The past is over. Enjoy the good memories, use the bad ones as lessons in life, and get ready to make some new ones. Your focus should be on the future. ~ Nido R. Quebin

Many a time, we focus so much on the past and the good ‘ol days that we forget about planning for the future. In Stairway to Success, we are to think differently by seeing things they way they are and they way they will be. There are six steps outlined in the book to help us go towards the success in our lives. It doesn’t tell you what success is as success is an individual’s definition. Success is often confused after reading a few books on how to turn from rages to riches.

Success is how an individual wants it to be and each person may have similar yet different goals in life. Some want to be financially secure, others want personal development. Therefore, read this book with an open mind and define your success.

Each chapter asks the reader questions and explains the reasoning behind the questions. It is about what talents and skills an individual has. It is about trend setting and preparing for the future instead of being a sitting duck waiting to be shot during the hunting season.

Worksheets are giving in the book for self-evaluation, a very useful way of helping us work our ways towards our success. Get the book and re-read it again and again whenever you feel stuck in the rut. It’s a useful tool for reminding ourselves that we are fighting for something that’s worth our efforts.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. ~ Tom Bradley [Source]

There are many games in life that mimic our deepest desires. Such games allow us to dive into the world of building our own cities. Some of the games include The Sims, We Rule, Social City, Baking Life, Farm Mania, Shop Boutique, Diner Dash, Burger Rush and many more. While some of the games mentioned may not be building cities, it’s building dreams bigger and bigger.

Our lives are routine and at times, we need variety to drive on forward. We put one reward for ourselves after we accomplished something. It’s to motivate us to move on. We keep visualising the dream and the feeling of being in the spotlight or accomplishing some task. Some call this dream building, others may call it hogwash or brainwash.

Whatever you believe, it’s the mind that is most powerful to persuade ourselves to do something we might normally not do. Combine reading The Secret and The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, perhaps you might discover something rise within you.

What Dream City do you want to fulfill?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In your life, you meet people. Some you never think about again. Some, you wonder what happened to them. There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you. And then there are some you wish you never had to think about again. But you do. [Source]

Being a great conversationalist isn’t an inborn skill. Some may call it an acquired skill while others seem to have it in them. Being invited to parties and having difficulties in engaging small talk with others may result in running away from attending such functions that may just change your career or life’s direction

For business owners, casual conversations at functions mean a lot to their businesses. Therefore, for those who have difficulties starting conversations, take a look at Debra Fine’s The Power of Meeting New People. She came with a shy personality and started changing and observing how others make conversations seem to easy.

The book gives a list of at least 50 ice breakers that can be used at functions. It’s human to talk about yourselves to others. Even a compliment can get a conversation started. There are also conversation criminals to be taken care of and how one can avoid being one yourself. Let others speak as they feel special when you ask about them.

Remember, casual questions may lead you to find your true self!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

How many people will remember you fondly? John Izzo published a book called The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die. In it, the five secrets are what will come to us perhaps when events strike us. We won’t know when, all we know is that we have been given a limited amount of unknown time that we must make full use of while we can.

Waking up in the middle of the night grasping for breath just as your mind suddenly transports you to the future is a scary feeling. You realise that your future is in danger if you don’t do something about it. You realise that if you are ever alone in a house, your friends have all gone and you are not ready to die because there are still some things you have yet done.

You are never too young to find out the secrets to happiness in life. Imagine that you are now in your 70s, something tells you that you are about to meet the Maker. Do you have any regrets? Anything that you haven’t done but only thought about?

Have you found out how you can improve your life?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Your big opportunity may be right where you are standing right now. ~ Napoleon Hill [Source]

Many of us had dreams as young as 5 years old. Perhaps we saw that brave firefighter carrying so many people to safety or that courageous policeman who chased and caught a robber despite weapons pointing at him. Later, as we grew up, we let go of our dreams. Shrinking them because many of our loved ones tell us, “Oh, forget it. You can’t do it. It’s too difficult.”

With so much disbelief we have collected over the years, we start to believe that we are useless and much better off being mediocre. However, is that what our heart really yearn for? To compromise or shrink our dreams to the size of what people thought of us?

When we meet a total stranger and the stranger encouraged us, we suspect that the stranger is trying to take advantage of us. But what does the stranger really gain from us since we are so mediocre and broke? With nothing to gain from us, why does the stranger even believe in our capabilities in the first place?

Brian Tracy’s Flight Plan highlights how we can overcome ourselves and plan for the success that we have in mind. Our minds are so cluttered with negative thoughts that we forget that we do need positive encouragement to move forward in life. Everyone likes a little belief from someone, especially their loved ones, so that they know that they aren’t useless and deserve to disappear from the surface of the earth instantly.

Planning for success is planning for the future. A future that everyone would like to have and imagined by using the tips from The Secret. Combine Flight Plan and The Secret, you have equipped yourself for the first step towards your defined success that you have always hoped for.

What are your plans for success?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Excuses are the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing.  ~Steven Grayhm

It feels so easy to tell ourselves that we don’t have what it takes to move on; I can’t forget that height I have jump from, I need more time to think about it, I can’t do this, I can’t do that, etc. Those are strong negatives that we tell ourselves that we are utterly useless in other words. While our loved ones may not be encouraging always, we are the ones telling ourselves that we are unable to do a lot of things.

Other times, we tell others that we are not free to take up this exciting opportunity just because we may have a mental block on it. Excuses are nothing but excuses to stop ourselves from moving on in life. If all you wanted is a better quality of life, what is stopping you?

Sometimes, we just need a little help from reading books like How Can I Get Myself to Do What I Need to Do? by Terry Gogna. It’s an excellent book that will make you think about your life and where you are right now. The questions can be applied to any stage in your life; be it studying or working or even trying to get yourself some relationship success.

Have you done something to move on in life?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. ~ Abraham Lincoln ~ [Source]

As long as one is working, there will be politics to be dealt with. Especially negative ones. With so much negativity in the world, it can be difficult to change the view to positive when dealing with people. It’s often easier to go with the flow. However, it can be tiring to deal with such trival issues day in and day out.

This can be reduced when playing dumb technique is applied. Just a little improvement each day and you will be less affected by this even after work. Understand that if you start gossiping, others will be wary of you as you will be seen as one of those who backstab.

In addition, adopt the 7 habits to help yourself in such situations. Getting personal and taking sides won’t help much since you will always be forced to take sides one day if the situation arises.

photo credit: dawning.ca

How did you handle the office politics?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

While we have asked if our goals are realistic, how many of us have achieved our goals and feel successful? Goal setting is to help us prioritise our time, see the possibilities we never saw before and accomplish more in a few years that what others do in a lifetime.

photo credit: agirregabiria

By writing down our goals, we have set out on a plan of action to achieve them. A few tips to help us is to keep our motivation high and surround ourselves with positive energy people. Believing in ourselves will go a long way too. Along the way, it is alright to change the goals, especially the long term goals.

In order to be motivated, make your goals public. Tell someone who will be asking you constantly for your action plan updates. Make use of your short term goals to go towards your long term goals. That way, you won’t feel overwhelmed by the size of the long term goals.

When a dream or goal is dashed, one would seek help. Sometimes, a professional may just guide you towards the direction that you need to take despite its difficulties. Ultimately, when you set your goals, you should have an idea of what you want.

Have you taken the plan of action for your goals?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Notable Read

Emotional Intelligence – Developing strong “people skills”

Successful Delegation – Using the power of other people’s help

Humility – The most beautiful word in the English language (not included in the Mind Tools Ebook)

How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?

Appreciation – Extracting maximum information from facts

5 Whys – Getting quickly to the root of a problem.

SWOT – Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Critical Success Factors – Identifying the things that really matter for success

Pareto Analysis – Choosing what to change

Six Thinking Hats – Looking at a decision from different perspectives

Risk/Impact Probability Chart – Learning to prioritize risks

Beating Procrastination – Manage your time. Get it all done.

The Golden Rules of Goal Setting – Five rules to set yourself up for success

Personal Goal Setting – Planning to live your life your way

Leverage – Achieve much more with the same effort

Thinking On Your Feet – Staying cool and confident under pressure

Rational Positive Thinking

Are You a Positive or Negative Thinker?

Anger Management – Channeling anger productively

Have you benefitted from Mind Tools yet?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

When you wake up, what are your first thoughts? Do you choose to dread or be happy? During this turbulance time when almost everyone you know is having a pay cut or retrenched or even business failing, are you happy that you still have a job despite the difficulties faced?

When some troubles seem too huge for us to handle, we fear them and will try to dump everything to someone else and hope that the trouble will go away. However, a few days or weeks later, the same trouble comes again. This time, we have to handle it. Are we happy to be able to have a solution for solving it since the someone else had shown us how to do it the last time?

photo credit: Isaac Leedom

Ever had this problem that felt so huge that all you wanted to do was to go to bed and wake up hoping that it will go away? After you wake up, the solution comes to your mind and the problem didn’t feel so huge anymore. Sometimes, hanging our troubles at the Trouble Tree helps.

Books On Happiness as A Choice

Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out – By Marci Shimoff

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids -  By Sean Covey

The Great Eight: How to Be Happy (Even When You Have Every Reason to be Miserable) -  By Scott Hamilton

It’s Not About Me: Rescue From the Life We Thought Would Make Us Happy – By Mark Lucado

How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People–Their Secrets, Their Stories -  By Rick Foster

The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have – By Mark Nepo

Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole – By Victoria Osteen

When Am I Going to Be Happy?: How to Break the Emotional Bad Habits That Make You Miserable – By Penelope Russianoff

Die Happy: 499 Things Every Guy’s Gotta Do While He Still Can – By Tim Burke

The Power of Self-Coaching: The Five Essential Steps to Creating the Life You Want – By Joseph J. Luciani

How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness – By Karen Salmansohn

Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World – By Jim Johnson

Be Happy Without Being Perfect: How to Break Free from the Perfection Deception – By Alice Domar

Do you know what you have a power? A power to choose. When many choose to be miserable, look at the list of books just to teach us how to be happy. Amazing, isn’t it?

Have you made your choice yet?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.