Question number one: What are your excuses?

Question number two: Will they get you rich?

Money doesn’t care about your excuses. Money comes to those who earn it.

Everyone has great excuses. Few people have great earning power.

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Why is it that when something involves hard work, we try to find a way around it and take the easy way out?

I believe that to reach a certain level of high performance in anything you need a healthy amount of self-esteem. This self-believe helps you push yourself harder and it allows you to mess up now and then, and bounce back.

I’m beginning to somewhat change my beliefs about the methods I’ve been reading in self-help books, much of it just seems like nonsense!

WARNING. Some of you reading this post may strongly disagree with me on these following topics. I appreciate your comments and welcome any discussion.

The following topics deal with a few popular methods that claim to raise your self-esteem, among other things. Let’s start!

The “Power” Of Affirmations

Many self-help gurus claim that by repeating certain phrases or words over and over(like “I am rich”), you eventually penetrate the subconscious mind with these new beliefs, thus giving you more self-esteem and what ever else you want in life.

The problem with affirmations is that you’re just using words to try to create an emotion. Like saying, “I’m excited” 100 times over probably wont make you “feel” excited. And every time you say it, something in the back of your head says “no you’re not!”

Tony Robbins was right on track when he introduced how body language and breathing has an affect on your emotional state. The idea is to act yourself into feeling! Talking yourself into feeling good rarely works. The only issue is though, most people don’t want to act until they “feel” right.

Have you ever tried talking yourself into feeling and then ended up doing just the opposite? In my experience, that’s because the more you resist the problem, the more you end up focusing on it. The corny saying rings true, “what you resist, persists.”

You can’t always ignore your problems. Acknowledging the fact that they’re there and then taking responsibility to handle them is the first step to handling any problem.

I’ve found that you can instantly improve your confidence by changing your BODY LANGUAGE and your BREATHING. There’s nothing mystical about either of these. In fact, kids use these simple techniques when they’re playing grown up or when they’re pretending.

If you want to feel mad, change the muscles in your face, breathe like a mad man, clinch your fists. You find that instantly you begin to feel the same way you’re acting.

Remember, affirmations and chants are great but if you want some instant results, act yourself into feeling.

“Hypnotizing” Yourself to Success

I don’t know what to think about hypnosis anymore. Like all therapies, is seems to work only part of the time, and only for some people.

Honestly, I think it’s just another excuse for people not to get their asses off the couch and DO SOMETHING!

There are hypnosis tapes, CDs, downloads and books on everything from laziness (go figure) to stopping an addiction or attracting a mate.

Do they work? Who am I to say they don’t?

Just that, I’ve haven’t heard a lot of super successful people say, “I became a millionaire, attracted a mate, got rid of all my blemishes and became instantly fearless when I used hypnosis.” Any of these people are far and few in between.

Even if there are any real results from hypnosis, we all have to admit it takes a long time. Even years!

Hell, do you think we could forget about hypnosis and just accomplish our dreams within that time? Maybe, but who am I to say?

Attracting Success, Success Blocks and more…

Mental Blocks
I agree, many of us have mental blocks towards things like money, or performing well at a job or “attracting a mate”–which for some people seems SUPER challenging.

The question is, how do we overcome these mental blocks? Hypnosis? Acupuncture? Affirmations? Oh no wait! I Know! Finding a vortex!

I’m no psychologist but from my experience mental blocks come from the fear of failure! If you’re a lonely nerd who finds it hard to talk to girls, it’s because you fear failing(whatever that means to you). You might get laughed at (Boohoo!) or they might reject you. This is just called life! It just means you need to get your ass out of the office/basement more and get experience doing the thing that you’re afraid of. It means growing some balls!

Attracting Success
I think people take this the wrong way. Attracting success isn’t about “being a money magnet” without lifting a finger to exerting some effort. Anyone with money has to work hard to make and keep it. They’re a “money magnet” because they work hard at it. There’s really nothing especially metaphysical about wealth. Money’s so much more simpler than all that.

What attracting success means to me is doing the things that builds towards a goal. It means preparing yourself to face fear, to fail and to learn from your mistakes. Creating the capacity within yourself to take on the level of success you want. This comes through experience.

Experience and Applied Knowledge: The Fastest Method To Higher Self-Esteem, without crystals, dolphins, hypnosis and affirmations!

Quite simply, I don’t do anything that doesn’t work. I don’t care if it seems “New Ageish” or somewhat superstitious, if I see results I’m interested. The problem with a lot of New Age stuff, and a lot of the self-help programs, is that they seem like a big EXCUSE to avoid just getting to work and making it happen. It’s like we want magic to happen, but we don’t want the hard work that goes with it.

Sifting through all of the crap, the pointless time wasters, the methods that are claimed to make you rich but really keep you poor, there are a few gems:

• Have goals, but not too many. Having too many goals will require that you grow faster mentally and emotionally than is humanly possible. Take a step at a time.
• Take in a lot of knowledge and APPLY IT! At 20 years old, I’ve learned so much from just reading books, watching videos, reading blogs, listening to mp3s, being around the right people and having the right conversations. Your environment DOES effect who you are and who you become. You begin to think like the people you’re around, and you begin to live the knowledge you take in.
• Tame your Fear of Failure, Fail very often and learn from it, EXPERIENCE. If there’s anything that make you grow, it’s experience. If you don’t tame your fear of failure, you will NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL at ANYTHING. That may sound harsh, but it’s true. The sooner you just bite the bullet, the sooner the fear goes away. Being able to relax in a situation that once made you extremely fearful is an amazing experience and self-esteem boost. And to think, without hypnosis and affirmations.
• Have a consuming Passion for life and the right Mind Set. Getting up each day and being glad to be alive, despite how you feel, is essential. Without passion and drive neither your work or your goals will mean anything. Without the right Mind Set, you’ll give up sooner than you should.
• Work harder than anyone else DARES. Just Do It! How many of us actually work hard on our own businesses. Are you always planting the seeds, doing what needs doing, playing the game, enjoying the rush? Or are you spending time looking for ways to get around all the hard work that needs to get done?

When you take an inventory of all the key factors in success, it really comes down to these few things. Even if hypnosis and affirmations and the lot do work, I could still be doing more productive things like just getting it done.

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I like to call fear of failure, the root of all evil. Fear of failure is where excuses come from, where the habit of hesitancy is bred and where weakness is built. True failure lies in the inability to overcome one’s fear.

Fear of failure, the only thing that stands between us and what we want. Hard work is easy when there’s no mental resistance. When there’s congruency there’s power.

The sad truth is, if we never tame our greatest fears, we will never live at the level of fulfillment we desire. Depression and regret will be our lifelong friends.

So what are you afraid of, that if you weren’t, would change everything? Fear of flying, social anxiety, fear of losing money, fear of being ridiculed?

How do we tame our fear of failure?

I’d like to say there’s an easy and quick way, but there isn’t. Fear begins to diminish when action is taken. It’s called exposure therapy: do the thing you’re afraid of, and soon, you will no longer fear it.

The ability to act in spite of fear is like a muscle, but rather a mental muscle. It’s like the ability to get yourself out of bed in the morning, or to keep your house clean.

Every time you face the fear of something you feel better. Every time you do the thing that scares you the most, the better you feel about yourself and the less anxiety there is next time around.

You’ll also find, that the more you face your fears, the more energy you’ll have. As fear diminishes, excitement will take its place.

When you do the thing you’re afraid of, you win!

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An emotional based decision is made in the heat of the moment. It’s based on how you feel right now.

When you’re in the wrong state(fear, anger, etc), understand that making decisions in this state is as dangerous as tossing a coin.

Here’s what to do when you find yourself in the wrong state of mind. Don’t make any decisions, because 9 times out of 10 they’ll be the wrong ones.

When you find yourself in this state, just call it a day. This is called emotional intelligence. Being aware of what state you’re in and acting accordingly, 98% of people do just the opposite.

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Habit 1: Successful Gen-Y Entrepreneurs Don’t Work As Hard As They Work Smart!

Gen-Y is not notorious for working 12 hour days, 6 days a week for 7 years to climb the corporate ladder. We want more than that, we want to make REAL MONEY. We saw how our parents grew up and the mentality they had towards work and how it had an affect on their personal lives. While the boss said “you should be glad you have such a good job with great benefits and superb hours” they still came home with nothing more than the bills paid, food on the table, an odd trip now and then, cars and clothes that just barely kept up with the Joneses. For Gen-Y and some Gen-X, especially the entrepreneurs, that’s just not our deal. That’s not going to cut it. We want more than our parents grew up and ended up with. We want to be successful, outstanding, high performers driving cars only “rich people” drive and living in houses only “rich people” live in. We want to make our mark in the world in a way that our parents fell short in. We want to keep our dreams as we get old and accomplish them once we hit 30 or 40.

We don’t want to work for next to nothing anymore. We want to be millionaires, authors of Best Sellers, sought after entrepreneurs and experts. Many of us want that all to happen in no time at all. We want it tomorrow. On top of at, we’re somewhat egotistical about our career choice. If someone questions our career path we’re in great danger of tell them to take a flying…well, we’ve all been there. And we’re more likely to treat interviewers like the ones being interviewed.

Don’t get me wrong, Generation Y is not lazy, they just don’t see the need to work hard on the same things their parents did. Getting a degree and working for the same company for 40-50 years is not in Gen-Ys agenda. The Entrepreneurs of my generation put a great amount of store in working smart. We find ways to work from 15 minutes a day to 4 hours a day and still get lots done. 20 or 30 years ago, we would have been considered lazy for not working a full 8 hour day. Now days, you work as long as it takes. That means 15 minutes, or 15 hours.

Working smart is understanding leverage and knowing which tasks are most productive. Excluding less important tasks and taking on only productive tasks is Gen-Ys key to success. Knowing how to ruthlessly remove anything that distracts us from realizing our primary objectives is highly important. Getting rid of the good for the great, and spending less time to accomplish more.

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September’s already here and it’s getting close to that time of the year. One of the best times of the year for us entrepreneurs to make a come back after being turned away for the past 2 months of extreme heat and vacations. Kids are back in school and everyone’s coming back to reality. We have 3 months before Christmas attacks us to make our businesses blow up and come into 2011 with a flying leap.

Make the next 30 days count, here’s how:

1. Devise a plan of massive action, what you want to get done, and what needs to get done each week. Get a piece of paper and write out what you want to get done within the next 30 days. Each weekend, assess how close you are to where you want to be in your plans.
2. Work on breaking or forming a habit you’ve been meaning since last New Years. Habits usually take more than a few months to break or make. But in 30 days you can make a good start.
3. Don’t overcrowd yourself. The worst enemy to focus is overcrowding yourself with 50 different goals or tasks.
4. Test Your Ability To Stay Consistent For 30 Days. Consistency is the key to success. Pick a couple things you want to do each day and test your ability to stay focused on them for the next 30 days.

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When you were a tiny, little child, you made your way around the world on your hands and knees crawling. Everyone around you was walking and one day you got it into your head to give that a try.

So, little by little, you worked on developing the skills you needed to walk. You grabbed on to something above you and pulled yourself upright. You stood up, holding on to a table or chair or big stuffed animal. Wobbly and unsure, you let go, fell down, and tried again and again, until you stood up all by yourself. Then, you took a step.

The older people you watched took one step after another: right foot, left foot, right foot, left …but you managed only one step-and you crashed.

After days of side-stepping around the coffee table, awkwardly bringing one little foot out from behind the other while you held on to Mom’s or Dad’s fingers, you eventually took your first couple of steps… all alone…all by yourself…and (hopefully) to the cheers and applause of your family.

Baby steps. One at a time. And you were WALKING!

IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING HOW TO WALK, you probably spent more time failing than you did succeeding. But did you ever have the thought of quitting? Did you ever tell yourself, “I’m not cut out for walking-guess I’ll crawl for the rest of my life?” No, of course you didn’t. So, why do you do that now?

What’s different today with any goal you want and desire you have for accomplishing anything? When did you lose the ability to make a goal, go for it, and get it? How come you don’t do what you did when you were one or two years old?

The answer is alarming, yet simple:

Somewhere along the way in your life, you became unwilling to take baby steps. You lost faith in the universal truth that the simple little disciplines done again and again over time would move the mightiest mountains.

- An Article At Top Achievement

How To Make Every Day Count!

The value of a day is like the value of a dollar. Each day is one more brick in the wall. One day closer to the end of the year and the start of a new one. Days pass so quickly, some weeks we try to remember what we did on for example Wednesday, and can’t. While each day seems insignificant, they are the most important things you have. We get the illusion that days are just little chunks of time, nearly insignificant, gaps of time that happen between nights.

Thing is, what you did the day before yesterday, and yesterday and today, add up to tomorrow. What you get today is determined by what you did in the past, what you get tomorrow is determined by what you did today and the past.

In other words, every choice you make every day = who you are.

And so, who you are is not who you will become or the decisions you plan on making some day but the decisions you’ve made and the actions you’ve taken.

Who you are is very little determined by one BIG decision made once a year, but by the discipline you kept each day of the year.

You have to make the choices today to become the person you want to become tomorrow so you can become that person tomorrow.

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The hardest part about being your own boss is also being your own employee. It’s easy to procrastinate when no one but you is looking. There are a few attributes you need to cultivate to overcome this human tenancy to put off:

Most People Aren’t Disciplined: Cultivating Self-Discipline (The Habit Of Winners)

You can have the drive, the motivation, all the knowledge, be afraid of nothing and be great at what you do. But there’s not a whole lot that can create dependable performance than self-discipline. Self-discipline is the machine like urge to go against old habits and to avoid taking the easy rout.

It’s critical that you work on building a habit around doing things that need to get done, getting up when you need to get up, doing what you need to do whether it’s easy or not. It’s not always easy to get up at 5:00am, but if you’ve come to the conclusion that you need to wake up then to finish everything in the day, it’s critical to sacrifice the urge to stay up late or involve yourself in activities that will hinder your ability to get up that early.

There are a 3 types of self-discipline that we commonly need in work:

• Physical Discipline, Moving yourself when you need to move
• Emotional Discipline, Being able to bounce back from disappointment
• Mental Discipline, Staying focused all the time

Most People Aren’t Self-Motivated: Cultivating Self-Motivation and Drive

Most successful people are motivated and driven individuals. Take a look at anyone who has a large income and you’ll notice they’re very driven, very goal oriented and have good self-esteem.

Cultivating drive lies in knowing what you want, knowing that it’s better than you have now and feeling the urge to have it, and of course ACTING on it! Acting on it is the most important. Goals and dreams do motivate you, but nothing has filled me with more energy than actually ACTING on what it was I wanted. Just thinking about it and dreaming about it will only keep you motivated for a short time. Eventually, they become pipe dreams if they’re not acted on.

Most People Are Burnt Out: Cultivating High Energy

“Sound mind and sound body are one and the same.” – Wise man

This of course is a physical aspect of achievement. You need high energy to maintain your work performance. The harder you work when you’re burnt out the less that seems to get done. High energy people seem to easily accomplish tasks that are somewhat difficult.

In order to always be working at the most effortless and most productive level of performance the mind and the body have to be congruent. You might be really excited to get something done, but if you lack the energy, the task turns into you trying to keep yourself awake or moving.

How do you cultivate energy?

• Changing your diet(more water, stop eating before bed, eat less starches, drink fresh orange juice)
• Cutting down on alcohol, sugar, caffeine and nicotine. (the 4 energy thieves)
• Taking breaks and going out side on a consistent basis
• Learning how to channel urges and cravings into energy, Google “Sex Transmutation”
• Getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night

Parting Words

Working on these three areas can dramatically change your career performance. Lots of people are driven but lack self-discipline to go through with the difficult stuff. On the other hand, there are people with energy but no drive to do anything above and beyond. For self-discipline to make sense you need to have energy and drive. If you don’t have either, self-discipline becomes almost impossible. That said, self-discipline is still the most important part here.

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I think small talk, other than being used to build rapport, is a waste of time. I’m as guilty as this as anyone when it comes to this.

The conversations you have with your business associates and partners are extremely important. One conversation can make you feel like shit! On the same note, one conversation can change your whole life forever. Conversations sway emotions and opinions.

It’s easy to think, “well, what does it matter?” The answer to that is, communication with people and with yourself determines your effectiveness in life.

Where are your conversations headed?

Do you complain about the weather on a daily basis? Do you complain about everything on a daily basis?

Would you say your conversations are usually on a negative note?

What do you talk about usually? Do you do your best to walk away from useless conversations?

Who do you spend your time talking to every day? Have you taken note their influence on your attitude?

What percentage of your conversations are helpful and have given you real value?

Are the majority of your conversions killing you or helping you?

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Why do some entrepreneurs, in the people business, who can barely speak English make $500,000 a year when there are so many perfectly spoken individuals who work on their business and barely make enough to survive?

How do high school drop outs turn into billionaires and smart, high IQ, college graduates leave, and 3 years later still don’t have a steady job?

What makes a person with mental disabilities smart enough to write literature that stands the test of time while other perfectly normal writers can’t capture interest of their readers.

What makes a salesperson who sells a mediocre product in the worst economy wealthy when there are other people who can’t sell free liqueur to alcoholics?

Does every great business start off with a 50-page proper format business plan?

Is conventional wisdom merely opinion, in a world were many opinions work and multiple points of views are right? If you look at a piece of paper from the thin side, and I look at it from the flat side? Who’s point of view is right?

What makes the least of us the greatest, and the greatest the least?

We Idolize Our Heros and Role Models, And Are Surprised When They Reveal That They’re Human Like Us!

Tiger Woods is a good example of this. We expect our role models to be totally transparent and to act in complete integrity. When they slip up and say the wrong thing or are caught doing something out of character or what the public suspects, we feel let down and disappointed.

But why do we let this surprise us? Haven’t YOU ever slipped up, compromised on your integrity just a little and gotten your hand caught in the cookie jar before? Maybe just once? Honestly, maybe more than once? I’ve been there, you’ve been there.

I’m not by any stretch condoning the Tiger Woods scandal or making out that what he did wasn’t morally or socially wrong. But, do I look at him as much less a human being than we was before? Maybe, maybe not.

Or what about Tony Robbins, world renowned Best Seller personal development and performance coach, who became divorced around in 2001. Robbins has worked with and has been payed millions by everyone from world-class athletes and CEOs of corporate giants to great musical artists and philanthropists. Did everything Tony Robbins say in his Best Selling books, audio CDs and tapes, seminars and courses get thrown out the window the second he got a divorce? It goes back to this thing about being human.

The Lie Of Perfection: Man Kind’s Illusion Of Successful People

Lately I’ve been amazed by how human many of my role models are. Some how when one man or woman writes a best selling book, or speaks on stage in front of thousands of people, makes lots of money and obtains any level of success we turn them into gods. It seems that they can do no wrong.

And then, we reach our small level of success and expect to feel different. Now, like we expect to be gods. Doesn’t happen. Even after you reach a level of success, you will still be who you are. You might be an award winning Olympic performer but are afraid of flying. You might be a billionaire, great at investing and money management, but you might not be great at speaking in front of people. Look at Richard Branson, multi-billionaire and owner of the Virgin brand companies totaling more than 25 billion in assets. Branson grew up with severe learning disabilities and admitted that, even later on in his career, he didn’t know the difference between net and gross income.

We can learn a lot from imperfect people who have made their mark in the world.

Why Some Of Us Never Speak Up Or Feel That We Have Anything Important To Say:

We create a picture in our minds of how things SHOULD be and scare ourselves out of TAKING ACTION until we’re perfect at what it is we’re shooting for. This fear is fear of failure and fear of criticism. There are a lot of people out there that will criticize us about things that really don’t matter.

From researching high achievers we can conclude that they don’t make it a habit to follow the rules, or do it right the first time. They often time don’t give a damn what people think and laugh at people who tell them they can’t do something that seems impossible.

Be Great, But Not At Everything!

To be great at everything is to be great at nothing. There’s not enough time to perfect each and every area of our lives. Chose a few things you want to “major” in and pour your heart into the few.

Parting Words

We all want to be great at everything. Great employee, great at finances, great at drag racing, hockey and home repairs. We want perfect health, perfect looks and drive the nicest car on the block. We have a “list” of what we look for in a perfect mate. Want to live a perfectly balanced life, have great communication skills and like to believe that our opinions are right. Seriously, I think we’d all enjoy life much better if we weren’t as picky and just threw up our hands once in a while and said, “let the chips land where they may. THIS is important to me. However THIS is less important. These are my goals and as for the rest…I’m open to surprises.”

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