Life Success Habits

The true personality of a person does not surface when everything is great – it surfaces when the chips are down. For some, the drama doesn’t need to be happening to them – they are happy to dwell in the pity pit with anyone who will invite them in. Some people just love a drama.

I realized this recently when I had a bit of a set back and happened to share it in passing with a long time friend. I was happy to acknowledge the event as a passing life experience and move forward on to chatting about more positive things that had happened since we last talked. But they wanted to know more – making sympathetic agonizing comments and asking question that would have me going deeper into the negative feelings I must be experiencing, how terrible it must be. I suddenly realised they were getting a buzz out of this – they loved the drama, fed on it, almost  desperately needed it. These are the people that love helping you at the bottom of the cliff.

Then there are those who see you at the bottom and give you a helping hand to the top. The people that some may judge unfairly as being unsympathetic. Who, instead of helping you linger in your loss or desperation, help you start taking action to turn things around – who encourage you with positive, reinforcing words. The matter of fact approach – shit happens, but lets focus on getting you out of the pit.

The ones that want to help you at the bottom, are the ones you want to get OUT of your life. The ones that want to help you get back to the top are your guiding stars, the heros of you life. You want to love them, keep them, cherish them and thank them. They are the ones who truly care about you.

The term ‘faith’ generally conjures up a religious connection, yet it is not connected to religion at all. In many ways, organized religion is just a vehicle to have faith. Faith can be derived from many avenues, different Gods or the universe itself. I am not a great believer in organized religion –  for the crimes it has committed on itself over thousands of years, and because it is the source of destructive fervor by those whom become fanatical – leading to war, terrorism and unspeakable acts of inhuman action.

However, I am a believer in universal energy, in having faith, and the connection between the mind, body and universe – what one deems as quantum physics. Everything is formed by energy matter, and we are all connected at various levels through vibrations emitted by different forms of energy matter. I have personally experienced some amazing ‘coincidences’ when I gained a connection with a higher energy and asked for that which I desired. I have also suffered from a lack of connection.

When things in your life just seem to fall apart, no matter how hard you try, and no matter how many times you pick yourself up and start out again in a different avenue, there comes a point when not only your drive to succeed dissolves, but your spirit is broken. This is the time when we need to call upon the universe the most. You need to be rescued, so you need to make the call to be saved. Start scripting some bold statements. Statements of firm resolve not to be defeated by negative emotions and circumstances. Start creating an escape path. By leveraging the universe you can do all the things you want – just stake your claim, don’t give up and ask to be saved.

This is when you must put down all the baggage you are carrying and let the universe carry it for a while. You need to regain your faith by connecting with the universal energy flow as say to yourself:

I will [INSERT SUCCESS ACTION]. So I shall be saved.

Repeat this statement adding in all the deeds of action you must perform to be successful in your current goal. And then trust that the universe will support your goals. It renews your strength.

Too often we worry about not achieving our lifes purpose – yet the only day that really matters is the day you know you are going to die, and that day is only one day in the thousands that precede it, so save that worrying thought for that special day and live in the moment of today.

Yesterday was history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is the day that you can change your life.

The Economic Research Institute recently reported that the average total compensation of the highest paid executives at U.S. public companies fell 4 percent for the year ended in November 2008. With top executives receiving compensation packages worth an average of  $17,760,518, this represented a cut of around $700,000. Whilst I would darely love to be receiving this sort of remmuneration for my many, many invaluable skills and shining personality, I can’t muster up a lot of sympathy for this outcome.

It does raise the question again though – how fair are executive packages?  Should such levels of remmuneration even exist?

Would love to hear your thoughts?

When considering life success, one must include all aspects of life – wealth, living environment, time to enjoy life, well-being, etc. I found this interesting site today so thought i would share it with you. It provides indepth profiles on the income, wealth and wellbeing of populations in all the major countries of the world. Legatum Prosperity Index at http://www.prosperity.com

According to the Index, the top 10 places to live are:

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Finland
4. Germany
5. Singapore
6. USA
7. Switzerland
8. Denmark
9. Hong Kong
10. New Zealand

The index considered both the opportunties for prosperity as well as the overall standard of living.

So your sales are down 30 percent.

You have to choose how to move forward with your business. You can focus on all the downsides and reduce your business to meet the market – or you can choose to build on past achievements and current profitable capabilities.

This choice of mind set changes you from React > Rebound > Build Momentum

Your focus is now on assets, not deficits.

Start with yourself – your personal assets, relationships and situational assets. Magnify what is best – and focus on what is next.

Tell yourself that your motto is to ‘Try’ not ‘Deny’. And tell yourself at least twice a day for 21 days.
When your vision is focused, your assets will align and you can identify what you can grow and what has to go. Start each day with what is possible, with what you want. Be guided by the vision and evaluate each action towards its power to move your forward towards your goal or back.

Each of us, little by little create the perfect storm. The only difference is that you either create a good storm or a bad storm.

When things get tough – small businesses and large businesses alike feel the pain. Employees and owners share the same feelings of being scared, insecure, and financially exposed. Most businesses have surplus capacity during downturns and things need to get pared down quickly, otherwise capital is wasted in the wrong areas.

The seven secrets to surviving tough times include:

1. Attitude – you are totally in contol of that. It won’t stop crappy stuff happening, but it will help you get through it faster.
2. Communication – keep employees informed so they feel trusted and valued. Communicate with your market so they know you are the best.
3. Loyalty to your team – every success depends on a great team. This is two way loyalty. If you look after your team well during good times – they are more likely to have your back in tough times
4. Systems – get focused on processes for product development, and financial management
5. Controls – ensure you have a reliable feedback system so you know what results you are getting
6. Production – focus on product innnovation, not big scale innovation and ensure service delivery is well optimised
7. Quality – during times of information explosion it is difficult to distinguish the real from the reactionary. Ensure your business intelligence systems are filtering information correctly.

This is a great time to tighten up the sloppy areas of your business. When the market starts recovering you will be the more efficient machine to take adavantage of it

Have you ever noticed that when you really want something and you fully intend to have it or achieve it you feel stronger, more energetic. This is the difference between an intention and a ‘wish’.

Intention is driven by spiritual passion. It drives action. If you really want something it makes you feel physically and mentally stronger.

But you intentions can be blocked by your internal beliefs. For instance, if you don’t believe you deserve to prosper, your belief system will sabotage your intentions.

Your intentions are also guided by your destiny. When you are on the right path for YOUR destiny, you retain your energy and focus. When you turn from your destiny – your body feels suffocated.

If your actions feel comfortable, they are moving you forward towards your goals. If you feel stiffled or depressed, you are likely moving away from your purpose.

Thus, you must control the messages being sent to your mind – make them mindful, not mindless. Whatever you want, without exception, is because you think you will feel better for having it. It’s not the money, car, person you want – its the feelings that you think you are oging to get that you want.

Recognise yourself as valuable.

Treat yourself as wonderful.

Act as valuable.

Receive as Valuable

In this way, you train the world how to treat you.

We are all connected – our hopes and dreams are reflected back in each others eyes. We cannot reach our destiny alone, because our destiny is joined to that of others.

We sometimes feel alone in our struggles to achieve our goals and can be quite hard on ourselves when things don’t turn out as planned. However, we must remember that our journey is never done in solitude. Every action we take impacts someone else, regardless of how unaware we are of that impact. Our words and actions may inspire someone to follow, our choices reflect the knowledge we have collected from others.

No matter what your path – there is most likely someone who has trodden it before you. The energy they leave behind for you to reap is in their knowledge and wisdom to help your journey just that much easier than those before you. And your contributions make it easier for those whom follow.

The message is to not try to do it alone – tap into the collective wisdom there for all to share. Never before have we been so priviledged to have knowledge at our fingertips, in our homes 24×7.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help – it does not lessen the magnitude of your success, it just makes you wiser.

It is commonly held that when we apply effort we get rewarded. A trait common to really successful people is that they have ‘meaningful work’ embedded in their consciousness.

For instance, before the Beatles became a worldwide sensation they played in a Hamburg strip club 8 hour sets, 7 nights a week. During this time they taught themselves to be a great band. By the time they got to USA they had played together 1200 times. What made them special was that they were willing to play 8 hour sets 7 times a week as a single band. Together they put in meaningful effort that most other people would not.

In 1969, Bill Gates as a 13 year old school boy spend hours at the school teletype doing real time programming – when no one else was doing real time programming. He threw his heart and soul into it and never left the room, running up huge computer bills.

Another computer magnate, Paul Allen found there was a mainframe computer at the University of Washington that was not being used from 2am – 6am weekday mornings. So sneaking out his bedroom window he spent every weekday early morning stealing computer time!!

Each of these world successes put in time and effort that most others would not endure. That’s what separated them from the masses following in their wake.

Today I want to talk with you about learning to gain better control over your mental state and how to engage your mental performance supply chain to prepare your brain for the right action. The four main supply elements our brain needs daily for peak performance are:

1. Exercise
2. Relaxation
3. Quality sleep
4. Good nutrition

Until it becomes an ingrained habit to supply all four of these elements to our bodies we cannot attain a state of optimised health and wellbeing. We cannot reach a state where our brain is fully equipped to manage our emotions, thoughts and behaviour.

When faced with unexpected demands for fast and clear decision making, we need to engage a clear mental state ‘in the moment’. This means you must restrain your learned emotional response : outburst, fear and panic. The first effect of this response is a physical one, so our control mechanism must also first be physical: Breathe out, slow your mind and your pulse, and pay attention to your heart.

Once you have reached a physical state of calmness, you need to engage your cognitive capability – controlling your thoughts – and focus on some positive element of the situation. Even if this is generic as appreciating the opportunity to find a better way to do something. Focus on what can be learned from this situation. This help you find the silver lining. It also helps you respond calmly and positively.

Evoking this controlled response takes some practice. After all, you are trying to overcome a lifetime of learned response behaviour. So start practising with less challenging situations where you can be more mechanical in adopting your controlled response, just as you would if you were engaging a physical challenge.

One of my favourites is when stuck in traffic. In many of us this evokes a stress response, But instead, see this as a moment in time that you have to yourself and relinquish control. It’s about accepting that there are moments in life you simply cannot control despite your good intentions.

Practicing with interactions with children is another rewarding environment – in fact with any close personal relationship.

The result of this practice is that you develop the emotional flexibility, strength and capacity to respond readily to times of diversity and you quickly learn to recognise how much power you have over the way you feel. For instance if you feel tired, you can dial up a wave of exuberance and passion about the task you are currently working on. If you are irritated and angry in a traffic jam, activate care and compassion. Sit there are try to imagine where all the other people are going. They may have some personal emergency – whereas you are only late for a meeting. I’m not try to suggest this is an easy thing – it takes a very strong will to break a habit that has taken a lifetime to perfect and one that results in a vicious spiral of negative emotion.

The result of this old response is a downward spiral of negative emotions focused on how bad things can get – as if they had already happened. So many of us worry more about what might happen that what is actually happening. A lot of you will know the book – How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. The author talks about living in day tight compartments, visualising the very worst possible outcome, building the resolve to accepting that – then everything better than that is a bonus and not to be stressed over. It really helps put things in perspective.

One of the surprising outcomes of adopting your new mental performance response state is that you start welcoming more challenges, strong challenges that would have sent you into a frenzy of anxiety. You start to appreciate the change in focus and the heightened state of awareness you feel.