Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Children chant,
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. What you say is what you are."

They do this when someone calls them a bad name meaning to reflect it back on the other child.

However, what we tell ourselves is truly what we are.

If you tell yourself that you are a loser, you will be. If you tell yourself you are bad at spelling, you will be. If you tell yourself you are fat, you will be fat. I have noticed a tendency for people to denigrate themselves, perhaps believing that modesty is a virtue. Or if someone pays them a compliment, they counteract it with a negative. Instead quietly say, "thank you". If someone has congratulated you on a positive quality, accept it and believe it.

Brian Tracy, "You are what you think about most of the time".

So it is better to tell yourself good things about your personality, your character and your physical looks. Remember that the subconscious mind knows no difference between reality and fantasy so it works to produce what it is told. You might think you are saying something jokingly but how does your subconcious know that? Be careful what you say and what you think. If you know about the Law of Attraction, you will know that your thoughts are energy which come back to you.

Hypnosis works by reprogramming the subconcious to accept new beliefs, new behaviours and new habits. It is a quick and powerful way of making a positive change.

©Antonia Stuart-James 2008 from Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .

Happy 3rd Birthday Success University

Success University was three years old on 24 January 2008. I have been a member for 10 months and find it so beneficial as I am constantly challenged by new training material. In fact, I have to discipline myself to keep up and not fall behind on the wide choice of courses. Fortunately, self-discipline is one of my strengths, learning is a desire and never a burden.

All students benefit from Jim Rohn's one year course "Weekly Success Plan" with tasks to complete making sure it is not just theory. I discovered Jim in 1991 at a business seminar and he is my favourite teacher with absolute pearls of wisdom. Here are a couple of things he says about the importance of education:

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around”

Have a look at Success University featured on Fox News: www.successuniversity.com/successu/foxvideo

Is it easy to always find or rather make time to study? No, but again let's hear what Jim Rohn says,

"Successful people do what unsuccessful people won't"

"Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins."

You can subscribe to Jim Rohn's free ezine newsletter which is another source of teaching. You can visit the Success University site and join Success University for just $2. The $2 goes to feed hungry children so you are helping them whilst helping yourself.

I believe giving $2 to join Success University is much better than buying a newsletter. It is my #1 source of training and inspiration.

©Antonia Stuart-James 2008 from Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .

Invest in Your Own Personal Growth

I suggest a goal for 2008 is to invest in your own personal growth.

Jim Rohn, top business philosopher said,
"Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune."

Make a commitment to personal growth. Personal stagnation is the cause of decay and failure in people’s lives. People want to be around people who are moving forward in all areas of their life. You are not standing still. You are either spiralling upwards or spiralling downwards.

“When you’re green you’re growing. When you’re ripe, your’re rotten”

Here is a video collection of some Jim Rohn's inspiring quotes:

Jim Rohn recommends reading and keeping a journal, something he has been doing for the past 40+ years:

"Be a collector of good ideas, but don't trust your memory. The best collecting place for all of the ideas and information that comes your way is your journal."

"The reason why I spend so much money for my journals is to press me to find something valuable to put in them."

"There are three things to leave behind: your photographs, your library and your personal journals. These things are certainly going to be more valuable to future generations than your furniture!"

"Don't use your mind for a filing cabinet. Use your mind to work out problems and find answers; file away good ideas in your journal."

Click here to subscribe to a free ezine of Jim Rohn's teachings. You can also look at Jim Rohn's books and audio-visual training programs with 20-60% discount.

If you are serious about investing in yourself with top personal development training material, I recommend you visit Success University. You can join for a trial 14 days membership for a charitable donation of just $2.

Every month I am inspired and educated with new training material online as well as receiving a newsletter, CD and DVD by post. For example, through Success University I discovered Carol Tuttle and am now reading her inspiring "Remembering Wholeness".

I listen to the CDs in my car. It is a better use of my time than listening to the radio and it changes my state so that I am ready to give the best of myself and hopefully inspire others.

©Antonia Stuart-James 2008 from Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .

What Does Success Look Like?

I want to share an article I received in my inbox today then add my comments:

Who would you judge is more successful?
Someone who drives a 1979 Ford pickup truck or someone who drives a brand-new Mercedes sedan?

Someone who has lived in the same house in Omaha, Nebraska since 1958 or someone who has just traded up to a custom home on 5 acres in an exclusive development?

If the man driving the pickup truck was Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, he would definitely be more financially successful than whoever was driving the Mercedes. If Sam were alive today, he would be the richest man on earth with a net worth of $80 billion, surpassing even Bill Gates (at a paltry $59 billion). Even after Sam made his fortune, you would never pick him out of a crowd as a rich man. He still drove his 1979 Ford pickup truck and wore Wal-Mart clothes.

The second-richest man in the world, Warren Buffet, is worth $52 billion and has lived in the same house in Omaha, Nebraska since 1958.

These examples illustrate that it is difficult to judge a person's success by appearance alone. Even so, TV shows, newspapers and magazines never tire of telling us that we're not successful unless we live in a big home, drive an expensive car, and wear a certain brand of clothing.

The culprit behind all this is what I like to call the Giant Marketing Machine (GMM), otherwise known as the advertising industry. The GMM is a multi-billion dollar industry and its sole purpose is to manipulate us into spending our money on their clients' products. They do this by:

Trying to convince us that we can't live without their product.
Trying to convince us that buying their product will improve our lives. Often, products are linked to desirable lifestyles and/or beautiful people. The GMM will say "If you buy my product, you can be beautiful too!" and "If you buy our product, look at all the fun you can have!"
Constantly exposing us to advertising. Advertising exists:
- On the radio
- On TV
- In the movie theater before the previews
- On the sides of public buses
- On billboards
- On clothing
- In magazines and newspapers
- On almost every web page on the Internet
Advertising even exists in movies and TV shows. The next time you see a movie character drinking Coke instead of Pepsi, realize that Coke probably paid a hefty fee to have their product prominently displayed. This is called "product placement".

If you ever visit Texas, you might hear someone say, "He's big hat and no cattle". Someone is "big hat and no cattle" when they look successful and prosperous (by wearing a big hat), but aren't (they don't own any cattle). Just because someone drives a BMW doesn't mean they're successful. Anyone can lease a BMW for a few hundred dollars a month. There are a lot of people who drive Mercedes Benzes but live in shacks. They wear Rolexes and fashionable clothing but can barely pay their electric bill.

There's nothing wrong with driving a Mercedes as long as you can afford it. The problem lies with people who take on huge amounts of debt trying to present a facade of success. The big homes come with big mortgages, the fancy cars are leased, and the fashionable clothes are purchased with credit cards. Little do people know that taking on debt subjects them to financial servitude - a form of slavery - where their debt determines how much they have to work, often at jobs they don't enjoy.

By allowing others to define success for us, we give them power over our lives. If we let them tell us how to spend our money and go into debt buying their products, we let them control how much time we spend at our jobs. We should all strive to be "no hat, but lots of cattle". There's a certain power that comes from driving a 10-year-old car but knowing that, if you wanted to, you could walk into a car dealership and write a check for a new car.

We can't stop the deluge of advertising that saturates our lives. However, by being aware of the GMM and its methods, we can minimize the destructive impact on our finances. Don't let others do your thinking for you. Control your mind and your thoughts, and you can control your money and your life.

This guest post was written by Michael Mihalik, author of Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money (Paperback). Read his book to learn how to gain control of your finances, pay off your debt and create financial security using the same techniques Mike used to triumph over a paralyzing amount of debt. Available at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

I love this article. So many people ask me why do you want to be successful? If you had a million dollars, what would you spend it on? What sort of house would you live in? What car would you drive? Build your dream board with photos of what you want to own to create a desirable livestyle. By craving such financial goals, we are indeed buying into someone else's goals machine which makes them rich.

"Follow the trail to your dreams, not the path of others’ expectations."~Byrd Baggett ~

Personal development is not just about having things. It is about being someone. Investing time in others to help them achieve what they want. I have a Dutch exam next week and today took three hours out of my precious time to visit a course member who has broken her leg just to give her some papers to help with her revision. Did I have to do that? No, I could have sent them but she might not receive them in time. I took the time to help someone else and by so doing, focussed on some of the revision for myself and listened to excellent training CDs in my car from Success University. Training CDs which otherwise might be gathering dust.

Don't get me wrong. I would love millions in the bank but not to go on spending sprees because I know that consumerism is an insatiable drug. We quickly tire of the new purchase and want to upgrade so it does not provide satisfaction.

It is too easy to obtain credit to "Buy now, pay later" but the true cost of compounded interest is scary. Buying consumable goods on credit is foolish. As the article states, so is leasing a fancy car to look good. I was once told "Fake it till you make it". When German football star Jurgen Klinsman moved to Tottenham Hotspur, Mercedes wanted to give him a top of the range model free. He declined, preferring his comfortable VW Beetle. The car does not maketh the man. What is inside determines our true grade of success. What is long-lasting is the knowledge of helping someone. Showing others that mediocrity is not the only choice. I suppose I want that to be my legacy.

©Antonia Stuart-James 2008 from and Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .

What Will You Change to Stick to Your New Year Resolutions?

"To keep thinking the same way while expecting a different result is one definition of insanity." - Albert Einstein

Did you start the year with good intentions, make new year resolutions yet find you are already falling behind?

Typical resolutions are:
stop smoking, lose weight, drink less alcohol, earn more money, start or increase exercise, find time for relaxation or meditation, spend more time with the kids, read a book a week, learn a new language or skill, write a book etc.

The problem is that the year may have changed from 2007 to 2008 but what changed in you? Unless you reach the point where the pain of continuing the old behaviour is greater than the pleasure received, you will not change. It is the pain and pleasure syndrome.

You know you want to lose weight but it is so easy to pretend that your jeans shrank in the wash and slop around in stretchy sport joggings. Perhaps even buy the next size and claim that the shop has its sizes wrong! It is only when your trousers cut in to you, making it painfully uncomfortable that your decision to change will really take effect.

“Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside”.

It is human nature to live in a comfort zone and not push outside it. The zone is a bit elastic allowing for movement but it has the most cushioning in the middle. Why make yourself uncomfortable? Why go out in the cold to exercise when it is far more comfortable indoors with a hot chocolate? Why bother learning a new language when everyone speaks English anyway?

Why? Because you are growing, you are disciplining yourself to do and achieve what you said you would do. The feeling of satisfaction has to come from within, not just from a tangible result or recognition from others. It is going to bed at night pleased with yourself, no longer making excuses.

I often see people on TV laughing in shame and embarrassment at something they failed to do. It is not funny. Better to be someone who can hold their head up and say, "I did what I needed to do to achieve my goal."

"The question of success is not will it?... Or even will there be... Or even will it ever?... The question is... Will you?" - Doug Firebaugh

I wish you the best year ever and determination and willingness to make uncomfortable changes in your life to get to where you want to be.

© Antonia Stuart-James 2008

The Purpose of Money

I had heard about this Mexican fisherman before but still enjoy the message:

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied "only a little while".

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The American then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions.. Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos." - (Anonymous)

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