How Personal Development Saved My Life

It’s classic: We go about our lives, striving to achieve the next big thing, and the itch to be successful clouds the importance of taking care of our inner self, of nurturing our well-being. Sometimes we have to experience a traumatic event before the alarm bells start screaming in our minds.

Five years ago I experienced that traumatic situation when I was sexually molested and exploited. I fell into a depression, crying myself to sleep every night, eating poorly and losing weight, and I had absolutely no sense of my reality.

Up until that point I had focused solely on getting to the next level in my career as a professional figure skater. And it took a situation that left me mentally paralyzed to wake me up from that on-the-go daze. This adversity pushed me to reanalyze my life and the direction in which I wanted it to go.

I realized I had a choice: I could allow my adversity to negativity affect the rest of my life or view my experience as a way to grow. I decided to take the path of personal growth. I’ve since studied great leaders in the personal development realm—Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Darren Hardy, Brian Tracy and John Maxwell. I’ve learned that one important secret to achieving success—especially in the face of adversity—is being able to nurture your well-being.

I’m sure you’ve experienced setbacks in your life. But no matter where you are right now in life, take the time to listen to what your inner self desperately needs.

As the owner of a lifestyle coaching firm, I’ve gathered valuable information over the years and created a list of four specific ways you can take time for you, to nurture your well-being. Success is important, but so is taking care of yourself, and you can’t have one without the other.

1.  Go out in nature. Spending time in nature is bliss to me. Being outdoors gets your blood flowing and allows you to think more clearly about your life.

2. Unplug from society. My husband and I turn off all technological devices each Saturday. Because we like to plan for our upcoming week on Sundays, Saturdays are our day to spend quality time with each other. Schedule moments to unplug every once in a while and spend your time—undivided attention mandatory—with those you love.

3. Keep a wisdom book. Ever since my experience, I decided to write down all the wisdom that I’ve acquired in my wisdom book. Anything you learn, you must write it down. This is a great way to remember pieces of wise advice, to help integrate them in your life. Once you break open and begin writing in your wisdom book, make sure you also reserve the time to sit quietly and reflect. Take a look at where you currently are and where you want to go.

4. Ask yourself, Why? As you walk through life, one way to nurture your well-being is to make sure you are continuously living in alignment with your values. Ask yourself, Why am I making this decision? If it’s not in alignment with your values, choose another option. At the end of your life, you’ll want to make sure you’ve lived a good life that paralleled what is most meaningful to you.

Life’s too short not to enjoy the journey to success. And success starts with taking care of yourself. We only get one chance at life—why not reach our fullest potential?

Life is filled with adversity. We can be squashed by it, or we can make the best of it. Learn how to respond positively to life's setbacks.

Source

http://www.success.com/blog/how-personal-development-saved-my-life

The Top 101 Jim Rohn Quotes of All Time

1. Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
2. Books are what you step on to take you to a higher shelf. The higher your stack of books, the higher the shelf you can reach. Want to reach higher? Stack some more books under your feet! Reading is what brings us to new knowledge. It opens new doors. It helps us understand mysteries. It lets us hear from successful people. Reading is what takes us down the road in our journey. Everything you need for a better future and success has already been written.
3. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment
4. Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high.
5. Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: Busy doing what?
6. Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much.
7. Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.
8. Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge. Let your learning lead to action.
9. Don’t read a book and be a follower; read a book and be a student.
10. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills.
11. Don’t wish it was easier wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge wish for more wisdom.
12. Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.
13. Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can.
14. Economic disaster begins with a philosophy of doing less and wanting more.
15. Either you run the day or the day runs you..
16. Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.
17. Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.
18. Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.
19. Finding is reserved for those that search.
20. For what it will make of you to achieve it.
21. Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.
22. Get around people who have something of value to share with you. Their impact will continue to have a significant effect on your life long they have departed.
23. Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.
24. Good people are found not changed. Recently I read a headline that said, “We don’t teach people to be nice. We simply hire nice people.” Wow! What a clever short cut.
25. Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.
26. Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.
27. Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.
28. How sad to see a father with money and no joy. The man studied economics, but never studied happiness.
29. Humans have the remarkable ability to get exactly what they must have. But there is a difference between a “must” and a “want.”
30. Humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease
31. I am a buyer of blank books. Kids find it interesting that I would buy a blank book. They say, “Twenty-Six dollars for a blank book! Why would you pay that?” The reason I pay twenty-six dollars is to challenge myself to find something worth twenty-six dollars to put in there. All my journals are private, but if you ever got hold of one of them, you wouldn’t have to look very far to discover it is worth more than twenty-six dollars.
32. I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.
33. I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me.
34. 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.
35. If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
36. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
37. If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.
38. If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.
39. If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
40. In America we have the greatest chance for opportunity than anyone else in the past six and a half thousand years. Never in recorded history have so many different gifts from all over the world been deposited in one country.
41. It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.
42. It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.
43. It’s easy to carry the past as a burden instead of a school. It’s easy to let it overwhelm you instead of educate you.
44. Its what you dont know what will hurt you.
45. Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.
46. Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.
47. Learn how to say no. Don’t let your mouth overload your back.
48. Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don’t do well simply because they major in minor things.
49. Let others lead small lives, but not you.. Let others argue over small things, but not you.. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.
50. Life expects us to make a reasonable amount of progress in a reasonable amount of time. That’s why they make those second grade chairs so small.
51. Make rest a necessity, not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength.
52. Managers help people see themselves as they are; Leaders help people to see themselves better than they are.
53. Maturity is the ability to reap without apology and not complain when things don’t go well.
54. Miss a meal if you have to, but don’t miss a book.
55. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
56. My father taught me to always do more than you get paid for as an investment in your future.
57. One of the best places to start to turn your life around is by doing whatever appears on your mental “I should” list.
58. One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.
59. Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.
60. Poor people have big TV’s. Rich people have big libraries.
61. Some people claim that it is okay to read trashy novels because sometimes you can find something valuable in them. You can also find a crust of bread in a garbage can, if you search long enough, but there is a better way.
62. Some things you have to do every day. Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day just isn’t going to get the job done
63. Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
64. Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.
65. Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.
66. Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TVs.
67. Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.
68. The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.
69. The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read.
70. The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.
71. The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.
72. The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for free, that makes nothing of me.
73. The more you know, the less you need to say.
74. The only thing worse than not reading a book in the last ninety days is not reading a book in the last ninety days and thinking that it doesn’t matter.
75. The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.
76. The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.
77. The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don’t.
78. The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – never knowing.
79. There are only three colors, ten digits, and seven notes, it’s what we do with them that’s important.
80. There are some things you don’t have to know how it works – only that it works. While some people are studying the roots, others are picking the fruit. It just depends on which end of this you want to get in on.
81. There are two types of pain you will go through in life, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tonnes.
82. Those who will not read are no better off than those who cannot read.
83. Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.
84. To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise; turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence.
85. We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are.
86. We don’t get paid for the hour; we get paid for the value we bring to the hour.
87. We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. It takes time… but we get paid for the value, not the time.
88. We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Discipline weights ounces–regret weighs tons.
89. We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.
90. What is powerful is when what you say is just the tip of the iceberg of what you know.
91. Whatever good things we build end up building us.
92. When you know what you want, and you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it.
93. Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.
94. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.
95. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
96. You cannot change your destination overnight. You can change your direction.
97. You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.
98. You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the season or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.
99. You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming.
100. Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.
101. Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out.

Source

http://www.daimanuel.com/2013/12/10/the-top-101-jim-rohn-quotes-of-all-time/

10 Tony Robbins Quotes to Live By

Tony Robbins started to change my world, and millions of others, with his first bestseller Awaken the Giant Within. I was still a kid at school and covered the book with sparkly paper so I wouldn’t seem out of place as I read it at the bus stop. I loved that the book helped me become aware at an early age that the outcome of my life was my choice! 

 

It’s a pleasure to share some of my favorite quotes by the master life coach himself, Tony Robbins.

1. “Long ago, I realized that success leaves clues, and that people who produce outstanding results do specific things to create those results. I believed that if I precisely duplicated the actions of others, I could reproduce the same quality of results that they had.”

2. “The first thing these people have who succeed, who are fulfilled, is that they’ve decided what the purpose of the game is, at least for right now.”

3. “If I’m committed, there is always a way.” (He also says, “If we can (generate) the right emotion inside of us, we can get ourselves to do anything. If you don’t have the money, but you’re creative and determined enough, you’ll find the way.”

4. “The more rules you have about how people have to be, how life has to be for you to be happy, the less happy you’re going to be.”

5. “The past does not equal the future.” More: “Most people think, the past equals the future. Of course it does—if you live there!”

6. “Reasons come first. Answers come second.” In a recent interview Tony expanded on this, explaining, “If you find yourself saying 'I can't do something', but you know it in your heart of hearts that if you do it, you're going to grow, you're going to be a better person, it's going to contribute to your family or to your kids or to something that matters, and you keep saying 'I can't do it,' there is no question—you must do it. You don't discuss it anymore. You just take immediate action... You do what's necessary.”

7. “God’s wealth circulates in my life, it flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All my needs, desires and goals are met instantaneously, for I am one with God and he is everything!”  

8. “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” And in his TED speech of 2006; “Decision is the ultimate power. Decisions shape destiny.”

9. “The simple reason that most people fail financially is not because of the lack of a plan, it’s not because of good advice, it’s not even because of a lack of capital. It is for one reason—they attach more pain to the idea of having money, than NOT having it.”

10. “Demand more from yourself than anyone else could ever expect.”

Source

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4424/10-Tony-Robbins-Quotes-to-Live-By.html

The 4 Step Ultimate Success Formula

The 4 steps are:

1. Formulate a precise definition of you what you wish to achieve.
2. Take massive action.
3. Gauge or measure the success of your actions.
4. Fine-tune your approach and your procedures until you reach your goal.

That’s just a start. To change your behavior, modify your beliefs by modeling success principles. He taught me seven beliefs to achieve excellence:

1. Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves us.
2. There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.
3. Whatever happens, take responsibility.” 

4. “It’s not necessary to understand everything to be able to use everything.
5. People are your greatest resource.
6. Work is play.
7. There’s no abiding success without commitment.

Source

http://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/tony_robbins.html

7 Eccentric Rituals of Outstanding Leaders

If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur you have to think from a different angle.

You can’t think outside the box, you have to think as if the box doesn’t even exist.

Here are 7 amazing entrepreneurs that are leading the way in their fields using unorthodox rituals to change the game. Here they share their innovate approach to handling business.

If you are aspiring to succeed in business you may want to practice making some of these rituals part of your daily routine.

1. Richard Branson

2. Arianna Huffington

3. Jeff Bezos

4. Elon Musk

5. Warren Buffett

6. Michael O’Leary

7. Mike Parker

 Source

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/7-eccentric-rituals-of-outstanding-leaders/

49 Ways to Get Inspired

#1. Do work that pushes you to your edges.

#2. Waste zero time on the past.

#‎3. Focus on being masterful at one thing versus mediocre at many things.

#4. Spend more time around art.

#5. Read biographies of lives greatly lived.

#6. 20X your goals, plans and dreams.

#7. Associate with game-changers, visionaries and titans.

#8. Celebrate how far you’ve come versus the distance still to go.

#9. Cause a little trouble by disrupting the status quo.

#10. Accept the project you fear the most.

#11. Leave an inspirational quote on a stranger’s windshield.

#12. Stop watching the news.

#13. Think a decade ahead rather than a day in advance.

#14. Start a movement.

#15. Wow a customer.

#16. Install a new habit.

#17. Remember that the mother of genius is simplicity.

#18. Know that the thing that is easiest to do is rarely the thing that is best to do.

#19. Speak less and listen better.

#20. Do a dream collage with images of your ideal moments.

#21. Record your ideal day in your journal.

#22. Forgive someone.

#23. Thank someone.

#24. Don’t confuse money with meaning nor income with impact.

#25. Spend the first 20 minutes of your day in exercise (it seriously optimizes brain and personal performance).

#26. Do your “Nightly 3″, writing 3 good things that happened to you during the day that’s ending.

#27. Speak your truth even when your voice shakes.

#28. Join Traffic University and leverage time commuting to learn and grow via audio programs.

#29. Visit a new city.

#30. Discover a new restaurant.

#31. Get good at being alone (you’re the only person you’ll be with your entire life so why not become comfortable in your own skin).

#32. See your work as your craft.

#33. Watch the movie “Searching for Sugar Man”.

#34. Do meetings standing up so they end quicker.

#35. Stop using the words “can’t”, “impossible” and “hate”.

#36. Practice harder (mastery isn’t a natural gift, it’s a daily devotion).

#37. Write handwritten thank you notes.

#38. Publish a book.

#39. Thank a mentor.

#40. Call your parents.

#41. Get out of the office and go invest in personal development.

#42. Stop complaining.

#43. Use social media to uplift, encourage, teach and share.

#44. Less TV. More reading.

#45. Join a mastermind group.

#46. Spend the first 90 minutes of the next 90 days focused on your single largest opportunity.

#47. Remember that for every one masterpiece, Picasso painted 1000 paintings.

#48. Don’t listen to naysayers.

#49. Live like you mean it.

As always, hope these move you to play at wow and dazzle the world by your mastery. 

Source

http://www.robinsharma.com/blog/04/49-ways-to-get-inspired/

The 3 Decisions That Will Change Your Financial Life

There’s nothing worse than a rich person who’s chronically angry or unhappy. There’s really no excuse for it, yet I see this phenomenon every day. It results from an extremely unbalanced life, one with too much expectation and not enough appreciation for what’s there.

Without gratitude and appreciation for what you already have, you’ll never know true fulfillment. But how do you cultivate balance in life? What’s the point of achievement if your life has no balance?

For nearly four decades, I’ve had the privilege of coaching people from every walk of life, including some of the most powerful men and women on the planet. I’ve worked with presidents of the United States as well as owners of small businesses.   

Across the board, I’ve found that virtually every moment people make three key decisions that dictate the quality of their lives.

If you make these decisions unconsciously, you'll end up like majority of people who tend to be out of shape physically, exhausted emotionally and often financially stressed. But if you make these decisions consciously, you can literally change the course of your life today. 

Decision 1: Carefully choose what to focus on.

At every moment, millions of things compete for your attention. You can focus on things that are happening right here and now or on what you want to create in the future. Or you can focus on the past.

Where focus goes, energy flows. What you focus on and your pattern for doing so shapes your entire life. 

Which area do you tend to focus on more: what you have or what’s missing from your life?

I’m sure you think about both sides of this coin. But if you examine your habitual thoughts, what do you tend to spend most of your time dwelling on? 

Rather than focusing on what you don’t have and begrudging those who are better off than you financially, perhaps you should acknowledge that you have much to be grateful for and some of it has nothing to do with money. You can be grateful for your health, family, friends, opportunities and mind.

Developing a habit of appreciating what you have can create a new level of emotional well-being and wealth. But the real question is, do you take time to deeply feel grateful with your mind, body, heart and soul? That’s where the joy, happiness and fulfillment can be found. 

Consider a second pattern of focus that affects the quality of your life: Do you tend to focus more on what you can control or what you can’t?

If you focus on what you can’t control, you’ll have more stress in life. You can influence many aspects of your life but you usually can’t control them. 

When you adopt this pattern of focus, your brain has to make another decision: 

Decision 2: Figure out, What does this all mean?

Ultimately, how you feel about your life has nothing to do with the events in it or with your financial condition or what has (or hasn't) happened to you. The quality of your life is controlled by the meaning you give these things.

Most of the time you may be unaware of the effect of your unconscious mind in assigning meaning to life’s events. 

When something happens that disrupts your life (a car accident, a health issue, a job loss), do you tend to think that this is the end or the beginning?

If someone confronts you, is that person insulting you, coaching you or truly caring for you?

Does a devastating problem mean that God is punishing you or challenging you? Or is it possible that this problem is a gift from God? 

Your life takes on whatever meaning you give it. With each meaning comes a unique feeling or emotion and the quality of your life involves where you live emotionally. 

I always ask during my seminars, “How many of you know someone who is on antidepressants and still depressed?” Typically 85 percent to 90 percent of those assembled raise their hands.

How is this possible? The drugs should make people feel better. It's true that antidepressants do come with labels warning that suicidal thoughts are a possible side effect.

But no matter how much a person drugs himself, if he constantly focuses on what he can’t control in life and what’s missing, he won't find it hard to despair. If he adds to that a meaning like “life is not worth living,” that's an emotional cocktail that no antidepressant can consistently overcome. 

Yet if that same person can arrive at a new meaning, a reason to live or a belief that all this was meant to be, then he will be stronger than anything that ever happened to him.

When people shift their habitual focus and meanings, there’s no limit on what life can become. A change of focus and a shift in meaning can literally alter someone's biochemistry in minutes. 

So take control and always remember: Meaning equals emotion and emotion equals life. Choose consciously and wisely. Find an empowering meaning in any event, and wealth in its deepest sense will be yours today. 

Once you create a meaning in your mind, it creates an emotion, and that emotion leads to a state for making your third decision:

Decision 3: What will you do?  

The actions you take are powerfully shaped by the emotional state you're in. If you're angry, you're going to behave quite differently than if you're feeling playful or outrageous. 

If you want to shape your actions, the fastest way is to change what you focus on and shift the meaning to be something more empowering.

Two people who are angry will behave differently. Some pull back. Others push through.

Some individuals express anger quietly. Others do so loudly or violently. Yet others suppress it only to look for a passive-aggressive opportunity to regain the upper hand or even exact revenge.  

Where do these patterns come from? People tend to model their behavior on those they respect, enjoy and love.

The people who frustrated or angered you? You often reject their approaches.

Yet far too often you may find yourself falling back into patterns you witnessed over and over again in your youth and were displeased by. 

It’s very useful for you to become aware of your patterns when you are frustrated, angry or sad or feel lonely. You can’t change your patterns if you’re not aware of them.

Now that you’re aware of the power of these three decisions, start looking for role models who are experiencing what you want out of life. I promise you that those who have passionate relationships have a totally different focus and arrive at totally different meanings for the challenges in relationships than people who are constantly bickering or fighting. 

It’s not rocket science. If you become aware of the differences in how people approach these three decisions, you’ll have a pathway to help you create a permanent positive change in any area of life. 

This piece was adapted from Tony Robbins' new book, Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom.  

Source

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239312

5 Things Successful People Do Before Bed

It is commonly said that, how you start your day off will predetermine how the rest of your day will go. But what if there are things you can do to create a productive morning? Successful people realized early on that the period between brushing and flossing, and going to bed can be used in a way that would potentially make every single morning the most productive morning they’ll ever have. Here are 5 things successful people do before calling it a day.

5 Things Successful People Do Before Bed

 

1 | Meditate

Successful people use their time to mediate before sleeping because it helps to clear their mind of not only their past struggles, but of their future worries as well. By staying rooted in the present moment, successful people are able to clearly envision their long-term goals without any distractions. Meditating will help relieve the stress of today and the worries of tomorrow simply by focusing on the present moment.

2 | Read a book

Successful people will often read a book as a means to clear all external thoughts, and to further nourish their inner creativity. Like meditation, reading can be very relaxing. When your full attention is entirely rooted within the contents of the book you’re reading, it’s hard to remember that regretful mistake you made 8 hours ago. It’s important to learn from your failures, but what is equally important is having the willpower to forgive yourself for these failures so that you can move on and grow; successful people know this instinctively.

3 | Listen to music

Not only can the act of listening to music be very beneficial to your mental health, but through certain types of music brings with it the opportunity to grow spiritually as well. Successful people know that in order to achieve success, it takes a consistent and daily effort to eventually reach your goals. They use their music as a means to clear the current day of all thoughts and worries, and to prepare for the day ahead. Through music, you can eliminate stress, nurture dreams, reawaken creativity, and much more.

4 | Prepare for tomorrow

I believe that the best time to prepare for tomorrow is the night before. Successful people know that it is pointless to waste energy on tomorrow when today has yet to finish. Use the night before to prepare for the day ahead. Plan a to-do list, or write down your schedule for tomorrow; whatever you must do, do it. It is those who prepare for the unexpected that will receive what they have ultimately prepared for.

5 | Reflect on the day

Did you do everything you set out to do that day? What did you miss? And if so, could you have done more? Successful people know that, in order to be successful, there has to be a level of consistency in their daily efforts and habits. They are their own critiques when it comes to self-management. If you accomplished less today than you did yesterday, something has to change. Reflect and learn from today, for tomorrow is a new day, and a new you.

Source

http://www.youmotivation.com/motivational-articles/5-things-successful-people-do-before-sleeping-9357

10 Hidden Blessings in Rejection, Losing and Failure

Rejection. Losing. Failure.

Nobody strives for them. No athlete sets out for last place, no entrepreneur’s goal is bankruptcy.

But as if an act of divine mercy, there’s positives to be found in the negatives. In fact, it’s almost gospel the extent we hear successful people preaching the value in failing.

Denis Waitley said it well:

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”

Successful people lick their wounds but never leave the battlefield, they turn their scars into strengths.

In approaching rejection, losing and failure, here are 10 hidden blessings:

1. You’ll Clarify Your Passions

Many of us struggle with decision making. Those with creative energy typically have their hand in multiple pies. But even a jack-of-all-trades knows there’s a limit to how thin you can spread yourself.

Often, failure and losing result from diminished passion. You realize you weren’t as passionate about that project as first thought. The pruning effect is a positive. As you clear your plate a little, the things that are left are what really gets you excited, and you direct your energy toward them.

Focused energy is when you’re most effective, failure gets rid of fluff.

2. You’ll Uncover New Skills

Remember when George Bush nimbly dodged that shoe destined for his head? Nobody thought he had the skill to do that. And I suspect neither did he. Until that moment.

Facing challenges and enduring a loss causes us to gather up resources and develop skills beyond our arsenal. In cases of “hysterical strength,” where ordinary people lift cars off someone trapped, it’s the negative situation that produces the surge of adrenaline and an act beyond one’s capability.

Negative experiences cause us to respond in ways beyond what we thought possible. The obstacle beckons to be overcome. In order to rise to the occasion, there needs to be an occasion.

3. You’ll Find Out Who Your Friends Are

Take a spill and you’ll see who emerges out of the Facebook crowd to lift you up. Sure, everyone’s busy, but we make time for the things we value and care about. “I’m too busy” can be translated, “It’s not that important.”

Relationships are crucial in life, they take a lot of work and time invested—you don’t want to be investing in bad stock. Of course friendships aren’t to be boiled down to a shallow transaction, but unfortunately, some folks see them that way— a lot of taking without any giving. It’s these relationships that need severing. There’s no honor, or sense, in helping others when you’re hurting yourself.

Hitting rock bottom uncovers the healthy relationships from the detrimental. You’ll want to keep investing in those who are nursing your wounds, and distance yourself from the silent and nowhere to be seen.

4. You’ll Check Your Blind Spots

It only takes one accident for a driver never to forget checking their blind spot again. A harsh way to learn, but some changes in behavior only happen with such shocks to the system.

While there are habits and skills we’ve not yet acquired, failures remind us of the ones we do possess, but simply lazy in doing. After suffering a robbery, you’ll never forget to lock the screen door again.

5. You’ll Burn Away Pride and Arrogance

Nobody is immune to pride and arrogance. To say you’re beyond pride and arrogance is a little… well… prideful and arrogant. Losing is the glass of water for that bitter pill of pride. But that unpleasant process gives birth to humility. Which is perhaps the most attractive and profitable virtue anyone can possess.

As the proverb goes, “Pride goeth before the fall;” rejection and loss exchanges pride for humility, and may be the savior that prevents your fall.

6. You’ll Grow Elephant Skin

The shins of Muay Thai fighters can break baseball bats. The micro-fractures from hours upon hours of kicking heavy bags are filled with calcium, resulting in abnormal bone density. It’s just as muscle fibers grow as a result of micro-tears in the gym.

The old adage rings true—it’s the pain that brings the gain. The healing of a fracture carries a gift. 101-advice for anyone stepping out to pursue their dream is prepare for rejection, criticism and haters. And with each punch thrown your way, you’ll realize that you can’t please everyone, and the impact will start to soften. You’ll even learn to bob and weave, realizing the issue lies more with them than with you.

7. You’ll Never Wonder “What If?” Again

The question of “What if?” can cause hours on end staring out the window. When that curiosity is pursued only to find you’ve boarded the wrong plane, failure is the blessing that pulls you right off. You’ll no longer be kept up at night wondering about that other option.

Curiosity can cripple our consciousness and distracts from the work we should be doing. But sometimes engaging your own nagging is the only way to silence it.

Seeing his father drink beer, a teenage Tony Robbins begged his mother to let him try. Not only did she let him try, she gave him a whole six-pack, and wouldn’t let him leave until he drank every drop. Tony has never touched alcohol since. The taste of his own vomit may have something to do with that.

8. You’ll Finally Ask For Help

Anyone with passion and ambition is tragically plagued with superhero-syndrome, which is both helpful, and harmful; particularly when the candle is burning at both ends, and you’re drifting toward burnout.

When the word “help” disappears from our vocabulary, it’s found when we crash and burn. We realize the skill of delegation is critical for our health and progress. We need to move away from viewing help negatively as a form of weakness, to positively—that our success is growing beyond our own capacity.

9. You’ll Go To The Drawing Board

And you’ll engage in iteration. The process of reevaluating and refining, which produces a better end-result. As the saying goes, “Why fix it if it ain’t broke?” Some things need fixing, but reevaluation doesn’t happen if something doesn’t break.

No doubt one of the greatest human achievements: 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. The only individual in the world to accomplish that feat—64-year old Diana Nyad. She was on her fifth attempt, her first attempt back in 1978 and three other attempts from 2011 – 2012.

Her last attempt was cut short with jellyfish stings that left her face puffed and swollen. This time, she wore a full bodysuit, gloves, and a mask at night—when jellyfish rise to the surface.

She failed, went back to the drawing board, made iterations, and succeeded.

10. You’ll Appreciate Your Success

Value and meaning become heightened in the face of difficulty. The greatest celebrations come from the toughest battles. You’ll realize the dream isn’t all rainbows and butterflies.

When the journey includes getting back on your feet and dusting yourself off, you’ll be more inclined to stop when you see roses, and express a little more gratitude and appreciation at the finish line.

Among the 14 “Eight-Thousanders” on earth, few recognize Kangchenjunga—while Everest is a household name. There’s only 262 meters separating the two mountains, but it’s the failures and deaths on Everest that make it the most respected and celebrated climb.

The bitterness of every failure adds sweetness to every victory.

Source

http://addicted2success.com/life/10-hidden-blessings-in-rejection-losing-and-failure/