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

Ambition and courage are synonymous, and admirable qualities.

The ambitious, ‘Those who have the courage to work hard and sacrifice other areas of their lives in the pursuit of a goal’, are admired. But is hard work, making a lot of money, and sacrificing other areas of your life really the sum of ambition? Or is ambition something more, and of far greater importance?

“Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence.” ~ Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro

Ambition isn’t merely working long hours, conquering tribulation, and seeing a journey to its end, although that’s a reality that many ambitious people face. Ambition is “the reason for our existence“, as Pressfield puts it. It’s our soul telling us where meaning in life is found. It’s a large part of what gives our life purpose.

Where most fail to heed their soul’s ambitious call is in a lack of courage, and eventually a lack of persistence.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ~ Calvin Coolidge

Your Ambitious Barter for Success

Success can mean many things. For us, a large part of success is accomplishing our audacious goals and dreams. Success can be happiness, a good family life, and a life full of purpose and meaning. But few could argue that true success is found in a life lived, not dreamed. One dominated by action, not the desire to act. A life filled with fears faced, limits pushed, and relationships cultivated. A successful life is one filled with experience and action, not wishes.

For the ambitious, success – or at least a large part of it – exists in following our dreams and seeing them to fruition. But to see our dreams realized we have to give something in return.

I used to think that to be successful, and as audaciously successful as I want to be, I had to forego relationships, that I had to put my work first and live a completely unbalanced life. This past weekend, however, I was shown otherwise as I ventured from Vancouver to New Jersey to see Bruce Springsteen in his home state.

As the concert began, the 63 year-old legend stood in front of me, and the 55,000 others who hung on his every note. A man truly in pursuit of “the most primal and sacred fundament” of his being. I’ve never seen a person so in love with what they do. He’s one of the hardest working people in the business. Yet his life is without scandal. He has a wife and children, and a mother he loves. He has balance. While he gives his craft the most hours and effort, his family gives him an escape and meaning that the object of his ambition doesn’t, and can’t.

For some of us, however, our ambitions may lead us to a solitary existence, and a solo pursuit of greatness. A lifetime spent perfecting our craft.

Success demands different things from each experience. But it does require one thing from all of us: effort, both in quality and quantity.

To perfect our craft we have to give to it the time it deserves and requires to blossom. We have to wake up earlier and work harder than others. We have to be willing to sacrifice partying and drinking, even sleep, all for our craft.

Task

Where most fail isn’t in setting goals that are too high and missing, but in setting goals that are too low and succeeding. In a perfect world, devoid of limitation, what would you want to do, who would you want to be, and what would you like to accomplish? To take it a bit deeper is there one thing – whether it’s a job, a way of life, or a career you’d be willing to cut your life short 10 years to achieve?

Write it down. Then answer this:

In the next 10 years, what are you willing to give up to accomplish it? How many hours a day, how many days a week, how many vacations missed and parties are you willing to give?

The bigger the goal, the greater the sacrifice.

If you want to become a published author, you need to study. You need to read anything and everything. If you want to be a billionaire, waiting around for a great idea won’t get you there. Spend the next 5 years working, saving, and learning about other billionaire’s and their road to success. What did they do to get their billions?

You may need to sacrifice other areas of your life as well. You may need:

• Strict budgeting of finances.
• A 7-day a week work schedule of 12+ hours a day.
• To identify earlier on than most if a relationship is right. If it’s wrong, it can be toxic to your success.
• To learn how to say no, and say it a lot.
• To figure out a strict routine – not leaving your energy levels or ability to focus to chance.
• To recharge your batteries on weekends by not getting drunk then having to struggle to get back into a routine.
• To go above and beyond what you’ve done before. Pushing boundaries. Actively getting out of your comfort zone.
• Facing your fears at every opportunity.

The Courage To Follow Your Ambition

By visiting this site, you have ambition. Success will happen in matching that ambition with what you desire most in life, and then having the persistence and courage to see it through to its end.

If the road to success is wrought with peaks and valleys, – usually more valleys than peaks – failure, pain, uncertainty, and brutish hard work, are the ambitious cursed? This burning desire that fuels an early wake up and the 16-hour workday, does it stand in the way of happiness?

There are those who want nothing more than a simple life, and I’m not looking down or degrading their goals or viewpoint. If anything, I envy them. To be satisfied with something they’re virtually born with leads to a life that will surely by successful. However, I don’t think the ambitious are cursed, rather blessed. It’s when we realize that within the journey lies the lessons, the personal development, the suffering, the fun, and the growth, that we will see this struggle, hustle, and battle as a blessing.

To have that burning desire, even if we don’t know where to focus it, is a gift. It’s beautiful. It’s your ability to hear what your soul truly wants. Have the courage to be who you are and pursue it with passion. Be different. Be bold. Embrace your ambition.

A Picture Quote To Live By:

Article Written By: Chad Howse of Chad Howse Fitness

Many innovators and successful personalities have earned their accolades because they have learnt to work smart instead of working hard. Instead of focusing on getting busy, they focus on being productive. They make the most out of their work schedules and achieve more than your ordinary joe.

One thing that a lot of successful people will tell you about achieving success is that you have to go ‘back to the basics‘. So we show you the how a ‘minimalist approach’.

A perfect example of a productive leader is Steve Jobs, whose minimalist approach in completing the task means that he would sacrifice many luxuries during the hours he knew his company needed him most. By taking action and filtering out the things he knew would slow down Apple’s growth Steve was able to be nimble and creative to outwit his competition, saying he succeeded would be an understatement because he didn’t just succeed, he outperformed other business leaders.

Achieving success is not just about TAKING ACTION and continuously improving. It’s also about doing the right things to accomplish goals quickly and effectively – avoiding things that may slow down progress. Some useful guidelines in increasing productivity significantly in the business environment nowadays include:

Creating Your Vision & Making It Clear

The biggest obstacle in reaching your end goal is making that first step and most people fail in this regard because they do not really know why they have to do whatever it is they should be doing to get there.

By creating a mental or visual note of your plans and dreams, you will be motivated to switch up the gears more as you convince yourself that you have a compelling future ahead of you with massive gains and reward. This way, you have now created a commitment in your mind to this vision and the more you remind yourself of this, the more responsible you will be in seeing your dreams come true. It’s really plain and simple, write down your vision, not your goal, your overall vision and a guide on how you are going to get there. The more clearer you can paint this picture for yourself, you will know exactly what you need to do to get there.

Finding A Role Model Or Mentor

It is difficult to accomplish something when people do things alone without the presence of like-minded people. Most people become successful because they emulate the success of others and try to distance themselves from the problems faced by their mentors. By finding a role model or mentor, or by just spending time with good company, people can follow in their steps and be motivated to succeed. We all need someone or something to believe in. Find yours and follow through.

Throwing Away Distractions

When trying to achieve something worthwhile, distractions such as surfing the net, reading junk email, or watching TV can be the pot holes in your journey down the road of success. A few minutes a day procrastinating can add up to hours in one month. This wasted time is precious and could have been used doing other productive things to get you closer to your dreams. It may be difficult at first to steer away from these distractions but a good start is by limiting these distractions slowly until the mind realizes they are really useless. Start by timing yourself when you start certain activities ie… watching Lost on TV or checking out that funny cat picture site and you will soon realize how much time can easily be wasted.

We all need a balance in what we do, just make sure that website or tv show you where just spending your time with was not a 3 out of 10 and you have really just wasted hours of precious time when you could have been that much closer to your dreams.

Setting Realistic Goals And Plans

Many failures arise from the fact that people set very high and unattainable goals and when they fail to meet them, they give up altogether. Goals and plans are useful in motivating but making them unrealistic can be very damaging. When planning, people should make sure their goals and plans are attainable within the time frame allotted to them. Working smart means planning goals that are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

Making A To-Do List

This is a simple tool but is very effective which is why most, if not all, successful businessmen use it. The to-do-list should contain doable actions for each day. When making a list, there should be more than enough time for each action to avoid the doer being discouraged when he ends up getting delayed. There are a mass amount of great to-do list Apps out there now. Ever Note, Task Rabbit, Fetchnotes just to name a few. If you don’t have one, get one.

Making A Not-To-Do List

To be truly productive, you should not only list down things you have to-do, you should also list down things you should avoid. These can come in the form of distractions or temptations that slow down progress. You can use this list later after having accomplished the plans for the day related to your work. We all have vices, find yours and push it to the back of your back burner so you can prioritize the more important tasks to succeed.

Learn To Delegate

One thing that can be attributed to the success of multimillion dollar companies nowadays is that they streamlined their business process by delegating work effectively and in many cases even outsourced some of their business processes. When a person focuses on one process too much, they can lose track of other processes that also needs attention and their overall progress starts to slow down. Instead of focusing on every part of a plan, successful people learn to entrust some parts to others who specialise in that area and can complete the tasks more accurate and efficiently.

Rewarding Yourself

Trying to achieve success can be very time-consuming and it requires a lot of effort. This often leads to ‘burn out’, where people start losing track of their goals because they have become too clouded with all the pressure associated with their actions.

Instead of focusing everything on the work that needs to be done, it is equally important to relax and reward yourself every once in a while to recharge your mental and physical well-being. Stress and pressure certainly does nothing to improve performance.

There should always be just the right amount of work-life balance in every plan of success. A cluttered life equals a cluttered mind, minimising the distractions and cutting out the unwanted BS in your life will do wonders for your productivity and focus in achieving your dreams.

Minimalist & Productivity Quotes

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ –Bruce Lee

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupe

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and to a hundred or a thousand. We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” - Henry David Thoreau

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucious

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” - Albert Einstein

“If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.” - Tao Te Ching

“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” – Tony Robbins

Article By Joel Brown of Addicted2Success

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

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.

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.

This Video shows how true it really is that Nothing is Impossible. Put 7 Minutes aside to be Inspired by this Amazing Video.

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, its an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. Its a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING! ~ Adidas

Impossible Is Nothing – Motivation Video

2Pac & Kevin Garnett share their advice on Work Ethic and how they applied themselves to be successful. R.I.P Tupac…

2 Pac Success Advice – Work Ethic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz4TYAF6pOw

Kevin Garnett Success Advice – Work Ethic