Beliefs 'R Us

The Bible says, "the truth shall make you free." That is a powerful statement...to those who believe it. Before you can even tap into the divine power of that statement, there is one thing that can propel you forward or hold you back. That one thing is...

BELIEF!

Your belief system holds the key that unlocks your present and future success. I can almost guarantee that any failure" you've had or currently in the midst of, your belief system probably had (has) something to do with those "failures."

Think about this: your beliefs directly affect your thoughts which, ultimately, affect your actions/behavior. Here's an example. If you believe the economy will not get any better anytime soon, more than likely your thoughts will say to you, "there aren't any jobs out there, so why look for one?" Not only will you fail to actively look but you probably won't do anything to improve your skills either.

Now the opposite belief, that the economy is on the road to recovery will lead you to think I need to position myself to be ready for opportunities that will become available. In positioning yourself, you are taking action to ensure opportunities don't pass you by. Les Brown, renown motivational speaker and author, said it best:

"It is better to be prepared and not have an opportunity than to have an opportunity and not be prepared."

So what is a belief? The best definition I've seen is from the book, "Get Off your But" by Sean Stephenson. His definition is as follows:

"A thought is like an acorn. by itself, it is a solid little object that can't do much. If you keep it in a tin can, it will never grow. but if you plant it in soil and give it the right amount of sun, nutrients, and water, it will sprout roots and grow into a huge oak tree.

In order for a thought to become a belief, it has to be nurtured by evidence that proves its own existence. With each piece of evidence, it sprouts a root, and its foundation grows stronger. Soon, that thought (true or false) becomes a sturdy belief planted in your mind, growing stronger every day." (p.93)

This definition can't be more on point. After reading this, you should be able to evaluate your beliefs and determine which ones are limiting and which ones are empowering.

You may be familiar with the saying, "as a man thinketh, so is he." Allow me to build on that by saying, "as a man believes, so he thinks." In either case, you have the power to choose those beliefs (and thoughts) that will have you reaching new heights in your life; or you can continue to choose those that keep you comfortably lacking.

NOW BELIEVE THAT!

Building a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA)

Click picture for Napoleon Hill's work

Napoleon Hill, the father of personal development and author of "Think and Grow Rich" postulated five 'Building Blocks' of a PMA. Allow me to share them with you here so that you have something to draw from when you feel a hint of negativity creeping in - that's not too difficult these days.

Building Block #1
Move with definiteness and purpose towards your goal.

Building Block #2
Establish a harmonious cooperative alliance with other people.

Building Block #3
Cultivate the habit of doing more than you are paid, or expected, to do.

[Note: Some of you (or us) may have to dig real deep on this one.]

Building Block #4
Concentrate on the habit of putting enthusiasm into your words and deeds.

Building Block #5
Create an enduring capacity for faith.

On the surface these may seem somewhat simplistic however, with further examination and practice, you might find yourself struggling with one or more of these building blocks. Anyone who has read any of Napoleon Hill's work knows that he does not cater to self-pity or wallowing in your "struggles."

I encourage you to put serious thought into each of these building blocks as they pertain to your life. Find someone you trust to assist you with building your positive mental attitude. While nothing in life is guaranteed, I assure you if you sincerely practice building each one of these, you will see a noticeable difference in your life and in others around you - at least as they relate to you.

The Secret to Success is...

So you really want to know what the secret to success is? I guess you do, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. I...well, John Maxwell can tell you better than I can. Watch the video below:



Whaddya think. Hit me with a comment below.

ABCs of Motivation: The Heart of Personal Development

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunking grades make us realize that we need to study.

Debts remind us of our inability to control our spending. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

With the countless negatives the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z…

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B - Believe in yourself, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people get the best of you. Stay away from toxic people – the kind who hate to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – Keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he/she sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.

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Inspiration 365 movie
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L – Learn to love yourself. Now isn’t that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn how we can recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control is synonymous with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life - like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

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How the 'B' Word Hinders Your Progress

How many times have you (or someone you know) said:

“I would go back to school, but…”
“I would look for another job, but…”

or how about this one,

“We need to start an investment program, but…”

I could go on and on with enough “buts” to...well, never mind.

I am a guilty party to this entrapment of progress myself.

How do I know?

Given my God-given abilities and talents, I should be further ahead of where I am now. No, I’m not in a bad situation however, when I take inventory over my life to this point...trust me, I know.

For you English aficionados out there, you know that “but” is a part of speech that takes what is being said in the opposite direction.

Let me elaborate on that point for a moment. In our daily conversations at work, at home and even in our social circles, “but” interjected will change the flavor of where the conversation was headed--unless, it was planned that way. Let’s go back to my examples:

“I would go back to school, but I can’t afford it.”

“I would look for another job, but who would hire me at my age.”

“We need to start an investment program, but we have too many bills as it is.”

Each of these (and other) scenarios could have a different outcome with a different mindset.

I challenge all of you to remove your “buts” and replace them with solutions, instead of excuses to make progress towards your future dreams, desires and goals.

If you could use a little help with your 'but' click here for a resource that is just what the doctor ordered.

How Do You Spend 86,400 Seconds?

That's the number of seconds in each and every day that you are alive. Have you ever said any of the following:

"I wish there were more hours in the day."
"Where did the time go."
"I don't have enough time to..."

I know I have. With the demands on our lives in this modern age of technology, economic uncertainty and just everyday life, time is our most precious commodity. The good thing about it however, is that we all have the same amount of time - EVERYDAY!

How do you spend your 86,400 seconds?

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To learn how, click here - How to Master Your Time by Brian Tracy
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Believe it or not, we have all the time we need. The problem comes in when we try to do more than we are capable of doing and doing more than we need to do. Don't misunderstand, I know there are things that must get done but how many of you actually prioritize what you must do?

Think of it this way. If you knew that there would be no tomorrow, for you, but what you need to do today will have an impact on those you love...

What would you do in those 86,400 seconds allotted to you for that last day?

Something to make you go, hmmmmm.

How Big is Your Why?

My last post talked about 'dreaming big, living large' but how many of you are stuck in the dream?

You probably have (or had) big dreams for your life however, you don't know HOW you will ever attain that dream and make it a reality. Well, there's your problem - you're too concerned with the HOW; instead, how big is your 'WHY'?

That is, why would attaining your dream make a difference in your life? How much of a difference would it make in the lives of others around you and beyond? These questions will help you determine the size of your 'WHY'.

The size of your why is directly linked to your desire. If you have the desire to see your dream(s) manifested, it will kick you into action to make it happen. If it doesn't, then your 'why' isn't as big as you expected. On the spectrum of dream achievement, your 'WHY' must be larger than your 'HOW' otherwise you'll become despondent because you'll get stuck in thinking that your dream cannot be attained given your current resources and condition.

When you focus on the 'WHY' you'll be amazed at the way in which your mind begins thinking of creative ways to bring your 'HOW' into balance with your 'WHY.'

So, the next time you drift away into your dream, monitor your 'WHY' and you shall soon devlop the 'HOW' to making it a reality.

Click here if you could use a dream motivational moment TODAY!

Dreaming Big, Living Large

"I'm going to be an astronaut." "I'm going to be a movie star." "I'm going to be the President." "I'm going to own a chocolate factory!"

What were your childhood dreams?

We still have the ability to dream big, no matter how old or young, no matter where we live, and no matter what our family believed and taught us to believe. However, most of us need to clear the cobwebs off our imagination. And that's just what we're going to do.

Why is dreaming so important anyway? Dreams play a significant role in determining the grandeur or constrictiveness of life. You've heard of the "glass ceiling." Dreams are the glass ceiling we create for our own life. We can create a ceiling just above our head or somewhere out at the edge of the Milky Way!

When that glass ceiling is very low, it often is because we've allowed our dreams to be created for us, either by others or by our unconscious mind. Who do you know who chose a career because their parents "suggested" it? Who do you know that stays at a job they hate because it pays the bills?

Think about your own life. How much room do you have until you hit your glass ceiling? What parts of your life could use some dream expansion?

Your imagination needs to be used regularly or it will atrophy. In the same way that you keep your heart and lungs healthy by walking, or your biceps strong by lifting weights, you need to exercise your dream muscle to keep it in good shape. But before you can really begin working out your dream muscle, you need to know what gets in the way.

All of us carry limiting beliefs. Some we may be aware of. Others may lie hidden beneath the radar of our awareness. Read through the following list of beliefs slowly. Ask yourself if any of them seem familiar. Notice how you feel when you read each one. If your body reacts with anxiety or fear - fast heart-rate, shallow breathing, tightness in the chest or solar plexus, etc. - you may have discovered a limiting belief that has been hidden within you.

I don't have enough money.
I don't have enough education.
I don't have the credentials.
I'm not smart enough.
It will never pay the bills.
It's never been done before so it probably can't be done.
It's greedy, or selfish.
It's not spiritual enough.
It's too risky.
People will think I'm crazy.
I don't have any extra time.
Some people might be hurt if I do it.
I might mess it up, or do it wrong.

This is just a small sampling of the limiting beliefs available for our use. There are hundreds of them, and thousands of variations. Whatever they sound like, whatever form they take, whatever specific words they use, limiting beliefs have but one purpose and that is to keep you small, to prevent you from dreaming big.

We'll look more at limiting beliefs in future issues but for at least the next few minutes - and hopefully longer than that! - I'm going to encourage you to let go of those beliefs and allow yourself to imagine the biggest dream you possibly can. Let go of all the "yeah buts." Let yourself drift back to that uninhibited dreaming space you had as a child. We're not concerned about whether or not these dreams ever come true. Right now we just want to rekindle the dreaming ability.

Take a moment now and enter your dream-world to imagine your life in 5-years? Let go of the rationalizations. Remember, you're dreaming, tapping into your imagination, creating a vision of your ideal life. So if you want to dream yourself into a vacation home in Hawaii, don't worry about how much it will cost or where the money will come from. If you want to dream yourself into a new career, don't worry about your lack of education, or your age, or an economic downturn. If you want to dream yourself into the perfect relationship, don't worry that you are currently single. You are imagining, dreaming, visioning. Let go of constraints, fears doubts. Let go of limiting beliefs. Have fun. Play!

If you're stuck, some questions to ask about your life five years from now are: Where am I living? What is my vocation? Am I married? Do I have children? What kind of car do I drive? What is my health like? What do I do for fun? Where do I travel?

If you have trouble letting go of the doubts try feeling your dream. In five-years, how do you feel when you wake up in the morning? How do you feel when you are working, playing, traveling. As you feel into your life, you may begin to get glimpses of what this ideal life looks like. If so, let yourself drift deeper into those glimpses. Let yourself explore the scenes that are lit up in your imagination.

Another trick you can try is to imagine someone else's ideal life. You can dream an ideal life for your spouse, or child, or a good friend. You can also try creating the ideal life for a fictional person. Become the author of this character's life. Make it a really juicy life! What would their dream life look like 5- years from now? It's likely that parts of the life you create for them are what you would like to have in your own.

Still having trouble dreaming? Here are some other ideas: Make a dream life collage. Ask a good friend to brainstorm your ideal life with you.

Take some time to write down your five-year dream. Keep the description out and visible so you can add to it, change it, allow it to grow and morph as you settle more fully into your ability to dream big. But keep your dream to yourself, at least in the beginning.

As you start to dream again, your dreams and your ability to dream are fragile. They need to be nurtured and protected. There are very few people that know how to treat dreams. So if you must share them, make sure you do so with someone that you trust will treat your dreams and you with tenderness and love.


Herm Allen, M.S. teaches, inspires and motivates individuals to "reach their peak" and become the person they were meant to become in this life. He shows how each day should get you closer to your dream. For FREE personal development tips & strategies, visit http://hermallencoaching.net and sign-up for Peak Times, A Personal Development Newsletter of Herm Allen Coaching.