What I mean by improving your awareness is that you realize on a conscious level some of the things you’ve been doing that are counter productive towards your over all life success. You also come to the full realization as to why you need to stop doing these things.

1. Doubting Yourself – If you think that you can’t achieve something then I have some good news for you, you’re probably right. Doubts and lack of self belief are the number one way to not only fail to achieve your goals, but to prevent yourself for even trying to go for them in the first place.

Ask yourself, is there anyone in this world that could achieve what I want to achieve? If so, then you definitely can as well.

2. Looking for Answers – I don’t mean this as a sort of umbrella phrase that covers every situation in the world, sometimes we need answers. On occasion we need to know why things happened and how we can change them, but a lot of the answers we look for won’t change anything even if we get them.

• “Why do some people have all the luck?”
• “Why was I born into this environment?”
• “Why am I not smart, pretty, cool, rich?”

These are all questions that deserve no time to be pondered. Don’t look for answers, just start creating results.

3. Procrastinating - This is something I struggled with for a long time, but regular readers of the site will know that I ‘cured’ this quite well. Basically, I make sure I know what I want in life, and any time I catch myself procrastinating or wishing I didn’t have to do a certain ask, I simply ask myself: “Do you really want this?”

Has there ever been a time when procrastinating actually served you well? Did those extra 20 minutes on Facebook or a call to your friend really help the situation? The ‘problem’ is still going to be there, so just deal with it now.

4. Blaming Someone Else – It’s far easier and more likely for us to blame someone else for our current situation rather than take responsibility ourselves. “I’m poor because John makes bad financial decisions” or “I’m unhappy because Sarah left me”.

You have to take full and total responsibility for yourself and all of your actions. Sure, there will be people who want to help you and people involved in what you do, but you are completely responsible for the outcome. If you keep looking to others as the reason for your ‘failures’ without picking up the pieces yourself, these ‘failures’ will continue to happen.

5. Judging Others – First of all, you have absolutely nothing to gain but everything to lose from judging someone. People that others would instantly judge as ‘uncool’ or ‘boring’ have turned out to be some of the most awesome people I’ve ever met in my life.

Secondly, I want to make it clear that I’m not just saying this because it is nice and should be included on a list like this; I fully believe it and try to implement it into my life as much as possible. If you are going to judge people, at least judge them by their actions, and not their appearance or their background.

6. Waiting to Live – I think most of you will relate to this point more than any. I should know, I’ve spent a good few years of my life waiting for things to happen before life will be perfect and I can start enjoying it. As soon as I get that big promotion, as soon as I’m making enough money, as soon as I’ve gained X amount of lbs and I’m ripped etc., these are all useless thoughts that I’ve had.

You know what, these things may come, and you may get to finish college or get to your dream weight. As soon as you get there though, you’ll realise you’ve just wasted and forgotten the whole journey it took to arrive at the spot. The time to enjoy life is right now, no matter what situation you are in or what you hope the future may hold.

7. Needing Reasons to Be Happy – I have a huge smile on my face as I’m writing this; in fact I’ve had one for the last few days. Should I tell you why? OK, well…there is absolutely no reason. What reason do you need to feel great, why not just feel great? It all starts with loving yourself and appreciating what you have in life at this moment.

I’m feeling like that on a very regular basis these days. We often feel we need things to ‘happen’ to give ourselves permission to be happy. Yet, when you think about it, how ridiculous is that? At any moment in time, you can have complete control over how you feel. Don’t look for reasons to feel good and smile, you’re alive, that should be enough.

8. Caring What People Think – I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t easy, and I don’t think it’s going to come instantly unless you have some drugs or alcohol available. I have no doubt that this step takes time, but you can begin to care less and less with practice.

“What people say about you is none of your business”

- Sean Stephenson

You should just really put life into perspective, and trust yourself and your own direction. This is the only opportunity we have, are we really going to spend our time worrying about what people think of us, something we can’t even change anyway?

I would love to hear your thoughts, what other things do you think we should stop doing right now?

Haste and impatience can costly and likely to attribute to mistakes. Experience the value of patience. Though it may seem that you’re being left behind, with measured, diligent effort you’ll likely end up far ahead.

Patience does not mean procrastination. It means taking action now that will bring results in the future. It means doing what is best rather than what is quickest or most expedient. It means understanding that the journey is a big part of the reward.

Get started now, and have patience. Those who seek instant rewards will see them quickly vanish, if they get them at all. Take the time to be the best, and you’ll leave all those overnight wonders behind in the dust.

Have Patience, and GO GET IT!

.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ” My question to you is: What are you waiting for? Take an action, start today.

Failure is a necessary piece of life. Without failure we would not have the ability to grow and develop to new levels. The challenge is that society has wired us to believe that failure is a bad thing. The reality is that with each failure  new things are learned and with each failure you are one step closer to that potential revolutionary break through that will take you to new heights in your life. The trick is not to quit and push well through that major breakthrough that you deserve and have earned the right to take. 

The only true failure comes as a result of quiting and not reaching your true potential.

One example I like to use is one which we can all relate to and that is learning to walk when we are infants. How many failures do we experience as we were trying to figure that whole walking thing out? However with each step we learned more about using things to guide us, we learned to hang on to things as we were learning balance ourselves. With a few more steps, even though we fell many times in between we learned better ways to place our feet to promote balance. With all of those tumbles and hard falls that we took we not only developed the balance it took to walk but also took it even farther by being able to run. The key to our success when it came to learning to run was not stopping at failures and taking the time to learn from our failures, not give up and grow. The key to success at anything in life for that matter is to fail, not give up, learn and try again using the knowledge we gained from what we perceived as failing. It applies to walking, so why shouldn’t that apply to anything else you set out to do in life?

1. Ensure you prioritize and write down your daily to do’s and tasks the night before any given day. You have a limited amount of time each day so you have to prioritize your tasks in a way that you are able to accomplish the items that have the biggest impact to your personal and professional goals first. It is important that you work through your list of high priority tasks the night before you set out to accomplish them. By doing this your mind will actually work through that list of high priority tasks at a subconcious level while you sleep. This will give you additional momentum when you get started on them the following day.

2. Use positive self talk. Rather than saying “I have to get these tasks done” say “I want to get these tasks done” this small change can make a world of difference on how you are perceiving what you have to get done.

3. Always start with you biggest task first. The mistake that most people make is starting with their smallest tasks first. By getting your biggest task done first you you gain a huge sense of accomplishment and momentum that allows you to more easily accomplish the rest of your smaller tasks.

4. I consider this part very important in any process and that making it fun. Ask yourself how can do all of the tasks in a manner that allows you to enjoy the process and have fun doing it. Something as simple as a little music in the background can help out tremendously. Life is to short and to precious not to take advantage of and enjoy every moment. Take a moment and watch the attached video clip on how this group of people got more people to take the stairs then the escalator, which were side by side, just by adding the element of fun to the equation.

If you have any tips that have helped you break through the procrastination barrier please leave them in the comments section below. Live life with passion not regret. Chase your dreams and don’t let procrastination keep you from them.

In order to succeed you have to fail. Failure is the one element that truly does fuel success. It’s how we learn and how we grow. Without it we would never be able to improve upon our skills and ways of thinking. If you look at some of the most successful people in the world they have all had many failures that built them to a point that they obtained a great amount of success in life.

1. Be True to Yourself – This doesn’t mean a life without compromise. It means that you don’t lie to yourself. It means that you find out what is true in your heart, and you seek people, places, and experiences which support that core truth. It means you don’t settle for mediocrity. It means you keep striving for excellence even in the face of failure, because you know you are not mediocre. You know that you are absolutely unique and are capable of contributing something great. Being true to yourself means you don’t hide behind a mask. It means you’re a WYSIWYG person.
2. Have a Vision for Your Future – Take action now, with a picture of your future in mind. Have a vision that improves your life and the lives of others. Our CEO has a vision of attaching our ergonomic products to every display and laptop in the world. He never stops talking about it, because he knows if we realized even a portion of his vision, that our world would be a better place.  You already know how to build a vision. You do it on a small scale everyday when you jump in your car and drive to a destination. You have to start with a destination in mind or you’ll end up at some random place. So what is your life vision?
3. Avoid Debt – Debt is slavery. If you can’t afford it now, save for it. If you do decide to take on debt make sure it’s critical to your life vision. What is important enough to take on debt?
   • A home? Maybe
   • An education? Maybe
   • A business? Maybe
   • A car? Maybe
   • A pair of shoes? No
   • A latte? No
   • A night out drinking? No
   • Christmas gifts? No
   • Trendy new eyeglasses? No
   • An iPhone? No

   Make sure you’re not paying compound interest on stuff that will end up in a landfill or get flushed down the toilet. Make it a rule, to avoid debt.

4. Save – The financial experts all say, Pay Yourself First. Pay yourself at least 10% of your gross income. It’s easy if you have 10% automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited in an investment portfolio. You’ll never miss it.
5. Continue Your Education – Invest in your mind. Few people do.
   • 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school
   • 42% of college graduates never read another book
   • 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year
   • 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years (source Jeff Jarvis)

   Traditional education isn’t an end, but a beginning. Traditional educators endeavor to create within your mind, a set of tools with which you will build a lifetime of education. Even if you never acquired a traditional education, you can still enjoy a lifetime of learning and growth. Keep an open mind, look for educational opportunity everywhere and become a wealthier, smarter, more creative person.

6. Take Responsibility for Change – If you aren’t getting the results you want from life, you’re probably thinking and doing things that are counter-productive. Only you can identify what those things are and only you can take responsibility for changing them. To discover what changes you need to make, find someone who is getting the results you want, then compare your habits to theirs. Find out how they think, how they speak, how they act, what they do, and what they value. Don’t be a phony, be yourself, but learn from other people. You can take huge shortcuts in life if you are willing learn from other people.
7. Learn from Mistakes - Not just your mistakes, but everyone’s mistakes. View history as an opportunity to learn. Some of us are embarrassed of our past and would rather just forget about it, but that can easily turn into denial. Denial is imaginative stubbornness which causes us to repeat the same foolish actions. We fear what we don’t understand, so if we don’t understand our failures we create unnecessary anxiety in our lives. To act courageously in spite of fear we must be honest with ourselves about our past.
8. Build Quality Relationships/Discard Destructive Ones – The quality of your life is directly related to the quality of the people you choose to have relationships with. Make sure your relationships are two way relationships. If they are all take and little give they are will suck the happiness out of your life.Love: Look for a partner who is on a similar journey as yours, who has similar goals and values, and build on your relationship by giving your love and encouragement. Be ready to compromise, because great relationships are built on shared visions not selfish ambition. Share the difficulties and the rewards. Listen closely. Be patient.Friendship: Look for people with similar values, who give as much as they take, with which you can share interests and hobbies. Good friends don’t try to change each other, they accept each other for who they are. Laugh, listen, and offer help.

   Business: Expect high ethical standards from your business associates. Don’t waste time with people who use questionable business models and practices, they can only muddy your name. All ethical business relationships are built upon providing mutual benefit. If you are questioning a relationship, trust your instincts and examine the relationship to see if it is lopsided. If someone is questioning you, listen and be honest with yourself. Is there a mutual benefit? Are you being fair? Can you see another perspective?

9. Do the Right Thing Even When it is Unpopular – Have you ever gone along with the crowd and said or did something you knew hurt someone else? Most of us have. I have, and I’m not proud of it. Every time you fail to stand up for what you know is right, it leaves a little hole in your soul. It’s like cutting flesh away, it will heal but it leaves a scar. You can’t change other people, but you can call them on their bullshit or walk away when they are acting like Neanderthals.
10. Honor Your Commitments – Do not make commitments lightly. Before you commit to anything, think it through with your heart and your mind, and if you have doubts, don’t commit. But if you do commit, follow through. Our biggest commitments are to our spouses and our children. If you fail to honor those basic commitments, the damage can last generations (This is not to say that you should stay in an abusive relationship. If you are in one, get out. The abuser has already broken his commitment). Our business commitments can be nearly as important. If you fail to pay your bills and honor your contracts, you will see opportunity evaporate. Others will lose trust in you, which will destroy your relationships.
11. Be Charitable – Now that you’re saving 10%, take another 10% and give it to a worthy cause. I am sure some of you are thinking, “whatever, he’s talking about rich people, not me, I don’t have enough money to give any away.” No, I’m talking about you. If you only make $1000 per month then you only have to give away a 100 bucks. If you can’t give away $100 now, it will be even harder to give $1000 later. Why? Because it will add to your overall well being. You’ll feel better about yourself and your world and it will come back to you ten fold. Being miserly will not improve your life, generosity will.

Even though these great teachers have passed on, their words still live, and in them their wisdom. I’ve made a list of seven what I believe are some of the greatest teachings by the world’s greatest minds.
1. Realizing Your Dreams

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
- Lawrence J. Peter

In order for us to achieve our dreams, we must have a vision of our goals. Writing down our dreams and creating a list of actions helps us stick to our plan. As it’s said “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. When we turn our goals into measurable actions, we gain clarity and are able to see the necessary steps we must take in order to achieve them.

Action: Visualize a life of your wildest dreams. What did you dream of doing when you were a child? What would you do if you had a million dollars? Create a vision for your goals and start breaking them down into small actions that you can take on a day by day basis.
2. Overcoming Fear

“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The best way to learn something is to dive right in to it. When we overcome our fear of failure, we learn that only those who are asleep make no mistakes. Fear is the only thing keeping us from experiencing a life of love and fulfillment. If we make a commitment to an uncompromisable quest for truth, we will realize that as we grow more into the truth, our fears start to disappear.

Action: You must define your fears in order to conquer them. Create a list of everything you’re afraid of and start facing them one at a time. Make a commitment to yourself now to not let fear rule your life.
3. Intention and Desire

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”- Guatama Buddha

Our thoughts determine our reality. When we stop thinking about what we don’t and begin thinking about what we do want, our lives begin to transform. Instead of working against our desires and intentions, we move into alignment with them.

Action: Create a list of your intentions and desires. Wherever you go, take this list with you. Read it when you wake up and before you go to sleep.

4. Happiness

“Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.”
- Benjamin Franklin

Happiness comes from an inner peace, understanding and acceptance of life; a perspective of truth that opens your eyes to the beauty of life all around us. Happiness cannot be achieved by external status, it must be an internal state that we realize when we see our innate perfection.

Action: Realize that happiness is a choice. In every decision you make ask yourself “how can I respond to make myself happy and fulfilled?”
5. Self Acceptance

“If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” – Jesus

When we stop trying to be what we are not, we realize our authenticity. Before we had knowledge, we were completely authentic. We learn to use knowledge to measure and judge, which is a powerful tool we have as humans. However we create an image of perfection in our mind of what we should be, but are not. We confuse knowledge for nature. We believe in the lie of our imperfection. When we realize this we can reclaim the truth of our perfection and live in love and acceptance.

Action: Make a commitment to never go against yourself. Practice non-judgment and realize that the same part of your mind that condemns you is the same voice that caused you to take the action in the first place. We don’t even have to believe what we say to ourselves.
6. Appreciation and Gratitude

“So much has been given to me, I have not time to ponder over that which has been denied.”
- Helen Keller

How many times do we count our misfortunes rather than our blessings? When we take time to open our eyes to the miracle of life we can see the many gifts that have been given to us. Remembering all the beautiful aspects of life and all the reasons you are blessed can immediately shift our mood. We can move from sorrow and despair to appreciation and hope.

Action: Each time you find yourself complaining about something, re-direct your focus to something you are grateful for. Make a habit of transforming your awareness of troubles into an awareness of abundance.
7. The Art of Simplicity

“I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short.”
- Blaise Pascal

Perfection is not when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing more to take away. As Bruce Lee once said “the height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” True mastery of our lives is realizing the simple joys of life, removing distractions and clutter from our lives.

Action: The art of simplicity is knowing what to take away. Practice recognizing when you’re spending your time on unimportant tasks and re-focus on the important.

This list is by no means exhaustive. There are other many great teachings that I did not include here because I felt like they were already expounded on thoroughly elsewhere, such as Einstein and Gandhi’s timeless classics. There are also great teachings to be found from our parents or friends.

If you have any lessons to add, I encourage you to share them with us in the comments below. Also, I want to give a special thanks to Manu from LifeTweak for inspiring me with his “10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein”.

He goes to a board or flip chart as people in the audience call out the words they associate with winners and writes down the first ten he hears.

Over the years, O’Dooley has kept these top 10 lists of winning qualities, and he recently compiled them into a list ranked in the order of occurrence:

Positive attitude

Enthusiasm

Determined

Motivated

Confident

Optimistic

Dedicated

Happy

Good Listener

Patient

This list is useful for what is says, and for what it omits. For example, note that none of these top winning qualities has anything to do with physical or mental ability.

As O’Dooley points out, this indicates that anyone on earth can be a winner because winning is based on attitude, not aptitude. You control whether or not you will be a winner in life, regardless of your natural abilities.

When writing down the list of winning qualities that people call out, O’Dooley invariably misspells one of the words, and someone always points that out to him.

Then O?Dooley reveals that he is dyslexic and frequently reversed letters when reading and writing in school. His teachers thought he had low aptitude, so O?Dooley developed what he did have control over, his attitude. He has achieved much more than he ever would have as a perfect speller with a poor attitude.

To make this point another way, he also suggests that his audience imagine some of them are reborn as a five-pound bar of raw iron ore (worth about $5.00) and some are five-pound bars of gold (worth about $30,000). The gold bars begin life worth far more than those made of iron.

But if the gold ore people are complacent, and the iron ore people work on themselves, and transform themselves into watch springs, for example, they can go from a worth of $5.00 to a worth of hundreds of thousands of dollars by making the best possible use of what they are.

Although we can’t change our “raw materials” much, O?Dooley points out that the “process of refinement is one thing you can control.”

SUGGESTION: Don’t view potential in terms of physical or mental aptitudes ? attitude makes the difference!

2. God won’t ask the square footage of your house, He’ll ask how
many people you welcomed into your home.

3. God won’t ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He’ll
ask how many you helped to clothe.

4. God won’t ask what your highest salary was; He’ll ask if you
compromised your character to obtain it, and performed your job to the
best of your ability.

5. God won’t ask how many friends you had; He’ll ask how many
people to whom you were a friend.

6. God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived, He’ll ask how
you treated your neighbors.

7. God won’t ask about the color of your skin, He’ll ask about
the content of your character.

8. God won’t ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation;
He’ll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of
Hell.

9.God won’t have to ask how many people you forwarded this to.
He already knows whether you will or not.