The people I encounter in my coaching work never cease to amaze and astound me. The most common theme amongst people who make something of their lives (by their own definition of course) is that they always use their circumstances to their advantage. Be it ill-health, lack of money, lack of education or skill, whatever their circumstances they do what they want to do anyway; nothing stands in their way.

I’ve certainly met plenty of people who are the opposite - in my network marketing days I encountered so many people for whom their circumstances were the reason they chose not to succeed. Ultimately it all boils down to one thing… EXCUSES!

Life is littered with examples of people who have made fortunes and built incredible companies, organisations and charities in spite of their circumstances and upbringing. To them, it is just a part of life, something to be celebrated and used to motivate them towards their own greatness.

Today, I’d like to ask you which of your circumstances is your excuse for not moving toward your goals and dreams? Ultimately it doesn’t matter what your excuse is - it will prevent you from achieving what you set out to do.

Start by celebrating your circumstances - after all you would not be you today without them!

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Technorati Tags: Celebrate, circumstances, Coaching, dreams, excuse, EXCUSES, goal, Goals, goals and dreams, greatness, health, ill health, lack, money, upbringing

It doesn’t happen all that often to me now, but occasionally I find that I lack motivation to do the jobs I have to do. This evening was one such time and if I didn’t know my signals better, I’d have simply written it off. However, I recognise the signs well and most of the time I can suspend my negative thinking and get on with things anyway.

I think the key to success in this area is in learning about yourself - what are the triggers and the warning signs that you are about to enter some thinking that will stop you getting on with your work or life. For me, I have some internal dialogue (voices in my head!) that give me helpful advice or sometimes tell me that I must be coming down with something. The older, less wise, versions of myself used to take these nuggets as truths and procrastinate like crazy. Normally this would have resulted in some kind of cold - or at least a bigger mess for not having done the work.

Now these voices are much quieter and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to hear them for what they are… EXCUSES. I know this about myself and I am able to take responsibility for the fact that I simply don’t want to have to do whatever it is I know I have to do. Once I realise, the task can be started and completed and 99% of the time, it’s much more fun than I imagined it would be.

Technorati Tags: excuses excuses, internal dialogue, lack, learning, motivation, negative thinking, responsibility, signals, success, voices in my head, warning signs, 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

As a teenager, I can remember a time when I was performing piano at a private function in a local stately home that was used for conferences and weddings. There were five of us, from the same school, all taking it in turns to play. I remember watching a lad who was a couple of years my junior and who didn’t read music, he simply played what he wanted to and he played wonderfully.

I found this quite extraordinary as I had never encountered someone with such an ability before. I simply couldn’t envisage myself doing this, without any music at all. He improvised and played things he’d heard before and to be totally honest I found myself feeling immensely jealous as I sat and listened to him. I asked him questions about how he could do such a thing and generally sat there in total awe.

A little while later it was my turn to play and I had the amazing experience of having the roles reversed. As I played, this young lad sat transfixed and then in between pieces he asked me loads of questions about how I could do such a thing. At this young age, I was unable to register the fact that he was in awe of my ability to read music and I went home feeling all miserable about not being able to play without!

Now, when I have time, I like to sit and play. This evening I was playing one of the pieces that I vividly remember playing, all those years ago and it reminded me of this event in my life. Luckily, I now appreciate the skill that I have been developing for almost 30 years and the jealousy is no more. However, there is a really important point here… the majority of us compare ourselves constantly to other people and, rightly or wrongly, to our perception of other people’s standards.

What if we take this example where two young boys sat in awe of each other, each considering the other’s talent something so far out of their reach, that they felt something missing in themselves. What if… these same two boys had simply celebrated the achievements of the other and their own achievements, without feeling a sense of lack? What if… we do this in our own lives? What if… we set our own standards and measured them solely against our own standards and not someone elses?

Unless your life or livelihood depends on being no.1 against every other human being, why waste the time beating yourself up for being no.2 or no. 200 or even no. 2 billion? Be your own Number 1. Be the Best You.

Technorati Tags: ability, awe, being, experience, jealousy, lack, livelihood, Number 1, perception, read music, school, skill, teenager