We all want to be amazing. We all want to be successful, happy, and regarded as important figures in our fields. I am sure that you’ve heard all of the keys to success before: planning, hard work, perseverance, etc.

But today we are going to look at the one factor that will likely make or break your success: the people you surround yourself with.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

Want to be Amazing? Surround Yourself with Amazing People

The Make or Break List

A good friend of mine once told me of a man he knows who brought himself up from rags to riches.  Living paycheck to paycheck was a luxury for this man, and he decided that he was tired of being trapped by his own life. The poor man looked around at his friends, and noticed that one of them – who wasn’t particularly smart or more talented – had become quite wealthy. He asked this man how he accrued this wealth, how he was able to become a millionaire. The wealthy man’s response was simple: “keep the right company.”

The man took that advice to heart. He quickly noticed that all of the other friends he had hated hard work and had no desire to improve themselves. So he sought out new friends, he went around to conventions and seminars to connect with people who had made something of themselves. After he had completely replaced the people in his network, he decided to make a list. This list was simple. It had a column for people who would improve his life, and a column for people who would drag him down.

If someone could improve his life, he spent as much time around them as possible. If someone could drag him down, he never spent more than five minutes around them. After following his “make or break” list, the man was able to become a millionaire within three years.

No One does it Alone

The five-minute rule may be a little extreme, but there is an important lesson to learn from it: if you surround yourself with positive people who build you up, the sky is the limit.

There is an ideal in our society of the “self-made” man – a man who is able to find success through his own efforts. Now, don’t get me wrong, success does require an immense amount of determination and personal grit. However, success also depends on the ability to connect with people who have already made it.

There was once a man named Ernest Hemingway. If you aren’t familiar with Ernest Hemingway, he was one of the greatest American writers of all time. Even a great writer like Hemingway didn’t succeed on his own. He worked at a newspaper where his boss – a writer named Sherwood Anderson – helped him get his first novel published. Hemingway then connected with other no-name writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce.

This community of great writers helped to influence his style, success, and drove him to write every single day and become one of the greatest authors of his generation.

Hemingway is a testament to the fact that innate talent alone does not equal success. It’s hard to keep up a strict schedule to perfect your craft or improve yourself if you don’t have people around you with similar interests. Your network – your five key people – will determine the way you think, the way you act, and the way you approach your life goals.

Three Essential People

A mentor once told me that no matter how many close people you have in your network, if you want to be truly great, you must have three essential people in your life at all times: 

1. A person who is older and more successful than you to learn from
2. A person who is equal to you to exchange ideas with
3. A person below you to coach and keep you energized

A great figure of history who embodied this principle was Aristotle. Aristotle was one of the greatest minds to ever grace this beautiful Earth, but this was only so because he was constantly challenging himself and working to refine his talents. He exchanged ideas with other Greek philosophers in the “Academy,” learned from his mentor Plato, and taught a young boy named Alexander…who would later become “Alexander the Great.”

Every great person was, is, or will be successful because of the company he or she keeps. They will make an impact because of a successful network of driven peers who provide both inspiration and healthy competition.

If you want to be remarkable, you must constantly challenge yourself and surround yourself with remarkable people. So think about what your goals are, and take a look around you. Do you need to write a “make or break” list?

Do you have the kind of people who are going to lead you to live the life of your dreams?

“Don’t join an easy crowd. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform and achieve are high.” – Jim Rohn

Strive to be better. Strive to be more. Strive to be amazing.

Our society often thinks that the best age to be successful is between 24 and 40 and that, once you reach 50, your life is pretty much over. However, there are always shining examples that prove that success is possible at any age. All you need is the right attitude.

Here are some examples that will prove to you that, no matter what age you are, you can do it, too!

10 Young & Old Successful Achievers

1 - Justin Bieber

It doesn’t matter if you like him or not, what he did prove was that you can get somewhere if you believe in yourself and your talent. All you need to do is have the guts to put yourself out there, to broadcast yourself – even if it is on YouTube.

Justin Bieber was discovered at the age of 14 and is believed to have made $110 million in those five years ever since his manager Scooter Braun stumbled across his YouTube videos.

2 – Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004 at the age of 19, literally changing the way people communicate. Facebook and Zuckerberg’s name are always at the center of much controversy, yet it cannot be denied that Mark Zuckerberg had a radically new idea and did not shy away from investing time and effort in it, at a time when he couldn’t have possibly known if it would work.

By 2007, Facebook had made Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire and nowadays he is believed to own about $80 billion today.

3 – Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn Joosten started out as a nurse and then was a stay-at-home mum. When her marriage failed, she thought she would chase her own dreams for once and become an actress – even though many would have considered her too old to start an acting career. It took her several years and she was almost 60, when she finally had the success she deserved for her never-tiring persistence.

Kathryn appeared in countless TV shows, such as Family Matters, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, and of course Desperate Housewives, winning two Emmy Awards for her performance as Karen McCluskey.

4 - Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders was well over 60 when he made it big with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Before that, he simply sold chicken and other food at a service station in Corbin, Kentucky.

When the Interstate 75 was built, diverting traffic away from his restaurant, his business was close to failing. Yet Sanders believed that he could do it. Instead of despairing or muddling through somehow, he adapted. He walked the long miles, pitching his unique recipe and was even knocked back 1009 times before someone decided to give him a chance to birth what is now known today as the highly successful food chain KFC.

5 – David Karp

Similar to Mark Zuckerberg, David Karp relied on the internet as a source of income, where he launched Tumblr at the age of 21. Like Zuckerberg, he had a revolutionary idea. He had been looking into tumble logs – very short blogs – before and thought a platform to promote these systematically could be successful. It turned out, he was right. To this date, Tumblr hosts over 100 million blogs making David Karp’s net worth more than $200 Million.

6 - Missy Franklin

Missy Franklin is only 18, yet she is a renowned swimmer who won four gold medals in the last Olympic Games. Furthermore, she holds several records, such as the world record in the 200 meter backstroke.

Missy Franklin started trying out for the US Olympic Teams at the age of 13. With her persistence and hard work, she managed to qualify for the Olympics in 2012, when she was only 17.

7 – Abigail Breslin

Abigail Breslin truly started early. Her first commercial for Toys’R'Us she did when she was only three years old, and by the time she was five, she had her first major role in the movie ‘Signs’. Only four years later, at the age of nine, she had her big breakthrough with her role of Olive Hoover in ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. She has a reputation of being able to pull off both humorous and serious roles, as her performances in ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ or ‘Definitely Maybe’ showed. She was the youngest actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award (for ‘Little Miss Sunshine’) and won countless other awards.

Rumour has it that Abigail Breslin charges around $2 million for a feature role in a movie.

8 – Frank McCourt

Everyone knows ‘Angela’s Ashes’, the story of Frank McCourt’s dire childhood, for which he received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Books Critics Circle Award. A movie was made from his book, which became rather successful and thus also gave the novel another boost. What most people don’t know, however, is that Frank McCourt didn’t take up writing until he was 65. Before that, he was a teacher and led a rather ordinary life. Now, he has museums named after him.

Frank McCourt shows that no matter how dire your circumstances, you can turn them into something good.

9 – Ronald Reagan

Granted, Ronald Reagan was successful as an actor, yet he only became the 40th American President at the age of 70.

Ronald Reagan made drastic changes in economy to help increase economic growth. This even resulted in the coining of the term ‘Reaganomics’.

10 – Peter Roget

Peter Roget showed us that it is never too late to make earth-shattering inventions, such as the Thesaurus, which he invented at age 73. He actually used what most people would see as character flaws or issues to his success. Suffering from OCD, the only thing that would calm him down was making random lists. In the end, he simply started on the infinite project of creating a list of synonymous words.

Peter Roget’s ‘Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases’ has never been out of print since its initial appearance.

You see, you are never too young or too old to be successful or make a difference in this world. It all depends on your attitude – if you believe in yourself, are willing to put in the work required to make your dreams a reality, then it is never too early or too late for success!

Article By: Nina Krendl | Addicted2Success.com

Here are 13 harsh, yet truthful indicators as to why you are nowhere near success at this very point in time.

Reasons Why You Are Not Successful Yet

1 – You procrastinate

Actions speak louder than words, the longer you leave something as just a thought someone else out there is taking action and achieving YOUR dreams, only problem with that is, you will never feel what it’s like to achieve success because someone came along and took the rug from underneath your lazy ass.

2 – You forget that you are mortal

No one lives forever, time is of the essence and every minute that passes you by is another chance gone to make your dreams come true.

3 – You listen to others stupid advice

“That’s too hard”, “that won’t work”, “you’re too young”, “you’re too old”. All of that advice is bullsh!t. If everyone listened to the negative advice of others, no one and no thing would really progress in this world.

4 – You are in a bad place

You need to position yourself in an environment where you can be stress free, creative and surrounded by positive people. Your environment is very important, it can influence the way you think, feel and see things.

5 – You dont have a strong enough belief

You need to believe in your dream. It has to be as real as you can make it. If you believe it, you can conceive it and achieve it. The mind and body is an incredible machine, why waste it on the easy and average things in life.

6 – Your motivation is not compelling enough

Why do you want to be successful? Paint a vivid picture in your head of why you deserve to be successful, why you? How are things going to look once you achieve your dreams? This picture needs to be so motivating that it will inspire you to do anything to reach your dreams.

7 – Your crew sucks!

The great motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.

As humans we learn through repetitious info and the influence of others. We unconsciously learn a lot of things from one another and are affected by our closest of friends and family members. This been said, make sure whoever is in your circle is of good benefit towards your growth, whether it be financially, spiritually, physically or mentally. Don’t be afraid to cut off those who will only drag you down.

8 – You haven’t learned how much regret can really be a bummer!

You never want to be the one who said “I wish I did this” or “I wish I did that”. The one emotion you don’t ever want in life is regret.

NOW has never been a better time to work towards your success.

9 – You are a part time player

You only work towards your goals when it is really convenient for you, or when you have nothing else to do. You look forward to your weekends so you can go out and party instead of using some of that time to work towards your dreams. Balance is good (don’t get me wrong), because you SHOULD take a break from time to time,  but if you live for the weekend, every week, then your plan to be successful is most definitely broken.

10 – You have not set any reminders

Everyone needs a reminder or a wake up call.

Set goals, an inspirational wallpaper on your phone, revise a collection of top quotes, tell your partner or best friend about your dream and make it a daily ritual to remind yourself of what you are truly capable of and what you are working towards.

11 – You think you have arrived already

You cannot afford to settle and stay complacent if you want to achieve success, there is always room to grow, there is ALWAYS more good that we can do in this world.

Keep moving, keep winning.

12 – You are not persistent enough

You hit a bump and you gave up. It’s just a hurdle, so pick yourself up and TRY AGAIN!

Studies show that the most successful people in life are passionate and overly persistent in reaching their goals and dreams. As this picture below would suggest, you could be inches away from success, Never Give Up:

13 – You forgot to be happy

What is all the fame and fortune worth if you are not happy? See, we grow up believing success leads to happiness, when in actual fact our brains work in exactly the opposite order.

Everyone’s view of what success means to them will be different, but at the end of the day if you are not happy with your achievements, the people around you or the journey itself then you should re-evaluate the direction you are headed in and adjust your plan accordingly.

Your journey may be a while on the road to success, so why not enjoy the view along the way

Article By Joel Brown | Addicted2Success.com

You can’t assure success, but you can increase the chances of it happening. After all, opportunity favors the prepared. With the following 15 success principles, you can dramatically increase the chances of success in your life.

Success Principles

1 – Prepare

The first success principle is preparation. It’s the foundation of success. With preparation you create your own opportunities. Once you have all the different elements lined up, it only takes a small opening to realize your goal. At the same time, taking advantage of big opportunities without enough preparation means risking your success, as you’re building without a well-laid foundation.

2 – Do something you love

You have to work very hard whatever it is you choose to do. Your work or your project will dominate much of your time and your life. Therefore, find something that you enjoy doing and do that.

3 – Get started

You have to start somewhere. Today is as good a day as any to start. Get into action today and start moving in the direction you want. Putting it off can only lead to failure, whereas if you start and see an early setback, at least you conquered that setback early on.

4 – Move in the right direction

Keep everything moving in the direction you want. It doesn’t matter if things go slowly initially. As long as the overall direction is favorable, you’ll get where you want to go eventually.

5 – Use the power of dreams and your imagination

What you dream and visualize today will become true tomorrow. You just have to work on turning it into reality. Just as your dreams can only influence your life if you let them, the cities you build in your imagination can only become real if you build them.

6 – Think big

If you set your aim a bit too high you might fall short. If you set your aim too low you might achieve your goal… and miss out on the other opportunities. By thinking bigger, the only limit is what is possible. You’re no longer limited by what you think is possible.

7 – Focus on growth

Seemingly impossible challenges are just cleverly disguised opportunities for growth. If you take those challenges and, in solving them, improve yourself, you’ll find yourself continually moving in the right direction.

8 – Maintain your determination

With enough determination, you can succeed through almost any odds. Enough determination means you’ll find a way no matter the situation.

9 – Set a clear vision

Think through where you’ll want to go. Develop a clear sense of what your final goal is, and keep this with you. By knowing the destination you want to reach, you can continually look at your current path and decide if it’s a route that will help you get where you want to go.

10 – Set goals along the way

A final goal isn’t enough. You need intermediate goals that set the path. These goals should be specific, measurable, realistic, attainable, and timely. These intermediate goals define the steps that you need to take to get to the final one.

11 - Work out plans of action for your work

For each goal, it helps to have plans to reach them. Your plan describes how you can reach each step from where you are, or where you will be. Keep in mind that the future is never certain. Things rarely work out exactly how you plan. Therefore, see these plans as showing one or more possible routes, not necessarily the route you’ll end up taking.

Still, knowing the plan means you can avoid long detours that might compromise your chances of reaching a goal on time — or at all.

12 - Commit to taking action

Once you start going, keep going. Never, never, never give up. If you find an obstacle in your way, chip away at it or go around it. The only way to really fail is to give up. If you keep going you’ll succeed. If you hit the limits of what’s possible, you can regroup and find another way.

13 - Use affirmations

Affirmations are just short, positive, and above all direct phrases in present tense. Things like “I’m getting more and more successful.” The idea is that they reinforce a positive world view. With affirmations, you are defining your own reality. By transmitting a positive world view to your mind, it adopts this view. As your mind adopts this view, it helps shape the world around you to fit it, which means it helps make the world around you one that reflects a reality of you getting more successful every day.

14 - Get rid of negative influences

Avoid harmful influences around you that might shake you from your goal. Keep people and ideas around you that support your success and your belief in yourself.

15 - Be grateful and appreciate what you have

The final success principle is to appreciate what you have already. Realize that — by sheer virtue of the fact that you can be reasonably certain you’ll live from one day to the next — you already have enough. Enjoy it! Appreciate what you’ve achieved so far, and see that what you want, where you’re going, is not what you need or what you must do. Rather, these are things and actions that will make your situation even better.

Article By James Meyer | Addicted2Success.com

What is it that separates the rich from the rest of us?

Steve Siebold, the author of How Rich People Think recently shared ‘15 ways that rich people think differently’ with Business Insider.

The Mentality Of The Rich

1. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue
Average people feel they need to save the world and put others before themselves which is keeping them poor. Rich people take the attitude that if they don’t help themselves first they can’t help anyone else.

2. Rich people have an action mentality
You wouldn’t see a rich person lining up to play the lottery (even before they were rich). Average people are always waiting on someone else to help them get rich – the Lotto, Government, friend or spouse – but it only keeps them poor. Rich people take action and spend time solving problems.

3. Rich people favour specific knowledge over formal education
Average people believe the road to riches is through doing masters and doctorates. Rich people are generally rich because they have made money selling a specific knowledge they have acquired.

4. Rich people dream of the future
Rich people spend a lot of time looking into the future, setting goals and looking forward to what lies ahead. Average people dwell on the past which often holds them back by making them unhappy or depressed.

5. Rich people think about money logically
Average and well-educated people can fall into the trap of thinking about money emotionally and just wanting to retire comfortably. Rich people maintain a logical relationship with money viewing it as a tool that represents options and opportunities.

6. Rich people follow their passion
Oprah Winfrey said it – you’ve got to follow your passion and do what you love. Rich people find a way of getting paid for doing something they love. Average people earn money doing things they don’t love.

7. Rich people aim high
Average people set low expectations to avoid disappointment whereas rich people set huge expectations and follow their dreams.

8. Rich people believe you have to “be” someone
Average people on the other hand believe you have to “do” something to be rich and focus on immediate results. Rich people continuously focus on bettering themselves and learn from success and failures.

9. Rich people use other people’s money
Average people believe they need their own money to make money whereas rich people have no problem using other people’s.

10. Rich people live below their means
It seems contradictory to the above statement but rich people adopt the attitude of getting rich so you can afford to live below your means. Average people live beyond their means.

11. Rich people teach their children how to be rich
Average people teach their children how to survive whereas rich people teach their children from an early age about the world of haves and have nots.

12. Rich people don’t let money stress them out
Average people do. Rich people find peace of mind in wealth and are not afraid to admit that money can solve most problems – allowing them to make more money. Average people see money as a continuous battle and necessary evil they have to endure.

13. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained
Average people are the opposite. They read novels, tabloids and entertainment rather than continuously educating themselves after school.

14. Rich people surround themselves with like-minded people
Average people think rich people are snobs and have a negative attitude towards the super rich. Rich people steer clear of the doom and gloom attitudes and people – adding fuel to the fire of the “snob” label.

15. Rich people focus on earning
Average people focus on saving and miss big opportunities by trying to live frugally. Rich people constantly focus on the big picture – and how to earn the big bucks.

Article by By Sarah O’Carroll | news.com.au

What makes one person extremely successful, while another will fail and give up vowing never to try again? Is it due to the fact that the successful one was more intelligent, more experienced, or possesses some sort of god given ability?

Probably not.

In the eyes of society, history tells us that successful individuals triumphed in what they did simply because they failed and never surrendered their passion. They would take failure as being part of the equation if they wanted to achieve success beyond their wildest dreams.

Over the past decade, interviews and research have been conducted to determine whether there was a commonality between some of the greatest people in history. Specifically, it was the pursuit of the so-called “magic formula” that led to this research.

Ultimately, it was concluded that every single person’s success, had to endure some sort of failure in the past. Whether it was emotionally, physically or mentally, they had to overcome at least an obstacle before they could experience success.

Now, the great news is that, success almost always occurs even if you failed 1000 or 100,000 times in your life, as long as you never surrender, the reason being that success is not an absolute destination but is rather a journey.

The biggest problem with failure is that it is a subject that most people hate to talk about. It’s through dealing with failure that we can ultimately gain success. So why isn’t everybody dealing and learning from their failures?

What we are talking about here is the FEAR of FAILURE.

Its humanity’s greatest nemesis and the killer of dreams that bring you success. It is in our innate nature since the dawn of man to feel fear. Fear of actions that could complicate situations which may be life threatening or in this case, fear of being ridiculed for pursuing our dreams and passion. Fear of failure is our natural instinct that separates us from what we want to achieve in life. It scares every dream and passion that you may have.

What you must actually instill in your mindset is that failure is our greatest mentor and that it teaches you what nobody else can. To achieve success, you must first avoid the fear of a possibility of failing to cloud your judgement and to strangle your decision.

As you fail, you puncture a hole deep within your ego, and only then will you begin to learn the important things you couldn’t see before. If you can learn to take failure and never accept defeat, you would inadvertently take up the challenge to fight back even stronger, because of this simple shift in mindset, failure can remedy wonders for people to begin again, this time intelligently.

If you are not convinced. Lessons of failure can be seen in almost every success story in the world. Just like this guy, Charles Forman who is the founder of OMGPOP who created the hit sensation; “Draw Something“.

Charles Forman had just $1,700 in his bank account the day before he launched “Draw Something“, since then it has been downloaded over 35 million times and was later sold to Zynga for $180 million. So you would ask how he created a one hit wonder in such a short period of time? No, he actually started his game development company 6 years ago and created dozens of games prior to “Draw something“. It was because he never gave up to dozens of failure, that he continued to create better games that led to this magnificent one.

Another inspiring story of a teenage entrepreneur who finally succeeded after failing over 30 times in his previous web ventures was Adam Horwitz. At the age of just 15, he had the dream of making a million dollars with an entrepreneurial idea that would revolutionize the mobile marketing industry.

After 3 years of unsuccessful self-funded ventures, Adam Horwitz finally launched his first successful product, YepText that led to a series of impactful creations that finally propelled him to the million dollar mark at the age of 18. Eventually he was featured on CNN for being the top 8 kid entrepreneurs to watch for 2012 and beyond. All this manifested only after he took those early failures as a legitimate step towards the right direction.

Simply by acknowledging that failure is part of the process in your search for success can be a great stepping stone. When you can stare adversity in the face, you will no doubt have the strength inside of you to achieve anything you set out to achieve.

Article By Joel Brown

Success has become an overly and not always appropriately used buzz-word in life nowadays. That is because the very concept is often muddled by myths which cause people to approach their goals the wrong way.

Here are some mistaken perceptions you need to avoid if you want to stay on the right track.

#1: You Just Have To Go Through The Motions

Here’s a basic truth: The world will not make it easier for you to succeed. The path isn’t laid out for you, so you can’t expect stellar results with half-baked efforts.

As a wise man once said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Life has a way of dealing in absolutes, especially when it comes to making a name for yourself. Never assume that you just have to show up and everything will follow. Nobody got to where they are without shedding blood, sweat and tears.

#2: You Can Do It Alone

It’s one thing to rely on your own strengths to succeed; believing that you already know everything is another matter entirely. Success doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and there are other people in the scene that can enrich your existing knowledge.

It isn’t wrong to acknowledge that other people’s perspectives can inspire you and help come up with new ways to succeed. The first step to broadening your horizons is by simply asking other people about their own ideas.

Have the initiative to ask for their input and learn what you can from them. You might be surprised by how much you’ll grow after circulating within your professional community.

#3: There Is No Margin For Error

Ok, so maybe life-and-death scenarios do exist, but most of the time, making mistakes won’t mean the end of the world. Of course, there will be a time when you’re not supposed to screw up, but this doesn’t apply to all parts of your life.

Expect to make a handful of mistakes along the way. Only through hands-on experience will you learn the right way to do things. You might think you have it all figured out – especially when you’re just getting started – but doing it in the real world will reveal unforeseen factors which you didn’t take into account. This is why trial and error is an essential part of the learning process.

Remember, it’s not about the mistakes you make, but rather how you make use of the lessons you’ve learned from them.

However, don’t think this is an excuse to be mediocre because the point is to always give it your best shot. If you miss the mark, take notes and do it again.

#4: You Need To Keep At It Non-Stop

In the long run, it’s important to be consistent with your efforts and maintain the desire to succeed. However, perseverance should also be tempered with knowing when to take a step back and reflect.

What does this mean? There’s nothing wrong with taking a short breather to give yourself a chance to see where you’re at. Part of succeeding is about re-evaluating your current approach every now and then.

Are you still using the most efficient way to meet your ultimate goals? You might find that you can refine what you’re doing by reflecting for just a bit. This also prevents you from developing “tunnel vision”.

At the most basic level however, you also can’t ignore the need to recharge your batteries. Regardless of everything else, there is a physical aspect to your being so you need to take care of yourself through proper rest and eating well. In the big picture, this is a good investment because getting sick could throw a wrench in your plans.

#5: You Can Slack Off Once You’ve Reached The Top

You know how they say that it’s not the journey, but the destination? Success is awesome, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. It’s not just about hitting a target – it’s also what you do after you’ve reached your initial goals.

Are you just going to take it easy and switch off your “motivation switch”? Or are you going to make new goals and challenge yourself? These choices represent your desire to grow as a person.

Sure, you don’t always have to move on to a new project right away, but it is important to ask yourself “How can I do things better?”

Here’s the thing: people change, whether you like it or not. Think about it – are you the same person that you were 10 years ago?

We’re never static and always remain in motion. Even after you’ve earned your first million, you’re either moving forward or backward. Although you should never take your current success for granted, you do need to understand that everything you do in the present will either help you evolve or decline.

Besides, you’re not the only one – the rest of the world is also in a state of constant change. This means you need to avoid being complacent to stay on top of your game and adapt to ever-shifting circumstances.

In many ways, long-term success is not just about adding another trophy to your collection. In the greater scheme of things, it boils down to maintaining the same attitude and mindset that made you successful in the first place. The way to do this is to stay sharp, stay hungry!

Article By: Joel Brown

In recent years, the economy has suffered and a lot of us have fallen on hard times. So how can ‘getting fired’ be the best thing that could ever happen to someone? Well, a lot of successful people were handed the pink slip before they found their place in the world.

Read on and find out why losing your job can be the most unlikely stepping stone to greater things:

Rich & Famous People Who Where Fired Before They Made It

1. Lee Iacocca: Trailblazing Pioneer

His journey to the top was not without roadblocks, one of the being fired from Ford Motor Company after butting heads with no less than Henry Ford II. As early as the 40s, he already had a flourishing career in sales and marketing and even became the company’s president by the late 70s.

After getting fired from Ford in 1978, Iacocca quickly moved on to Chrysler, whom he saved from bankruptcy by asking the United States Congress to bail them out. Eloquently describing the loan guarantee as a “safety net”, he was able to save Chrysler from certain doom. He then went on to release the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant as well as re-invented the Imperial which had features ahead of its time.

2. J.K. Rowling: The Daydreaming Secretary

As a famous rags-to-riches figure in the literary world, millions of teenage (as well as adult) readers have gobbled up her seven-volume saga of the boy wizard who also came from humble beginnings like JK. Rowling.

But what you probably didn’t know was that she got fired from her job as a secretary in Amnesty International before she hit it big. Back then, she was already forming the foundations of Harry Potter in her mind, along with the characters and situations he would be faced with. Soon enough, all that daydreaming led to her getting fired, which put her on the path to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated authors.

3. Steve Jobs: The Comeback King

The recently departed technocrat didn’t just get the boot back in the day – he got fired from his own company. That’s right: the co-founder of Apple was actually exiled from the very empire that he helped build from the ground up.

But as everyone knows, it worked out pretty well for Steve Jobs and his legacy. Getting fired gave him the opportunity to work on other things, such as creating NeXT, a computer company that catered to the business crowd as well as a division of Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division which later became Pixar. His triumphant return to Apple several years later heralded the creation of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

4. Lady Gaga: Getting Back On The Horse

After dropping out of Collaborative Arts Project 21 (a New York-based musical school), the unconventional singer did some small gigs around town until she gained a loyal following in the downtown Lower East Side club scene. She finally caught the eye of Rob Fusari, a music producer who then collaborated with her to cut some tracks in the studio that they shopped to other people in the music industry.

Things took a nasty turn when Lady Gaga was suddenly dropped only after three months of being signed onto a major label. Not content to wallow in misery, she soon picked herself up and continued using her previous material with Fusari for performances, particularly one at Lollapalooza where she gained critical fame.

By 2008, she was already signed onto another label and released her debut album “The Fame” which has become one of the most successful albums in pop history.

5. Walt Disney: Father Of The World’s Most Loveable Rodent

The revolutionary animator went through a string of failures before he created one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet. He had a short-lived career as a newspaper artist, drawing political cartoons and comic strips. Soon after, Walt Disney hopped from one job to another until he put up Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which gained popularity but went bankrupt.

After setting up another company called Disney Brothers Studio, Walt finally struck animated gold after creating the classic short called “Steamboat Willie” which catapulted Mickey Mouse as one of the most recognized cartoon characters in the world.

6. Truman Capote: Literary Rebel

Before the famous author wrote classics such as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “In Cold Blood”, Capote worked at The New Yorker as a copyboy who sorted cartoons and clipped newspapers. He held this unassuming job for a full two years until he was fired, thanks to an angry whim by Robert Frost who convinced the magazine to let him go.

Fortunately for Capote, this planted the seeds for what was to become a prolific writing career. After writing a series of short stories, he managed to sign a deal with Random House who published his first novel, “Other Voices, Other Rooms” which put him on the path to becoming one of America’s most memorable cultural icons.

7. Annabelle Gurwitch: Bouncing Back From Insult and Inury

The comic actress and hostess of the famous cooking show “Dinner and a Movie” had to endure verbal abuse from none other than her idol Woody Allen who fired her for not living up to his expectations. Allen even went so far as calling Gurwitch “retarded” before kicking her to the curb.

But she went on embark on a successful career in showbiz, playing various parts in TV and movies. Ironically, she was responsible for the 2007 documentary “Fired!” which featured a number of people (including herself) who were axed from their respective jobs before becoming successful.

8. Jerry Seinfeld: The Creator of The Show About “Nothing”

Unhappy with Seinfeld’s performance, the bosses behind the sitcom Benson decided to cut the comic genius from the show – he was the last to know about it. After showing up for rehearsal, he found that his character had been erased from existence without any warning.

No matter – he sucked it up and returned to doing stand-up gigs at local venues. Eventually, his hilarious performances impressed the likes of Johnny Carson and David Letterman. In time, his career took off to incredible heights, having starred in nine solid seasons of his hit show “Seinfeld” for almost a full decade.

9. James Hetfield: Sticker Printer Turned Metal God

Before becoming the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for one of the most epic rock bands of the 20th century, James Hetfield worked in a sticker printing factory. Ultimately, he lost his job but he went on to collaborate with drummer Lars ulrich to form the face-melting, ear-shattering heavy metal act known as Metallica.

Since Hetfield joined the band in 1981, his band has created a total of nine studio albums featuring classic rock anthems that their countless fans headbang to until today. That sure beats printing stickers!

10. Oprah Winfrey: The Media Juggernaut

She’s easily recognized as one of America’s most successful media figures, having been a talk show host, actress, and producer throughout her career. But no one gave her any hand-outs during her journey to success. Oprah Winfrey’s turbulent family life led her to carve out a self-made career as a television personality, even when she was let go as a news reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV.

The good thing about getting fired though was that Winfrey moved to Chicago which was a pivotal move for her professional life. This was where she became host of AM Chicago, an unremarkable talk show which quickly climbed TV ratings. It was later renamed as the “Oprah Winfrey Show” which ran for 25 seasons over the course of 25 years.

After 4,561 episodes, Oprah Winfrey has not only become the wealthiest black person in the last century, she’s also one of the country’s leading black philanthropists.

11. Anna Wintour: Fashion Icon

This edgy fashion journalist first got her feet wet at Harper’s & Queen, a magazine where she served as one of its very first editorial assistants. Thanks to her work, the publication came out with groundbreaking photo shoots with the likes of Helmut Newton and other innovative photographers in the industry.

Anna Wintour often clashed with another editor, and she moved on to work as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Unfortunately, her shoots were deemed too much by the editors and got subsequently kicked out in less than a year. However, Wintour eventually became the editor-in-chief of Vogue and has occupied that position for a running total of 23 years.

She continues to be an influential force, not just within the fashion world, but also beyond the industry. Wintour reportedly even talked Donald Trump into letting Marc Jacobs to use the Plaza Hotel as a venue for one of his shows!

12. Bill Belichick: Coaching Prodigy

Bill Belichick had been a defensive assistant, special teams coach and defensive coordinator for the New York Giants for 12 years. It was in 1991 when he became head coach for the first time for the Cleveland Browns until he was fired from his position four years later. After that however, Belichick was named head coach of the New England Patriots in 2000 and was responsible for the team’s five appearances at the Super Bowl. Since his removal from the Browns back in 1995, he was also designated as the AP NFL Coach of the Year three times.

13. Dave Mustaine: Rising From The Ashes

The former Metallica guitarist got kicked out of the band in 1983 for excessive partying and alcoholism, and Mustaine used the anger from this incident to form his own metal act called Megadeth. In the same year, he created enough material which Mustaine then used for his new band, giving birth to their debut album “Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!”

His career soon took off, with Megadeth extensively touring the U.S. and Canada. On one occasion, they even played at the same venue as Dave Mustaine’s former band. To date, they’ve released 13 albums and have a worldwide fan base as fiercely loyal as that of Metallica’s.

14. Howard Stern: Terrorizing The Airwaves

Widely known as a “Shock Jock”, Howard Stern gained notoriety as a radio talk show host in the 90s because of his blunt style and controversial topics. He particularly gained fame during his time as a host for both WWDC and WNBC and greatly increased their respective ratings during his time there. However, Stern found himself fired by both stations because of the raunchiness of his material, touching on sensitive topics such as sexuality and religion.

Getting the suits worked up over his unorthodox style proved to be a beneficial career move for Stern since it opened the door to bigger things. In fact, he was named, Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year from 1994 until 2002. Since 2006, he’s switched to satellite radio where he’s free of FCC regulations and continues to entertain his millions of devoted followers.

15. Madonna: The Queen Of Pop

Anyone who’s even remotely knowledgeable about music knows who Madonna is, and to date she’s sold over 300 million records as the top female pop performer of all time. On Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, she’s right up there with the likes of The Beatles and her influence in the world of music is second to none.

Before she achieved any of that however, Madonna first worked in various diners and fast food joints while she was starting out. In one particular job, she quickly got fired for dousing a customer with donut jelly on purpose. Although her potential career in the food industry crashed and burned, this paved the way for her to become one of the most recognized faces in the history of music.

So I have created this list….. Well, lets call it a reminder of why it is so important to follow your dreams.

The 16 Reasons Why It Is So Important To Follow Your Dreams

1. The secret of living is giving, if you follow your dreams then you will have something worth sharing with others, hope, inspiration and a meaning to live, and that to me, is a great contribution.

2. Chasing your dreams will develop your courage. Courage is your fuel to achieve amazing success in life, follow your dreams and exercise courage. In sure enough time you will be unstoppable.

3. There is a reason why as kids we loved magic and dreams. Stop chasing your dreams and you will forget how it feels to live hopeful and young.

4. Great dreamers grow to be independent, learning that they can make a difference all by themselves.

5. Dreams can distract you from the negative events in life. You will weigh up what is more important, your dreams or the drama. Drama seems obsolete when you are passionate about following your dreams.

6. It gives you something to share and inspire your kids with, you have led by example that anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

7. Through accomplishing your dreams you will come to appreciate the experience of failure and know that failure is just part of success and that it wasn’t really all that bad as it was all worth it in the end.

8. Regret is a terrible thing, and a dream is powerful enough to bring you regret if you don’t take the chance to at least follow it.

9. Because you are never too old to dream. Age means nothing when we know what we want.

10. You become an interesting person, you show others you have meaning, direction and purpose.

11. The unknown of following your dreams may spark a little fear, this is okay though because a little fear is known to make you feel more alive.

12. It is fun proving the world wrong, so why would you follow the status quo?

13. The more you chase and accomplish your dreams the more the lines of the boundaries that the world puts in front of us fade, as we learn that any and everything is possible.

14. When you accomplish your dream, you are the first to see it happen. You can share your accomplishments with the rest of the world but you where there in the front row on a single chair to experience the magic that unfolded.

15. Your dreams have no limits, you are the creator of your dreams, big or small. When this is understood, you are able to design a way to favour you plan and accomplish your end goal.

16. A dream is strong enough to define you, once accomplished you prove to others they have no say in who you can and can’t be.

Never Give Up on Your Dreams

Article By: Joel Brown – Addicted2Success.com

Our bookshelves are lined with habits that successful people do on a daily basis. We read about them and implement them into our routines and practices. Quite often these practices improve our productivity and make our lives better as a result. But that’s not what this article is about. It’s not about what successful people do, but what they did.

Here’s a brief study of 10 things that these hungry and unstoppable people did to see the success they all eventually achieved.

The 10 Things Successful People Live By Before They Make It

1. They didn’t use excuses.

We all have two voices. There’s the voice that tells us to work hard, to focus on the task at hand and to finish it before we move on to the next. And to finish it well.

We also have the voice that tells us to take a break, to think about what’s on TV, or to visit a site that we like to visit that entertains us – whether it’s ESPN.com or facebook.

In life we’re the victim of injustice from time to time. It could be a promotion that we deserve but don’t get. No matter who we are, we’re going to be treated unfairly at some point. We can either feel sorry for ourselves, or push forward and put it behind us – even use it as motivation.

Nelson Mandela could have used his unjust imprisonment as an excuse to give into his anger. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and eventually free others.

Listen to your excuses. Understand why you have them. Then figure out how you can use them for good.

2. It wasn’t just about them.

‘Things’ can be a motivator, they can even be a reward, but they can’t be the motivator. The truly successful in life always get there because they created change in the lives of others, not just their own.

If something drives you that is greater than just the ‘ends’, we’re going to work harder, longer, and we’re going to give more of ourselves to our project.

Yes we can make money when we have the primary goal of making money. Some might even use that money for good – which is awesome. But there’s no fulfillment in simply making money. And isn’t that the point?

3. Early mornings and late nights.

People who have achieved true success in their lives have worked for it.

This might come at the detriment of other areas of their lives, such as family or social life. But their mission is first and foremost. Until it’s complete, everything else comes second.

There’s literally no substitute for hard work. Abraham Lincoln said, “Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.” If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to out hustle everyone else.

4. The greatest commodity.

Energy is a huge commodity that is often not talked about. Yes, energy in the sense of fuel and electricity is talked about everywhere, but I’m talking about our own energy levels.

The fact is that the more energy we have, the easier it is to focus, and the higher the quality of our work is.

One of Richard Branson‘s ‘key’s to success’ is staying in great physical shape. So would raised energy levels be the greatest benefit to working out? It may be.

Keeping physically fit gives us greater blood-flow to our brain, enhanced alertness and improved focus. Make training a routine part of your life and increase your chances at success – in every meaning of the word.

5. Principles.

History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill had principles. The difference between him and the rest of us, is that he stuck to his principles at all costs. He didn’t waver when they weren’t popular – an extreme rarity in politics.

What are your principles? All of us should have them, know what they are, and live our lives by them.

One of Apple’s principles is to bring change to the world through technology, and they do it with every product they release.

Identify what principles you have that guide your life through tough times, and when things couldn’t be any better. They shouldn’t change, and at your core, neither should you.

6. Wavering, yet unbreakable faith.

We all have moments of doubt. Even the best of us question if our dream is going to come true. The one thing that separates the truly successful from those who never reach their true potential is an unbreakable faith in the fact that what they’re doing is right.

Even if they have moments of doubt, they’re soon quelled, where other’s listen to that doubt and let it eat them up and finally they quit.

Have your moments of doubt. You’re human. Just don’t let that doubt eat you up. Instead let it motivate you to prove your optimism right.

7. A reason.

Many of the greatest accomplishments in the world were accomplished by insecure men and women, people who had something to prove to others. A desire to elevate their status and create change that was so strong, that failure is simply never and option.

Abraham Lincoln‘s reason(s) had to do a lot with his view of himself in relation to how other’s viewed him. Where others saw a poor, illiterate boy, Lincoln saw someone capable of achieving more, even if he had to do it completely on his own. He also saw the need for change. A nation that preached freedom wasn’t free. He saw something fundamentally wrong with this and set out to change it. His why wasn’t about him. Which in turn made him one of history’s great men.

Understand why. You have that reason to work when others sleep, to sacrifice a safe life for a risky one with no ceiling. Find it by asking why, and not stopping until you hit your core, emotional reason for wanting to change your status, or the status of others.

8. They persevered when others didn’t.

How does the guy who quit on his dream know how long it would’ve taken him to become a success? He doesn’t. None of us do. It could be tomorrow, or ten years from now.

What separates a lot of the great people we read about in our history books from those we’ve never heard of is the fact that they never quit. Quitting was never an option. They only stopped when they reached their dream. And even then, they created a new mission.

Take James J. Braddock, or even Nelson Mandela, for example. They didn’t achieve their greatness or success early on in their careers or in life like some. They achieved it after surviving. They survived while others literally died, or quit. In their cases it wasn’t just that they were the best, but they were the best because of what they endured. They were the last one’s standing.

We don’t know when our breakthrough will come. So don’t guarantee your failure by quitting. You can adapt, change, and evolve, but never, never, never quit.

9. Great people relentlessly studied their craft.

Tony Gwynn and Mike Tyson studied their craft as much as anyone. Gwynn spent hours upon hours studying opposing pitchers. He studied their patterns. He wasn’t the most athletic guy around, but he put his work in to be the best at what he did: hit baseballs.

When people think of Tyson, they think of an animal, but what we fail to see is the student. No one studied boxing like Tyson did. Watched more film than anyone in the history of the sport. He was a student first, a fighter second.

These great athletes studied film, but how can we perfect our craft?

Using myself as an example; much of my job has to do with writing, and obviously fitness. So, I study those two things. I read books about how to become a better writer, ways to connect with the reader, and I simply read great books written by authors who are much better at writing than I am. If you’re in sales, read and study sales. If you’re a marketer, then do the same with marketing.

Being a drone that simply goes through the motions is no way to achieve greatness. Assuming success is something you want, you have to study your craft, whatever it may be. Learn it inside and out. Build a wealth of knowledge. It’ll help you create great, inspiring, and unique work.

10. Risk.

No risk, no reward. Yes it’s an over-used, cliché of a phrase. But it’s true. Those who have achieved real success have often risked the most to get there.

There have been billions of people throughout history who have had the ability to achieve greatness, whether it was the talent or smarts, they had it. What they didn’t have was the guts to risk the life that they were living. They also didn’t have the work ethic to see their talent realized.

The greatest tragedy in life is wasted talent ~ A Bronx Tale

Your big, audacious dream might be to marry the girl of your dreams and have a family with her. You risk might be to leave the career that you love in order to support her and your family. Your dream might be to help millions live longer, healthier lives. Whatever your dream is, give it enough of a chance to be realized.

Risk if you truly want to see the reward.

Find your dream. Then risk everything to get it.

23 Rare Motivational Quotes to inspire the lazy, complainers, procrastinators and the ‘all talk, no walk’ people out there.

Everybody needs a little motivation sometimes so share these around and take ACTION! In your life right now, execute that plan you have been talking about all week. It’s never too late to make it happen!

Rare Motivational Quotes

‎”It’s always down to you and the choices you make. Work on the things you can change and never dwell on the things you can’t. You choose… ‘results’ or ‘excuses’ it’s always down to YOU… no one has ever given their BEST and regretted it. GO HARD NO EXCUSES.”

“No one said this would be easy, just know that nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment.”

‎”Turn those dreams into ACTION …action turns into results… sooner or later you will be living the dream.”

“There’s no substitute for consistency.”

‎”Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit…. KEEP GOING!!”

“Hardwork can out-do genetics!!”

“Whatever doesn’t kill me… had better start running”

‎”Our fears don’t stop death,… they stop life.”

“Do it now. Sometimes ‘later’ becomes ‘never.’”

“Kick yourself in the ass, or someone else will.”

“The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret.”

‎”I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy… I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”

“Tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you results.”

“Dear tomorrow, do whatever you wanna do .. I have already lived my today and I am not afraid of you anymore .”

“If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the power of our words, we would prefer silence to anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and strengths. Our limitations begin in our hearts where we can always replace negative with positive.”

“You can have results or excuses. Not both”

“You will never know your limits until you push yourself to them.”

“Pain is just weakness leaving your body.”

“I was not delivered into this world in defeat nor does failure flow through my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, walk, to merge with the sheep. I will not hear those who weep and complain for their thoughts are contagios. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure…Is not my destiny.”

‎”Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who are willing to work for it”

“Set small goals for yourself and meet them. You are responsible to take care of yourself. You should be your priority!!”

‎”If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone…deal with it!!”

“Failure does not mean defeat; to succeed you must fail first.”

Everybody wants to be successful. So do I. So do you. What makes somebody achieve their dreams and others to fail theirs?

Read on as we outlay the “Top 9 Hurdles That Most Entrepreneurs Will Encounter At Some Point In Their Life“.

Entrepreneur Advice

1. Fear of the unknown. People get used to the familiarity of the past and are afraid of anything new. This might lead you to decide to leave everything just the way it has always been. A winner knows that sticking with the old ways will never lead to satisfaction.

2. Fear to get involved. If you do not have the habit of engaging yourself, but rather passively undergo what others decide for you, then you will have to create new habits that give you the feeling you are actively creating your life, choosing what you want and making an effort towards your goal.

3. Fear that others will leave you. When your environment has gotten used to looking at you as a weak person, undecided, unhappy or sad, then you might be afraid of changing. Maybe you are afraid of losing their attention if you no longer show weakness, illness or fatigue. Is this the reason why you want to keep the status quo? Do you really want to continue suffering from the low vibrations of disease, despair, complaining, just to please your environment, afraid of losing their attention once your are successful?

4. Fear of success. If you got used to looking at yourself as a failure, not capable of doing anything right, then the idea of being successful might be quite uncomfortable. In this case you need to expand the image you have of yourself and start accepting that you too can succeed and be happy, and enjoy abundance in your life.

5. Refuse to be tested along the way. Be aware that you will be tested along the way, in order to make sure your choice is clear and firm, that you are sticking to your decision to walk your own path. The firmness of your decision and the depth of your engagement will be proofed. Accept this and move on.

6. Negative thoughts about life. Carrying negative beliefs about life will make it difficult to attain success, riches and happiness. Make a list of all your negative thoughts and systematically replace them by positive ones. Encourage yourself on your way to success instead of cutting yourself down.

7. Refuse to start anything before you are 100% sure to succeed. You will never have absolute certainty as your mission is constantly unfolding as long as you live. Look at it as a journey. It’s a process, an itinerary, where the important thing is who you are becoming along the way rather than where you are arriving. When you are experiencing more energy, joy, enthusiasm and wealth, then you can be sure to have made the right choice. This ought to be enough to dare take some risk and take some big decisions.

8. Being oversensitive to remarks from people around you. To complete your mission and stay your course you need to learn to face negative remarks from your environment. Surround yourself with people who support and encourage you, and ignore the remarks of those frustrated people who prefer cutting you down over taking charge of their own life. Leave their remarks with them, as their remarks say more about who they are than about who you are. Especially don’t start analyzing their behavior, but rather concentrate on your own life goal. This way you are an example for all who one day also start living their mission.

9. Thinking you still need a lot of time to prepare yourself. Make sure not to waste too much time and energy on lengthy preparations and considerations. There’s no need to go get professional help all the time. One day you will have to get your feet wet yourself. It doesn’t have to be perfectly planned before you can get it going. It is practice that makes perfect! What matters is to take that first step and start things up. Your experience in the field will eventually turn you into an expert. You cannot obtain experience through endless thinking and preparing. Concrete action is the only ground you can build on.

Do not be discouraged. This resistance is part of the package. A life without challenge would be quite boring. Make use of your resources to make sure you stay on track.

In any case, you will be enjoying more energy and happiness, now that you head towards your goal and overcome your resistance to change. This energy and joy can be radiated to your environment, and your example will urge others to start looking for their own mission.

Article By: Ineke Van Lint

Today we feature a list of “The Top 7 Reasons Why Youre Losing All That Money“. The aim of behavioral finance is to better understand why people make the financial decisions they do. The field of study is becoming widely accepted. In fact, it’s such a crucial part of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) curriculum, a course of study for Wall Street research analysts.

Don’t be intimidated. You might learn something about why you make the financial and investment decision you do.

You think you’re great at investing.

Word of mouth marketing can be one of the most powerful marketing tactics. Think about it - it costs nothing and every person who hears about your product is a potential genuine referral. Sometimes you are asked to give business presentations to a group of people interested in your ideas. It can be very difficult to put your ideas into words that your listeners will relate to and appreciate.

I have discovered that there is a checklist of guidelines. I need to make sure my listeners are able to follow along with me and capture my enthusiasm as I deliver a speech selling my ideas. Read on for this “Award Winning, Speech Giving Checklist“.

1.    Relate: Make your speech relate to its audience. Often you will be giving a presentation to a class of people who come from all kinds of different backgrounds. Find a common point they all have in common. Alternatively, you can find a common aspect of life they will all have to face some day. Use that as the grounds for your presentation and refer back to it more than once.

2.    Preview/Review: When you’re giving a presentation, having pictures is great but what if you have no access to pictures or any visual board? A wrap-up at the end – (i.e. a recapitulation of “what we just saw”) acts in a similar way. It helps everyone keep on track and get a better overall understanding of what you are talking about.

3.    Covering your Tracks: This point is more about unity than covering your tracks. When you speak to your class, turn the feared Q & A session at the end into an open floor discussion with everyone. If you don’t know the answer to a question, invite other people to answer. It’s not about what you know; it’s about what people you know know!

4.   The Poor Presentation. Everyone in life has a purpose. If you sit through a boring presentation, take note of what aspects of it are boring. Are you making these same mistakes? If you are, reexamine your speech and put yourself in your audience’s place. What would you rather hear sitting with the audience?

5.   Looking Professional: Probably the reason why dressing up in a shirt and tie is so effective when you give a conference or speech is because no one else does it. Being one of the few who goes out of their way to look good shows that you care about your appearance and reputation. Moreover, it demonstrates enthusiasm and confidence – two qualities that you cannot do without, especially when teaching people something they assume you are the expert in.

6.   Confidence: There are hundreds if not thousands of different ways to acquire a feeling of 100 percent confidence as you walk on the stage or in front of your class. Some tell themselves they are the best repeatedly in their minds. Others study for hours and hours until they have convinced themselves or until they have mastered the material they wish to present. If you give a speech and you fumble because you’re nervous, you can get rid of this by doing the following:

o    Identify the root cause for the fumbling. This is usually fear, however you need to be certain that you recognise where it is coming from. For example, it could be fear that you are not good enough, or fear that you will make a mistake, or fear of what others will think.

o    Next replace the root fear with its polar opposite. If you are afraid of what people think, remind yourself that what they think is none of your business. If you feel that you are not good enough, remember that we are all unique and have different special abilities in different areas. If you are afraid of making a mistake, focus very hard on what you are saying and practice! Practice! Practice!

o    Think positively! Visualise and believe in yourself as a vehicle that will allow you to attain your inner most desires.

7.   Enthusiasm: Half of the audience thinks you are waving your hands too much, the other half feel you are not into your speech enough. What do you do? Get excited. Engage your audience by asking them questions and crack a joke while you’re at it if the context allows (this tends to reduce tension). This builds momentum, which puts you in a complete feeling of joy. No one will notice the annoying details if you are giving them an experience to remember.

8.    Test-Run: Doing a test run with the equipment you will be using can be very rewarding. Avoid possible difficulties/embarrassments that increase the level of stress on your presentation day. You will also want to use the opportunity to proof-read your presentation to to make sure the text is legible on the background of your slides.

9.    My last point is called “Journey” because it is the journey that is the reward, not the end, and not the beginning. As you take your audience through your presentation, you are guiding them through a journey. Hand-feed them all the way, and make sure everything is very well explained. Remember that your presentation is a tool to convey your message, not the object of your presentation. Do not look back at the screen or down at your monitor. Do not read of your slides either – your audience can read off the slides. If you are presenting to 30 people or less, make eye contact with everyone. If you’re presenting to a larger group it is ok to look above the crowd’s head, since eye contact isn’t really possible. One or two large images, key points and “sound bites” will help the audience to remember things you said and to follow you through the journey of your presentation.

And that’s all there is to it! Imagine yourself being electrocuted – you are excited – this will create a contagious smile and energy to flow around the room.

Article By: Daniel Massicotte

Toastmasters ‘WINNING’ Speech

Checkout this award winning speech. Delivered by Spiritual comedian and law of attraction expert Andy Dooley as he shares his his HUMOROUS story about meeting Tony Robbins on top of a mountain.

In this amazing world we live in today, many of us are culprits for taking everyday things for granted. Do you ever stop and wonder why things are the way they are and how they came to be?

Well, many things are deliberate creations to make our lives easier and to save time but some of these creations came about accidentally and are now things we could not imagine living without.

I have come up with a list of the top 7 life changing inventions that where created by mistake. Enjoy!

The Top 7 Accidental Yet Successful Inventions

The Slinky

A common and fun childhood favorite “the slinky” was invented by Inventor; Richard Jones.

Richard was a naval engineer who was trying to design a meter to monitor power on naval battleships. One day when working with the tension springs, one of them fell to the floor and to Richard’s surprise, the spring kept bouncing from place to place after it hit the ground. This moment was when the Slinky was born.

Penicillin

 A widely used ant biotic, “Penicillin” is depended on by millions when a headache strikes and who would have known that it was a fluke that led Scientist Alexander Fleming to its discovery!

In an obsessive search for a ‘wonder drug’ that could cure diseases, it wasn’t until one day when he threw his experiment away that he found what it was he was looking for.

Fleming had noticed that a contaminated petri dish that he had thrown away was doing something quite remarkable. A mold that was living in this petri dish was dissolving all of the bacteria around it. When the mold was grown on its own, Fleming learned that it contained a powerful antibiotic which he named ‘Penicillin’

The Pacemaker

Making life a lot safer and possible for many who suffer from heart disease throughout the world, “the pacemaker’ is a lifesaving and changing invention that was created through research for something completely different.

John Hopps was an electrical engineer and was conducting research on hypothermia and how the use of radio frequency heating could possibly restore the body’s natural temperature.

During his experiment, Hopps made a remarkable discovery realizing that when a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation. This discovery led to the pacemaker.

 Microwave ovens

After a day of work sometimes it’s easier to heat up left over dinner in the microwave then cook a new meal. This wouldn’t be possible if Percy Spencer didn’t accidentally come across this discovery.

Percy Spencer was an engineer who was infamous for his left of center research. While Conducting a radar-related research project with a new vacuum tube he created, he came across something amazing.

During one of his experiments, Spencer realized that the candy bar in his pocket began to melt! He then put popcorn into the machine and when it started to pop, he knew he had created a revolutionary device.

Fireworks

Lighting up the sky, bringing people together in celebration ‘ Fireworks’ are a magical creation that are enjoyed all over the world. This is all thanks to an unknown cook in China!

A cook in China whose name is unknown, loved experimenting with food. One day of experimenting in his kitchen lead to the discovery of fireworks.

Mixing together common kitchen items (common 2000 years ago) charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, the cook then compressed these ingredients into a bamboo tube and when heated up, it exploded, causing the birth or fireworks!

Corn Flakes

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and a good healthy breakfast fuels our body’s for the day ahead! Corn Flakes is a widely known cereal that a lot of us have come to love. You would never think leaving a pot of boiled grain on the stove for a few days by accident is how Corn Flakes came about. But it is!

The Kellogg Brothers, John and Will were trying to make a pot of boiled grain and they accidentally left the pot on the stove for a few days. The mixture turned moldy though what remained was dry and thick. Through further experimentation, they eliminated the mold part and created Corn Flakes.

Post-it notes

Inventor: Spencer Silver, a researcher in 3M Laboratories

What he was trying to make: A strong adhesive

How it was created: While working away, Silver created an adhesive that was actually weaker than what already existed. It stuck to objects but could be pulled off easily without leaving a mark. Years later a colleague spread the substance on little pieces of paper to mark his place in his choir hymn book, and the idea was born.

Article By: Charlene Barry | Addicted2Success.com

These 15 Incredible Business Men of our time have broken through the boundaries and have left an imprint in the business and corporate world. Who else bettter than the geniuses themselves to quote great advice from.

Read on for some unforgettable advice from the worlds greatest business minds of our time.

The Modern Day Gurus:

Richard Branson

William Henry “Bill” Gates III

Donald Trump

Steve Jobs

Ingvar Kamprad

Michael Dell

Warren Buffett

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

Representing the New Zealand Gurus:

Stephen Tindall

Sam Morgan

Mike Pero

Representing the Historical Gurus

Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)

John D Rockefeller (1839 – 1937)

Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1744 – 1812)

Walt Disney (1901 – 1966)

Ray Kroc (1902 – 1984)

Here are 7 characteristics to help you achieve your goals and dreams!

7 Ways to Achieve Your Golas & Dreams

Achievers believe in themselves and in their abilities.
Self-esteem and self-efficacy go hand in hand in ensuring that the achiever recognizes that he is capable of accomplishing what he sets out to do.

They are positive thinkers.
Whenever faced with obstacles or setbacks, an achiever will use his own resourcefulness to get past any hurdles he comes across.

Achievers recognize and acknowledge their strengths and their talents.
We have all been given gifts and talents to be successful in life, and we must use these to the best of our ability.

They take action.
Anyone can dream and set goals, but the achiever is the person who will take action and successfully carry them through.

Achievers have a sense of purpose and have an understanding of the meaning of life.
They realize that we are here on Earth to reach our full potential.

They do what is required to reach their goals.
Achievers will plan each step to ensure success, and once completed, they will move onto the next step to get closer to attaining their goal.

Achievers recognize that if someone else can achieve something, then so can they.
If it is humanly possible, then it is perfectly feasible to accept that you too have the potential of reaching that goal!

In this video Anthony Robbins goes in on what it takes to Focus and Achieve your goals:

(Video) Clarity & Purpose By Anthony Robbins

You’ve got to know what you want.

Clarity is power.

Ask for what you want. Ask for the results you want.

Ask and receive.

Condition your mind for success.

The mind is but a very powerful part of the body. Believe in the saying that anything that the mind can conceive can be achieved. Success lies in the positive thinking that there is nothing that can’t be done. Success is a categorical term which is all-encompassing. But it must be borne in mind that success must always come with goodness, honesty, and kind heart. Otherwise, the very word will be defeated — nothing else but a piece of junk used by the ambitious and in greed of power.

Read on for The Top 6 Secrets To Achieve What Your Mind Can Conceive.

THINK AS IF IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO FAIL

Failure and success are both figment of the mind. To achieve greater things, pick just one of them. It’s either you fail or succeed. Definitely, we’ll choose to succeed. If it be the case, you’ll do everything to succeed and never fail. If you focus on the thought that failure is without a place in your life, then failure won’t come to you.

Success at all times, and in everything you do must be embedded in the mind, and then you will never know failure. However, success must not be equated with perfectionism. Perfection is God and no one can be God. Perfection has no criterion, which means that the term is nothing but a crap.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Time is a very important element in everything we do. As the saying goes, do things with utmost dedication. Live life as if it is your last. With this in mind, it is likely that every day of your life will be worthwhile and lived at its best.

FOCUS

Think of which path you really would want to take. Most of us will feel confusion on things, life and people. When this empty and lost feeling hovers around you, try to picture your past. Think of your mistakes and conceptualize methods on how to correct or remedy them. Have a straightforward outlook in life and focus only for the best things.

DO NOT SETTLE FOR GOOD BUT FOR THE “BEST”

Good enough is not enough. Success will hardly come to you if you remain contented on simple things or in living a stereotypic life. Life must always be lived to the fullest. Make it a point to reach a higher goal. Consider life as a struggle. Think of life as a pyramid and each of us deserve a peak.

FIND DIAMONDS AS COMPANIONS

Choose your friends. Friends have no perfect definition. It is rather on a case to case basis. Friends need not be someone who can give you everything, but one who’ll be with you in your bad times. True friends are one who will never tolerate you doing bad. Success is better savored together with people you love dearly and trust at all times and in everything.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

“To God Be the Glory”

In everything you do, always bear in mind that your life is just a borrowed one. Everything we do is in God’s name and for his greater glory. We simply are agents who benefit from a gift. Remember when you fail, you then fail God. It is more shameful than anything else.

The following article appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren’t sure, you are far from alone in your confusion.

It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

9 Rules Of Success

No.9 Get specific

When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. “Lose 5 kilograms” is a better goal than “lose some weight,” because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you’ll “eat less” or “sleep more” is too vague — be clear and precise. “I’ll be in bed by 10 p.m. on weeknights” leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you’ve actually done it.

No.8 Seize the moment to act on your goals

Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it’s not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., “If it’s Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I’ll work out for 30 minutes before work.”) Studies show that this kind of strategic planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

No.7 Know exactly how far you have left to go

Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don’t know how well you are doing, you can’t adjust your behaviour or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

No.6 Be a realistic optimist

When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

No.5 Focus on getting better, rather than being good

Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won’t improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

No.4 Have grit

Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher grades.

The good news is, if you aren’t particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don’t have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking… well, there’s no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

No.3 Build your willpower muscle

Your self-control “muscle” is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn’t get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you’d honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don’t. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur (“If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.”) It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that’s the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

No.2 Don’t tempt fate

No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it’s important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don’t try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don’t put yourself in harm’s way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

No.1 Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do

Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., “Don’t think about white bears!”) has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behaviour — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like “If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down.” By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

Why do people succeed? In this video feature from TED, Richard St. John compacts ten years of research along with his experience from over 500 interviews with some of the greatest and most successful people in the world and turns it into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

(Video) Richard St.John – The 8 Traits Of Successful People

Stephen R. Covey’s got millions of fans who swear by his seminal book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I’m not one of them, but that’s because I’m different. In fact, most entrepreneurs I know – and I know lots of them – just don’t fit the mold of folks who can actually benefit from a cookie-cutter set of habits. Instead, they tend to carve their own paths through life … and they do it their own way. So, with all due respect to Covey, here’s an adaptation of his seven habits that I think fits innovators and entrepreneurs (You’ll find Covey’s in parenthesis at the end of each habit).

Habit 1: Be Passionate. Finding your passion is not only the key to happiness, but also the key to business success. As Steve Jobs once said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” (Be Proactive)

Habit 2: Do Something. You don’t always know where it’s going to lead, but it’s always better to do something than to suffer analysis paralysis. Legendary oil-man and entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens has a way of quickly sizing up a situation, coming up with a plan, and acting. There’s no sitting around or endless analysis and debate. It seems to have worked for him. (Begin with the End in Mind)

Habit 3: Put First Things First, Second, and Third. Covey says prioritize, but I’ll take it one step further. Whoever said, “don’t sweat the small stuff,” was right, and I’ll add, “don’t do or even think about the small stuff.” Every successful innovative person I know jumps on hot opportunities and critical issues like they’re the only things that matter on god’s green Earth. (Put First Things First)

Habit 4: Think Win. Former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner may have been a world-class a-hole, but he was a remarkably rich and successful world-class a-hole who let nothing stand in the way of the only thing that ever really mattered to him, winning. Bill Gates, Larry Ellison – show me a successful entrepreneur and I’ll show you someone who puts winning first. (Think Win/Win)

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to Innovate. The key to innovation is to first understand a big hairy problem that, to date, nobody’s been able to solve. Once you’ve got that, then, and only then, does it even begin to make sense to do something about it. Otherwise you’ll just end up with a great product nobody needs. (Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood)

Habit 6: Energize. With rare exception, successful innovators are high-energy people with a unique ability to stimulate and motivate others. That’s called leadership. Without it, you can have the most effective habits or the best ideas in the world, but nobody will ever know it, because nobody will care and nothing will actually get done. (Synergize)

Habit 7: Question the Status Quo. Andy Grove built semiconductor powerhouse Intel on several principles, two of which were “only the paranoid survive” and “constructive confrontation.” That means never rest on your laurels, continually challenge your own assumptions, and always question the status quo. That’s how Intel became a high-tech dynasty. (Sharpening the Saw)

Article By: Steve Tobak from Bnet.com