Don't Fall Into This Trap....

Are you here to LEARN?

If you’re like most people, you think you need to learn more and add more knowledge in order to be successful.

The fact is, what you really need to do is UNLEARN many of the ideas you hold in your mind as beliefs.

You are who you are and where you are in your life because of your thoughts and beliefs up until now. If you want to know what your thinking and beliefs are, look at your results in life. Are you as happy as you want to be? Are you as wealthy as you want to be? Are you as healthy as you want to be? Are you as successful as you want to be?

Everything you are today is a result of your thinking and beliefs. If you aren’t happy with your results, you will need to UNLEARN some of your beliefs and modify your thinking. It’s not what we don’t know that holds us back; it’s what we know that just ain’t so that is holding us back.

You have an opinion about everything. How you formed that opinion may have little or no logical explanation, or may well be based on faulty reasoning. Even worse, once you form an opinion about anything, it is almost impossible to change it.

Let me give you an example. When you were young, if a parent told you that you would never amount to anything, you might well have believed it, and from then on, you formed the opinion that you were a loser. Maybe your parent was just having a bad day and was angry with you when they said it. It doesn’t matter. You heard it, believed it to be true, and filed it in the memory banks of your mind. From then on, you believed you were a loser.

Maybe, when you were young, you heard something along the lines that only the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Since you were poor when you heard it, you believe that you can never get rich. Only the rich get richer. Right?

Suppose you had an uncle who went into business for himself and went bankrupt. He told you never to go into business because they all fail. What’s your attitude going to be about being in business? But, what if that same uncle who went into business for himself became a millionaire and told you that if you have a good business plan and work smart, being a businessman is the best way to get rich. What’s your attitude going to be then?

Do you know when humans grow the most? In the first few years of our lives, we grow at exponential rates. By the time we’re in our late teens, our growing days are over. (except maybe our waistlines!)

Our minds and our beliefs also grow the most during our early years too. As kids, we learn at an accelerated rate. Everything is new to us. What we hear and see and experience forms our opinions about everything.

The problem of course, is that we are seeing life through the eyes and wisdom of a child. We don’t yet have the experience to create logical, rationale beliefs. But every moment of every day, while you were growing up, you were creating files with your opinions about everything you encountered throughout the day. And once those files were created, they became permanent unless you went back and revised those files later on in life. Unfortunately, that rarely ever happens.

Think about a file that you save on your computer. Every time you open that file, it will always give you the exact same information. It will never change, even if that file is 30, 40, 50 years old.

The only way you can change the file is to open it up, look at it, revise it, save it, and store it away.

It’s the exact same thing with your beliefs. They are simply files, stored in the memory banks of your mind.

Have you ever been guilty of saying or thinking “I KNOW THAT”? You hear or read something about a particular subject, and your inner voice says those 3 little words.

What happens to your mind when you think that? For most of us, as soon as we think that, we stop listening or thinking. Why? Why would your mind try and take you out of the game? Because the job of our mind isn’t designed for success. it's primary role is SURVIVAL, and therefore, it's primary job is PROTECTION. And so it will generally do whatever it can to keep things the same but let you think you are trying to change. Your mind will try and keep you in your old comfort zone.

Unfortunately, this is the trap we all fall into. We can never change our files if we always think that we already know everything.

For centuries, everyone “knew” that the earth was the center of the universe. It was a fact.

For centuries, everyone “knew” that the earth was flat. It was a fact.

Anyone who claimed otherwise was considered a lunatic.

FACT: much of what you believe today is just not so! And until you accept this fact, and become open minded to the idea that you need to revisit the files in your mind and reevaluate them from the perspective of an adult, you will continue to get out of life exactly what you’ve been getting up until now.

Do you get it? I hope you do.

Promise yourself from this day forward, that whenever you hear that little voice inside your head say, “I know that”, you’ll think to yourself, “Thank you for sharing”, and listen with an open mind to what is being discussed.

Having an open mind about everything is critical to you if you want to join the top 5%.

As Harv Eker says, “Don’t believe a word you say, don’t believe a thought you think”.

You will be learning about some incredible, success systems in the next few posts. These are the systems used by the top 5% to create wealth and success. Having an open mind is critical to your ability to take these systems and make them a permanent part of your life.

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. It will transform your life if you’re ready.

Namaste.

Jeff

Building Your Foundation for Financial Freedom…..

Imagine being in complete control of your personal finances. Imagine that you knew exactly what to do to create financial freedom in your life. This post is for everyone who wants to join the elite 5% of society, and achieve the financial and personal success experienced by only the very few.

One of the best selling books in the last few years is “The Millionaire Next Door” by Stanley and Danko. In it, the authors describe the typical millionaire, and it’s not at all what you might think.

First of all, even though a million dollar net worth is more common now than ever before, statistically, only 1 out of every 37 Americans is a millionaire. That’s less than 3%. If you eliminate personal home equity from the net worth equation, the number drops off dramatically.

In the book, you read all kinds of analysis of what characteristics these millionaires have in common. What you learn is that there are lots of different ways to get to a million dollars. There are all kinds of people with many different characteristics that have made it to the top.

But there is one characteristic that virtually all of them have in common.

Would you like to know what it is?

After analyzing thousands of millionaires, there is one thing that separates these people from the rest of the crowd. In fact, this characteristic is essential to anyone who desires wealth.

This characteristic isn’t something you are born with. It doesn’t take any special skill. It doesn’t require any hard work. It doesn’t require any genius.

You can be young or old, big or small, man or woman, educated or not, everyone is capable of acquiring this skill.

In the world of financial freedom, this one characteristic is the key. Do you know what it is?

Virtually all of the millionaires analyzed in the book were great MONEY MANAGERS. They had a system for handling their money that works.

And that’s the key……to have a SYSTEM that actually works in the real world.

Ideally, this system is simple enough that anyone can use it.

At the Millionaire Mind Intensive, taught by Harv Eker of Peak Potentials Training and the author of the best selling book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”, the first day of this amazing 3-day program is dedicated to learning the easiest, most effective money management system ever devised.

Understanding this system is simple. Applying it should be. It can be.

But for most people, even when they learn the system, within a short period of time, they abandon it and go back to their old ways.

Why would someone choose to ignore new information that they know will dramatically improve their lives?

It’s the same reason people have a hard time quitting smoking even though they know smoking’s bad for them.

It’s the same reason people have a hard time losing weight even though they know it would be healthy for them to drop a few pounds.

It’s our PROGRAMMING. It’s our HABITS. In fact, our PROGRAMMING = our HABITS. If you want to change your habits, you have to change your programming.

At the end of the money management system training, Harv will stand on stage and ask the audience what they think of the system. All of them are enthusiastic to now know this system. He then asks how many of them plan to use the system. Everyone’s hand goes up.

And then, at the top of his lungs, he screams out…….NO YOU WON’T! NO YOU WON’T.

Fact: It’s one thing to know what to do. It’s something else to do what you know.

Are you guilty of this? Do you do everything you know you should be doing? Unless you are very exceptional, the answer is always no!

That’s why learning how to manage your money is only half the equation. If you know what to do but you don’t do it, what good is that knowledge to you?

When you read a post like this one that is filled with new thoughts, do you read it just for entertainment, or do you read it to change your life? Within 30 seconds after reading this post, will you have forgotten everything you just read? Will you think to yourself, “there’s a good idea” and go on with your day?

There’s a huge difference between reading something and studying and applying something. There are millions of intellectuals who read countless books but are broke.

I always hate to hear someone say, “Knowledge is Power”. That’s simply not true. It’s not what you know that’s important, it’s what you DO with what you know that’s critical. Knowledge is only POTENTIAL power. APPLIED knowledge is power.

Do you get it? Do you really get it?

Until you do, you are doomed to struggle in your financial life and every other area of your life too.

When you read something that you know can have a profound impact on your life, you must do more than the passive act of reading. You must take some immediate ACTION to reinforce what you’ve just learned. You must develop the HABIT of committing to yourself that when you learn something that can make a difference to you in your life, you will set aside some time, even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes to THINK about what you have learned and decide what you are going to DO to make it a reality in your life.

Otherwise, in your busy life, within moments, your mind will be occupied with a new set of thoughts, and your good idea will die a quick death, never to be heard from again.

You’ve just learned that the one common characteristic of millionaires is that they are expert money mangers. Now what?

You can do nothing with this newfound knowledge, or you can decide that this is important enough to you that you will dedicate yourself to learning how to become an expert money manager yourself, and even more importantly, that you will DO what expert money managers DO.

In my next posts, I will describe the money management system taught at the Millionaire Mind Intensive. I know it works from first hand experience. I know that anyone who sincerely wants to achieve financial freedom will benefit enormously from USING this system.

Keep coming back here for ideas that will virtually guarantee you the knowledge you need to join the top 5%. But remember as well, that all the greatest knowledge in the world isn’t worth a nickel if you don’t take ACTION on what you learn.

I hope you get it. I really do.

Namaste.

Jeff

Are You Following the Crowd?

By the time you finish reading this post, you’re going to be excited about having some fresh new ideas designed to move you into the elite 5% who are living their dreams and getting everything they want out of life.

Have you ever wondered what’s different about those people who have figured out how to create financial freedom and success in every important area of their lives? What are they doing that separates them from the other 95%?

Let’s face it, if you do what most people do, you’ll get the same results that most people get. It’s a fact.

Most people have no money management skills. They spend everything they make. They have no reserve funds for emergencies. They have no savings plan. They have no investment plan. They have no retirement plan. They have credit card debt that grows yearly.

Most people are resigned to their current situation. They have no goals in life other than to make it though the workweek and relax on the weekends. They don’t have a plan for continued study and growth. They eat a terrible diet. They don’t work out or stay physically fit.

In short, if you’re like most people, the 95% who just don’t get it, you’re going to get the exact same results they do.

Do you remember in the late 1990’s when the stock market was going straight up? It got to the point where everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. Maybe you were one of them. Who needed a broker? You could do it yourself online and save the fees.

Unfortunately, almost everyone who got into the market during that time had no idea how to protect their investments. When the market took the huge tumble in 2000, they all got clobbered.

Knowledgeable investors will tell you that when everyone is getting into the market, that’s the time to get out. Conversely, when everyone is getting out of the market, that’s usually the time to get in. When most people lost their shirts in the markets in 2000, the few wise investors made a killing.

How?

Well, isn’t it true that for every seller there’s a buyer? Isn’t it true that when someone loses money on a transaction, someone else makes money on the same transaction?

Most people buy stock first and sell it later. But the few who realized that the markets were extended sold the stock on the highs, and bought them back later on the lows. The lower the markets went, the more money they made. Again, this small group makes up the 5%. The other 95% who were buying at the highs eventually ended up selling on the lows. It’s a scene that plays itself out over and over again.

Following the crowd is not the way to be successful. If it was, 95% of the crowd would be successful and wealthy, and only 5% wouldn’t. We all know that it’s the other way around.

Success is not common, and therefore does not come from doing what comes naturally.

Doesn’t it make sense then, that for you to achieve the success you want in your life, you need to model those who are living the life of their dreams and achieving financial freedom?

If you want to break out from the crowd and reach for the stars, you have to change your programming. You need to think like rich and successful people. You have to act like rich and successful people. You need to program yourself for success. Generally, that means doing the UNCOMMON.

Just because everyone else is doing something doesn’t make it right. Don’t follow the masses just to be part of the “in” crowd. Dare to be different. Think for yourself. Seek out those who are going where you want to be and hang out with them. Get involved in groups where you can meet people who are positive and growth oriented. Surround yourself with successful people.

If you keep thinking the way you’ve always been thinking, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always been getting. That’s just the way it works.

Make a pledge to yourself right now that you are going to change your thoughts and habits. Decide in this moment that you are going to turn a new leaf and develop some new, more empowering habits.

One of the best ways to get some momentum is to fill your mind with new, positive thoughts and ideas. It’s the best way to begin to reprogram yourself for success.

This blog is developed specifically for that purpose. My mission is to educate and inspire you to reach your full potential. Keep coming back here for new, empowering thoughts and ideas that will stimulate your thinking and get you on the right track.

Are you getting it? I hope that you are!

Namaste.

Jeff

Are You As Rich And As Happy As You Want To Be?

You may not realize it yet, but you are moving closer to your hopes and dreams every time you come to this blog and absorb the principles and ideas discussed here.

This post is dedicated to everyone who wants to create a masterpiece of his or her life. It’s for those who want to be able to step back and see the beautiful picture that is their life’s story.

Every one of us is traveling along our own journey through life. We decide where the journey takes us by the choices we make and the actions we take.

An overriding principle in all our lives is the process of manifestation. At the Millionaire Mind Intensive program offered by Peak Potentials Training, Harv Eker illustrates this concept brilliantly.

The process of manifestation states that your thoughts lead to your feelings, your feelings lead to your actions, and your actions lead to your results.

There’s actually one more critical step in this process.

What determines your thoughts?

For you and everyone else, your thoughts are based on what you’ve experienced and observed in your life. Many of these thoughts were recorded in your memory when you were just a kid. They are stored in your subconscious mind.

Once stored, they create your beliefs and attitudes. Like all human beings, you have, in fact, been programmed. It’s been going on all of your life, whether you like it or not, and whether you realize it or not. Programming that you received as a child still runs your adult life today!

Therefore, going back to the process of manifestation, your PROGRAMMING leads to your thoughts, your thoughts lead to your feelings, your feelings lead to your actions, and your actions lead to your results.

If you’re as happy as you want to be, and as rich as you want to be, then you don’t need to concern yourself with your current programming. But if you aren’t, then it’s time to realize that who you are today and what you have today is a direct result of your programming, and unless you change your programming, you will continue to get the same results.

Imagine that you have typed a memo on your computer. You save the memo to a file. You print the file. Woops…..there’s a typo.

So, you take an eraser and erase the typo on the page. You then hit the print button. BUT THE EXACT SAME TYPO APPEARS AGAIN. How can this be? You erased it on the sheet of paper!

HERE’S THE TRUTH. UNTIL YOU GET INTO YOUR FILES AND CHANGE THEM, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO GET THE EXACT SAME RESULTS YOU’VE ALWAYS GOTTEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

DO YOU GET IT???

I hope you do. Because if you earnestly want to join the elite 5% who actually do get it and are living their dreams, this will be a turning point in your life.

When you continue coming back here for more ideas on becoming wealthier and happier, you will begin to see incredible changes in your life for the better.

Namaste.

Jeff

Did you realize this?

If you want to join the elite top 5% of the population who are achieving financial freedom and success in all areas of their life, then pay close attention.

To join this small but extremely happy group of people, you have to separate yourself from the vast majority of the crowd, and distinguish yourself as someone who understands the difference between mediocrity and success.

A successful life is nothing more than the accumulation of successful years. A successful year is nothing more than the accumulation of successful months, weeks, days, hours and minutes.

Since you can only live life one moment at a time, your job is to make sure you do each task during each day to the best of your ability. Enough successful tasks make up a successful day, and so on, and so on.

You also need to realize that you must focus your time and attention on doing those tasks that are most important in moving you towards your dreams and goals. Otherwise, you may be working hard, but you certainly won’t be working smart.

Suppose that you want to learn how to improve your marketing skills. You have decided that for you to achieve your bigger goals in life, having the ability to sell and market effectively will greatly increase your chances for success.

So, you begin to assemble a plan on how you intend to improve in this area. You identify the books, tapes and seminars that will provide you with the details you need to learn to become an expert in the art of sales and marketing. Equally important, if not most important, you find a mentor who can help you, coach you, critique you, practice with you, and make sure that you are on the right track. You may even find a group to join that is dedicated to helping one another succeed in sales and marketing.

After some research, you realize that it’s going to take 300 hours of study and practice and effort to achieve this goal.

Obviously, this isn’t a project you can complete in a day. So you begin to break it down into smaller pieces, and you decide that if you work at it for 1 hour a day, in 300 days you will have achieved your 300 hours of study.

At the end of the 300 days, if you’ve been focused enough, you’re marketing skills will be among the top 5%. You have taken the time and exercised the discipline to reach this goal. Once you have it, you have it for life. It can never be taken from you. You are that much further along on the road to your overall success.

No one day was more important than the next in the achievement of this goal. It was the steady, consistent effort on a daily basis that got you through it.

On the other hand, if you have spent your time in a haphazard fashion, you may have completed only a small portion of this project over the 300 days, and be nowhere near where you intended to be.

Fact: That is exactly what happens to most people. They may know what they want to do. They may even know how to do it. But the key ingredient missing is the DOING. Most people simply fail to DO what they know they need to. Or, if they actually do it, they put in a halfhearted effort, thinking more about what they’re going to have for lunch than concentrating on the job at hand.

Time is fleeting. Days can go by, and if you aren’t focused, you will accomplish little to nothing to move forward towards reaching your dreams and goals.

Remember this saying, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step". The fact is, you can't possibly travel the thousand miles in one step. But if you are consistent about taking the next step, nothing in the world can stop you from eventually reaching your goal. Do you get it? I hope you do.

Everyday, you have the opportunity to move forward in the areas of your life that you determine are the most important to you. Making sure you do the RIGHT tasks with the RIGHT mindset is critical to you in creating a successful day.

Make today a successful day. String together 7 successful days and you have a successful week. String together 52 successful weeks and you have a successful year. String together enough successful years and you have a successful life.

Make each day count. Don’t waste a second. Time is your most precious commodity. For you to join the elite top 5% of the population you have to develop the habits of the most successful people, and the proper use of your time each day is perhaps the most important of all.

Namaste.

Jeff

Are You Hitting Singles or Home Runs?

Imagine that you’re a baseball fan in the 1990’s. For many of you, that’s pretty easy, but if you weren’t a fan, just imagine!

Two of the very best hitters in all of baseball were Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs. Both lead their teams and even their leagues for years in batting average. They could hit and hit and hit.

These two guys were consistent for a decade. They were batting champions, rich, successful, and from all appearances, happy guys.

They accomplished all of this while hitting just a handful of homers a year between them. These two guys hit tons of singles and doubles, with the occasional triple or homer thrown in on rare occasions. They didn’t even try to hit homers. They knew what their strengths were, and played to them. They were slap hitters, not power hitters, and they knew it.

Then there was Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. They didn’t win any batting average championships, but in the 1990’s there were few bats more feared. When it came to hitting big home runs, they were the men.

You can be successful many ways. Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs will be hall of famers for hitting singles and doubles. Jr. and Arod will be hall of famers for being power hitters.

I’ve always been a Tony Gwynn or a Wade Boggs.

Of course I’m speaking metaphorically here, but you can substitute other areas of your life for baseball. There are those who grind out financial success by just doing the same successful things over and over, year after year.

Then there are those who want to hit grand slams, and reach for huge success in a shorter period of time. They don’t want to wait for 20 or 30 years to reach their goals. They want to get bigger hits and drive in bigger runs sooner rather than later.

I just keep cranking out singles and doubles, and after 25 years of consistently getting my share of hits, I’ve achieved a level of success that I am very proud of.

As a huge baseball statistics fan, I have analyzed the game from every angle imaginable. And one of the things I’ve noticed is that as players mature, if they work at it, so do their power numbers. There are those players who hit high fly balls to the warning track for outs when they’re 23 or 24 hitting them 10 feet further for homers when they 27 or 28.

If you look at the big home run hitters of all time, their home runs per season go up from the time they’re young to the time they mature.

I’ve matured and now and it's time to become a Ken Griffey Jr. or an Alex Rodriguez. Singles and doubles are fine. I’ll take them, but I’m ready to swing for the fences. And I think I’ve added enough muscle to get the ball out of the park.

I’m excited about 2006 unlike any excitement I’ve had in a very long time. It’s a whole different mindset to be thinking about hitting homers instead of getting a base hit.

In baseball, the guys who are the all time home run hitters are also the all time strike out leaders. Did you know that? But do you think Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson will be remembered for all of their strikeouts or all of their homers?

Regardless, do you think that when Ken Griffey Jr. or an Alex Rodriguez goes up to the plate they’re thinking that there’s a better chance that they’ll strike out than that they’ll hit a homer?

No way. They’re up at the plate looking for something they can drive. And if they see something in their zone, they’re not going to get cheated on their swings. If they strike out, there’s always another at bat coming up.

They have a very specific mindset. Mine has always been to cut down my swing and get the sure single. Now I’m willing to give up some batting average and make sure I’m swinging for the fences at least once every at bat. And if I see a pitch I really like, I’m going to swing at it hard!

Are you swinging for the fences in your life? Are you willing to pay the price of preparation and practice to develop into the person capable of hitting homers?

One thing I can assure you. If you prepare yourself to hit homers, if you practice, train, workout and focus on it, when the right pitch comes along, (and it will) you will be prepared to hit it out of the park.

It won’t be any accident. It won’t be any fluke.

And you can take that to the bank.

Make 2006 a special year in your life. Keep coming back here for more ideas, and I promise you, we’ll all be up in the top 5%.

Namaste.

Jeff

Would you like to improve your luck??

Luck has been defined as “preparedness meeting opportunity”. You may or may not have any impact on the opportunities that come your way, but you do have a great deal of control over your preparedness.

For example, imagine that your boss decides to move on and leave his position. You and 2 others report to him. If none of the 3 of you are prepared to take on his duties, the company will most likely look outside the organization for his replacement. But, if you’ve been consciously preparing for this opportunity, you will be the natural choice to move up. You may be lucky to have this situation present itself to you, but because you prepared yourself, you were able to take advantage of it. The other 2 candidates had the same opportunity, they just weren’t prepared, and as a result, they couldn’t take advantage of it.

I agree with the thoughts of Harv Eker when he states in his best selling book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” that it’s not enough to be in the right place at the right time. You have to be the RIGHT PERSON in the right place at the right time. You have to be prepared for the opportunities that present themselves.

That’s why it’s so important to constantly be learning and improving and growing. That’s why it’s also important to know what you want. Once you know where you want to go, you can focus your time and energy towards those activities that move you toward your goals. That way, when the opportunities come your way, you can take full advantage of them.

As you constantly improve your skill set, others will take notice. You will almost force opportunities to present themselves to you.

If you want to have success at the highest levels, resolve today that you will commit to continued learning and growing. Never stop educating yourself and adding to your skills. Force new opportunities into your life, and be prepared to take advantage of them when they come along. It is through this process that you dramatically improve your chances of being “lucky”.

Namaste.

Jeff

Thinking In a New Dimension.....

One of the more popular “Reality” shows in recent times is “The Apprentice”.

During the show 16 or 18 individuals go through a 4-month interview process to work in the Donald Trump organization.

The candidates are placed in teams, and every week they are assigned a new task. Each team selects a project manager, and then goes about delivering on their task. For the winning team members, a nice reward is provided. The loser’s side has to meet Donald in the Boardroom, where someone is fired.

I enjoy the show. In fact, I think anyone who is entrepreneurial or wants to be an effective leader will benefit from watching it.

It’s fun for me to try to pick the finalists during the first couple of shows. When you watch these folks week after week, after a while, if they’ve got character flaws, they show up. Eventually, the cream really does rise to the top. Those who have major chinks in their abilities and personalities get found out and get fired along the way.

Of all the shows, the most profound thing I heard was from one of the finalists after he’d been fired. He was riding in the taxicab leaving Trump Towers, as all the losers do, and he was talking about what he learned during the process.

He said that the greatest thing he learned was that projects that he thought should take weeks to complete were being done to a high level of proficiency in just 2 or 3 days. He was referring to the tasks he had been a part of throughout the show.

He went on to say that he was excited to get back to work, because he now thought in a whole new dimension. He realized, perhaps for the first time in his life, how much he was capable of doing in a very short period of time when he had the resources and the focus to get the job done. For him, this was a major breakthrough.

In a previous post, I referred to Parkinson’s Law. There are several definitions to it. One of them is that expenses rise to meet income. Another definition is that work expands to meet the time envelope for its completion.

If I tell you that you’ve got 3 days to complete a project, how long will it generally take you to complete it? 3 days!

If I tell you that you’ve got 2 weeks to complete the same project, how long will it generally take you to complete it? 2 weeks!

If I tell you that you’ve got a month to complete the same project, how long will it generally take you to complete it? A month!

For this candidate, he now realized that projects that he thought should take him weeks could actually be done in less than 10% of that time. He’d done it. He’d done it week after week on the show.

Let his breakthrough be your breakthrough! Realize that if you have a dream, and you have a plan, and you focus on making your plan a reality, you can accomplish amazing feats in just a short period of time. Sometimes in only a few days!

Of course, as Napoleon Hill wrote, it all starts with knowing what you want, and having a burning desire for it. That is the starting point for all success. First, you must truly know in your heart what you want, what you are passionate about.

You must develop a desire for it strong enough that you will make every sacrifice to achieve it. With this mindset, you are well ahead in the game.

Passion and desire aren’t enough. You have to have a plan. It needs to have definite time lines, so that you have a target to shoot for (remember Parkinson’s Law). You have to have focus. Most important, you have to take ACTION.

The Apprentice is only a TV show. But it is designed in a way that demonstrates what ambitious people are capable of doing in a very short period of time. Even I’m amazed at what gets done.

Sometimes, to complete the task by the deadline, the teams pull all-nighters. Those who are sincere about the opportunity to become the Apprentice and win the competition will do whatever it takes to get the project done.

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? Have you ever been involved in anything where you were so excited about what you were doing that you couldn’t sleep because your mind was racing a mile a minute? Have you experienced that feeling recently?

Find something to get excited about. Keep looking and don’t stop until you’ve got it. Once you do, you’re life will take on a whole new meaning.

Namaste.

Jeff

How Do You Want It to End?

Imagine that I just handed you a book. As you open it up, you see that the first paragraph starts on your birth date, and it’s the story of your life.

You begin to leaf through the pages and you see every event of your life written in full detail. Your entire life’s experience is recorded exactly as you EXPERIENCED it when it happened.

You get to a certain point in the book, and it’s all about what is going on in your life today.

When you look at the rest of the book, all of the pages are blank.

Of course, you can reread any part of the book any time you want, but you can’t change anything already written. It’s in the book. It’s done.

But starting right now, you can take control of what’s written in the book going forward. You can decide exactly what direction you want the book to take. You can choose to make the story anything you want.

Think about that! You have the option to choose what you want included in your book from now on. What do you want in your book of life?

You have to understand, in every cell of your body, that YOU are the master of your destiny. No matter what’s happened in the past, you can decide to create an incredible life for yourself from this moment forward. You and no one else. The key word here is YOU.

Would you like to know a secret that virtually assures you of creating an incredible and exciting life?

If you knew this secret, would you use it?

The secret is ATTITUDE. Your attitude about everything in your life will determine more than anything else your level of success and happiness.

FACT: You have 100% control of your mind, and therefore you have 100% control over your attitudes.

No matter what situation you are in, you can adopt the most positive attitude for that situation, or not. It’s your choice. When something bad happens to you, you can CHOOSE to be angry, sad, bitter, vengeful, miserable, unhappy. Or you can choose to be upset for a moment, acknowledge your feelings, and then immediately focus on solutions and making things better, and learning something from the experience. YOU decide every minute of everyday what your attitude is going to be.

Having a positive attitude is the greatest asset you can own in your life. Let me repeat myself, because if you really understand this, your life will never be the same again.

HAVING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS THE GREATEST ASSET YOU CAN OWN IN YOUR LIFE. It’s free, and available to every single one of us.

There is the right attitude for every situation. And it is up to you to practice having that attitude. It isn’t easy. In fact, it’s hard. But only at first.

Like any new habit, you have to work extra hard at the beginning to develop a positive mental attitude. It’s so much easier to let your feelings and emotions determine your attitudes. But the really super happy, super successful people know and understand the critical importance of having the right mental attitude.

You have a mind capable of creating the greatest possible life imaginable. Your mind is the key to your success and happiness. You can learn how your mind works. You can learn how to train your mind to bring you all the success and happiness you want. You can take complete control of your mind and take your life to a whole new level.

And it all starts when you DEMAND of YOURSELF that you are going to develop an incredible POSITIVE mental attitude. Not just when things are going fine, but especially when things don’t go exactly the way you want them to.

Make it your goal today to practice having a terrific attitude in every situation. In fact, tell people close to you that you are working on having a positive attitude, and if anyone catches you being negative, to point it out to you.

Be sure you work on your attitude every day. In every situation, begin to look at what kind of an attitude you have. Think about how you can improve your attitudes. And don’t stop…….for the rest of your life.

Namaste.

Jeff

If you're new to my blog, please click right here on the inaugural post so you can see how the story began. Then everything else makes more sense.

Namaste,

Jeff

What's Your Financial Blueprint Set For?

During the Millionaire Mind Intensive Program, Harv Eker talks about your Financial Blueprint. This blueprint, more than anything else, determines how successful your financial life will be.

Have you ever noticed that when successful people lose their money, they seem to get it all back and then some shortly afterwards? Donald Trump lost his entire fortune and got it all back and more shortly afterwards.

The main reason for this is that even if successful people lose all of their money, they still have their Millionaire Mind. Their financial blueprint is set for success.

In fact, if all of a sudden Donald Trump had only one million dollars to his name, do you think he’d feel successful? Of course not, he’d feel a failure. Donald Trump doesn’t have a Millionaire Mind. He has a Billionaire Mind!

What’s your Financial Blueprint set for? Some people’s blueprint is set for millions of dollars. Others are set for hundreds of thousands. Still others are set for thousands. Some are set for hundreds. And some are set for negative!

You can never outgrow your blueprint. However, by being aware that you have a blueprint, and understanding how it developed, you can modify it, and grow it into the blueprint you truly want.

Your blueprint was established at an early age. It was based on what you heard about money and wealth as a child; what you saw related to money and wealth while growing up; and what you experienced about money and wealth in your early years.

As human beings, we learn by modeling. Have you ever heard the expression “Monkey See, Monkey Do?”. Well, humans aren’t far behind.

So, what did you hear about money and wealth growing up? Did you hear things like Money is the root of all evil? Money doesn’t buy happiness? Money doesn’t grow on trees? You have to work hard for your money? What am I made of, Money? Rich people are bad? Rich people are greedy? Rich people are snobs? Rich people take advantage of others?

Whatever you heard about money and wealth while you were growing up were stored and filed away in your subconscious mind as fact. And believe it or not, those exact thoughts are what drive your thinking today.

What did you see when it came to money and wealth? How did your parents deal with money? Did only one control the money? Did they manage their money? Did they invest their money? Did they have a steady income? Did they spend all their money?

You were influenced by what you saw as a child in regards to managing money. And those thoughts and ideas still run your life today.

Finally, what did you experience as a child when it comes to money. Harv tells the story about a student at the Millionaire Mind Intensive who explained that when she was 10 years old, she was having dinner with her parents in a restaurant, and they were arguing about money. All of a sudden her Dad turned bright red, had a heart attack and died on the spot. The student had always associated pain with money since.

Do you realize that a great many of the ideas and truths you hold in your mind were planted there when you were young, and that in fact, they aren’t truths at all. You are guided by these false truths, and especially in the area of finances, these false truths are the foundation of your financial blueprint.

Fortunately, you can choose to create your blueprint from the perspective of an adult. You can choose to replace old, inaccurate thinking with new beliefs based on sound reasoning.

If you want to be rich and successful, you must think like someone who is rich and successful. You must begin to understand their mindset, and model their positive attributes.

“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” is Harv’s attempt to separate the thinking of the rich compared to the middle class and the poor. He refers to “wealth files” that demonstrate how the rich and successful look at life versus the other groups. Few of the ideas and principles in the book are unique or new. For the most part, you probably have already heard many of them. Regardless, they are all together in this terrific book, and if you read and study and APPLY these concepts in your life, you will be financially successful.

More importantly, you will be happy! Because the success really comes in the personal growth you’ve experienced. You had to grow into the person capable of attaining and managing your financial success. You created your own “Millionaire Mind” financial blueprint, and no one can ever take that away from you.

Do you have a financial blueprint that will take you where you want to go? Do you want to know if you do?

Look at your results. Look at what your financial life is today. It is nothing more than the physical results of your financial blueprint. If you don’t like the results, you will need to change your blueprint.

Make no mistake about it, there’s more to life than money. The fact is, however, that nothing can take the place of money in the areas where money is important. It’s like asking, which is more important, your arm or your leg? They’re both important. So remember that success is about a lot more than money, but money is an important part of living in a civilized society.

Napoleon Hill wrote that “What the mind of Man can conceive and believe, the mind of Man can achieve.” You wouldn’t have dreams about becoming financially free if you weren’t capable of achieving it. You can do it. If you’re on your way, great. If not, it’s never too late to start. Keep on coming back here, because we’re all going to climb into the top 5%! Setting your blueprint at that level is the first step.

Namaste.

Jeff

If you can't lick this you lose.....

Have you ever heard of Parkinson's Law?

This law states that a person's expenses rise to meet his/her income. In many instances, a person's expenses rise to EXCEED his/her income.

If one of your goals is to become financially free, then you MUST overcome Parkinson's Law.

The savings rate in the United States is at an all time low. What does this mean? Simply, that the majority of people in the U.S. spend everything they make. In fact, the majority spend more than they make.

On the road to financial freedom, you must understand that regardless how much you earn, what's important is how much you have left after your expenses. If you make $2,000 a month after taxes and can live on $1,800, you have an infinitely greater chance to become financially free than the person who earns $4,000 a month after taxes and needs all $4,000 or more a month to live.

The concept of paying yourself first needs to become a regular habit. Take 10% of your net take home and pay yourself first. Figure out what you have to do to live on the remaining 90%.

If you cannot discipline yourself to pay yourself first, you will always run out of money at the end of each month. You are virtually guaranteed to lose at the money game.

At the Millionaire Mind Intensive program taught by Harv Eker and Peak Potentials Training, a part of the money management program is to set aside 10% of your take home income for your "financial freedom" account. This 10% is to be set aside for you to grow your "Golden Goose", which over time will begin to deposit "Golden Eggs".

You will never ever spend this fund. EVER! As your Golden Goose grows bigger and bigger, your Golden Eggs also grow larger, and eventually, if you've done the proper planning and stategies, you will have enough passive income that you will be financially free.

There isn't anything difficult or magical about this equation. It is guaranteed to work with mathematical certainty if you do certain things the right way with discipline and consistency over a period of time.

If you aren't already setting aside funds every month for your financial freedom account, start immediately. Attempt to put in at least 10% of your take home pay. If you cannot afford 10%, start with as little as 2 or 3 %, but START! Developing the habit of setting aside funds for savings and investments is critical to your financial success.

On the other hand, if you are unable to defeat Parkingson's Law, and always spend whatever you earn, you've lost, and nothing I or anyone else can tell you will change that. You will never win the money game.

Play to win. And keep checking back here for more great ideas on how to win the money game.

Namaste.

Jeff