Guest Author
What is the secret of success?
Why is it that one child grows up to become just an ordinary, ho-hum, middle-of-the-pack, blah of a person such as — no offense — you; while another child grows up to become a Theodore Roosevelt, a Mother Teresa, a Donald Trump, an Attila the Hun
Is it luck? Is it genes? Is it upbringing? Did Mr. and Mrs. Hun teach young Attila some secret lesson that put him on the path to becoming No. 1?
Or is success something that any of us can achieve, even later in life, if we’re willing to work hard, use our imaginations, learn from our mistakes, keep a positive mental attitude and — above all — pay money for a seminar?
That’s what I decided to find out after seeing a full-page ad in The Miami Herald announcing Peter Lowe’s SUCCESS 1997, an all-day event that, according to the ad, would reveal “the latest strategies for business and personal success” not to mention “fuel your life to new highs.” There were testimonials from satisfied seminar-goers, including one who said: “You get a whole new fervor for doing business and networking with clients.”
This struck a chord in me, because I have never had any level of fervor for doing business or networking with clients. When I was a boy, my parents had to buy all my Little League candy from me, because I was too shy to sell it door-to-door. As an adult, the only networking I ever do is when somebody at The Miami Herald tells me a joke; I immediately get on the phone and relay it to my friend Gene Weingarten at The Washington Post, who then tells me that he already heard it.
So I figured Peter Lowe’s SUCCESS 1997 might do me some good. The ad said:
“Winners concentrate on winning. Losers concentrate on getting by. You may be able to get by if you don’t come to Peter Lowe’s SUCCESS 1997, but don’t you want to be there with the winners?”
Here is a video of Will Smith the actor giving some insights into his mindset. In the future we will try to add more videos of very successful people. Nothing speaks like success and the successful usually give clues to their success.
Here is a video by Tony Robbins on the subject of clarity of purpose.
CHAPTER 1
The Right To Be Rich
WHATEVER may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. No man can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless he has plenty of money; for to unfold the soul and to develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have these things unless he has money to buy them with.
A man develops in mind, soul, and body by making use of things, and society is so organized that man must have money in order to become the possessor of things; therefore, the basis of all advancement for man must be the science of getting rich.
The object of all life is development; and everything that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.
Man’s right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and physical unfoldment; or, in other words, his right to be rich.
In this book, I shall not speak of riches in a figurative way; to be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented with a little. No man ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more. The purpose of Nature is the advancement and unfoldment of life; and every man should have all that can contribute to the power; elegance, beauty, and richness of life; to be content with less is sinful.
The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of money can have all he wants. Life has advanced so far, and become so complex, that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a great amount of wealth in order to live in a manner that even approaches completeness. Every person naturally wants to become all that they are capable of becoming; this desire to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature; we cannot help wanting to be all that we can be. Success in life is becoming what you want to be; you can become what you want to be only by making use of things, and you can have the free use of things only as you become rich enough to buy them. To understand the science of getting rich is therefore the most essential of all knowledge.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire for riches is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant life; and that desire is praise worthy. The man who does not desire to live more abundantly is abnormal, and so the man who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.
There are three motives for which we live; we live for the body, we live for the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is better or holier than the other; all are alike desirable, and no one of the three–body, mind, or soul–can live fully if either of the others is cut short of full life and expression. It is not right or noble to live only for the soul and deny mind or body; and it is wrong to live for the intellect and deny body or soul.
We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living for the body and denying both mind and soul; and we see that real life means the complete expression of all that man can give forth through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no man can be really happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully in every function, and unless the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance.
Man cannot live fully in body without good food, comfortable clothing, and warm shelter; and without freedom from excessive toil. Rest and recreation are also necessary to his physical life .
He cannot live fully in mind without books and time to study them, without opportunity for travel and observation, or without intellectual companionship.
To live fully in mind he must have intellectual recreations, and must surround himself with all the objects of art and beauty he is capable of using and appreciating.
To live fully in soul, man must have love; and love is denied expression by poverty.
A man’s highest happiness is found in the bestowal of benefits on those he loves; love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. The man who has nothing to give cannot fill his place as a husband or father, as a citizen, or as a man. It is in the use of material things that a man finds full life for his body, develops his mind, and unfolds his soul. It is therefore of supreme importance to him that he should be rich.
It is perfectly right that you should desire to be rich; if you are a normal man or woman you cannot help doing so. It is perfectly right that you should give your best attention to the Science of Getting Rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If you neglect this study, you are derelict in your duty to yourself, to God and humanity; for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make the most of yourself.
Webmaster: Why do we do the things we do? This video by Tony Robbins gives some valuable insight into this question. Biography does not equal destiny and this video explains why.
Thought and Character – James Allen
The aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called “spontaneous” and “unpremeditated” as to those, which are deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
“Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man’s mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind….
…If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow-sure.”
NATURAL LAWS
Natural laws are fundamental patterns of nature and life that human experience and testing have shown to be valid. They describe things as they really are, as opposed to how we think they are or how we wish they were. Whether we agree with them or not, these laws ultimately govern our lives and operate independent of our awareness or wishes. By becoming aware of them and working with them, we can live safely and successfully. If we ignore them or fight them, we will fail and make ourselves and others miserable.
Speed Reading Tactics – Are You a Half-Brained Reader?
By Ed Caldwell
Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain when you read? When you understand how different parts of your brain become activated doing different types of mental tasks, then you can take control of your ability to read better and faster. On the other hand, by not understanding some simple facts of how your brain works, the process of learning to read better and faster will continue to be a mystery. Speed reading mastery requires you to know how to unlock your whole brain.
Reading is a mental/cognitive skill by which the reader views the printed symbols on a page and derives the meaning of those symbols by connecting them to previously experienced symbols and meanings. That was a tough sentence. Let’s break it down. As you see the print, you make mental connections. Understanding this fact means reading is a thinking skill. You can read as fast as you can think (or make connections amongst the symbols of print). In order to read fast, you need to think (respond to the print) faster. However, how do you do that?
Before getting to that, it would be helpful to understand some basics of how your brain perceives information.
The left hemisphere takes in information in a structured, sequential logical manner in step-by-step sequences of information bits. The left hemisphere is also the center of speech recognition and expression. The left hemisphere understands language, then, in a linearly grammatical sequenced fashion.
Traditional reading by its nature is almost completely a left hemisphere activity. Reading word-by-word, left to right in a linear manner, you read in the grammatical fashion as if you were saying the text aloud, except you are doing it inside your head. Thus, subvocalization, one of the most commonly understood limiting habits to speed reading, is inevitable. This will always hold you back in your speed until you learn how to break out of this pattern.
Traditional linear reading also keeps your mind limited to focusing on the parts (individual words) before you can recognize the “whole,” or larger picture, framework, or concept and meanings. By limiting your comprehension to this method or approach, you “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Your speed may get up to around 600 wpm, but you will not breakthrough to truly rapid speed reading.
The right hemisphere, on the other hand, perceives information quite differently. The right hemisphere is visual and imaginative. The right neo-cortex takes in data and information in a more random fashion capturing snapshots in attempts to understand the “big picture,” and then creating meanings by literally “connecting the dots.” By not relying on sequence and too many specifics, the right hemisphere creates pictures (often by filling in the blanks) and “trusting the gut” while it seeks meaning and high concepts.
The right hemisphere, then, does have an important place in your learning how to speed read. By engaging the right hemisphere, you can more quickly grasp the larger meaning of a document or book. From that general framework, you can then more quickly absorb the facts and details because they have a place to hang onto in the comprehension process. The right hemisphere’s visual preference helps the speed reader to by-pass the need for grammatical structures as meaning becomes more important than word sequencing. The right hemisphere needs to be engaged especially when reading to enjoy a novel. Additionally, engaging the right hemisphere and “seeing” or understanding the big picture first, helps reading non-fiction as well because the facts and details can more easily be absorbed.
Therefore, it’s not a question of reading with either right, or left hemispheres. Effective speed reading requires both hemispheres to be engaged. So stop reading as a “half-brain.”
To better engage the right brain and read in a more “whole-brained” fashion:
1. Read with a purpose. Know why you are reading something and what you need to learn or get from the material.
2. Try to understand the gist or main idea first before focusing on the details and specifics when reading documents longer than a couple paragraphs.
3. Ask yourself, “What’s this about” continuously, and allow your mind to respond. Listen to your mind’s “gut response.”
4. Learn and understand the differences between concepts, ideas, facts, and details. Knowing these differences can help you adjust your approach to comprehension.
5. Know that comprehension is a building process, not a onetime event. Learn and understand how to “layer” your approach to comprehension based on your reading purpose.
Although there are several more things you can do to engage your right brain, using these tips can go a long way to helping you read faster and better.
Bonus tip: the above ideas and tips are necessary for longer documents, books, and articles. They do not necessarily apply to text messages, sms, or short one-paragraph postings.
Now that you know a few simple powerful tips to engage your whole brain while learning to speed read, I’d like to invite you to learn even more free tips and ideas by getting Your Free Tips
Cut through the maze of mis-information and myths about speed reading and get real facts, tips, and articles from the speed reading expert, Ed Caldwell, who has researched, tested and trained tens of thousands of learners in the art and science of dynamic speed reading. Get instant access to tips, mini-sessions, and articles at http://speedreadingtactics.com/speed_reading_newsletter.html
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Multitasking – The Grand Illusion!
By Richard P. Fast
Most people try to multitask, and many of them consider themselves quite adept at it.
Multitasking is the scourge of modern day society. It is the root cause of poor listening, poor communication, and sloppy execution of many day-to-day tasks.
Slowly, assiduously, we have adopted one communication device after another until the devices have become the tail wagging the dog. We have become slaves to the tools.
Watch some harried person, or perhaps yourself, who is actively plugged into the complete communication system; that would mean live email, fax, Twitter, smartphone/cellphone, landline phone, internet, Facebook etc. That person will literally live their daily life in response to the never-ending “siren calls.”
You might be thinking, yeah, so what’s your point?
The point is this, if someone is continually responding to the constant beeps and buzzes then clearly they’re not in control of their life. Put another way, would the person live differently if the devices ceased all communication for the day?
Years ago if a telephone rang every few minutes we would say, “It was ringing off the hook.” Compared to today’s ceaseless assault from all fronts, a singular ringing telephone is hardly noticed.
The purpose of this writing is to create awareness of a serious problem that we’ve allowed to control our lives while we unconsciously ignore its effects. Incredibly most of us are completely unaware of this growing problem – the ceaseless intrusion and interruption to our focus and conscious thoughts. Every time a devices sounds off, we drop our focus and divert our attention to the latest incoming message. In fact, many of us wouldn’t have it any other way. We have come to believe that orchestrating several different communications gadgets, while studying, watching TV, and socializing is a sign of our adeptness, mental prowess and infallibility. In reality it demonstrates inefficiency and an inability to focus.
Numerous studies have shown that the human brain is incapable of multitasking.
Most people who attempt to multitask are under the delusion that they can perform several cognitive duties at the same time, in perfect harmony, and in a fraction of the time than if they focused on one task and then another and finally another.
Before we dive into whether we can or cannot multitask the first step is to define multitasking. There are two actual definitions: 1. From a computer perspective it’s the concurrent operation by one central processing unit of two or more processes. 2. From a human perspective it’s the carrying out of two or more tasks at the same time by one person.
When it comes to successful multitasking, your subconscious mind is a master. It can simultaneously orchestrate millions of calculations per second as it oversees your heart rate, body temperature, digestion and everything else to keep you alive, while it effortless steers your car down the highway when you suddenly decide to daydream and pawn the task to your subconscious.
Your conscious mind however, is not capable of multiple, simultaneous calculations. It is capable of doing one thing at a time. Period. One thing at a time. If you’re about to protest by giving examples of your ability to watch TV while writing a report then you have landed on the very point of this writing… that’s multitasking and your ability to do so is an illusion.
By definition, when you think you are multitasking what you are really doing is rapidly shifting your focus from watching TV to writing your report, but you are not doing both things at the same time. In fact, most of your mental power is burned up in high-speed travel while you switch focus from one task to another.
Multitasking is the modern day version of the person who is incapable of concentration and focus. This is the person who is at work but is thinking of his family and what he wants to do when he gets home. Then when he gets home he’s thinking of all the things he needs to do at work. Result; he’s never really anywhere or truly present for anyone.
The above example is an ultra slow version of the inefficiency of switching attention.
You might be thinking; “That’s different, when I multitask I’m getting both tasks accomplished with perfect aplomb so who cares if I’m actually shifting my attention back and forth?” That’s just it. We fool ourselves into thinking that we’re doing more than one thing at a time, but in reality we just end up doing one thing after another poorly.
People who multi-task are 50% more likely to make mistakes and 34% less productive. It gives the illusion of doing several things at once but we’re doing a lot of things poorly. The human brain cannot multi-task and there’s down time when switching from one task to another.
A Stanford Study on multitasking reports;
People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time, a group of Stanford researchers has found.
High-tech jugglers are everywhere – keeping up several e-mail and instant message conversations at once, text messaging while watching television and jumping from one website to another while plowing through homework assignments. But after putting about 100 students through a series of three tests, the researchers realized those heavy media multitaskers are paying a big mental price.
“They’re suckers for irrelevancy,” said communication Professor Clifford Nass, one of the researchers whose findings are published in the Aug. 24 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Everything distracts them.”
The conscious mind can only do one thing at a time; it cannot do two things simultaneously.
Do you remember when someone told you to try and pat the top of your head while at the same time you were to rub you stomach? It was impossible to do until you focused your attention on one task (rubbing your stomach) and then delegated that assignment to your subconscious while your conscious mind focused on patting your head. Then if you were asked to try and reverse the process, pat your stomach and rub your head you had to once again focus on a task, assign it to your subconscious mind, and then your conscious mind could perform the remaining task.
How often do you drive down the highway deep in thought or conversation and suddenly realize that you’ve driven a long way past your exit? In situations like that who was driving? Your subconscious mind of course. You delegated the duty. That was a form of multitasking but notice what actually happened; your conscious mind may have started the journey but at some point it decided to focus on something else so it handed the task of driving over to your subconscious mind so that it could focus on daydreaming or conversing with someone in the car. Notice that your conscious mind was capable of handling just one task at a time.
Still not convinced? Try this little exercise. Pick up a pen or pencil and hold it tightly in your outstretched hand. Now ‘will’ yourself to drop it. The pencil fell no problem right? How did the pencil happen to drop? Your conscious mind told your hand to release its hold and the pencil fell.
Now I want you to hold the pencil in your outstretched hand again and while squeezing the pencil tightly I want you to say to yourself, “I can drop the pencil; I can drop the pencil…” repeat this over and over. You will clearly see that if you focus on what you are saying you will be incapable of releasing the pencil. The only way you will be able to do so is stop your internal dialogue and change the focus of your conscious mind from rambling speech to instructing your hand muscles to open. You see? As simple as this task is, you cannot consciously do two things at once. You cannot think “I can drop the pencil” and at the same time say to your conscious mind “Now, I will drop the pencil.”
The myth that we can multitask is an illusion. Falling prey to the illusion can have catastrophic effects on every aspect of your life. It can and will affect your ability to communicate, perform tasks that require concentrated effort and to simply enjoy a moment of solitude without intrusion.
Not too long ago one would have been branded as the unfortunate result of poor breeding if during a conversation one answered the phone or diverted one’s attention from the speaker without a legitimate emergency and a heart-felt apology. Today, such inconsiderate behavior is practically common. In the middle of a conversation people will wordlessly pick-up their phone and begin reading and responding to an incoming message as if the other person never existed.
Even though such behavior is becoming increasingly common, the basic needs of mankind to be appreciated, listened to and understood haven’t changed. The person who understands and practices the simple basics of social etiquette will always be welcome.
Whether we’re talking to another person, thinking, or performing a task, if something is important it deserves our undivided attention. If it isn’t important, then we might want to ask ourselves, why we’re even bothering.
Richard Fast, the author and creator of more than 30 toys, games, puzzles and books, has devoted the past twenty years into the research and development of his 29 DAYS template. He, like the rest of us, had always been told that if you want to change your life just change your thoughts. But how can we change the way we think?
Richard discovered that we can change our fundamental thoughts into desirable new habits by following the same cognitive procedures that we used to create our existing habits. Richard’s 29 DAYS template for change uses proven, scientific techniques, technology and online coaching, to guide you through a step-by-step process toward changing your thoughts and acquiring desirable new habits… permanently. Richard Fast is the author of 29 Days… to becoming a great listener and communicator.
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Never forget the importance of taking the time to establish your goals – this is the first step.
That Goal is Achievable! 8 Tips to Making it Become a Reality
By Nwachukwu Jackson Kelechi
Most times you find yourself in situations where you have to choose weather to pursue a goal or back off; you have tried other ways to achieve the goal but it all turned a failure. The fact that you failed in a game does not mean that you have been defeated; you only lost the game because you failed to feel some loop holes, which means you need to work a little harder to win next time. This is the same thing with setting and achieving a goal. This article has provided some tips to help you achieve your goal.
1. Name and Define the Goal
The reason why most people fail in their goals is because they tend to have and achieve so many things at a time. Goal-setting is not a random thing; it’s a slow and gradual process which when properly defined and followed up, gives you the result you seek. The first thing you should do when ever you want to set a goal is to name and define it, that way you will focus on the necessary means of achieving it.
2. Pray it Over
Weather you are a Christian or not, always remember that there is someone watching over you and your plans. Take it to him in prayers before you set out to enquire from people.
3. Take a little Tour
Do not make the mistake of acting on your own immediately you have named your goal; always make plans to visit some friends or relatives who already possess or have what you are aspiring to achieve. When you visit them try to ask them some questions about what they know of the goal and how they achieved it; also seek advice from them before you proceed. Make sure the people you will visit are people you can trust with your goal, if you don’t trust them give it a break and look elsewhere there must be somebody you can trust!
4. You and yourself
By this time, you must have known some good and bad associated with the goal, what you do next is to examine yourself by critically asking yourself if the goal is worth planning for, using yourself as a point of contact not the people you gained knowledge from. Use the knowledge you got from friends or relatives to view the worthiness of the goal from your own part; when your heart approves of it you can then proceed to the next step.
5. Draw up a Plan for Your Actions
This is where you design the way you want the goal to be achieved. If the goal ordinarily is a one-year minimum achievable goal and two years plus maximum, you can draw your plan to fit the one year plan depending on your target and available resources; otherwise be patient to work on it gradually for more than one year; goals of this kind are usually long-term goals with much expected result. Why it’s advisable to draw such plans is to be able to master your decision and stay more focused and devoted to it.
6. Dream and Keep a visual mindset on the goal
While you work on the plans to achieve the goal, dream it and always try to keep a visual mindset on it. You can do this by visualizing the things you stand to benefit from the goal when it becomes a reality; this will act as a motivation for you to keep up!
7. Keep it Simple
When you get to this level, learn to keep your actions and plan to yourself; you don’t really need to be broadcasting or telling everybody about your plans and actions until it becomes a reality. Learn to focus and not to be distracted by anything be it friends or family.
8. Have an Expectant Spirit
Keep an expectant spirit always, and keep your self in the loop by reading articles and publications to get yourself more informed on any change in trend.
The goal you specifically singled and worked on can never be a failure, so go on and name that goal and start using the above tips to see it come to pass!
Nwachukwu Jackson Kelechi is an Industrial Chemist, a Writer, Facilitator, Business and Expense Reduction Consultant; an Information Expert and Entrepreneur. He is the Founder/CEO of Careerzon International Foundation for better Citizenship. He believes so much in Motivation and Self Development. He has his philosophy of life as–there is no noble occupation in the world than to help someone else succeed. Visit his website http://www.kellywrits.blogspot.com for more of life changing articles.
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