Why You Must Think Positively To Get Positive Results

According to leading behavioural researchers from Shad Helmstetter's great book 'What To Say When You Talk To Yourself', as much as 75 percent of everything we think is negative, counterproductive and works against us. Wow. Read that again.

Once you've got over the shock, let me ask you how many self-development books and programs you've bought with the intention of developing a new skill or an empowering habit, only to find they failed to deliver?

So, why so much negative programming? In order to fully understand the answer, we have to understand how our brains work:

- Programming creates beliefs

- Beliefs create attitudes

- Attitudes create feelings

- Feelings determine actions

- Actions create results


The average youngster from an average family, according to Mr Helmstetter, has been told 'No' or what they can't do about 150,000 times by the time they reach 18. I'm sure you can think of a few examples yourself. It's no wonder then that with this kind of negative programming, positive changes seldom happen as quickly or as effectively as we would like.

Identify Your Present Programming

To turn matters around, the first thing we need to do to improve our results is identify our current programming. But what exactly is our programming and how do we change it to make the improvements we seek? Good question. Firstly, identify what you're saying to yourself quietly (even openly) and take note over a few days. This exercise is very revealing and may even surprise you - it did me, and it's very useful!

Listen for how many times you tell yourself you don't have enough time, energy, can't be bothered, hate your job, don't have enough money, skills, the quiet nudges of self-doubt, etc (just become aware of the stories you tell yourself) then ask yourself how badly you really want those goals you've promised yourself which probably contradict what you actually believe you can achieve.  

Once you've identified the negative response(s), every time the negative thought comes up, change the words to an empowering version of your old negative self-talk, like: "I'm really hate my job at the moment" can easily be changed to "I enjoy my work, I understand the problems and get past them (of course if you really hate your job perhaps you should look to make a change).

To be or not to be...

What's really important here, is that for any self-improvement concept to be successful, it has to be simple, easy to use, and it has to work. For evidence of this process in your own life, just look at your present circumstances. If they're not the way you want them, I would suggest it's because of what you've been programmed to believe about yourself up until this point.

"When Shakespeare wrote the words "To be or not be..." he may not have known that he touched the essence of self. To be or not be, that is the question. To become or not to become; to achieve or not to achieve; to do or not to do - the answer to that question is the answer that will determine the future - and the success - of each and every one of us." - Shad Helmstetter.

A Child's View (and spelling!) of Notable Historic Biblical Events - Funny!

This is an extract taken from a newsletter courtesy of St Stephen's Church, Bournemouth, England entitled "Out of the mouths of…"

Pay special attention to the wording and spelling. If you are even remotely familiar with Holy Scripture you’ll find this hilarious. It comes from an elementary school test in which kids were asked questions about the Old and New Testaments. These were some of their answers. They have not been retouched or corrected. Incorrect spelling has been left in.

• In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off
  
• Adam and Eve were created form an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built and ark and the animals came in pears
• Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt during the day but a ball of fire during the night
• The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic genitals
• Sampson was a strong man who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah
• Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles
• Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients
• The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the ten Commandments
• The first Commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple
• The seventh Commandment is that thou shalt not admit adultery

Fantastic stuff indeed!

A Formula That Will Revolutionise Classroom Learning...

khanacademy.org set up by Salman Khan (not to be confused with the Bollywood actor) is probably the world's most revolutionary educational system - all on video! In fact, he currently has around 3000 free educational videos and is considered by Time Magazine the fourth most influencial person in the world.

His aim is to create "the world's first free, world-class virtual school where anyone can learn anything."

Here's what Bill Gates says about Sal Khan...

Khan believes the rigidity of the school's education system is outdated and stiffles a child's natural curiosity. "Aged one to four, kids are excited by anything new, they want to figure it out, then all of a sudden when they turn five you start seeing fewer curious kids, by nine or 10 you see very few with any curiosity, and by 18 it's very much the exception. Curioisty is just stamped out of them...
 
... kids are herded together, the bell rings, you're reqwarded for passivity, you're rewared with compliance, that's what keeps you moving through the system. Because kids are not enabled to reach their full potential, society remains at a status quo. Private school education makes little difference, and most do not show a discernable difference in results. Khan says "If you're able to learn the material that your child's learning, then they have an awesome tutor at home." He's right.

"I think the potential for society is not just five or 10 per cent better, but an order of magnitude better. GDP would grow, people would be happy."

What do you think?

What It Really Means To Take Responsibility...

Why does there always seem to be so much fuss made about responsibility? If we're more "responsible" we can do this and we can that.

If you're a bit like me however, being "responsible" somehow seemed to be a bad word. We've all heard it said one way or another that we should take responsibility for our lives if we're to enjoy the kind of lifestyle we ultimately want. We reap what we sow; we become what we think about; our attitude is reflection of inner thinking and so on.

But when the word "responsibility" is mentioned, it always seems to be used in such a way that it is connected with somebody doing something wrong: "Who's responsible for this?" Similarly, "Can't you take more responsbility for yourself?" results in feelings of being "less than" you really are.

Personal responsibility however, is something much more important, so important in fact that I'd like to quote one of the most respected behavioural researchers of our time, Shad Helmstetter:

"Personal responsibility is at the root of evertything we think, do, conceive, fail at, or achieve in our lives. Personal responsibility is the bedrock of all individual action. Responsibility does not mean "duty" or "burden." It is not the measure of our liability or our accountability: it is the basis of our individual determination to accept life and to fulfill ourselves within it...

... No one will ever breathe one breath for us. No one will ever think one thought that is ours. No one will ever stand in our bodies, experience what happens to us, feel our fears, dream our dreams, or cry our tears. We are born, live, and leave this life entirely on our own. That "self" and the divine spirit which drives it, are what we have. No one else can ever live a single moment of our lives for us. That we must do for ourselves. That is responsibility."

This extract was taken from Shad Helmstetter's great book What to Say When You Talk to Your Self [ Yourself ]and is a great place to start to programme your potential for success.

The Million Pound Question... or is it?

The Million Pound Question by Sunil Bali, 19-08-12.
Most people have dreams and make plans. It's an easy thing to do. But few people execute their plans because they lack the self-discipline to do so. If you're procrastinating or unable to get an important task done, ask yourself the million pound question:

If you were given a million pounds to complete the task within 24 hours, could you do it?

If your answer is yes, it means that it's possible for you to complete the task. If you subsequently don't complete the task, then any reason you give for not completing the task is simply an excuse for not being disciplined, and you can't be serious about what you want to achieve.

As Larry Page the co-founder of Google says, "Inspiration isn't enough. Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration."

PS. When it comes to my kids getting great exam grades at the end of the year, I've found the iPhone question very successful.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task" - William James of Harvard.

"Procrastination is opportunity's assassin" - Victor Kiam.

"I wasn't the funniest guy growing up, but I was the guy who worked the hardest on being funny" - Chris Rock (comedian)

About the Author:
Sunil is an expert in human behaviour, and how you can increase both your happiness and income by consistently living your DNA and expressing your authentic self.


You know, when I first read this article I thought it was a great thought provoking piece, and likely to encourage a quick and honest reality check. I realise Sunil was talking about a single task which may indeed be a stumbling block to be overcome with a little extra gusto, but the more I thought about it, the more I began to question the point.

Valid though it undoubtedly is, would you really go all out for your dream if someone magically offered you the financial resources to overcome a task which was holding you back? I doubt it.

For starters, most of us fear our success more than failure, but using someone else's money to achieve your goal would undoubtedly devalue its achievement. We may have the result, but we're not benefiting from the journey and lessons learned to get there. What's more, how many of us would simply spend the money?! Come on, be honest! I remember a story where a start-up successfully made their case to a bank for start-up funds, and promptly spent £30k on office furniture!

So, although the point is sound, and should help us identify valid reasons for what's holding us back, the dream or goal is all the more sweeter if we have won our own battles and grown as individuals along the way - and that doesn't happen overnight. See Larry Page and Chris Rock above - their successes took considerable time and effort in their own words, and yours likely will too.

There are many unscrupulous people out there with their eyes firmly fixed on your wallet telling you otherwise. Take stock by all means. Write out 100 reasons why you will succeed, keep your word around your commitment and watch what happens.

30 Days Says You CAN...

Matt Cutts from TED.com (Technology, Entertainment, Design) gives a brief talk on the power of trying something new for 30 days. Nothing new you might say, but after viewing this brief video your mind will be chalking up fresh ideas by the truckload! Why? Because 30 days is a period most of us can 'see' easily as opposed to say, 5 year goals.

In addition, it gets YOU thinking of possibilities instead of goalsetting being a process whereby most of us feel it's someone else's idea to make us become more than we comfortably feel we can become.

This concept is all the more doable because the period of 30 days means we won't have to stretch ourselves too far, adding to the likelihood that we'll give it a try - something missing from most other goal setting processes.

In addition, you can set another goal the following month without too much emphasis being placed on the preceding 30 days. Encouragement indeed if any were needed.

What I like most about this idea is that its appeal is widespread. Even if you haven't achieved anything you might describe as significant in your life to date, this gets the creative juices flowing! You might also discover during this process, that once you achieve your first 30 day goal, you might get to like the process so much that you extend both the time period and the size of the goal!

After all, as Matt explains, small steps are what count.

If you ever watched the great movie 'Contact' with Jodie Foster, she reaches a distant planet through much turmoil to be met by a superior being resembling the familiar face of her deceased father, who says that 'small moves' are the way forward.

Small steps accumulate leading any one of us to the destination of our choice. This process gets you thinking of destinations and helps cultivate a 'can do' attitude which has to be good. This simple idea is therfore so much more than a 30 day test. It can change our entire lives!

I'd very much to hear your comments and achievements as a result of this one idea. Please do leave your comments.

What's in an Attitude?

Why is it some days we feel happy and others well, not necessarily 'down', but in neutral, more likely to react to the day's events positively or negatively instead of being in control and determining how we go through each day?

Have there been or are there external forces at play which strip us of our inner peace and happiness one minute, and restore it the next? Maybe. But I think it has more to do with our overall outlook on life (our own personal 'big picture'), that sets up our attitudes and corresponding feelings one moment to the next.

I mean, if you're thinking about something positive and worthwhile most of the time, you're more likely to have the corresponding feelings of joy and happiness that go hand in hand with your thoughts and objectives/big picture/goals. And whenever you get those moments of distraction which make you feel 'less than', you're better equipped to make them more fleeting. Furthermore, if you monitor your feelings on a daily basis, you're more likely to spot the peeks and troughs and be more prepared to tackle them.

I once made up a chart which lasted a month, and at the top I wrote the days of the month, and running down the left side I wrote descriptions of feelings ie. feeling great, feeling average, feeling bad (you get the picture), and each day I put a cross against the corresponding feeling. At the end of the month I drew a line connecting all the crosses to determine my average feelings on a daily basis. It made for interesting reading! And simply because I was paying attention to my feelings, over the course of a few months my overall 'good' feelings improved.

It's a useful test. You should try it. It works! And of course you can apply this method to any area you want to monitor and improve.

So, what does all this have to do with attitude? EVERYTHING!

Your attitudes create your feelings, your feelings determine your actions, and your actions, well, they speak for themselves! Ultimately, what we believe determines our attitudes and if we have a worthwhile, achievable goal, we're more likely to believe we can achieve it. And of course we choose what we want to believe, and there you have it.

Anytime you want to improve yourself in any way, to improve your results, you can do so at any time you choose. YOU choose your...

... attitudes
... feelings
... actions
... and therefore your results.