For most of my life I have tried to do less and achieve more. For the most part this has been in vain! However it has always been in my mind that the belief, “you have to work hard to get anywhere in life”, really doesn’t fit for me. I appreciate that the people who might be considered successful actually seem to work hard, however there is much more to the story than simply putting in the hours and watching the success and money roll in.

You have to do something that you love. Something that you love to do is never a chore; it never seems like hard work and it always leaves you feeling energised. The belief that you have to work hard to get anywhere in life, on the surface seems true. All the evidence of successful people points to working hard, for long hours and normally struggling to make ends meet in the beginning.

However, if it is something you love to do, it will never feel like hard work, the hours will never seem long and the struggle is all part of the fun of the journey. So many people have said that the joy is in the journey, not the destination. Of course, without a destination there can be no journey.

The bottom line is that you are the one who says what is hard work for you. If you feel as though you are working hard and struggling all the time with it, the chances are that you do not love what you do and there may be a better choice for you. Now before you go and quit your job and live out your lifelong dream… get some help and support - friends, family, maybe even a coach (of course I’d love to help you!) and make sensible plans to create the changes you wish to see.

If you already do what you love to do, then I expect you feel the way that I do, that work doesn’t feel like work! If not, find what you love to do and join the rising number of people who are creating their life purpose on their own terms.

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Technorati Tags: Change, Choice, coach, Creating, family, friends family, how, journey, joy, Life Purpose, lifelong dream, money, Plan, purpose, success, support friends, work

One of the most important components of dreams, goals and the Law of Attraction is visualisation. Most people understand the basic concept of picturing that which they want in their mind. It is not a new concept, but it has certainly reached more people since the release of the film The Secret. It’s well discussed there and in numerous other books, articles, dvds etc. More information and resources can be found by clicking this link to Amazon - The Secret at Amazon

The thing to remember is that in order to take this tool to its fullest potential in your life, you need to create not only images in your mind. The extra ingredients of feelings, emotions, sounds and any other senses you can include, creates a more powerful visualisation and with it a more powerful link between you and that which you want. The more real the reality in your head, the more real the reality in your life will become.

This is not a tool simply to create money or objects in your life, you can use this to define who you are. For instance, if you lack confidence, then visualising yourself as confident, picturing what you are doing, how you look, how you sound, how you feel and as much detail as possible, is a fantastic way to increase your confidence. Spend time every day thinking about this and including these extra details into your mental images. In fact for some people, they find mental images challenging, but can easily create a sense or a feeling in their minds - for these people, work on your mental images. It is important to practice and above all, have fun with this. Once you believe it in your mind, you can see, feel, hear, smell and even taste it, you will know deep down that this will be your reality. You are on the road to success in whatever you want - enjoy the journey!

Technorati Tags: Attraction, confidence, dreams, feelings, Goals, how, journey, joy, lack, law of attraction, mental images, money, success, visualisation, work

I’ve always been surprised about how people’s mood and feelings can be linked to the weather. There is much talk in the media about Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) where people have a tendency to be depressed during the winter months when it’s colder and darker.

Today I experienced the opposite. It was very sunny this morning as I drove to a session and I could see the shadows the clouds were making on the fields and the music on the radio was very summery; I found myself feeling genuinely elated.

This got me thinking and wondering how it might be possible to use this wonderful elated state to our advantage and strive to remain in this place as often as possible. My first thought was around the NLP technique of anchoring, where you use some physical device to link your memory, feelings and state to. For example, if you feel wonderful and then pinch the area between your thumb and forefinger, you can then create a link and perform the pinch at any time you wish to feel wonderful again.

But what else? I’m really wondering at the moment if it’s as simple as a choice. The decision to feel happy or elated or wonderful all the time. From my own personal development and self-improvement journey, I certainly feel happy for the vast majority of the time, however this feeling of elation felt much more than simply happy. My thought is that perhaps this is our natural state of joy and it is certainly something that I aspire to feel all the time.

I’m really wondering what kind of world we’d all create if we all simply felt elated and joyful all the time? Imagine a time where we all go to the doctors worrying about whether we feel too happy!

I’m fascinated by this subject and I welcome comments, feedback, suggestions or ideas that you may have about this.

Technorati Tags: Choice, Creating, elation, experience, feelings, happiness, health, joy, positive thinking, sad, seasonal affected disorder, thoughts, weather

I’ve been playing with the idea that life is my playground for a few weeks now and it’s really been quite liberating for me. I’m finding that I’m meeting challenges and new experiences with a refreshed vigour and I’m really enjoying all that life has to offer.

When I look about and consider the people who I admire, or consider to be living life, rather than simply existing, they appear to be treating life in this way. The playground is a safe place to explore and discover yourself, your environment, other people and ways of communicating and interacting with all these things.

Children have a wonderful approach to life, especially in their early years and this way of playing, exploring, developing and learning is something that I try and use in my adult life and growth. There’s an element to this whole process that I am not taking myself too seriously, if I make mistakes, then that’s all part of play and discovery. When I do something well, I am able to celebrate the achievement and when others do something well I find joy in celebrating their success with them.

So I encourage you to think of your own life as your playground and to enjoy all the experiences and learnings that it has to offer.

Technorati Tags: Celebrate, Communication, existing, experience, joy, learning, live life, playground