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

“I’ve got a problem.”

The young man had just come to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale on Fifth Avenue in New York City, grabbed him by the lapels and said, “Dr. Peale, please help me. I can’t handle my problems. They’re just too much”.

Dr. Peale said, “Look, I’ve got to give a talk. If you’ll let go of my lapels, I’ll show you a place where there are people with no problems.”

The man said, “If you could do that, I’d give anything to go there”.

Dr. Peale said, “You may not want to go there, once you see the place. It’s just two blocks away”.

They walked up to the Forest Lawn Cemetery and Dr. Peale said, “Look, there are 150,000 people in there. I happen to know that none of them has a problem.”

Problems are a sign of life. If you have a big problem, be thankful for it. It proves you are alive and functioning.

The generally accepted viewpoint of most people, of course, is that problems are bad. Most people feel that the ideal state of things would be problem-free. Therefore, if we have problems, something must be wrong. As a result we end up devoting a large part of our energies to bemoaning our fate. We end up saying to ourselves, “Everything would be great, if only I could just get rid of my problems!”

This post was taken from The Bob Proctor Network site here. If you’d like Bob Proctor to be your daily mentor, you can find out more by clicking here.

Your self image operates on the same basic principles as the thermostat in your house, which controls the temperature in your home. Once the self image is set, your life is on course to produce the physical manifestation of the mental image you hold of yourself.

It is quite common to observe individuals attempting to do something and, at the same time, saying they don’t think they will be successful. However, their sincere desire to win causes them to try. Unfortunately, until they can visualize themselves successfully completing the project, their efforts will be in vain, regardless of how hard they try.

Permit me to suggest that you purchase a copy of Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s classic Psycho-Cybernetics. This book deals with self image – a subject that should be taught in our school system and included in all corporate training programs. Believe me, you can be assured that if it were, school marks and productivity would skyrocket. Millions of people live more fulfilled lives today because of Maltz’s important work in this area.

Psycho-Cybernetics – get a copy. If you already have one, reread it. Your library is incomplete without it.

You guessed it, the word is SUCCESS. What is success? That is a good question. I have read thousands of definitions but I have yet to find a better one than the definition I received from Earl Nightingale close to thirty years ago.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” If you know where you are, you know where you are going, and you are progressively moving your life in the direction of your dream or goal then you are successful. Only 3% of the people you are surrounded by have a clearly defined goal written in a definite statement. Most individuals wander through life dreaming and they go to their grave with their dreams still inside them. Decide what you want. Write it out and get moving. Be successful.

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.

We simply release the brake… and with no extra effort we go faster.

Going through life is a lot like driving a car. But unfortunately, most people drive through life with their psychological emergency brake on. They hold on to negative images of themselves… or suffer the effects of highly emotional events they haven’t yet released. To cope, they stay in a comfort zone entirely of their own making.

And when they try to achieve their goals, these negative images and preprogrammed comfort zones always cancel out their good intentions—no matter how hard they try.

Call them “blocks” or “limiting beliefs” or “being stuck” — but these images and past hurts are nothing more than driving through life with the emergency brake on.

Successful people, on the other hand, continually move beyond their comfort zone — not by using increased willpower, but by replacing their beliefs about themselves and changing their self image.
They release the brakes — and, just like a car, they instantly go faster.

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of the collection of can’ts, musts, must nots, and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.

The good news is that you can change your comfort zone. How? In three different ways:

1. You can use affirmations and positive self-talk to affirm having what you want, doing what you want, and being the way you want.
2. You can create powerful and compelling new internal images of having, doing, and being what you want.
3. You can simply change your behaviors
All three of these approaches will begin to shift you out of your old comfort zone.

STOP RE-CREATING THE SAME EXPERIENCE OVER AND OVER!
An important concept that successful people understand is that you are never stuck. You just keep re-creating the same experiences over and over by thinking the same thoughts, maintaining the same beliefs, speaking the same words, and doing the same things.

Too often, we get stuck in an endless look of reinforcing behavior, which keep us stuck in a constant downward spiral.

It goes like this: Our limiting thoughts create images in our mind… and those images govern our behavior… which in turn reinforces that limiting thought.

This is known as the Self-Talk Endless Loop.

As long as you keep complaining about your present circumstances, your mind will focus on it. By continually talking about, thinking about, and writing about the way things are, you are continually reinforcing those very same neural pathways in your brain that got you to where you are today. You are continually sending out the same vibrations that will keep attracting the same people and circumstances that you have already created.

To change this cycle, you must focus instead on thinking, talking, and writing about the new reality you want to create. You must FLOOD your unconscious with thoughts, images and ACTION that match your desired reality.

Then suddenly, instead of your outcomes being predetermined by an endless cycle of reinforced self-doubt and self-talk, you’re free to pursue your goals with new determination and confidence.

If releasing the brakes is something you need to do, realize that it’s difficult to do by yourself.

We need outside influences to break through our habitual ways of thinking and behaving to assist us in restructuring our beliefs, releasing our repressed emotions and connecting with our true selves.

Two of the most powerful methods for doing this are large group awareness trainings and therapy. If I were to attribute my incredible level of success to any one thing, it would be the hundreds of personal development seminars I’ve attended over the past 40 years.

If you’ve discovered that you’ve been recreating the same outcomes, scenarios, experiences and endless loop of not getting what you want, I’d like to help you break free from this downward spiral.

In fact, one of the most important things I do for participants in my Breakthrough to Success training week is to help them identify these “blocks” that govern their behavior — then replace those blocks with new thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and patterns.

Of course, there are literally hundreds of individuals and organizations that conduct seminars all over the world. Some are better than others, and in my experience, about 20% of them are highly competent and effective.

Visit their websites, call and talk to them, attend their guest events, and then make a decision about which one feels right for you.

The impact in all areas of your life will be incredible.

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born over 500 years ago. He was almost 90 years of age when he died, leaving the world with masterpieces which will live forever.

How does one do such work of perfection with lasting beauty?

Perhaps this question can be answered in part, through a story about the time Michelangelo was putting some finishing touches to one of his statues when a friend called. A few days later his friend called again, and when he saw the statue, commented that the sculptor couldn’t have done much to it since he was there last.

Michelangelo raised an eyebrow and replied, “I have retouched this part and polished that. I have softened this feature and brought out this muscle. I have given more expression to this lip and more energy to that limb.”

“Oh yes”, said his friend, “but all these are trifles”.

“Perhaps so”, replied Michelangelo, “but trifles make perfection – and perfection is no trifle”.

What a great lesson for us. Think of the times we skip over the trifles because we know no one will notice the difference. However, when the trifles are all molded together, they spell “perfection”. Although you may never reach perfection, taking care of the trifles will definitely improve the quality of your work and you will be rewarded accordingly.

The other day Randy tossed out a word and asked me if I was familiar with it. Oddly enough I was … it is imagineering. I first became familiar with imagineering many years ago. It came from a program produced by Earl Nightingale on Creative Thinking.

Imagineering is a wonderful way to solve problems, to come up with new ways to sell your product or service; a great concept to assist you in reaching your goals. I’ve often felt if we were really on our toes we would have imagineering as part of the curriculum in school as we do with engineering. Unfortunately, when our youngsters in school get involved with imagineering they frequently become chastised for daydreaming.

Try it. Get off in a quiet place by yourself or with other open-minded individuals. Write out a problem you may want to solve or an objective you would like to accomplish. Then let your imagination run wild. Let it soar – no limit thinking. There are no foolish ideas, there are only ideas. As these ideas come to you jot them down, then go in search of a new idea and jot it down.

You will find imagineering can be fun. It is invigorating. New energies will suddenly fill every fiber of your being. Most of us are stuck in conditioned habitual ways of doing whatever we are doing. Imagineering will prove to be a refreshing change for you.

Ninety-eight out of 100 people who start a new job look around to see how everyone else is doing their job and they follow suit doing the same thing. If you are starting a new job you should look around and ask yourself if any of these people know what they are doing, then possibly go to the boss and ask who are the most effective employees in the company. If you’re going to follow someone, follow them.

Eighty percent of the production that counts is being done by 20% of the people. It necessarily follows that 80% of the money paid to employees is paid to that 20 percentile group.

It is not uncommon in a sales force of 20 or 30 people to have one or two salespeople selling more than all the rest combined. If you’re in sales, find out what those two are doing that is so different. It may be making one extra call per day.

There are millions of golfers and thousands of pros but only a few that play the game like Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. These top performers are not lucky, they’re dedicated.

You were encouraged to be like the other kids when you were young. You have been conditioned to follow the crowd. In many schools, you are even dressed like the other kids.

Well, you’re not a child any longer and you’re not like the other kids. You are unique. That is what makes the Mona Lisa so valuable, there is only one, and there is only one of you. Be yourself … break away from the crowd.

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.

How many have thrown up their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success? It is important that we keep in mind as the tide goes all the way out, it also comes all the way in.

In business, sometimes, prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence and effort and a lot less thinking of doom and gloom could well turn what seemed like hopeless failure into glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying.

A successful businessman said the first few years in business was so discouraging and trying, he got to the point where he had difficulty dragging himself out of bed in the morning to start another day. When he put the key in the door each day he kept telling himself that maybe today would be the day. He was overwhelmed by debt, his friends all told him to quit, he was sick at heart.

One day the idea came to him that started the pendulum swinging in the other direction. The turn was painful and slow but is now winning in a big way. He said sometimes I break out in a cold sweat when I think of how close I came to quitting, when I think of how different life would be if I had. But he didn’t quit – he won.

Have you signed up for the $1 trial of Bob Proctor’s Six Minutes To Success program? Anyone who joins will get a free ticket to his 2-day seminar plus free access to his $18,000 Matrixx program. Click here to watch Bob’s free video and regsiter for the program.

Needs are what you must have to survive. You need food, air to breathe, clothing, shelter, sleep, etc. What you need to survive you get at any cost. When you convince yourself you need success, just as you need to eat when you are hungry, it comes without you even having to think about it.

What is your definition of success?

Attaining a certain income level.
Learning a skill.
Enjoying a certain lifestyle.
Achieving a certain position in the company.

We all have different mental pictures of success, but few people ever totally achieve it. Why? Our mental picture of our-self is not what it must be. Some wonder if this mental picture can be changed and the answer is an emphatic yes!

To create a need you must first set a goal. When the goal is placed before you, you employ self-motivational techniques. You make that goal a need. It becomes a driving force. You convince yourself that the goal must be reached in order for you to survive. When you develop that state of mind, you will most definitely succeed.

If you were lost in a desert without water and saw a water hole some distance away, although you knew a hard, painful effort was needed to reach it, the decision would be automatic. No degree of difficulty would stop you. However, if you had lots of water and thought a fresh drink would be nice, the degree of difficulty might well put you off.

Yes, there is a great difference between desire and need.

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.