There are people who always play it safe. They never tackle more than they are sure they can handle without effort and risk. Thus they invite neither triumph nor defeat. They never learn the greatness of their mental ability, nor the strength of their endurance. On the contrary, Goal Achievers are potential pathfinders, eagerly in search of a trail to blaze. Make sure your goal is big and interesting enough to really fire up your emotions.

Only you can decide what your goal is going to be. Although another person – your spouse, parent, employer or associate – may offer suggestions, you and only you, can make the final decision. There is no one in the entire world who is capable of setting your goal for you. If they try, and they probably will, do not permit it to happen. You will not commit yourself to someone else’s goal or one you set to please someone else.

Your goal should be something you want, not something you need. There is no inspiration in needs; there is only inspiration in wants. The goal does not have to be logical, in fact, you will probably be much more inspired if it is totally illogical. The road to your goal may be a rough one, therefore it is very important for you to be very emotionally involved with the idea of reaching your goal.

Earn as much as you can, save as much as you can, invest as much as you can, give as much as you can.”

You can have all that you want financially, and more. All it takes to achieve this is the proper state of mind. Prosperity is created by a state of mind. The principle is simple: get turned on about prosperity and stay turned on. Write down your prosperity goals, visualize them, affirm your prosperity regularly, and you’ll achieve it.

It is better to have more than less. It is better to accumulate it faster than slower. Money increases life’s options. It creates new kinds of freedom and ends the slavery of poverty.

The question we all ask is how do we get it?” The answer is simple. Prosperity starts with an idea.

Mark writes, and I quote “Back in 1971, when I was launching my first business, I was in Boulder, Colorado. My friend Moe Siegel and I were full of wonderful buoyant energy”. “We’d go up and watch the sunset in what’s called the flatirons of Boulder”. Moe would always be picking seeds and herbs, and he would say, “Someday I’ll have a tea company to rival Lipton”. “Everyone always said,
Yeah, sure, sure”.

Just a short time ago, Moe sold out for $105 million – net – to one of the biggest tea companies in the world. We all know his brand now as Celestial Seasonings.

Moe didn’t start out with money. He started on the road to prosperity simply with an idea and the courage to believe in it.

Imagine having Bob Proctor as your personal mentor everyday in 2010!! Would that have a positive impact in your life? Please take a few of minutes to find out how by clicking here.

Admittedly, this is rather ridiculous, as we both know you are not going to be instructing any aliens. But, it is a thought that will get you focused on the positive polarity.

We are facing a new year and we do have freedom of thought. You and I can plan to enjoy tremendous results this year. However, with all the negative energy swirling around the business community, it becomes more important than ever to make those plans. Without such plans you will, most certainly, be swept into the “I can’t because-” syndrome and you don’t want that to happen.

I am presently working with a few different companies that have exciting expansion programs. They are educating and motivating their employees. This requires courage, but more importantly, it requires understanding. You must understand that you and I, like every other human, are creative beings. We can create the life we want and we can do it this coming year!

Imagine having Bob Proctor as your personal mentor everyday in 2010!! Would that have a positive impact in your life? Please take a couple of minutes to find out how by clicking here.

The following ten questions came under an article titled, “Who’ll Pay The Price”. Test yourself. If you have a sincere desire to become a success in your chosen endeavor, you must be able to answer yes to the following ten questions.

1. You want success – are you willing to pay the price?

2. Can you take a beating and keep pursuing your goal?

3. Is discouragement something you can stand?

4. Can you hang on in the face of obstacles?

5. Are you strong on the finish as well as quick at the start?

6. Have you the grit to do what others have failed to do?

7. Have you the persistence to keep on trying after repeated failures?

8. Have you the nerve to attempt things the average person would never dream of doing?

9. Can you go up against skepticism, ridicule, and friendly advice to quit without flinching?

10. Can you keep your mind steadily on the single objective you are pursuing – resisting all temptations to divide your attention?

Success is sold in the open market. Anyone can buy it who is willing to pay the price. Those questions should be given to every person who is planning to open a new business or accept a position in commissioned sales. The rewards for success are great and are enjoyed by the person who is prepared to pay the price. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Imagine having Bob Proctor as your personal mentor everyday in 2010!! Would that have a positive impact in your life? Please take a few of minutes to find out how by clicking here.

When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did!

Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven’t designed or described or defined the future.

Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.

The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.

Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.

You want to win; I want to win. No one sets out to deliberately destroy themselves – although I must admit, at times it certainly appears as if some people do.

If everyone wants to win – why don’t they? There are probably many answers to that question. After talking with hundreds of people who do not seem to be able to make it happen, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to success is locked up in a seven letter word – “Believe.”

Losers do not believe they can win. Why don’t they believe? I think there is an answer to that question and I’ll get to it in a moment. If you are having difficulty making something big happen in your life, listen closely.

All the great religious leaders, philosophers and self-help gurus have told us to believe and succeed. “All things are possible for those who believe.”

William James said, “Believe and your belief will create the fact.”

I have found that our belief system is based on our evaluation of something. Frequently when we re-evaluate a situation our belief about that situation will change.

Half of my life was wasted. I never even tried to accomplish anything of any importance because I did not believe in myself. The truth was I knew very little about me. Many years ago I was encouraged to begin studying myself, re-evaluate myself. I began to gain an understanding of my marvelous mind. Everyday I learned a little more and I suddenly began to believe in myself.

Today I have a number of companies around the world earning millions of dollars. We have a very successful year long coaching program… We teach people the laws of their mind. Long before the year’s program is over we see marvelous things happen from more money to great loving relationships.

Re-evaluate yourself. There is a sleeping giant in you. Release it.

Believe in yourself.

In December 1984, Kim, Larry and I were on a skiing holiday. At night we would discuss our plans for the future. Kim and I were on our last few dollars and Larry was in the process of building another business. On New Years Day, we tried to set some goals. Larry wanted to do more than just set goals for the coming year, he wanted us to set goals that changed our lives.

“Why don’t we write a plan on how we can all become financially free?” he urged.

I had talked about it and dreamt about it. But the idea of being financially free was always in the future, not today.

“Let’s write it down,” Larry said. “Once we write it down, we have to do it, and we’ll support each other on the journey.”

Kim and I looked at each other doubtfully. “It’s a good idea but I think I would rather just focus on surviving for the next year.”

“Come on,” said Larry. “Let’s go for freedom. I don’t want to spend my life working just to pay bills. I want to live. I want to be rich. I want to travel the world while I’m young enough to enjoy it.”

I recalled the words of my rich dad: “The biggest challenge you have is your own self-doubt and your laziness. It is your self-doubt and your laziness that define and limit who you are. It is your self-doubt and laziness that deny you the life you want.”

It was time to choose. “OK, let’s set the goal to be financially free.” That was New Year’s Day 1985. In 1994 Kim and I were free. Larry went on to build his company, which became one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies of the year in 1996. Larry retired in 1998 at the age of 46 after selling his company.

How did we do it?

It’s not about how we did it. It’s about why we did it. From 1985 to 1994, Kim, Larry, and I focused on rich dad’s three paths to great wealth:

Increasing business skills
Increasing money management skills
Increasing investment skills

The why is because I wanted to challenge my own self-doubts, my laziness and my past. It was the why that gave us the power to do the how.

My arguments against Larry’s idea were things like: “But we don’t have any money”; “I can’t do that”; “I’ll think about it next year, or once Kim and I get settled”.

Rich dad had told me: “Whenever someone says something like ‘I can’t afford it’, or ‘I can’t do it’ to something they want, they have a big problem. Why in the world would someone say ‘I can’t afford it’ or ‘I can’t do it’ to something they want? Why would someone deny themselves the things they want? It makes no logical sense.”

My own whys
I was fed up with being broke and always struggling for money.
I was tired of being average.
My parents had struggled under a mountain of bills.

Most painful of all, my beautiful wife Kim was in this financial mess because she loved me.

Things got worse for us before they got better. Kim and I lived in a car for about three weeks after our money ran out. So things did not get better just because we made the decision to retire rich, but it was the reasons why that kept us going.

Rich dad used to say: “If you want something, be passionate. Passion gives energy to your life.” Passion is a combination of love and hate. “If you want something you do not have, find out why you love what you want and why you hate not having what you want. When you combine those two thoughts, you will find the energy to go get anything you want.”

For example, I would create the following list:

LOVE
Being rich
Being free
Buying anything I want
Expensive things
Having other people do what I don’t want to do

HATE
Being poor
Being required to work
Not having what I want
Cheap things
Doing things I don’t want to do

So sit quietly to find and define your loves and hates. Then write down your whys. Write down your dreams, goals and plans on becoming financially free, retiring early and retiring as young as possible. Once it is in writing, you may want to show it to a friend who will support you in achieving your dreams. Take a look at this paper with your dreams, goals and plans on a regular basis. Talk about it often, ask for support, be willing to continually learn, and before you know it, things will begin to happen.

I have heard many people say: “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” That statement has some truth to it. But what money does do is buy me the time to do what I love and pay other people to do what I hate doing.

Many people just muddle through life. They don’t read informational material, they don’t even pay attention when they WATCH television. If you ask them what they are watching, they mumblemouth, “Nothin’, I’m just lookin’.”

What are your goals for your career? For your relationships? For your spiritual life? Develop a schedule for the next month, the next six months, the next year, five years and ten years. Write it all out.
Let’s take one of the most common goals: You want to make more money. If that is your goal, then take some practical steps toward realizing it.

First, determine specifically how much money you want to make. Then, double that amount and make THAT your goal. Even if you don’t reach the higher amount, you will probably still find yourself making more than your original goal.

Second, decide the amount of energy you are willing to expend to reach your goal. How many hours are you willing to work a day? How many jobs are you willing to hold down? What sort of work are you willing to do?

A third step in this process is to develop a practical plan of action and get started immediately. Chart out where you want to be in relation to your goal in the next month, six months, one year, five years and ten years. Get started today. Go apply for that second job NOW! Go enroll in that career training program NOW! Ask for that raise NOW!

And finally, make sure that you have all of this written down so that you can review it every morning and every night and envision yourself taking these steps, DOING THEM and SUCCEEDING!

1. The timing is all wrong. In 1987, prior to accepting Paramount’s offer to host a late-night talk show, Arsenio Hall was told by everyone: “It’s too hard to crack into the late-night ratings. Television isn’t ready for a black talk show host. This is America, and you can forget it.”

2. Why don’t you get a real job? Not understanding his desire to become Mr. Universe, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s family pleaded with him, saying: “How long will you go on training all day in a gymnasium and living in a dream world?”

3. It’ll never work, you’ll lose everything. Weeks before she opened her first store, cosmetic tycoon Mary Kay Ash’s attorney said: “Liquidate the business right now and recoup whatever cash you can. If you don’t, you’ll end up penniless.”

4. Don’t rock the boat. In response to Muriel Siebertís application to be the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, officials responded: “The language on the floor is too rough and there’s no ladies’ room.” She bought a seat anyway and remained the only woman there for nine years.

5. It’s never been done before. Upon applying for a job after graduation from Columbia University, announcers for NBC Radio responded to Sally Jessy Raphael: “You have the perfect voice for broadcasting, but you should get a job as a secretary. We’re not using women.”

6. You don’t have enough talent. Responding to his desire to become a recording artist, Ray Charles’ teachers said: “You can’t play the piano, and God knows you can’t sing. You’d better learn how to weave chairs so you can support yourself.”

7. Don’t even try, you’ll just be disappointed. When auditioning for a part in a high school musical, a teacher rejected Diana Ross saying: “You have a nice voice, but it’s nothing special.”

8. You don’t fit the mold OR you’re not the right “type.” Trying to convince her she didn’t have the right look, fashion photographer Richard Avedon told Cher: “You will never make the cover of Vogue because you don’t have blond hair or blue eyes.” When she did make the cover, Vogue sold more copies than it had ever sold before.

9. Don’t give up your day job. Commenting on the first manuscript of an unpublished author, a New York publisher told James Michener: “You’re a good editor with a promising future in the business. Why would you want to throw it all away to try to be a writer? I read your book. Frankly, it’s not really that good.” Michener’s first book, Tales of the South Pacific, later won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted for stage and screen as South Pacific.

10. There’s no market for it. When hearing his plans to launch Perrier in the United States, several consulting firms advised Gustave Leven: “You’re foolish to try to sell sparkling water in the land of Coca-Cola drinkers.”

The only opinion about your dream that really counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations — not yours. There is nothing unrealistic about a dream that aligns with your purpose, ignites your passion, and inspires you to plan and persevere until you attain it. On the contrary, it’s unrealistic to expect a person with such drive and commitment not to succeed.