston Churchill

If under the aforementioned Law of Attraction, focusing on a recession will bring about a recession, why not use the same law to turn it around? The easiest way to do that is to ask yourself what you would be doing if the economy was thriving. You would be trying to cash in on it, right? So, the next step in declining participation in a recession is to follow the example of the Lexus dealership owner and look for and take advantage of opportunities for financial growth and prosperity. If we continue to live life the way we have been, look for opportunities to enhance that life, and encourage others to do the same, there is no possible way we will experience a recession.

Give So That You Can Give More

There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Mark 6:38) A lot of people translate this to mean you must give to receive, but that is a selfish attitude to take which does not suit the doctrine presented in the book. I believe it means give to give more.

It is my hope that what I have given here will evoke responses and comments that will enhance what little I have presented; a way of giving more to the reader. I further hope that all who read this will share it further with others at every opportunity. By so doing, we can inspire our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to choose expansion over a recession and build a more prosperous community for everyone to enjoy.

Life! Focus! ... ACTION!!!!

So, come on, everyone! Shut out the negative prophets of financial doom and replace that with media and topics that fulfill you, enhance you and bring you joy. Choose a better outcome to your circumstances by choosing a better response to events. Look for opportunities to expand your finances, your circle of friends and acquaintances and, thereby, your moments of fun and pleasure. And lastly, tell everyone to do the same! Together, we can turn those financial gurus on their heads and show them a thing or two!

A Personal Apology

It has been nearly 2 months since I last posted in this blog. If there is anyone out there that has been checking back regularly, I apologize for my absence. There have been many a time that I thought about writing a new post to inspire, encourage, advise and to breathe new life and ideas into the reader who comes by for a visit, but I just couldn't do it. I was just too discouraged, stressed and depressed.

Those of you that know me personally may be well-acquainted with my imperfections and flaws, but what many of you may not know is that depression was something that I struggled with for years. Under very special circumstances, I received inspired counsel at the age of 14 from a religious leader that did not know me personally in which I was told to beware of depression as that was a temptation that I would struggle with. Knowing that I was going to struggle with depression, however, did not provide me with the tools necessary to overcome it. It took me many years to figure out why I was depressed so often.

I don't want you to think that my life was especially miserable or difficult. I was pretty much an average American teenager. I had many bright, happy and very enjoyable moments in life, but they seemed to slip through my fingers so easily leaving more than enough room for the darkness that flowed into its place. I eventually learned that a major cause of my depression was my focus on all the things I did not have in life rather than being grateful for the abundance of health, talents, friends, education and wealth that I had been blessed with.

I may not have been the strongest or fastest individual, but I had a complete, healthy, relatively disease-free body that enabled me to play any sport I desired at an average to above-average level.

I may not have been the most-talented individual at sports, music, art or any other area of interest, but I could play sports, picked up on how to play the piano and guitar, re-taught myself how to sing after a throat injury (you can read more about that here), I could draw, paint and sculpt better than the average person and could virtually do anything that I set my mind to if I was willing to put in the time.

I may not have been the most popular individual, but I had many fun and loving friends of all ages in spite of my tendency to behave as a shy person would and hang in the background.

I may not have been the smartest kid in the class or pulled straight A's, but I quickly learned anything I wanted to and could retain the bulk of what I read freeing me from having to put in very much time reviewing and studying.

And I may not have had much money or material possessions growing up (in fact, my family's income was below the average and my parents had to make the dollar stretch with six kids), but I had more than kids in third-world countries, I had the ability and opportunity to work, and everything I listed above along with my family and many other things I did not mention gave me a very blessed and abundant life.

This last category has been the reason for my latest struggles. It is very difficult to focus on long-range goals like completing The Millionaire Marathon when my urgent, short-range issues keep rising up to slap you in the face every single day. I became frustrated, despondent and withdrew into myself to relive the pain again and again and again.


I am happy to say that I have overcome that through the application of an important lesson we all must remember when we are not happy with the way things are:

Do something; anything!!!

I couldn't change the whole situation in that moment, but I could tackle one small part of it and I did. I went to work with an urgency and focused on a future happy outcome. Just in the moving and the doing, hope revives and faith starts to rebuild. Making any sort of progress, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem, is a million times better than doing nothing at all.

Am I out of the woods, yet? No. But I am closer this week than I was last week and I will be even closer next week. I am just taking it one day at a time and making sure that my head and my heart stay in the right place.

As far as posting to this blog, I will resume my efforts to relay and share uplifting, motivating and hopefully inspiring material as often as I am able to do so. I am still working on the Universal Law series that I mentioned nearly 2 months ago and will finish it when I can, but I have some financial projects that take priority right now. So check back from time to time to see where I am at and, if you feel like doing so, leave a comment to let me know you are following and what you find interesting and helpful. If there are topics that you struggle with that you would like some input on, let me know and I will be happy to offer what I can.

I also invite you to come over to my personal blog at http://www.niceguyblogging.blogspot.com/ and read about the Million Step March challenge that I am participating in and the progress I am making with it.

Which Price Will You Pay?

The other day I was reading in Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Laurence Leamer. He was relating a conversation Arnold was having with another, more experienced bodybuilder just before Arnold was to take his turn flexing and posing on stage. Arnold asked his competitor suddenly if he believed that he could have everything he wanted. The competitor, surprised by the question, pondered it a second and replied that a man cannot have everything he wanted. As Arnold's name was called he shot back, "No! You're wrong! You can have everything you want. You just have to be willing to pay the price."

The Price of Success
There is nothing that we cannot attain if we are willing to pay the price of success. Talents are developed when we pay the price of remaining teachable and practicing daily. Relationships grow when we pay the price of taking time to listen and share and interact with others. Fortunes are made as we pay the price or working to increase income and disciplining ourselves to save and invest rather than spend. Bodies are strengthened when we pay the price of pushing through painful and exhausting workouts.

Is there something out there that you wish you could be, do or have? There is a price to pay for it. Figure out what that price is and determine to pay it no matter what struggles you encounter and you will receive what you wish for.

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

Do not fall into the trap of thinking you can set the wages, though. Life is not a deal-maker. Life will not grant you a $100 reward for a $2 effort. You get what you pay for! You can't say, "I am willing to eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day, but I refuse to give up my soda pop, chocolate and doughnuts," and expect to start losing weight. You can't say, "I am willing to practice the piano for 10 minutes every other day, but that's it," and expect to learn and progress and develop at the same rate as someone who practices for a minimum of 30 minutes every single day. Do not think you can set the wages and avoid the pain. You must pay the price and push through the pain to succeed.

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens."
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Price of Failure
Whatever path you choose, there is a price to pay. Just as the champion must pay the price of discipline to enjoy the rewards of success, there is another price to be paid by choosing not to pay the price of success. In economics this is known as the opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is lost benefits you could have enjoyed had you pursued a different course.

The athlete who does not practice and develop his or her skills has the opportunity cost of never being a starting player or perhaps not even making the team. The business person who does not consistently work their business has the opportunity cost of never enjoying the profits or the financial freedom it may have brought had they chosen to work it consistently. The man or woman who does not take the time or make the effort to eat healthy and exercise regularly has the opportunity cost not having as much energy or the self-esteem that a trim, healthy body would give them.

The difference between the price of success and the opportunity cost of failure is that the price of success diminishes over time. Muscles grow, habits form, fears diminish, experience is gained, talents develop and the actions you take grow easier and easier and easier. The opportunity cost of failure does just the opposite. Where the price of success diminishes, the opportunity cost of failure grows. Muscles atrophy, motivation fades, fears grow, self-esteem diminishes, apathy sets in and you regret more and more everything you don't have or experience. And you start blaming anything and/or anyone for your sad experiences in life while you envy the accomplished and successful.

It isn't anybody else's fault, though. You choose the price. And, once it is chosen, you will pay that price until you make the decision to change it.

What do you really desire in life? Are you paying the price to get it? If not, take the first step and start paying it now!

What did you choose not to pursue? Is the opportunity cost too high? If it is, choose to start paying the price to succeed! Do it now!!!

The choice is yours.

What's On Your Mind?

I want to talk a moment about what really drives our levels of success and failure. It is easily summed up by a passage of scripture from the Old Testament:

"For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he"

~ Proverbs 23:7

How we think, how we see ourselves, contributes immensely to who we are and the circumstances we are in. Our thinking creates our reality. If we are happy, it is because we think happy thoughts. If we are in love, it is because we think loving thoughts. If we are wealthy, it is because we think wealthy thoughts. And the opposite is true as well. If we are miserable, it is because we think miserable thoughts. If we are lonely, it is because we think lonely thoughts. If we are afraid, it is because we think fearful thoughts.

We have more than 60,000 thoughts go through our mind every single day. The majority of these thoughts (I have heard more than 90%) are the same thoughts we had the day before and the day before that. We have a pattern of habitual thinking or what I think of as "thinking ruts" that governs our daily lives. The sad thing is that we did not consciously create most of these habits. Who would be crazy enough to consciously establish the habitual thoughts of "I am ugly," "I am worthless," "I am a loser," or "I am unwanted?" And yet people do think that way about themselves. And because they think that way, they ACT that way as well.

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Your thoughts may not be quite so extremely negative, but I am willing to bet that you have some thoughts that are doing their share of damage. Maybe they are thoughts like "I can never get a break" or "Losing weight is hard" or "I can't afford that." And all this time you are depressed, struggling with your weight loss and broke.

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

~ Henry Ford

Your success in any area of your life is dependant on your thinking that IT IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU, that YOU CAN AND WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN, and that EVERYTHING IS GOING YOUR WAY!

You must first create success inwardly in your thoughts, beliefs and feelings before you can experience it outwardly. So take time today to consider your goals and resolutions for 2008 and what you would be like after you have accomplished them. Notice your current, predominant thought patterns about yourself and the likelihood or chances of your succeeding. Are your thoughts congruent with your image of you having succeeded in your goals? If not, CHANGE THEM!


I know that I didn't give you any tips on effective ways to change your thoughts. If that is something that would interest you, feel free to leave a comment about it as I am considering doing a 7-day series on the matter later this month if enough people are interested. Feel free to comment on ways that changing your thoughts have benefited you in your life as well.

Celebrate 2008! - The Yoda Lesson

Now that you have your New Year's Resolutions formed and written down (you did make your resolutions, didn't you?) and you are beginning your efforts to achieve them, I would like to remind you of an important lesson taught by a little green man. In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Master Yoda was instructing Luke Skywalker in the ways of the force. Luke responded to Yoda's instruction to use the force to carry out a task by saying, "I'll try." Then came the popular quote:

"Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."

~ Yoda

As you embark on your journey to make 2008 the best year ever, you need to ask yourself:

What it is that you are going to try to do?

... and ...

What is it that you are going to do?

So many of us, when faced with a difficult or formidable task, say that we will try to do it. Think about what is going through your mind when you say that. You aren't picturing yourself as being victorious or even crossing the finish line. You doubt your ability to do it and are already planning to fail. But, at least you tried, right?

James Ray, one of the teachers featured in The Secret, teaches that trying is nothing more than failing with honor. People don't think much of someone who isn't willing to make an attempt. They don't think much more of a quitter. And we don't think much of them either. But, for some reason, we have learned to give some measure of glory to being a "tryer" - a person who mentally quits before we have even started. And, if we have quit mentally so early on, there is no way we can succeed on any level. But we gladly accept the pats on the back and sympathetic statements of "At least you tried."

Or perhaps they will tell you that "it isn't whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." This is very true if your true goal is just to be in the game and have fun. But sometimes we have to win!

If your health is at risk because of your weight problems, is it enough just to have fun while exercising?

If you are deep in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, is it enough just to have fun making a budget and paying bills?

If you relationship with your spouse is on the rocks, is it enough just to have fun thinking of ways to revitalize your love for each other?

If you go to law school, is enough just to have fun taking the Bar Exam?

Whatever you set for your New Year's Resolutions this year, is it enough just to have fun pursuing them?

Sometimes it is not enough just to have fun. Sometimes you have to win, no matter what. If your child ran into the street chasing a ball and you saw a car speeding towards them, not paying attention, it wouldn't matter if you were barefoot and there was 100 feet of broken glass between you and your child - you would be committed to win that race to your child or die in the attempt! Are you just as committed to winning this year by accomplishing your resolutions?

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: 'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.'"

~ W.H. Murray from The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Will you commit yourself to your resolutions this year? This is a "Yes" or "No" question - there is no room for "I'll try."

If you choose to commit yourself, know why you are committed. Write down what pains and frustrations you are tired of experiencing regarding your resolution. Write down what pleasures and joys you are tired of being denied to you. This is your "Why" - your reasons for accomplishing your resolutions. Read them often. Let them drive your emotions until you are ready to DO or DIE! Do this and take daily action towards your resolutions and I bet that you DO!

Get Committed + Get Moving = Get Success!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 4

Today, as promised, we will speak of some tips and techniques that will help you stick to your resolutions. The key to keeping any resolution lies in your mental and emotional states. I love to watch and play sports because this is one place where you can see the truth of that statement over and over again. Players who have their head in the game and who play it with high enthusiasm and determination achieve incredible victories - even in areas where they may be physically out-matched. So any time you are struggling with a resolution or goal, check to see where you are mentally and emotionally and you may find the solution to your problems.

Keep a Success Journal

One of the greatest tools you can have when working towards any goal is a journal. It is essential for recording your ideas, your success, your failures and what you learned from them, tracking your progress, etc. A success journal can be as simple and as inexpensive as a 3-ring binder with notebook paper in it or a spiral-bound notebook. It can also be a more expensive blank, hard-bound book - whatever works best for you. Jim Rohn, a favorite speaker and author of mine, prefers to use more expensive books. He says: "The reason why I spend so much money for my journals is to press me to find something valuable to put in them." Your success journal will not only be valuable to you but also inspirational to others who read them and see how you accomplished your goals and dreams.

Measure Your Dedication

In the thesaurus, synonyms for the word "resolution" are aim, boldness, constancy, courage, dauntlessness, decidedness, decision, declaration, dedication, determination, doggedness, earnestness, energy, firmness, fixed purpose, fortitude, guts, heart, immovability, intent, intention, judgment, mettle, moxie, obstinacy, perseverance, pluck, purpose, purposefulness, purposiveness, relentlessness, resoluteness, resolve, settlement, sincerity, spirit, spunk, staunchness, staying power, steadfastness, stubbornness, tenacity, verdict, will, and willpower. Does this accurately describe the way you set and keep your resolutions? I suspect that most of us set and work on our resolutions in a way described by one of the two antonyms the thesaurus listed: half-heartedness.

This is a good list of qualities to determine how dedicated you are to achieving the resolution you set. Ask yourself questions like:
Do I have a definite aim to shoot for?
Am I bold enough to move outside my "comfort zone" to achieve it?
Will I be constant in my efforts to accomplish it?
Do I have the courage to overcome any and all obstacles that arise?
Will I be dauntless no matter how hard it gets?
Have I made the decision to accomplish this resolution? (Note: The word "decide" comes from the Latin word "decidere" which means "to cut off from." So, when you truly decide, you cut yourself from any other option including quitting and failure.)
Do you have the dedication to see your resolution through?
Are you determined to succeed no matter what?
Are you earnest in your intention to change your life?
Do you have the energy to go after your resolution with enthusiasm?
Are you firm in your decision to do this?
Are you fixed in your purpose so that nothing can knock you off course?
You get the idea. Pick out the words above that speak to you and that you would like to describe you and your pursuit of accomplishing your resolution. Write down your questions and rate yourself on a scale of 1 - 10. Then ask yourself, "What can I do right now to make this a '10'?" Record the answers in your success journal. Ask these questions again and again throughout your resolution-achieving process so that you are always aware of where your emotional and mental levels lie and do what you can to keep yourself as close to a "10" as possible.

One great example of dedication is Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Playoffs. Michael Jordan, as most of you know, played basketball at a level that made him virtually unstoppable. What made this game different from all other games was that, just hours before the game, Michael could barely pull himself out of his hotel bed as he was suffering from food-poisoning, the flu or both. Most players would have sat out the game being in that sort of condition, but not Michael. Though his body protested, his head and his heart were in the game and in it to win. Michael had ice on his head during time-outs. By the end of the game, his teammate, Scottie Pippen, was practically carrying him off the floor. But, in spite of the physical challenges and difficulties, Michael scored 33 points, had 7 rebounds and 5 assists and played 44 minutes of the game. Is there any question here of whether or not he was a dedicated player? It is no wonder that he said, "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

Keep Your Goals In Front of You

Yesterday, I mentioned that we would talk about why a written goal is so much more powerful than just keeping it in your head. One reason why this is so is because every time you write down your goal statement you drive it deep into your subconscious. It tells your subconscious that you are serious and your subconscious will work for you by feeding you ideas and inspiration and make you aware of resources and opportunities that become available to you.
Review your goals (or even better, rewrite them) every morning and every evening of every day. Take 5-10 minutes to visualize and see yourself accomplishing your goal. Feel the feelings associated with your accomplishment. Hear the sounds. Smell the smells. Experience the joy! The more senses you get involved, the more real you make it, the more you believe it both consciously and subconsciously.

Keep an index card with your goals written on them in your wallet. Write them on the back of your business card. Have a card with your goals on them taped to the dashboard of your car, the bathroom mirror, the bottom of your computer monitor, the backside of your front door - everywhere you can think of so that you encounter them again and again and again throughout the day.

Dream Board

Another way to keep your goals in front of you is a dream board. This is a bulletin board or posters filled with pictures that relate to your goal. If your resolution this year is to make more money so that you can save up for your dream vacation, cut out pictures from travel brochures of your destination, the means by which you will travel (cruise ship?), and the activities you will participate in while you are there. If you are trying to get in shape or lose weight, cut out pictures of people who are trim, fit or have the ideal body shape you are shooting for. Paste your head over theirs - just make sure it is a picture where you are smiling. Put your dream board someplace where you will see it every day - preferably several times a day - and use it to recharge your vision often!

Chart Your Progress

Make a large poster with the days of the month at the top and a list of your daily activities on the left side. Use bold colors to fill in the days that you successfully accomplish your tasks to give you a visual picture of how you are doing. Just like a check-list, it is compelling to have a tool such as this because you will feel this strong urge to fill in those spaces and you will be more motivated to accomplish your daily tasks. Post it up on your bedroom wall where it is nice and visible so it is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you see when you go to sleep.

Get an Accountability Partner

If you are only accountable to yourself, you will find it so much easier to quit on your goals. You can rationalize away your own guilt, can't you? After all, you have done it so many times before. Make yourself accountable to others, however, and it becomes so much harder. You will find that you won't want to let them down. Some people will say that you shouldn't tell others about your goals because most people are negative and will only tear you down and tell you that you can't or won't make it. I believe, however, that other people are essential to your success. So choose a positive person (or several people) who believes in you to be your accountability partner. Ask them not only to be your cheerleader throughout the process, but also the stern coach who will kick you in the butt when you need it the most. When you have all your closest friends asking you how it is coming on the book you are writing, the exercise program you are starting or your dream to learn to play the piano, you will do all you can to give them a positive report every time.

The best accountability partner you can get is one who is doing it with you. When you have a walking partner or an exercise partner who will not let you sleep in but drags you out every morning at 6 a.m. sharp to go the gym, there is no way you can fail! (And if they aren't going to let you sleep in when you are tired, there is no way you are going to let them sleep in after all the times they dragged you out of your bed kicking and screaming, right?)

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Schedule It

When you feel like putting off your goal-achieving activities for any reason - whether it is because you're tired, you just want to relax a while, whatever it is - make a decision to procrastinate procrastination. Put off the putting off until later that day or even tomorrow. Schedule a time to watch T.V., surf the internet, play video games, do some recreational reading, etc. and keep that appointment. If you don't keep it, you will have even a greater desire to procrastinate on your goals because you will feel like you have been cheated on your "me" time to sit back and relax.

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Eliminate It

How do you motivate yourself in that moment when you really feel like putting off your goal activities? Easy! Just write down the answers to 3 simple questions:

1. Where are you and what are you doing? You may notice a pattern of locations and activities that have been making it difficult for you to get motivated. I found that laying on the living room couch, curled up in a ball to get warm was not the best place to motivate myself to get up and get moving in the morning (even though I had moved from the bed to the couch). Even sitting on the couch was dangerous because I would soon lay my head back and fall back asleep in seconds. So I started avoiding the couch like the plague!

2. What do you want to do? Now this isn't where you say, "I want to go back to bed and get more sleep!" This is where you write down what you want to accomplish in terms of your resolutions and goals. You may think you need a little more sleep, but what you really want is to go hit the gym so that you can drop those 20 pounds! You want to tighten that tush and those abs so that when you look in the mirror you will see your body curve in all the right places! You want those bulges to be on your biceps again rather than on your waistline! What is it that you really want to do?

3. How will you feel while doing it? You may you feel more energized because you are exercising again. You may feel more powerful because you conquered your weaker self. You may feel more joy in knowing that you are on the way to achieving your goal. Decide how you will feel and you are more likely to experience that feeling.

Once you have answered these three questions, you will feel more motivated to work on your goal. The reason for this is that you have already seen yourself doing it in your mind while you answered the questions, didn't you? And where the mind goes, the body will follow. You still had your mind thinking about bed and sleep so that is where you wanted to be. Now that you are thinking and seeing yourself exercise and having fun and losing weight, that is what you want to do. Trust me. It works!

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Shift Your Focus

Mike Litman, a mentor of mine, taught me an important concept in overcoming procrastination or doing those activities that you really don't feel like doing in any given moment. Some people get up on those cold, windy, rainy mornings, look outside at the weather, crack their jaws with a mighty yawn, decide it's not worth it and head back to bed. Other people get up on those cold, windy, rainy mornings, look outside at the weather, crack their jaws with a mighty yawn, throw on their gym clothes and minutes later they are at the gym enjoying a great workout. What is the difference here? It's their focus!

The person who decides it's not worth it and heads back to bed is the person who is focused on the process. They are thinking about how cold it will be to go outside, how tired they will feel just starting their workout, how their muscles will burn as the work up a sweat and then how much colder they will be going back out in that weather all sweaty to go home. Brrr! I am getting cold just writing about it and even I wouldn't mind a nice, warm bed right now.

The person who goes to the gym isn't thinking so much about the process as they are focusing on the results. They are thinking how good they will look in their bathing suit. How good it will feel to put on that dress that is two sizes smaller without feeling like they were stuffed into it. The admiring look their spouse will give them when they walk into a room. The joy of chasing kids around the playground without feeling out of breath. The pleasure of living long and actively well into their golden years because of the exercise habit they had established in 2008. When you don't feel like doing something, focus on the results you will accomplish and allow the feelings of enjoying the benefits motivate you to action!

Make the Process Fun!

One reason why people don't follow through on their resolutions and goals is because they aren't having any fun. They want to lose the weight, but they don't particularly enjoy getting up early. They would much rather stay up watching their favorite T.V. shows. And if you are going to be up that late you have to eat a snack because you get hungry that long after a meal. My wife found a way to beat this by having me arrange the family room in such a way that her she could see the T.V. from her treadmill. Then she had me buy her a pair of wireless headphones on eBay so that she was the only person who would hear anything. After that she would set the DVR to record all her favorite shows. She went to bed at a decent hour, got up the next morning at 5:30 a.m., threw on her exercise clothes, and went for very brisk walks while the kids slept and enjoyed her favorite T.V. shows at the same time. The kids never woke up because the headphones eliminated the need to turn the volume up. Plus, she never had to sit through the commercials because she could fast-forward through them.

The Mary Poppins Principle

If the tasks that you have selected to achieve your resolution ever end up feeling a little bit tedious and boring, apply the Mary Poppins principle! "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - SNAP! - the job's a game!" Make it fun and challenging. Establish your personal "bests" in different areas of your tasks and try to beat them. Don't allow it to become mundane. Have fun with it!

These are just a few of the ideas that are out there that will help you stay committed and focused on achieving your resolutions this year. Come back to The Millionaire Marathon blog throughout the year for more ideas, tips, and coaching on how to go for your dreams and get them.

You now have everything you need to set your New Year's Resolutions and to achieve them. Have you written anything down yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Get started!

Have a happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2008 will be your best year ever (at least until you get to 2009)! I know you can make it so! Have fun but stay safe tonight!







Oh, wait! I did promise you 5 days of information, didn't I? Come back tomorrow for Celebrate 2008! - Part 5 where I will give you some final bits of advice. I'll see you tomorrow morning!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 3

As I promised yesterday, these next couple of days will be used to focus on how to set powerful resolutions and make them stick. I am sure you have realized that New Year's Resolutions are nothing more than a goal or goals to improve some aspect of your life set at the beginning of the year. So what we are really talking about today is effective goal-setting techniques.

"Success is the progressive achievement of a worthy ideal or goal."

~Earl Nightingale

I would also say that this is a good definition for happiness since I don't know too many happy failures. I love the quote above by Mr. Nightingale, but I want you to take notice of the word "worthy." There are people who achieve a goal and still are not very happy. You can often see this in situations where a man works hard to create a future for his family but neglects them in doing so, which can often result in divorce. When setting resolutions, select those goals that are worthy and complimentary to your total life picture. The pursuit of these goals is the road to happiness.

Steps to Setting Powerful Resolutions

1. Write down what it is that you want

The first step in making any journey is to know where it is that you want to go.

"The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The key word in this step is "want." You want to determine what it is that you want - not what your parents want, not what your spouse wants, not what your boss wants; what you want! You should be working towards your goals and dreams; not somebody else's. When you are working toward and achieving what you want, you will rarely run short on motivation and drive.

A great way of determining what you want is to create a Want List. At the top of a piece of paper, write down "I want ..." and finish that sentence in as many different ways as you possibly can. See if you can get up to 100 or more "wants." Don't worry about what you think is realistic for you to be, do or have. Let your imagination run wild! Describe your ideal life. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to see? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to meet?

Consider the following categories while making your list:
Romance
Children
Health & Fitness
Family
Community / Legacy
Fun
Friends
Relaxation
Personal Development
Environment
Spiritual
Financial
Career & Work
Home

Whatever you put down, make sure it is something that YOU want! And come back and add to this list as often as you think of something else.

2. Prioritize your Wish List

After you have a healthy-sized list, write in the margin to the left how soon you want to accomplish these goals. Put the number 1 for those wants you would like to accomplish in one year or less, 3 for those you want to do within 1-3 years, 5 for your wants you want done in 4-5 years and so on. This gives you tentative deadline for the goals you will set and an order to pursue them in.

3. Select one of your short-term goals that really excites you

Since we are setting a New Year's Resolution, you will want to focus on the 1-year wants. Take a moment and visualize each one individually and consider what it would be like to achieve each one. Select the one that excites you the most because this will stack the deck in your favor in terms of achieving it.

4. Write out an effective goal statement

This is a very important step and may take a little time both to explain and to do. It is all about turning your wishes into powerfully defined goals. You may have heard it said that an unwritten goal is only a wish. That is absolutely true! We will discuss more of the power that a written goal carries and how having it written down can help you achieve it in tomorrow's section. For now, let's look at putting your dreams down on paper as a powerful, effective goal statement.

The first step is to turn your wishes into S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible.

To make your goals Specific, you need to answer the six "W" questions:
Who - Who is involved?
What - What do you want to accomplish?
Where - Identify the location where this will take place
When - Identify a time frame to accomplish it in
Which - Identify requirements and constraints
Why - Write down specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal

Measurable means setting the criteria for measuring progress towards & the achievement of your goal. Ways to do this are to answer the questions How much? How many? How long? and How will I know when it is accomplished?

The Attainable aspect of your goal is fairly simple. The truth of the matter is that you can attain most any goal when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to grow, develop and carry out those steps. So, ultimately, there is nothing you cannot do if you work hard enough, smart enough and/or long enough.

Realistic means that your goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. I must warn you not to set your goals too low. The reason for this is that high goals exert higher motivational force than low goals. Setting a goal such as "lose 5 pounds" are not nearly as exciting as "lose 25 pounds." You must set realistic ones based on your situation, but set a goal that will challenge you and cause you to stretch and grow.

Tangible means that your goal can be experienced with one of the five senses (i.e. taste, touch, sight, smell or hearing). If you set intangible goals such as development of personality characteristics or changing behavior patterns, these can often be tied to tangible goals or measurements. What this means is that if you set the resolution to be kinder to others this year, you have an intangible goal. Tying this goal to a goal of giving three different compliments to three different people every single day satisfies the goal of being kinder with a tangible means (hearing) of measurement.

Once you have determined the S.M.A.R.T. aspects of your goal, you are ready to write your goal statement. When you write it down, state it in the positive. This means writing down "I will put $100 in savings each month" rather than "I won't overspend my budget this year." You also want to state your goal in the present. Stating it in the present means writing your goal down as if it has already happened. This stimulates your subconscious mind and increases your level of belief that it will be accomplished.

5. Make a plan to achieve your goal

Once you have your goal statement, it is time to break it down into smaller, more achievable steps or step goals. Most people experience difficulty in achieving large tasks like writing a novel or losing 25 pounds. It is daunting and it becomes a motivational killer because you don't ever believe you will get there. It is just too big to focus on. Step goals like writing two pages per day or losing three pounds per month are more believable and, therefore, more achievable. So identify smaller step goals and assign a reward for each time you reach a milestone.

Once you have your step goals written down with their rewards, start listing every single activity that you can think of that you will need to accomplish to achieve each step goal. Write down the monthly, weekly or even daily activities that you will need to do - whatever spacing works best for you. I will warn you, however, that the greater the length of time between your activities, the weaker your motivation is to take the next step. Daily activities work the best because consistent daily steps make for successful habits that will drive you to the accomplishment of your goal. But, again, do what is best for you and your life schedule.

Once you have your periodic activities listed, prioritize them in a manner that will optimize your goal-achieving process.

Take time to identify foreseeable obstacles as well and what you will do to overcome them when the time comes. You may not think of everything up front, but doing this will leave you much better prepared for the ones you do think of. The others you will deal with as you encounter them.

6. Identify the price that must be paid and determine to pay it

"To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish, then resolve to pay the price to get it."

~Bunker Hunt

Probably one of the major reasons why many people give up on their goals is they don't identify the price they must pay up front and determine to pay that price no matter what. Achieving a goal means making changes in your life - oftentimes, changes in some long-standing habits. This is never easy, comfortable or free. There is an emotional price, a physical price, a social price, a personal price and/or a financial price. You must make that determination to pay it or, when the going gets tough, you will most likely quit. Don't let that happen. Figure out what the price may be up front. It may mean giving up snacks and sweets. It may mean spending less time watching T.V. or hanging out with friends. It may mean earlier mornings or later nights. Whatever the cost may be, figure it out for yourself and establish an iron will to pay it no matter how tempting it may ever be to just give in.

7. Establish a Tracking & Accountability System

Set up a way to track your progress on your goal. Whether it means a spreadsheet on your computer, a calendar, a notebook - whatever works best. You need to have a way to see where you are at all times, how you are doing on any given day and where you can improve. Then share this with someone you trust. Become accountable to them so that they can help keep you motivated and honest with yourself. The reason I said someone you trust is because you need to give them "push-ability." You need to trust them to give you that kick in the pants when you need it. And when they give you that kick, keep in mind that it is because they love you and they want to see you succeed.

Those are the seven steps to setting highly effective and powerful goals. Some of these steps may take a little bit of time to establish, but it will be time well spent in preparing you and setting you up to accomplish your goals and dreams. Spend the necessary time to complete the steps above, but do them quickly so that you don't over-analyze any of them. To do so would result in "paralysis by analysis" and all you will have is a well-thought out idea of something you could have accomplished if you had acted while you were still excited about it.

Once you have your goal written down, your plan in place to achieve it and your tracking and accountability system established, the only thing that is left is to act. Do something, anything as quickly as possible. Get the ball rolling. Procrastination is the "silent killer" of your success and the longer you wait to start, the harder it will be to get going. So while the fire is still burning, while the enthusiasm is still high, take action! Do it now!!!

Come back tomorrow for Celebrate 2008! - Part 4 and learn a number of techniques and strategies that will help you keep those resolutions all year long until you have accomplished them. I'll see you then!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 2

Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that less than 50% of Americans even set resolutions, and, out of those that do set them, only 15% ever accomplish them. In fact, one could say that the only resolution most people keep is to NOT keep their New Year's Resolutions. Are you ready to change all that? Good! First, let's deal with the problem of people not setting New Year's Resolutions.

Why People Do Not Set New Year's Resolutions

There are a variety of reasons why people don't set their resolutions. They may include:

They don't really know what they want.

I believe people know more what they want than they realize. Most people are complaining about something in life. If you are unhappy with a situation like being in debt, having too many bills to pay, being overweight or the house is always a mess then you obviously want the opposite of that situation. This means you want to pay off your debts, reduce your expenses or increase your income, exercise more and lose weight, and establish a better organization system in your home or teach your kids/spouse/yourself to put things away and develop better and/or more consistent cleaning habits. So what is it that you want?

They are too busy or disorganized to set them.

These are the people that say they will set their resolutions when they get around to it. I can understand this because I have been guilty of using this reason myself. The one thing I have going for me is that my birthday falls on February 5 and I tend to look back on the past year of my life at this point as well. I have often realized that another year has passed without much improvement or accomplishment in the areas I wanted to improve or accomplish in. Sometimes I set resolutions for My New Year of Life at this point. Other times, I am still to busy. Most people, I imagine, just never get around to it at all. If you don't take the time to make plans to improve your life right now, why would you expect tomorrow or the next day to be any different?

They feel overwhelmed when they set them.

Some people feel like it has to be all or nothing. They must change everything they don't like about their life right now or why should they bother. So they set as many resolutions as they can think of ... and then never achieve anything because they are torn in so many different directions. That would be like throwing the "Hail Mary" pass in football on every play. You will never win that way. Just like a sequence of well-executed football plays that eat up a little bit of yardage at a time can result in big wins, a small number of resolutions (or even just one at a time) will ultimately result in massive life improvements if done consistently.

Another type of overwhelm, aside from having too much to work on, can be not knowing where to start. This is very similar to not knowing what you want in that most people really do know where to start. They just don't acknowledge it. If you want to lose weight, it isn't a question of which exercise would be most beneficial for you, it is a question of establishing a consistent, daily exercise habit and see what works best for you. Most people seem to think that life is Ready! Aim! Fire! when most successful people in any area of life have learned that it really is Ready! Fire! Aim! Ready means knowing what you want, Fire means taking action on it, and Aim means adjusting your course of action based on the results you get.

FEAR

This can mean fear of failure, fear of rejection or fear of the unknown. We are creatures of comfort and habit. We create our "comfort zone" and are very reluctant to venture outside of it. Setting a resolution for anything means change and change means venturing outside your current "comfort zone." For most people, the only time they expand their "comfort zone" is when it has become too constricting to be comfortable anymore. What people do not realize is that we can never truly leave our "comfort zone." The borders are flexible; not rigid. They allow us to push out, and, if we stay out there long enough, the border expands to that point so we are no longer pushing. It is like Mark Twain said: "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain."

They are too content with just "getting by"

These are the people who do not truly understand the importance and power of resolutions. They don't feel that changing their life is important. The truth of the matter is that things that do not change, adapt and improve DIE! Just think how different your life would be if you were in the same state that you were in when you entered this world:
--- You would starve because you never learned to feed yourself.
--- You would be immobilized because you never learned to crawl or walk.
--- You would be uneducated because you never learned to read or write or even think for yourself.
Now you may say that is ridiculous, but so is thinking that just "getting by" is a good state to remain in. Life is about change, growth, development and improvement. Setting a resolution is the first step to making those changes and improvements a reality.

The most common reason you may hear from people who do not set resolutions is most likely to be:

Resolutions do not work!

WRONG!!! You just never learned how to do it effectively! A resolution is a tool for life improvement. Like any tool, you must learn how to use it properly for it to work. That will be our focus in the next couple of days.

Those are a few of the reasons, or more accurately named - EXCUSES, that people give for not setting New Year's Resolutions. Maybe some of those sound familiar to you due to your own experience. If so, I hope I have shared some information that will encourage you to never use those excuses again. Now, let me leave you with a few of the benefits of setting resolutions. You may have gleaned some of your own from the paragraphs above, but here are a few more:

Reasons to Set New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions give you a target to aim for!

As I mentioned earlier, life is about changing, growing, progressing and developing. Resolutions enable you to set the direction for that growth. It not only gives your conscious mind something to focus on, but, if done properly, also puts your subconscious mind to work, which helps you accomplish your resolutions much, much faster.

Resolutions help you concentrate your time and effort!

Some people of us trudge through every single day wishing for something better. Then in the quiet of the evening, when the voices of discontent clamor the loudest, we drown them out through the use of television, narcotics and alcohol. When you have a resolution, you are able to focus on the way things will be when you are done instead of the unhappy state of things as they are now. You have an objective to focus on and to plan your days' activities by.

Resolutions provide motivation, persistence and desire!

My wife and I were talking about the reasons why we don't work on our resolutions as often as we should. One thing we both realized is that we don't want to work on them when we consistently don't work on them. But when are working on our resolutions and achieving those small daily victories, our emotions are saying, "Yeah, baby! Hit me again! I want some more of that!" The motivation, persistence and desire come in the doing and the doing comes from having a resolution to shoot for.

Resolutions help you establish priorities!

How many of you have gone to bed at night feeling like you should have accomplished more that day. The house needed cleaned up, you needed to work on your home-based business, you should have exercised, the house needed to be cleaned up, you wanted to write for your blog that day, or you should have spent more time with your kids and/or your significant other. But, instead, you chose to relax in front of the T.V., and now it is too late to do anything. I know I have been guilty of that on many occasions. Resolutions enable you to set down what is important in your life. And, if you choose to work on them before the relaxing (or at least add time to relax to your daily schedule and keep to that time limit so you can work on your resolutions), then your life will improve by leaps and bounds.

Just don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that your priorities are set in stone for the whole year. There are times when your circumstance will change unexpectedly (and sometimes not so unexpectedly) that will require a rearrangement of your priorities.

For example, you may have set the resolution to practice the guitar for one hour every day to get better at playing it. Once your wife has the baby though, you can no longer practice at home because it wakes the baby or your wife who is getting so little sleep as it is. You may have to change the priority to taking the baby for an hour while you are at home so the misses can get some rest and settle for a half hour practice at work as part of your lunch break.

Or perhaps the expectant mother had planned to walk every day to stay in shape and keep her weight gain down during her pregnancy. Now the doctor has put her on bed rest with two months to go. As frustrating as this may be, it would be foolish, not to mention dangerous, to violate the doctor's orders. It would be better to for her to make her and the baby's health the priority by following the doctor's orders and temporarily postponing the exercise and weight loss resolution until after the baby is born and the doctor has given the O.K. to continue.

Resolutions provide a road map from where you are to where you want to be!

When you set your resolutions you not only know where your life is going but you also have a plan for how to get there. It may only be a partial plan to get you started and head you in the right direction, but, just like driving in the dark where your headlights illuminate only so many feet in front of you, the rest of the road will appear before you as you travel. And there will be times when the Construction Detours of Life will force you to take a different road than you had planned. But, just as if you had to take a detour on the way to work, you don't just throw your hands in the air and say, "That's it! They closed my road! I'm not going in to work today or not even until the road re-opens!" You would simply re-route your journey so that you still arrive at your destination.

So those are just a few major reasons why resolutions are so important and beneficial for each and every one of us. If you think of some others, please share them in the comments section below so that we all may benefit from your insights.

Celebrate 2008! will continue tomorrow in Part 3 as we talk about how to set powerful resolutions that stick!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 1

In just a few days we will be celebrating on of the world's oldest holidays - the beginning of a new year. The earliest records of its celebration date back to approximately 4,000 years ago. The Babylonians celebrated it on March 23 back then and their civilization is credited with introducing the practice of New Year's Resolutions. Their common resolution was to return something that they had borrowed from a friend, family member or neighbor.

The Roman Empire used a different calendar and they celebrated their New Year on January 1 by exchanging gifts. In fact, the first month was named for the Roman god, Janus, the god of beginnings and endings and the guardian of gates, doors and doorways. He was always depicted as having two faces - one facing forward looking to the future and one facing back towards the past. The common resolution among the Romans was to seek forgiveness from their enemies.

January 1st is just around the corner and I am sure that many of us are preparing to uphold the age-old tradition of making (and breaking) New Year's Resolutions. While many of us may make our resolutions out of a sense of tradition, I am certain that many more would actually like to see those changes occur in our lives. The reason I believe this so strongly is because the top three resolutions that people make each year have to do with three major problems in today's society. The most popular type of resolutions that people make are health-related goals. These include losing weight, exercising more, stop smoking and so on. Financial resolutions come in a close second with increasing savings, getting out of debt, avoiding excessive spending, etc. The third most popular type of resolutions are relationship goals. These resolutions may be to make amends with friends or family members, try to be more patient with coworkers, improve your communications skills, and so on. Do any of these sound like ones you have made?

The sad fact is that this ancient tradition is a declining one. Now less than 50% of Americans even make a resolution. Why is that? Probably because only 15% of those that make them ever manage to keep them. Most of them die out before the end of January. For those die-hards who make it make it past the first month, very few survive past June.

A Department of Labor survey of adults asked what the biggest issue was that prevented people from keeping their New Year's Resolutions. The top three answers were procrastination (33%), lack of self-discipline (24%) and no game plan (19%).

Do people just not understand what a resolution really is? If you look it up in the dictionary it says that a resolution is "the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc." In short, it is a decision to change your life for the better because the decisions we make AND ACT ON today will determine the type of future we will live tomorrow!

I challenge you to CELEBRATE the coming new year. I'm not talking about going out and partying hearty well past midnight on December 31. I mean really celebrate this new year from January 1 through December 31 by making it the best year of your life so far! And the best way to do this is to make AND KEEP your New Year's Resolutions.

Over the next four days I will be covering topics that will help you to gain a better understanding of why resolutions are important, how to set effective and exciting resolutions and tips and techniques for making sure you keep them throughout the whole year ... and beyond. So come back tomorrow for Part 2 of Celebrate 2008!

Lessons Relearned

In the Parable of the Talents, we learn of three servants who are entrusted with large amounts of money while their master is away. Two of the servants double their money through trade while the third buries the money he was given because he was afraid of losing it. When the master returned, he commended the first two servants for their faithfulness. The third servant is chastised severely being called a "wicked and slothful servant", the money he had was taken and given to the first servant and he was cast out.

I am not proud to say that I have been a "wicked and slothful servant" of late. I was on Step 5 of The Millionaire Marathon and had been for over a week and a half. I carried my marathon money in my pocket every day with the intent of moving to the next step. I had many opportunities to progress in the game, but I buried my money in my pocket instead out of fear. And now, like the slothful servant, my marathon money has been taken from me!

I went to put my marathon money back in my pocket last night and it was gone. I am guessing that my overzealous wife cleaned it up and put it in our change jar or one of my children found it and took it. Either way, according to the rules of The Millionaire Marathon, I am back on Step 1. Am I sad about it? To be honest, I was really frustrated at first. But every setback, every frustration, every failure is a learning opportunity. Here are the lessons that I learned:

1. Be careful with your money and know where it is at all times. Do not assume that you are okay financially. Know!

2. Give in to your fears and you are destined for failure.

3. Use it or lose it! If you do not use your talents (whether it be finances or abilities) they will be taken from you.

Here is your opportunity to learn from my failure so that you do not have to experience that pain yourself.

Now, I have experienced a major setback, but I am going to bounce back in a big way. Just you wait! I will be on Step 10 by Christmas Day! That will only leave me 18 more steps until I reach One Million Dollars!!!

I'll see you at the finish line!

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If you haven't even started running The Millionaire Marathon and would like to know how to get started, e-mail me at themillionairemarathon@hotmail.com for more information.

Watch Your Language!

Language is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of success. I'm not talking about refraining from swearing or questionable jokes. I'm talking about the words you use to speak to others and, even more importantly, the words you use to speak to yourself!

The words we use are good indicators of our beliefs and attitudes. I was listening to a CD where Jerry "DRhino" Clark interviewed network marketing millionaire Jeffrey Combs when they brought up the topic of language. Mr. Combs was talking about those of us locked into the scarcity mindset and how that comes out in our language. We use phrases like "I wish," "I need," "If only," etc. He says that the words "I need" are the most devastating words you can use. If a person says, "I need to lose weight," what they are really saying is, "I should lose weight but I am not really going to."

A phrase that you probably think very often and possibly say out loud may be "I need more money." Look very closely what that sentence implies. You are affirming #1 - you do not have enough money and #2 - that situation is unlikely to change. It is a statement laced with fear of a poor financial outcome.

What people do not realize is that by carelessly using such words, we are programming ourselves for failure. We are telling our subconscious to look for evidence of and create situations where we need more money.

To create better results, change your "I need" statements to either "I will" or "I deserve." Your subconscious mind will pick up on these new speech patterns and start feeding you ideas to aid you in the accomplishment of your goal to have more money. It will identify evidence of why you deserve to have more money, thus building your self-esteem, your confidence and your faith in your ability to have more money.

So whatever you do, watch your language!

(You can learn more about Jerry "DRhino" Clark at www.clubrhino.com. His Standing on the Shoulders of Giants CDs consist of Mr. Clark interviewing wealthy and successful people and getting them to share the tips and secrets that have enabled them to become "giants" in their respective fields.)