5 ways to perform better in the new year - Siimon Reynolds

1. WORK ON YOUR SELF BELIEF DAILY.
The great business mentor, Dan Sullivan, has long stated that in his 35 years experience, confidence is the single most valuable attribute to succeed in business. But most of us aren’t just born confident, we need to work at it. One of the best ways to do this is to spend a few minutes daily being your own mind coach – talk yourself up, convince yourself that you have what it takes to achieve great things this year. After all, as Dr Maxwell Maltz’s research proved over 30 years ago, we usually perform in accordance with our self identity.

2. GET CLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT.
After studying successful people for over three decades, high performance expert, Brian Tracy, concluded that the most important element of achievement is Clarity. Where do you want to be in 12 months? In 6 months? In the next 90 days? Write it down and read it every day – it will triple your chances of making it a reality. You don’t have to be a genius to achieve big things in business. You usually just have to be very clear about your aims, then work hard and intelligently to reach them.

3. DEVELOP WHITE HOT DESIRE.
Strong desire is common amongst all great business titans. If you are half hearted about your goals, then mediocrity is assured. As top performance coach, Steve Hardison, put it, “If you’re not totally committed this ship is sinking, it’s just a matter of when.” The good news is that personal desire can be increased quickly – by thinking incessantly about your goals, reminding yourself constantly of why you want them and remaining cognizant of how good life will be when you achieve them.

4. DEVELOP SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE.
In 1937, Napoleon Hill identified a lack of specialized knowledge as one of the primary reasons people fail to achieve their dreams in business. What specifically do you need to learn to succeed in your line of work? What areas of knowledge have the top people in your field learned that those at the mid level haven’t? Think about this carefully, then make it your business to become expert in those areas. Steve Jobs needed to know how to manage people (and boards) better before he could achieve lasting corporate greatness. Investment guru Leon Black had to learn the intricacies of high yield bonds from Michael Milken before he could strike out on his own. What specialized knowledge do you need to learn to make this year an outstanding one?

5. DO WHAT’S REALLY IMPORTANT FIRST.
Having spent almost 30 years studying time management, if I were asked what is the single most critical productivity technique, I would say it’s this one: whatever is the highest value activity on your To Do List, do it first. Then do the next most important task second, and so on.
You can ignore all the other hundreds of efficiency techniques and still become extremely successful in business, if you master this one. Yet not one executive or entrepreneur in a hundred does this consistently.

So there you have it, 5 simple tips to making this year a superb one. Why not try them for the next 30 days and see how much better your results become? In the long run, success in business is no accident, it stems from doing a few key things well, again and again. Starting with the ones above.

A Brilliant Method To Generate Ideas For Your Business - Simon Reynolds

The future of your business depends on just two abilities.

Firstly, being able to come up with excellent ideas to expand your business. Secondly to be good at implementing those ideas.

There are thousands of books and articles about the implementation part, but comparatively little about quality business idea generation. Over the last 25 years I have made my living coming up with good business ideas and over time I developed a system that allowed me to do so quickly, efficently and effectively.

Below is a quick ten step methodology that will allow you to speedily generate lots of different ideas for your company. Whether you’d like to conceive new income streams, fresh marketing concepts, breakthrough positioning strategies or novel product ideas, this system will get the job done.

Here’s how it works. Spend ten minutes on each of the questions below. During the ten minute period endeavor to come up with as many answers to each question as you can. Only after you have completed each question should you review your solutions. At stage one, it’s all about quantity – the more answers you come up with, the higher your chances of generating something wondrous.

Stage two is the sifting process – picking the gems and discarding the rest.

Follow this process and you’ll have no shortage of excellent ideas to use throughout your company.

QUESTION ONE: WHAT’S SOMETHING I COULD DO THAT’S REALLY EXTREME?
This question forces you to think more laterally than most of us usually do. Often when we brainstorm, our ideas are merely tiny changes to what’s already there. The danger is that if we think too safe and small we often will end up with solutions that have no hope of making an impact. By choosing to conceive ideas that must all be extreme we have a chance of coming up with ideas that, with a little tweaking, could be something really special.

QUESTION TWO: WHAT COULD WE ADD TO SOMETHING WE ALREADY DO TO MAKE IT MORE EXTRAORDINARY?
This question can lead to some wonderful ideas. By simply adding to an already successful concept you can take it into a totally different and vastly more profitable area. Is it not true that many of the most impactful concepts in your industry were only slightly better than what everyone else was doing? Take ten minutes to brainstorm additions to your existing best ideas, you may well be delighted by what you come up with.

QUESTION THREE: WHAT COULD WE STRIP AWAY FROM WHAT WE ALREADY DO?
This is in many ways the opposite of the previous question. When you look at an existing product or industry, you can often come up with something novel by just reducing the core idea to something simpler. For example, when Bic produced the first mass produced disposable razor it was merely a simplified version of the traditional version. Toyota did the same with cars, decades ago. What could you strip away to create something more unique, novel or marketable?

QUESTION FOUR: WHAT IDEAS COULD WE TAKE FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES AND APPLY TO OURS?
It’s amazing how little cross pollination there is between industries. Yet, one of the quickest ways to come up with a break though idea is to examine what other industries are doing and see if you can apply those concepts in your sector. For example, software sales people could learn a lot from the best real estate sales people. TV writers could learn a whole range of new techniques from advertising writers. Don’t just navel gaze inside your own world – take a look at the industries around you and see how their old ideas could become your new ones.

QUESTION FIVE: WHAT COULD WE STEAL FROM COMPETITORS AND MAKE A SLIGHT CHANGE TO?
Picasso said “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Steve Jobs once remarked, “We are shameless about stealing great ideas.” If these so called original thinkers were happy to steal from their competitors, maybe you should consider it too. By stealing, of course, I don’t mean outright IP theft, I am suggesting that you look at products and strategies your competition is using with success, alter them a little then try them yourself. Generally speaking, if they work for them they’ll usually work for you. A case in point; Indian Motorcycles has grown a breakneck speed in the last three years by copying many of the marketing strategies that have worked for Harley Davidson.

QUESTION SIX: WHAT WILL THEY BE DOING IN OUR INDUSTRY IN 20 YEARS?
This question sparks loads of intriguing ideas. Don’t look forward 12 months, have a go at foreseeing two decades. You may not predict accurately but you are far more likely to come up with interesting ideas and directions for your company. After all, the future is often dominated by those who can envision where an industry is heading, rather than merely looking at where it is currently. For instance, TV exec Barry Diller made himself a billionaire by successfully predicting 15 years ago that the internet would become a major advertising platform.

QUESTION SEVEN: WHAT WOULD WE BE SCARED TO DO?
This question is all about pushing the envelope. How far would you go? Could you go? The answers will often up all kinds of intriguing ideas – and possibly create entirely new sectors. In the education world, the recent rise of MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses that deliver high quality education to millions for free, shocked the industry. But that scary idea is currently creating several super fast growing enterprises. As the British Special Air Service commandos say, ‘Who Dares Wins.’

QUESTION EIGHT: WHAT WOULD STEVE JOBS DO IN THIS SITUATION?
Or John Paul Getty? Or Andrew Carnegie? By trying to guess how great entrepreneurs would handle your business situation, you free your mind up to think in different ways. How would they disrupt your industry? What direction would they choose to give them a chance of dominating your sector like they once did theirs? Pretend you’re them and find out.

QUESTION NINE: WHAT’S THE FASTEST THING WE COULD DO?
This is another out of the box way of thinking about your business. If the usual product cycle in your industry is 12 months, how could you get a product out in 12 weeks? Don’t just say it’s impossible, force yourself to think more laterally. James Patterson is one of the world’s most successful authors. When most authors produce a book every year or two, last year Patterson released twelve! How? He asked the speed question and came up with an entirely different way of writing, using teams.

QUESTION TEN: WHAT’S THE CHEAPEST THING WE COULD DO?
The vast majority of successful companies were started with less than $25,000. Many have been begun with a few hundred bucks. Contrary to popular opinion tiny budgets often increase creativity, not inhibit it. So think cheap, really cheap. What could you create for a song, if that was your only option? Stick with that question for awhile and I guarantee you some exciting solutions will emerge.

Three Elements of Success to Achieve Your Heart’s Desire - Benjamin J Harvey

What do baseball bats, playing cards and Alex Rodriguez have to do with you achieving everything in your life that you desire?

There’s a man in America who is famous for his mindset coaching and he works with a variety of people, including some of the top performing professional athletes in the world. His name is Jim Fannin and he is the author of a book called 'Score For Life’.

One of the things Jim likes to do with his top performing athlete is teach them three critical elements to ensure they achieve whatever they desire in their chosen sport:

1. Find the essence of their master craft
2. A huge amount of mental rehearsal
3. Work with their intuition

Jim was working with Alex Rodriguez, a famous American baseball player. Jim asked Alex exactly what he wanted to achieve in the sport of baseball. Alex replied that he wanted to be the greatest homerun hitter of all time. Jim said, “that's a big goal... let's sit down and work out what the essence of that actually is. What makes an incredible homerun hitter? Is it upper body strength? Is it the ability to run quickly? Is it the ability to pick the ball and understand what sort of pitch is coming? Or is it the ability to hit the ball as hard as possible?”

1. Find the essence of your master craft
They discovered the most important thing that Alex needed to perfect (as in the absolute essence of the craft), to achieve what he desired and  to become the greatest homerun hitter of all time, was to hit the ball flat with an accelerated bat. When he perfected that he wouldn't need to do much else.

2. A huge amount of mental rehearsal
The second thing that Jim suggested Alex do was begin a huge amount of mental rehearsal. So what Alex used to do was mentally rehearse hitting that ball perfectly flat every single time. He only rehearsed this one thing, which was hitting the ball flat with an accelerated bat.

3. Work your intuition
Jim got Alex to really perfect and work on his intuition. He showed Alex pitches that were recorded and as a pitcher got ready to pitch the ball Jim would pause the video and ask Alex “what kind of ball does your intuition say this is? Is it a fast ball, low ball, curved ball or drop ball?"  Alex would have to use his intuition to interpret what sort of pitch is coming his way. In doing this practice he was able to harness Alex's intuition to make him far more intuitive when out playing.

So, what does this mean for you and how do you put it in action?

First of all make some time to set your goal and ask yourself one question: What is the core essence that will allow me to achieve  my desire effectively?  Discover the essence of the craft that you’re doing.

In my field of personal development and assisting people to live their mission and do whatever they love most in life, I have determined that the essence of my master craft is to focus my attention on the heart’s desires of those I serve.

What I mean by that is when someone sits in front of me, or I am working with a client, all I have to do is focus all my attention on what they desire most in life inside their heart. If I do that, I find that accelerates their ability to create what they love most.

Once you have done that then embark on a huge amount of mental rehearsal. Jim didn't say just small amount of mental rehearsal, he said a huge amount of mental rehearsal.

Once you do a huge amount of mental rehearsal then work out activities to harness and strengthen your intuition. It's different depending on your craft, but one generic exercise I suggest is to get two different coloured pens and throw them over your head with your eyes closed then use your intuition to guess which colour pen landed where behind you.

There are many other ways to harness your intuition but please focus on those three elements of success: understanding the essence of your master craft, undertaking a huge amount of mental rehearsal and harnessing your intuition for the better in order to achieve your heart’s desire.

How To Be More Charismatic

Charisma is a crucial ingredient of business success.

Without it, it’s hard to influence others. Difficult to clinch sales. And damn near impossible to get to the top. 

But it is widely assumed that charisma cannot be developed – you’ve either got it or you don’t.

I beg to differ. I’ve coached hundreds of business people on how to be more charismatic, with dramatically positive results.

Here’s some key tips to boost business charisma.

PREPARE DEEPLY.

One of the most powerful ways to come across as charismatic is to really, really know your stuff. Too many intelligent and talented people wing it in meetings and major presentations. Sure, they know the basics, but question them a little further and you often find their knowledge is shallow.

This lowers their charisma in several ways. Firstly, they are just a tad unsure with their answers, as they don’t have a complete grasp of the subtle points of an issue. As a result, they can come across as less confident.

Secondly, because they have not fully mastered the issue they tend to speak less in meetings, and therefore, make less of an impression.

On the other hand, when you have truly prepared for a presentation well, knowing the issues better than anyone else in the room, you exude confidence. You speak up. You are not afraid to differ and make your point. You, therefore, are far more likely to be perceived as a dynamic, charismatic individual.

ASK QUESTIONS.

The person who asks the questions usually controls the meeting. And those that ask reasonably smart questions usually come across as intelligent and even wise – two elements that help build the perception of charisma. I have always found it interesting that it takes a lot less knowledge to ask a good question as it does to provide a good answer; yet, those who ask a lot of questions often end up giving the best impression.

Unfair or not, the fact remains that one of the most effective ways of appearing more charismatic is to increase the amount of questions you ask in important meetings. Try it and watch how many of the attendees start talking directly to you as a result. You become the center of the meeting.

USE YOUR HANDS WHILE SPEAKING.

It may seem strange, but observe somebody you know who exudes charisma and you’ll almost certainly notice that they use their hands a lot when they speak. Hand gesticulations make people seem more passionate, interested and are a clear sign of confidence – all important components of charisma.

If you question the importance of hand movements, watch someone who you feel is totally devoid of charisma. In most cases, they will deliver their points with almost no hand movements to aid them.

BE GENUINELY INTERESTED IN THE PEOPLE YOU TALK WITH.

It seems somewhat illogical, but people are always impressed by somebody who seems really interested in what they are saying.

So many people are craving appreciation and respect, that if you look like you’re giving it to them they’ll become your raving fans.

Merely by listening to them intently and expressing great interest in the points people make, you will usually make a very positive impact on them. Even if you hardly say anything, they will view you as perspicacious simply because you showed the ‘wisdom’ to be riveted by their point of view. As the old saying goes, “To appear interesting be interested.”

DEVELOP PASSIONS.

When people come alive about their passions and hobbies, they immediately become a lot more charismatic. The more you’re into something, the more animatic your presenting style is. Passionate people are usually far more magnetic than those who are ambivalent.

Your passionate attitude should extend beyond your hobbies of course; if you can exude passion about many things, that enthusiasm will generally make you seem a more exciting person. Being bored with life is never equated with charisma.

BE ENERGETIC.

Although there are definitely subdued people who emanate charisma, generally humans are attracted by strong, uplifting energy.

If you want to increase your charisma at work, lift your energy level. Being energetic in how you talk and move will make you more captivating. Most people judge people by the energy they give off (no doubt you’ve met plenty of people you just energetically didn’t feel good about). So, before you walk into an important meeting or sales presentation take a minute to center yourself and lift up your energy factor. It can make a major difference to people’s perception of you.

OPTIMISM RULES.

Closely aligned with energy comes optimism. As Professor Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania has shown, most of us prefer to hang out with optimistic people. In a world where in most cases you can buy from several suppliers, it’s often those that we enjoy being with who get the deal.

Of course, i’m not talking about pie in the sky, Pollyanna thinking, I’m referring to intelligent, reasonable optimism- choosing to see the possibility in work situations, rather than only the downside. Optimism doesn’t just make us more charismatic, it’s also been shown to increase persistence and resilience – a crucial factor in work and life success, as several studies have shown (See Andrew Zolli’s excellent book, ‘Resilience. Why Things Bounce Back’ for examples).

The more you look into charisma at work, the more you can see it is not some accidental attribute – it can be created and enhanced with simple, easy to apply strategies. So, in the next week, why not focus on one or two of the methods I’ve outlined and see if you can boost your charisma. In the business world, it’s a highly useful trait to have.

How Adversity Helps You Become Your Best Self

Several years ago an experiment was done on mice to work out what conditions would cause them to grow their brain potential.

One mouse got everything a mouse could dream of - food, warmth, everything.

It was living the ‘good life’!

Another had exactly the same life… except it had to run around a treadmill.

And the third just lived in a normal cage… and twice a week was thrown into a really challenging maze.

He had to go up a pole… get across obstacles with water below him… all sorts of challenges like that.

It was tough slog for the little guy!

Well, at the end of the experiment they studied the brains of the 3 little mice.

The first mouse didn’t grow a single bit of brain capacity…

The second mouse grew some brain capacity but the new neurons didn’t connect.

But the third mouse that had to use its wits to survive… grew massive amounts of brain capacity.

And amazingly, all the new ‘brain pathways’ were all fully connected and integrated.

That’s why it’s so important to do as Dr Demartini says…

That means seeing all the events in your life ‘as on the way’ not ‘in the way’.

On the way to a better, bigger, brighter, smarter, stronger YOU.

And all the crap in the past is fertiliser for the beautiful garden you will create in your life.

Five Fatal Flaws of Trading - Jeffrey Kennedy

That's an age-old question. While there is no magic formula, one of Elliott Wave International's senior instructors Jeffrey Kennedy has identified five fundamental flaws that, in his opinion, stop most traders from being consistently successful. We don't claim to have found The Holy Grail of trading here, but sometimes a single idea can change a person's life. Maybe you'll find one in Jeffrey's take on trading? We sincerely hope so.
(Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Jeffrey Kennedy’s highly popular Trader’s Classroom section of his Monthly Futures Junctures. Learn more about Futures Junctures.)

Why Do Traders Lose?
If you’ve been trading for a long time, you no doubt have felt that a monstrous, invisible hand sometimes reaches into your trading account and takes out money. It doesn’t seem to matter how many books you buy, how many seminars you attend or how many hours you spend analyzing price charts, you just can’t seem to prevent that invisible hand from depleting your trading account funds.
Which brings us to the question: Why do traders lose? Or maybe we should ask, 'How do you stop the Hand?' Whether you are a seasoned professional or just thinking about opening your first trading account, the ability to stop the Hand is proportional to how well you understand and overcome the Five Fatal Flaws of trading. For each fatal flaw represents a finger on the invisible hand that wreaks havoc with your trading account.

Fatal Flaw No. 1 – Lack of Methodology
If you aim to be a consistently successful trader, then you must have a defined trading methodology, which is simply a clear and concise way of looking at markets. Guessing or going by gut instinct won’t work over the long run. If you don’t have a defined trading methodology, then you don’t have a way to know what constitutes a buy or sell signal. Moreover, you can’t even consistently correctly identify the trend.
How to overcome this fatal flaw? Answer: Write down your methodology. Define in writing what your analytical tools are and, more importantly, how you use them. It doesn’t matter whether you use the Wave Principle, Point and Figure charts, Stochastics, RSI or a combination of all of the above. What does matter is that you actually take the effort to define it (i.e., what constitutes a buy, a sell, your trailing stop and instructions on exiting a position). And the best hint I can give you regarding developing a defined trading methodology is this: If you can’t fit it on the back of a business card, it’s probably too complicated.
  
Fatal Flaw No. 2 – Lack of Discipline
When you have clearly outlined and identified your trading methodology, then you must have the discipline to follow your system. A Lack of Discipline in this regard is the second fatal flaw. If the way you view a price chart or evaluate a potential trade setup is different from how you did it a month ago, then you have either not identified your methodology or you lack the discipline to follow the methodology you have identified. The formula for success is to consistently apply a proven methodology. So the best advice I can give you to overcome a lack of discipline is to define a trading methodology that works best for you and follow it religiously.
Fatal Flaw No. 3 – Unrealistic Expectations
Between you and me, nothing makes me angrier than those commercials that say something like, "...$5,000 properly positioned in Natural Gas can give you returns of over $40,000..." Advertisements like this are a disservice to the financial industry as a whole and end up costing uneducated investors a lot more than $5,000. In addition, they help to create the third fatal flaw: Unrealistic Expectations.
Yes, it is possible to experience above-average returns trading your own account. However, it’s difficult to do it without taking on above-average risk. So what is a realistic return to shoot for in your first year as a trader – 50%, 100%, 200%? Whoa, let’s rein in those unrealistic expectations. In my opinion, the goal for every trader their first year out should be not to lose money. In other words, shoot for a 0% return your first year. If you can manage that, then in year two, try to beat the Dow or the S&P. These goals may not be flashy but they are realistic, and if you can learn to live with them – and achieve them – you will fend off the Hand.

Fatal Flaw No. 4 – Lack of Patience
The fourth finger of the invisible hand that robs your trading account is Lack of Patience. I forget where, but I once read that markets trend only 20% of the time, and, from my experience, I would say that this is an accurate statement. So think about it, the other 80% of the time the markets are not trending in one clear direction.
That may explain why I believe that for any given time frame, there are only two or three really good trading opportunities. For example, if you’re a long-term trader, there are typically only two or three compelling tradable moves in a market during any given year. Similarly, if you are a short-term trader, there are only two or three high-quality trade setups in a given week.
All too often, because trading is inherently exciting (and anything involving money usually is exciting), it’s easy to feel like you’re missing the party if you don’t trade a lot. As a result, you start taking trade setups of lesser and lesser quality and begin to over-trade.
How do you overcome this lack of patience? The advice I have found to be most valuable is to remind yourself that every week, there is another trade-of-the-year. In other words, don’t worry about missing an opportunity today, because there will be another one tomorrow, next week and next month ... I promise.
I remember a line from a movie (either Sergeant York with Gary Cooper or The Patriot with Mel Gibson) in which one character gives advice to another on how to shoot a rifle: 'Aim small, miss small.' I offer the same advice in this new context. To aim small requires patience. So be patient, and you’ll miss small."

Fatal Flaw No. 5 – Lack of Money Management
The final fatal flaw to overcome as a trader is a Lack of Money Management, and this topic deserves more than just a few paragraphs, because money management encompasses risk/reward analysis, probability of success and failure, protective stops and so much more. Even so, I would like to address the subject of money management with a focus on risk as a function of portfolio size.
Now the big boys (i.e., the professional traders) tend to limit their risk on any given position to 1% - 3% of their portfolio. If we apply this rule to ourselves, then for every $5,000 we have in our trading account, we can risk only $50-$150 on any given trade. Stocks might be a little different, but a $50 stop in Corn, which is one point, is simply too tight a stop, especially when the 10-day average trading range in Corn recently has been more than 10 points. A more plausible stop might be five points or 10, in which case, depending on what percentage of your total portfolio you want to risk, you would need an account size between $15,000 and $50,000.
Simply put, I believe that many traders begin to trade either under-funded or without sufficient capital in their trading account to trade the markets they choose to trade. And that doesn’t even address the size that they trade (i.e., multiple contracts).
To overcome this fatal flaw, let me expand on the logic from the 'aim small, miss small' movie line. If you have a small trading account, then trade small. You can accomplish this by trading fewer contracts, or trading e-mini contracts or even stocks. Bottom line, on your way to becoming a consistently successful trader, you must realize that one key is longevity. If your risk on any given position is relatively small, then you can weather the rough spots. Conversely, if you risk 25% of your portfolio on each trade, after four consecutive losers, you’re out all together.

Break the Hand’s Grip
Trading successfully is not easy. It’s hard work ... damn hard. And if anyone leads you to believe otherwise, run the other way, and fast. But this hard work can be rewarding, above-average gains are possible and the sense of satisfaction one feels after a few nice trades is absolutely priceless. To get to that point, though, you must first break the fingers of the Hand that is holding you back and stealing money from your trading account. I can guarantee that if you attend to the five fatal flaws I’ve outlined, you won’t be caught red-handed stealing from your own account.

43 Lessons from 43 Years - J.D.Roth

1. Be impeccable with your word. Be honest — with yourself and others. If you promise to do something, do it. When somebody asks you a question, tell the truth. Don’t gossip. Practice what you preach.


2. Don’t take anything personally. When people criticize you and your actions, it’s not about you — it’s about them. They can’t know what it’s like to be you and to be living your life. When you take things personally, you’re allowing others to control your life and your happiness. “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.” — Arab proverb


3. Don’t make assumptions. The flip side of not taking anything personally is to not assume you know what’s going on in other people’s heads, to not assume you know the motivations for their actions. Just as their reality doesn’t reflect your reality, your life is not theirs. Give people the benefit of the doubt.


4. Always do your best. Your best will vary from moment to moment. Some days in the gym, for instance, I’m able to lift heavier weights than on other days. That’s okay. I do the best I can every time. This is one of the keys to success and to happiness: No matter what you do, do it as well as you can.


5. Be skeptical — but learn to listen. In other words, don’t believe everything you hear, not just from others, but also from your own internal self-talk. Keep an open mind, but analyze the things you see and hear to see if they actually make sense.


6. Be encouraging. There are a lot of people out there who want to tell others what’s wrong with their actions, why the things they want to do can’t be done. Don’t be that way. Instead, do what you can (in big ways and subtle ways) to help others achieve their goals.
 
7. People who are happy with their own lives almost never criticize others, to paraphrase Steven Pressfield from The War of Art. “If they speak at all,” says Pressfield, “it’s to offer encouragement.”


8. Have the courage to pursue your dreams. If you want something, go after it. Don’t allow yourself to be trapped in a life filled with shoulds. Don’t do things just because others expect you to do them. Choose what you want. “The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it’s a different kind of life.” — R. Buckminster Fuller


9. Fear is the mind-killer. If you can build confidence and overcome fear, you’ll be happier and more successful. This isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt


10. “No hay mal que por bien no venga.” — Spanish proverb. That is, there is no bad from which some good does not come. (Or, “every cloud has a silver lining”.) Sometimes life sucks. Bad things happen. But in nearly every instance, the bad brings good too, usually in the opportunity to change, to transform yourself into something new.


11. Change is good. For some reason, our society is skeptical of people who transform themselves. A politician who changes her mind because she gains a deeper understanding of something is said to have “flip-flopped” on an issue. But personal growth can be amazing. By doing and trying and learning new things, you experience more of life, and you become a better person. Don’t be afraid to change and grow.


12. Spirituality is personal. The desire for one person (or group) to impose her (or their) beliefs on others is the source of much of this world’s strife. Believe what you want, and let others do the same. “There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.” — Dalai Lama


13. Self-care comes first. Eat right. Exercise. Take time to relax. Do your personal chores. Be well groomed. Treat yourself like a princess (or a prince). When you take care of yourself, it’s easier to be of service to others.


14. You can’t predict what the Future You will like. It’s pointless to even try. Instead, focus on creating the best life for the Present You. Make decisions based on what you need today instead of what might happen tomorrow. (But note this isn’t permission to simply ignore the future. You still need to save for retirement, for instance, but you also need to make decisions based on who you are at this moment.)


15. Be present in the moment. When you do something, do that thing. When you’re with somebody, be with them. Don’t multitask. Put away the smartphone or the computer or the book. Be all there. When you do this, you’ll do better work, you’ll show respect to others, and you’ll enjoy yourself more.


16. Don’t try to change others. “Attempts to change others are rarely successful, and even then are probably not completely satisfying,” Harry Browne wrote in How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World. “To accept others as they are doesn’t mean you have to give into them or put up with them. You are sovereign. You own your own world. You can choose…There are millions of people out there in the world; you have a lot more to choose from than just what you see in front of you now.”


17. Don’t allow others to try to change you. Again from How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: “You are free to live your life as you want…The demands and wishes of others don’t control your life. You do. You make the decisions…There are thousands of people who wouldn’t demand that you bend yourself out of shape to please them. There are people who will want you to be yourself, people who see things as you do, people who want the same things you want. Why should you have to waste your life in a futile effort to please those with whom you aren’t compatible?”


18. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” Admitting ignorance isn’t the same as admitting defeat. It doesn’t make you look bad. You know what does make you look bad? Saying or doing something with confidence but being completely wrong. If you don’t know, say so.


19. Don’t yuck someone else’s yum. Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s bad. Pursue your passions, and let others pursue theirs. If you don’t like something, fine. There’s no need to make a big deal about it. (Note: This is a tough one for me to actually practice in daily life.)


20. There’s seldom one right way to do something. Most of the time, there are multiple paths to success. For instance, as I’ve said many times here at Get Rich Slowly, there’s no one right way to get out of debt. Don’t believe anyone who tells you there is.


21. Quality tools can make life better. For years, I equated low cost with smart spending. Now I know that’s not always the case. Now, I’m willing to spend to buy high-quality things when I know I’ll use them all the time. I have high-quality boots, for instance, and an expensive computer. I’m okay with that. I walk everywhere I go, so the boots are worth it. And my computer is my livelihood. The expense is worth it because it makes working a joy. For items used daily, buy the best. If you don’t use it often, of if it’s not important to you, buy the cheapest possible.


22. Happiness is mostly internal. While external forces do affect well-being, most of your happiness comes from one place: You. Research has shown that about 50% of happiness is biological; 40% of happiness comes from intentional activity, the things you choose to do; and only 10% of your happiness is based on external factors beyond your control. If you’re not happy, change who you are and what you do.


23. Small passions give life flavor. I love bacon and comic books and Scotch whisky and cats and maracuyá (a passionfruit from Perú). I enjoy walking through the city, reading the news in Spanish, taking the laundry out of the dryer, and ordering the same tea every day from the same barrista. These small pleasures provide texture to life. Savor them.


24. There’s no such thing as natural talent. If you want to be good at something, you have to spend the time to become good at that thing. Only American superheroes don’t have to work for the abilities they have. And how strange is that? They’re just given their powers. That’s not how it works in the real world. As Malcolm Gladwell notes in Outliers, in the real world, people become experts by putting in thousands of hours.


25. Be adventurous. Try new things. Eat new food. Learn a new skill. Travel. Watch foreign films. Change your hairstyle. You might not enjoy everything you try, but then you might find something you really love. (From Action Girl’s Guide to Living.)


26. Be open-minded. Read books and magazines and newspapers and web sites. (And not just the ones you already agree with or like.) Listen to other people’s opinions. You don’t have to welcome every new idea with open arms; just be willing to change and grow. (From Action Girl’s Guide to Living.)


27. Be positive. Life is short. Don’t waste time complaining. If you can do something about a problem, do it. Otherwise, get on with life and forget it. Route your negative energy in a positive direction. If you hate something, fine, but don’t make it your career. (From Action Girl’s Guide to Living.)


28. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Who cares if your shirt isn’t ironed? If you forgot to mail the phone bill? If you can’t remember someone’s name? Take it easy. It’s not that important.


29. Ask for it. You’ll never get it if you don’t ask. And you might be surprised at what you can get just by being bold.


30. Slow and steady wins the race. The most successful folks are those who work longest and hardest at things they love to do. So try to find ways to make frugality fun, and recognize that you’re in this for the long haul. You’re making a lifestyle change, not looking for a quick fix.


31. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Too many people never get started toward their goals because they don’t know that the “best” first step is. Don’t worry about getting things exactly right — just choose a good option and do something to get started.


32. Failure is okay. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t let one slip-up drag you down. One key difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is the ability to recover from a setback and keep marching toward a goal. Use failures to learn what not to do next time. “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” — Japanese proverb


33. You can have (or do) anything you want — but you can’t have (or do) everything you want. Being smart with money — or with time — isn’t about giving up your plasma TV or your daily latte. It’s about setting priorities and managing expectations, about conscious living. Focus on the things that matter most to you and ignore everything else.


34. You don’t need permission. When we’re young, we wait for our parents and our teachers to say it’s okay to do the things we want to do. As an adult, you don’t need permission from anyone else. Do you want to quit your job and travel the world? Do it. Do you want to learn how to ride a motorcycle? Do it. Don’t wait for somebody to give you the go-ahead. You are the only one who needs to give yourself permission to do these things.
 
35. Action beats inaction. It’s easy to put things off, but the sooner you start moving toward your goals, the easier they’ll be to reach. It’s better to start with small steps today than to wait for that someday when you’ll be able to make great strides. Get moving.


36. Along similar lines, it’s not what you say that matters; it’s what you do. Live a life of action, not words. “Action is character.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald.


37. Look for connections. Share your interests and experiences with people you meet. You don’t need to force your story on others. But learn to strike up conversations with people you meet. Ask them about their lives. They’ll ask you about yours. In Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi notes this is a great way to form connections you might otherwise miss. In this way, you may sometimes turn a random encounter into a possible “lucky break”. (Occasionally you will be a source of luck for the people you meet, just as they will sometimes be a source of luck for you.)


38. Keep your options open. Goals are good. But single-minded devotion to a goal can often blind a person to other opportunities. And it’s a mistake to cling to one path out of a sense of obligation. If you enter law school and discover you hate it, quit. Don’t endure years of misery because you feel it’s expected of you. You have more options than you think, but you may need to open your eyes to see them.


39. Be empathetic — think like the other person. Remember that people are all the same. We each have the same fears and the same desires. Underneath, most folks are pretty nice. Instead of fighting with others are hating them because they’re different, try to get a feel for their story, their point of view. “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.


40. Do the right thing. If you do what’s right, and you do it well, what do you care what other people think? Successful people will always have critics. Learn from the critics or to ignore them, but don’t let them bring you down. Do the right thing, and confidently own the consequences.


41. Don’t compare yourself to others. I’ll tell you a secret. There are a lot of personal finance blogs out there. I don’t get to read them as often as I used to, but I do try to make the rounds once every week. Sometimes when I do this, I feel like giving up. I feel like quitting. I lose confidence. “I can’t write that well,” I think. “I can’t cover retirement investing as well as Jim did.” Comparing myself to others is counter-productive. It only makes me feel inadequate. Who cares what other people write, or how well? What’s important is simply producing the best work I can. All I can be is myself.


42. Be yourself. This is by far the most important thing I’ve learned about life. For so long, I tried to please other people, tried to be and do the things I thought they wanted me to be and do. That just made me unhappy. And most of the time, it didn’t please anyone. I’ve had enough of that. Instead of trying to be somebody else, I’m just me. I’m honest about who I am and what I want. Sure, that means some of my old friends don’t like who I’ve become. That’s okay. I’ve made new friends who do like who I am. But the best part is that I like who I am.


43. “Everybody is talented, original and has something important to say.” — Barbara Ueland, If You Want to Write.

Why Businesses Fail - Siimon Reynolds

I recently wrote a book called Why People Fail.
It examines the 16 biggest obstacles to success and how we can overcome them. Many readers asked me whether I had similar theories about why businesses fail. Of course, there are a myriad of reasons that cause corporate failure, but here are six of the biggest:

NO CLEAR MARKETING FUNNEL.

People usually don’t just discover great products. Contrary to the famous saying, if you build a better mouse trap the world will not beat a path to your door.
You need to develop a way to efficiently attract leads, then convert some of them. This seems so basic, but hundreds of thousands of busineses start with no clear marketing funnel and then have to rely on luck or referrals to get customers in through the door.
What’s your marketing funnel? Will you start with print ads? Google ads? A free offer? Direct mail? Unless you develop a system for marketing, your chances of making money consistently are minuscule.

NO FOLLOW UP OF CUSTOMERS.

Once you’ve got an enquiry from a potential customer, you have to stay in contact with them.
For how long? Well as the great marketer Dan Kennedy likes to say, “Until they buy or die.”
So many business owners are unaware of the importance of this. They get hundreds of phone enquiries or street walk ins, then let them leave without leaving any follow up details. Crazy.
Give them a reason to leave you their email address (a free report, a discount, a newsletter) then keep reminding them that you exist and that you sell some good stuff. You’d be amazed how well this works. This doesn’t just work for potential customers it works just as nicely for people who’ve already bought from you. Just stay in touch and many will buy from you again.

NO BUSINESS SYSTEM.

There are two types of businesses you can run. A talent based business and a systems based business.
A talent based business relies on the talents of a few key people. It can make money, but it’s precarious, because that talent may decide to leave. Or ask for too much money. Or get sick for a few months. Far better is a systems based biz.
It doesn’t just rely on talented people, it’s also got clear, organised systems and rules that staff have to follow. Creating a systems based business can be a bit of a hassle initially. But when you do the place will run much more smoothly and definitely more profitably.

NO PERSISTENCE.

Some people just give up too easily. They encounter a year of obstacles and just lose hope that things can change. Believe me, the corporate world is full of examples of companies doing it tough, then emerging triumphant.
In the early days Boeing was so strapped for cash they started producing furniture! True story.
The Marriott hotel chain started as a root beer stand.
Good companies take time. Sometimes lots of time. But so many entrepreneurs get depressed that they haven’t made a hundred million in their first three years. And give up soon after.
Don’t make this mistake. Extend your timelines, commit yourself to your company for the long term. It makes a world of difference to your results.

NO SELF BELIEF.

Closely allied to persistence, self belief is vitally important to the success of a business. When you have strong self belief you think better, sell better and lead better.
Potential clients sense it and are attracted to people who possess it. Almost every area of a Chief Executive’s performance lifts when they believe in themselves. Yet so few corporate leaders work on their beliefs. It seems a bit too touchy feely, too intangible, compared to say working on next quarter’s figures.
Yet focusing daily on your self talk, choosing empowering beliefs, refusing to give negativity substantial time in your head, will help you make more progress than working on almost any traditional business skill.
You tend to become what you think, so for goodness sake be careful what you think. As Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”

NO MARGIN FOR ERROR.

The final reason businesses fail is simply that they sail too close to the wind. All they need is a little bit of bad luck- a tough six months, a key client who pulls their account, a senior staff member who leaves for a rival firm, and they find that they simply don’t have enough cash to survive.
This year alone I’ve mentored two CEO’s of online businesses who had fabulous sales, but just didn’t have enough cash in reserve. The result? They went under.
Warren Buffett likes to call this ‘Margin Of Safety’. When he invests in a business he makes sure the deal makes sense even if the company performs well below expectations. He doesn’t just depend on things going right, he builds in the chance that things will go very wrong. We all need to do the same.
A guy I know said that the most common phrase Richard Branson used when they were talking was ‘protect the downside’.
So take a look at these six causes of business failure. Ask yourself whether any of them apply to you. If you’re weak in even one of these areas your entire business could be in peril.
Make a plan today to fix that weakness and set a deadline by which you’ll do it. None are hard to fix, but all could become a nightmare if they are allowed to grow.

Marketing Lessons from Obama’s Victory -- Siimon Reynolds

Most of us enjoyed watching the spectacle of the Romney/Obama war from a human and political point of view. But there are also some important marketing lessons that can be learned by analysing their battle.

1. ENTHUSIASM MATTERS.

When Obama turned up at the first debate as a seemingly unenthusiastic, quiet, taciturn leader he endangered his chances of staying President.
The next day the polls showed a substantial shift in public sentiment against him.
Why? It wasn’t the brilliance of Romney’s suggestions for the country’s future that damaged Obama, it was that nobody likes a leader without passion, energy and verve. Many were shocked by Obama’s unspirited performance and began to wonder if he was the right man to lead in these dire economic times. His lack of emotional energy cost him plenty.
The same is true when you’re trying to sell your product or service.
People buy enthusiasm, as much as they buy the product itself. If customers don’t feel that you’re totally comitted to and excited by what you sell, why should they be?
Are you showing total enthusiasm in your presentations? Or only going through the motions? The difference can be worth a fortune.

2. DETAILS AREN’T REMEMBERED.

I assert that the average voter found the endless statistics and facts of both part leaders totally befuddling. They not only didn’t understand the ramifications of much of the data proffered by Romney and Obama, but had very little memory of it anyway soon afterward.
It’s the same with your brand. Unless you keep your message really, really simple (then endlessly repeat it) then it’s unlikely you’ll make a memorable dent in your audience’s consciousness.
Most of us do the opposite. We say too many things about our company, so few are remembered.We list endless features of our products rather than talk in depth about the one or two that really matter .
As a result our brand doesn’t stand out amongst the countless other competitors who are all doing the same. There’s money in simplicity.

3. COMMUNITY IS PRICELESS.

Anyone who was on Obama’s email list couldn’t help but marvel at the deep sense of community his team created with it. Several times a day for months, emails were sent asking for donations, keeping supporters in touch with the latest news and taking every opportunity to make those on the list feel like they were playing a major role in the re-election of the President.
I remember that even on the election day itself, an email went out asking for 750 volunteers in my state (California) to leave what they were doing and lend a hand down at the polling booths. (I assume every state got their own email with this extraordinary request.)
Because millions of people were brought into Obama’s ‘inner circle’ by these emails, they not only helped him raise over a billion dollars, they felt a deepening sense of comradeship and loyalty to his cause.
Which inevitably led to increased votes.
What about you? Have you developed a community of customers that believe in what you’re doing, what you’re selling and what you stand for?
Do they feel that you are about more than making the sale? The more powerfully you make a stand for something the more customers will get behind you.
To his audience, Richard Branson isn’t about selling airline seats. He’s about making flying fun.
Steve Jobs didn’t strive to be number one in computer or music sales, he stood for an intense drive for product excellence.
Ralph Lauren doesn’t get up in the morning purely to make more money, he’s inspired to create a more beautiful life for his customers.
As a result, in all three cases these people created a community of millions of people who believed in them- and therefore the products they sold.
In your own way, you can do the same.

4. THE MESSAGE MUST BE CONSISTENT.

One of the key differences between Obama and Romney was their consistency of message.
One month out from election day Romney fundamentally changed many of his positions on important issues .
So much so, that Obama mocked him by saying there was a new disease of forgetfulness, known as ‘Romnesia’.
In contrast, Obama stuck with his core campaign tenets right throughout the election campaign. Yes, he adapted what he said about them, in response to Romney’s attacks, but he did not change his stance in any significant way.
It was tough to do, but was a crucial component of his ultimate victory.
How consistent are you?
With your company’s message and brand positioning? Your standards of service? Your follow through? Your operational systems? It’s not what you do or say occasionally, it’s what you deliver and how you come across day after day, year after year, that creates your reputation and engenders deep loyalty amongst your customers.
Consistency builds trust. Trust creates long term customers.Long term customers are the crucial element in building business wealth. In summary, while politics may seem a long way from business, it’s easy to see that many of the same elements generate success:
Enthusiastic delivery of message. Not getting too complex with the details. Building a community of followers. Maintaining consistency.
It pays to focus on them.

Whether you want to become President.
Or the President of your company.

Ways to Stay Motivated - Siimon Reynolds

Other than war, it’s hard to think of an occupation tougher than business. Anyone aiming high in the corporate arena is almost incessantly hit by obstacles, disappointments and failures. It can be hard on the mind.

In the future, I believe that every executive will work on their mental fitness every bit as much as their physical fitness.

After all, we all know that when our mind is sharp, focused and motivated our performance is usually superb.

With that in mind I’d like to present you with 3 ways to uplift your motivation. If you’re feeling a little depleted or defeated, use these techniques to lift your mood and your inspiration.

1. REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM.
Ambitious people all seem to have the same problem: they only think of where they’re going, not where they’ve come from. While this keeps them moving forward it often makes them also feel they have not achieved much- there’s always so much more to be done.
So take a moment every evening to look back on what you’ve achieved during the day. It’s almost always more than you thought. Then spend a minute remembering how far you’ve come in your career – what you’ve learn’t, how much wiser you’ve become, and all the progress you’ve made financially since you left school.

Just reminding yourself of your achievements lifts your morale and your self image, two critical components of high performance. Giving yourself a little pat on the back won’t make you soft, it will make you strong. You’ll feel ready to take on the world again.

2. THINK ABOUT YOUR BIGGER VISION.

It’s easy to get immersed and bogged down in the endless deadlines we all have each day. But concentrating on the immediate and urgent in our lives all the
time can be disheartening. Not to mention exhausting.

Yes we need to address the here and now, but we also must balance short term action with long term visioning. If you feel inundated with life’s activities the answer is almost always to take a step back and re-focus on your vision for your life.

What kind of person do you aspire to being? What kind of life do you want to have lived? What do you want your legacy to be?

Thinking about these big picture issues re-plants your mind in solid ground. It centers you, relaxes you, increases your confidence and sense of self. Each and every day we should devote at least a few minutes to remembering and clarifying our ultimate life vision.

It’s one of the most motivating exercises you can do.

3. SHORTEN YOUR DEADLINES.

If you’re feeling unmotivated, it’s usually because you feel you’re not making enough progress on your key goals.

Yes, you’re working hard, who isn’t, but the results aren’t coming as fast as you’d like.

When I’m coaching executives in situations like this I urge them to make the deadlines on all their tasks much shorter.

Instead of taking an hour to do something, aim to do it in 20 minutes. Instead of taking 5 days to finish that report, see if you can knock it over in one. As esteemed Harvard professor John Kotter has clearly showed, a lack of urgency is often at the heart of low achievement. Reducing the time you have to work on jobs engenders that urgency – you quickly break any feelings of lethargy. Short deadlines energise, inspire, captivate and get you back to working at your full capacity.

Pretty soon you start to see momentum and tangible results, which motivates you even further. Try it today. Cut the time you allocate to every task at least in half.

You’ll be surprised what an effect just this one technique has on your life.

Each of these techniques is easy to do, but can make a real difference to your motivation.

Together they can improve both how you feel and how you perform. If you do them once you’ll feel a bit better, but if you make them into a daily ritual you’ll find your confidence and effectiveness sky rocket.

The Importance of Desire - Siimon Reynolds

In a world that has become bafflingly complex, it’s easy to forget that some secrets to business success are incredibly simple.

But their very simplicity can be deceiving, causing many entrepreneurs to ignore them, instead turning to the latest shiny objects and complex new fashions of business.

One such simple but vital element of business success is good old fashioned desire.

Take this 30 second test. I want you to think about the level of desire you have to be outstanding in business and rank it out of 10. With 1 out of 10 being complete apathy about your company and 10 out of 10 indicating a full on electrifying level of lust for business greatness.

Think about that now.

Most people, if they’re honest, will put their desire at around a 6.

And there lies their number one obstacle to achieving their corporate dreams.

Because the cold, hard truth is, no matter how much you learn about marketing, the internet, management or finance, if you do not have at least 8 out of 10 desire your chances of achieving anything outstanding in business are slim.

There are several reasons why.

Business is hard. Often boring. Always challenging. And frequently exhausting.
If you don’t have intense desire to achieve then after awhile it all just becomes a little too tough. Soon you start settling for survival rather than superlatives, a consistent profit rather than riches.
At first, business life seems easier with this more sedate attitude, but because there is so much darn competition out there, soon hungrier companies start taking your customers. And the hardships begin their inexorable increase.

The other reason white hot desire is imperative for business success is a little more controversial.
I believe that human desire is a magnet. I believe that God created humans with the ability to attract many of the things they need for their business and their life by mentally focusing on them with intensity and consistency. If we really, truly , deeply desire for our business to be successful, then after awhile we begin to attract better luck and more opportunities.

You may scoff at this, but very few billionaires do. In their quiet hours most will agree that their own piercing desire helped bring in all manner of lucky breaks that helped take them to the commercial stratosphere. Most believe in the power of desire to improve both their luck and consequently their circumstances.

If you scored yourself lowly on the desire ranking, then all is not lost.

Desire can be generated. By simply choosing to desire your goals more strongly, soon your level of desire will rise. You can assist this by both thinking more often about what you want to achieve in business and thinking more longingly about the spoils of corporate excellence.

The more you think in this way the more your desire will intensify. The more it intensifies the more action you’ll take towards your dreams. The more action you take the more you’ll refine your strategy. The more you refine your strategy the quicker you develop an effective formula for sustainable profits.

Try this simple exercise over the next week:

Before you start your business day, sit and think about your business until you lift your desire up to at least an 8 out of 10 .

Then and only then start work.

Desire works. It clarifies. It eliminates. It elevates.

For many it’s the missing ingredient in business success

3 Reasons People Don’t Succeed in Business - Siimon Reynolds

Are you struggling to reach your goals in business? Most people are. The fact is the vast majority of business owners fall well short of their own goals. Try as they may, they just can’t seem to get the sales they need to grow their business.

The question is why.

Of course, there are a myriad of little reasons that entrepreneurs don’t succeed, but I believe there are 3 fundamental, over arching reasons for business failure. As you read them please take a moment to rank yourself a score out of ten in each of the 3 critical areas.

1. CLARITY.
Most people aren’t crystal clear about what they want from their business. Oh sure, they know they want to make more money, but very few are completely clear about precisely where they want to take their business, in how long, and in what ways. For example they are not clear on:

• What they want their revenues to be in per month, in 12 months and in 3 years.
• What skills they need to develop to get those results.
• What lead generation systems work best for them.
• What the best competitors are doing in their industry.
• What are the 3 best uses of their time are.
• And so on…

Without this clarity they are performing at half their potential – doing only a small proportion of what needs to be done, operating in a mental fog.
So, how do you rank in the area of Clarity? Now what’s one thing you could do today to improve that?

2. SELF BELIEF.
In 1960 a plastic surgeon by the name of Dr. Maxwell Maltz discovered an amazing thing. Even after Dr. Maltz had performed plastic surgery on patients who believed they had a physical flaw, many of his patients still thought they were ugly.
Maltz realised that plastic surgery was useless unless the patient also worked on their self identity and developed their feelings of self worth. He concluded that what was really needed was plastic surgery for the mind. In other words, unless we believe in ourselves, our performance in any field (and our self respect) will be low. Since then countless studies have been done that corroborate Dr Maltz’s findings.
Running a business is tough. The obstacles are never ending and escalating, the pressures immense, the challenges to our self esteem virtually continuous. In this environment it is crucial that we continually boost our self-belief so that we feel confident enough to tackle this onslaught.
Yet I know of almost no executives or entrepreneurs who do this. It only takes a few minutes a day too. If we can create a daily morning ritual of coming up with reasons why we’ll succeed, seeing ourselves succeed in our mind’s eye, and talking to ourselves in a supportive, positive manner, then our self belief will indeed strengthen.
But I believe we must do this daily. Without consistency in our mental conditioning we will drift between believing in ourselves one day and doubting ourselves the next – the mental state of most executives today.
How do you rank yourself out of ten with Self Belief? What’s one thing you could do right now to improve that score?

3. PRODUCTIVITY.
Never before in history has the business world had such time shortages and job complexity. Endless meetings, tsunami’s of emails, To Do Lists as high as Kilimanjaro – it literally never stops. But that’s only half the problem. The other half is that we were never trained at school or university for this kind of world- we simply haven’t learnt enough productivity tools to excel in this environment.
So we are both overwhelmed by the enormity of our work tasks, and feel
Ill equipped with viable strategies to tackle them. There’s only one solution of course: start devoting more time to learning how to be productive. I’m suggesting serious study in this area, not just lightly reading a tip or two on the Internet. Only a total dedication to productivity mastery will defend us from the ever-increasing deluge of data and tasks that rise even as you read this.
Set yourself a goal of not only reading about productivity, but developing a collection of 10 time management techniques that you use every day – a quiver of productivity weapons that become central to your working life. Put them on a piece of paper and laminate it, keeping it clearly in view on your desk all day long. Soon it will become a part of you.
Unless we elevate personal productivity in our lives, we risk becoming mentally and physically exhausted by the sheer quantum of what our work life throws at us. Productivity skills are a must have, not a should have.

So thinking about this, what score would you give yourself in this area? What’s one thing you could do today to lift that score up? Ok, now take a moment to evaluate all of your scores. If you scored 7 or higher, congratulations, it’s likely you’re on top of the game of work. If you’re below 7 in any area, I urge you to start designing a system today to rectify it. Pronto.
Your success in business will directly stem from your excellence in these three arenas. Focus on them. Monitor them. Act on them. And victory will be yours.

Relationship Matters

Our relationships with one another, although rich with potential, can often be the most misunderstood areas of life. Effective relationships happen when we communicate with others according to their priorities and values. This skill can be applied to every aspect of your life including your business, family and personal life.

If you've ever been in business or in love with someone beyond the initial period of infatuation, you already know that relationships don't make you happy. Instead, sometimes you perceive yourself to be feeling better, and sometimes you don't - the same as when you're on your own. Instead of imagining your life with the so-called perfect kids, lover, spouse, boss, employees, parents, friends and so on, learn to appreciate each of the people in your life for what they bring to you, and get to know their values. Effective relationships happen when each person seeks to understand and honour the other just as he or she is - 360 degrees. In this situation, people's principles are honoured, affirmed and fulfilled.

You, like every other human, focus on what's important to you. Whatever's the highest in your values hierarchy will also have the most order (that is, steady, concentrated focus and "attention surplus order".) Chaos increases as you go down the list (that is, unsteady, scattered focus, approaching "attention deficit disorder"). The master is the person who knows and applies the art of linking someone else's values to his or her own and can communicate in anyone's ideals.

Discerning what other people's values (and yours) are, is easy. Simply ask yourself, what do they fill their space and time with, and what do they spend their energy and money on? Where are they most organised and disciplined? What do they think, talk and visualise the most? What do they speak about most to others? What do they react to and what are their goals? You can learn how to do this with anyone.

Connecting your values with others is not limited to business partnerships but can also be applied to families, friends and relationships. Once mastered, you'll find it is one of the most important skills you'll ever apply in building, maintaining and enriching personal ties. The more you do this, the easier it is to talk with others, to work out perceived differences and problems, and to enrich your relationships with an even deeper sense of intimacy and connectedness. One way to know when your values are not linked to each others are when you encounter one-sided conversations, or alternating monologues, when a person speaking about what's meaningful to him or her, while the others' mind is wandering away to his or her own concerns. Either link your values, shift the conversation, or move on, because monologues are almost a sure stop for disappointing or dissatisfying relationships. Interestingly sales and relationship building are incredibly similar.

Consider the commonsense sequence of selling, which follows the same pattern as being caring (honouring someone's values), in an intimate relationship. To develop quality connections with others, you'll be required to master the art of conveying your values in terms of someone else's. Indeed, connections with your customers, employees, co-workers, or vendors may become vulnerable if you don't attend to their values. If people don't perceive their values as being honoured, then they'll naturally gravitate to new situations. You're kidding yourself if you think that their loyalty will win out; the minute the relationship stops satisfying their needs, they'll hit the road. The same applies to personal relationships.

Exercise to Communicate Effectively to Build Relationships

List your top five values on one side of a piece of paper, and write someone else's top five on the other side; ideally someone who is significant to you, such as your mate or partner - someone you'd love to communicate with more effectively and appreciate more. Now think of at least five ways in which the other person's top five values helps you fulfill your first priority. Next, list at least five ways in which your top value helps the other person fulfill theirs.

Then go down the list; write down five ways in which each of the other person's values supports your highest value and each item on your list contributes to their number one value. Continue this process for the four remaining items for each person, giving ways in which each one of your values is beneficial for every one of the other person's, and vice versa. When this is done, a new door for communication and (if desired) intimacy is opened.

If you can't see how someone else getting what they'd love gives you what you desire, then you'll naturally try to change them to your way, or you'll be compelled to find someone new. You can try to convince yourself to live and let live, but until you can see how to love and link love, you'll be drawn to something different.

Be mindful, however, that peoples' values may change. Certainly, milestones can cause priorities to shift. A life threatening illness, a midlife crisis, or the birth of a child - anything that triggers people to reassess and rethink what's important to them - so it's crucial that you continue to talk about your values with those whom you care about.
To the truth of duality.

Love and Wisdom
Dr John Demartini

Why Building a Great Business Takes Time

With the lightning fast rise of companies like Facebook and Instagram, it’s easy to feel disheartened about the growth of your own business.

 

Many entrepreneurs feel that compared to the sky rocketing internet companies featured on the covers of business magazines that they are failures.

 

But the statistics show otherwise.

 

The reality is that most successful companies are built over time. A long time.

 

Take Walmart for example.

 

Today Walmart is of course the world’s biggest retailer, with 8500 stores. It is the third most valuable company in the world. It employs over 2.1 million people.

 

But things weren’t always so rosy.

 

When Sam Walton started Walmart in 1945 business was slow. In fact it was 7 years before he even built his second store. His period of hyper growth didn’t even begin until 1970, 25 years later!

It’s important to remember that in business slow growth at first is the norm, not the exception.

It takes time to work out what customers want. What your brand positioning should be. How to train staff to maximise sales. How to market effectively.

 

And it’s only when you get each of these elements fine tuned that you can ever hope to build a fast growth company. You hardly ever get them right first, second or even third time.

 

The problem is that the media loves to herald the comparatively rare super growth companies,thereby giving the impression that this is normal and even expected for businesses.

But the best way to describe the process by which a business usually grows is ‘Failing forward’. A ton of mistakes, then a little progress.

 

It’s not pretty, it’s often not even enjoyable, but you get there in the end.

Now when I emphasise the need for a re-set of expectations, I’m not suggesting you work in a slow, leisurely manner. Not at all.

 

Harvard professor John Kotter has shown the absolute importance of a business leader working with urgency and I wholeheartedly agree with him.

 

Here’s the paradox; you have to work intensely, trying to make things happen fast, yet simultaneously remember that true business success usually takes a long time.

 

You must be in a rush in the short term, but only expect to achieve greatness in the long term.

As the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar put it, “Hasten slowly.”
 

-- Siimon Reynolds

 

A Brilliant Way To Create Demand For Your Products

I was at a pool party on the weekend and heard a fascinating story.

I was speaking to a highly successful Beverly Hills property developer and he was telling me about a startling experience he had in Paris.

He loves watches and decided to visit the main store of Patek Phillipe, the eminent watch maker. As you’d expect, there was a extensive array of watches, most priced around the five to ten grand mark.
Then suddenly he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

There, glistening in a glass case was a watch with a price tag of one million dollars.I kid you not, they sell a million dollar watch.

But even more amazing was this: he said in order to buy this watch you must write to the CEO of Patek Phillipe and tell him why you deserve it!

Can you believe that? They have the gall to charge a million for a watch and then you have to pass a test to see if you you are worthy of it? Amazing.

And brilliant marketing.

By making you apply to buy the watch they change their position in the sales relationship. They move from someone hoping for a sale to someone in charge. They also make the watch seem even more desirable – it is for for those who are exemplary in not one but two ways:

They are extremely financially successful and also a true connoisseur of time pieces.

They also dramatically reduce the chances of the buyer asking for a discount. The buyer is just hoping to be accepted.

Furthermore, and very importantly, even if they never sell this watch, they have positioned ALL of the other watches in the store as good value by comparison. And positioned Patek Phillipe even more strongly at the top of the brand exclusivity ladder.

Wow. That is truly great marketing.

Now I’m not of course suggesting that you charge a million dollars for your product (unless you feel you can get away with it of course).

But I do ask you to have a think about how you could do something similar.

Consider how you could both create a premium priced product and make people fill out an application to buy it.

Make them prove they are worthy of your product, make it seem only for a select few, the deserving handful who appreciate it’s extraordinary value.

It may seem paradoxical, but making it hard to buy a product very often increases the customer’s desire for it.

We all want what we can’t have.

Conversely, if you look too eager to sell something, the customer usually doesn’t want to buy it.
Masters of business are very aware of this conundrum and therefore think very carefully about both their pricing and the availability of their goods.

They don’t just sell. They make people want to buy.

- Siimon Reynolds

The Centered Entrepreneur - Siimon Reynolds

Never before in history has life been so busy.

We have reached the point where no matter how efficient we are there is simply no way to get everything on our To Do list done. As a result of this chronic busyness, workplace stress is at an all time high. (No doubt as a business leader/ entrepreneur you are feeling it).

And it’s not going to end anytime soon. If anything the speed of business life is only going to increase. So how can you combat this rising tide of stress and overwhelm?

Well certainly one strategy is to become an expert at productivity. But another less considered option is to get better at being centered. When you are truly centered (calm, focused and clear) you are in an extremely powerful state. Your workload may be huge, but you handle it with ease and the height of efficiency.

I’m sure that you’ve known times when you’ve been like this and it feels good. You are in control, you are the master of your domain. If being centered is so important, how can we ensure we remain in this precious state of high productivity more often?

Here are some ways:

* Before you begin work, take a minute to calm yourself. (so few people ever do). Take 3 deep slow breaths and let the stress flow out of you.

* Talk to your self quietly – say positive focusing statements like, “I am in control. I am calm and focused. I am an master of my field. I am centered. I am happy.” These simple words said with conviction gather the mind into a point of power.

* Write out your goals for the day, week, month and year. Do this and in just 10 minutes you will have risen above your incessant short deadlines and remembered your higher mission.

* Close the door, switch off your incoming email and cell phone and experience some quality silence. Your mind will soon get sharper when the whirlwind of sensory input subsides.

* Put the word “Centered” on a Post It note and stick it next to your computer. The more you see that note the more you’ll remember to return to the centered condition. Eventually being centered will be your usual mode.

These elementary techniques will dramatically increase the amount of time each day you feel centered- and the results will astound you. You’ll solve business problems faster. You’ll interact with other people more smoothly. You’ll find work easier and far more satisfying. You’ll be performing at a significantly higher level.

Nobody talks about the importance of being centered at work, but you and I both know that when you’re in that state nothing can stop you. So from now on, make being supremely centered a high priority. And watch the magic begin.

How to achieve everything you plan - Dr John Demartini

At the beginning of every year many people ask me how they can more effectively stay focused on their goals. It is possible that my answer to their question could also serve you. So I'd like to share with you some of my insights into human behavior and some of my reasons why you will either achieve or not achieve the goals you may set.

You have one or more areas of your life that you value and desire to have more fulfilment in. And you desire to fulfil that which is most meaningful, most important in your life. When you are very young that may be fulfilling the mastery of a video game. When you are a teenager, it may be looking as attractive as you can because you want to get attention. In your 20's it may be your relationships, in your 30s your job or a career and in your 40s vitality and wealth.

You and everyone else have voids that want to be filled. The word 'fulfillment' means to filling full the mind that is perceiving this void. So anything that you think is not filled, or that you perceive is incomplete or not whole, you want to fill. If you don't have money, you search for money. If you don't have a relationship, you search for a relationship. Whatever it is you are looking for, whatever you think is missing most; you are unconsciously or consciously moving towards and taking actions towards and making decisions to get your void filled. Your fulfilment in life is directly proportionate to how well you fulfil your voids and values. If you feel you are, you feel grateful for life. If you feel you are not, you feel ungrateful.

Any time you minimize yourself and subordinate yourself to other people, you will tend to inject their set of values into your life and take them on as if they were your own values. You will then in turn sacrifice what is truly important to you according to your own higher values and attempt to be somebody you are not. Your true higher values then go unconscious and the injected 'new' values that you will now try to live by become your conscious values. Whenever there is a conflict between the conscious and the unconscious, the unconscious wins which means that although consciously you think your values are 'x', you still live according to your true unconscious values because that is what determines how you see the world, make decisions in the world and act upon the world. So you now end up with a moral dilemma with an internal conflict striving to be the way you think you are supposed to be but still making decisions and living according to your own higher values. Then you wonder why it is that you can't stay focused on the things you think you are supposed to be doing and you will hear yourself saying "I should do this", "I ought to be like that".

When you have an expectation to fulfil an outcome that doesn't match your true higher values, you will end up with anger, aggression, blame, feelings of betrayal, criticism and challenge towards yourself. These ABC's of negativity towards yourself occurs when you have unrealistic expectations and you set goals that don't match your true higher values. For example, if you say you want to exercise and you find out that physical empowerment is right at the bottom of your hierarchy of values, then you are basically setting a goal that doesn't match who you are. It is a fantasy and a delusion and it is guaranteed to create a self-sabotaging feeling inside of you because although you will consciously say that you want to exercise, you will unconsciously keep going back to what is truly more important to you. It is not fun to hear the truth sometimes because you may like the dopamine fix of living in the unrealistic expectation or fantasy.

Every time you set a goal that doesn't match your higher values you will need outside motivation to keep you working towards it. And if you don't have that motivation from the outside you will probably stop doing it and go back to your real true higher values. If you expect yourself to fulfil the goal and you keep not doing it then you are not going to feel great about yourself. You are going to feel like you are not a master of your destiny.

When you think you're a failure, what's actually going on is that you're being tested to see if you're setting goals that are congruent with your higher values. If you're not really committed to a goal due to incongruency you'll let the perception of failure stop you from going forward. Labels called "failure," and for that matter, "success", are nothing but feedback systems to make sure that you're authentic with your objectives and that they're congruent with your highest values. It makes sure that you're not exaggerating or minimizing your goals and that you get clear on your true objectives.
You will most likely achieve your goals once you set goals that are congruent with your true higher values. When you do greater achievement occurs. Nobody has to get you up in the morning to achieve when you do. So take the time to see what is truly highest on your list of values and start setting your goal to match this. When you do you will endure the many pains and pleasures in your pursuit of it because it is something you can't wait to do. And if you can't wait to get up in the morning and achieve your goal, then you won't let any obstacle in the way, stop you from it.

Because you are unique, you are only truly in competition with others when you are not being true to yourself. The moment you are your true self, you will feel as if there is no true competition and you will shine. May 2012 be your best year yet and may you achieve your many goals and dreams!