Most Folks Are About As Happy As They Make Up Their Minds To Be [7 Truths of Life]


Your natural state is to be happy, peaceful, joyous, and full of excitement at being alive. In this natural state you wake up each morning eager to start the day. You feel wonderful about yourself and your relationships with the people in your life. You enjoy your work and derive a great sense of satisfaction from making a contribution that makes a difference. Your primary goal should be to organize your life in such a way that this is how you feel most of the time.

As a fully functioning, fully mature adult, you should be doing things every day that move you toward the fulfillment of your potential. You should feel grateful for all your blessings in every area. If you are unhappy or dissatisfied in any part of your life, something is not right in your thoughts, feelings, or actions, and it needs to be corrected.

The starting point in unlocking your full potential is to realize that you already are a prince or princess, deep down inside.

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

No matter where you are today, or what you have done or not done in the past, you need to accept seven essential truths about you as a person:

1. You are a thoroughly good and excellent person; valuable and worthwhile beyond measure.

No one is better than you or more gifted than you.

Only when you doubt your essential goodness and value do you begin to question yourself. The inability to accept that you are a good person lies at the root of much of your discontent.

2. You are important, in many, many ways.

To start with, you are important to yourself. Your personal universe revolves around you as an individual. You give meaning to everything that you see or hear. Nothing in your world has any significance except for the significance that you attribute to it.

You are also important to your parents. Your birth was a significant moment in their lives, and as you grew up, almost everything you did was meaningful to them.

You are important to your own family, to your partner or spouse, your children, and the other members of your social circle. Some of the things you do or say have an enormous impact on them.

You are important to your company, your customers, your coworkers, and your community. The things you do or don’t do can have a tremendous effect on the lives and work of others.

How important you feel largely determines the quality of your life. Happy, successful people feel important and valuable. Because they feel and act this way, it becomes true for them.

Unhappy, frustrated people feel unimportant and of little value. They feel frustrated and unworthy. They feel “I’m not good enough,” and as a result they lash out at the world and engage in behaviors that hurt themselves and others.

They don’t realize that they could be a prince or princess inside.

3. You have unlimited potential and the ability to create your life and your world as you desire.

You could not use your entire potential if you lived one hundred lifetimes.

No matter what you have accomplished up to now, it is merely a hint of what is truly possible for you. And the more of your natural talents and abilities you develop in the present, the more of your potential you can develop in the future.

Your belief in your almost unlimited potential is the key to becoming everything you are truly capable of becoming.

4. You create your world in every respect by the way you think and the depth of your convictions.

Your beliefs actually create your realities, and every belief you have about yourself you learned, starting in infancy. The amazing thing is that most of the negative or self-limiting beliefs and doubts that interfere with your happiness and success are not based on fact or reality at all.

When you begin to question your self-limiting beliefs and develop beliefs consistent with the incredible person you really are, your life will begin to change almost immediately.

5. You are always free to choose the content of your thoughts and the direction of your life.

The one thing over which you have complete control is your inner life and your thinking. You can decide to think happy, fulfilling, uplifting thoughts that lead to positive actions and results. Or you can, by default, end up choosing negative, selflimiting thoughts that trip you up and hold you back.

Your mind is like a garden: if you do not deliberately cultivate flowers, weeds will grow automatically without any effort on your part. If you do not deliberately plant and cultivate positive thoughts, negative thoughts will grow in their place.

This simple metaphor about the garden explains why so many people are unhappy and don’t know why.

6. You are put on this earth with a great destiny: you are meant to do something wonderful with your life.

You have a unique combination of talents, abilities, ideas, insights, and experiences that make you different from anyone who has ever lived. You are designed for success and engineered for greatness.

Your acceptance or nonacceptance of this point largely determines the size of the goals you set, your power of persistence in the face of adversity, the height of your achievements, and the whole direction of your life.

7. There are no limits to what you can do, be, or have except the limits you place on your own thinking and your own imagination.

The biggest enemies you will ever face are your own doubts and fears. These are usually negative beliefs, not necessarily based on fact, that you have accepted over the years until you no longer question them.

As Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest, “What’s past is prologue.” Everything that has happened to you in the past has been a preparation for the wonderful life that lies ahead of you in the future.

Remember the rule: It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from; all that really matters is where you’re going.

More from the author: 5 Essential Interview Techniques You Should Know.

Brian Tracy, co-author of Kiss That Frog: 12 Great Ways to Turn Negatives into Positives in Your Life and Work, is chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International. As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He is the bestselling author of more than fifty books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Filed Under: Career Management, Personal Development Tagged With: ,

Who Else Wants Perfect New Year’s Resolutions?

Having done recruitment for long, I know that most of us have a think over the holidays and come up with revolutionary plans for January and the year ahead. Some of us follow through on these plans, some of us don’t. What are the factors that make for effective resolutions? Well, these are rules that work for me and people around me so I thought I’d share them well before you start getting to work on next years action plans.
1. Make them achievable

Don’t cheat yourself when making resolutions. If your goal was to quit smoking this year and the last 7 years, you are not very likely to kick the habit next year. If you set a goal that you won’t achieve, it will only have a demoralizing effect on your psyche and you are worse off. Be honest with yourself and set objectives that will challenge and stretch you but definitely are achievable with hard work.

2. Make them measurable 

What gets measured, get done as the wise fellow said. Buying a house on stilts, travelling to Patagonia, auditioning for the X-Factor are all goals that you will know when you have achieved. Merely saying ‘learning old church Slavonic’ isn’t good enough, it has to be more detailed than that. Make it: ‘will take 50 lessons and pass exam level B and be able to order fine wine at a restaurant in Slavonia’. If you can come up with milestones or through goals, that’s even better as you can track your progress easier.

3. Write everything down

We already know that goals that are not written down are simply dreams, this goes for New Year’s Resolutions as well. Start working on a master list of what you want to achieve, break it down into categories and set estimated finished dates. These lists and deadlines will be hardwired into your brain and your unconscious will take you closer to your objectives every day.

4. Spread the word

You have to commit to your resolutions and by telling the world, i.e. your friends and family, you establish accountability. If you tell everyone you are running a marathon next year, they will pester you with questions for the next 12 months so you had better get out and train.

5. Support network

If you can, try to buddy up with someone else that has the same objective as it’s great to have peer support at hand. This could be friends or it could be other like minded folks online, at the gym, at your philately club etc. A support network is extremely useful when you ground to a halt or when you achieve a through goal and find yourself a bit lost for what to do next. People love to talk about their own exploits and how they got there so make use of others’ success.

6. Reward yourself

Remember to encourage your small wins with little rewards. These rewards will keep you going when you need it the most. Rewards can be anything from a cup of ginger tea to a weekend in the city of lights. Whatever rewards work for you, remember to hand them out when appropriate.

7. Flexibility

Remember that what seems like the perfect plan in December could all change once January kicks in. External factors will always move the goal posts and you have to factor these in. Just because your resolutions are an annual thing doesn’t mean you cannot change them as you go along, just like you would with any goals in life.

Examples of resolutions

If you are stuck, why not do your bit for the environment and recycle other people’s most common resolutions? Here is a little list:

• Change jobs (very popular in January, fizzles out in February/March)
• Buy something big (a house, car, boat, dilapidated factory in Pennsylvania)
• Get fit (sign up for a gym, start cycling, taking the stairs at work)
• Get involved in your community (charities, local government, activism)
• Work on your personal brand (all the rage nowadays)
• Start writing again (manuscript, book, blog posts)

Your turn

What are your resolutions for next year? Please share and inspire others!

Image credit Hamed Saber

Filed Under: Life Skills, New Year, Personal Development Tagged With: , ,

The Man That Sold Skype Tells His Story

Danish entrepreneur Morten Lund made millions when he and a few other early investors exited Skype and sold up to eBay to the tune of $2.6 billion. He was forced to declare personal bankruptcy in early 2009, after a newspaper venture turned sour.

Morten doesn’t let this get him down and although he lost all his money, he still has what matters to him. Start watching from about 2.30, I hope he will inspire you like he has me.

How would you deal with losing a fortune?

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5 Reasons You Should Never Work for Money

Why do you do what you do for a living? If you say that you love what you do, you are lucky. Only a small minority can actually claim to be happy doing what they do.

Most people will say they do their job for the money. They would ideally want to do something different but they believe they have to stay and do more of the same to get that income. Here are the top 5 reasons you should not just chase those dollar bills:

1. You will never make enough

There will never be enough hours in the day to earn enough if you are not having your money work for you. There is only so much one individual can do in a job and this is what you will be paid for. You can only be paid for the work you are doing and never earn passive income. Being employed is very much “the more you put in, the more you get out” when in fact you could put less in and get more out if you only knew how to. Starting a business on the side, investing in the markets or in real estate, creating work that will generate royalties will allow you to make passive income. This will in turn free you up to focus on what you really enjoy in life. Your day job will not make you wealthy and will not open you up to new opportunities outside of your day to day tasks.

2. The debt spiral

Being in the rat race and keeping up with the Joneses will lead to the accumulation of debt. It starts with paying for a university degree to get a job. Once you have the job you want to buy a house. The house is bought for the bank’s money and you are now locked in to a lifetime of debt. On top of this you have financing for a new kitchen, the better car, the exotic vacations and obviously all kinds of spending on credit cards. As a rule of thumb, the higher the income an individual has , the higher the spending and the debt leveraging they will engage in. This becomes a vicious circle where you can end up just chasing your own tail by every month getting you pay check and straight away pay interest on your debt. It may feel like you are treading water at times when chasing the money. At the end of the day, your job is only a temporary solution for paying off your debt.

3. Taxation

However you look at it, employees will always have the highest tax burden in any society. The rate of tax is standardized and the people with jobs will invariably have to pay for the people without jobs. The taxes are taken both from your income and the payroll tax for your employer, effectively taxing you twice. If you were to own a business or be a full time investor, the tax rate would be lower and the system will allow you to make deductions and postpone paying tax. The tax system is designed like this to stimulate business and entrepreneurship. By demanding less tax, the government is in a sense rewarding the individual willing to take the risk of running their own business. As the employee takes less risk, they have to pay higher tax. If you are looking to make money from working, being an employee is the worst place you can be from a taxation point of view.

4. Risk of stagnation

When you are only chasing money, you are less likely to learn and develop in your job. If you are in the comfort zone and making the level of money that you feel is fair, you are on cruise control down the path of least resistance. You will be exposed to less business scenarios and environments, disabling you to develop the deep problem solving skills that you will need to make money outside of your job. Look at the people in your office and ask yourself who are going places and who the journeymen are. I would venture to guess that the former will be the learners and are enabling themselves to create their own destiny, the latter will run on empty and will run the risk of being laid off one day.

5. You become a slave to money

If you are controlled by money as opposed to controlling money, you will never be happy. In the real world, 9 out of 10 employees will work just in order to make ends meet. We lead our lives in fear of losing our jobs, not being able to provide for a family and so on. Fear is very destructive and will lead to risk aversion, meaning it will be very difficult to persuade you to take the plunge and let your money work for you. Instead, you are likely to be angry and blame others for the fact that you do not have enough money. Blaming your manager for not increasing your salary is only a projection of the anger you have toward yourself for not creating value on your own. By harnessing money and having it work for you, you will be emancipated and in control.

OK, I get it so what should I work for then?

Instead of working for money, you need to aim to get to a stage where money works for you. Have a look at the well-to-do, they would only take a job to acquire assets of some sort. This could mean acquiring the knowledge of a job/company/industry so they can replicate it. It could mean obtaining the financial intelligence to realize how to beat the system and become the person at the top shaving off profits from the system every day. You should be working to develop assets, be that real estate, stocks and shares or even investing in fine wines. Your aim should be to move up the value chain of life and change from being employed to being a business owner or investor. This way you can earn a passive income without any continuous effort.

Bottom line

This article is not about you quitting your job, merely to open your eyes and shift your expectations to different opportunities of wealth creation out there. If you are not happy in your job, you should consider learning how to invest your money or even how to start up a part time business that can lead to passive income. These actions are likely to be more lucrative than simply putting more work in your current job and hoping for a pay raise.

What are your thoughts on working for money vs. learning to create income yourself?

Filed Under: Career Management, Money, Personal Development, Salary Tagged With: , , ,

5 Fail Proof Tips to Setting and Reaching Personal Goals

This article is all about goals, why they are important, how you can set them and finally how to achieve them. First off, what is a goal? Well in this context, a goal is a personal objective. Something you want to achieve within a specific period of time.

All successful people are goal oriented. They know exactly what they want they are working toward the achievement of their goals every single day. They tend to accomplish far more than the average person in all aspects of life.

Goals are flexible and can be used for short term tasks such as booking a holiday or long term goals such as graduating from university. So how do we actually work with goals? There are myriads of ways to do this; I will present the 5 steps I have found working well. Remember that this is an important life skill so pay attention…

1. Decide exactly what you want

The more precise and clear your goals are the easier it will be to know when they are complete. Just like in business, objectives should be specific and measurable. Ensure they are achievable and that are within the realms of reality otherwise you will run the risk of them becoming demotivating. For instance, the chances of me winning a Nobel Prize this year are very slim but me doing my next Toastmasters speech before Christmas could actually happen.

2. Write it down

If you do not write your goals down, they will merely be wishes. Something magical happens when you put pen to paper, your writing etches its way into your subconscious. I have found that writing by hand is more powerful than on a computer, just as with any learning.

3. Make it time bound

Make your goals time bound by setting deadlines and sub deadlines in case you break it down. Give yourself a realistic but aggressive time scales so that your goals challenge you. Goals are here to get things going as we all know that life is not a dress rehearsal.

4. Get it out there 

By this I mean put the list of goals up very visible at home or at work, or i you prefer to put images of what you want to achieve up. When we see our goals, we are sending an important message to the brain that activates us, and we then take steps to do what must be done to attain those goals. Tell the world about your goals as well, this will make it very hard for you to pull out If you have ever run a race for charity for instance, you know what I mean.

5. Take action immediately

You have to have momentum going and you should ideally be taking an action every day to bring you one step closer to the achievement of your goal. An example could be if you want to own a brand new Rolls-Royce, take action by ordering a brochure or even book a test drive.

Bottom Line

So that was the 5 steps, not exactly rocket science. It sounds easy enough but the trick is to keep things up and move closer to achieving your goals every day. I have found that the more clarity I have on goals the more likely I am to achieve them. Working with goals has worked really well for me, especially when writing them down and seeing them every day. Your subconscious gets to work and sometimes it feels like you attain a goal on autopilot.

So take time to sort out what you want and then place your order… Having said that, if you do not have that clarity already it’s best to put something down now and you see these goals developing over time. Remember that goals aren’t carved in stone and as they are yours, you can change them as often as you like.

What are your experiences?
Image by scottwills

Filed Under: Career Management, Life Skills, Personal Development Tagged With: , ,

6 Simple Steps to be Happier at Work

We spend a lot of time at work, from Monday to Friday probably more waking time in the office than with our families and loved ones. If we are to cope with this, we have to make sure we make the most out of our work time and enjoy it.

1. Positivity and smiling

Positive thinking can feel labored at times but has been proven to work in multiple of studies. Smiling is infectious and is the simple form of positivity that uses what psychologists refer to as the theory of self-perception (if you see yourself as happy, you will become happy). Being positive leads to efficiency and well being for yourself and the people around you. When you radiate positivity in an office, others will be picked up as a result. When trying this out, make sure you stay away from any negative people as they are bound to bring you down.

2. Moving around

Walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator in the mornings, go for a walk at lunch and walk around the office when making phone calls. Energy comes from oxygen, oxygen comes from motion so the more you move about, the more energy you get. I don’t know about you, but when I have lots of energy I tend to be a happy camper.

3. Declutter

There are books dedicated to this single point. Make sure you have a clean workspace and environment around you. Clutter brings you down on a subconscious level – it looks like even more work to be done. Have a clear structure and organization on your desk so you can swiftly leave a task and come back to it later. You should also have an effective workflow and make use of in- and out-boxes.

4. Change your routine

The same old routine day in and day out will wear you down slowly. Try using a different pen, have a tea instead of coffee, change your telephone greeting etc and see how it feels. Variety is the spice of life they say, this applies to work as well. Big corporations shuffle things around all the time, even if a division is performing it can always to with a shake up and change things – so can you.

5. Eat quality food

Have a proper breakfast and lunch, with high quality food that will provide you with energy throughout the day. If you want snacks in between, stay away from chocolate, candy and sodas. The sugar levels in these products will give you a buzz from which you will come crashing down only a few minutes later. You don’t want to give yourself mood swings by having the wrong type of food. Stay on the healthy and nutritious side and you will feel better and have more overall energy (and you will be happier with your body as a result).

6. Go on vacation!

If all else fails, get yourself out of the office for a few days and recharge your batteries. Switch off completely, turn off any handheld devices and just relax. You will come back with a new perspective on things and you will be a happy person, hopefully with lots of great memories to share.

Can you think of any other simple steps?


Filed Under: Career Management, Happy, Life Skills, Personal Development Tagged With: , ,

Life Lessons by Steve Jobs

You might have seen or heard about this video, it’s the commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Standford back in 2005. It is very inspirational and worth investing your time to watch.

Related: The Man that Sold Skype Tells His Story.

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