When you dress for success, you actually make a bold statement about your individuality. More importantly, how you look IS a subconscious manifestation of your innermost thoughts and feelings. Compare, for example, how you feel when you have a sharply tailored double-breasted blazer on and when you are just wearing faded jeans and a pullover that has seen better days.

Being Judged By Appearances

We often judge others at the outset by their physical appearance. Perceptions, however, can be quite deceptive as they are based on our own personal biases. For instance, when meeting someone for the first very time, you will most likely render an ‘opinion’ about him or her based solely on the person’s personal grooming, physical attributes, or the clothes he or she wears within the first few minutes.

Let’s face it, our confidence in partners, friends, and business colleagues are often based initially on subjective experience rather than on objective information. It is only when you get to know the ‘real’ person beyond the facade that your personal opinion changes. You may even have rendered judgments on people without ever having met them. Consider for a moment how you regard media celebrities or even politicians for that matter.

The lesson here is this: with very little objective information to go on at the outset, visual impressions ARE our initial criterion for rendering personal judgments on any individual.

If this is the case, what should we do about it?

Be Confident

People do appear confident and attract attention if they dress for success and are impeccably groomed.  They move about the room with a spirited gait, survey their surroundings with bright-eyed curiosity, and speak in a voice that is warm and engaging. These people easily stand out in a crowd.

First impressions really do count. Why else would successful organizations put well-dressed, enthusiastic, and sharp persons on their reception desks? All the money spent on corporate branding and clever advertising would go down the drain if a prospective client’s first encounter with these companies were with a bedraggled, nondescript person! Just as people generally avoid doing business with organizations that radiate a flat and lifeless image, they also tend to shy away from individuals who do not give off favorable first impressions.

So what impression do you create when you meet someone for the first time?

Dress for Success

The key to dressing for success is to find a style that works for you and the way you live your life. If needed, find out what type of wardrobe suits you best by engaging the services of a personal image consultant, conferring with style-savvy friends, or catching up with the latest fashion trends through magazines. The key here is tasteful simplicity.

Purchase outfits that fit the shape of your body as it is right now – today – not some future image of yourself. Choose clothes that accentuate your best features and minimize those that are less flattering. Pick classic styles with clean, simple lines that flatter your body rather than fight it. Find out which palette is best for your skin color and stick to a restrictive range of colors that highlight your best features.

Shop Smart

Choosing comfortable clothes that attract success isn’t very difficult once you know what suits you best, and you don’t need to spend large amounts to upgrade your wardrobe. Here are some useful tips to ensure smart wardrobe shopping:

1. Buy outfits in a size that fits you well rather than clothes you pray you can only get into after slimming down.

• Begin wearing clothes that are tailor-fitted to hug the contours of your own body. You only need one or two essential pieces, which can then be accessorized and matched with your other clothes so the cost remains low and reasonable.

2. Consider your body type:

• For rectangular-shaped bodies, sharply tailored jackets like double-breasted blazers that do not fit too tightly are best. Do not affix eye-catching details at your jacket’s widest point.
• If you have an apple-shape figure, avoid a very structured look because this will not complement the curves of your body. Less well-shaped designs with shawl collars in soft fabrics like cotton or linen are best for this body type.
• To balance a pear-shaped body, it is necessary to draw attention towards the top half of the body and away from the bottom half. Jackets in vibrant colors with busy patterns or detailed and intricate necklines can achieve this effect. For a flattering look, pair attention-grabbing jackets with darker colored trousers or skirts. Stay away from long jackets that clasp the hips and short jackets that end at the waist, as these tend to make the lower half of your body look even larger. Jackets that end slightly below the hips are more suited for pear-shaped figures because they tend to diminish the hips.
• If you have a long body, go for jackets that give the illusion of raising your waistline and shortening your midsection. Good jacket choices include those trimmed with wraps or belts or jackets with horizontally striped patterns.

3. Resist the urge to buy clothes when rushed for time. Shop for clothes only when you have the time to experiment and refine your choices.

4. Invest your money in the clothing you would most likely wear the most. If you are not a serious partygoer, you will be much better off spending your money on coats and shirts rather than evening apparel.

5. Good quality coats, bags, and shoes are the best approach to looking great. The rest can be simple.

• It is easier to mix and match solids than prints. Prints however, may be used to bridge the gap between two completely different solid colors.
• Classic styles with clean, simple lines are best.

6. Invest in smart accessories including belts, watches, ties/scarves, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.

• Necklaces can enhance the look of your shirt, sweater, or dress by adding color, brightness, and beauty. You can even make your neck and upper body appear thinner with the right necklace. For example, if you have a solid colored shirt or dress with a rounded neckline, wear a necklace of medium length that hangs in a V-shape. The V-shape will make you the neckline appear narrow and will draw attention away from the arms and shoulders.
• When dressing for work, use smart accessories to dress for success. However, make sure your work-related jewelry doesn’t get in the way. For example, rings that are very large or pointy might be a hindrance if you work with your hands often. Choose jewelry for work that is both sensible and fashionable.

7. Check your existing wardrobe before you go shopping for clothes so you can fill in the gaps rather than resort to impulse buying and purchase more of what you already have.

Do try these tips on how to dress for success and let me know how they work out for you. Do you know of other tips on how to dress for success? Let me know! I would love to hear from you.

However, after I had quashed the irritation and anxiety that welled up within me, I realized that the main reason behind these failures was my very own belief system. Because I second guessed myself at every turn and became overly critical of every decision I made, I set myself up for failure from the very beginning.

There are three self-defeating thoughts I regularly grapple with in my battles with failure:

1. “I do not know what to do!”

When confronted with a situation I had not encountered previously, my immediate reaction was to panic! I then quickly found comfort in my ‘tried and tested’ solutions, justifying this instinctive act with the thought, “If it worked in the past, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t now.”

“What’s wrong with that . . .,” you might ask. Well, because I didn’t trust myself, I ignored other solutions that, perhaps, were more feasible, fearing I lacked the knowledge and skill to implement them effectively. I deliberately overlooked certain facts, opting instead to force my stock remedy on the issue at hand. Guess how this ended!

Skill and knowledge come with time and practice. You should never be afraid to explore the unknown. Knowledge and wisdom are acquired through experience. Skills are honed if you put your mind and heart into refining your craft daily. Do not let your fear of the unknown smother your chances of arriving at a better solution. Do your best to cover all bases with solid research. Whatever the outcome, use it as an opportunity to learn. This is the only way you can overcome your own self-doubt.

2. “I am not good enough.”

All too often in the past, whenever I came to a crossroad, I would take the more beaten path because I mistakenly perceived life to be a numbers game. There was safety in numbers, or so I thought, until I chanced upon a documentary featuring stampeding cows blindly following other cows off a cliff!

We are all unique in every respect. No matter what others may say, you ARE good enough and are capable of achieving great things if you believe it to be so. On the other hand, you WILL fail if you think you will. This is perhaps the main cause why people fail.

Be well grounded. Know who you are. Believe in yourself. Winning or being ‘good enough’ comes from within, not from mobs or naysayers.

3. “I am afraid of failure.”

I became petrified with the mere thought of failing at something in the past. As such, I would only act if the outcome were a sure thing. The problem was, recognition, wealth, and praise went to those who took risks and had the battle scars to prove it! I therefore relegated myself to a life blighted with monotony and mediocrity.

The glaring truth is you have not failed until you tried and lost. How would you value victory if you have not even tasted defeat?

Never be fearful of failure. This is yet another reason why people fail in life. If the history of our world is to be the illuminating factor, failure actually means progress! History is replete with men and women who conquered the world DESPITE experiencing failure countless times at some point in their lives.

If you encounter these same thoughts as you tackle your own daily challenges, the key to success is within you. Dig deep and muster the strength to look at yourself in a different light. You already have what it takes to become successful! All you need to do is shift gears. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in his book The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

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I have always been troubled by the idea that in our society, which is all about achieving success, there are only 3% of the people who are actually living the lives of their dreams. It seems so mindboggling isn’t it?

There are so many tools out there and so many opportunities, yet somehow, the majority of us cannot seem to put this success puzzle into place.

And that is exactly why I have studied successful people, their autobiographies and biographies over the past 5-6 years to figure out how they really think.

And here’s what I have found. There are key differences in how some of the world’s most successful people like Sir Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet think and how the rest of the world thinks.

Here are the top ten views and values I have found that seem to be common to the world’s most successful people while these same views seem to be missing from most people.

1. Successful people do not care what others think of them.
2. Successful people view failure as a stepping stone.
3. Successful people are motivated by their dreams.
4. Successful people think mostly about growth and opportunity.
5. Successful people are action oriented.
6. Successful people are masters of making the most of their time.
7. Successful people create success habits.
8. Successful people have a vision and a plan.
9. Successful people are always looking to learn and ask questions.
10. Successful people commit to their goals.

Ok, I know I haven’t done justice to these points because I haven’t explained them with the examples and tips on how to start cultivating these habits but I just want you to start thinking about these for now.

And I’ll soon let you know where you can download a full blown account of these habits, how successful people use them and how you can start building them very soon.

And here’s the challenging part. Now that all the excitement and the holidays are gone, life starts to get in the way of new goals and habits.

You see most of the people I have talked to tell me that they always find it easier to set a new goal and create a roadmap to achieve that goal. They also find it quite easy to start on a new goal but what most of them tell me is that somewhere down the road the motivation fades away, life gets in the way and the goals start getting pushed aside just a little more everyday.

You know what this leads to? The all familiar stress, sense of defeat and overall a horrible feeling.

It’s that horrible feeling that we want to avoid PLUS we also want to achieve our goals…that’s why we set them right?

Yes, there are a few very important things you can do right at the beginning when you set your goals to make sure they motivate you and help you get through challenges (and we’ll talk more about that over the coming weeks) but what I want to talk about right now is something you can do right now without going back to goal setting mode again.

This step is very easy to do but has a huge payoff. Please do not skip it! Alright, here’s what you need to do:

1. You need to create a good support system

Basically, your support system is something that can keep you going when all you want to do is throw in the towel. It needs to have the ability to keep you from giving up and should be able to help you stay on track.

Your support system can be as simple as a group of friends who call you to check up on how you’re doing with your goals every once in a while or a simple reward system you set up for yourself.

Here’s a few examples

1. Your buddies: If you have a friend (or a few friends) you can share everything with: a. You’re very lucky and b. you can ask them to help you out with your goals by checking up on you.  Tell your friend what your goals for the week are and ask them to check in a week later, this really works for people who need a little outside push to keep going. Having a real person on the other side ask me about my goals really gives me an extra push so this is something I use regularly for a lot of the rather challenging goals and projects.
2. Progress Tracking for habits: The thing with habits is that once you do something repeatedly for more than 30 days it becomes a part of your routine. Of course, those 30 days are the hardest. You can use anything from a complex software to simple pen and paper matrix to track your habits and stay motivated. I prefer the simplistic approach. Of course, you can use excel or an online service to do the same thing but I’ve found that the print method works much better for me and for a lot of people because remembering to look into excel or go to the goal tracking website is quite hard itself but when it’s pen and paper, it’s on your desk so that makes it easier to remember.
3. Journals/Good notes:If you are someone who really likes to spend sometime clearly writing everything down and reflecting everyday this could be your best support system. For those of you who find journalling a chore (myself included), try using a different approach. Personally, I use a timelog (yes those horrible timelogs that’s used in most companies..but hey, they work even if you are just working for yourself) and a  simple system to deal with daily input, goals and projects and everything else (this is where most people get stuck because they get overwhelmed with everything they have to do, everything that’ blowing up and everything they want to do. Journalling can help you a little here but creating a system that works for you is a much more effective and rewarding approach here. You can learn how to do that here) You can also try experimenting with journalling a little (it doesn’t have to be structured) and see how that works for you.
4. Mentors and coaches: Mentors and coaches are just amazing in helping you reach your goals. You just need to find the right one and we’ll talk more about that later but what I want you to remember for now is that your mentor or coach can be a friend or someone in the family as well. It doesn’t have to be a structured setting with a certified coach or anything too complex.

Alright, that should give you a couple starting points in creating your own support system. The next step is to decide which ones you want to use and set it up! You’re going to need it very soon, trust me on that!

1.    photo credit: Ed Battle1

Alright we’ve talked about why we need goals and how to make sure we stick to them. The next step is to make sure we work on them everyday.

Here’s what you need to do to take your plan (whether it’s opening a new business, losing more weight whatever it is) to successful implementation.

Progressive Goals (Like, a business, new project etc)

1. Take a look at your plans and break them down into specific miletone goals.

Let’s take Start a New Business as an example, some goals for this would be market research, finding a good location etc.

2. Now take your goals and break them down into specific actions

Let’s take our business goal and look at the market research part of it. Here’s how you can further break it down:

• Go to the library and look at Market Research Analysis
• Talk to contacts in the same niche
• Research new start ups in the past 5 years

3. Here’s the easiest part. All you need to do now is to think about the actions you need to take for each of the bullets mentioned above and assign a date for completion.

Just mark those dates on your calendar, put the action on your agenda and you’re done!

Recurring Goals (like habits)

Recurring goals are a little easier in that they involve less paperwork and complexity. To get started with a recurring goal, you want to break it down again and put them on your calendar with specific review dates where you plan to asses how you are doing.

Take exercising for an example:

Break that down into what kind of exercising. Maybe that involves stretching in the morning, running in the afternoon or going swimming on Saturdays. Whatever your form of exercise is…schedule it in your agenda.

You make schedules for important business meetings…don’t you? Your health is just as important. Put that into your schedule as well.

Remember to set reminders!

photo credit: DarkSideX

You see, there’s one little thing you can do this year to make sure that you follow through with your new year’s resolutions even if you’ve never followed through with any of your resolutions before.

Ready?

Here’s what you need to do. You need to create a plan to stick to your new year’s resolutions. And here’s why:

Some of you know that Tony Robbins has had a great influence on me and one of the things he always says is Never leave the site of setting a goal without making a plan. Look, when you don’t make a plan for yourself you do not have any obligation to follow through on your goals or resolutions.

It’s the Plan that gives you the motivation (or at least tells you what to do) when all the motivation from reading a book or listening to a speaker is gone.

But the main reason I like to make a plan as soon as I have a new goal is this: I don’t have to think about it! I don’t have to worry about forgetting it or not working on it…it’s all in the plan and in my schedule so it starts to become something like second nature and that’s exactly where you want to be with your resolutions…don’t you?

And we’ll talk about going from a plan into step by step actions that you can take later..but for now let’s plan things out.

1. The first thing I want you to do is visualize (or think about) what your goal would look like or what you’d look like as a result of your new year’s resolutions in a year. Think about all the specifics.

If your goal is to lose weight, how much weight? If the goal is to setup a new business, what is that business going to look like in a year? If the goal is to get new clients, how many new clients?

2. Now you need to start thinking of where you are right now. Think about how you’re currently doing with your resolutions and write that down.

3. List all your assets that are going to help you get to where you want. Think about key contacts, money, past experiences, anything that could help you.

4. The next step is to figure out exactly what you need to do to get to where you have visualized yourself at on Dec 31, 2010.

Listen, we all have some sort of general ideas about what we need to do to achieve our goals and all I’m asking you to do is to jot them down on paper for now. And, if you feel like there’s a gap that you aren’t sure about just ask your contacts (who’ve had success doing what you want to do) or refer to a book/magazine/trusted article that can help you out a little.

Take a couple days to complete this exercise and I’ll show you how to take your rough plan and turn it into a step by step action plan for easy and stress free way to stick to your new year’s resolution.

photo credit: Lazurite

Did you start 2009 with brand new and exciting ideas, goals and plans? It’s time to a review your year and figure out exactly where you want to go in 2010.

I know I know, sounds like a boring concept when all you want to do is party ..right? Well, maybe but the important thing is doing a little review before you welcome the New Year is an excellent way to take a look at your New Years goals and map out a plan to achieve those goals.

Listen, let me be completely honest with you: Most people make new years resolutions and completely forget about their goals and dreams in a day or two. And those who do remember their resolutions give up before the end of the first week because they are overwhelmed and don’t know what to do.

Anyhow, we’ll talk more about new years resolutions and how to make them real later on this week but for now, I want you to stop what you’re doing and take 30 minutes to do a little excercise that will help you gain clarity and focus in 2010.

Ready?

1. Review Your New Year Resolutions for 2009: (5 minutes)

Now, I’m hoping that you still remember your goals. (And, give yourself extra points if you had them written down somewhere). Anyhow here’s what I want you to do:

• Take a piece of paper and write down what your goals for 2009 were.
• Now, beside every single goal I want you to put a number between 0 and 100 that tells you how close you are to that particular goal. So, if one of your goals for 2009 was to exercise everyday and you have developed a habit of doing something twice a week, you may want to put down a 20% or even a 70% if that sounded unachievable a year ago.

Listen, the key is how far you have come along with YOUR goals….so give yourself a fair number.

• Look at your list and take full and complete responsibility for where you are at with every single one of your goals.

And that does mean congratulating yourself for everything you’ve done right to achieve your goals or to even just stay in the playing field.

2. Make 2010 goals: (10 minutes)

• Make goals for every part of your life that is important to you. Make business, career , health, family, relationships, financial, life goals for the new year.

It’s important to include every aspect of life that’s important to you even if your major focus is going to be on only 1 of these things. Grow a little in each aspect and that will help you with your main goal.

• Make sure your goal is measurable. One of the main reasons people don’t keep their new years resolutions is because they don’t make it measurable.

I want my business to do well is not a measurable goal. Put in some realistic but big numbers.

• Make your goals BIG but realistic: Another reason people don’t keep their new years resolutions is because it’s too boring. Their goals are too small, too easy. Set a big goal that will keep you challenged.

3. Mark Milestones Dates but don’t get too detailed yet (15 minutes)

There’s two reasons for this:

• A year is a long time and, trust me, you will forget all about your goals if you wait until Dec 31st to review them and see how you’re doing.
• A big goal is BIG and overwhelming.

Ok now that you have your big 2010 goals written down, I want you to first of all, save it and print off that sheet of paper. (or, put it in a notebook or something that you can look at frequently and make sure it’s something you are not going to throw away before 2011)

• Now sit down with each goal (each one should take roughly 3-5 minutes)
• What are the distinct steps for each goal? (See example if needed)

Now listen, this is the key. This is how you measure a good goal. A good goal should have distinct looking phases or things you can measure to tell how you’re doing. Write them down, it does not have to be perfect.

• Assign dates for each little step. And Mark those dates on your calendar. And, setup reminders for those dates.

Alright here’s a real example.

One of my mom’s goals for the new year is to experiment with a new business idea (on the side while she’s busy with everything else). She wants to import handmade jewelries, handbags and sell them here. Here’s how I would break that down in 5 minutes.

• Market Research: Is this a good idea? (Feb 1)
• Create marketing plan (feb 20)
• Get all the paperwork, incorporation etc done (April 15)
• Research vendors and order samples (May 25)
• Distribute samples (July 10)
• Gather feedback (July 30)
• Choose 2 vendors (Aug 30)
• Order flyers (Sep 10)
• Distribute flyers to family and friends (Sep 25)
• Offer discounts for referring others (Sep 30)
• Setup marketing campaign (Oct 20)

Is that an all inclusive list? NO

Could she run her business based on this list? NO

Is it a good start thinking about what to do and break things down to get some work done. I think so.

Remember: Make a rough list (you’re going to go back and plan this out later) and assign rough dates (just think of your other commitments and plans and try to figure out when would be the best time to squeeze this new goal in)

Ok, that’s it.

Put the paper and pen down for now. Let the idea cook in the back of your mind while you ring in the new year.

And, we’ll talk about making more concrete plans to gain better clarity and focus on Jan 1.

Bye for now and Happy New Year 2010!
photo credit: Patrick Hoesly

And the great thing is….visualization does not always require you to close your eyes and form an image in your mind. You can create visual boards or even images to keep you on top of your goals.

And, if losing weight and becoming fit is one of your goals, you are in for a great treat!

WeightView is an innovative and free website that lets you upload a picture, select your target weight and “see” what you may look like at your target weight. It’s an excellent tool backed by a great community and lots of results. And, did I mention the fact that it’s free?

I think it’s a great website for anyone with fitness goals so…go ahead click the link and try it out.

Let me know what you think.

I thought I’d put this on top of my list for three simple reasons. a) Obviously we all want to do good for others all the time and so many of us struggle here and b) I know this one’s a biggie for me! c) sometimes it’s really hard to draw the line between ethical/moral and over the top unnecessary attempts to please.

Is it people pleasing or just good values?

As I mentioned above, the line between good values and people pleasing gets really blurry at times and that’s when it really helps to have a personal rule of thumb to tell between the two.

Here’s mine:

If something’s getting me too anxious or stressed out, I’m probably not doing it just as an act of kindness or out of generosity, I’m probably trying to please.

Now, if you need more points to decide if it’s people pleasing or generosity…here’s some questions to consider

Before we do that…lets make one thing very clear, trying to be understanding and kind does not equal people pleasing. These are two entirely different things.

Are you a people pleaser?

1. You try to be who others want you to be.

2. You try to agree with others and fit in even if that means having to loosen up on some of your values or beliefs.

3. You cringe at the thought of having to hurt someone’s feeling by delivering bad news or suggesting something that you honestly believe in.

4. You have a hard time saying No to people.

5. You always put others first before yourself

6. You are unwilling to ask for help.

7. You can’t stand the thought of upsetting people.

Any of these sound like you? If they do, listen up, people pleasing is one of the habits that seems harmless at first look but kills your chances of success.

Top 3 Reasons to Stop Being a People Pleaser

1. People pleasing means you’re willing to do stuff that are against your values to put others first. Which means you end up compromising your values and listen, anybody who doesn’t have a good set of beliefs they’d stand up for and die for has a hard time defining who they are, where they want to go and what they want to have. All of which lead to mediocrity not the kind of success you’re hoping for.

2. People pleasing isn’t based on respect of yourself or the other person. And, it’s not based on trust either and that’s a bad kind of relationship to have with anyone.

3. Now the point where people pleasing gets really messy is when you keep yourself from going after your goals because you’re scared of being judged by your current circle. This is when you stop working on your goals and end up making yourself miserable because you aren’t getting what you really want out of your life.

Listen, I honestly used to believe in being everything I could be for everyone, I tried doing that for a long time and I must say people pleasing is a habit I struggle a lot with myself. So, I understand the kind of resistance you’re probably feeling while you read this article. It’s Ok! Just relax…

Overcoming people pleasing doesn’t mean you are going to make people feel horrible from now on. It just means you are going to make yourself feel a lot better!

And here’s three easy steps you can take right now to overcome people pleasing.

1. Realize that it’s cool and completely natural!

Guess what? If you struggle with people pleasing, you’re in a great group of people. And guess what? People pleasing is very natural. Don’t beat yourself over it. Don’t sit down and feel horrible about it everytime you say Yes when all you really wanted to do was scream “No! Are you kidding me? I’ve got so much stuff of my own to do”. Just take a deep breath. Acknowledge times when you do say NO or do something that would’ve made you cringe before.

2. Learn to respect others and their differences

The main reason we tend to be people pleasers naturally is because we LOVE being part of a group. It gives us so much security that we tend to sacrifice our need to be individuals and unique in that process. But, tell you what? When it comes to success, your indiduality and your uniquess is a lot more important than your ability to please someone to fit in.

Your individuality makes you a good leader and leadership is critical to success. Of course, if you want to win, you’ve got to be a caring leader who respects others, not an arrogant dictator.

And that’s the sweet spot between giving in to please and standing up for yourself while showing you care deeply about others. Practice respecting others and all the wacky things that they “shouldn’t do” when they do it. No, you don’t have to agree with those wacky, unconvential things…you just need to keep an open mind and appreciate their courage instead of running in to say they’re a retard or morons to not have known the “rules”.

Listen, when you start respecting others and their differences, you send direct signals to your brain that says “It’s cool to be different. Differences add a nice touch”. And, when your mind can learn to accept differences, it will loosen up a lot and allow YOU to be different without nagging you to do something just to fit in.

3. Start doing something on your own

Winning feels good, doesn’t it? And it feels even better to have accomplished something on your own. It gives you a really nice boost and teaches you to believe in your abilities. That’s the kind of confidence we need to accept ourselves for who we are (including the not so good parts).

This is the easiest way I know to overcome people pleasing tendencies and become a great leader. Just try standing out of the crowd sometimes (stand against the crowd if you have to). Nothing says I believe in myself and my goals more than taking some heat for it from people you’d love to please.

And wanting to be successful means being able to take the heat and stand there strong even if you’re being laughed at by the people you care about the most. Now, that’s the kind of strength and leadership that makes things happen and creates success!

Go do it!

Image by ???§wêê†Båb??®å???? via Flickr

Let me explain..

There are things you can do to increase (and almost guarantee) your chances of success as long as you follow some success principles regularly with all your heart. Now as you can imagine there are things that you can do to completely ruin your chances of success as well.

And, the bad news is…most of these come from pre programming and/or the “past” (all the “shoulds” and “shouldn’t haves” that we carry with ourselves all the time). Now, if all of these success killing habits are pre-programmed that kinda leaves us hopeless…doesn’t it?

Think about it, it basically means while we struggle to achieve something in our lives, set goals, read books and try to form new habits there’s stuff going on inside ourselves that somehow makes us self destructive and prevent us from getting what we want..

That sucks, doesn’t it?

But there’s some hope, the good news is..like everything else these are habits..sure these have been with us for years and years but habits can be unlearned (or correctly put, they can be replaced) and the easiest way I know how to replace a habit is to become aware of it and consciously choose to replace it with a better habit every time it pops up!

Is it easy? Not so much but the point is..it can be easy if you learn to identify these habits and follow some of the tips I’m going to give you over the next month to overcome these habits!

So, let’s get started here. (remember, we’ll take one of these nasty habits everyday and learn how to easily overcome it).

Here’s your links

Day 1: People Pleasing