Uncovering Your Passion

Uncovering Your Passion

Uncovering Your Passion

Successful entrepreneurs have a mind set unlike others, but one thing that they have that is critical to their business venture ideas that becomes their million dollar ideas, and in creating successful business for themselves, they have PASSION!

Similar to lust and love, sometimes I believe we can get a bit confused with which is which, and it is not until we feel true love do we understand what it is. For example, in those younger years and thought to be in love only to find out many years later that all we were doing was living a state of lust during those premature dating years. Passion is similar, where you don't really understand it until we uncover it. I use the term uncover, mostly because we all have something we are passionate about lying deep within us, the problem is most of us just haven't unleashed it. We tend to never take the time to "stop and smell the roses" in our overwhelming day-to-day lives. We are in a world where we have to go, go, go, especially as entrepreneurial mothers, trust me I completely understand. It is not until we are in a situation that forces us to uncover or rediscover that passion (because we got so busy we stopped doing the things that brought us joy). These situations that cause us to pause and reflect sometimes happen forcefully. By forcefully I mean, we did not intend to manifest a situation that causes our lives to seem in that moment out of balance, possibly even create some chaos in our lives. This is why I believe in many cases when we go through difficult times, these situations are simply signs from the Universe telling us to slow down, and take notice of what is before us. When we take notice of these manifested circumstances our perspective on them changes, and we do not see them as difficult times, but more along the lines of simply lessons and awakenings that we must pay attention to (this is my new perspective after having experienced the latter). I believe, and from my personal experience if we do not take the time to learn and pay attention to these circumstances that we attract we tend to see them as bad times, or bad luck, and we begin to throw ourselves into a spiral of depression screaming "why, why me", making it much harder to see what the Universe is intending to show us – which is a good thing if we choose to change our perspective.

We are all born to be the best that we can be. We are all born to live lives filled with joy, passion and love, living fulfilling and amazing life experiences. This is our mission in life, and that is absolute!

Without heart, there can be no passion, no enthusiasm, no feeling of energy and no charisma.  A leader high on heart and emotional intelligence breeds victory.  A disheartened leader, doubtful and stressed, manifests loss.

– John J. Murphy, Leading with Passion

For a long time I thought I was following my passion, until one day I had that "aha" moment when I realized that as my role in my life had changed over the course of time, these changes were simply leading me towards uncovering my true passion. I kept resisting by simply ignoring the signs, and thought stubbornly to myself, I am passionate about my business, I have to be, I built it from nothing. Now just to be clear, I was passionate about the business I had started, but it wasn't the business itself, it was the things I was doing in my business. You see, I realized I was passionate about starting a business and that whole process of building something out of nothing, and making it successful, which I did. I was passionate about working with people, and creating partnerships and great professional relationships, helping them to grow their ideas and businesses. I was passionate about many of the things I was doing; I just needed to find a way to incorporate these elements into other avenues that allowed me to further express my passion.

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So one day, I realized, I have chosen to be a mother, that is my role, the most important role I have, and I want to be a great mother, I want to be there for my children emotionally and physically whenever they need me. In that moment, I realized that my greatest passion in my current life was in being a mother. I continued to list all the elements that I also felt passionate about which forced me to begin connecting the dots. Why not blend being a mother with the business world, and this is when I began to have successful business ideas, these were unique business ideas that started to come to me readily. It was like once I connected the dots, and accepted my role as a mother as being a passion of mine, it all made sense. It's similar to people who have hobbies, and say "well it's just my hobby, I couldn't make a living doing this", but the reality is you could if it was your passion, it is what you are meant to be doing, begin to monetize it!

I feel I fought myself on discovering my passion for quite some time, and it was only because I allowed my ego to get in the way of this uncovering. I didn't want to believe that being a mother could possibly be a passion, and least of all something I could somehow blend with my business world. But once I did make this realization some great entrepreneurial ideas where unleashed and all these innovative business ideas began to flourish. I (or my ego) wanted to believe that the business I was running was my passion, but it wasn't, although there were many elements that I was doing that were inline with my passion, I had to take the time to dissect it and uncover some amazing insights into who I was.

What led me to this "aha" moment, was simply realizing that I was unhappy, I wasn't as successful as I imagined myself to be, I felt unfulfilled, I felt under valued, I knew I had so much more potential in me, and I wanted to feel amazing.

What you are thunders so loudly that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.– Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I remember listening to the radio one day, and they were interviewing the infamous Snoop Lion aka Snoop Dog. They asked him what he believed the purpose to life was; I was expecting everything but the response he gave. He responded: "to use the gifts God gave us"! Brilliantly spoken! It is up to us to uncover these gifts and use them, so that we can live fulfilling lives, as we were meant to and inspire other along our journeys.

Your next step is to uncover your gifts, and once you do, you will uncover your passion, and you will absolutely be one step closer to creating the life of your dreams. It is important to follow your passion, because it can take you where you never thought you would go. When you walk in the path of least resistance you can amount to great things, and affect those around you to create positive changes in their lives as well.  Be true to your passion, experience it, Live it and always be true to what you Love to do, because you will always be successful when you follow you heart.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. – Johann wolfgang von Goethe

Article Source: Uncovering Your Passion

Belief in Yourself

The stronger your belief in yourself, the more you can have and achieve. Believing in yourself, in your abilities and in your capabilities is what makes your reality so undeniable. Today, more than ever, individuals need to believe in themselves and in their individual capabilities. With all the influence of social media, its difficult to differentiate truth from fiction. Its harder and harder to know the facts about any particular subject. I was always told that you can not believe everything you hear as truth, until you know the facts are concrete. 

But it seems to me that the further we move into the future the more we allow social media to control the direction of our future. Its as if the media is

controlling the direction of individuals. Instead of individuals creating the lives in which they desire and following their dreams. We must learn to take to take back control of the influences that we allow in our lives. And this is where our belief in ourselves, helps in the development of self esteem, self development and in our individual successes. There are many tools when used in conjunction with belief that help in propelling you to higher levels. Levels in which were unconceivable before belief.

Belief in yourself helps in acquiring that which you desire. In my past/present education, belief has been the first vital ingredient toward any worth while accomplishment in my development and
life. For if you believe you can do a thing the battle is 90% won. It is truly fascinating how powerful belief in yourself truly is. For if you truly believe, there is not a thing that can/will be held from you. For belief is that power that attracts and brings into your life all you could ever imagine and receive.

Belief is a tool that can be developed in our lives. As it has been stated over and over throughout the
years, it is a tool that can be perfected with proper application and desire.  These applications will be focused on changing and correcting the proper use of true information stored within your subconscious minds. For it is through our subconscious that our belief (our true belief) is uncovered and stored. So here is the foundation of our belief system, our subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is the storage of our thoughts, our life experiences, our beliefs or our definition of our beliefs in things(our perception of how we interpret and see life). It is our connection with infinite intelligence. It is our connection to all others. Our connection to all knowledge and power.  So tapping and redirecting of our subconscious minds is the infinite goal of all mankind. Because if we learn to harness and direct our subconscious, there are no feats that could be of any resistance to us. Their have been many developments in the recent years that have helped in the reprogramming of our beliefs. Affirmations are probably the most commonly used application to improve your life. Some other tools that may be of assistance that are fairly new to the public are subliminal music and subliminal videoes. As time moves further into the future new tools will be developed that will surpass the tools used now to improve on reprogramming of our belief systems.

To learn more about principles of success, self development and self improvement look to my blogs, articles and web sites on improving your number one assets, "your mind". Heres to your success.

Article Source: Belief in Yourself

Your Mindset Determines Your Success

Great video, basically sums up everything you will need to stay inspired and motivated. What do you think?

Set Life Goals And Face Your Fear = Success

Success is something we all aspire to, we all want, and yet is an elusive endeavor. Starting out for success can be difficult especially if you have not defined success in your own terms. It is a subjective topic. You cannot compare your state of success to other people as you cannot compare your misfortunes to them.

To get into your desired state of success, you must define SUCCESS in your own terms. It also involves honing your values and qualities for success, and facing your fear.

How to Set Life Goals
Setting life goals is essential for success. Life in general is like a ship sailing through the unknown seas. If you don't have direction, you will keep on sailing till your engines give up. Set your life goals and be specific about it. Know where you want to go and enjoy the journey, this will give you a safe cushion to land on when you have reached your desired state of success. It is normal to want more when you are at it, but having no goal at all will not give you a yard stick of how grateful you should be for the success. Gratefulness, yet another important value for success which we will try tackle in this article.

Be Grateful EVERYDAY!
The journey to success is not an easy road. It involves a lot of failures and small steps forward. Be grateful anyway. Being grateful helps you look into the journey to success in a lighter shade and better light. No one has won over the challenge to become successful by being pessimistic. Small success accounts for the overall success. A dollar profit is better that having no profit at all. When you are at a break-even point or having net loss, take it as a lesson learned, come out better and bigger. The more you have to work over to gain profit or success.

Facing Your Fear
Most people fail because of fear. Success and failure is a package, risk is everywhere including the journey to your success. If you are not willing to risk failing, you will not succeed. If you decide not to work for your success because of fear, you fail by default. Fight a good fight and win over your fear. This will give you a better chance of winning SUCCESS.

Set your life goals, carry the right values toward success, and win over your fear. These things maybe easier said than done but it is achievable. This is just the basic formula for success, very achievable and very true, one that we all posses in our self be we fail to enhance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6834973

Make use of every opportunity

People always give one excuse or the other for their inability to achieve some level of success. The majority of people never achieve true success and fortune, because they always wait for the big opportunity, which never comes. The world is filled to the brim with abundant opportunities. It however takes the binoculars of God to see these opportunities. I am going to illustrate the above statement with a thought provoking story.
Two friends Visited India on vacation. While there, they saw lots of people walking on bare feet. One said to the other," see the level of poverty!" but the other saw a shoe factory. He returned home and began designing shoes, and not only established a shoe factory, which made him a millionaire.
Some see obstacles, while others see opportunities. Never wait for that big break, because it may never come. Build from what you know and love and begin to niche your way to success. No idea is too small to be ignored.
You can make a surprising amount of money from a very small but focused idea, even if others tell you there is no market! We expose ourselves to failure when we foolishly wait for the right opportunity or condition to come before venturing to make a move. There is no guarantee that your life will get better with time; you must take tangible steps to ensure it.



The passing of time does not guarantee the improvement of life, but only what is done in the passing time that does. If you refuse to do anything to improve your circumstances, you will be where you are today in the next four years.
You must stop dreaming and start doing. When you see an opportunity, leap on it.
Life will present to you, many opportunity in the most unusual places. Gone are the days when you wait for the ship to berth. You got to swim into the water and jump into the ship.
H.I. Hunt, the great American oil Magnet, was once asked the secret of his success.
He replied: " success requires two things only. First, you must know exactly what you want. Unfortunately, most people never make this decision. Second, you must determine the price that you will have to pay to achieve it and then get busy paying the price"
Every harvest is a product of seed, so never you despise that small opportunity, as it may open doors of bigger opportunity for you.

Article Source: Make use of every opportunity

Secrets in Saving Money

Can there be such a thing as secrets in saving money? If you think that hard regarding this, there is actually none. What you have to do is make use of your common sense. And this stuffs are:

Have a Budget
The only method for you to know whether you have extra cash is to establish a budget of the things you need. When you have listed everything, you will find out there are items that you may not absolutely need and you will find those where you can do some cutbacks to help you use the extra money as savings or as an investment.A normal illustration showing the necessity to have a budget list is when you need to do your regular shopping at the supermarket. Most individuals have the cash to purchase, but do not use a list. They just go and shop what they think they need at this point. Some will buy promotional goods or items mainly because most are being offered less expensive than the expected price when the merchandise are fully-launched in the market. Others buy due to the freebies or promotional items that are within the products. Then, once they are home, they forgot that there are other stuff they should have obtained. So what are the results? There is overspending.
Developing a budget after some time allows you to see where your hard earned cash will go. It gives you a concept which you could cut costs and where the problem areas are. By carrying this out, it will be easy to really make the necessary adjustments and monitor your expenses. And you may be surprised that you just actually have some money as savings or even more for investments.

Pay Yourself
This might be something more challenging to anyone but paying your own self is just like paying another bill. It might be hard in the beginning, but once done regularly making certain that it is paid, it can be a routine. Later, you might realize that it becomes part of your payday routine.
Make sure to put aside money for a particular goal. Open an account that offers a higher rate of interest which limits the number of withdrawals to the account. In this way, you won't have an interest nor attempt to withdraw money from such account.

Spend Less

Spending even more than you get can result in borrowings. These borrowings come either from loans or from credit cards that are included with interests. Once done over time, one finds out that he is already in insurmountable debt . So what’s the greatest thing to do? It is to lower your expenses than what you earn. In this way, one becomes debt -free and can plan a much better future for himself and his family .

Give Back
Most importantly this stuff, one should understand how to give back to the Creator through tithes and offerings and if you can, donate to charity .

Warren Buffet is a famous entrepreneur who has learned the way to save and invest funds in his early childhood. He has amassed a whole lot of wealth that in June 2006, he announced that he is giving out his entire fortune to charity. It was a record-breaking donation in the history of the United States. And yet, in early 2013, Mr. Buffet is listed as one of the “World’s Most Powerful People” in Forbes magazine.

Giving yourself some time to examine your spending pattern, analyzing where the troublesome areas are, eliminating unnecessary expenses, and lowering costs would actually save you some money. There could even be a lot more left for investment.

So, try out making the first step. Start saving now and soon you will find yourself free of financial challenges, enjoying life, and doing something back to society. Being debt -free makes one feel much better, isn’t it? Obviously, it certainly does.

Article source: 

http://m.selfgrowth.com/site/selfgrowthcom/-3?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.selfgrowth.com%2Farticles%2Fsecrets-in-saving-money#2790

Thinking Stinking Rich

A Quick Preamble:

It really is – like every aspect or category of your life – an out-and-out"mindset" thing…if you want to be wealthy, then simply "think" like the stinking-rich think…

…rich people build big wealth before they spend…they don't actually spend money at the outset, just because they have it and can afford the new car or new house etc. etc. etc…first and foremost, they invest their money – they only purchase those things that add real value and more money to their lives, they rinse-and-repeat the successes and voila, they have their bank manager eating out of their hands..!

So, are you thinking like the "Stinking Rich" or are you just spending your money like most people do – getting it, then spending it "like-a-rich-person", because you can..? Because you THINK you're rich..?

Cutting To The Chase:

I've got bad news for you…this is NOT how the wealthy spend their money, this is in fact exactly how poor people spend their money, so if you ever want to become truly wealthy, then you have to learn how to spend – and how not to spend, the money that you already have.

The "Stinking Rich" Mindset:

From today, right now, you must stop living and spending "like-a-rich-person" – you're being exploited…!

Your desires, or actually your ‘wants' and ‘nice-to-have' needs are being fully exploited by people who are more than willing to persuade you to take out loans and mortgages so that the monstrous interest you pay (for most of your life) is then reinvested by loaning it out to others who also live and spend "like-a-rich-person" – but are in fact actually pretty much broke…like you..?!?

That's right…most of the dudes and dudesses that you notice swanning around in those big fancy, and very expensive, cars and designer label clothing are more-often-than-not quite literally living day-to-day or salary cheque to salary cheque – because they can afford it – BUT – it's all just for show, because their bank account is severely lacking.

Just to add insult to injury, all the money that these people are spending is flowing straight into the hands of the wealthy, the "Stinking Rich"…why..?..because the wealthy love to invest and make money a whole lot more than spending it…

…and that my friend, as i tried to explain a little earlier, is THE big difference between the "broke" and the "stinking rich"…STOP LIVING AND SPENDING "LIKE-A-RICH-PERSON" and START ACTING LIKE A "STINKING RICH" PERSON.!

A person of true wealth, a "Stinking Rich" person, doesn't fall for the "money-trap" and overspend or run up excessive and unnecessary debt buying things that are not needed – he or she doesn't succumb to the "nice-to-have" issue until there's more than enough money to pay cash, with plenty left over for further money-making investments…

…they'll invest in many income streams and never concern themselves about being able to afford stuff – they simply focus on their investments and so affordability for anything they truly desire becomes a natural consequence of NOT worrying about whether they can afford it or not.

A Final Anecdote:

In a nutshell, true wealthy people, the "Stinking Rich" folk stay out of debt, make money work for them and they sell and promote…think about that for a minute…they SELL and PROMOTE…it's not just a coincidence that most people generally love to buy and most people are broke, whereas those who love to sell – their service, their product, their time etc. – are "Stinking Rich"…

…and that is a massively important "Stinking Rich" mindset secret right there…broke people hate to sell and they generally despise sales people – but they love to buy…Use it…Don't Use it..!

∞∞∞ 

Before you go here's something i love – a poem from the late Robert Frost – it's a great lesson about making the right decision and very relevant to this post:

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Article source: Thinking Stinking Rich

Ten tips to help you achieve goals successfully

Ten tips to help you achieve goals successfully

Here are the top ten tips to focus on when setting goals:

1. First and foremost, you need to be really specific about your goal. You need to be really clear on exactly what it is that you want. If you are finding this difficult, look at what you don't want and find it's opposite. For example, I don't want a boring job could become I want a fun job. Then really get down to the nitty gritty of what it is exactly that you want. Make it short, concise and compelling!
2. When you've established what you want, spend time visualising it. Imagine what it will feel like having achieved it. What will you be doing? What will people be saying? What will it feel like. You can write it all down if you like or you could keep imagining it before you go to sleep at night (to help your subconcious mind seek opportunities for you)
3. You must write it down as a commitment to achieving it. Read and review this goal every day. Work out what steps you are going to take each day to take you a step closer towards achieving it and do those steps! At the end of the day, review how it went. What went well. What could you tweak to help you in the future?
4. Set smaller goals along the way to help you achieve them and reward yourself for each small success.
5. Give yourself deadlines to give you something to aim for otherwise you're leaving it open to achieve in 10 years. So when ideally would you like to achieve it by? When would you like to achieve your smaller goals by?
6. Goals need to be for 'you' to keep you motivated -  not because somebody else wants you to achieve it/them. Look at why you want it? What's so important to you about achieving this goal? How does it fit in with the rest of your life? Also don't set goals for others, people need to set their own goals which are within their own control.
7. Have a suitable way of measuring your success of your goals. So rather than saying I want to lose weight. Say exactly how much you want to lose and by when and make your goals realistic.
8. Make your goals positive - so rather than saying "I want to stop smoking", reframe it to something like "By 31st December, I am a non-smoker". Notice I also slipped in some 'present' tense (I AM), this opens up your subconscious mind to believing it's possible and coupled with imagining it too, you can work on your mind to making it a believable achievement.
9. Work out how you are going to keep motivated. What's helped motivate you in the past? What motivates others and keeps them going?
10. Last but not least, enjoy the journey! Enjoy your achievements along the way and see any slip-ups as learning points. If you don't enjoy it, it'll be a chore and where's the fun in that? 

I hope this helps you achieve your goals, please feel free to get in touch if I can help you further.

Article source: Ten tips to help you achieve goals successfully

JIM ROHN - GOALS - WALK AWAY FROM THE 97 PERCENT - TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE

MINDSHIFT - MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO

Ways to Push Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zones to Achieve Prosperity

We are all going to come up against things that we are scared of in life. This is normal. Fear is healthy it is designed to protect us from harm, but it works to hard and overprotects us sometimes. You have to learn to look fear in the face and decide to not let it stop you, you must do what scares you. A way to make it easier is to not judge the outcomes of choosing this, but to just measure your actions to overcoming your fear. It also helps to have an accountability partner supporting and challenging you, and when you report your progress publicly you will be even more motivated to succeed.

Do what Scares you

This is where you have to begin. You have to identify something that scares you and chose to face it and overcome the fear. Fear is there to protect us, but unfortunately it is there to protect us from more than just harm it is also protecting us from growth and expansion. To truly achieve abundance and prosperity you have to grow yourself to make room to receive all of the new goodness coming your way. The journey towards this growth and expansion can be uncomfortable but it is well worth it.

Measure Action not Results

A large part of fear can often be associated around fear of failure at the new task which is why we do not measure the results of our actions, we measure if we took the action at all. We do not actually have control over results, no matter what we do, but we do have control over the actions we choose to take. So measure by what you control, your level of action you decide to take to overcome your fear. When you can learn to asses your progress this way you learn to take more risks because there is less to fear because you can no longer be scared of failure, except the failure to act.

Have an Accountability Partner

One of the great lessons I have learned about success in any area is that we cannot achieve success going it alone. We need to have support in all things we do, and this is especially true in the case of doing what scares us. It is easy to back out of taking the needed scary action when there is no one there to support you or push you. So find an accountability part, someone you trust and know cares deeply for you. They will know if you challenge is dangerous and tell you, but will also know when you are not pushing yourself hard enough and will make sure you get out of your comfort zone so you can grow.

Report publicly

One last way to helping to ensure you push yourself to do what scares you is to report on your intention and your action publicly. When we are scared it can be easy to hide to avoid confronting the fear. When you start to share publicly you can no longer hide and one of two results will occur. You will face and overcome your fear and get the admiration and support of the public community, or you will have to explain publicly why you didn't. For many the fear of explaining why you didn't take the action becomes greater than the actual action itself helping them to take that step.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7078134

How Do You Become Rich: The Psychology Of Making Money

It seems like everyone is very eager to learn how to get rich. In fact, there are thousands of books written specifically about how to get rich. There are also hundreds of classes and seminars about how to get rich that are conducted regularly in different parts of the world. Yet, despite the abundance of resources available, it seems there are only a handful of success stories.

So how do you become rich if there are millions before you that were unsuccessful? You must start with the right psychology of making money.

So what is the psychology of making money all about? The psychology of making money involves our behavior and mental processes involved when we make money. It is very important that we understand how our thoughts & feelings affect our behavior.

There are numerous ways of making money, such as putting up your own business, writing books, making a website, etc. However, if you don't have the right psychology of making money, you'll wipe out your savings and lose more money than what you would actually be making.

One of the major common mistake that people make is that they think of wealth as a gratification that comes in an instant. If you want to become rich, you must act like the rich. I don't mean to go spend on fancy cars, latest gadgets or designer clothes, instead emulate how the rich people build their wealth slowly but surely with taking calculated risk, making strategic investments and saving money for the future.

We are all capable of making money, every single one of us is. However, making it grow can be very difficult for most people. So how do you become rich without robbing your bank? You need to be cautious of how you spend your money. Whenever you are extremely happy, angry, sad or any other emotion, you might want to have a policy to delay making a decision. Our actions are most vulnerable when we are in an unstable state of extreme emotion.

There are numerous of studies about how people tend to unconsciously spend more money when they feel down. This depression usually leads people to spend money for a few drinks or for an expensive vacation to some how escape. This only goes to show the effect of our emotions to how we treat money. So how do you become rich if you work long hours but burn your cash in a blink of an eye when you feel down? Let's not forget that the absence of money can also lead to depression which helps create vicious cycles of spending money, based on emotion.

Prepare yourself and have the right psychology of making money in place. Don't let opportunities slip your hands and always be ready for challenges. If you want to learn how to get rich, there are a thousand ways to do it. Don't believe anyone who tells you there's one secret way to do it because if you trace back how rich people become rich, they all have different stories to tell. As much as how to get rich is important, what is more important is for you to realize what to do with what you already have, rather than count on the money you are yet to make. It is also important that you take calculated risks and make strategic investments to become rich and always save for the future to stay rich.

Hyrum Estrada

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6440108

3 Easy Steps to Increase Your Income

Have you tried to manifest a windfall of cash without success? It's easy to glamorize dramatic change like winning the lottery, but the truth is that change that really sticks begins in your mind and is realized through step-by-step action over time. In this article, we'll explore why that is and three simple steps you can take to increase your income with greater ease and much less struggle.

Even changes that seem like big leaps are made possible by a series of preparatory steps. The reasons for this are two strong tendencies etched into the survival mechanisms of our brains. Knowing these tendencies can help you make financial changes that work and really "stick."

First, our bodies and brains are programmed for the "status quo." We are conditioned to return to a familiar reference point, especially if that reference point satisfies an emotional need such as feeling safe. Unless something dramatic happens to push us to a new place, we'll tend to fluctuate around a comfort zone. For example, we'll stay in a familiar body-weight range, maintain the same relationships, keep the same type of jobs, and maintain a certain level of wealth. Our present reference point has a strong anchoring effect.

Second, from this reference point, we have a strong "aversion to loss" and a weaker attraction to gain. For example, when negotiating a contract, receiving "anything less than where we are at" is tremendously undesirable. We will fight tooth and nail not to lose something that we already have. On the other hand, we have much less energy to gain something we don't already have. This tendency to "avoid loss at all costs" keeps things heavily weighted toward the status quo. Your present reference point, even if it isn't all that desirable, is a known, you consider it "yours," and you're unlikely to give it up without having a very powerful reason.

So how does knowing "the heavy weight of the status quo" and your "strong aversion to loss" help you increase your income? Well, it may help you realize what it really takes to change your financial status. Here are three things you can do right now to work with those conservative tendencies and make the financial changes you desire.

1. Establish a New Wealth Reference Point. If you want to improve your finances, get real clear on exactly what that means to you. Get a clear vision of where you'd like to be.

For example, what would you like to be doing, where would you like to live, what would you like to enjoy, and who would you like to share that with? Imagine your vision in full sensory detail, including the significant feelings and sensations of doing what you'd love to be doing, the specific positive qualities of the environment you are working and living in, and what it feels like to share this with specific people. Get a vivid image of the most meaningful details in your mind and imagine what it feels like to step into that scene and live it.

Spend a little time imagining and stepping into your vision every day. In this way, you establish a New Wealth Reference Point for yourself and practice what's it's like to live there. This primes your mind and body to have those experiences in real life and helps you make good decisions to get you there.

2. Once you have a New Wealth Reference Point, imagine the steps that take you there. It's effective to do this in reverse order. Begin with your vision of where you'd like to be and then ask yourself, "What was the step that I took just before that moment?" Write that down.

Continue to imagine the steps in reverse order until you arrive at the present moment, where you are now. The present step you imagine needs to be something you can do today that feels very doable right now. When you take that action today, it will set you on your way.

Write all these steps down and then play them forward. If any of them seem too big or challenging, break them down into smaller steps. Now you have an Action Plan of small, doable steps, beginning today, to get you where you want to go.

Remember if you take huge leaps, you are likely to rebound if you don't get the results you desire right away. If you have even a small setback, loss aversion will likely pull you all the way back to where you started. When you take small incremental steps, you generate "small wins" which positively reinforce what you are doing and slowly familiarize you with living toward your New Wealth Reference Point.

3. Have a Back-up Plan for facing specific potential setbacks. Understand that your Action Plan is just a starting point to get you going. Life is not going to work out exactly as you imagined. You will face challenges, so mentally prepare for them ahead of time. Then, when those challenges arise, you'll be ready for them. The inevitable bumps in the road are then less likely to knock you back to ground zero-your previous financial reference point or worse.

You can prepare your Back-up Plan in advance, by imagining potential pitfalls and set-backs. For example, if you plan to lease a new space to open a new business and find that it takes longer than you thought to find the right one-have a plan for what you will do in the mean-time to move your business forward. Could you begin to work from home, or meet people at their location, or... ? Have a Back-up Plan, so you can keep moving forward when any one of your planned action steps doesn't work out exactly as you imagined.

To encourage you in the face of setbacks, I've found that when one of my planned action steps doesn't work out as I imagined it would, Life is showing me a better way. Stay open to learning better ways to do any of your planned actions.

So, to summarize, be aware of the tendency to "maintain the status quo" and "avoid losses," and act against these by taking three steps:

1. Set a new Wealth Reference Point, a new vision for your life, and imagine yourself there.

2. Establish an Action Plan of small, doable, steps to get you there.

3. Imagine potential setbacks and have a Back-up Plan for what to do in case those happen.

With these three strategies in place, you'll be on your way to increasing your income with greater ease and much less struggle.

Enjoy your practice.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7318692

Knowing How the Subconscious Mind Works: The Key to Success

Everything that happens in our life is influenced by how the subconscious mind works.

But not everyone knows how they can use this power of the mind to help themselves achieve success in about everything they do.

Some just go through life by relying on the outcomes of their plans, most of which are failures, without trying to use the power they have.

If you have goals to achieve or things that you desire, you can be triumphant in possessing or achieving whatever it is by knowing how the subconscious mind works then try to use it.

But before anything else, you must be asking: What is the subconscious mind?

First you must know that the mind is divided into two: the conscious and the subconscious.

The conscious mind is the part responsible for all thoughts that you are currently aware of. This is the part that's working when you're making decisions, deductions, and other thinking processes involving reason and logic.

The subconscious, on the other hand, is basically the part of the human mind that consists of a person's beliefs and habits. These are the thoughts that are integrated into the mind long before, usually at childhood.

Your childhood experiences basically lay the foundations for your thoughts, beliefs and habits you carry through your life. They create what is sometimes referred to as 'your map of reality'. What you see, hear, feel and experience during the early years is continually being imprinted on your subconscious mind. All this information is then processed and used to create your very own external reality.

Let's say for example, your parents constantly told you as a child that life was a struggle and money was always scarce. Repeated enough times, this kind of information will become part of your subconscious programming.

As you progress through life this programming will keep playing out time and time again, meaning that your life experiences will be that befitting to struggle and scarcity. Get the idea on how the subconscious mind works?

The good thing however, is that you can erase and re-write the childhood programs that are held deep within your subconscious mind.

Below I've included some simple methods you can start using today to slowly reprogram your subconscious so you can begin savouring more and more success in your life.

1. Integrate your Goals/Ideas into the Subconscious

When you have a goal for example, to be a doctor, or professional athlete you should picture yourself being like one, repeatedly every day.

The goal is to incorporate the idea that you will, one day, become a doctor or professional athlete, into your subconscious mind.

Doing this repeatedly will slowly but surely change your programmed beliefs which will power you on to achieving success with this particular goal.

2. Make Requests to your Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind doesn't rest. It continually works even at sleep.

Making requests to the subconscious is done by affirming out loud the things you want to have, do and be and then visualizing them just before you go to sleep.

For example, you want to become a professional public speaker, but you're afraid that you lack the confidence and ability to speak in front of hundreds or thousands of people.

Close your eyes, and speak out with emotion "I am a confident, captivating and inspiring speaker", and then imagine yourself walking out on stage in an auditorium of thousands of people and speaking to them with supreme confidence and fluency.

Do this every time prior to going to sleep and the power of your subconscious mind will pick up your request and will slowly and surely find the ways and means for you to achieve and realize this goal.

How your brain works can be really powerful. The brain does not only let you analyze things but it can also shape your character and beliefs.

But its understanding how the subconscious mind works that is the real key to a successful life.

Put simply it's the engine which runs your whole life. The number one determinant to where your destiny lies.

Learn how to use it properly and you literally can achieve success without really having to try very hard.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7002850

3 Reasons Why Making Money Is Difficult For Most People

Are you frustrated at why you are not making money the way you would like to?

It appears as if things just don't seem to work out right? Yes you work hard, but it seems as if for every 2 steps forward that you take, 3 steps backwards follows. Making money just seems impossible and it's certainly not from a lack of effort. Why?

Chances are, that there are internal blocks more powerful than you realize that are sabotaging your efforts of making money.

The mind is composed of two parts, the conscience and subconscious parts. The part of the mind that wants to make money, achieve success and all that good stuff is the conscious mind. The part that may be stopping you form achieving your desires is the subconscious mind.

As renowned American developmental biologist and author of "The Biology of Belief" Dr. Bruce Lipton explains, our lives are run by habits, not desires. Your habits are simply your programmed responses to stimuli. The responses are in the form of thought and eventually action. All this is run by your subconscious mind. Your desires, on the other hand, are things that you strongly aspire to have. You control the conscious mind so you will take action to attain these desires.

The thing is, the subconscious mind controls 95% of what you do but you are unlikely to even notice. If what you desire (Making Money) differs from what your subconscious programming wants (status quo), then its like swimming against a really, really, really strong current. You efforts will be futile.

So what are these three major blocks to making money?

1. FEAR OF MAKING MONEY

This is the big one. You might be shocked at how fearful you are of success and a lot of money, even if you want it badly! Introspect for a second. What comes with making money and achieving success? Responsibility? Attention? A shift from what you know and are used to? Being treated differently? What else? As you slowly and deliberately think about the things that money bring, how do you feel about them? Is there a touch of discomfort perhaps with one or more of these things?

Lets take responsibility for instance. You get a lot of money; you have to worry about managing it, taking care of those close to you who would not have otherwise looked to you for support (not that you don't want to help but just the thought of the added responsibility). Remember, with all this money, people are looking at you!

You will also meet new people, people out of your usual circle. You get out of your 'comfort zone'. For those looking for true love, do you fear "gold diggers" may come looking for a bounty? Do you feel like a target? Does all of this make you feel uncomfortable on the inside at some level?

The stimuli are money and success and the programmed response is fear. This is programmed from what you have seen and heard. All this is run by your subconscious mind, which has your experiences stored in its infinitely large database. After fear, the secondary response may be procrastination from taking action to generate this money, or listing of excuse after excuse as to why 'it won't work'. You may also be prone to seeing 'difficulty instead of opportunities'. The list is endless. Fear may also come in the form of fear of failure, which results in anger, frustration and desperation. Think about this. Would you buy from a relaxed confident sales man or a desperate salesman? We all know how annoying, desperate salesmen could be.

The self-saboteur in you will operate under the radar without you noticing a lot of times. With 95% of the vote, your subconscious mind runs the show.

2. FEELINGS OF LACK AND UNWORTHINESS

Feelings of inadequacy hold back too many people from too many accomplishments. When you sit around people with money and success, how do you feel? Do you feel... unworthy? Do you start thinking about what you don't have? What you haven't accomplished? Do you feel like a lesser being, a failure? Do you feel poor? Other people pick these 'vibes' and respond to them. How many times have you seen or heard of people getting promoted simply because they 'acted the part'? This is where the phrase 'Fake it till you make it' comes from. When you feel wealthy and successful, you will act wealthy and successful. Eventually, you will be wealthy successful. It is not the other way round. This is called the 'Be-Do-Have Principle'. You have to be wealthy (feel), do the things that make you wealthy (action) and eventually have wealth.

So again the stimuli are making money and achieving success, the programmed response is 'I'm not worthy'; 'I'm a failure'. The secondary response is lack of confidence, lack of enthusiasm and lack of creativity. Your actions will be a result of these self-defeating assertions and of course the eventuality is failure, no matter how much you want success.

3. ASSOCIATING 'MAKING MONEY' WITH NEGATIVITY

Here is a good test that I have also done. Look for a picture of stacks of cash. What thoughts come to mind? Bank robbery? Drug dealers? Criminal dealings? Greed? Do you have some feelings of repulsion perhaps? What do you think of rich people? Do you think they have bad attitudes? Are they snobs?

When I first did this test, I thought of a bank robbers and drug dealers in movies. This is what I have been exposed to growing up. This is what my mind has been fed. Such a lot of money was always associated with something negative. Things that come to mind may include stories you have heard about lives ruined and families torn apart after making a lot of money. What all this is saying to you is 'MONEY IS BAD!" All this is stored in your subconscious mind. Again, the stimulus is making lots of money, and the programmed response is, ruined lives, torn families, changed person etc. If its something you find undesirable, your subconscious mind will go to work to 'protect you' from it.

LET GO OF THE BLOCKS AND START MAKING MONEY

If the subconscious mind was programmed to block money, you need to reprogram it to allow you to make money.

This is how you can do that...

Affirmations - Repetitive input of negativity led to it being perceived as reality by your subconscious mind. To reverse this, you need to repeat positive affirmations to yourself about yourself and your environment until the programming changes. You can also get recorded affirmations that you can listen to daily. Even if you don't concentrate on them, they still slowly shift the subconscious programming.

Gratitude - Gratitude creates a paradigm shift. By being grateful for what you have, you take away the feeling of lack. You can't feel successful and feel lack at the same time

Surround yourself with positive people - This is self-explanatory. Negative people feed you negativity and positive people give you the right 'programming'.

Emotional Freedom Technique - I strongly recommend this. It is often called 'awake hypnosis'. It is an acupressure technique that combines affirmations and tapping of bio-energy meridians of the body to reset bioenergy and reprogram your subconscious. It's very simple. I would recommend reading on this first so you are fully aware of what it is.

Take charge of your subconscious programming, your life and start making money!!!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7747879

Money Isn't Everything - But It Buys Just About Everything

MOST people accept that if you want your life to improve you have to set goals.

At this point a lot of people confess that they've no idea what goals to set.

That isn't a problem.

All you have to do is think of what you want, which can be divided, for most of us, into money and relationships. Money, as long as there's enough of it, can be translated into virtually everything material: a car, a house, foreign travel-whatever you want.

Relevance

Relationships are one important area of life where money is said to be of no relevance.

But don't you believe it. It's a lot easier to attract people to share your life if you're comfortably off. It's even easier when you're rich.

Now, of course, many people will say that wealth can attract the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

But I see no reason why your discriminatory powers should desert you just because you have more money than the average person.

Comfortable

The nice thing about money is that it enables you to live well. Money, as Canadian self-improvement guru Bob Proctor is wont to say, was never intended to make you happy. It's intended to make you comfortable.

So what about happiness? It's true that money can't buy you love, but so what? You can make finding the perfect partner one of your other goals.

Alternatively, you could aim at both, and visualize the ideal person as someone who's also wealthy.

Some people have a problem with this. They think, particularly when it comes to marriage, that it's better to marry for love rather than for money.

Time-honored

But why not settle for both? And as statistics tell us that the average marriage contracted today has only a one-in-two chance of lasting, wouldn't it be better to have something worth dividing up in the event of a parting?

In case this sounds a bit calculating, it's worth remembering the time-honored advice-which, judging by the statistics, is forgotten or ignored by at least half the population-that marriage isn't something to be entered into lightly.

For one thing, it's a lot more complicated, and expensive, to get out of as it is to get into.

Sense

But you know all this anyway. It's just good sense to get to know that other person pretty well before formalizing the relationship-and that could mean years rather than months.

It's been said that arranged marriages tend to last significantly longer than those which occur spontaneously.

The idea of an arranged marriage, to many people in the West, sounds unappealing. But remember that for centuries this was the norm even in Europe, particularly amongst royalty.

If you set the right kind of goals, you can have it all: freedom of choice, the perfect person, AND a pot of money.

I urge you to go for it!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8841506

The Top 5 Habits of Happy People

A Quick Preamble:

There are reasons, good reasons, why certain people have reached the state of constant happiness - it's all about things like wonder, self satisfaction, never forgetting ones roots and the inspiration gained from others...
... others who are or have been in worse positions than yourself - but are happy, as well as those fortunates who have gotten themselves into the happy position that you would like to be in.

Cutting To The Chase:

Habit No.1... Be Inspired By Others

• It never ceases to amaze and is totally inspiring when you take time to notice those that you would consider worse off than yourself i.e. those that are blind or have limbs missing or are born with or have been suddenly stricken with debilitating diseases or afflictions - BUT - they attain happiness... their inner strength and acceptance of their circumstances is truly astounding... it begs the question; "exactly WHY am I unhappy..?".
• What about those who have followed the tenets and types of advice that are cited and discussed within this site... they have attained happiness via positive thinking, hard endeavour, full commitment to their desires and absolute persistence in taking the necessary steps along their road to success... that warrants full respect and is simply inspirational... why not just emulate their steps to success..!?!

Habit No.2... Share Your Knowledge And Your Time

• There really is nothing like the act of giving to others... most especially your time and knowledge... Winston Churchill said: "We Make a Living By What We Get, But We Make a Life By What We Give"
• The man knew what he was talking about and many other very successful people have quoted along the same lines with the self-same theme... and have gone ahead to live full and happy lives.
• It's one of the main rules of the universe and has been proved time and time again... to receive, you must first give..!

Habit No.3... Always Be Grateful For Everything You Have

• Happy people are constantly grateful for all the material things they have, even if it took hard work and effort to obtain them... they do not take it or them for granted.
• Subsequently, the people in your life... if you have wonderful relationships with great friends and loved ones, be grateful... do not take them for granted.
• There are plenty people in this world who, for whatever reason, are not so fortunate, so you have serious reason to be forever thankful for your bounty..!

Habit No.4... Live For This Moment

• This moment, here and now is what counts... focus and enjoy what you need to get done today so that you successfully move forward to tomorrow.
• The past is done-and-dusted... there is no point continuously thinking about your past mistakes or even your past conquests - every day is different and will need to be actioned so that you get to the end of the road you have chosen for your FUTURE success.
• On that note - do not dwell too much on the future either... what you do now, at this moment, is what will determine your future needs and actions.

Habit No.5... Know The Only Things That You Can Control Are Your Thoughts

• Although you can guide by providing help and advice, you cannot control
• l what others think or do - don't let that have negative influence on your desires.
• Your thoughts are "things" - they WILL become reality if you keep thinking them... that's your negative as well as your positive thoughts, so it's obvious what type of thoughts you should spend the most (all) of your time on - right..?
• Happy people begin with a dream, a thought... and then make it a solid happenstance..!

A Final Anecdote:

Happiness is a state of mind, not just a simple feeling... if your mind is persistently positive, if your mind is grateful and if your mind does not dwell on past injustices or mistakes and if you make sure your mind doesn't stress too much about the future that you cannot possibly control, then happiness is yours for the taking... take it..!

Here's a simple but very adroit quote - from Abraham Lincoln - for you to remember...
"Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be."

We're all about "Natural Health & Wellness for the mind, the body and the soul...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9044854