Motivation quote

"Motivation alone is not enough. If you have an idiot and you motivate him, now you have a motivated idiot." —Jim Rohn

It is Up to You by Jim Rohn

One of the first things successful people realize is the old adage, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” That is, for you, the fact that your success and your course is up to you. This doesn’t mean that you do it all alone. It simply means that you take responsibility for your life and your career.

Too many people today look at opportunity and figure it is up to someone else to make sure they get it. They look at financial security and hope that the government will make sure they live safely in retirement or in case of disability. They wait and wait, figuring that it is up to someone else. And then the wait is over, and it is too late to do anything. Their life is over and they are filled with regret.

This isn’t true for you however. You know that you must take responsibility for your life. It is up to you.

The fact is that nobody else is going to do it for you—you must do it yourself.

Now, some people may say, “Jim, that’s a lot of responsibility.” Friends, that is the best news you can ever hear. You get to choose your life. Hundreds of millions of people all around this world would give anything to live in the situation you do—just for the chance to have the opportunity to take control of their destiny. “It is up to you” is a great blessing!

Here’s why:

1. You get to chart your own destiny. Maybe you want to start a small business and stay there. That’s great because you can choose that. Maybe you want to create a small chain of stores. Maybe you want to have a net worth of $100 million. That’s okay too. The idea is that you get to choose. You can do whatever you like. Different people have different dreams and they should live them accordingly.

2. You can reap what you sow. Sleep in and go to work late and reap the return. Or get up early and outwork the others and earn a greater return. Place your capital at risk and earn a return—or place it at greater risk and perhaps reap a greater return. You decide what you will sow and thus what you will reap.

3. No one else can stop you from getting your dream. Yes, there will always be things that come up and people who may not like what you are doing, but you can just move on and chart your own course. There is great freedom in that.

4. You experience the joy of self-determination. There is no greater pride than knowing you set your mind on something and accomplished it. Those who live with a victim mentality never get to experience the joy of accomplishment because they are always waiting for someone else to come to the rescue. Those who take responsibility get to live the joy of seeing a job well done.

Let me ask you a question: Where will you be in five years? Ten years? Or 25 years? Do you know? Do you have an idea? Have you ever dreamed about it or set a goal for it? Are you willing to take responsibility and recognize that, “It is up to you?”

You will be wherever you decide to be in those timeframes. You decide. It is up to you.

And that is very exciting!

Are you a Perfectionist or a Completionist?

"No need to be a perfectionist but its good to be a 'completionist.' If you start it, finish it or forget it."

B Kumaris

Perfectionist is definitely not a term I relate to. I tend to be a completionist most of the time - but not always.

At the end of the year I reflected on the goals I set out to achieve, the ones I completed, and those that were left undone. I feel great about my accomplishments and I want to determine what got in the way of completing the goals that were not achieved.

A common reason a goal remains on our to do list and never ends up on the done list is because we are not 100% committed to do what it takes to get them done. Completion may mean moving into our discomfort zone because we are stepping into unknown territory. We busy ourselves with other seemingly urgent or maybe unimportant activities and then use the excuse "I don't have time."

Other enemies of completion are perfectionism and procrastination. Perfectionism and the subsequent procrastination are rooted in fear. It is not fear of the task itself or perfect results that causes the procrastination. What is there to fear about speaking in front of a group, teaching a teleclass, or making a sales call ? Yet we procrastinate about doing certain tasks because of a fear that we often do not recognize. Instead of prioritizing the task and working to complete it, we hide behind an excuse such as "I don't have the time, the money or maybe the know-how." When in reality what we really fear is a concern that we may fail, or be rejected, laughed at, judged, or criticized. So we procrastinate. We are often not even aware that these and other related fears are the real reason our progress gets derailed.

Coaching tips:
Read Take a new look at achieving your goals
• Identify the benefit of completing your goals - what will be different
• Focus on the benefits/results not on the process
• Find a mentor, coach, or accountability buddy to support you
• Join a Mastermind group
• Revise or eliminate goals that never get achieved

Excuses be gone! No more "yeah but" Take action today!

By Jean Caton

The Power of Concentration

I'm going to quote the great author Napoleon Hill on overcoming procrastination.

Ready?

'The principle of concentration is the medium by which procrastination is overcome. The same principle is the foundation upon which both self-confidence and self-esteem are predicated.'

You can stay where you are right now or you can take Napoleon Hill's advice and learn how to concentrate.

Procrastination is the thief of profit. Run from it. NOW.

Visit http://www.powerofconcentration.net/default4.html

Download FREE e-book "The Power of Concentration" by Theron Dumont written in 1918

Pecha Kucha 20x20 Simple Presentations

PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds, on auto-run totalling 6 minutes 40 seconds then sit down. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

So far in 360 countries with 1,140 presentations to date, there is bound to be a city near you.

Find your nearest Pecha Kucha event at http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

Keep Yourself Accountable

I received an email today which started:

"Consider the implication of this idea...

What would happen if I were to follow you with a camera crew 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the next 100 days while you went for your goals?

I bet 3 things would happen....

1) You would START doing the things you say you need to do.

2) You would STOP doing the things you know you shouldn't be doing.

3. You would MAKE monumental performance gains and change your life.

This is ALL possible through the discipline of accountability.

Accountability serves and protects your character, credibility and commitments as it ensures that what you want to accomplish gets accomplished.

The problem however is that the lack of accountability is one of the biggest constraints you have which prevents goal achievement.

You see, throughout every area of your life it's important to acknowledge that ALL unfinished goals, projects and relationships are the result of broken promises, unfulfilled commitments, and lack of accountability."

It's true. It's easy to get excited about an idea but following through with the nitty-gritty involves work (four letter word!), planning, investment of time and money plus all importantly, stepping-up to do what you said you would do.

It's easy to have ideas in our mind, play around with them, make a few calls, do some research online but we have to be committed to make ideas become plans and plans become action. This is where accountability comes in.

Once you have shared those ideas and plans with someone else, they can keep you onboard with your plans. Check whether you have carried out each step. If not, ask you why not? You could ask a friend to make you accountable but will they be hard with you or buy your excuses?

That's where a personal coach or the support of a mastermind group makes the difference which is worth the investment several times over. One or more people who want you to succeed, who will give you practical advice and keep your boat steering in the right direction, even when the wind tries to blow you somewhere else. Distractions, other ideas which pop up, comments from negative people.

If you don't have someone holding you accountable, I fear your ideas will never become tangible.


©Antonia Harrison 2010 from Personal Development in the 21st Century . Antonia Harrison is the English Hypnotherapist and coach in Belgium and Personal Development speaker giving workshops to groups and companies.

What Anthony Robbins Learned From Financial Giants

Here Anthony Robbins talks about what he learned by studying some of the financial investing legends:

Click for video

George Soros who made $1 billion in a day by betting against Pounds Sterling
Sir John Templeton

Never Hurts to Ask

Vanilla Haagen-Dazs… it must be made from angel’s milk. Sheer ecstasy. What heaven must be like (please!). I savor each lick until my taste buds scream in pain for more. And when I reluctantly swallow my last bite—that’s what hell must be like.

I recently allowed myself to have this sweet-bitter experience at a local Haagen-Dazs store. While eating, I temporarily awoke from my blissful nirvana to see (in horror) that I had licked off all the ice-cream on top. I was not ready to bite into the cone (that is the beginning of the end!). So I went back up to the counter with a big milk covered smile (yes, angel’s milk) and said, as charming as I could muster, “for a real passionate lover of your great product would you kindly add a gratuitous small shaving to the top here (holding my topless cone out to her) to help extend my joy… just a little longer?” Even with a strict policy against such allowances, she said, “It would be my pleasure” and plunked another full (albeit hollow) scoop of vanilla bliss on my cone. The charm must have worked (or the promise to promote this story on my blog – I’m kidding!).

When I came back to the table with my new (free!) scoop my wife couldn’t believe it! One, that I asked… and two, that she gave it me! I said simply, “it never hurts to ask.”

This is true in most instances, most every day. I’m a big believer that you only get what you ask for. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. So why not ask for everything? The worst possible thing that can happen is they say no.

Article by Darren Hardy

Have Faith Quote

"If you don't have faith that the world can turn in your direction then it never will.

168 Hours

"Did you know that a week has 7 days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes or 604,800 seconds? Your week, my week and everybody else's week has the exact same amount of time in it. We all have the same amount of time. Why is it then, that some people seem to have all the time in the world, where as others always seem to be "out of time"..?

Some people seem to be (or feel?) busy all the time, often saying "I don't have time for that". What if I told you.....

You have all the time in the world and
you get to choose how to spend it.

Consider it is not about "having" time, but about how you choose to spend it. Thinking about it that way gives you much more control of the feeling you have about your own time. You always have a choice as to how you spend your time.

So why not look at this upcoming week as a fantastic gift of 168 hours that you get to spend on the people, events and work you think are worthy of these 168 hours. Once you have allocated these hours consciously, be happy with your schedule!

If something unexpected comes along that needs an investment of your time, look at your schedule and see if you are willing to re- allocate your time for this or not. In others words: are you willing and able to MAKE time for it? If not, say to yourself and others "I choose not to make time for that" and stick to your decision. That puts things in a very different perspective, don't you think? For me it creates a lot of peacefulness and a feeling of being at the source of my life and time"