The Optimist Creed

Have you ever read The Optimist Creed? It's powerful:


Promise Yourself-

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.


To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.


To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.


To look at the sunny side of everything and
make your optimism come true.


To think only of the best, to work only for the best and
to expect only the best.


To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as
you are about your own.


To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to
the greater achievements of the future.


To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and
give every living creature you meet a smile.


To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that
you have no time to criticize others.


To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and
too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

How Quickly Can Change Happen?

One of my great desires has always been to be able to change things in my life and that of others. I believe that it is in helping others that we all learn about ourselves. A major question I had asked myself early in life was can change happen in an instant. Now, I’m not talking about change in terms of things like "can I change the weather or move a mountain", no. What I am talking about is changing my behaviour and my emotional patterns.

I have come to the conclusion that change can happen in an instant. You see most of us, whenever change is necessary in our lives we generally take a long time to do it. Mostly that’s because we wait until certain events occur before we decide to make a change finally. Another reason why we think that change should take a long time is, we have tried and tried to change many times in the past through the use of willpower, and failed. So we assume from the experience that change, especially the important ones must be difficult to make and take a long time. The difficult in changing happens because we don’t know how to change effectively. No amount of will power by itself will create lasting change. One more reason why we don’t change instantly is the culture we live in. We give negative associations to changing instantly. If you change instantly in our culture it tends to mean that you never had a problem.

Consider what would happen if the person who you were deeply in love with left you suddenly. How soon cold you get over the loss? Well for all intent and purposes you could do it in a matter of hours because you have the capacity to do so. Yet you don’t because our culture dictates that we should ‘grieve’ for some amount of time. If two hours later you had declared or behaved like you were over the person people would think and believe you really didn’t love nor care for the person.

Many of us want to change things now, but our culture says if we change now we never really had a problem to begin with. We must take up the belief that we can change in an instant. Once we take control of those feelings that are conditioned to associate in our nervous system we take control of our lives. We develop our existing neuro-associations by indulging in behaviours and emotions consistently over and over again for long periods of time. It is these neuro-associations that will determine our behaviours and our emotions in any given moment. Whenever you engage in the behaviour of yelling at your kids, what happens is that the neural connection in your brain becomes stronger and hence the possibility that you will do it again. So if you would stop engaging in this behaviour long enough the neural connection will weaken and eventually disappear and the behaviour will also disappear with it.

If you were crying and someone held a gun to your head and said stop crying now, chances are we do so instantly. Similarly if we never ate vegetables in our life and our doctor said that we must start eating vegetable or we are going to die. I am sure the same day we would start eating vegetables.

In order for us to weaken or neuro-associations and thus allow change to occur in an instant we must link enormous pain to the behaviour we want to change and enormous pleasure to changing it. But before this can happen we must believe that something must change. We must also believe that we can change it and that we can change it! Your change is not the responsibility of someone else, it is your responsibility.

Auto-Suggestion

Auto-suggestion a.k.a. self suggestion is a process by which a persons’ subconscious mind is trained to believe something, or systematically change that person's own mental associations, usually for a given purpose. This is done through self-hypnosis methods or repetitive, constant self-affirmations. The acceptance of autosuggestion by your subconscious mind is enhanced by the mental visualization of that which the person would like to believe. It is most successful when consistently used and the length of time over which it is used.

Autosuggestion is an integral part of prayer, meditation, and other such types of activities.

Most of us are making autosuggestions to ourselves on a daily basis, we are just unaware of it happening. Whatever your dominating thoughts are (whether positive or negative) in your conscious mind, autosuggestion will willingly reach the subconscious mind and influence it with these dominating thoughts. We all need to realize that we are in control over the information reaching our subconscious mind through our senses. Unfortunately, however, most of us do not exercise this control, which explains many peoples life of lack. Autosuggestion is a very powerful tool whether it’s used positively or negatively, so we must use it to our benefit at all times.

On a daily basis we all make statements like I’m an awful person, no one will love me, I hate school, I hate my coworkers, these are all negative autosuggestions to you subconscious mind, so when they become true in reality we end up lamenting our situation. Why not use the more positive autosuggestion like “I’m a wonderful person,” “everyone likes me”,” I love school”, and see what happens. It’s not easy to get rid of negative self-talk but you must keep trying, remember consistence is key.

How to apply the principle of autosuggestion:
1. Write down a clear statement of what it is you desire to have, be it money, a home, a car whatever it is write it down
2. Put a timeframe on it and say what it is you intend to do or give in return for your desired thing. Also write down a plan of how you intend to get it.
3. Read this statement aloud every night before you go to your bed and every morning when you arise. Repeat this every day until you see whatever you desire in your minds eye (your imagination).

It is very important to understand that the mere reading of the words of your statement will have no effect on your subconscious mind. You must mix emotion, or feeling into what you are saying. Your subconscious mind will only receive and act upon thoughts which have been mixed with great emotion of feelings. No, shouting it louder doesn’t mean any emotion is involved in what you are saying.

Another thing that may help you is to place a copy of your written statement in a location where you can see it when you wake up in the mornings (e.g. on a wall in your room).

Here’s an example of a statement you can use as your guide. It is not cast in stone you can make yours whatever you want it to be:
“I will earn $100000 by November 30, 2008 by becoming a manager of an advertising agency and give of my expertise. This will be done by acquiring the required education and experience and also making contact with the owners of the top agencies in the country”

In your day to day living if you find yourself engaging in negative self-talk, stop yourself, don’t finish the words you are saying to yourself, replace it with a positive autosuggestion. Keep this up everyday and soon you’ll find that your life is much better. Make that commitment.

You Are What You Think

Came across this poem recently, thought i would share it with you.

The Man Who Thinks He Can
--Walter D. Wintle

If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win but think you can’t
It is almost certain you won’t

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a person’s will-
It’s all in the state of mind

If you think you are outclassed, you are
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!!!

Faith

“…..According to your faith be it unto you.”
--Matthew 9: 29


Faith is an emotion. It is one of the most powerful of all positive human emotions. It is the belief or trust in something of someone with or without any supporting evidence. To achieve your dreams you must have faith. Yes friends just like the song by the group Wham says “You gotta have Faith, faith, faith!”

Faith is never static, it is always moving. When you put faith to work, you’ve begun on the road to self-confidence, self-reliance and personal initiative. Whenever you overcome and dominate failure your faith becomes stronger and you are ready to deal with the next problem.

Those who don’t have faith in themselves are usually the ones who blame their family, their environment, or just lack for their failures or loss. These folks inability to focus on what it is that they want and act accordingly and realize that their solutions lie within themselves.

If you lack faith don’t complain about where you are in your life. Yes there will be times of failure, obstacle, loss and many other events that will be in your way. But with faith anyone can rise above any failure or obstacle. If you believe you can’t do something, then chances are you can’t. Why? Because, you simply lack the faith to accomplish it. Many people tell themselves they can’t do anything and that’s exactly what happens to them, they accomplish nothing.

How then do you develop faith? Well, the one way that has worked numerous time for me is the use of affirmations…yes, there , I said it..AFFIRMATIONS..and no I am not kidding you. When you repeat affirmations of orders to your subconscious mind over time, your mind will begin to accept and act upon them which in turn translates it into it’s physical equivalent (i.e. into reality). Now please be aware that merely repeating affirmations over and over again without any conviction or emotion will not work... No, No, No...This only works if you do your affirmations with lots of emotion and feelings.

One more thing, to help make your affirmations real conduct yourself the same way you would if you were already in possession of that which you desire. This helps to cement your faith..Try it, it works!

All Achievement Starts with Desire

For many of us in order to soar to new heights of achievement we need to have a burning desire to achieve. It’s not enough to have defined what it is you want to achieve. It’s not enough to have a plan. It’s not enough to have taken action, all of this means nothing if your desire is not strong enough to make it happen. Your desire cannot be a mere wish or interest no, no, no it has to be a burning desire that takes over your whole being.

A young warrior wanted to know the secret of happiness, so he set out from his village to see a sage. When he found the sage in his hut he sat down and asked him what the secret to happiness and success is. The old man took the boy by his hand and without saying a word led him to a lake and continued to walk into the lake until the boy was fully submerged. At this point the boy began to struggle; the sage then led the boy back on land and to his hut. When they were seated the old man asked the young warrior” When you were under water what did you most want to do?” The young warrior replied “To breathe!” the sage then said “when you want happiness and success as badly as you wanted to breathe, then you will know the secret!”

The turning point in the lives of any achiever is that moment of crisis when they declare “enough!”, “I will no longer accept this” “I must conquer!” “I must succeed!” that’s when they develop the desire required to achieve.

To help you ensure that your desire is as strong as it must be, one technique often used by those who will not be denied is to cut off any means of escape or retreat. This means you have no choice, no options, and success then becomes a must.

It is said that Desire has energy. So, as you think about what you want, that desire builds strength. Energy follows wherever you focus your mind. The more focused and clear you are as to what you want deep down; the energy necessary to manifest it becomes stronger. Put your attention on your desire and you will attract that into your life.

The Twelve Major Causes of Failure

In my short time on this earth I have identified what I consider the ten major causes of failure based on my own experience. I am fully aware that I could be wrong, so it’s not cast in stone. As you review my list check and see if you fall into any of them it may be an indication of what may be preventing you from achieving your goal.

1. No well defined purpose or goal in life.
2. Willingness to settle for mediocrity.
3. Lack of adequate or sufficient education.
4. Your hereditary background.
5. Procrastination.
6. Lack of persistence.
7. No self discipline.
8. Indecision.
9. Fear.
10. Selecting the wrong vocation
11. No concentration of effort.
12. No enthusiasm.

If you can, get someone who knows you well to review this list with you, to help in your analysis of yourself.

Your Plan: The Roadmap to Achieving Your Goal

If you have decided what it is you want to achieve and have defined it and set a date to achieve it by, then you are one of the lucky few, congrats! You have reached further than most people who will be reading this.

So what’s next?

Your Plan!..Yes you need a plan of action. Your plan will take you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. It is a step by step process for the achievement of your goal. Do not be intimidated or fooled by the whole process of a plan, your plan is not infinite…it guarantees you nothing and it is not cast in stone..it can’t be, or else you will get frustrated if your plan doesn’t evolve as you have written it. Your plan therefore, must be flexible it has to be, since things don’t always go as planned.

There are some key questions you should ask yourself when putting your plan together:
• What am I trying to achieve
• What do I need to get there (the is talking about resources both human and physical)
• What kind of person do I need to become in order to achieve my goal?
• What resources do I possess now?
• What is the first thing that I need to do right now?
• What’s the second thing I need to do?
• What’s my one month goal, my six month goal etc. how will I know I have reached my goals?

It is important that you break your overall plan into smaller day by day plans. That way your plan won’t seem overwhelming. Write down what you will achieve for each day and stick to it as bets as you can.

Bear in mind as you go through developing your plan the fact that no one has ever achieved their major goal in life without the help and cooperation of other people. That’s because no one person has enough experience, natural ability, knowledge and education to ensure the achievement of their goals.

As I have said before your plan should be flexible, but you should also be aware that if you plan is not working, never be afraid to change it, and try a new one. If the new plan fails to work, then try another one.

Take your time when putting your plan together; it doesn’t have to be perfect. Your plan however must be doable. If you need help in putting your plan together, ask one of your friends or get an advisor or a life coach. The key is to get your plan done, and remember it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Be Specific About what You want to Achieve!

When we think about the things we want to achieve in life we all tend to think in a very general way.

What I mean is, we may, for instance, say we want to buy a new car or a new home, or study for our first degree. These are general goals. For you to achieve what you desire you must be specific, so instead of saying "I want to buy a car", say "I want to buy a 2007 BMW 318i sedan, black, tinted, 3 litre engine and leather upholstery." This is what being specific means.

It shows your brain that you know what you want to achieve and that this is not just something you are interested in. the key here is to think of what you want too achieve as an end result. How will it look, feel, sound, and smell!

The other part of being specific is to set a specific date of completion, be it six months, a year or ten years, whatever it is set a date. This will help you to focus on and develop steps that can lead you in the direction you want to go.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

The most important question to ask yourself on the road to personal achievement is “What do I want to achieve?” For most of us this will be many, many things and for many others this will be just one particular thing. Your decision will be based on what’s happening to you now, what has happened to you in the past and what you would like to happen in the future.

When deciding on what you want to achieve it is best to compile a list of about 20 goals, and for each ask yourself “why do I want to achieve this?” and “how will achieving this goal impact on my life and those around me?” make sure you write down the answers to these questions and read them over a couple of times, making changes if necessary. By writing your goals down you give them meaning, your psyche makes them real for you.

Once you have read over your list, choose the goal that to you is urgent and that will have a great impact on your life. If you choose a goal that is not urgent with little or no impact on your life, chances are you will not act in a manner that will bring it to reality in a timely and desirous manner

A word of caution here, do not rush into your decision about what you want to achieve. I know at times time is of the essence but it is important that you make a true decision, so if you can, please take your time. You certainly don’t want to decide to achieve something only to find out later that it isn’t what you really wanted to achieve at all. That would be a horrible waste of time and effort.

Our Beliefs: What you Believe affects your Life!

When we talk about a belief, what are we really talking about? Is Belief a thing? What is a belief? Well, in my view a belief is certainly not a thing as we cannot see it nor touch it. What it is, is a feeling of certainty about something. So if I say “I believe I’m a good singer”, then what that really means is “I feel certain I am a good singer”. It is when we hold a belief-our sense of certainty- that we open up infinite possibilities in our mind, we become able to access those resources that allow us to create the results we desire. Any lack of belief-doubt- does the opposite of this.

When I say “I believe I am a good singer”, how do I know this? For the most part I would have to have some references in life to support my assertion. It is those references that make my belief certain. So it’s possible that in the past my music teacher told me I was a good singer or being a soloist on my church choir made me feel I must be a good singer. I may have even compared my singing with a popular recording artistes’ and felt I sounded like them. All of this made me feel confident and caused me to believe that I am a good singer. The more references I have to back up my thought that I am a good singer, the stronger my belief in it will be.

Now it is important to point out here that your references do not have to be anywhere near accurate for us to use them. They can be totally inaccurate, real or imagined, they don’t even have to be our own experiences, they can be those of other people whether we know them or not.

We can create our own references where none existed before. Think of Sir Roger Bannister, in his day and for many years before, the belief on the planet was that a man could not run the mile in under four minutes. Yet on May 6, 1954 Bannister broke the four minute barrier. He did this by getting himself to create in his mind new references that commanded his nervous system to produce the results he wanted, he believed he could do it. The amazing thing about that feat was that one month after Bannister broke the four minute barrier his record was broken by John Landy and from that day to this day over 30,000 athletes including high school students have done it. They all now had a reference point. You see, Roger Bannister had the ability to get himself to feel certain that he could succeed even though no one else had ever accomplished it.

Now consider those amongst us who believe that events control their lives and that our environment has made us who we are. No, no, no people, perish that thought. It’s never the occurrences in our lives that make us who we are, but our beliefs about what those occurrences mean. Think about it, we all know of someone who has been through what we are going through or worse and have overcome it or changed things for the better. Friends, the difference between a coward and a brave person is their belief about what the situation they find themselves mean. Where the coward sees certain death, the brave person sees opportunity.

Too many of us seem to develop limiting beliefs about who we are and what we are capable of. Why? Because in the past we may never have succeeded at things, so we believe that we won’t succeed in the future. It’s in moments like these that we tend to talk about being realistic. Don’t be realistic my friends, ‘Your Past Doesn’t Equal Your Future’.

Do not walk through life believing that nothing you do can make things better or that things are pointless and will only lead to more pain. If you are not getting the result s you want in your life, ask yourself, “what would I have to believe in order to succeed here?” You can also challenge you present belief, ask yourself “what is it going to cost me emotionally, physically, financially and in my relationships if I do not let go of this belief?”. Once you have challenged your belief always ask yourself “what would I have to believe in order to get the results I want?”. Let me leave you with this quote,

“The belief that becomes truth for me….is that
Which allows me the best use of my strength, the best
Means of putting my virues into action”---Andre Gide