success secrets for every one

Many clients ask for help with weight management. Below are some of the key tips I share with them:
1. Turn the TV off while eating -- Eating in front of the TV or pc screen tends to induce hypnosis. In this state our critical faculty becomes disengaged, which is why we can cry at a sad movie that we know is not real, and why time can pass so rapidly when in front of the pc. If we eat in this state we miss many of the cues that tell us we're satisfied. To manage your eating, never eat in front of the TV or pc screen.


2. Eat what you feel like eating - Remember, no food in and of itself is fattening - it's the excess of food that puts the weight on. Allow yourself to eat what you feel like, consciously, in small quantities and only at meal times. Denial just isn't the way to go. Being reasonable is.
3. Ditch the Scales - Scale weight can fluctuate wildly depending on many factors not necessarily directly connected with eating. The real indicator of how well you're doing is the fit of your clothes and the way you feel inside. You know you're doing fine when you can fit into that dress or those trousers that were previously bursting at the seams. Focusing on scale weight does you no favours and can even de-motivate you. Let your clothes and feelings tell you how well you're doing instead.
4. Smaller plates equal smaller quantities - The way food is presented to the eye influences the way the mind perceives it. Remember, the average adult stomach is only about the size of a fist. It really doesn't take all that much food to fill and satisfy it. By using smaller plates, we programme the subconscious mind to appreciate and accept a plateful of food, thereby increasing our chances of eating more reasonable quantities.
5. Eat something starchy -- Glycogen is the fuel of the brain and this is produced from carbohydrates. Insufficient quantities of glycogen affect our mental functioning and consequently our mood. And we know that overeating has a lot to do with mood and how we feel. So make sure you eat some complex carbohydrates - whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc - in order to give your brain, and your mind, what it needs. The key here, of course, is moderation.
6. End emotional eating - Eat only when hungry. Easier said than done? Well, it's as easy as A B C. A: When you feel like putting something into your mouth STOP and ask yourself if it's really hunger, or is it boredom, frustration, loneliness or some other emotion that you're attempting to feed? B: Identify the cause of the feeling. Give it a name. Only then can you really do something about it - other than eating. C: Take care of the feeling. For example, if it's boredom, maybe this means you need to challenge yourself a bit more; if it's frustration, perhaps you need to change what you've been doing, so try something else. Loneliness means we have a healthy need for human company: talk to a friend, call someone, develop an outside interest that involves others. You get the idea - A B C.
7. Learn to listen to your inner self - You have your own inner wisdom that knows exactly what you need in order to be healthy. Learn to listen to it. Diets don't usually take this into account. They work at the symptom level - the overeating - and on denial: 'No, you can't have this'; 'No you mustn't have that'. And each time the inner self is being ignored. Then, when the diet is at an end, the weight is put right back on again, often with a vengeance! The fact is that the more we understand our feelings and what they're telling us, the more in control we are capable of becoming. There's a lot to be said for working with a good therapist who knows how to help you in this area.
8. Chew each bite thoroughly - There is a saying in India: 'Drink your food'. What's meant by this is that food should be so thoroughly chewed that it becomes paste-like and easy to swallow. Often, people gobble their food without really chewing it. Needless to say, this does nothing for the waistline! A useful trick is to put your eating utensils down in between mouthfuls. Change the way you treat food in your mouth and you give your body the very best chance of proper absorption and your mind of knowing when your stomach is full.
9. Drink plenty of fresh water - Not only does water re-hydrate your body, replenishing tissue and cells and washing away toxins, it can also provide a pleasant sense of fullness in the stomach, reducing the 'Eat! Eat! Eat! messages that the brain receives. Thirst is a poor indicator of the body's need for liquids and if we drink only when thirsty we end up drinking far too little. Drink more water and notice the improvement in your health - and in the way you feel!
10. Do NOT beat yourself up if you slip - Mistakes are there to be learned from, which is why psychologists call them 'successive approximations'. Each time we make a mistake it's an opportunity to learn how to get it right. So do just that. Then pick yourself up and get on with it. Persevere. You know you can do it!
Peter Field is a Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Health and one of the foremost hypno-psychotherapists in the UK. He holds clinics in London and Birmingham, England. More interesting articles can be found on his website: Peter Field Hypnotherapy

A 56-YEAR-OLD Japanese woman has donated half of her pancreas to treat her daughter's diabetes. It is the first time a living donor has donated part of this organ.
After removing the pancreatic tissue at Kyoto University Hospital in Japan on 19 January, James Shapiro of the University of Alberta in Canada and his colleagues extracted the islet cells and transplanted them into the woman's 27-year-old daughter



The islet cells began producing insulin minutes after the transplant, says Shapiro, who in 2000 developed the so-called "Edmonton protocol. This is a procedure for isolating and transplanting islet cells taken from cadavers or people pronounced brain dead, and a cocktail of drugs to prevent rejection. It appears to cure diabetes - although patients have to take the anti-rejection drugs for life - but so far only 500 people have been treated worldwide because of a severe shortage of islet cells from the usual sources.
"There are more cells in half a living pancreas than from two whole ones from cadavers," says Shapiro. "I personally think the technique could increase availability enormously."
Surviving with half a pancreas should not be a problem for healthy donors, Shapiro adds, though there is a slight risk they may develop diabetes themselves if too much is removed.

EDMC (ARA) - Everybody knows that exercise is good. Doctors have told us for years that exercise can help us lose weight, look better, feel better, and even sleep better. However, exercise sounds like work, and many of us claim that we just don't have time to add more work to our daily lives.

Dr. Bart Lerner (EdD), president of Argosy University, Phoenix, offers guidelines for approaching an exercise regimen than can help everyone benefit from exercise. Lerner says, "Simply stated, sport-exercise psychology can be defined as mental management of physical resources. Staying mentally focused is the most important factor."

To build motivation for exercise, Lerner recommends outlining the reasons why you want to participate in the activity. Some people exercise to improve their performance in a sport, while others exercise to tone muscles, or socialize with friends at a gym. "There is usually more than one reason why we exercise," Lerner says, "The number one reason is weight control. It could be to lose extra weight gained throughout the year or to address health problems that have a tendency to appear in overweight people."

Making changes in your environment can help keep motivation levels high. If your exercise equipment sits in the basement, consider moving it to a more convenient spot in your house. If you don't have the facilities at home, purchase a gym membership. "When you provide for successful exercise experiences, good things can happen," says Lerner, "You don't have to do three sets of 10 from the start. Provide realistic goals. Doing one set will give you success, and you can build on that success each time."

Lerner also suggests making your exercise fun. "People are less likely to see exercise as a chore when it contains elements of fun. Consider adding music as a motivator during the session. Mix it up a bit by varying the content or sequence of the workout. Work on arms and legs one day, and legs and stomach the next," says Lerner, "By setting realistic goals that you can achieve frequently, you feel satisfied along the way. As you progress in the level of your workout, you'll feel better. At that point, the workout becomes its own motivator."

Lerner says that those who seek to benefit from working out should exercise three to five days a week for 25 to 45 minutes at a time. During each session, try to reach 60 percent to 70 percent of your maximal heart rate. A simple formula for figuring maximal heart rate is to take 220 and subtract your age. Each time you exercise, try to reach 60 percent of that number. To find your heart rate, feel your pulse and count the beats for ten seconds. Multiply by six to get the heart rate per minute.

"Exercise can reduce the chances of heart disease and hypertension, and reduce stress," Lerner says, "It releases endorphins in the brain, which can add to our emotional well-being. Exercise also makes one more aware of self, and can build confidence."

Content Provided By EDMC

When working toward goals or striving for success in any endeavor, self-discipline is one vital quality you need to have. Most of us cringe at the thought because it brings to mind instant visions of sacrifice, difficulty and strain.

However, discipline doesn’t have to be so hard. The problem occurs when you try to go from having no self-discipline to forcing yourself to undertake a heavy load of responsibility. Talk about pressure!


Below are three easy ways to become more disciplined with a minimum of discomfort:

1) First, change your attitude about discipline. One reason you may not be disciplined is because you think the activities or chores you need to do will be unpleasant in some way. The most common reaction to thoughts like that is to put the activities aside or avoid them until you feel ready to handle them.

Instead, pump yourself up and get motivated to get them done as soon as possible! Look forward to the challenge and keep affirming how great you’ll feel when you’re finished. Focus on the sense of personal accomplishment you’ll gain with every task and you’ll be much more likely to stick to your plans.

2) Make self-discipline a gradual process. Rather than trying to force yourself into submission with a big list of tasks or activities, go a little easier on yourself to start.

Identify one small task or activity that you can use for practice. Make it something fairly easy to accomplish each day, and then make sure you do it. If you have to, post notes of encouragement everywhere or wear an elastic band around your wrist as a reminder. If possible, get this one task out of the way first thing in the morning before you do anything else. Make it your highest priority and it will soon become a solid habit.

Then, begin adding more tasks or activities – or increase the size or frequency of the original task so you’re doing more each day. Little by little, keep increasing it like that and eventually you’ll find that you’re doing the things you set out to do without excuses or procrastination.

3) Commitment. If you’re not fully committed to achieving your goals, you’ll probably have a harder time pushing yourself to work on them. Make a solemn vow to yourself that you will do what it takes to work on your goals every single day. Write a list of important action steps and make it your mission to do one or more of them each day. Re-commit yourself as often as necessary to make sure you stick to your plans.

More than anything else, self-discipline is a favorable result of a series of wise decisions that you make each day. Choose to be disciplined, choose to be successful – and you will b

Hypnotists may find hypnosis induction difficult, especially if they are new to the field. With that in mind, the discussion in this article will focus on what hypnotists can do to become better at Conversational Hypnosis.
Conversational Hypnosis, being knotty as it is, a hypnotist would have to learn a lot of steps and master each one in order for processes like hypnosis induction could come naturally. Remember, the goal of these steps is eventual spontaneity and ease. As such, only when the first step can be executed more naturally can a hypnotist proceed to the next step. This is the only way for a hypnotist to fully understand everything in the end


Just so you'll have a general overview of what I am talking about here, let me give you a brief information on each of the nine steps that every hypnotist would benefit from.
The first step has got to do with the foundation of a hypnotist's education. This will focus on the different languages.
The second step would simply act as a supplement to the first step. You will learn in this step the right environment including the tools that you could use. Moreover, you will learn about signal recognition, tonality, and authority strategies.
Step three is about solidarity. Hypnotic gaze induction will be introduced here and indirectness will be polished at this step.
It is in step four when piggy back induction will be dwelled upon.
Trance voice induction and multiple levels of suggestion will be the focus of step five.
Suggestions and trance themes will be sharpened in step six with the use of stories and sensory rich descriptions.
Frames controls would be the focal point of step seven. This, of course, comes after the mastery of step six.
Step eight is about trance processes again. This will entail the use of previous learning on trance formulas and the addition of several important things.
For the final step, which is the ninth step, nested loops will be a part of this with the integration of all the previous steps.
So, there you have it. That's just a sneak peak of all the interesting things a hypnotist could learn. Thus, don't miss out on the in depth articles regarding the nine steps involved in Conversational Hypnosis. They are very, very useful towards natural hypnosis induction and mastery of Conversational Hypnosis

Resouce : Perry Lai www.goarticles

Many people never find out what they can achieve until life has passed them by and with it the chance to discover what they are capable of. In Rambo III, the hero hijacks a Soviet attack helicopter in Afghanistan during the Afghan-Soviet war. His friend, the Colonel, asks: "Can you fly that thing?"

Rambo's reply is memorable: "Let's find out!" He wastes no time climbing aboard and 'finding out'. Of course, he can not only fly it, he can also fire rockets from it. He soon makes full use of both abilities! The experienced Soviet pilots are no match for him.


Notice that he does not confidently say: "I can fly that helicopter!" Instead his attitude is surprisingly less macho. The words "Let's find out!" imply that he will "try" and see if he can fly the helicopter. Some self help gurus argue that only wimps use words like "try".

I disagree. Wimps don't try even when there is a possibility of success. They give up before they even start or at the first hurdle. Strong people try without boasting that they will succeed. Reality demands that they walk before they can run or fly! They try and keep trying. Then, as they succeed step by step, their confidence can grow to the point where they believe strongly that they can and will achieve victory.

Reality teaches again and again that the most confident and the most experienced don't always succeed. Even the great Muhammad Ali and Iron Mike Tyson were eventually defeated.

Unlike Muhammad Ali, the fictional Rambo never boasts about what a great fighter he is. The Colonel does that for him. When a Mujahadeen fighter doubts Rambo's abilities in battle, Rambo makes no comment. He lets his actions win respect as he rescues the Colonel.

Sports teams and their fans often boast that they will win before a game although, to be fair, they are frequently joking. Time and again, their boasts are proved wrong. However, if the team tries hard, their fans will usually forgive them. They will not forgive a lack of ambition or effort. They will not forgive a team that fails to try.

Sometimes, teams that try hard against teams that are supposed to be far superior to them find that they are doing better than they thought they would. Their confidence rockets and they end up victorious.

In one of the first matches of the 2008 Six Nations Rugby Union Championship, Wales played England at Twickenham, the home of English rugby. Wales had seldom beaten England on their home ground and had exited the 2007 World Cup early. England, on the other hand had reached the final.

No one was surprised that England was leading at half time. But in the second half, Wales started to try harder and, as their point score went up, the Welsh team grew in confidence until they were playing like men possessed. Wales won and have gone on to beat every other team they have played so far in the championship. They achieved all this simply because they began to try and to try hard.

Recently, in what some call the greatest club soccer competition in the world, the FA cup, teams from the lower English and Welsh leagues have beaten the top teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. These shock results took place in early March 2008.

They succeeded because they tried very hard. They could easily have rolled over and made the reasonable excuse that the top teams have huge financial resources which allow them to buy up the best players in the world.

Beverly Sills highlights the importance of trying: "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."

If you don't try, you won't fail but you won't achieve much. Even if you fail, you will learn lessons and your skills and knowledge will grow. No one enjoys failing but it may be the quickest road to eventual success.

Sometimes we don't try or we try in a half hearted manner because we have been convinced in childhood or later that we are useless at something. We need to clear our minds of such thoughts and find out the truth for ourselves.

We also need to believe in ourselves enough to try. If we lack enough belief to even try, we can test out methods like affirmations and visualizations to see if they will help us to develop the necessary belief. Google 'affirmations' and 'visualizations' and you will find many websites that can help you learn how to make affirmations and how to visualize.

One site, for example, suggests a variety of ways to affirm effectively. You can affirm while you are walking or exercising. You could for example say: "I am strong and healthy" or "I am improving daily." Repeat this affirmation as you walk or train.

When I was at school in the Isle of Man, I soon discovered that cross country running was not my strong point. However, I improved by repeating one word "Faster" as I ran or, rather, struggled along! I never achieved "fast" but I did achieve "less slow!"

I suggest to my martial arts students that they say to themselves phrases like: "I am becoming faster and stronger." They can say these at training sessions and at gradings when they need to replace nervousness with confidence.

A typical NLP technique suggests that when you say or think something negative like "I am no good at making money," listen in your mind to the phrase diminishing in volume until it disappears. You can then replace that phrase with a positive one like "I am getting good at making money". Let this phrase become louder and louder in your mind until it dominates your thinking.

Another method uses writing. Write down what you want in your life about fifteen times a day. You could write "I am healthy, wealthy and wise." Writing things down is an effective way of releasing the power of your subconscious mind.

The website I visited suggested several affirmations like: "I radiate good health" or "I have all the energy I need to accomplish my goals and to fulfil my desires" or "I am healthy and full of energy and vitality."

Visualization also helps. I tell my students to imagine receiving their blackbelt. If you want to receive money rather than a blackbelt imagine a huge cheque being presented to you instead. Alternatively, you could visual pound notes and/or dollar bills raining down on you from the sky. You will, of course, need to visualize for some time and to take appropriate action daily before these images become true. Do not imagine coins raining down from the sky for obvious reasons.

You could imagine things you don't want like that broken down car spinning away from you and then visualize a smart and powerful car spinning towards you. Imagine it stopping before it knocks you down!

Imagine yourself performing that skill which you are trying to master. See yourself doing the necessary movements with ease. If you are learning how to dance like a Zulu (one of my secret ambitions), imagine yourself stamping on the ground and waving your arms about like one of the best!

Like Rambo, we should climb into that helicopter and try to master the controls. We could find that we, too, can fly and destroy the obstacles that hold us back from success


Resouce by: John Watson http:articlecity

Economic times constantly change and organizations adapt to these changes. For you to find career success, you must be pro-active about your job. What are the career secrets of those who soar to the top in their careers no matter what the economic environment is in the world?

The following are ten career secrets you can use to “recession proof” yourself and find career success no matter what the economic situation is:


1. Find Out What Your Organization Needs for Career Success

Invest the time to investigate and understand your organization’s mission, goals, and values. Your organization may be facing challenges and the person who can tune into what the organization needs to be successful and provide the solution can write his/her own career success ticket.

Remember, to get what you want in your career, you must help your organization, your department, your manager succeed. Focus on what is important to your manager and provide the solution. If customer service is important, speak with your manager in terms of creating customer solutions. If your manager is a numbers person, quantify all your results, etc.

2. Be a Change Agent for Career Success

Organizational change will change the way you do your job. There is no escaping the changes that are happening around us all the time. Learn to embrace these changes so that you can learn how to take advantage of the career opportunities available from being a change agent.

How do you do this? Be pro-active and ask questions about the change. How does it affect the organization? What challenges will there be implementing the changes? How will these changes affect the way you do your job? And the most important question, “What can you do to help implement the changes?”

Once you receive the answers to these questions, and are able to act on the answers, you are way ahead of the “change curve” and will be looked at as someone who can “make things happen” within the organization. This will lead to countless career opportunities

3. Be the Master of Your Job for Career Success

Invest the time to learn as much as there is to know about your job. Many times, employees will become complacent and master only the few tasks that they do 80% of the time. Then when a career opportunity comes up, this employee doesn’t have the skill set to take advantage of a promotion or raise.

Take the time to read trade journals, go on the Internet to job related sites, and ask questions to master the understanding of your job. With the wealth of information there is in the 21st century, there is no excuse for “not knowing.”

4. Volunteer to Make a Difference for Career Success

Volunteer for assignments that expose your skills. Look for especially challenging projects that other people have declined.

Also volunteer to mentor others within your organization. This will show and develop your leadership, management, and interpersonal skills. Keep management posted on your challenges and how you are working with the person you are mentoring to overcome these challenges.

Volunteer to write a department or organizational newsletter. This is another way to benefit a large group, while showcasing your skills and ideas.

5. Be a Solution Creator and Not a Problem Maker for Career Success

Anybody can find problems within organizations. My experience is that you don’t need to find them…they will find you. Some people have a special skill for finding problems and reporting them.

Develop the skill of looking at these problems as “opportunities for advancement,” step back and analyze the opportunity, and develop ideas for overcoming the problem. Make sure you communicate these solutions during meetings, e-mails, memos, and conversations with management. You will soon be looked upon by management as someone who can overcome obstacles and make things happen within the organization.

6. Handle the Next Level at This Level for Career Success

If you are a manager and want to become a vice president, then start working like a vice president. Find a vice president that is open to mentoring you for the next level. Remember, that vice president will not be promoted to the next level unless the organization sees that the vice president has developed someone to take his/her spot. It might as well be you. Plus, you can lighten the vice president’s work load.

Explain to the vice president what you want to accomplish so that everyone has a clear understanding and that this is a win-win situation for all involved.

I hear, “I’m too busy already to do this.” Well, let me ask you, “How badly do you want the promotion?” We are all busy. It’s up to you to enhance your time management and delegation skills so that you can take on these tasks that will prepare you for the next job level.

Note: Dress as if you are already at the next career level. When you dress for the next level, this makes it easier for the decision makers because they can already envision you at the next career level.

7. Announce That You Want It!

Many times employees miss out on promotions because the decision makers and career influencers do not know they are interested in being promoted.

Announce that you want to go to the next career level!

Take time to sit down with your supervisor, manager, director, etc., and let them know you are interested in going to the next level. Ask them for their honest assessment of your skills. Then ask what you need to do to be ready when the next career opportunity appears.

Also announce your career aspirations to influencers in the Human Resources Department. Remember the more people they can hire from the inside, the less work they need to do. Make it easy for them to hire you.

Announce it to any one who can influence the decision for your promotion.

8. Network and Join Groups to Accelerate Career Success

Join and be active in committees within your organization for career success. This shows management that you care enough to make a difference. It also allows a larger assortment of managers to experience your skill set outside of your normal duties.

Also join professional groups and associations for career success. Professional groups and associations are a perfect way to let influencers outside your organization become aware of your skills. Remember, these influencers most likely work for other organizations and may be in positions to hire new employees. Don’t just join, participant in the association’s activities to show your creativity, teamwork, and other skills.

Join and let your organization know you’ve joined these groups. This will show your organization that you are an employee who is taking action to stay ahead of the “career success curve” and can contribute to the organization.

9. Tell Your Job Story for Career Success

Let as many people within your organization and outside your organization know what you do and how well you do it. Make sure you tell your job story at meetings, company conferences, and retreats and to customers. Make sure you tell them with passion!

Many people are shy about telling their career story in a group setting. Because of this fear, you may miss out on the one opportunity to let other people know what you know. One of the most important groups that you could ever join to overcome this fear is Toastmasters. This is a worldwide organization with over 175,000 members dedicated to helping members improve their public speaking, evaluation, think-on-your-feet, and leadership skills. The main reasons you should join Toastmasters are the following:

* Toastmasters can give you the confidence to approach any opportunity with confidence.

* Toastmasters can give you the speaking skills to stand up in front of a group and present your point in a persuasive manner, while others may shy away from this opportunity.

* You develop your leadership skills by learning how to do effective, positive, and encouraging feedback and evaluations, while learning how to empower the receiver to do better.

* You have the opportunity to develop your leadership skills by volunteering for positions at the club, area, state, regional, and international level. I always say if you can’t get the skills at your organization, you can get it at Toastmasters.

10. Build a Nest Egg for Career Success

One of the biggest barriers to creating career success is not building a financial nest egg. When you are at a financial disadvantage, you are less likely to pursue job opportunities, invest in educational opportunities to increase your skills; and, most importantly, you may develop an overwhelming fear of losing your job while in your present position.

Eliminate your debts so that you can freely pursue any career opportunities that present themselves. It’s no fun knowing that you wanted a certain job but couldn’t pursue it because of financial obligations.

I challenge you to apply these ten career techniques today! You will see immediate job results and go to the next career level no matter what the economic environment may be.

Resource : Ed Sykes http.articlecity

Many times, people are trying to pursue they lifestyle they want in their life. They want to achieve higher success, be it financial freedom, time freedom, health or relationship. However, only a few of them actually achieve what they want in their life, why is this so? Today, if you are pursuing for higher success in your life, then you must know what determines your success, what are the critical success factors.

Success is all about mastering yourself, your thinking and your mindset. Therefore, you have to start from yourself, start to learn more about yourself and master yourself. It is your attitude and behavior that will determines your success. Let us go through some of the critical success factors below...
1. Not Committed in Achieving Success
This is one of the most critical success factors. Often, you can hear people say that they want to achieve this and they want to achieve that, but you will never see them putting commitment into what they want. They are just saying without putting any real effort into making their dreams and goals come true. A lot of people say that they want to be rich, but they never take the necessary action to make their goal come true. All they do is after they said this; they keep on watching television, chatting on MSN, as if success will come to them automatically. If you are not committed to succeed, you will never achieve it.
2. The Lack of Determination
Another critical success factor is the lack of determination will not bring you what you want. Many times, people are afraid whether they can achieve what they want in their life. They will question themselves like "what if I can't achieve it?" "What if the economy has been down and it drags down my business?" All of these are nothing but the lack of determination. These are just the false assumptions that you make, they are the negative beliefs that you generated in your mind.
The moment you are unsure about something, you will start to lose the confident. And once you lost your confidence, you will shake your beliefs, which after that will affect every decision you make and hence everything you do in your life. You start to hold negative beliefs in your mind. So build up the determination by finding the reason for you to achieve success in your life. Why did you want to be successful in the first place? If your reason is strong enough, nothing can ever stop you.
3. Procrastination and No Real Action
This is a common one. I believe that you have come across people who set high goals, but they procrastinate and did not achieve what they want in the end. Maybe you too are one of them. It is common for people to procrastinate. Success will not come without putting any real effort; success will not fall from sky. If you desire for success, then you must put in action to make it come.
There are a lot of reasons why people procrastinate, but it can be solved by one thing, that is by strengthening the reason why you want to achieve your goal so much. Whenever your goals become a must for you, you will do whatever it takes to achieve it. This is why successful people succeed, because it is a must for them, they know it very clearly why they must achieve what they want. So do you know what you want in your life and why you want it so much?
I believe that once you have gone through all the critical success factors above, you will see that every of the factors are because of your own self. Meaning to say, in order to achieve the success you desire for, you must start from yourself. You must learn to master your inner self before you can achieve whatever you want in your life. And this often starts from your mind. So you see, your mindset plays an important role, it is the main critical success factor in your life!
Therefore, learn to master yourself if you really committed to achieve the success your desire. When dealing with a same problem, 2 people can come up with totally different solutions, this is because we all have different mindset. And if you want to master the successful mindset, then model what successful people did. Always remember, to achieve what you want in your life, you must be committed, have the determination and take massive action to make it come true. These are the critical success factors you must cope with

Resource by Shawn Lim http://goarticles.com

We can make our life much easier if we follow the rule: "learn from the mistakes of others". The other point of view is to forget about this rule, because only a few people know exactly how to use it. The rest of us, as usually - learn from our own mistakes; who knows, maybe it's a part of our personal self-improvement? But there is another strong tool; it is called "We Have to Understand the Success Stories". There are thousands such stories of great achievement, and their number is growing every day. In other words, every man who reached his life goal or reached financial independence making a huge sum of money has his own success story. And now, the secret is that studying these examples makes you successful, because with every story like that, you understand the principles of becoming rich, you understand the way people are growing their wealth, you become really inspired, and you just accumulate experience, the experience every one of us needs most of all.
There is a saying: "we are that we eat". Think about it and you'll realize that this is very true. Also you can refer this quote to your intellectual and spiritual food which may come from different sources, like books, good movies, discussions with clever and intelligent people. As we are speaking about success stories, you should realize that consuming such meals everyday, gives you the spirit of a winner. It happens so because, involuntarily, by reading such positive material we are being influenced in an indirect manner, we begin to be modified through our subconsciousness

It's the best school of becoming rich and successful in your business. These stories will teach you all the best qualities a real businessman should have. Why? Because the people from these beautiful stories already possess all these qualities. You just have to read carefully, understand the moral, and make the story become your reality. Believe that it's easy. Who said that you can't possess all these good qualities? Just think that all of them were made for people just like you. Just imagine that punctuality, organization, motivation, optimism, wisdom, desire for money, success - it's a part of you and your life. This great school is here, it's free, just go and read it, study it, everything depends on you.
Let's see what exactly can you learn from these success stories: First of all you get inspired, and inspiration is the fuel which gets you through all the difficulties you meet on your way to wealth. After inspiration comes the motivation: make a plan of the things you wish to own after earning your first million. The next is knowledge; the knowledge of the principles of becoming rich and successful. You'll understand the way a rich man thinks, the way he works; you will assume all the good qualities that such a man possesses. You'll find the straight way in order to gain an immediate success. And the most important is that you'll get the experience which will show you the shortest way to your dreams.

Success stories leave their prints on us. These prints lead to self-confidence and self-confidence increases our power of influencing people and things around us, to attract the things and events we need in order to become what we want to become. Move on, go and write down on a piece of paper your own success story. You have all the right to do it. Nobody can stop you. Go and become successful, rich and happy

by : Mattson Dave

Focus is something that a lot of people in the self improvement
industry talk about. It is one of the crucial elements in
accomplishing anything. It brings our attention and concentrates
it on one task so we can complete it successfully. So the
question is how do we focus our attention?

There are many techniques out there to increase focus. Here are
a few tips to help you to become more efficient in your activities:

1. Do one thing at a time.

Simply pick a task and do it until it is done. It is easy to say,
but not so easy to accomplish. Creativity in that aspect can
definitely help. I recommend using a time management system that
will help you to categorize tasks, to assign priority of one task
to another; so you know which you have to do first. If you follow
any good self improvement system, one of the first things they
would tell you is the importance of learning how to manage your
time properly. Self help often implies taking the responsibility
for your own life. That includes learning how to manage your time
in the most efficient manner.

2. Pick tasks that are easy to do first and try to accomplish as
many of them as possible

We often gauge self improvement by the sense of how much we have
accomplished. So by trying to accomplish many tasks, we in fact
increase our self confidence, and in turn are more motivated to
focus more on what we are doing. Using your creativity to find
motivation can be a great tool. Motivation is a driving force
behind all self improvement.

3. Concentrate on the outcome.

It is very important to have goals that will excite us. The key
to motivation is being excited about what you are doing. One of
the ways of keeping that excitement going is to be absolutely
clear about what you want to accomplish. Use your creativity
to find goals that you feel give you an emotional response. Goals,
if you are emotionally connected to them, are a powerful motivator.

Mastering the art of focus will greatly enhance you self improvement
efforts. When you are focused and your creativity is at its peak
you will be able to achieve great success in anything that you do

As a certified NLP trainer, I am often asked, "What is NLP?"
The term NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming and was coined in the early seventies by John Grinder, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Richard Bandler, a student of psychology at the university. They began their work by studying Fritz Perls, a psychotherapist and originator of the Gestalt school of therapy, Virginia Satir, a well-known family therapist and Milton Erickson, a world-famous hypnotherapist. Their intention was to model outstanding therapists and identify patterns in order that other practitioners could use these patterns to generate similar results. It may be said that NLP is about identifying excellence through an exploration of patterns, and then devising means for others to use those patterns to achieve similar results.
NLP also draws on earlier work, such as Ivan Pavlov's conditioned reflexes (1904). In NLP this is called anchoring. NLP takes theoretical results developed by others and makes them available to you and me so we can improve our lives and well-being

NLP is more than just techniques. It is a curiosity about how people who are high achievers accomplish what they actually set out to do. It is also a methodology that assists you in discovering those thinking and communication patterns that prevent you from being successful and shows you how to achieve the results of successful people. That is, NLP is a process of discovering the patterns of excellence of experts, and it makes these effective ways of thinking and communicating available for others to use for their own benefit or to assist others.
NLP had its origins in therapy and is now applied in all areas of human endeavor - education, health, sports, business and, perhaps most importantly, interpersonal relations.
Let us break down and analyze the terms neuro-linguistic programming.
Neuro refers to your neurology - sense organs. It is about how you absorb information. For example, you use your eyes to see things in your world. You also experience or perceive events through your other senses: aural (hearing), kinesthetic (tactile touch or emotional feeling), gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell).
Linguistic refers to the language - pictures, sounds, feelings (kinesthetic), tastes, smells and words - that you use to remember and make sense of a particular experience (or to forecast a future experience). For example, can you recall your breakfast this morning? When you remember having breakfast, can you see a picture in your mind, or can you hear sounds (perhaps a radio was on or you were engaged in a discussion with your family)? What about tastes and smells? And how were you feeling - happy, tired, excited?
Think about a significant event in your near future. Do you envision yourself being successful? Or failing? The pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes, smells and words that you use to describe future experiences have a bearing on what actually happens. You do create your own reality!
Programming refers to your habits, patterns, programs and strategies. If it is a workday, do you follow a particular routine as you get ready for work? Perhaps you like to lie in bed an extra five minutes after the alarm goes off. Do you shower or bathe right away or have breakfast first? If you take time to look at what you do, I am certain you will see a pattern that you follow in getting ready for work. If for some reason you do not follow that pattern, do you find yourself feeling that something is missing?
You have patterns, habits, strategies and programs for everything you do. Some of these patterns serve you, but others do not - resulting in unwanted outcomes. You may be fully aware of some of your patterns. You may become aware of others only when someone else brings them to your attention. And you may choose to quickly forget about these patterns because you want to avoid addressing that part of your life. And there are still other patterns that you are not aware of at all, yet they continue to influence how you look after yourself, communicate with others and perform your daily tasks. If the patterns serve you - that is, generate positive results in your life - great! However, if you find that some patterns do not serve you, would it not be useful to identify those patterns and to change them so they work to your advantage?
Question: Who put your patterns, habits, strategies and programs in place? Of course, you did. So who can change them? Only you. But first, you must become aware that you run these patterns. This is one of the biggest benefits of NLP - becoming aware of the patterns, habits, strategies and programs that you have been running unconsciously and then using NLP techniques to change them in order to achieve the outcomes you desire.

by : Roger Ellerton

We have many superstars in this world and I must admit that I find it rather intimidating at times. It is a sad fact that we often underestimate out own worth, we set glorious goals and then set out to achieve them in entirely the wrong way.
One of my favorite quotes by Anthony Robbins is "We over estimate what can be achieved in 12 months and under estimate what we can achieve in 5 years."
Such is the Internet business, we buy an e-book from this seemingly super successful marketer and promptly fail to copy the implied success.
I must confess.

That is exactly what I did, sitting at my computer in Cape Town, South africa. I was sick of the constant battle to simply survive. I took the step, I bought into the dream and I waited and bought some more into the dream and waited some more.
I got angry.........
Anyone who are successful online will admit that it cn be rather intimidating. You get to information overload by the click of a mouse. You stumble from the one maze to the next, you lose sleep, hair and money.
Plus...
Seemingly to the novice opportunity.
There are 5 vital steps you have to take to become a player, it only became clear to me after many months and many dollars, once I met the guys from Nitro marketing.
The five must have's:
1) A Plan (e.g 20 days to a successful online business)
2) Copywriting skills (it can be learned, bought, be lots of fun)
3) A list of subscribers
4) A product (note not the most important element)
5) An online precence (I've discovered the best service, other agree)
I know what you are thinking, there you go again 5 steps, 5 must have's, doesn't help me squat.
Thus we come to the purpose of this article, read the 1st line of this article again.
What do all superstars have in common?
Coaching...
They have talent allright but it took some one to take them by the hand and lead the way. From day one the coach was there to set the stage for performance, training routines, eating plans, goals and finally success.
Are you just starting out, are you just treading water, are you lost...
Get help, get a coach, get on the right path, do it now it is in your power and up to you

by : Tonie Konig

Why Success?
You have to understand why you want success and what its benefits will be for you and others around you. Remember success is relative - what one person considers as being a resounding success another believes it to be an absolute failure! So what is needed before any success can happen?
Goals/Plans
Everyone has different goals. Before success is achieved one must have a specific occurrence which they label as ssuccess - come what may, they are aiming towards that one BIG goal. These big goals must be broken down and a plan devised which divides the goal into small manageable steps (this is divided further into a daily to-do list). This gives a sense of achievement as one works towards their ultimate goal, which may be ages away from being accomplished.
Let us illustrate this using an example - a child/baby ultimately you want your child to walk up the stairs in a flash (without needing an ambulance). Each step on those stairs is a step closer to achieving the bigger goal! When the child stumbled at the first step you do not see the parents say -
Come on kid - that was crap - why are you not at the top of those stairs already?
It is not a tragedy not to achieve a goal it�s a tragedy not to have that goal to achieve in the first place. -Unknown

Similarly do not beat yourself up if you have not achieved your big goal or you cannot see it happening right now - at least you have a goal - you aren�t aimless. You simply need to learn to train your mind to praise yourself for every little step taken towards your goal. By doing so you are planting the seeds of success.
Belief
You need to have the belief that you deserve to have what you are going for! Whether that is monetary or otherwise - you deserve it. You also have to believe in yourself - with a bit of time and learning from the right sources you can do absolutely anything! You may not be an expert but you can do it! If you wish to become an expert then repeat the learning and go forward.
Repetition is the Mother of Mastery. -Unknown.
Action
Once the goals and the reason for the goals have been set (you have got to want it) you proceed onto carrying out your plan of action. Plans do not always go as intended what should one do if this occurs? Curl up into a ball and hope it goes away? NO! One needs to ask the question - What do I need to do to make this right - or - What do I need to do to make sure that does not happen again. You are watering the seeds of success by instilling this notion - If it is right or wrong it is my fault - what have I got to do?
Every Man is the Architect of His own life. He builds it - just the way he wants it. However, after he has built what he wants, he sometimes decides he does not like what he has built and looks for someone or something to blame instead of changing himself� -Unknown.
Rewards
These are very important - its like having the World Cup 2006 (soccer tournament) with each and every match being played without anywhere for the players to score! What a game - what is the point? A suggested method of rewarding yourself is to have two rewards - a major reward if the sub-goal is achieved before the target date and a lesser reward if its late (it has still been achieved so it must be rewarded). This is harvesting the seeds of success that you planted and watered earlier.
Re-evaluate Goals
You may have achieved your goal - what now? Most will have a new set of goals to put into action, this planting the seeds of further success.
Keep Learning
There are many resources you could use to keep yourself on the right patch, you can read articles like this one or buy books, listen to seminars or even get yourself a mentor. How you go about it is up to you. Remember as long as you keep learning you will keep achieving (at minimum you have learnt something new = achievement). This will go some of the way to achieving your inner peace (your mind, soul or spirit is in a state of tranquillity). This is watering the seeds of further success

by : Kaval Patel

For about the last 15 years of my life, I have been exposed to numerous situations either in attending seminars or by watching documentaries where individuals have tried to emphasise the importance of positive thinking and having the right mental attitude. Until very recently, I was the worlds biggest skeptic and very much dismissed the idea that if you thought about achieving something then you could actually turn these thoughts into reality. I continued with this blinkered mentality until someone said to me
Dont criticise or ridicule anything until you know more about it or you have tried it for yourself (This advice is good advice and can be used in any scenario that you come across on a day to day basis).

However, with these words still ringing in my ears, I was attending a property investing conference in London along with my eldest daughter Julie. Over dinner one evening, the topic of the power of thought came up. Everyone within our group expressed their thoughts on the subject (some more strongly than others). Again fighting hard to put my skeptisisms to one side, I decided to take part in an exercise suggested by another member of the party. My daughter Julie was asked if she could have the choice of any luxury sports car what would it be and in what colour would she like it. Immediately, she suggested a Red Ferrari . That was it. We had to see a red Ferrari before we left London which was only twelve hours later.
The next morning arrived and we set off by underground to Kings Cross railway station to catch the 10.00 am train to Scotland. We only had about 15 minutes before we had to catch our train and we decided to wait outside at the side of the road. With only seconds left before we had to make our way to the platform, guess what stopped at the traffic lights. Yes, a bright, brand spanking new Red Ferrari. Now was this coincidence or what. Spurned on by this experience I started to try this out with other things and lo and behold they were met with similar results.
Armed with new found enthusiasm, I then decided to investigate the subject further. I read every book I could find on the subject, I surfed the net for as much information as I could. I checked out Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnotism and much much more.
It is now quite clear in my own mind that olympic athletes, professional sportsmen, successful businessmen and the like would not have achieved this exceptionally high level of success without the right frame of mind and dreams of reaching the ultimate goal


by : Gordon McAlpine

What is success ? There are many definitions. One that I hear often is "to do (or to live according to) what you want". That is true, but I would complete the definition by adding and underlining: "knowing what you really want". In fact, we are often pushed to go and put our energy in achieving what we are "supposed" to want, and we may give not enough attention in making sure about what we really want. I say "supposed" to want because there are many external factors that condition us and determine our beliefes around what is good and what is not, what is a good goal and what is not, and so on

But the self-awareness about who we really are and what we really want is the premise to achieving any real, long lasting success in our life. Without this, we are likely to move along two ways: One is the walk around life aimless, without a goal. The other is to pursue an aim that, on a deep level, we do not feel like really ours. In both these situation we find difficulties in expressing and manifesting our full potential. Even if we keep on repeating ourselves that we have a certain goal, if we are not deeply convinced of it, it will be difficult for us to really put all the necessary energy and committment. Our inner conflicts and not clear intentions interfere with our actions.

Things turn around dramaticly when we know what we really want. Not only we feel and use another level of energy, but also we experience a feeling of peace and trust. We are then ready to manifest what we have inside in the world around us and create the destiny we deserve. We achieve dramatic improvement in all the key areas of our life: relationships, body, financial state.

All we need is already within us now, but we need to really find it, listen to it, and translate it into our realities. When we dedicate time to this research within ourselves, we spend well our time, in my opinion. In the self-improvement world, there are also techniques that can help in this process and speed it up. It is a promising and fashinating research. Just one more, appearently small idea, can have a huge impact in our whole life.
Mumbo Jumbo or Can You Really Control Your Lifes Path

by : Gordon McAlpine

Self-doubt and fear interfere with our ability to achieve or set goals. Self-doubt and fear are the voices in our head telling us, "You'll never succeed, so why try?" and "who do you think you are?" Self-doubt and fear are also what make us listen to those voices and decide to give up before we get started.
While many people experience self-doubt and fear at some point in their lives, they take action anyway. Others remain stuck, or are confident in only one area of their life, such as work. They are too afraid to try new things like going back to school, entering new relationships or learning new skills.
When we let self-doubt and fear rule our lives, we miss opportunities. We predict and believe that nothing good will happen to us, so we don't try anything new, and refuse to take even low-level risks. This leads us to discount people or situations that could help us reach our goals. While self doubt and fear can come in different forms and from different sources, we can learn to break through them

the vicious cycle of self-doubt and fear
I know what it's like to live with self-doubt and fear. For years my life was ruled by these feelings. I grew up in a lower income family in the Bronx, New York. I heard over and over again that people like us could never really be successful.

As early as kindergarten my teacher told my mother I was slow and not to expect too much from me. I was put in the slow-learners class. In reality, I was very smart but bored. My next teacher recognized this and moved me from the slow-learners class to the the advanced class. But I still had my voices telling me: "You'll never make it. You'll never be popular". I felt I wasn't as good as other people because I didn't have the money and nice clothes that some of the other girls had. I was also shy and not in the popular crowd. I internalized outside messages and became a troublemaker.

My parents viewed my education as a pathway for becoming a teacher, social worker or civil servant. They limited my vision and left me believing that I didn't have a choice in what I wanted for my future. I couldn't understand how people became successful at something. But others saw potential in me. I was encouraged to study journalism and was placed in a special writing program. It could have been an incredible opportunity. Instead, I listened to my fears that I'd never make it, so I left the program and pretended that I didn't care.

Later, I got accepted to the High School of Performing Arts in New York. Acting had always been my dream, despite the fact that people said my "blue collar" Bronx accent would keep me from success. My parents loved me but didn't know how to give me support. They told me it was good to go to Performing Arts but that being an actor was out of reach for me. Rather than focus on the fact that I had gotten accepted to this wonderful school, I focused on the negative. My perception was that everyone else was wealthier, more experienced and more talented than me. I told myself: "You're not as good as everyone else. If you try and don't make it, you'll look like a fool. But if you don't try, you can still be cool." I pretended that I didn't really want to act. I didn't try, and I sabotaged myself. I felt like I had no one to talk to about my ambition. Eventually, I gave up trying and left. I told everyone, including myself, that it didn't matter. But the truth is, I had been afraid to try.

I spent the next two years in another high school, where I used drugs daily and became an addict. I still managed to do well on tests and graduated from high school at age 16. None of that meant anything to me, because by that time I had such low self-esteem, I thought if I could do it, it must be easy. I continued to feel that I was never good enough. My life was defined by what other people thought of me.

I had other opportunities. I was approached on the street by a magazine photographer and became a model at one of the top agencies in the world. I still carried my negative messages and told myself I couldn't do it. I still felt that I was unattractive and couldn't conceive of success. I gave up and dropped out. I just didn't believe in my ability to accomplish anything.

I tried moving to Eugene, Oregon because I blamed my problems on where I lived and the people in my life. In one year I managed to gain over 90 pounds and get addicted to coffee, cigarettes and other substances. I blamed everyone else for my lack of money, healthy relationships and happiness. I lived in constant fear but was afraid to admit it.

My self-destruction finally resulted in a breakdown of my physical health and I had to be hospitalized and undergo major surgery. Doctors told me what I already knew: I had to make a major change. It was time to look at my past and my present and to decide what I wanted for my future. If I didn't break through negative thoughts I would always stay where I was.

making positive changes
I had to learn to change my attitude about myself. I read about and talked to people who had broken through their self-doubts and taken control of their lives. I got support from others and consciously began turning my destructive self-talk into constructive self-talk. I knew that if I took certain actions, my mind and emotions would follow. I let go of people who negatively influenced my life. I told myself that I was important, and began to plan and achieve my goals. I learned to have faith in my ability. I quit smoking, gave up coffee, and began exercising and eating well. The people I spent time with were also making positive changes in their lives. My life began to improve. I no longer saw myself as a victim. I learned to let go of blame and started taking small risks. I stopped comparing myself to other people and began to open up to new opportunities.

Today I have a successful speaking and consulting business. I have close friends, and a wonderful son. Learning from my life and others, I'm raising him to believe in himself, understand his feelings, and not be afraid of his fears. I travel throughout the country talking to corporations, associations and other organizations.

If you need help overcoming feelings of self-doubt and fear, please read these ten techniques and processes that have helped me get to this place in my life.

1. Make a list of your fears. Only by admitting that they exist can you seek solutions.
2. Write down how these fears affect your life.
3. Become aware of the voices in your head and write down those negative messages.
4. Start building a support system of friends and eliminate people from your life who foster feelings of negativity.
5. Join a support group of people who have similar issues.
6. Change each negative message to one that is affirming and constructive.
7. Read books that help you feel better about yourself.
8. Be aware of your past, and be willing to let go of it.
9. List your goals and the actions you need to achieve them.
10. Take one of those actions every day. Each time you do something that brings you closer to achieving your goals you will feel better about yourself.

When fears and self-doubts come back, and they still do, I break through them by using the tools and skills I've learned and now teach. They work


by : Simma Lieberman

Our life, relationships, and our planet would work so much better if all choices were conscious.
What does it mean to be 'Conscious?'
To illustrate, consider these three levels of consciousness:
1. Unconscious (awake but unaware)
This is when you forget where you put your keys, leave the headlights on and are surprised by a dead battery, drive past your freeway exit, etc. You're simply not paying attention.
If life is like an iceberg, when we're unconscious we crash and sink before we see it.
2. Semi-conscious (aware of what's in front of you)
This is when you're sure you know what's what. We believe that our stories (beliefs, interpretations, etc) and sensory perceptions (see, hear, feel, etc) are true and correct.
If life is like an iceberg, when we're semi-conscious we're aware of the iceberg and truly believe we know how to avoid it, then crash and sink because it's larger than we thought.
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3. Conscious (aware of the big picture)
This is when we humbly understand that 'you don't know what you don't know,' and realize that there may be more to a situation than we can see or understand at the time. We are aware of our goal and do our best to learn more about the situation and examine our options to make the best possible choice.
If life is like an iceberg, when we're conscious we realize that we need to know more about what's under the surface before making our choices about how to proceed.
Three Keys to Making Conscious Choices
Key # 1: Be clear about who you are and what you want
What's the purpose of your life? What is your Vision for your life, work, and relationships? What are your requirements, needs, and wants in any situation?
Strive to lower the waterline on the iceberg that is your Self to achieve the clarity you need to be motivated and empowered.
Key # 2: Stay focused on what's important to you- don't settle for less
Most people 'lead lives of quiet desperation.' They want to be happy, but don't know how and don't think it's possible. However, the Law of Attraction can work for you or against you, and if you expect less, you'll get less.
Go after what you really want in your life and assume you can find the choices needed to be successful if you're looking for them.
Key #3: Be supportable- with enough help you can do anything!
We're human, and no-one is successful alone. We need to be conscious of our support needs and proactively seek to get them met.
Continually ask yourself what help you need and who can help you.
Wishing you a healthy, happy, conscious life


by : David Steele

Dreamers often fail to achieve their dreams because they keep second guessing what they are doing. They ask questions like: "Is this a waste of time?" "Will it work?" "Why are the results so poor?" and so on.
As a result, they act half-heartedly and fail to finish what they have planned. They fail to discover whether their planned action would have worked or not. This article takes a look at whether questions are a help or a hindrance.
We often think too much and talk too much and sometimes we talk and ask questions because we are reluctant to act. We may need to copy Tarzan of the Apes. He used words sparingly but was always poised for action whether this meant diving in with a crocodile or facing up to the king of the jungle

Football teams start questioning the referee when they are failing to win. Instead of working hard and concentrating on the game they spend all their energy complaining and harassing the match officials. Their failure to recover from their losing position is almost certain.
Some people may have given up jogging because of the questions raised when one of the great jogging gurus died young. Why bother to jog when you can die early just like the majority who spend their leisure time watching TV?
No one doubts that many people have fallen ill because of their own actions such as eating too much of the wrong food or because of their inactions such as failing to go for a daily walk or workout.
But some of the fittest men and women have suddenly succumbed to disease and died young. Does this mean that we should give up eating in a healthy way and stop going for daily walks? I think not but some think yes. Why bother to live a healthy lifestyle when you may die young anyway?
When I started the martial arts, after watching the Kung Fu series which featured David Carradine as a Shaolin monk, questioning the teacher was not a good idea.
If you ventured the opinion that a certain move might not work, the teacher would demonstrate how well it worked and guess who they demonstrated on: the student who had had the cheek to question their methods!
A less dictatorial teacher would just laugh at the question and the majority of the class would laugh with him. I was always one of the keenest questioners until I learned the painful lesson that it was wiser to keep my questions to myself.
We need to realize that questions can often be an excuse for not getting on with the hard work of training and that as you train you will learn the answers for yourself without wasting the time of the whole class.
There is much then to be said for taking massive action with maximum effort and keeping any questions for later. You will get much better at whatever you are doing and will find you can answer many of your own questions.
Instead of second guessing your copy writing tutor, try following his or her suggestions and see what happens. Instead of doubting your health adviser just do as they say and see how you feel after a few weeks.
On the other hand, some questions deserve an immediate answer and can lead to new and powerful developments.
In the martial arts world, people started to question whether some of the traditional techniques would work in a street fight situation.
I once asked a world renowned martial artist at a seminar in London why people would choose to put a lock on someone's arm by lying on their back with one of their legs dangerously close to their opponent's teeth. He and his associates laughed at my question but neither he nor they answered it.
I have since realized that I was right about the danger of getting bitten when using this lock. In addition, lying on your back in order to put on an arm lock is suicide in a street situation.
Even if you are not bitten in the leg, your arms and legs are tied up controlling your opponent and one of his friends or even a complete stranger could easily kick you in the head. You could also be run over by a car or bus!
Questions like the above and other questions like "Why train for hours to be able to kick someone in the head when it is so much easier to punch them instead?" have lead to the development of reality based self-defense systems which concentrate solely on what will work when you are faced by a psychopath who does not care about rules of engagement or whether you will live or die.
These systems make sense and could save the lives of those who do not have the time or determination to train for years in the more traditional systems. They could also save a lot of wasted time learning and practicing techniques that are impractical for the majority of people.
So then, questions do have value.
We are left with the question whether we should question what we are doing or not? The answer, as is often the case. is to compromise or reach a balance.
Questions have their uses but not when we are supposed to be taking action whether we have planned the action or are following the training of an instructor we respect.
Questions will still pop into our minds like: 'Is this really necessary?' 'Do we have to do this?" Save these questions up until you have completed the suggested actions and then you will be in a good position to have an informed answer.
Ask questions at the start of any project and after it is over or if it goes drastically wrong but, if at all possible, avoid questioning what you are doing while you are still in the process of doing it.
Last week, one of my students told me cheerfully that he had just been offered a job in the Royal Navy which would lead to exceptionally high engineering and diving qualifications. The job was clearing mines.
I hated pouring cold water on his dreams but felt it was my duty to remind him of the potential drawbacks of his proposed career like getting killed or badly injured. One of my teachers had been blinded when disarming a land mine. This had ruined both his life and his family's.
The time for serious questioning or counting the cost was now before my student signed up and found himself in cold, murky water with sharks nibbling at his flippers whilst he was faced with the terrifying task of disarming a strange mine!
Questioning at the right time has great value but try not to mix it in with your actions. Once action is started, focus on the end result and only stop for questions if things go disastrously wrong. Feeling tired and discouraged is not a good reason to start questioning what you are doing.
If you can�t resist asking the questions early on, at least keep going with your original plan until you receive some kind of an answer.
About the author
John Watson is an award winning teacher and fifth degree black belt martial arts instructor. He has recently written several books about achieving your goals and dreams.

One of these can be found here


by : John Watson

Setting goals is one of the most important keys to achieving success. Did you know that less than 3% of people have written goals? Studies have shown that the most successful people are the ones who have specific, written goals.
Setting a goal is not like a New Years resolution. That is just a wish. Just wishing and hoping for something isnt going to make it happen. Setting a goal is having a target to shoot for and a plan to get there.
When planning your goals, choose which categories you would like for your goals. Establish the time frame. They could be lifetime goals, 10 year, 5 year, 1 year, 6 month, 3 month, 1 month or weekly goals. Also you can have ongoing goals, such as exercising 3 5 times a week.

Be specific when you write your goals. Dont just write down I want to lose weight. Write I will weigh 180 pounds by July 2007. Make sure your goal statement is positive. Dont say, I dont want to be fat. Say I will be a healthy 130 pounds by May 2007.
The achievement of a worthwhile goal can seem daunting at first. The easiest way to proceed is to break your goal down into smaller steps. Start with the first step then move onto the next. When making your plans, a good way is to start is from the end part and work your way to the present.
Measure your progress. After you complete a step, check it off. Watching steady progress is a good motivator. A simple example could be if your goal was to be able to do 100 continuous pushups, you could mark off the milestones of 25, 50, 75, 80, and finally 100!
Dont be discouraged by setbacks. All successful people experience setbacks, disappointments, and failure along the way. Thats just part of the process. Thats part of learning. Many times these act as course corrections to get you back on target.
There are several success principles used in goal achievement. One is properly programming your mind. You need to review your goal morning and at night before you go to bed. Have your goal written on a 3 x 5 card so you can review during the day. At night, ask your subconscious mind for solutions to problems, and methods or tools for helping you achieve your goal.
Another important principle is that of persistence. No one has enjoyed great achievement without persistence.
Its hard to beat a person who never gives up
Babe Ruth
Do something everyday towards your goal. A days action puts you one step closer to your objective. Doing something everyday creates a momentum that is hard to stop.
When it comes to achieving your goals, you need to think of yourself as a huge, monolithic juggernaut! Moving relentlessly toward your objective. Unstoppable

by : Richard Kimball

Thoughts are the starting point to all that we do, both good and bad, either success or failure. People underestimate the power of thought. Thoughts are things. They are energy. Every thought leaves its trace upon our minds.
What we let into our minds and hold onto governs what our circumstances and our actions are.
Each individual has the seeds of success within him. The seeds of success are the thoughts that they carry around with them. We are all the product of our own thinking and beliefs.

Every thought seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstances.

James Allen As a Man Thinketh

Sustained mind control is one of the most difficult endeavors one may undertake but it is also one of the most rewarding.
Create and control your thoughts and you can become what you want to become. A person can live the way they want to live when they learn to think what they want to think.
You are what you think about most of the time. A person who is seeking success and a higher life, strives to keep their mind on the positive and the constructive. We gradually grow into what we are holding in our minds.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. And with our thoughts, we make our world.
Buddha
If you want to make positive changes in your life, you need to begin with what is in your mind. Our thoughts are the tools with which we build our lives.
The key is to keep your mind on the big picture and the goals leading to it. Think only of what you want, not on what you dont want.
Replace negative thinking, unproductive worrying, and thoughts of fear with positive, imaginative, and constructive thinking.
Your life is controlled by your thoughts. Your thoughts are controlled by your goals.
Earl Nightingale
A great way to keep your mind on what you want is to carry a goal card with you. The goal card lists the top goals you are working on. Just thinking of your goal, particularly, the end result, keeps your mind productive and under your control.
Keeping your mind busy with productive matters will prevent negative thoughts from creeping in.
If you fail to control your own mind, you may be sure you will control nothing else.
Napoleon Hill

Mind control is a result of self-discipline and habit. You either control your mind or it controls you.
Napoleon Hill

A controlled, focused mind pays attention to thoughts, words, actions, and plans. A person who lets their mind wander aimlessly around will never achieve lasting success.
Hold your ideal in your mind until it becomes a mental habit. Focus on it to the exclusion of all other things until it becomes a reality.
Slowly but surely, sustained positive thinking creates an irresistible momentum. People begin to notice a change in you. More opportunities come your way. You feel more confident. Gradually your outer environment begins to grow in the likeness of your inner environment.

If you want to be successful in life you need to communicate effectively. Effective communications can help you in work, in all of your relationships with family and friends, as well as socially. There are many aspects to communications all of which, combined together, can make you successful in life.
Many of our communications skills are learned and because they are learned we can change, modify, and develop them toward producing more success in our lives. Speaking is by far the most important communication tool we possess, whether that is by sign language or verbally. Speaking is communications in its purest form.

The language we use and our tone of voice puts a flavor of sorts on what we are saying. Therefore, one secret to success in life is to pay attention to your choice of words when communicating with others. Use the appropriate words for the appropriate environment. Tone of voice is also an important part of our verbal communications in that our tone emotionally emphasizes our words. All people are affected by another personal tone of voice. It is a natural part of human nature and we use it to convey the emotional part of our thoughts.
As we grow up we learn that certain tones can create certain reactions and we can use these tones to our advantage or misuse them to our disadvantage. Each tone has a purpose in our verbal communications. Thus, you can see that it’s important to apply the right tone to the right environment or situation if you want success in your life. Body language is another communication tool we use when we interact with others. It sends other messages that may not necessarily be conveyed in our words, much like our tone of voice. Our body language can tell people about the level of our self-confidence and express a variety of emotions, and can even signal personality traits.
How you sit, stand, or what you do with your hands impacts the overall message the other person receives when communicating with you. Body language also includes facial expressions. Our facial expression can either attract people to us or cause them to avoid us. All human beings have the innate ability to read facial expressions with some degree of accuracy and do react to it.
Picture yourself walking down the sidewalk and passing someone with a mean scowl on their face. Would you introduce yourself to that person or would you be more apt to avoid them? Your facial expression can tell someone if you are approachable or unapproachable. Another very important communication secret is our behavior. Yes, our behavior is a form of communications and says volumes about who we are. Our behavior can say what our character is like, how honest we are, how much we care, and more. If our behavior is consistently poor we can’t expect much success in life. However, if our behavior is fairly good we can expect more successes than failures. The good thing about our behavior is that most of it is changeable with some introspection and determination. As you might see with the examples we have looked at above, it is actually a combination of things that make up how we communicate to others, which in turn can affect our success in life. You might also see that to have success in life we need others. This is exactly why how we communicate with them has a direct bearing on our own success in life.

by : Peter Murphy