How to Get Your Life on Track

Every life has a few turning points. As humans, we have the unique ability to make a decision, act on it and turn on a dime. Animals are governed by impulse and instinct. Salmon return home to spawn, Geese fly south in the winter. Genetic code dictates and they obey. A lion couldn’t suddenly choose to be a vegetarian anymore than a cow could choose to win on a race track against thoroughbred race horses. Only a human can make a decision and change anything and everything about their lives. Press the reset button and do it over. Call a mulligan. Press ctrl, alt, delete, wipe the slate clean and start over.

Successful people will tell you, “I remember the exact moment when I made the decision.” “That was the decision that turned my life around and started it all.” “I’m so grateful I made the decision.” You’re screaming silently in your head, “tell me what the decision is and I’ll make it too.” An alcoholic remembers the turning point when they decided “no more.” They stopped drinking or popping pills or whatever their poison of choice.

For Andy Andrews it was being handed 3 biographies when he was twenty three years old. Winston Churchill, Will Rogers and George Washington Carver were the first three of some 200 biographies Andy read. Andy’s turning point was deciding to read those books and start getting his life back on track.

Some people reach that turning point at 15, others at 50, others over and over in life and some never at all.

Now is your turning point; your challenge is now.

Statistics show that we only use a minute fraction of our brain power. Why would you leave a fortune lying there dormant? Why struggle when the solution is on your finger tips? You are far more capable, powerful, and talented than you realize; certainly more gifted than you have utilized to date. Draw a line in your mental sand. Cut off the past and begin anew. Courage represents the only thing separating you from your grandest vision, your dream of a better life. Take a deep breath, swallow your nervous butterflies or better yet, spit them out, and muster the courage to forge ahead.

2010 is a new year, a new decade, make the most of it. Glance back over your shoulder for just an instant and glimpse your last ten years. Were they everything you ever wanted them to be? Unless you choose a turning point right now, your next ten years will be the same or possibly less fulfilling. Is that a risk you are willing to take?

For some people, the turning point is a look in the mirror. For others it is balancing the bank account. For others it may not be their choice at all; “sorry but we are downsizing and your job is being eliminated.” Divorce creates many turning points. Medical reports force turning points. Why not decide to take charge of your life and your future?

There is a country song about skydiving, going 8 seconds on a bull name Fu Man Chu, and climbing to high peaks.

Decide to make January, 2010 as your turning point. Decide to make the most of your potential and your life. Every one of us was granted at birth with a wonderful creative mind and intelligence beyond our wildest dream. Every one of us possesses a skill or talent superior to anyone and everyone else. Never ever allow anyone to make you ever feel inferior again. You are unique; you are special. You are a wonderful creation.

Dive into your soul and discover your passion. Decide right here and now to go for the gusto and life the next ten years are the beginning of a fabulous future. Regardless of your age, you have the power to decide and take action.

Today is your turning point.

For help discovering your passion and your potential, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

Perspective on Success

Attention Entrepreneurs!

Anything which gets in the way of your goal constitutes a distraction. Medical school is an extremely worthwhile and valuable activity, but not unless you are choosing a career in the medical profession. If your goal is to become a network marketer, medical school is a distraction.

Focus on your goals. Focus on your strengths. Regain perspective in your life.

Look seriously at your perspective on your life and your business. Today’s activities determine tomorrow’s success. Your greatest moment, your greatest achievement, your greatest adventure can be and should be in the future. The future is within your control. The past by the very nature of it being the past can not be changed. The new you strains to be created. New potential, new achievement and new experiences await you. Each new dawn brings wonder and joy. The future hold excitement if you allow it.

Yesterday remains a memory. Learn from it, yes, but leave it behind you. Look ahead to what you can be tomorrow. Where are you going with your life?

There was a passage in “The Noticer” by Andy Andrews about two men sitting on the beach eating. When asked what he was eating, one man answered, “Vienna sausages and sardines.” When asked where he was eating, he replied, “I’m sitting in the sand.” “Ah,” his companion replied, “it is all in your perspective. I am dining on surf and turf with an ocean view.” Perspective makes all the difference.

What perspective governs your life? Are you grateful for the blessings, advantages and talents you possess or grumbling about the challenges you face?

Life hands each and every one of us opportunities every day. How we choose to view those opportunities determines the difference between the successful and the failures. Viewing a new business striving for success can be frustration and stress or excitement about the potential. Check your perspective.

I’ve been to many hospitals and each time I hear the new baby pronounced as a boy or a girl. Never have I heard a new baby pronounced as an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur is a learned skill. Yes, there are some of us who are psychologically unemployable. We have that intense inner burning desire to create and take control of our income and our future. We are the leaders. We are the risk takers.

An entrepreneur has a different perspective on life. We take charge. We take action. Our perspective is that life is fun. Life and business are challenges to be internalized. We dine on surf and turf with an ocean view. We see the potential in every opportunity.

Entrepreneurs have an excited perspective on life and business.

You are extraordinary. Touch base with your perspective in every situation. Never allow yourself to feel inadequate. One of the problems of living in the greatest nation in the world is that our perspective of entitlement gets skewed. We take our advantages for granted. Because our entire experience has been in a nation of abundance, regardless of our personal circumstances, we have more freedom and potential here than any other nation in the world. Our perspective gets tainted. We expect good opportunities to flow to us in such abundance that we do not always dig deep in our being to discover our own talents and strengths.

Dine on surf and turf with an ocean view. Use a positive perspective in every aspect of your life. Tap into your passion. Discover your talents and strengths.

Depending on your perspective, life can be a thrilling adventure or drudgery. You choose. Opportunity is a choice. Entrepreneurialism is a choice. Your perspective is a choice.

For more insight into your passion, talents, strengths and perspective, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

Life is a Postage Stamp

Choose to be a forever stamp or a holiday stamp. Before you wrinkle your nose, squint your eyes or furrow your brow deciding that I’ve lost my mind, consider the function of a postage stamp. Unless you are a philatelist, the only function of a postage stamp is to stick to the envelope or package. This requires endurance.

This tiny piece of adhesive backed paper must remain so solidly affixed that it survives the shuffling and friction against other pieces of mail in the postman’s bag or truck, close encounters in various mail rooms as it gets sorted and rerouted and back out for delivery. Consider the obstacles and near brushes with death encountered by this tiny little rectangle of paper.

Forever stamps retain their usefulness even after postage rates increase. Holiday stamps have a fixed value and are most frequently used only for Christmas cards and other holiday mail.

Relate your decisions and resolutions to the sticking power of a postage stamp. How determined are you to stick to your goals and resolutions until you reach your destination? The persistence of a holiday stamp means that you give up before the holiday ends. A holiday stamp looks festive, appealing and appropriate for a few weeks before it starts resembling stale cut out sugar cookies.

Whether your new goal was to lose weight, launch a physical fitness program or establish a new business, it absolutely requires more than a casual effort for a few weeks. What are you willing to do to achieve your goal?

Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players to grace a court, was cut from his high school team. Practice, hours of practice, transformed him from that temporary defeat to an ace of the courts.

Bart Starr, most valuable player in the first two super bowls, sat the bench until his senior year in college. Bart was drafted into the NFL in the very last round of the draft. Not only that but he was given jersey 44, not even a quarterback number because he was not expected to make the team.

Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking, received rejections from publishers, his peers, and the public.

Andy Andrews published a book of 52 letters of now famous people who persisted through multiple failures to achieve their fame. “Storms of Perfection” became Andy’s own battle of persistence. He received 600 rejections before he received the 52 letters in the first book. Publishers refused to publish it. "Storms of Perfection" is the only book I know about which sold 100,000 copies before it ever graced the shelves of a book store.

Common denominator among all of these examples and hundreds of others was persistence. Each one of them possessed a dream which was more powerful than the obstacles and rejections received.

Persistence, consistent forward motion and sticking to the goal until it became a reality. Success does not always go to the swiftest, the strongest, the richest or someone from the lucky gene pool. Success is awarded to the last man standing. Hang in there long enough with forward motion and determination; success will yield to you.

The next time you hit a speed bump on your success path just remember the postage stamp. Choose to be a holiday stamp or a forever stamp. Success is rarely if ever an accident or a lucky break. Success is a decision followed by consistent and persistent action.

For the complete article and more fun and inspirational stories, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com

Grains of Sand

How does an oyster create a pearl? A tiny grain of sand works its way in to the oyster shell and irritates the poor innocent oyster. Over time, the grain of sand transforms into a precious gem; pearls are created from friction and irritation.

Every life encounters irritation. The only way to avoid any friction in life involves hiding in a cave, avoiding people and avoiding any contact with life outside yourself. Even that existence could and probably does encounter loneliness, poverty, and the elements (life in a cave does not convey luxury and warmth to my imagination.) Bottom line - life has irritations and inconveniences.

Everyone, including yourself, chooses to have a better future than their present circumstances. You still have dreams and goals. If you have given up on all dreams and goals, we need to have a different conversation. You deserve a life you design for yourself. If you do not design your own present and future, by default, it will be designed for you. Who do you believe will do a better job of designing your ideal future - you or someone else? You were given a brain and expected to use it. I promise you that you were not given goals and dreams of a better life without a way to make them come true. It all depends on how badly you want that better life. What are you willing to do to achieve it?

Irritation happens in life; irritation is reality. The question which makes all the difference between the successful and the failures directly relates to how you handle that irritation. You can choose the curl up in a corner and cry "poor me" or stand up, dust yourself off and say, "Watch me." The pearl, the successful business person, persisted until victory finally waved "hello" from the top of the financial mountain.

Andy Andrews, author of the "Travelers Gift," found himself living under a pier in California at one point in life. He chose to visit the library every day, read everything he desired to improve his mind, make a decision to start improving his life, and take action on that decision. He chose to find a way to improve and actually do the work required to bring that improvement into reality. Was it easy? Absolutely not. Was it worth the struggle? Absolutely yes.

Every life encounters various size rocks. Rocks of Life spoke about the big rock in the field of our life. Attitude Rocks illustrated the importance of your attitude in every situation. Attitude plays such an important role with every size rock. Mindset determines how we handle these incidents in life. Frequently these rocks are gift wrapped and tied with a ribbon of guilt.

Sometimes others sent me on guilt trips.

Other times I was invited to go along with someone else on a guilt trip.

The worst guilt trip was when I purchased my own ticket.

Developing an attitude of, "What good can come from this situation" smoothes the path and eases the mental anguish. Seeking the positive in every incident in life relaxes the tension and allows a constructive outcome. Expecting a negative result predetermines the likelihood of undesirable consequences. More frequently than not, we experience what we expect rather than what we desire. Concentrating on prosperity and abundance rather than lack tends to produce more prosperity.

Your subconscious mind does not know how to distinguish good from bad or desired rather than expected. Program your subconscious mind to expect only the highest and best results for yourself. Developing a positive attitude and a positive expectation encourages life to provide desirable results. At the very least, it eases your mind and relaxes your creative abilities so that they can function at their highest level.

It is not what happens to us and outside of us which truly creates the difference; the significant difference is always created inside ourselves. Break up the big rocks and haul them away. Gather the medium sized rocks, the pebbles and the grains of sand into a bucket; seal the bucket and destroy it. No need keeping any rocks around to stub your toe of life. Deal with them once and for all and get rid of them forever.

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change, stated Dr. Wayne Dyer.

For more articles and inspiration, join me at http://www.elaine4success.com/

Power of Decision

A committed decision initiates forward progress. Positive progress occurs only after a firm decision. “I’ll try” provides a ready made excuse for failure. As long as you give yourself the option of quitting at the first little bump in the road, you have guaranteed the arrival of that bump. Any time I hear “maybe” or “try” I know the odds of success are severely handicapped. “I’ll throw up a marketing campaign and see what sticks” means that decisions are wishy washy. Proceeding with the campaign as a split test implies the expectation of good results with one segment of the campaign and better results with the other segment – a choice of two positives.

Not every decision will be an overwhelming success, just as not every marketing campaign will produce an avalanche of high quality leads. Some decisions will be better than others and some campaigns will be better than others. The key difference rests in the expectation of positive results. A choice between better and best feels far more constructive than “we’ll see what happens.”

Andy Andrews wrote about the 7 Decisions for Success in his book “The Travelers Gift.”

1. The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.
2. I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others.
3. I am a person of action. I seize the moment. I choose now.
4. I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured.
5. Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
6. I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I will forgive myself.
7. I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith.

Notice the absolute commitment in each and every decision. He takes responsibility. He takes action and he follows through with a decided heart. Neither indecision nor hesitation exists. Only with absolute commitment will positive results occur. The subconscious mind can not begin to create the desired result until you absolutely decide on that specific objective.
Consider going in to a restaurant and ordering tomato soup, but before the waiter can bring the order you have changed your mind and ordered cream of mushroom soup. Change your mind a third time and ask for tomato soup with mushrooms and chicken. The poor waiter has no idea what to bring you because you have no clear idea of what you want.

Your subconscious mind fills the role of the waiter. You subconscious mind desires to please you and fulfill your chosen selection; however, the task becomes impossible until you clearly make a specific decision. Until an absolute specific detailed decision is made, you are aiming at a target in the dark with a scatter gun. Perhaps one pellet will strike the target by accident. Why not be clear, absolute and specific; center all of the shots in the center of the target.

Any time I have missed my goals in life, I can trace the cause to a non-specific goal or even worse too many goals headed in different directions. In every case, the center of the issue rested squarely on my shoulders.

Every time I set an absolutely specific goal with detailed criteria, I achieved it. The power always centers with a laser focus on the specific decision. A committed decision implies a persistence until the goal is achieved. Saying that you will work the business for a month or even six months provides the option for quitting. A powerful decision means persisting through whatever for as long as necessary to arrive at the objective.

Committed decisions provide power. In fact, power is only possible with a committed decision.

For more mindset inspiration, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.