FIVE GOOD HABITS OF SMART PEOPLE

Take the time to digest these 5 habits. If you want to succeed in your business, personal and spiritual life, you have to acquire these habits.

1. Be Persistent— Albert Einstein, did not speak until he was 4. Bill Gates, first business failed. Thomas Edison, 10,000+ light bulb attempts. Ben Franklin, school dropout at age 10. Beethoven, told he would fail.

2. Be an Avid Reader — improve your memory, increase concentration and enhance problem solving skills.

3. Set Goals — if you do not set goals is like driving without a GPS and no final point to reach.

4. Be self-disciplined — not only learn how to say no, but also, when to say yes.

5. Think about Thinking — the self-awareness of one’s own knowledge.

These habits may sound easy to you, but because they sound to easy most of the time we neglect them, we do not think about them.

LISTEN TO YOUR OWN SELF-TALK - PART II

On my last post I had promised you to continue with this subject, “Self-Talk”. As I have mentioned before, this is one of the biggest challenges people struggle with.

This time I want to focus on one of many ways of influence we are exposed to, “Media-Talk”. Some times I asked myself; self, why most people only focus on negative things? Well, when I see how much time people spend watching TV, listening radio news and reading the daily newspaper, I can’t help myself, but to say, that the main reason for all those negatives thoughts, focus and talks is how little people are aware of the influence of the “Media-Talk.”

Here is your assignment for the next seven days. Are you ready? Listen to what I call “media-Talk”. That’s the programming you are receiving from radio, television, the daily newspaper, magazines, etc. You will also hear and edited, and usually subjective, version of Media-talk when you listen to the self-talk of other people around you.

The important thing to remember while you are observing and collecting examples of Media-talk is how you respond to the Media-Talk programming you are receiving. Have you ever bought the brand of drink you saw advertised the most on TV?

The reason for this step is to acquaint you with something called “external influence.” We all know what it means, but we seldom sit down and think about the effect it has in our lives. Have you ever considered how many things you do because you felt obliged to do them?

The more aware you become of all of the persuasions and conditioning which go on in your life, the easier it will be for you to recognize them for what they are and do something about them. It is a healthy idea to stop now and then and ask yourself the question. “who’s in control here?” Once aware of how programming works and where it comes from, who do you suppose is responsible for what is programmed into your mind? You are, of course.

Once you are aware of the self-talk around you, both from others and from yourself, it is only natural that you might want to take personal control over the self-talk in your future. The next step is to begin creating Self-Talk for yourself.

LISTEN TO YOUR OWN SELF-TALK

The biggest challenge I find with people I coach, agents, home buyers, home sellers, business people, etc., is the self-talk habit. The transition going from bad self-talk to a good self-talk is very challenging for most of them. The self-talk has been conditioned by their environment, relatives, all kind of media – TV, news, etc., and as you can see most of the time it is all negative. So this week I am giving you a short but powerful exercise to help you improve your self-talk.

First, listen to your own self-talk. For the next forty-eight hours, listen to every word of self-talk that you say to yourself. Bad, good, or otherwise, listen to every word you say out loud or silently to yourself or about yourself. Consciously listen to every thought you think to yourself.

1- Listen for both kind of self-talk, negative and positive

2- Listen to the way you respond to problems and the way you react to opportunities

3- Listen to what you say when you talk to yourself

4- Listen to the “self-speak” of others especially the self-talk of your own family members, your close friends, etc.

The next step takes a little work, but if you spend even twenty or thirty minutes doing it, it should prove to be revealing to you.

Next, write down in a sheet of paper, the ten most significant negative self-talk suggestions that you give yourself most often. Remember, these are “negative” self-talk – phrases like, “I can’t…”, “Nothing seems to go right,” or “It is just not my day.”

On my next post I will continue with this subject, “Self-Talk”. As I have mentioned before, this is one of the biggest challenges people struggle with.

IMAGINATION AND SELF-CONFIDENCE

I see people struggling in their personal, business, and spiritual life. They find themselves trapped and seems like they have no way out. They get to the point of thinking that it is too late or rather they feel like they have no time to start a new path in life. In other words, they rather keep the struggle rather than taking the time to think on what is not working or look for help.

Let me share with you a very important principle that can be apply to the personal, business and spiritual life; “Imagination”. You will see how important is the subject of imagination when you stop to realize that it is the only thing in the world over which you have absolute control.

You will never have a definite purpose in life, you will never have self-confidence, and you will never have initiative and leadership unless you first create these qualities in your imagination and see yourself in possession of them. Imagination requires faith and beliefs.

I like to bring this passage from the Bible, St. Mark 5, 27-29: “She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well."  And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.” 

This woman had clear in her imagination what she wanted; she had a lot of self-confidence. She took the steps and was healed.

Imagination and Self-confidence are one of the most important factors entering into the great struggle for success.

GET THE ACTION HABIT

The following coaching tip is for those who are considering leaving the real estate or are working part-time jobs waiting for the market to turn around. Waiting and wishing are not a good mix for success. ACTION is the answer

.

Here are two things to do to help you avoid the costly mistake of waiting until conditions are perfect before you act:

1. Expect future obstacles and difficulties. Every venture presents risks, problems, and uncertainties. Let’s suppose you wanted to drive your car from Atlanta to Orlando Florida, but you insisted on waiting until you had absolute assurance that there would be no detours, no motor trouble, no bad weather, no drunker drivers, no risk of any kind. When would you start? Likewise, many of the agents that left the business, they were waiting and wishing for things to change. They lacked ACTION.

2. Meet problems and obstacles as they arise. The test of the successful person is not the ability to eliminate problems before he takes ACTION, but rather the ability to find solutions to difficulties when he encounters them. We cannot buy an insurance policy against all problems.

Do you have a good idea about your business? Make up your mind to do something about your ideas. Ideas are important. Let’s make no mistake about that. We must have ideas to create and improve anything. But let’s make no mistakes about this point either. Ideas in themselves are not enough. That idea for getting more business, for simplifying work procedures is of value only when it is acted upon.

First, give your ideas value by acting on them. Regardless of how good the idea, unless you do something with it, you gain nothing. A good idea if not acted upon produces terrible psychological pain. But a good idea acted upon brings enormous mental satisfaction.

Got a good idea? Then do something about it.

The Power of Self-belief

Walk in. The door to success is open wider than ever before. Put yourself on record now that you are going to join that select group that is getting what it wants from life.

Here is the most important step toward success. It is a basic step. It cannot be avoided. Believe in yourself, believe you can succeed. Keep in mind that successful people never reach their goals alone.

How to develop the power of belief? As a coach, this is one of the most critical and at the same time the most challenging task during the course of  the coaching and mentoring program. Did you know that precisely, the lack or total absence of self-belief, is one the reason that keeps people away from success?

Here are the three steps to acquire and strengthen the power of belief:

1. Think success, do not think failure. When facing a difficult situation, think, “I will win,” not “I will probably lose.”. Think, “I can do it.” never “I cannot do it.” Let the master thought “I will succeed” dominate your thinking process.

2. Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not supermen.

3. Believe BIG. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements.

If you want to win, make a determination to undertake a personal program of self-development.

Success Is An Option

So is failure.

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." -Arnold H. Glasow

Put fuel in your success - building program. For many people say they want to be in charge of their life, but then they turn their evening schedules over to their television sets to determine when and what they will do. Other say they have lofty career dreams and goals, but then they turn responsibility for their skill development over to their employers. So, yes, many people say they want to act upon life, but at the end of the day it appears more that life is acting upon them.

See if you do not observe the same theme that I observe—that those who get the most out of life and those who give the most are those who make the choice to act.

We can and we should become the creative force of our own lives—and of our own futures.

Make the three choices:

1. Act upon life

2. Attach yourself to meaningful, uplifting purposes

3. Live in accordance with timeless, universal principles