FROM: thinkyourselffit.ca

By Bob Proctor

In October 2011 it was fifty years since I first picked up Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich, and I’ve never put it down. It was the first of a few thousand books that now sit in my library, a library I’ve grown to love. In fact, I’m sitting in the middle of it as I write this story.

I’ve been absolutely fascinated with the study of success, finding out what you and I are capable of doing, why people do what they do and why many people never do what they really want to do. It’s a little over forty-two years since I began working in this field full-time, devoting all my energy toward helping individuals realize that all things are possible, that you and I do have infinite potential, that we truly are God’s highest form of creation. Now, forty-two years later, our company LifeSuccess Productions operates in over 80 countries.

So, needless to say, I’ve not only read, I have written and seen many many success stories. Almost all of them are about the poor boy or girl who makes good, who rises to a position of power, possibility and promise.

The story I’m about to tell you isn’t about a person that goes from a laboring position to the Board Room. No, it’s the story of a young woman who went from a Board Room to a Board Room. However, when she made her move it was a totally different Board Room that had attracted her.

This is the story of tremendous courage. It’s a story of walking away from something that had taken two decades to build not to mention a high six-figure income that was being left behind. It’s the story of a person going against conventional wisdom and the dictates of friends, relatives and colleagues.

On August 18, 2006, the young lady walked into a three-day seminar that I was conducting in the city of Vancouver in Washington State. Little did she realize that everything in her life was about to change and change dramatically.

Sandra Gallagher had a thriving law practice that she had built over a twenty-year period. This wasn’t any ordinary law practice, it was a complex corporate finance, bank merger & acquisitions practice. She was highly respected in her field. The fact that she had built such a successful practice in a very complex and specialized field was no surprise to her parents, other members of her family or to many of the people in her industry. Twenty years earlier she graduated the top banking law student in all of the United States. Needless to say she had her choice of the top law firms she could go to work with.

However, this story is not about how she built a successful practice in the legal profession. I share this with you to let you know that she was in the top percentile of her profession and her income reflected her success — And she was about to walk away from it all. By most people’s standards, she had it all – she was beautiful, intelligent, wealthy and had earned the respect of her peers. And she was about to leave it all behind. Why? Why would she do that?

You see, the truth is most people wouldn’t and that is what makes her truly an extraordinary human being who, in her own words, is marching to the tune of a different drummer, is living the life that she believes God meant her to live. She would be the first to tell you that she believes we have been blessed with tremendous potential and that we are here to do God’s work. Since God is the creator, God’s work is creation, and you and I have been blessed with creative faculties, so it’s our responsibility to create greater good all the days of our life.

Conventional wisdom would say this woman was crazy. She was losing her mind. She had what most people wanted; but she did not have what she wanted. That’s the story I want to share with you.

CLICK HERE to watch a FREE video with Bob Proctor

At a particular point early in the seminar I asked the audience a question – “What do you want? What do you Really Want?”

And then I went on to explain that very few people are going after what they truly want in life. Most people settle for what they think they can get.

I kept encouraging the audience to let their mind drift, activate their imagination and see themselves living the life they really wanted to live, I also made it clear that they didn’t have to know how they were going to be able to do it. It wasn’t necessary to know where the required money or other resources would come from.

Now keep in mind, this is an exercise that very few people get involved in. If you doubt this, stop the average person on the street and ask them “What do you really want?” They’ll probably look at you like a deer in headlights – they won’t know what you mean.

Or take a look at how most people are living – do they look like they’re getting what they want? Of course not.

The real deep truth in what I was saying clicked in Sandra Gallagher’s mind and although she did not dislike her law practice, when she gave it serious thought it wasn’t what she really wanted. She got thinking about it, and she realized she was probably following in her father’s footsteps who was a very successful banking attorney himself.

Because of Sandy’s superior intellect doing well in her field was not difficult, in fact it was almost natural, it always had been. She was always at the top of her class. But she realized in an ideal situation if she had a choice of how she lived, how she spent her days, she would not be doing what she was doing. She wasn’t quite sure what she would be doing but she knew that the law practice would not be a part of it.

And then suddenly she realized that she did have a choice. In fact, J. Martin Kohe wrote a book entitled Your Greatest Power and your greatest power is your ability to choose. And although most people would never leave a successful practice, whether they were excited about it or not, she was not most people. She said after that seminar it became a priority to her that she enjoy how she spent her days.

What I’m sharing with you are personal thoughts that Sandy has shared with me and she gave me permission to share them with you.

She said before the seminar was over, although she had not decided to leave her law practice, she had decided that she would like to be on the inner circle of my company LifeSuccess Productions. She said she didn’t know what that meant, and she shared the dream with no one. Sandy made a decision she would seriously study the work I did. She later told me she had made up her mind, whatever I was selling or teaching, she was going to buy.

She found out that we had a consulting program where we train consultants to Speak, to Teach, to Coach, to Consult with individuals and organizations. She became a certified consultant of our materials which enabled her to teach our material anywhere in the world.

After she became involved in the Consulting Program, she became aware of our coaching program. She immediately enrolled in the program and over the next 13 months on a weekly basis she was involved in a program of personal growth that was transforming her entire thought process.

While all this was taking place she approached one of the executives in our company and said “You know, I’ve gone to some of the best Universities in the world, I’ve studied in America and the UK, I’ve worked in three of the largest law firms in America, and nowhere did anyone teach me the information that LifeSuccess is teaching me. It is the most important information that I have ever studied.”

She went on to say that she would like to start LifeSuccess Corporate, a division of our company and take this information into the Board Room of her clients. She said “They need what you’ve got and I’ve decided I want to create a program with Bob Proctor. The starting point is thinking. At present the starting point is the balance sheet or the sales sheet or the P&L. See that’s the manifestation of past thinking and if it’s going to change the thinking has to change. I’ve got a program created in my mind called Thinking Into Results.”

After investing a healthy six-figure sum of her own money, she gave birth to LifeSuccess Corporate in partnership with LifeSuccess Productions. The end result was the production of one of the best programs I’ve ever had the privilege of being involved in. When the program was complete I picked it up and looked at it and I looked at her and at that moment she earned my complete respect. She had taken absolute responsibility for her success. She didn’t expect anyone else to do the job for her. Sandra Gallagher wrote, produced and directed me through this entire program. Thinking Into Results is without question one of the most effective programs for producing new, improved results that any corporation has seen.

This woman did such an extraordinary job that in January of 2009 I offered her the position of President & CEO of the LifeSuccess Group of Companies. She accepted the position with one condition – that I would support the moves and changes that she would make 100 percent. I gave her my commitment and told her to go to work.

Sandy has taken the success principles from her legal career and combined them with the best material we’ve got and is making tremendous headway in taking our company LifeSuccess Productions to a brand new level. Our Consulting and Coaching division is experiencing tremendous growth. We are attracting new people all the time thanks to her expert direction.

Five months after she accepted the position, on May the 14^th 2009, she drafted a letter that was sent to over 2000 clients and colleagues advising them that she was closing her practice and leaving the profession. The day she sent that letter she phoned me and she said I’ve got the letter all ready to send but I’m experiencing tremendous reluctance. What she was actually experiencing was something we refer to as the “terror barrier” something every one of us experiences when we go to make a change that could be considered a quantum leap ahead, to do something we consider more growth oriented. This is a real phenomenon, here is a person that is making a move to do something they truly want to do and yet all their emotions are moving in high gear trying to stop them. That’s why we refer to this as the terror barrier – they are virtually being paralyzed with fear. With most people the fear wins and they stop them self from doing the thing t hey really want to do. Sandy refused to let the fear win.

I said Sandy, “JUMP, hit the send button, you’ll develop wings on the way down.” And as she sent that letter I could hear a squeal of fear coming out of her voice. But she never looked back. She stepped out and did the thing she really wanted to do. So you see she did leave the Board Room for the Board Room but in her world it was a huge change.

And although this didn’t happen overnight, it all took place when she began to seriously ask herself what she really wanted. And the beautiful truth is, the day she made that decision to question what she was doing with her life was the day creative energy really began to flow through her. And she created the program that is changing the lives of people in companies all over the world.

When you do what you love, everyone you come in contact with benefits from it.

If you’ve ever bought a product or book, only to have it gather dust on your shelf, this will really help you: Click here to watch this important video from Bob Proctor

Nine Truths That Can Set You on the Path to Financial Freedom

By Joshua Kennon, About.com Guide

FROM: BeginnersInvest.about.com

#1: Change the Way You Think About Money

The general population has a love / hate relationship with wealth. They resent those who have it, but spend their entire lives attempting to get it for themselves. The reason a vast majority of people never accumulate a substantial nest egg is because they don’t understand the nature of money or how it works.

Cash, like a person, is a living thing. When you wake up in the morning and go to work, you are selling a product – yourself (or more specifically, your labor). When you realize that every morning your assets wake up and have the same potential to work as you do, you unlock a powerful key in your life. Each dollar you save is like an employee. Over the course of time, the goal is to make your employees work hard, and eventually, they will make enough money to hire more workers (cash). When you have become truly successful, you no longer have to sell your own labor, but can live off of the labor of your assets.

#2: Develop an Understanding of the Power of Small Amounts

The biggest mistake most people make is that they think they have to start with an entire Napoleon-like army. They suffer from the “not enough” mentality; namely that if they aren’t making $1,000 or $5,000 investments at a time, they will never become rich. What these people don’t realize is that entire armies are built one soldier at a time; so too is their financial arsenal.

A friend of mine once knew a woman who worked as a dishwasher and made her purses out of used liquid detergent bottles. This woman invested and saved everything she had despite it never being more than a few dollars at a time. Now, her portfolio is worth millions upon millions of dollars, all of which was built upon small investments. I am not suggesting you become this frugal, but the lesson is still a valuable one. Do not despise the day of small beginnings!

#3: With Each Dollar You Save, You Are Buying Yourself Freedom

When you put it in these terms, you see how spending $20 here and $40 there can make a huge difference in the long run. Since money has the ability to work in your place, the more of it you employ, the faster and larger it will grow. Along with more money comes more freedom – the freedom to stay home with your kids, the freedom to retire and travel around the world, or the freedom to quit your job. If you have any source of income, it is possible for you to start building wealth today. It may only be $5 or $10 at a time, but each of those investments is a stone in the foundation of your financial freedom.

#4: You Are Responsible for Where You Are in Your Life

Years ago, a friend told me she didn’t want to invest in stocks because she “didn’t want to wait ten years to be rich…” she would rather enjoy her money now. The folly with this school of thinking is that the odds are, you are going to be alive in ten years. The question is whether or not you will be better off when you arrive there. Where you are right now is the sum total of the decisions you have made in the past. Why not set the stage for your life in the future right now?

#5: Instead of Buying the Product… Buy the Stock!

Someone once asked me why they weren’t wealthy. They always felt like they were putting money aside, yet never seemed to get any further ahead. The answer is simple. I told them to stop buying the products companies sell and start buying the company itself! A survey of America’s affluent (those who make over $225,000 a year or own $3,000,000 in assets) revealed that 27-30% of all the income the wealthy earned went into investments and savings. That isn’t a result of being rich, that is why they are rich. When the pain of getting out of the bondage of financial slavery is greater than the pain of changing your spending habits, you will become rich. Either change, or be content to live as you are.

#6: Study and Admire Success and Those Who Have Achieved It… Then Emulate It

A very wise investor once said to pick the traits you admire and dislike the most about your heroes, then do everything in your power to develop the traits you like and reject the ones you don’t. Mold yourself into who you want to become. You’ll find that by investing in yourself first, money will begin to flow into your life. Success and wealth beget success and wealth. You have to purchase your way into that cycle, and you do so by building your army one soldier at a time and putting your money to work for you.

#7: Realize that More Money is Not the Answer

More money is not going to solve your problem. Money is a magnifying glass; it will accelerate and bring to light your true habits. If you are not capable of handling a job paying $18,000 a year, the worst possible thing that could happen to you is for you to earn six figures. It would destroy you. I have met too many people earning $100,000 a year who are living from paycheck to paycheck and don’t understand why it is happening. The problem isn’t the size of their checkbook, it is the way in which they were taught to use money.

#8: Unless Your Parents Were Wealthy, Don’t Do What They Did

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If your parents were not living the life you want to live then don’t do what they did! You must break away from the mentality of past generations if you want to have a different lifestyle than they had.

To achieve the financial freedom and success that your family may or may not have had, you have to do two things. First, make a firm commitment to get out of debt. To find out which debts should be paid off before you invest and those that are acceptable, read Pay Off Your Debt or Invest?. Second, make saving and investing the highest financial priority in your life; one technique is to pay yourself first.

Purchasing equity is vital to your financial success as an individual whether you are in need of cash income or desire long-term appreciation in stock value. Nowhere else can your money do as much for you as when you use it to invest in a business that has wonderful long-term prospects.

#9: Don’t Worry

The miracle of life is that it doesn’t matter so much where you are, it matters where you are going. Once you have made the choice to take control back of your life by building up your net worth, don’t give a second thought to the “what ifs”. Every moment that goes by, you are growing closer and closer to your ultimate goal – control and freedom.

Every dollar that passes through your hands is a seed to your financial future. Rest assured, if you are diligent and responsible, financial prosperity is an inevitability. The day will come when you make your last payment on your car, your house, or whatever else it is you owe. Until then, enjoy the process.

More Information

This article is part of our How to Get Rich guide for new investors. For more information on how to take control of your finances, generate passive income, control your debt, and become financially independent, read How to Get Rich – A Guide to Getting Rich.

From TheSykesgrp.com

By Ed Sykes

The following are ten motivation action steps you can take to motivate yourself in work, business, and life:

1.     Positive Affirmations for Success

Our subconscious mind is a wonderful tool for success or failure.  It will do what we tell it to do.  It all depends on what thoughts we feed it.  So why not feed your inner mind with only positive thoughts.  The following are some examples of positive affirmations you can feed your inner mind for success:

§         “Today, I will win because I have faith, courage and enthusiasm.”

§         “I see failure only as a signpost on my road to success.”

§         “When I feel stress, I will relax and release my stress before I take on my next task.”

§         “I always write down my priorities, thinking of my responsibilities.  I may not get everything done, but I will do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.”

§         “I am a winner, I work for a winning organization, and because of my contribution and cooperation we will keep on winning.”

§         “Today, I will see opportunity in every challenge offered to me.”

2.     Positive Language for Success

Recent research has come out that 75% of daily conversation is negative.  Whether it is the words we use or the body language, we need to communicate in a positive manner all the time.

The following are some examples of how you can turn negative words into positive communication:

§         Instead of saying “problem,” call it “opportunity.”

§         Instead of an action being a “failure,” describe it as a “learning experience.”

§         Instead of “I have to,” say “I choose to.”  This gives control for your actions back to you.

§         Instead of saying, “There’s nothing I can do,” say, “Let’s look at our alternatives.”

§         Instead of saying, “That’s just the way I am,” say, “I choose a different approach.”

§         Instead of saying, “He makes me so mad,” say, “I control my own feelings.”

If you notice, by using the positive response, you have control over your actions and life.

3.     Exercise for Success

A Gallup survey found the following among men and women who have taken up exercise recently:

§         66 percent report a more relaxed life

§         62 percent a new surge of energy

§         55 percent less stress

§         51 percent better looks

§         46 percent more confidence

§         45 percent better love life

§         44 percent greater job satisfaction

§         37 percent more creative on their jobs

These are great motivators to exercise!  Next time you feel demotivated, give your body a workout.  Recent research reports that as little as fifteen minutes three times a week has profound effects.  Get moving.  Get motivated.

4.     Take Risks for Success

We all live our lives in comforts zones, avoiding risky situations, avoiding the potential to fail.  It’s real safe for us.  But in order to get ahead of your competition and master the ongoing change in your life, you must go out of your comfort zone.  Start one step at a time.  Try that little new thing, that different approach.  It could be as simple as taking different routes to and from work.  Once in a while I like to “take the road less traveled” to stir up my creative juices.  Then, keep stepping out of your zone.  It may seem uncomfortable at first.  But the more you do it, the more it will seem natural and you will see an increase in your creative juices and opportunities you never thought about before.

5.     Positive Reading for Success

Read about the lives of successful people.  Make sure you read only those people that embrace the timeless values that make them truly successful through the ages.  Not the “success today, scandal tomorrow” success stories that we are experiencing today.  People like Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of Federal Express, Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are good examples. These are people who overcame enormous challenges, created real value for others, or changed other people’s lives for the better.

6.     Positive Visualizations for Success

Condition yourself to paint your vision for success.  One of the best ways to do this is the following:

§         Go to a quiet place in your home or elsewhere.  Turn off all radios, televisions, etc.

§         Find a comfortable chair and get into a relaxed state of mind.

§         Start thinking about one goal you want to accomplish.  Remember, visualize as if you are already accomplishing this goal.

§         Visualize taking all the necessary steps to successfully complete these goals.  The better your visualization, where you can actually see, feel, hear, and touch your vision, the more real it is to you.

§         Visualize any challenges to your successful completion of this goal and how you will eliminate this challenges.

§         Visualize how good it feels to complete this goal.  Visualize what benefits it will bring to you, your family, friends, co-workers, etc.  Enjoy the moment!

Important:  If you don’t take time to see it, it won’t happen!

7.     Think Big for Success

See the big picture in everything we do.  So much of our time is wasted dealing with the unimportant things in our lives (what that person said or did, the driver who cut us off this morning, and activities which don’t add value to our lives, etc.) that we forget about the big picture.  We were put on this earth to make a difference. We make a difference for our families, our communities, our organizations, and for ourselves.  All of our actions must be put into action with this concept in mind.  Think a little bigger today than yesterday, and you’ll create a better future tomorrow.  Thinking big leads to great actions.  Thinking small leads to small results.  So Think BIG!

8.     Set Goals for Success

The fastest way to fail in life is to not set clear goals.  Set goals in the financial, family, health, spiritual, and career areas.  Your goals must incorporate the SMART techniques or else it’s just a “conversation in the park.”

§         S for specific

§         M for measurable

§         A for attainable

§         R for realistic

§         T for time-based

For example, you might have a goal of achieving $2 million for retirement in twenty years.  After doing your research, a SMART goal would be the following:

“I will acquire $2 million dollars for retirement by 2024.  I will do this by contributing $20K, or $1667 per month, to my various retirement funds each year.  Of the $20k each year, $2k will go to my IRA, and $18K will go into my organization’s retirement program.”

Remember the most detail you can add, the more realistic your goal becomes.

9.     Positive Appearance for Success

Super achievers are very careful about their appearance and their movements.  They know that looking good translates into feeling good.  Billy Crystal, of Saturday Night Live and movie fame, once played a character that was known for saying, “It is better to look good than to feel good.”  What he was really implying was the “fake it until you make it” concept.  In other words, if we are feeling down, then think positively and your mind will tell your body to follow suit and act positively.  Also always dress the part of an achiever.  Model the dress, actions, and behaviors of someone who is successful and embraces the long term values of successful people. This will also tell your mind that I am an achiever.

Don’t let that be the deciding factor on being motivated.  You can easily distinguish those who are motivated from those who are not motivated just by looking at their appearance and their movements.  The motivated move forward, onward and upward with confidence.

10. Helping Others for Success

Develop an obsession to help others.  Share your special talents without expecting a reward, payment, or commendation.  And above all else, keep your good deed a secret.

You know what, it you apply the helping techniques to others, it will automatically come back to you tenfold in a number of ways.  First, the enjoyment of knowing that a special talent you had made someone else’s life better.  Second, because you didn’t seek it, word will spread about you and your deeds.  This will be translated into unexpected riches and opportunities.  Third, you will gain a new level of confidence in knowing that you can make a difference.  Super achievers find motivation and meaning by helping others.

Want to learn how to be a motivated achiever? Our Master Your Attitude, Team Building, Life After Downsizing, How to Develop the Leader Within You, Time Management Skills to Achieve More, and How to Handle Workplace Stress and Master Your Life programs can help you lead others to the next level.  Also read our articles on motivation, goal setting, etc. Call us at 757-427-7032 or e-mail us at esykes@thesykesgrp.com.

Ed Sykes is a professional speaker published in the areas of leadership, change management, customer service and teamwork. He works with business and government organizations who want to reach the next level of success and individuals who want to perform at their best. You can email him at esykes@thesykesgrp.com, call him at (757) 427-7032 or visit his Web site at www.thesykesgrp.com.

Internal changes to transform your life.

By Steven M. Melemis, Ph.D., M.D., for MSN Health & Fitness

The purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness. But you sometimes lose your way and end up going in the wrong direction. When that happens, how do you change your life to make it better?

Happiness is an inside job. Before you change anything else in your life, have a look at yourself. If you don’t change who you are, any external changes you make will feel nice temporarily, but then you’ll go back to feeling the way you did before.

Here are the five points that will help you change your life:

1. Get ready for change.
2. Identify what you need to change.
3. Let go of old habits to make room for change.
4. Learn new coping skills.
5. Incorporate the changes into your life.

Get ready for change

Don’t be afraid to look at yourself. You may be worried that you will find something you don’t like. Everyone has a few dark corners in their character. That’s normal, and shouldn’t be an obstacle to change.

Start with your easiest issues and you will gradually make changes in the rest. Everything is connected. Look at your deepest issues only when you are ready.

Take small steps. Don’t take an all-or-nothing approach to change and sabotage yourself before you start. Decide ahead of time to make small changes, and you will make progress.

When you take an all-or-nothing approach, you don’t have the energy to make big changes, and you don’t see the significance of small changes, so you will feel stuck. There are only a few things you probably need to change in order to make a big improvement in your life.

Identify what you need to change

Stress and negative thinking are the most common things people need to change. Examples of stress include fears, resentments, dwelling on the past, or worrying about the future. Examples of negative thinking include all-or-nothing thinking and disqualifying the positives.

Do you think that things have to be perfect, and anything less is a failure? Do you focus on the few negatives in your life and ignore the many positives? These factors lead to most unhappiness. In severe cases they can lead to anxiety, depression, and addiction.

How all-or-nothing thinking leads to problems: “I have to do things perfectly because anything less is a failure.” This is the most common type of negative thinking, and the main cause of anxiety, depression, and addiction.

All-or-nothing thinking leads to anxiety because you’re worried that any mistake can expose you to criticism. You’re always second-guessing yourself, and you don’t give yourself permission to let your guard down.

It can lead to depression because when you think you have to be perfect, you feel trapped by your own high standards. That can be so exhausting that it depletes your mental and emotional resources leading to depression. All-or-nothing thinking can also lead to addiction because anxiety or depression feels so uncomfortable that you may turn to drugs or alcohol to escape.

Make room for change

The most overlooked part of change is making room for change. This is the missing piece in most self-help plans, and the reason why most people fail. They focus on why they are unhappy, thinking that alone will lead to change. They spend most of their effort trying to understand their issues. But this is just one part of change.

You also have to let go of old habits so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Have you ever asked yourself, “How could I be so smart but do such dumb things?” That’s what happens when you try to change without making room for change.

When you’re tense, you tend to do what’s familiar and wrong instead of what’s new and right. Stress is an obstacle to change because when you are tense, your ego and fears get in the way. Change isn’t just about what you learn, it’s also about what you let go.

Think of it this way. There are many coping skills you need to be happy. If you learn them all but don’t learn how to relax, you will still find it hard to change, because when you’re tense you will continue to repeat what’s familiar and wrong.

On the other hand, if you learn only one new coping skill—how to relax—you’ll still be happier, because everything is easier when you’re relaxed. If there is anything else you need to change, you’ll see it more easily and deal with it more effectively when you’re more relaxed.

Learn new coping skills

The three coping skills most people need to learn are these:

• How to reduce stress and relax
• How to stop dwelling on the negatives and disqualifying the positives
• How to take better care of oneself

Stress management is important because it helps you reduce the anxieties, fears, and resentments that lead to unhappiness and are obstacles to change. It helps you live in the moment instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

In the moment is where you feel happiest and content. It’s hard to feel happy when you’re dwelling on the past. You replay events from the past and dwell on what happened and how it upset you. Stress management helps you let go of the past so that you can enjoy the moment.

Relaxation is more than just a way to relax. It is a way to change your life. You relax by letting go of the stress and negative thinking that lead to unhappiness, and in doing so you improve your life. This is what makes relaxation a coping skill for change.

There are a variety of relaxation techniques to choose from. They range from breathing techniques to yoga and meditation. They all help you let go of tension and be in the moment.
Cognitive therapy is the most commonly used technique for changing your thinking. The main idea behind cognitive therapy is that your thinking determines your mood. Your mood is not determined by external factors, but how you interpret external factors.

If, for example, you interpret your experiences in a negative way, you will feel negative. The opposite is also true. If you take time to appreciate the positives in your life and don’t disqualify them, you can improve your mood. If you change your thinking, you will change your life.

Stress management also teaches you how to take better care of yourself. You practice putting time aside to relax, which is an act of self-care. You are saying that you are worth taking time for, which improves your self-esteem.

Incorporate the changes into your life

All change is difficult, even good change. You have repeated your old habits thousands of times. You will have to repeat your new habits a few hundred times before they start to feel comfortable.

Both stress management and cognitive therapy can help here. You practice being relaxed and happy in stress management so that you can incorporate these qualities into your life. You practice a healthier way of thinking in cognitive therapy so that it can become your new automatic response.

Mind-body relaxation and cognitive therapy serve the purpose of life. Combined, they help you overcome most of the problems you are likely to face. They help you identify what makes you unhappy, let it go, and replace it with something better. They transform your life.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/cjrSfr

iPod, iPhone, iPad — iRich.

That pretty much sums up the desire of entrepreneurs, developers and businesses looking to cash in on Apple’s (AAPL) iPad release and Steve Jobs’s Midas touch by bringing new iPad accessories and software to market.

With its April 3 release, the iPad marks the latest device to glom onto the multibillion-dollar cottage industry that has sprung up around Apple’s iPod and iPhone. As wanna-be entrepreneurs sit on the sidelines debating whether to jump in, analysts say consider this: Accessories are high-profit-margin items.

That cottage industry serving Apple’s iPods and iPhones generates an estimated $6 billion to $7 billion in sales annually, when lumping in headphones, speakers, docking stations, chargers, cases and the like, says NPD Group analyst Steve Baker.

The market for iPad accessories, however, isn’t expected to be as lucky.

“It won’t even get remotely close to $6 billion or $7 billion in a couple of years,” Baker says. “If you sold a few million iPads, that would translate into a few hundred million in accessory sales.”

Low-Ticket Accessories

Like the iPhone, the iPad is expected to suffer from a case of spurring low-ticket accessories like silicone cases and inexpensive stands that sell for under $100. For example, an iPhone case can usually be had for under $50 and Bluetooth headphones for about $80, whereas iPod accessories tend to cost much more, with docking stations running upwards of $400.

Since the birth of the iPod in 2001, a slew of “i” companies have formed, from theiStore.com, with its iPod-iPhone accessories, to iLounge.com, which offers iPod, iPhone and iPad news to its readers. And, of course, there are more established corporate players from Belkin to Logitech fishing for a new revenue stream by adding “i” accessories to their product lines.

One of the early entrants to adopt the “i” theme was theiStore.com, which launched its Web site in 2003.

“I bought an iPod and couldn’t find a silicone case for it. I was trying to bridge that gap when I found a silicone maker in China who had them available in 40 colors,” says Michael Lipner, president of theiStore.com. His company quickly set out to be a distributor of these cases.

Opening Splash

Within the first two years of opening, theiStore.com’s sales peaked at more than $2 million, Lipner says.

But the demands of being a small distributor were taxing, and Lipner sold off that part of his business to focus on developing unique iPod and iPhone accessories. But by the time he restructured his business, a number of new competitors had entered the market.

The iStore now generates sales under $2 million annually and is taking a cautious look at the iPad, Lipner says. He notes that for people who are considering jumping into the iPod, iPhone and iPad market, it may be too late. “Lots of people have done just that,” Lipner says. “Pretty much any URL that starts with iPod, iPhone and iPad has already entered the field.”

Renowned venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is looking to stoke the entrepreneurial fire, announcing Wednesday it planned to double its “iFund” to $200 million. That money is earmarked for investments in new applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, an area that has attracted an avalanche of attention from software developers.

Developers focusing on entertainment, communication, social networking, commerce, health care and education for the iPad may attract Kleiner Perkins’s attention, creating yet another player in this burgeoning cottage industry.

An Allentown‘s Worth of Developers

With the kind of money that Kleiner Perkins is dangling for developer entrepreneurs, this industry may burst at the seams. According to a Credit Suisse report, Apple has attracted roughly 100,000 developers to create applications for its iPhone operating system — enough folks to fill Allentown, Penn.

“We expect all ventures to have an iPad strategy,” said Kleiner partner John Doerr in a statement. “A new, truly revolutionary platform is rare, and a prize for entrepreneurs.”

Already, more than 1,350 iPad apps have hit Apple’s iTunes App Store, according to AppAdvice.com, which covers news and reviews on Apple apps. Among those with wares are some of the most established players, such as the successful mobile game developer ngmoco, which has developed seven games for the iPad, including three made exclusively for the new tablet.

“We’re finding it to be a Pandora’s box of opportunity,” says Clive Downie, ngmoco’s vice president of marketing. “It has a wonderfully large screen, great touch sensitivity, more touch points than the iPhone. It’s an order of magnitude better.”

Whether the iPad proves a successful platform for the game developer will depend on Apple’s success in selling the device to consumers, he adds. “It’s our belief it will be successful and give Apple a foothold in the home environment, in the same way the iPhone and iPod Touch gave them a claim on consumers’ time on the go,” Downie says. “The iPad is going to give them that in the home.”

Good for Independent Developers

Agile Web Solutions, a small independent software developer, says it has had a tremendous number of requests for an iPad version of 1Password and is “treating it like a critical new component” of its 1Password product, a password manager and automatic form-filler first released for Macintosh desktops and laptops.

“We’ve even heard from plenty of customers who plan on completely replacing either their notebooks or some family members’ notebooks with an iPad, so our iPad version has to be the best 1Password client we can make for that device,” says David Chartier, Agile’s chief media producer.

“I think tablets are going to be an incredible new platform that offers a ton of growth for everyone, but especially independent developers,” Chartier says. He expects such developers to push the boundaries of the new device in ways that bigger software developers might not.

“I think we’ll see a tremendous amount of useful innovation from Apple with iPhone OS and Google (GOOG) with Chrome OS and Android,” he says. “It’s all going to translate to a tremendous amount of opportunity for third parties to make these platforms reach their true potential.”

With reporting from DailyFinance’s Dawn Kawamoto

Self-made millionaires have been studied extensively throughout the years. The good news is that success is not an accident. Success can be learned and it leaves tracks. The great news is that you can follow the tracks of successful people to arrive at your ultimate destination. In this upbeat presentation, Brian shows you: Ways to get off Someday Isle and move your life in the right direction; How to develop a sense of control and sense of coherence in life; 16 qualities or learnable skills that will virtually guarantee your success; The 20-idea “mindstorming” method to find your self-purpose.

Have you ever noticed that the people who are the problem never recognize themselves as being the problem?  Zig Ziglar gives a great speech about attitude on the job. 

Success is a brick by brick A-Z process. It isnt rocket science. So, what if someone gave you the bricks, the tools and the process? What would you do with it then?

Follow these recommendations to help you motivate yourself to reach your biggest goals.
(Newscom)

By Trent Hamm From The Christian Science Monitor

Every single one of us has some sort of big project hanging out there in our lives. We’d love to accomplish it, but it seems so big and the free space in our life seems so small.

Spend a moment and think about what your big goal is. It could be something as down-to-earth as a major home repair. It could be something as horizon-stretching as launching a new career or new business. It could be something completely crazy, like moving to Norway.

Whatever it is, keep that goal in mind as you read the eight tactics below. Ask yourself how you could actually apply each of these tactics towards your goal. By the end, you just might find that you’ve worked out a plan to take you from the mundane here to the amazing there.

Stop Thinking About Failure
What if I don’t succeed?

That’s often the big question that holds us back from taking big leaps in our life. We see something that would require a lot of work and energy and time and we can’t imagine the disappointment and pain if it didn’t work.

To that, I say who cares if it doesn’t work? If this is your dream, the process to get there should be filled with fun for you. Even if the destination isn’t what you dreamed of, the journey there will be fulfilling.

I want to be a fiction writer. In fifteen years of attempts, I have not successfully published a single piece of fiction. I keep writing, though. Why? Because it’s a lot of fun, regardless of whether I succeed or fail. In fact, I don’t even think about failure. It doesn’t matter. I write stuff I like and keep sending it out, at which point I’ve already succeeded. Anything else is just icing on the cake.

Keep Your Goal Within the Realm of Reality
Goals like quadrupling your salary in six months are going to backfire and demotivate you. No matter how good you are, they’re simply not going to happen.

One great way to make sure a goal is realistic is to ask yourself how much of the success of that goal relies solely on you. The more that relies solely on you and not on the actions of others, the more likely you’ll find success.

Another effective tool is to get your goal reviewed, but we’ll talk about that in a bit.

Take Small Bites Every Day
Every day that goes by, you should take some sort of action towards your goal. Take a walk for better health. Read a book for your education. Write 1,000 words a day (as Stephen King famously suggested for budding writers). Do something to stretch your skills or to learn more about the area where your goal is focused. Take an incremental step directly towards your goal.

The big advantage to doing this is that it keeps your goal always fresh in your mind while slowly reducing the size of the iceberg. You’re always moving in the right direction, bringing that mountain in the distance closer and closer and always keeping it in mind.

Find a Mentor
A mentor is someone who can offer you unbiased and worthwhile advice about your goal and your approaches to achieving it. A mentor can fulfill more of a coaching role, pushing you along through the specifics, or more of a guidance-based role, offering you general feedback on your goals and plans to get there.

How do you find a mentor? Seek out people who are successful in your area of interest, as well as people who are knowledgable about the area you’re trying to cover. Places to start might include your doctor, your social network, or your work environment.

Find Positive Support
Having people that you can discuss your progress with and who will support you in a positive way is essential for big goals. Good positive support fills you with confidence and helps you pick yourself back up after struggling with a particular goal.

This might not be your usual social network. Many people are often unhelpful when it comes to the positive support that others need. Do the people around you make you feel good about the things you want to do? If they don’t, it may be time to start seeking out more positive people to surround yourself with.

Remember, a good, valuable friend is one who makes you feel better about yourself and makes you feel ready to conquer the difficult things in life.

Shred Your Routine
When we have a highly established daily/weekly routine, it can often feel impossible to find room in that schedule for the things we dream of doing. Our routine feels natural and it enables us to keep up with the day-to-day ebb and flow of events.

If you want to find room for that goal, shake up your routine. Start doing some things before work instead of after work. Drop an activity or two that’s gone stale for you. Start taking a nap. Stop watching television or surfing the internet as much.

Shaking up your routine makes many things in your life feel new, and that’s a perfect time to start working every day towards a big goal in your life.

Share Your Goal Widely
Turn the people in your life into motivators by telling them about your goal. When you share your goals with the key people in your life, they become a source of motivation to get up and do something.

On one level, you’re personally motivated because you simply don’t want to show failure to the people in your life. On another level, they will often actually motivate you.

Know Your Motivation
Why are you working towards this goal? If it’s just something you want, it’s much easier to put it aside. It is much easier to convince yourself to make the hard choices if you’re making those hard choices for the benefit of others.

Learning something new because it fulfills you is an easy thing to put off. Learning something new because it brings value to others is much more urgent.

Keep that motivation front and center. Use visual reminders of your motivation. Put a picture of someone you really want to impress on the front of your refrigerator if you’re trying to diet, for example. Wrap your credit cards in a picture of your children. These external sources will motivate you to make the little choices that build the foundation of success.

Good luck!

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/The-Simple-Dollar/2010/0318/Motivating-yourself-to-accomplish-more

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