From a Favorite Author

Greg and I are huge fans of Brian Tracy. I wanted to share this letter I received from him, to help inspire us for the New Year.

I’ve read Goals!, Eat that Frog, Flight Plan, Change Your Thinking Change Your Life, The Way to Wealth and many others by Brian Tracy. He is an inspirational and motivational teacher who can help you to achieve whatever goals you may have for the coming year

Planning Your Year
By Brian Tracy

There has never been a better time in all of human history to be alive than today. There are more opportunities for you to accomplish more things, in more different fields, engaging in more different activities, than have ever existed before.

Resolve today to make the coming year the very best year of your life. Resolve today to draw a line under your past and to focus very clearly on your future. Resolve today that you are going to set goals, make plans, take actions and achieve more in the coming year than perhaps you have ever accomplished in any one single year before.

One of the great rules for success is this: “It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from; all that really matters is where you’re going!”

No matter what you have done or accomplished in the past, “that was then and this is now.”

The very best days, weeks, months and years of your life lie ahead. The most exciting accomplishments and the greatest achievements are still to come. As Shakespeare said, “The past is merely a prelude.”

As it happens, everyone has goals. But some people seem to accomplish their goals far more systematically and with greater assurance than others. Why is this? The answer is simple. People who accomplish goals at a higher rate than the average are people who use a systematic, proven method of goal setting and goal attainment.

Perhaps the two most important qualities of success are focus and concentration. Focus means knowing exactly what it is you want and concentration means having the discipline to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, until it is complete.

If you have these qualities, and both of these qualities are learned through practice, you can accomplish virtually anything. There are no limits on your future if you can focus and concentrate every hour of every single day.

The starting point of setting goals for the coming year is for you to project forward and think back. Practice what we call “Back from the Future” thinking. Project forward to the end of the next twelve months and ask yourself, “If everything happens perfectly, what will it look like?”

The one quality of men and women who become leaders in their own lives and societies, throughout all of history is the quality of vision. They have the ability to visualize. They can see the future well in advance of it becoming a reality. They can then see the steps that they will need to take to get from where they are to where they want to go.

So if your next twelve months were ideal, in every respect, what would happen or, what would have happened, at the end of that twelve month period?
You need to set goals that are multi-dimensional. You need to set goals for every part of your life so that you function like a well-oiled machine, like a balanced wheel that goes around smoothly in every respect. You need goals for your health, for your career, for your finances, for your relationships, for your personal and professional development, for your community and for your spiritual growth. Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens for a reason. And you are the “primary creative force” in your own life. You are the reason. Things are happening in your life because you make them happen, not because you sit around and wait for them to happen.

Here is the basic seven-step model of goal setting. You can use this like breathing in and breathing out on a regular basis to accelerate your attainment of any goal you can imagine for yourself.

Step number one is for you to decide exactly what you want. This immediately moves you into a separate category of people because most people have no idea of what they really want. Clarity is the most important single quality of goal-setting and perhaps the most important single quality of success. Decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Instead of fuzzy goals like more money, better health and happiness, be specific about exactly how much more money you want to earn in a specific period of time and combine that with exactly what level of health and fitness you desire.

Most people are unconsciously preoccupied with the fear of failure. It is the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life. And the fear of failure can work on you unconsciously by blocking you from setting clear specific goals. Why? Well, if you don’t set clear, specific goals, then you can’t fail to achieve them. So your subconscious mind is actually protecting you by helping you to avoid failure.

You must resist and overcome this tendency by having the courage to be bold and specific about exactly what you want. This is step number one.

Step number two is for you to write it down. Only three percent of living Americans, or adults anywhere for that matter, have written goals. Everyone else that thinks about a written goal and plans to write them down, someday. But they never get around to it. Most people spend more time making a list of groceries before they go shopping or planning a vacation than they do in planning their lives. But again, this is not for you. Success begins with a pad of paper, a pen and a few minutes of your time. One of the most important keys to success is to “think on paper.”

All successful people “think on paper.” And here are two important points. If you cannot write it down clearly and specifically on a piece of paper, then it means that you are not really clear about it yourself. Perhaps you don’t even want it. What is worse, it may be that you are afraid that you may not attain it. Nonetheless, a goal that is written down is merely a fantasy or a wish. A goal that is clearly written and described on a piece of paper takes on a power of its own, it is now something concrete that you can touch and feel and work with.

The second principle of writing goals down is that something miraculous happens between the head and the hand. When you actually write a goal down, it is as if you are programming it into your subconscious mind and activating a whole series of mental powers that will enable you to accomplish more than you ever dreamed of. By writing it down you intensify your desire for the goal and you increase your belief that the goal is possible. You begin to expect to achieve the goal and you start to attract people and circumstances into your life that are consistent with the attainment of the goal. Writing your goal down is one of the most amazing of all goal-setting skills and it is a key to your success.

The third step is for you to set a deadline. If it is a large goal, set a series of sub-deadlines. A deadline acts as a “forcing system” on your subconscious mind and begins to move you toward your goal rapidly while it moves your goal toward you.

Sometimes people ask me, “What if I set a goal and I don’t achieve it by the deadline?” The answer is simple. Set another deadline. Remember, a deadline is a guess-timate of when you will achieve it. Sometimes you will achieve your goal well in advance of your deadline. Sometimes goals will take much longer than you expect. But you must have a target time before you set off.

It is like making a reservation at a restaurant. You may be five minutes early or five minutes late, but you always have a specific time for which your dinner is reserved.

The fourth step is for you to make a list of everything you could possibly think of that you will have to do to achieve your goal. The more comprehensive your list, the more motivated you will become, the more intense will be your desire and the more you will believe it possible.

One of the things that hold people back is even if they get to the point of a written goal; they do not take the time to lay out a list of all the little things they will have to do to get there. And with additional experience, you will add new items to your list until it finally becomes complete.

The fifth step of goal setting is for you to take your list and organize it into a plan. A plan is really quite simple. It is a list organized by priority and importance. You decide what you will do first and what you will do later. You decide what is more important and what is less important. And most of all, you decide upon the one thing that is more important than anything else that you can do immediately to begin moving more rapidly towards your goal.

Step number six is for you to “take action!” This is the big killer for most people. They are procrastinators. They have great ideas combined with great hopes and dreams. They may even get to the point of writing down their goals. But when it comes to taking action, they always have a reason or excuse to procrastinate to put it off until a later time. However, as the Bible says, “Faith without deeds is dead.”

It is when you launch toward your goal that you begin to feel the desire and power that goes along with goal setting. And once you have launched toward your goal, it is much easier for you to continue moving in that direction.

Step number seven is for you to do something every day to move you toward your major goal. Never let a day go by without you engaging in some action that helps you move another step in the direction of what you really, really want in life.

Remember, you can’t hit a target that you can’t see. And if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. The simple seven step act of deciding exactly what you want, writing it down, setting a deadline, making a list, organizing the list into a plan, taking action on the most important item on your list and then doing something every day towards your goal will change your life and your future in ways that you cannot even dream of today.

Do anything you want just by setting a goal! Achieve your dreams! Learn how with Goals! by Brian Tracy.

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Everyone has goals, and now is the BEST time to help your customers get organized to reach them.

Rachel

http://racheldenning.wordpress.com

The Art of Giving (and Receiving)

You must be fit to give before you can be fit to receive.
James Stephens

There seems to be something extra special this time of year. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, a feeling really, that is distinct from the rest of the year.. This is the first year that I’ve been cognizant of it, observing it and analyzing it. Christmas songs seem to do something special to me, they make my heart feel open and warm.

A lot of memories of my father resurface in my mind at Christmas time. He was one who knew how to ‘keep Christmas well’. We always had to have a real Christmas tree, we went as a family to pick it out, then after letting it ’settle’ overnight, dad would put on the lights while the rest of us hung the decorations. Christmas music was always playing, and we would sing along to Bing Crosby, Amy Grant, and Elvis. (Dad especially liked Elvis and would really get into it, “Ah Ah’ll have-uh bluuuuuue Christmas without you…”)

Then there were the sugar cookies. One night out of the season, the entire family would be confined to the kitchen to make and decorate cookies for the neighbors. Dad would roll them out and bake them, while we would decorate…and decorate…and decorate. Dozens and dozens of cookies. Hours and hours of decorating (at least it seemed like it). The only way we could get out of it was if we took the cookies to the neighbors house and doorbell ditched them. (I was always happy to volunteer).

One of my most memorable Christmases as a child was when we knitted mittens, scarves, hats, and put together hygiene kits, then took them to the homeless people living under the underpass. I remember watching my father from the car window as he walked over to a homeless man who was sitting next to a cardboard box, and handed him his gift. I was so amazed that people lived in those conditions, and an impression was burned into my mind forever- “lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees.” I learned from my father the art of giving.

One other Christmas remains in my memory. I’m now a young adult. My father, always the energetic giver, wanted to give the perfect gift. Once all the gifts were open, he told the girls to wait (me, my mother, and two sisters), for he had one more surprise for us. In to the garage he went, and came out with four matching dresses, each in a different shade of pastel. We were less than excited. They were too old fashioned, too frumpy. How could we wear them?

We agreed to try them on, and take a photo in them, for his sake. We were kind, but inflexible. We didn’t want them. He magnanimously returned them to the store. He knew how to give, and so he was able to receive graciously (our rejection). I had yet to learn the art of receiving.

When I give, I give myself.
Walt Whitman

There is a time to give, and a time to receive. The process of exchanging gifts involves more than just the moment it occurs, and the gift which is given. It involves thoughts about the loved one, pondering, planning, preparation, and presentation. The gift given, no matter what it may be, wanted or unwanted, contains a portion of the giver. In their gift is contained their thoughts, their prayers, and their love.

I have given many gifts in my life, and I have received many. It is this year that I begin to appreciate the gift behind the gift. I am grateful for the friendship, concern and caring that is represented in a gift thoughtfully given. The attention to individual needs and wants, the desire to “lift up the hands, strengthen the knees,” and “gladden the heart.” All this requires the thoughts of the giver directed towards the receiver in a way that brings more to the gift than the the object itself.

May you be blessed during this season to grow in the art of giving, and the art of receiving. May your thoughts and prayers bless those you love, and may your friends and loved ones ever increase.

Merry Christmas!

Rachel

Why Technical Analysis? (Building a Foundation for Profitable Trading)

Many years ago, technical analysis was considered ‘hocus pocus’, and serious investors and traders based their decisions off fundamental analysis only.

In today’s market, fundamental analysis is still widely used among very successful investors, and is an excellent strategy to use in the right market conditions, but technical analysis has made it’s entrance and created a presence not to be trifled with.

What is Technical Analysis?

First of all, what exactly is technical analysis, and what is behind it?

Technical analysis refers to the study and use of information related to stocks and the market in general. Technical analysis (TA) is a combination of charts, bars or candles, graphs, indicators and other symbols which represent to the person reading it the price, volume, momentum, trendlines, averages and other useful information related to a stock which can be used in making trading decisions.

But behind all of that data lies the true source of technical analysis- people. The market is simply a collection of individuals who are buying and selling. Fluctuation in price which is represented on a stock chart is nothing more than a reflection of the nature and mass sentiment of the individuals who are buying and selling. It is a reflection of human nature.

By learning the art of TA, we can discover repeating patters in human behavior that occur over and over again, and acquire the skill to profit from fluctuation in price.

Start the Basic Technical Analysis Course today. Not a member? Sign up for 14 days free.

Short vs. Long Term Investing

Technical analysis is geared more toward the short term, while Fundamental analysis tends to be more long term. But using TA can help you in deciding what market conditions are like and if the are favorable for ‘buy and hold’ or ‘holding for the long term.’

For example, many people made a lot of money buying and holding stocks, until about a year ago when the market began to turn. At that point they began to lose money on the stocks that they were holding, and those losses have continued to increase to date.

With a simple understanding of Technical analysis, many of those losses could have been prevented, or at least significantly reduced. One client had a 401(k) through his employer. He had already lost significants amount of money before signing up with our education.

By learning a little bit about TA, and how to read moving averages and other indicators, he gained the confidence to make an educated decision about his retirement account. He decided that he would exit his current stock and mutual fund positions, keeping his 401(k) in cash (in his account, so he received no penalties, but not invested in any securities).

Over the ensuing weeks he saved over $72,000 that he would have otherwise lost had he remained invested. Needless to say he was a happy camper. He is now using the knowledge he is learning to make money in the current market conditions, allowing him to not only stop losing money, but to begin making it as well, placing him light years ahead of his co-workiers in his investment portfolio.

High Probability Trading

Technical analysis allows traders and investors to read the markets (the sentiment of individuals), and only put their money to work in the market when the chances for success are increased.

When analyzing charts, a trader is looking for the highest number of factors suggesting that a significant move in one direction is possible (higher odds), enough to lead to an acceptable risk/reward ratio.

Everything to do with TA is designed to increase the odds of success in trading. It’s a tool to determine that the reward for investing outweighs the possible risk.

It’s Not About Prediction

Despite what many people believe, TA is not about predicting the future. In reality, it has to do with probability, not prediction. TA helps us to find a many factors as possible that indicate a probable up, down or sideways move in the market.

Even a basic understanding of TA can help even the most steadfast of Fundamental Traders. There are traders who trade only on technicals, but there are not many traders any more that, fundamentalist or not, that do not use some technicals as a part of their trading strategy.

Start the Basic Technical Analysis Course today. Not a member? Sign up for 14 days free.

Kingsley’s Crossing

Kingsley’s Crossing by Olivier Jobard
In Kingsley’s Crossing, a 23-year-old lifeguard from the impoverished town of Limbe, Cameroon, dreams of a better life in Europe. He embarks on a harrowing journey that takes him halfway across Africa. Photojournalist Olivier Jobard documents the passage. See the project at http://mediastorm.org/0010.htm

How grateful I am for the freedoms we enjoy, as well as the abundance and opportunities available to us. Watch this great video about

Gratitude

“The soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch with God than one that never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgment.”- Wallace Wattles

After this Thanksgiving holiday, my mind has been especially focused on gratitude. I seem to have felt a lot more gratitude this year than I have in years previous.

Perhaps it is a sign that I am growing and maturing, turning toward giving thanks for what I do have, rather than focusing on what I do not have. I’m appreciating the smaller things in life, food to eat, family to enjoy, a home to live in, a loving spouse, sweet children, and abundant wealth (compared to 90% of the world- we live in large, heated homes, with running water, carpet, refrigerators and other luxuries).

Happiness is a Choice

Many people who have everything they could want are still miserable because they lack gratitude. Some people who are rich are still unfulfilled because they fail to appreciate what they have.

Yet others who seemingly have nothing can still be so happy, because they’ve chosen to focus on being grateful for what they do have. They’ve made happiness a choice, one that is not dependent on circumstances.

In her book, Happy For No Reason, Marci Shimoff quotes the Dalai Lama, in which he says:

“The real enemy of happiness is the mind’s fixations and delusions. Look at the situation differently, see the truth and the suffering is less. If you have the right mind, you can overcome anything- you can be happy, no matter what.”

Gratitude Brings More Things to be Grateful For

Marci Shimoff says, “Gratitude is absolutely the best way to bring more into your life.” It’s impossible to bring more good things into your life if you’re always focusing on what you don’t like, what you don’t want and what you don’t have.

Whether it’s your job, your relationship, your financial situation, your health, if you’re focusing on the negative, you tend to create even more of it. That’s because what you give your attention to, increases, or shows up more in your life.

On the other hand, if you place your attention on the things you are grateful for (and there is always something, no matter how bad things are), then you create for your self a happiness that is not dependent on circumstances or situations, and you will notice and create more things in your life to be grateful about.

As Wallace Wattles says in The Science of Getting Rich, “The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best; therefore it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best, and it will receive the best.”

Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude

“The daily practice of gratitude is one of the conduits by which your wealth will come to you.”

Wallace Wattles

Wealth is more than money, it includes relationships, health, finances, peace, fulfillment and more. Wealth can be achieved (in all these areas), by cultivating an attitude of gratitude. Doing this is simple. It starts by being grateful today, right now, for the things in your life.

“But I’m not grateful for anything!” you might be saying, “Nothing is working for me, everything is wrong.” Well, if you had to be grateful for something, what would it be? Maybe it’s the kindness of a stranger or friend, the smile of a child, a flower, sunrise or sunset, or to have a toilet to use. Start with the small things, and then work out from there.

Make a challenge out of it. What are you grateful for right now? Who are you grateful for? Think of everything you possibly can.

Action Steps

1. Make a daily habit of gratitude. Begin a gratitude journal, carry around a gratitude rock, begin each day before you get out of bed by expressing thanks for what you have.

2. Whenever you begin to feel negative emotions such as fear, frustration, discouragement or depression, begin to focus instead on what you could be grateful for if you really had to be. Make this into a habit and you’ll be amazed at the changes in your life that will result.

What To Do if You’re Attacked by a Bear (Market)

Written by Rachel Denning for www.InvestTide.com

“Buy and Hold” have replaced “I love you” as the three most popular words in the English language.

Jim Grant

A national park brochure advises visitors: “If you are approached by a bear, try to look big. Be forceful, but not aggressive. Keep your pack on, wave your arms, talk loudly. Back away slowly, but DO NOT RUN. If a bear attacks you, assume the fetal position and protect your vital organs.”

This seems to be the standard procedure for most investors who are facing a bear market. Try to look big, be forceful. Keep your pack on (don’t sell anything, in fact, buy more), wave your arms, talk loudly about how it will go back up, sometime. DO NOT RUN. If the bear attacks your retirement, assume the fetal position and protect your vital organs.

I’m sure you’ve heard the philosophy preached from every one including your broker and his dog- buy and hold, dollar cost average, hold for the long term. Who hasn’t heard that? It’s an investing article of faith that if you hold for the long run, you can’t fail to profit in the end. Or can you?

What is the definition of ‘long term’ anyway? How long is it? The answer may be surprising. In fact, you might have to be Methuselah to reap the profits of the long term. Brilliant economist, who unfortunately wasn’t brilliant enough to avoid losing millions in the bear market of 1929-1932, said this: “In the long run, we’ll all be dead.”

Acres of cemeteries were filled with investors who died waiting for their stocks and mutual funds to break even after the Great Decline of ‘29. Seniors who invested in 1929 died long before their heirs ever broke even on their inheritance.

One middle aged man got in near the top in 1929, and held on for the ‘long term.’ He held on through Herbert Hoover, four terms of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and two years of Eisenhower. Then it was time to retire. The capital gains he had to show for all his years of patience? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Some consider the Great Decline to be a financial fluke, and that the market could never again experience an 89% loss like it did then. However, year-to-date, from it’s high in October 2007, the S&P has lost 52% of it’s value (in one year’s time).

Even when the market is not extremely bearish, buy and hold for the long term is still not the best philosophy. Consider these examples with the Dow:

• Climbed to 194 in 1937. Twelve years later in 1949, it was lower than that
• Topped out at 685 in 1959. Sold for less 17 years later in 1974
• Record territory at 734 in 1961. Sold for exactly the same price 19 years later in 1980
• It reached 11,500 in 2000. Today, almost nine years later, it just hit 8,000

It has been figured that it takes seven and a half years for stocks purchased at the onset of a bear market to return to a break even status. In a worse than average bear market (like the one we’re in now) it takes even longer.

Buying and holding is far from the safe investment strategy that it is made out to be. It works, in bull markets. It works in mild bear markets, that are quickly reversed. Other than that, it is risky, extremely risky.

You’re most likely holding on to stocks that are exceedingly overpriced, that won’t return to their previous highs for a decade or more. This is risky if you’re planning on a road trip in the RV in ten years or less.

Even Warren Buffett, king of investors, has a point at which he’ll sell. In 1969, stock reached an extravagant high, Buffett found nothing worth owning, so he sold everything in his portfolio, and gave his partners their money back. For the years during the bear market that followed, Buffett was in cash. He didn’t return to stocks until four years later, when he got an excellent price.

The unfortunate ones who ‘held for the long term’ had to wait through four presidencies to see a profit. In the meantime, Buffet became a billionaire.

Now ask yourself, if Warren Buffet has a selling point, don’t you think you should hav a selling point? Buy and hold, yes, if and when it makes sense. But when you’re under attack by a viscous mama bear (market), can you afford to hold on to the bitter end? Will you even live that long? The best advice under such circumstances is to cut your losses and run!

An example of how well this strategy works is illustrated by the story of a client. He had a 401(k) retirement plan through his company. He had already lost some money in it since the start of the decline a year ago. He was advised through our personal coaching program to ‘go to cash’ in his retirement, meaning that he sell his stock holdings and keep the money in cash in his 401(k) account.

To date, he has saved over $72,000 in losses. These are losses he would have incurred had he continued to cling to the ‘buy and hold’ mentality. Many of his co-workers continued to hold, and have incurred substantial losses as a result.

He is now learning and applying strategies that he can use to make money during this volatile bear market. Having saved $72,000 in losses, and now learning strategies that will create more money while others contine to lose, now places him light years ahead of his peers.

Many believe that it is too ‘risky’ to exit their stocks when the market is dropping, but really, which is the riskier philosophy? To hold on out of fear, or to take action that results in avoiding losses and creating profits?

Action Steps

1. Realize that “a Dow that goes up must come down.” Bear markets will happen, and most likely when you’re ready to retire! Decide to learn strategies that allow you to profit from bear markets.

2. Commit to using a buy and hold strategy only when it makes sense. Be flexible enough to change that strategy when the market changes.

Problems are Opportunities in Disguise

“Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you and you alone to decide.”

Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has problems. It is an inescapable part of life. Some people believe that they will be happy once they eliminate their current problems, but the only time you won’t have problems is when you’re dead! Having problems means that you’re alive. In fact, some say that the bigger the problem, the better the person.

Most people view having problems as a negative thing, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can choose to change our view on the world and see our problems as opportunities. If you have never faced an extremely difficult problem and overcome it, or if you’re in the midst of one, you may have a difficult time believing that problems are opportunities in disguise.

Hitting Bottom

In 1974, Mark Victor Hansen seemed to be on top of the world. He was doing well financially and the world was his oyster. Then the business he was in was adversely affected by economic conditions, and the next thing Mark knew he was checking a book out from the library entitled How to Go Bankrupt by Yourself (he couldn’t afford an attorney).

At his all time lowest moment, he felt like a negative 12 on a scale of 1-10. He was physically ill, tears welled up in his eyes. He climbed into a shell. He felt totally dejected and rejected.

He began unloading toilet paper off railroad cars in New York’s freezing winter, making only $2.14 an hour. He could only afford to put $0.25 into his gas tank at a time. His self esteem was totally trashed. He had hit bottom.

But looking back, he realized that hitting bottom provided his greatest opportunities. It was a turning point in his life. He realized that at that point, the world was totally open to him. He had no job to cling to, no bills, no debts, no obligations. The world was wide open to him. Everything was potential.

Burning Your Bridges

Today Mark Victor Hansen is co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series, the largest all time best-selling books in history, with sells way into the billions of dollars. He owns a lovely estate and several substantial businesses, and influences millions of people. A friend told Mark later, “You burned your bridges, you had to succeed!”

He thought that his financial disaster had been a problem, but in reality, once he hit bottom, in only turned out to be the start of a new and better life. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, his ruin turned out to be the birth of his new beginnings. His problem was really a life-changing opportunity.

Mark is the first to tell everyone that if he can do it, you can too. You can achieve wealth and financial independence. It’s available to everyone that believes they can achieve it.

Many of us face problems that are even worse than financial difficulties, for example, issues with physical appearance, ‘handicaps’, emotional/mental stress, relationship strains or health matters.

None of the challenges need to equate to living a less than extraordinary life. As an example, we can look at the story of Malcolm from Canada.

Ugly Doesn’t Matter

Malcolm had one of the most mangled faces that you’ve ever seen. He had stitches all across his face, one eyelid was stitched shut, as well as three-quarters of his mouth.

He and his fiancee had been walking in the woods. Somehow they found themselves between a mama bear and her cubs. The bear grabbed hold of his fiancee, and Malcolm tried to stop the bear, whereupon the mama bear crushed every major bone in Malcolm’s body. She then almost literally ripped his face off, back toward the scalp.

It was a miracle that he lived, and he underwent restorative surgery for the next eight years. The doctors did all they could do, but it hadn’t helped much. Malcolm saw himself as an ugly person. He didn’t want to come into contact with society.

He decided to take his own life by throwing himself and his wheelchair off the tenth floor of his rehabilitation center. He was ready to push himself over when his father, who was listening to an intuitive voice, came running up and stopped him just in time. He said, “Malcolm, every human being has scar tissue deep inside him somewhere. Most of us where it under a smile, some cosmetics and nice attire. You get to wear yours on the outside, but we’re all the same.”

Later, Malcolm began reading books and listening to audio tapes. He heard “Setbacks are given to ordinary people to make them extraordinary.” He decided that he was an extraordinary person. He wrote down what he wanted to do, what he dreamed about.

He got a job as an insurance salesman- a job where he had to expose himself to people everyday. A few years later he became the top insurance salesman in Vancouver.

Malcolm realized that it wasn’t his looks that were his challenge. It was how he viewed and felt about himself. His physical challenge was an opportunity to discover who he truly was and what he was capable of doing. Once he began to see what he ‘really’ looked like, his deformed face became irrelevant. He was able to break through his fears and achieve amazing results.

The World is Filled with Opportunity

No matter what challenge or problem you face, there is someone who has faced or experienced similar things. There have been two outcomes, those who were defeated, beaten and destroyed by their problems, and those who chose to not give in and give up, but allowed their problems to be turned into opportunities to grow and become a better person. Every problem contains within it the seed of an opportunity.

“But I’m not like them,” you might be saying to yourself, “I’m not a ’super-achiever’.” To believe that you can’t do what others have done is to sell yourself short. You have more potential within you than you could use in 100 lifetimes. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

Action Steps

1. Imagine that your biggest challenge or problem has been sent to you as a gift to help you learn something valuable. What might it be?

2. We all make mistakes, in fact it’s estimated that 70% of our decisions will be wrong. Don’t beat yourself up for your mistakes. Instead learn from them and move on.

3. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. We all make mistakes, but we don’t need to make the same ones over and over. Write down the lessons you’ve learned, and then try not to repeat them.

Thoreau said, “Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams, Live the Life You’ve Imagined…”

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“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life

which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.“

Success is Defined as the Progressive Realization of a Worthy Ideal

Maybe that ideal is to be a wonderful mother, father or grandparent, an inspirational teacher, an excellent friend or entrepreneur. Your ideal might be an athletic or physical goal, spiritual enlightenment or financial independence.

Whatever you goal may be, have you wondered what stands between you and the life you’ve imagined? You may have attained success in some areas of your life, but is there more you would like to do or be?

Why are some winners at the game of life, while others never come near their ideals?

It doesn’t have to be that way.

We Can All Be Winners

You can be a winner. You can be successful. Your relationships, health and financial wealth can be all that you want it to be. You can achieve any goal or dream that you have for yourself- if only you know how.

Learning how to achieve your ideal life can be one of the most important things you do. Brian Tracy says that “The only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people know more than unsuccessful people.” They’ve learned the skills that allow them to do and be more in life.

Do You Know that There Are Laws of Success?

If you drop a rock from you hand it will fall to the ground. If water reaches 32 degrees it will freeze. These are indisputable laws of nature, and by knowing them you can work with, instead of against them.

Did you know that there are also laws for success? There are laws that explain why some succeed while others fail. There are Laws of Health, Laws of Spirituality, Laws of Relationships, Laws of Money, Laws of Wealth. By learning these Laws and applying them in your life, you can achieve any goal or desire.

You Are a Potential Genius

Michael Jordan was once asked, “What is it like to be born with so much natural talent?”

He replied, “Everyone is born with talent, but ability takes hard work.”

You’ve probably heard it said that the average person uses less than 10% of their brain (some say it’s more like 2%). It’s estimated that we have over 60,000 thoughts a day. For most people, 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts that they had yesterday.

You are a potential genius, but you have to unlock it. You don’t believe that you’re a genius? You have already had proof of it throughout your life. Every so often you’ve come up with a great idea, or had a great insight, or made a great decision. That was your inner genius at work.

The only difference between you and a recognized genius, is that recognized geniuses use their inner genius all the time. It’s like knowing how to use a computer or drive a car, it’s a skill that can be acquired. You’re job is to learn how to do it all the time. Just like learning how to ride a bike, it gets easier and easier until it comes naturally.

One Piece of Information Can Transform Your Life

You might have most of the pieces for success in place, but you’re missing one critical piece that holds you back, and maybe you’re not even aware of it. If you continue to read, study, talk to people and take courses, you can pick up, sometimes just one critical piece of information, that will make all the difference. It could give you a special insight that would allow you to make a decision that could change your life.

Brian Tracy says that “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in the 21st Century.”

Don’t Waste Your Life

You have more potential for greatness in you than you could ever use in 100 years.

Chris Hoy, Olympic Gold Medalist, said after winning in Bejing, “I’ve always had the power and the speed, but it’s all about how you use it.”

You too, have the power, speed, genius, and latent ability to achieve any dream and fulfill every desire. Don’t waste it.

Action Steps

To get what you have never had, you must do what you have never done.

1. Start today to do something you have never done before that will bring you closer to achieving a dream. Begin reading a book, exercise, sign up for a course that will teach you a new skill.

2. Make a commitment to greatness. Decide now that you will make a difference with your life. Go for your dreams.

3. Dedicate yourself to continuous learning. Input determines output- be sure that the input your allowing in your life is of the highest quality.

Rachel Denning

I am a Mercedes!

I took this quiz from a link on Tami Bach’s blog

I’m a Mercedes SLK!

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality – wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun – who could ask for more?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

What type of obstacle are you facing?

It’s summertime, and it sure is hot! I’m sooo grateful to have access to a pool. We love to go nearly everyday. It gives the kids a chance to work on their swimming and me a chance to work on my tan!

We were hanging out at the pool the other day, I was soaking up the sun on a green lounge chair. Kyah had hers situated only a few inches from me. Aaliyah came toddling over with her pink swim diaper and overlapping buddah belly and her green floaties (which she swims around the pool with all by herself).

She tried to squeeze in the small space between my chair and Kyah’s. She was managing fine, but then there was an obstacle in her way, that came up past her knees. She tried with all of her might to raise her leg up over it, however, she just couldn’t quite make it.

I looked down to see how I could help and realized that her ‘obstacle’ was a pink floatie- something so light and airy that she could have easily kicked it out of her way with her adorable little foot. Yet here she was straining to go over the top of it.

I easily related this incident to life. We encounter all types of obstacles in our lives. Sometimes we need to go around them, through them or over them.

Yet do we correctly categorize the type of obstacle that we are facing before we begin making herculean efforts to conquer them? Perhaps some problem we’re facing might seem difficult to surmount. It may be possible that if we approach it from a different angle, it could be easily kicked out the way, like a floatie!

Sometimes I think we magnify the size of our problems and make the proverbial “mountains out of mole hills.”

I know I do, when my children are all crying at the same time and all want something from me, and the phone is ringing and I have a million things on my ‘to do’ list, and I’m hungry and tired and feel like I’m about to go ‘crazy’- it’s only because I’ve lost perspective.

I’m trying to climb over this huge floatie, when really I can easily kick it out of the way, as soon as I make the decision to do so.

I’m going to improvise on Mark Twain a little and say, “I’ve had a lot of problems in my life, most of which never happened.” Too often we make up problems for ourselves, simply by having the wrong view of things.