Archives for June 2012

You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must
plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
-Zig Ziglar

Follow in the footsteps of a winner.  Don’t wake up at seventy-five years of age, sighing over what you should have tried.  Just do it, and be willing to fail and learn along the way.  At least you will know you gave it your best shot.

At the end of the day, whether you choose to go with it, flow with it, resist it, change it, or hide from it, life goes on.  If what you did today didn’t turn out as you hoped, tomorrow is a new opportunity to do it differently, or to do nothing at all.  What’s important is to realize that you have a choice.

Here are 12 choices winners make every day:

1. They don’t give up on the things they believe in. – If J.K. Rowling stopped after being turned down by multiple publishers for years, there would be no Harry Potter.  If Howard Schultz gave up after being turned down by banks 200+ times, there would be no Starbucks.  If Walt Disney quit too soon after his theme park concept was trashed by 300+ investors, there would be no Disney.  One thing for sure: If you give up on your dreams too soon, you will miss out on seeing them become a reality.  Read Quitter.
2. They work with, and spend time with, the right people. – A day spent with the right people is always a day spent well.  Sometimes the most ordinary ideas and projects can be made extraordinary, simply by discussing them and doing them with the right people.
3. They concentrate on the present. – Remember, you can’t reach what’s in front of you until you let go of what’s behind you.  Today is a new [Read more…]

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
-Zig Ziglar

Achieving goals is not a matter of possibility, it’s a matter of motivating yourself to focus on the right things.  You know you should be doing something, but sometimes you just don’t feel like doing anything.  This stagnation can last a long time if you don’t head it off and take action.

Here are some daily motivation tricks that work for me:

1.  Get started!

This is by far the most important tip in this article, because in the end, all of the other tips in the world won’t make as much of a difference as this simple and timeless instruction: Sit down and start!  Do you feel the push-back of laziness?  There’s no better way to overcome it than to just start.  Reading more about motivation won’t help.  Reviewing your to-do lists won’t help.  Only doing actually helps get the momentum going.  And the only way to do something is to just start.

So stop thinking about how hard the task is going to be or how long it’s going to take you.  Just get started!  Not starting is failing.  Start telling yourself, “As soon as I start working, I’ll feel more motivated.”  Because once you start, you’ll realize it’s not nearly as hard as you thought it would be.  Read Getting Things Done.

2.  Find and use your positive voice.

As Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”  Be aware of your self-talk and stay positive.  Positive thinking can be amazingly powerful.

You have the choice to replace negative self-talk with a more encouraging and friendly voice.  A voice that will consider your goal as not just a possibility, but a [Read more…]

Here are ten daily reminders to keep your mind centered and your spirits lifted.

1. Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you.  Stop discrediting yourself for everything you aren’t, and start giving yourself credit for everything that you are.  We have to learn to be our own best friends, because sometimes we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.  Insecurity is what’s ugly, not you.  Accept yourself!  Be you, just the way you are, in the beautiful way only you know how.
2. The biggest obstacles in your life are the barriers your mind creates.  Worrying will never change the outcome.  When you can no longer think of a reason to continue, you must think of a reason to start over.  And do not let where you start, define where you will end up; only your actions and willpower determine that.  Read Awaken the Giant Within.
3. Sometimes to get where you want to go, you have to do what you are afraid to do.  You must be brave and push forward.  Miracles occur when you give as much attention and energy to your dreams as you do to your fears.
4. You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.  Believe in YOU.  If you’re passionate about something, pursue it, regardless of what others say.  That’s how dreams come true.  And once you’ve dreamed of it, you’re honestly halfway there anyway.  So go ahead and follow through.  Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and your actions speak louder than your words.  Read The Magic of Thinking Big.
5. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, you just have to take the first step.  Taking this first step is always the hardest.  But then each subsequent step gets easier and easier.  And with each step you get closer and closer to what you seek.  Until eventually, what had once been invisible, starts to become visible, and what had once felt unattainable, becomes a reality.
6. No matter how many times you revisit the past, there’s nothing new to see.  Focus on the next step.  Just because you’ve made mistakes doesn’t mean your mistakes get to make you.  Tame your inner critic, forgive yourself and move on. Let your old problems stay where they belong – in the past.  You must make a conscious effort to do this, it won’t happen automatically.  You will have to rise up and say, “I don’t care how hard this is.  I don’t care how disappointed I am.  I’m not going to let this get the best of me.  I’m taking this as a lesson and moving on with my life.”
7. No matter how difficult things were yesterday, you are armed with the ability and choice to do better today.  A complete turnaround may not happen instantly, but don’t let that deter you from knowing that it will someday.  The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow.  Learn from it and don’t give up.
8. Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.  Believe with all your heart that you will follow your passion and do what you were made to do.  There is no happiness and success to be found by playing it safe and settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.  Read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
9. You can only be yourself, and other people can only be themselves.  Sometimes we try to be sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image of what we want them to be – what we think we need, love or desire.  But these actions and perceptions are against reality, against their benefit and ours, and always end in disappointment – because it does not fit them.  Remember you have the ability to show people how awesome they are, just the way they are.  So act on this ability without hesitation; and don’t forget to show yourself the same courtesy.
10. Sometimes it’s okay if the only thing you’re doing is breathing.  Life can get so crazy and complicated, but always take the time to slow down, reflect, and appreciate what you have.  There is always someone out there who wishes that had what you have right now.

Photo by: Toni Blay

Things can change if you want them to, at any age.  As I awoke this morning, I marveled at my life today.  Where once I woke with dread at the thought of a new day, now I wake with excitement to begin – grateful to be doing what I’m doing for a living.  I am so happy I did what I had to do, and struggled through the tough times and the fears, and realigned my life with the things that make me happy.  When friends ask me how I did it, as they sometimes do, I tell them, “Hard work and persistence.  It’s a small price to pay for a changed life.”

Here are ten things you can do to change your life at any age:

1. Subtract the wrong things. – When things aren’t adding up in your life, it’s time to start subtracting.  Sometimes you must let go to grow.  You cannot discover new oceans unless you build up enough courage to lose sight of the old, familiar shoreline.  Be brave.  Follow your values.  Make changes.  And remember, no venture is ever a waste of time.  The ones that don’t work out teach you lessons that prepare you for the ones that do.  Read A New Earth.
2. Believe you CAN. – The biggest obstacle that stops people from achieving their dreams is the feeling that they are not good enough.  Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality.  You are good enough!  Don’t let life discourage you.  Success is often closer than it seems.  With enough determination and drive, anything is possible in time.  Everyone who got to where they are had to begin from where they were, just like you.
3. Work hard for what you want most. – Dreams don’t just magically [Read more…]