Why I Do What I Do...

I first discovered "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill on vinyl in 1984! You've probably heard of it (no pun intended!) Since then I have purchased Napoleon Hill's great book on CD and in paperback form. I still refer to it often.

From that moment on I was intrigued by this life-enhancing process, and wanted to use it in my own life to become a success. Now before you think oh here's another one of those millionaire types about to pitch me something, let me tell you it hasn't all been plain sailing and I am by no means a millionaire - far from it, although I am still working on the illusive financial independence - ask my ever patient wife!

Earlier I wrote a post called The Motivation Myth which makes a case for all motivation coming from within, and that external motivation doesn't last. However, it was that last part which got me thinking that perhaps I was giving the impression I was attempting to position myself as some kind of motivator, (the external type) blogging about motivation which, by my own admission, seldom lasts. Bear with me.

School; hardly what you might call education

I then started thinking about school and how 'information' was hurled at us at breakneck speed with hardly a moment to digest it, let alone read/understand fully what was being written! Hardly what you might call being 'educated.' In fact, by the end of regular school, higher education seemed furthest from our minds, yet leaving school should mark the beginning of one's education, not the end!

Instead, I intend to position myself more as a guide, pointing the way to resources which have stood the test of time. The Bible immediately sprang to mind as I wrote those words (thank you Lord!) I like to think my 30+ year journey into self development has been worthwhile. And if I can save you just a little bit of time or money, or worry by pointing to a book, an article, someone else's blog post, a program (you get the picture) which has helped me in some way, it may help you too.

My mission

I value integrity as you do, so you won't find me endorsing products I haven't used myself, or any type of get-rich-quick type of program. My mission is to help people succeed because I know from experience how difficult it can be to cut through the clutter and get to what works. By helping others I am in fact helping myself in that I am learning so much more by giving back.

To that end I wish you well, and trust this has given you some insight into why I do what I do. It's like a bit of a lengthy bio, and I thank you for reading this far!

May I wish you all the success and achievement you deserve. As always, I welcome your comments, worries, challenges, hopes , fears, wishes - you get the picture!

Speak to you soon!

The Motivation Myth

Why motivation myth? I'm referring to our understanding of what motivation really means. Motivation is more akin to doing what you want when you want! It's the realisation that no-one can motivate you to achieve anything long-term. Have you ever noticed its effect in your own life? Think of those times when you've been 'too tired' to do something planned but undesirable, yet as soon as something with personal appeal surfaces, so does your enthusiasm and energy!

Your Internal Integrity
Motivation is much more than that though. There's an honesty to it in relation to your commitment, and keeping your word. So few people underestimate the power of truth within themselves.

It's what you do when no-one's looking that defines who we really are - that's where your real motivation lies.We have to want to make the change, or the motivation won't work. Why? Because most motivation is external - someone or something trying to get us to 'do' something. And I say 'trying' because all external motivation is temporary. It may influence us to see things differently for a while (even enthusiastically), but the effect cannot be long-lasting.

They say fear of loss is one of life's greatest motivators because it often implies the taking away of something we already have at our present level - read 'comfort zone!'

It's How The Human Brain Works
We need to understand how we've learned everything we've learned up this point in our lives. Gradually. Over time, often with repetition (remember school?) It's how the human brain works. This is why, in the human brain, it's impossible for momentary external motivation to create permanent change. It's also why so many hopeful attendees at motivational talks get pumped up, given a new lease of life ready to conquer the world, then slow down or revert back to their old selves within a matter of days, weeks or even hours after the talk is over.

Encourage, Encourage, Encourage!
External motivation cannot make the change for us. It's up to us to motivate ourselves towards our goals and objectives. And for that we need a lot of internal encouragement! Remember, you're the horse in the race! Give yourself a growing list of reasons why you can achieve your goals. Reward yourself at every sign of progress that you're headed in the right direction, and before you know it, you'll have authentic confidence in your ability to achieve.

No-one is Going To Do The Work For You
No one is going to do the work for us. We are responsible. This realisation tends to dawn on us as the years progress. Don't leave it too long before you realise you really have to do something! The external coach or motivator who encourages, demands even, and paints pictures of reward is great until they've gone. As soon as they leave, so does the support, the encouragement and our internal pictures of possibility. The coach was your motivation!

Don't get me wrong, some motivation works, it's just that about 95 percent of it doesn't. That's a big percentage. The key is to start asking yourself some tough questions about where you're headed in life. If you really enjoy what you're doing, you need little in the way of motivation to make progress, and time seems to stand still. Ever felt like that? This is representative of your true calling and what you were put on this earth to do.

On the flip side, if you've ever met up with any of delegates a few weeks after a motivational rally, you'll notice how little has changed. Now you know why. Its not their fault. At least you now know why it's best to become your own personal cheer leader!

Mirror of Self Reflection

Age creeps up on us all slowly, stripping away our youth, then one day we look into the mirror and the body does not seem to match the sparkle in the eyes anymore. Then we begin to look over our shoulder at our past and think I wonder what would have happened, or what if I had taken this path?
 
The concept of there only being one life and a limited amount of time to live it, is to most people like someone saying there is no Santa Claus. We simply want to believe in forever just like we wanted to believe in happily ever after as children.

You may think I am advocating quitting your job and going trekking in Africa, but no that is not where this is going. Living is an art in itself, it is not about time management or fit as much in as I can. It is about passion, depth, vision, love and much more.

I wish I could remember the taste of a meal long after I have eaten it. I wish I could see my partner's face long after they have left. I wish I could feel my friends hug as she embraced me long after she had let go. I wish I could picture the one time my Mother said I love you long after she is gone. I wish I was so in tune with life, so aware, so enlightened that every moment was my greatest and I could feel it, taste it, and truly live it.

I do not want to wait until someone tells me there are no more moments left. I do not want to feel cheated because a Higher Power took my moments away. I want to be grateful a Higher Power gave me the moment to begin with.

As youth slips away, and it will slowly, I want to be able to look in the mirror and see the happiness of a life lived with depth and passion etched in my face. I want to be able to feel the touch of my lovers hand as it brushed away my tears, not just remember it. But unless I am truly aware truly in the moment at the time allowing myself to feel, letting go of expectations, letting go of the need to hold something back, unless that happens, all I will have is a vague memory. I want more, I want an imprint so strong I can carry it with me and feel it when the moments are at an end.

My wish for you is that you may look in the mirror of self reflection long before youth has disappeared. I hope you will realize life doesn't need to be filled up with things, rather it needs to be soaked up for all it has to offer right now at this very moment. My wish for you is that you may experience, even for a second, a state of total being when everything falls away and time stands still, and you can taste the air you breath, feel the earth pulsate beneath your feet, and hear the whisper of the Angels.

Author BioRobin J, Australian Psychic/Artist/Writer living in Canada. I do reading by donation at my site angelpsychicblessings.com.

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.