Earl Nightingale said that “A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.”

Now, as you can clearly see, Mr. Nightingale had a most exceptionally in-depth and elaborate vocabulary, but he did so ONLY because he so fully grasped the truth behind the power of our well conceived and very specific thoughts, beliefs and words!

This had absolutely nothing to do with today’s superficial and shallow teachings known as “Blab it & Grab it” or “Name it & Claim it!” No, Mr. Nightingale is sharing a powerful truth about the way our mind works as a honing devise, to finely tune in on whatever clearly defined goals and objectives are “programmed” into it.

This means that much of our success in life has NOTHING to do with mere luck, chance or stumblingly inadvertently into an amazingly awesome set of positive circumstances, but instead, means that when we consistently have the right attitude, we actually (1) DISCOVER and even (2) CREATE the optimum perfect opportunities that we seek in Life and Business!

Have you ever noticed how during those times that you really hunker down and focus in on your goals, suddenly brand new and exciting opportunities begin to just spring up out of nowhere all of a sudden.

It was as if … back before you were properly motivated and enthusiastically energized by your new-found positive, “attitude of gratitude” and clear-sighted confidence, there seemed to be a real lack of genuine opportunities and valuable options coming your way. Too many people sadly mope around, blindly reciting that horribly self depleting cliché’; that “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!”

But in fact, luck doesn’t even exist! Luck isn’t REAL! What is REAL; is your ability to decide precisely what your attitude is going to be … and then get out there and discover or create the exact circumstances and situations that will bring you optimum success and self satisfaction!

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Joel Osteen continually reminds us to be careful about what it is that we say to others, but just as importantly, to ourselves! Joel reminds us that “If we say it long enough, eventually we’re going to reap a harvest. We’re going to get exactly what we’re saying!”

You see, the human mind is a lot like a computer. It only knows what we program into it and it only comes to accept as “gospel truth,” those particular things that are most regularly and consistently inputted into its files.

Every single time you open your mouth to speak, you are not only affecting and influencing the minds of those people who are around you, but you are also solidifying, verifying and key coding “retrievable data” into your “bio-computer” or brain, which your mind will utilize to run the “program” called “your life!”

We’ve all heard the computer programming term “GIGO”, which stands for “Garbage In – Garbage Out!” Well the human mind runs on exactly the same principle. If you continue to speak negative thoughts and beliefs into your consciousness, your “self talk” will naturally program you mind to seek out those primary files while designing your life experience.

However, if, like Joel Osteen explains, we continue to speak positive, up-beat, encouraging and inspirational words out of our mouths, we will not only be far more popular and appreciated by those around us, but we will automatically be setting ourselves up to consistently manifest the actual, tangible results of the positive words that we choose to speak!

Think of your subconscious mind as an innocent child. Your mind tends to process information in very “literal” terms and is highly sensitive, vulnerable and occasionally a bit overly emotional. So I ask you … would you make a habit of regularly saying rude, crude, demeaning, hurtful and negative things to your child?

Or would you make the efforts to focus your intentions on always being very encouraging, loving, caring, understanding, forgiving, full of grace, helpful and positive to your child? Perfect, then that is precisely how you need to speak to yourself, in order to create the future that you truly desire to make your own!

Try it for 4 weeks and see what happens. I guarantee you of 2 things. (1) It will take a lot more concerted effort than you may originally think; to turn your self talk to “purely positive” and (2) the results will be near miraculously awesome!

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Zig Ziglar is compassionate enough to remind all of us “adults” of the fact that “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” The reason I specifically emphasize the fact that this message is for adults, is the very fact that children and even teens seem to instinctively KNOW that “if at first you don’t succeed … try, try again!”

As kids we fell off of our bikes, out of trees, down the stairs and a few of us may have descended from the roof-top at an accelerated pace, thanks to the laws of gravity, but we never gave, we just got back up, dusted ourselves off and gave it anther shot.

But as adults, so many of us seem to subconsciously, mentally and emotionally  take any and every set-back or failure as a frustrating, project ending, total and complete disaster.

Guess what, that what Mr. Ziglar regularly refers to as “Stinkin’ Thinkin’” and as usual, Mr. Ziglar is right on the money! Some of the world’s greatest inventions never would have seen the light of day, had their creator given up at the first complete collapse and know allowed several consecutive set-backs provide the necessary data and scientific observations leading to a new strategy and theory of how to make the idea work successfully.
For example … there once was a rock band that got turned down numerous times by absolutely ever major, medium and small time record company that produced rock n’ roll music. Luckily they simply never gave up and continued trying and trying again … and now days I bet most of us have heard of a little band from Britain known as The Beatles!

Wilbur and Orville Wright were a couple of struggling inventors, working out of their bicycle shop on this crazy idea they called an “airplane!” Everybody told them that if man had been meant to fly, he would have been born with wings, and after the first several incarnations of their “flying machine,” they very easily could have given up and decided that the vast majority of “nay-sayers” were right! But they didn’t, they endured onward ad upward!

Every valuable invention, noteworthy achievement and major accomplishment achieve throughout history, was meticulously and painstakingly built up from a massive, heaping pile of momentary, temporary “failure foundation!” But with perseverance, came success! How about YOU? What will YOU do to ensure that you eventually successfully achieve your ultimate goals, objectives and dreams?

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W. Clement Stone once said something so amazing simple yet deep it truly is worthy of some serious contemplation on how best to apply it to our lives. He said, “If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.”

WOW, how amazingly profound and yet remarkably and fundamentally basic!

It’s true, if you are smart enough to be reading a lot of autobiographies of the most notably influential and highly successful achievers and leaders in life … one of the most instantly noticeable quality and attitude that they all seem to have in common, is a truly heart-felt and authentic desire to share, that flows directly out of a most sincerely humble sense of true gratitude and deep seated thanks!

Throughout our pursuits in business and life, we so often hear the standard and now almost predictable “cliché’s” about our remembering to continually give ourselves a serious “Check-Up from the neck up” and maintain a life affirming and positive “Attitude of Gratitude.”

It’s almost as if, the more we hear those words of wisdom, the less seriously we truly take them and we certainly don’t spend much time thinking deeply about them any more … but why not?

Keep in mind … just because something has become a traditional standard and often recited cliché, does that make it any LESS true? Or does the very fact that so many very wise people continue to say it over and over again, make it probably and actually much MORE true and certainly worthy of our consistent application in our own particular professional and personal pursuits?

There are certain principals that tend to naturally and even supernaturally apply to our lives in a very universal and predictable way. Gravity is one. Momentum is another and yes, an attitude of gratitude is another. That sense of sincerely felt appreciation and thanks for our successes and blessings naturally makes us want to give back to others, from the bountiful bevy of blessings that we have received.

The fascinating thing is, the more we give to others, the more we end up getting back and the better we feel about life, ourselves and humankind in general.

In fact, it’s such a powerfully predictable principal, that many of the world’s most successful people actually start-off every project that they set out upon, by giving away some money, time, expertise, insights and information, just to help “prime the pump” and better ensure the ultimate success of their endeavors.

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Les Brown was thoughtful enough to know that it was important to remind us of a very significant and valuable warning that applies equally in business and life … “Don’t let someone else’s opinion of you become your reality.”

Many of us might quickly pass these words of wisdom off as being rather obvious, simplistic and nor worthy of a whole lot of serious attention or contemplation. If so … many of us would be very wrong indeed!

You see, from the earliest stages of our growth in our life, we became naturally conditioned to put a LOT of emphasis on what other thought of and believed us to be capable of. From our parents to our teachers in school, “getting by” and “getting through” quite often depended on our ability to learn how to most quickly and effectively detect what our elders wanted from us and what they thought about us.

That’s OK! That’s a normal part of growing up through childhood. But when we become adults, it’s time to leave childish ways behind and learn to stand on our own two feet and decide the path at we are going to take.

Problem is, so many of us still have the emotional and psychological baggage of our childhood tucked securely inside our minds and hearts, and we tend to carry it around with us, wherever we go and whatever we do.

Now THAT’S a problem, a serious problem!

Clearly we still love and respect our parents and we appreciate and value the important life lessons that they are our teachers provided for us as we were growing up, but now it’s time to take the reigns of our own life and make our own decisions and observations about where we currently are on our chosen path and how we are doing thus far at achieving our self determined goals.

The truth of the matter is my friend, we need to ensure that we develop a strong sense of confidence and independence, which allows us to move forward and make progress towards our goals, no mater what harsh, judgmental and cruelly hurtful discouragements are being shouted out at us from the peanut gallery and side lines.

Luckily the most successful people on our planet, from Einstein, Columbus, The Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Galileo and Henry Ford to Mother Theresa, Gandhi and even Jesus stayed true to their calling and marched to the beat of their own drum. Are you doing the same?

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Robert Kiyosaki points out to us that in life, as well as in business, “A game is like a mirror that allows you to look at yourself.” We tend to continue to become more and more successful at winning the game of life and business, as we get to know ourselves on a more authentically deeper and more open and honest level.

Have you ever wondered how some consistently successful people just seem to naturally flow effortless through endless strings of high finance business deals and projects as if they are having the time of their life, doing what they love doing more than anything else on Earth?

That’s because these intuitive business experts have come face to face with the realization that not only is business a game that can easily be won on a regular basis if your really take the time to learn the objectives and rules of the game, but that every business scenario is a valuable opportunity to learn more about life as a whole, and ourselves in particular.

Psychologist often say that they can tell more about who a person truly is,  by simply watching them play a game for 5 minutes, compared to sitting through a one hour, in-depth interview with the person. That’s because we reveal a whole lot of very telling information about ourselves, by the way we play or compete at various games and contests.

So much of our inner character and true persona are so clearly laid out for all to see when we are playing for fun, or to win, whether we are 5 year old children or 55 year old Business Executives.

Those participants that learn to view business as fun and merely a game, come to develop a much more relaxed and casually calm, cool an comfortable attitude towards the playing of the game, which quite naturally them a powerfully decisive and strategic advantage over the competition.

Then,  when the “player” is wisely insightful enough to instinctively recognize more and more things within their own personality and behavior that can so very clearly shine through like “tell tale” sign to others, they learn to better understand their own strengths, weaknesses, motives, as well as a great number of uniquely personal and professional quirks about oneself.

They also then learn how to more effectively put on their official “game face” that they utilize during a tough and significant competition or business bout, allowing themselves to mask their expressions and physical quirks that allow others to read their body language to gain advantage over them in this game called LIFE!

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Stephen Covey takes care to remind us of the fact that “In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. Now … perhaps by this point of our professional careers, our lives and our society as a whole, we might begin to wonder if perhaps this quote might not be just a little bit overly obvious and therefore, nothing worthy of further serious consideration.

However, such a perspective, if followed through on, would certainly prove to be a grave mistake with numerous long lasting, negative repercussions of disastrous proportion.

You see, sometimes the simplest, most basic truths, are the ones that we really need to continually keep at the forefront of our minds and as the foundation and cornerstone of our consciousness.

Sure, we’ve all heard all of those clever clichés about “talk being cheap” and it’s “our actions that speak louder than words”, etc., etc…. but that’s the whole point of the matter, isn’t it? You see, it’s the “really” important stuff that gets repeated over and over and over again. WHY? Because it is so very significant and TRUE!

Whether you are reading a text book,  a dissertation, an instruction manual or a spiritual teaching, the really important stuff always gets repeated over and over again, in hopes that it will sink in and take hold in our consciousness.

OK, so then, what’s the significant message here that we all need to take to heart, as well as mind and memory? It’s this …

Don’t merely try to “fool” the world by attempting to build your entire business, reputation, renown and respect, popularity, position and relational loyalty, on something as two dimensionally trivial and shallow as a cleverly crafted BRAND!

When it’s all said and done, there is NOTHING that you can say that will be able to dissuade people from believing about you what they actually experienced and witnessed with their own eyes and ears, hopes and dreams, time and money.

Sincerely honest, moral, trustworthy and authentically principled people never have to go around broadcasting a pre-fabricated spiel about how awesome they are. People just automatically know it, from witnessing first hand what the person is all about. In other words, people’s opinions about someone are actually based purely upon what everyone knows regarding who they really “ARE!”

Fact: No collection of cleverly crafted words or meticulously planned actions can change what people already inherently KNOW about who you really, truly ARE!

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W. Clement Stone said that “Bondage is – subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes”.  Notice that Mr. Stone was wise enough to go out of his way to ensure that he carefully placed that all important word “and” in the middle of that comment … and NOT the word “or.”

That is because bondage can only come about in our lives, when BOTH negative facets of the equation are maintained and allowed to remain in positions of power within our internal and external environments.

Neither force, on its own, has sufficient power to hold us under its control by itself. External influences remain utterly impotent to cast their spell over us as long as we are continuing to renew our mind with positive affirmations and life affirming thoughts, beliefs, and self talk.

Meanwhile, the human mind is continually in a state of flux and undulating up and down, in and out, of all sorts of mind sets, emotional states of being and a never-ending regular dosage of what we call “Consistent Inconsistency” … in what it is that we are thinking and believing about ourselves.

Therefore even the most extreme and horrific of negative thoughts and attitudes, will eventually pass away, unless there is an equally deflating, rigidly stubborn set of negative external circumstances in place, which will not allow for any real change.

This is truly great news, because now you know that you simply cannot ever lose …unless of course you really want to. You see, the bondage of external forces cannot infiltrate your fortress of positive thoughts and attitudes, unless you grant them access, authority and a consistently steady platform from which to rule and control you.

No matter what people and believe say about you or the economy, or your ideas, products, services and dreams, all of it just simply bounces right off of you, with no lasting effect at all, as long as you are maintaining a positive attitude and think  affirming thoughts.

And on days when you are internally as down as you can possibly get, feeling like it’s the end of the world and you are trapped in an eternal tail spin and falling fast, it suddenly all fades away and life is beautiful again, once the conditions of your external environment changes.

So it’s really up to you, change your thoughts and change your environment and you will always be FREE to BE!

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Jim Rohn was insightful enough to explain to us that “A novel is never anything, but a philosophy put into images.” That says a lot to us about the importance of being able to present ones message and the vision behind it, clearly, simply and compellingly.

A really great leader, as well as any truly successful business and / or sales person, is always one who is very competent and confident in being a very effective spokesperson who can quite naturally energize a crowd, entertain a room, mesmerize and audience and rally the troops forward to victory.

Great leaders are not just great speech makers, they are in-fact, excellent story tellers. Those stories may include humor, in order to break the ice and set the audience at ease, or inspiration to make those within ear-shot want to rise up to the occasion and go out and win one for the team!

You see, just in the exact same way that a literary novel is nothing more than a philosophy that is effectively put into visually discernable images, the same is so with the words of a great leader, sales person or business entrepreneur.

The is absolutely no difference between the skills and insights needed and utilized to efficiently tell a fascinating story, hilarious joke, touching memoir or inspirational speech, as is needed and used to sell a product, service, person or concept to an individual or group of people.

Have you ever noticed that most of the highly successful leaders within any and all fields of endeavor are amazingly clever, funny, charming and passionate joke and story tellers?

Whether you’re talking about a top level corporate CEO or a consistently successful baseball manager, movie director, orchestra conductor or football coach, they all can turn a tale with absolutely no effort at all and can hold an entire room of busy people, completely captivated and impatiently waiting on each and every word.

Great world leaders and international political experts are those who are able to very comfortably present their vision of a better, brighter future, in words that are so deeply relatable that people can’t only hear what’s being said, but they can actually see it, feel it, believe in it … practically reach out and touch it!

Business success arrives ONLY when one can put together the words that create the images that truly inspire, motivate, impress and satisfy the customer / client!

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Og Mandino tells us to “Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.” Far too often in life, we are way to quick to start feeling sorry for ourselves or thinking that it’s just not fair that things can sometimes be so hard for us to get what we truly need, want and desire.

The actual truth of the situation is, in fact, completely the polar opposite of what we so often “feel” to be true. It is ONLY by way of working ourselves through our adversities, that we come to a point in our lives and careers where we become far stronger, wiser, more competent, confident and consistently successful at whatever it is that we set our sights on.

Every single obstacle we encounter, that we are willing to face head on, without giving up or slinking away, is a uniquely wonderful opportunity to increase our belief in our own ability to find or create effective solutions to problems that we never even knew we were capable of solving.

We all know exercise is good for us. More than good for us, exercise is in fact, absolutely vital if we are to maintain optimum health and ability, physically as well as mentally. Really, exercise is simply exerting our will against and over various forms of physical adversity. The adversity may come to us in the form of gravity, a prescribed athletic regimen or even an opponent in a competitive activity.

We actually NEED adversity in our lives, or we would never have the necessary opportunities to build up our strength, confidence, stamina, belief and endurance to continue moving forward, mo matter how tough the going might get.

Adversity is full of precious seeds, that when carefully planted, nurtured and then harvested, they provide a vast bevy of truly wonderful blessings and gifts to us in amazing abundance. We are much like the squishy, ugly caterpillar, who needs to spend time is a preparatory cocoon phase, that only through the rigorous effort exerted over an extended period of time, turns the once lowly caterpillar into the majestic butterfly, flying high and effortlessly above the rest of  the world.

If someone feels sorry for the caterpillar and tries to assist it in the adversarial process of working it’s own way out of the cocoon, they declare a death sentence of the poor caterpillar, for only through it’s physical toil and effort, does it develop the strength and health that is needed to fly freely as a butterfly.

Adversity is NOT our enemy, as so many falsely believe … it is in fact, our friend and greatest benefactor in our pursuit of success and happiness!

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