Personal Development

Think and Grow Rich

2009-06-26T14:56:00.002+01:00

It was 1937 when the classic work by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich – was first published. Ever since, it has been right at the top of the list of Personal Development books that are considered as by many to be a must-read for any serious student of the subject.

There is no question about it, the book has influenced a great many people over the years and it is claimed it has created more millionaires than any book ever written. People like F.W. Woolworth, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, George Eastman, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson – pretty much all of the extremely successful people of their time – testified to the correctness of the principles explained in the book.

As someone once said, I think it was Bob Proctor but I can’t be absolutely sure nevertheless, it’s indeed true, “it ain’t a classic for nothing!” The work took Napoleon Hill over twenty years to complete.

Here's what the man himself has to say about where to start ...

So think about those things. Here are those lists again ...

The Riches You May Enjoy if You Take Possession of Your Own Mind and Direct it to Ends of Your Own Choice

1. Sound Health

2. Peace of Mind

3. A Labour of Love of Your Own Choice

4. Freedom from Fear & Worry

5. A Positive Mental Attitude

6. Material Riches of Your Own Choice and Quantity

The Penalties You Must Pay if you Neglect to Take Possession of Your Own Mind and Direct it

1. Ill Health

2. Fear and Worry

3. Indecision and Doubt

4. Frustration and Discouragement throughout Life

5. Poverty and Want

6. The whole flock evils consisting of Envy, Greed, Jealousy, Hate and Superstition

You can get a free copy of Think and Grow Rich here ...

Think and Grow Rich

Secrets of the Rich

2009-06-24T13:51:00.001+01:00

If you think about it for a little while, would you say it's true that rich people must know something that other people, who are not rich, don't know? Most people, I figure, would agree with the proposition. So, in this little article, we are going to consider that question: what do rich people know that other people don't?

It has been said many times that if you were to redistribute all the wealth in the world equally so that everybody had an exactly equal share of it, within about five years, all the previous rich people would again be rich; and all the previously poor people would be poor again. And, personally, I think that statement is very true.

The reason the wealth would be redistributed again in the same disproportionate fashion is that rich people do actually know things that other people don't. This is the subject of the best-selling book by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Rich people behave differently because of what they know. For example, they don't buy things that are a liability unless it cannot be avoided - like, perhaps, buying a car which is, essentially, a liability. Instead they prefer to buy things that are investments - perhaps a vintage car.

Poor people have large televisions; rich people have large libraries. There's a great deal of difference between the two mind-sets. Another example might be a preference for antique furniture - an investment; rather than fashionable furniture - a liability.

If you are ready to find out a little bit more about the secrets of the rich, we have a little book on the subject; and you can get it here (free) ...

Secrets of the Rich

Now What Was I Going to Write About?

2009-06-17T01:25:00.002+01:00

Now then, I do remember that I wanted to post something here, but what on Earth was it now? Ah yes ... I remember, it was about how to go about improving your memory.

You know something? There are psychologists who believe that we never actually forget anything. We may have difficulty retrieving information, in other words, problems with the recall mechanism, but we don’t actually forget as such. That is why techniques like hypnosis can be so effective in helping people to recall things they thought they had forgotten of course.

At present, my mother is having quite a bit of difficulty with her memory. It happens to many people when they get older. However, you can definitely improve your ability to remember things by engaging in a course of study and exercising that old grey matter. In fact, I - here and now - resolve to complete my masters when I have retired. I should have a bit more time for it then. And, as I said, it will keep the devil at bay; and, by the way, the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.

It’s an interesting subject: memory. To commit something to long-term memory requires repetition of the important information over time because, in order to remember, your brain needs to physically grow connections. These new connections between brain cells (neurons) just don’t happen instantly, but you can train yourself to remember.

The ability to retain and recall important information is a key skill upon which, to a large extent, the degree of success you will attain is dependent. You therefore owe it to yourself to spend a little time working with your mind to improve that ability. And, of course we have a little free book that can help you. You can find it here ...

Powerful Ways to Sharpen Your Memory

The Laws of Success

2009-06-15T18:48:00.003+01:00

Whilst, in recent years, The Secret and the Law of Attraction, in particular, has come to pervade the success marketplace, Napoleon Hill is famous for his work on the Laws of Success. That’s laws - in the plural. Success is not dependent upon a single law like the Law of Attraction; there’s also, for example, the Law of Cause and Effect to consider.

However, in this article, I want to focus on what, exactly, is meant by the notion of ‘law’. After all – as far as I know – there is no law that says you are going to become successful is there? The best way to understand what is mean by the word ‘law’, when used in this context, is to consider the Law of Gravity. We all know what it is and how it works so I won’t explain that but if we think about it, is it really a law? Personally, I think the answer is ‘yes’: it is a law that cannot be broken and it, therefore, operates whether we like it or not.

So too is the Law of Attraction – the basic idea is that whatever is turning-up in your life right now has been created (or attracted) by you somehow. When you think about it, the above statement encompasses both the Law of Attraction and the Law of Cause and Effect because the effect is whatever is turning-up in your life; and the cause(s) is/are the methods you used (usually unknowingly) to attract it.

So, we can see that the basic laws of success – just like the law of gravity – operate whether we like them or not. The concept of obeying the law is exactly the same as for the law of gravity. We do not walk over the edge of a cliff, for example; that is how we obey the law of gravity. Similarly, we obey the Laws of Success by acting in a manner that is consistent with the way the law operates and the results we expect to ensue.

But before we can even begin to operate our live in accordance with the Laws of Success, we need to know what they actually are. And, we have a little book on that subject. It is, of course, completely free; and you can get your copy right here ... The Laws of Success

Neuro-Liguistic Programming (NLP)

2009-06-14T11:50:00.002+01:00

NLP is defined as the ‘study of the structure of subjective experience’. It turns out that we don’t all experience reality in quite the same way – it is subjective. NLP is concerned with that subjectivity: both with studying it and with studying how it is possible to work with it to produce dramatic change in the lives of people.

The acronymn (NLP) explodes into Neuro-Linguistic Programming; and it has nothing to do with programming because, as I mentioned in my last post on Training the Brain, we don’t actually program our brains – that’s simply a computer-based analogy for what NLP is concerned with. In earlier times, the brain has been thought of as something like a hydraulic-system – again the analogy is a product of its time.

So when we talk about programming the brain, it is important to realise that whilst we attempting to make changes, for the better, the brain is definitely not a computer and is not as simple a device as a computer. That said, I believe that NLP has a lot to offer in particular in the area of modelling excellence. Modelling is just another word for copying.

If we copy the behaviour of another person; copy their body-language; copy their attitudes; copy their speech patterns; would it be possible to reproduce their results? That’s what modelling is all about. A premise of NLP is that is it indeed possible.

We have an excellent little free book on te subject. It’s called NLP in Business and in Life; and you can get your free copy right here ...

NLP in Business and in Life

Train Your Brain

2009-06-13T21:37:00.002+01:00

Is Your brain need of a bit of reprogramming? The subject of reprogramming the brain is one of the central ideas in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) of course, but the idea is older than NLP. The proposal is, naturally, an analogy: we don’t actually reprogram the brain, as such.

Reprogramming is something that we do with computers – not brains – so the analogy is definitely a product of our time. However, that said, it is your brain that is ultimately responsible for producing the results you are getting in your life. So if you are not producing the results you want, perhaps your brain is in need of a little work-out.

Reprogramming – or training – the brain consists of getting your thinking straight about the world of consciousness, how it works and how you tap into it. Looking after your basic thinking, and therefore your brain, is a vitally important aspect of your success. When you think right, you give out the right questions to your subconscious mind which has the power to provide you with the answers you need. This is the essence of what Charles F Haanel says in The Master Key System.

First you construct your vision and you contemplate it regularly. That brings up questions, or should do, because your vision should be something big; something that you may not know how to achieve ... consciously. So contemplating that vision will naturally raise questions; and by making use of your on-board computer – your brain – you will get the answers when you learn how to use it properly.

Your brain may not know the answers you need, but it is capable of problem-solving without your conscious knowledge, so your answers will come. You just need to get training that brain of yours; and, of course, we have a free book that can help. You can download it here ...

Train Your Brain

Body Language

2009-06-11T15:33:00.002+01:00

The book that got us all thinking about the subject of Body Language was, of course, The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris. I remember reading it, way back, and it is still, today, a classic.

Desmond Morris was a zoologist and worked in London Zoo primarily with chimpanzees. It was during this time that he first noticed that chimpanzees communicated with each other through a whole variety of signs and signals – both audible and otherwise – and that they exhibited, what he called, a kind of body-language.

Later, when he studied other animals and – in particular – the human animal – which he dubbed The Naked Ape – he realised that it was not just chimpanzees that had this body-language, we use it too. I remember seeing him on television explaining how he managed to get off with speeding tickets just by making use of these principles.

Today, when I teach the principles in my workshops, I find that people are generally fascinated by the subject. It can be used to develop rapport with others by doing some very simple things like getting the amount of eye-contact right or smiling at the right time or actually deliberately mirroring the other person’s body-language.

It is truly powerful stuff that any serious communicator should spend a little time investigating. We have a free book on the subject right here ...

Body Language

The Reasons We Exist

2009-06-09T22:39:00.002+01:00

Recently, I was challenged to think a little about the reason we exist. When I thought about it, I immediately began to write a list. Then I decided to make the list into a video. I hope you enjoy it ...

Watch more of our inspirational videos

The Power of Focus

2009-06-09T09:09:00.002+01:00

Being Focussed is what makes the difference for those who succeed. A bold statement I know, but if you can’t get focussed on what’s important for you, the influences of the world will simply drag you away from your top priorities. There will always be things to do, places to and go people to see but unless those activities are directly contributing to your major definite purpose – your mission – then you are in danger of being side-tracked.

Before we engage in any activity at all, we should try to see it in terms of our mission and our goals. Generally, activities that ask to be done, in other words, when someone else requests them to be done, are often not connected with our goals and therefore, if we decide to tackle them, rob us of our precious time. I’m not suggesting that you should refuse to do things for others, of course, but I am suggesting that you need to get some balance into your life.

You need regular time set aside for goal achieving achivity. This time should be treated as sacrosanct; meaning you will not be deflected during such periods unless there is some kind of emergency – that is the essence of being focussed. Once your mission is divided into specific goals, and your goals are sub-divided into specific activities, steady, focussed activity is what gets you to your goals – one step at a time.

Being focussed is, simply, putting ‘first things first’ as Stephen Covey would say; ensuring that you do not allow things that are not important (not attached to your goals) to be elevated to a priority that is inappropriate. Remember too, that just saying ‘no’ can be an incredibly powerful tool. I think one of the reasons that some people get drawn into other people’s priorities is that they have no real criteria for evaluating when to say ‘yes’ and what to say ‘no’. Your mission and your goals provide that criteria if you are serious about achieving them.

So, my friend, I hope you are serious about your goals. If you are not, I can say with confidence that you won’t achieve them because the world will rob you of all your available action-time by presenting you with a myriad of tasks and activities that all seem to need to be done. However, when you realign your decisons around your mission and goals, you unleash incredible power; and, as a consequence, your goals get checked-off (ticked-off). Over the course of time, you achieve one goal after another – you become unstoppable.

If you need help staying focussed, read The Power of Focus – it’s free.

Goal-Setting Revisited

2009-06-08T09:52:00.003+01:00

Well it’s about half way through the year now, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the subject of Goalsetting. How are you doing with those goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? Are you on-target or are you a little off-course at the moment?

If you are on-target, then you deserve a hearty ‘well-done‘. It means you properly quantified the goals and did enough planning to be able to translate the intention into the kind of consistent actions that produce results. However, if you are a bit off-course right now, then now is the time to review your mission, review your vision and review those goals to ensure they are the right ones for you.

Recently, I remember someone saying that they were having trouble motivating themselves to consistently take action toward their goals. If that kind of thnking also pervades your mind, then just maybe, you have set the wrong goals. Remember that goalsetting is about what you want; not what other people want for you. And, I promise you, there is nothing quite like knowing that your actions are leading you to your goals.

In other words, you don’t need motivation when your goals are the right ones for you. Hence the importance of regularly reviewing them. I suggest you should review your mission, vision and current goals at least once per week to ensure they are right. So make sure they are written down (you do have them written down don’t you?) somewhere you can see them and review them easily and regularly.

If you have failed to lose the weight, get fit, stop smoking or whatever else you were trying to do, perhaps these things are just symptoms of a larger problem you have not yet addressed. Have you quantified your mission yet, for example? If not, perhaps that’s the issue.

It may be difficult to see why not having a personal mission can lead you to continue to smoke or be overweight, but just remember that people often engage in these activities (eating, smoking etc) as a means of release. When your mission is clear and you know you are working towards it, you will be far less influenced by the drives that cause you to do these things.

So go to it my friend, review the whole shooting-match from top down … vision first. Decide what is really important to you first. Then review those goals again in the light of your vision – are they right for you? If they are not, then it’s ok; it’s just time to get more serious about goalsetting. Get these things right and your life will never be the same again.

If you need help ...

Review my article on Vision, Mission & Goalsetting

Get our Goalsetting Guide

Self-limiting Belief

2009-06-07T02:44:00.001+01:00

Are you your own worse enemy – could you actually be holding yourself back? Not intentionally, of course, but nevertheless could the reason you are still not quite the success you wish to become … be that your own belief system simply won’t permit you to become successful?

As Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right”. So do you think you can … or do you think you can’t? Because whichever it is – it seems you are going to be proved right. The principle that Ford was referring to leads us to both achieve our goals and also to sabotage our own efforts - according to our belief. Amazing – but also true.

I remember Jack Black once talking about Motherwell – a football (soccer) team in the Scottish League. Yes – I know – Scottish Football is somewhat of an oxymoron like Military Intelligence, Airline Food and NHS Trust. (Just in case there are any Scottish Football fans reading, I hasten to add that I feel it’s ok to joke in this manner considering what you did to Wembley.)

Anyway, back to Motherwell – or Motherwell Nil as they are affectionately known by my Scottish friends (yes, I do have some). Jack was basically saying that after they won the Scottish Cup in 1991, they scuppered their own chances in Europe; and he says “they are back now where they should be”. Jack quotes this case as an example of the sabotage mechanism at work. The point is that we do tend to realise our expectations as I mentioned in my post on the Pygmalion Effect.

Self-Limiting belief is something we all struggle with to some extent because even our ability to dream is limited by such considerations as believability. You can learn how to break free from self-limiting belief by taking a look at the following book; and, of course, it’s free …

Self-Limiting Belief

Are You Creative?

2009-06-06T09:16:00.003+01:00

Do you like to think of yourself as a creative person? If your answer to that question is yes, then I am glad for you; however, if your answer is no, then you may be in for a bit of a surprise. Why? Because we are all creative – whether we know it or not. Human beings are creative animals, so you simply cannot be not creative. However, it may be possible that you have difficulty accessing that creativity, which is really what this post is about.

On one occasion, I remember someone telling me the story of Thomas Edison – the great American inventor who’s most famous inventions included a working filament for the electric light-bulb – and, of course, the phonograph. However, he actually made over one thousand inventions during his lifetime, so he was certainly what you would call a creative person..

But I am also sure you have heard his famous comment that genius is only one percent inspiration; the other ninety-nine per cent, he said, was down to sheer perspiration. And I believe he demonstrated the truth of that statement too: you may know that he tried over three thousand experiments before he was finally successful with the filament for the light-bulb, for example.

However, the story I was told concerned how he accessed his creativity. Apparently, he realised that he was at his most creative just before he fell asleep; and he eventually trained himself so that he could access this state – what we would call the alpha-theta state – whenever he desired. It was when he was in this very relaxed state that he got some of his best ideas. He just then needed to do the other ninety-nine percent.

For thousands of years, spiritual practitioners have also known about this state; and many spiritual disciplines have produced ways of accessing it. Practices such as hypnosis, meditation and yoga, for example, can all provide a method to access this deeply relaxed state of mind in which creativity flourishes. More recently, however, it has been discovered that the same relaxed state of mind can be reached very quickly by using Binaural Beats.

When I first heard of Binaural Beats, I must say, I just didn’t believe what was being proposed. The idea is that you just listen to some specially-prepared music, and you automatically induce a particular state within the brain. It just seemed too-good to be true to me. However, now that I understand a little about how they actually work, I am finally convinced.

So I will be giving Binaural Beats a tryout in the coming months and will report my findings back here.

Meanwhile, if you want to try them yourself, take a look here …

Binaural Beats

How to Motivate People

2009-06-05T16:40:00.002+01:00

Recently, I was discussing a situation with a friend. It concerned how to motivate an employee who was reporting to my friend. It was an interesting discussion. The person concerned had been given a certain amount of telephone calls to make (about 30-odd) but failed to get anywhere close to that figure; apparently making only 2 calls in an entire day.

What my friend wanted to say to the person concerned was something like, ‘you need to get off your butt and start making a contribution around here or things will be the worse for you.” However, such an approach is never usually wise; and even if you feel like doing something similar – and even if it is, in your opinion, warranted – it is unlikely to produce the desired effect. The only positive likely to come out of such an exchange is that you might feel a little better for a short time. But the other person is highly unlikely to engage in any kind of behavioural change.

So how do you go about addressing this sort of thing? How do we give feedback about the performance of others in such a manner as to get them to recognise the errors of their ways and pull their finger out – so to speak? It’s a good question; and one that was very well-answered, in my opinion, in the One Minute Manager – a management classic by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.

In that book, there are basically three principles that are proposed to get the best out of your staff. Here they are …

1. Make sure they know what you want
2. If they do anything wrong, just ignore it
3. Catch them doing something right and praise them for it

When you come to think of it, most managers do exactly the reverse don’t they? This is what they do instead …

1. They do not make their requirements crystal clear
2. If you do anything wrong, you are in trouble
3. If you do anything right, they ignore you

By constantly praising the good and ignoring the bad, you will be amazed at what can be achieved. Oh, and your boss will be amazed too. A word of warning here: using these principles could get you promoted!

Well, it is amazing what can be achieved through the simple method outlined in their book. You may have seen animals and/or children being trained to change their behaviour using these principles; and that’s because they do work. It’s counter-intuitive for many people, of course, but these principles do actually work. If you are in a management/supervisory role, perhaps you should give them a try. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Get further motivation tips here ...

Download 101 Motivation Tips

The Law of Attraction

2009-06-04T14:29:00.003+01:00

When visiting certain online forums dealing with the subject of Personal Development, I fairly frequently encounter people asking why the Law of Attraction isn’t working for them. They are doing all the right things, they say; they are visualising – sometimes people prefer to call it programming – and they are working really hard on the mental side of things, but things just are not manifesting. It is a remarkably common comment.

Well, it seems that such folk are concentrating on the first part (the Law) but missing out on the last part (the Action). You notice the word ‘action’ is entirely contained within the word ‘attraction’. And without action, as Wallace D Wattles once said ‘ you are merely a dreamer or castle builder’. It’s not that I am against the idea of the Law of Attraction, in fact, I am fully in favour of it, but we do need to recognise that, in order to achieve anything, we must take action.

There are many, so-called guru’s who seem to misunderstand this aspect of the law. There are those who want to suggest that you can create anything you want mentally without any action required on your part, but this is only half of the story – what Stephen Covey calls the ‘mental creation’; the other half – action - concerns the physical creation.

For me, this fell perfectly into place when I read the Master Key System the first time, because Charles Haanel makes it plain that what is given-out by visualising is thought; and what is received is also thought. What then needs to happen is the received thought needs to be turned into action in order to see the results you desire manifest themselves.

For example, the White Dove Books site – which gets over 1 million visitors per year at present – did not come about by me just thinking about what it should look like; that was an important first step, of course. But once the vision (what it should look like) was clear to me, it required many individual actions to be performed to translate that vision into the site that matches my vision. Along the way, I had to solve many problems; and they were all solved using the same process – firstly imagining what the result looked like, then acting upon the ideas presented to me by whatever power is operating in the universe.

So do understand that if the Law of Attraction is not working for you, it may be because you are not doing the first part right – the visualising – but for many, it may also be because you are not doing the second part right – the acting. Go to it, my friend: create your vision and then have the courage to go for it! Dedicate yourself to taking the steps that lead to the fulfilment of that dream and you are well on the way to ultimate success.

Developing the Success Mindset

2009-06-03T06:21:00.001+01:00

Let me ask you a quick question: would you say are you trying to become successful?

If you answered ‘yes’ to the above question, you could be in a certain amount of trouble. Why? Because, to be successful, you need to think of yourself as a success. I guess that statement will not surprise anyone, but it is true nonetheless. There is a great difference between seeing your self as someone who is trying to attain success and someone who views themselves as already successful; and in that difference lies an important key.

Some time back, I remember learning how to juggle. It is an interesting process. You get three balls and you try to throw them in the classic 3-ball cascade pattern. If you are lucky, you perhaps make a couple of catches on your first attempt. But if you really persist for a few hours, you will be able to perhaps make 5 or 6 catches. Now despite the fact that you can actually make half a dozen or so catches, you probably still don’t think of yourself as a juggler; you still think of yourself as someone who’s still learning.

But somewhere along the journey, a switch flips over in your mind and you do start to think of yourself as a juggler – yes, even though you are a bad one. And once that happens, the improvement is dramatic. Actually, I think everyone should learn how to juggle, for a whole variety of beneficial reasons including exercising both the left and right sides of the brain.

However, back to the discussion about success. The process of becoming successful is something like the juggling experience. Once you can see yourself as already successful, that switch flips over and you can begin to produce really rapid results – the kind of results that, perhaps, have been so far eluding you.

So that brings up another interesting question: how can you see yourself as already successful when the evidence all around you is to the contrary? That is what developing the success mindset is all about and why it is so important to your ultimate success. If you don’t already see yourself as successful, read the following book on how to develop the success mindset – it’s free!

The Science of Getting Rich

2009-05-29T01:46:00.001+01:00

The Science of Getting Rich is an extraordinary book. I first read it about three years ago; and it certainly made me think about my whole attitude to the subject of money. Perhaps, like me, you were conditioned to think that you ought not to want to have too much – perhaps you think it is wrong, in some way, to want to be rich.

Well this book certainly opened my eyes to a number of things; and, as a result, my views about money have changed. Firstly, I now think it is perfectly acceptable to actually want to be rich – not just comfortably well-off, but actually rich. Even now – having given myself permission to think big – I still find it difficult to think in terms of what I really want; rather than what I need. Such is the power of that early conditioning.

Secondly, I now understand what causes wealth; and what does not cause wealth. Wallace D Wattles spends some time explaining the causes of wealth. For me, this was quite enlightening. Because, once you accept that wealth in not caused by position, rank, location, type of business, luck and so on, you can get into what its real causes are; and then you can go about reproducing them. And the law of cause and effect will absolutely ensure that the wealth will begin to flow toward you.

What is the cause of wealth? Well, you should really read the book and find out for yourself. We have a free download here …

The Science of Getting Rich

How Positive Thinking Works

2009-03-25T02:56:00.002Z

If you have never before heard of the Pygmalion Effect you may be in for a bit of a surprise. It is the principle that underpins the whole idea of positive thinking. Simply put, it is that people always tend to realise their expectations about themselves; or, in the succinct words of Henry Ford, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. In this article, we'll consider why this is the case.

First, let's explore what the Pygmalion Effect is about. In the classic study conducted by Robert Rosenthal, primary school teachers were told that a small group of the schoolchildren they were teaching were above average intelligence. This resulted in the teachers unconsciously differentiating their attention with respect to those children; and this affected the results the children actually achieved. In other words, the expectations of the teachers were realised - it became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Variations of this experiment have been performed that show that students will also perform better when their expectations are similarly raised. The principle has become the cornerstone of modern sports-psychology. It is not, of course, a substitute for doing physical work, but working on mental attitude to elevate expectations and thereby subsequent results, is a familiar technique for most athletes; and a central tenet of most modern approaches to coaching.

The reason it works is simple: we are all inclined to make pre-judgements about our likely performance in a whole multitude of situations. Our ability to perform, in many situations is, to some extent based upon our self-confidence. Quite simply, our raised expectations amount to increased self-confidence. In exactly the same way, a negative expectation about performance translates into reduced self-confidence; and also tends to produce the expected results.

So the discussion naturally brings up the question of how we can raise our own expectations in order to positively affect our results. There are a number of ways to do this, but an excellent technique is to make use of affirmations. This is where you say to yourself (by the way: don't worry, everyone talks to themselves) ... I AM ... followed by ... whatever it is you want to be. For example ... I AM Calm ... I AM in Control ... I AM Confident; and so on.

If you repeat phrases such as these, over and over in your mind, day-in, day-out, then eventually, your subconscious will come to accept that you are those things - that you have those qualities. That is how you can quite easily, raise those expectations; the results will invariably follow because a confident person is a person who, first and foremost, believes they are confident; and therefore expects to perform confidently.

You too can become a winner by making use of exactly the same techniques that are used by winners. When you begin to work on yourself, by making use of the right affirmations, you can transform the expectations you have about yourself; and you will then begin to experience the Pygmalion Effect operating in your life.

The Astonishing Power of The Secret

2009-03-21T03:29:00.002Z

When Napoleon Hill wrote his most famous book, Think and Grow Rich, he provided an amazing demonstration of the astonishing power of the secret. Just in case you don't know about this book, I'll tell you right away that Hill mentions to his readers that there is a secret contained within his book. The result has been that people have been searching for his secret ever since. In this article, we'll consider the basic motivation of those who continue to search; and how it is used in internet marketing.

Let's consider how the secret principle is continuing to be used in marketing. A good recent example was the movie The Secret. By the way, if you have not seen it, it is an excellent movie; and well worth your time to take a look. However, the marketing for the movie essentially did the exactly same thing that Napoleon Hill's book did: it suggested that there was some secret knowledge, or key, that once discovered had the power to transform people into winners.

Everywhere we look in internet marketing, we can see the same principle being utilised in many different ways, but fundamentally it makes use of the same basic human motivation. The reason it works is that people require closure. Once our curiosity has been piqued skilfully, we hunger for it to be satisfied; and if that means we have to pay a few dollars for the privilege, then so be it. That's how powerful the principle is: it made Napoleon Hill a millionaire; it has made the makers of the Secret a fortune, the dimensions of which stagger the imagination; and - my friend - if correctly applied, it can make you into a millionaire too!

Yes - really!

Here's something for you to try: go to Google and type in the following search term in quotation marks exactly as shown ... "secrets of". At the time of writing there were 32 million results - a good number of them trying to apply this principle, but doing so ineffectively. Because the secret is not in the word - it is in the principle. For many people entitling your next project The Secrets of ... will actually be a turn-off. Instead, what you need to do is use the principle. Notice that Napoleon Hill's book was not called The Secrets of Growing Rich.

To utilise the secret effectively you need to provoke the curiosity of the prospect. You can do this by providing a powerful part 1 message - either in your sales copy, or in a free giveaway report - then sell the part 2 information. The success of the approach depends upon the quality of your free part 1 information. If your part 1 information is of excellent quality, but is also incomplete in some way, you will have found the key to getting those visitors of yours to part with some cash to complete their knowledge.

This principle, well understood and correctly applied, truly holds the power to transform your internet marketing efforts.

How to Develop Rapport Instantly

2009-03-17T11:38:00.002Z

If you think about it, the people you know fall into three broad groupings: most people, you get on with pretty well; some people, you really hit-it-off with; and some people, you just can't stand. Developing rapport is all about getting on well with people; it is about you being in their good-books so you do not become someone they can't stand. Done well, developing rapport transforms you into a person that other people are drawn toward.

There is a secret to this whole business; and it's a secret not because people don't know about it, but because it is so rarely used. Here it is - now don't blink: you must smile at the person when you first meet them. Is that it, I hear you say? Yes - that's it! Easily said, but not necessarily easily-done. Oh come on: surely anyone can manage a smile you may think? But that is not actually the case because it is, in fact, in the very situations that we feel least like smiling that we most need to smile.

Many people would argue that they smile when they feel happy and they frown when they feel sad; and that's the way it works. Well, if that's the case, they are allowing their environment to dictate their success with others because how they behave in meetings - especially first-meetings - determines whether or not they will develop rapport; and hence, whether or not the meeting will be successful.

We may not be able to control the way we feel about things. However, we are able to choose our responses; and smiling, or not, is fundamentally, a response. If you think about all of the important meetings you engage in - both your business and private life - you will recognise that the more important the meeting is, the more tense you are likely to be and, hence, the less likely you will be to smile naturally. Those are the situations in which smiling can make a vital difference. Learning to smile frequently, and habitually, is without doubt, the most underused and under-discussed success strategy.

Now that brings up the question: how do you smile naturally? It is a good question because you don't want an artificial expression. I suggest that you pick a trigger thought that you can use in important situations. A trigger-thought is one that causes you to smile. It can be anything - they, after all, don't know why you are smiling. Perhaps you could imagine the other person wearing a red nose - that usually causes me to smile. That's an example of a trigger thought you could actually use.

In one particular study, it was shown that facial expressions which were artificially induced did actually influence mood. So even an artificial attempt at putting a smile on your face is likely to have a beneficial effect. What a bonus - smiling actually causes people to feel happy! Amazing, I know, but nevertheless, this finding is a result of extensive research into the subject. Put this simple principle to work for you immediately and start smiling your way to success.

The Death of Time Management

2009-03-13T08:22:00.001Z

There is no such thing as Time Management - it is a complete misnomer! You simply cannot manage time. Systems that claim to give you extra hours in the day are just methods of self-delusion. High-performing individuals get 24 hours in their days; and so too do low-performing people. So forget the whole idea of Time Management; what you really need is Self Management; and, in this article, we will consider what that means.

Many people don't have a destination in mind. In other words, they don't have goals, they don't have a vision and they don't have a personal mission. When you see the demands made upon your time in terms of what is important to your mission, your life will take-on a different dimension. This means, of course, actually having a mission. Perhaps it is easier said than done, but take your time to do all the self-examination necessary to answer the following question for yourself: what is my life about?

What's important is what you define it to be! That is the reason for having your mission so clear in your own mind. Once you have it defined, you can consider the demands made upon your time in relation to whether or not they contribute to its fulfilment. Remember that just saying no is a really great tool for getting more done: say no when people try to pull you off-course; say no when tasks that confront you are the responsibility of others; say no to yourself when you want to indulge in procrastination. This is not being negative; it is actually being positive. Your goal is to reclaim time that would otherwise be squandered - in order to spend it on those things that are really important.

Do what you love; and love what you do! This is not some simplistic notion: if you don't love what you are doing, you are not doing the right things with your life. If that is the case, go back to step 1 - above - i.e. get clear about your goals, mission and vision. Once you have clarity on these things and you are executing what is important in relation to them, you should be loving what you do. You will really begin to enjoy your life, living it in the way life is truly meant to be lived.

The fulfilment of your dreams is the natural consequence of pursuing this course of action because your dreams should be encapsulated within your vision; and this simple prescription will lead to their fulfilment. The first three steps require action; the final step is really the reward. So, to summarise ...

S - See Your Destination
E - Execute What's Important
L - Love What You Do
F - Fulfil Your Dreams

You now have the magic formula for managing - not time - but self. Use it wisely for contained within these simple words is the power to transform your life. You don't need to know any more about Time Management - Self Management is what really counts.

Why Gratitude is Essential to Success

2009-03-09T03:32:00.001Z

If you want to improve your chances of success in whatever endeavour you are engaged; if you want to acquire wealth, make new friends, improve your golf-swing, become a better writer, lover, father, mother or whatever else you may desire in life, you should first work on cultivating the attitude of gratitude. The foregoing is, of course, a quite bold statement. In this article, we will consider the reason it is true.

It may be difficult, at first, to understand how acquiring an attitude of gratitude can so dramatically impact the amount of success we achieve in life, but so many of the great writers of inspirational texts have attested to this truth that we owe it to ourselves to try to understand. The simple truth is that so much of what we receive in life flows to us as a result of attitude. When we are happy, positive and generally upbeat, good things tend to happen; just as when we are miserable, negative and downcast, we tend to experience exactly the opposite.

People want to associate with people who have the ability to impact their lives positively; to help them inject some enthusiasm into the drudgery that, for so many, has become an inevitable part of their daily lives. Grateful people are happy people: they are givers - not takers - and they are engaged with life. Grateful people therefore have real power to impact others in a meaningful way.

Gratitude is, first and foremost - a state of mind; and it is the natural state of mind that flows from being in a position of grace. For our purposes, we will consider grace to be defined as: undeserved favour. When we are in a position of grace; when we receive something that we feel we did not deserve, gratitude is our most natural response: we are thankful. The big question then, is how can we acquire that attitude - permanently? The answer is something your mother may have taught you when you were really young: you need to learn to count your blessings.

When you examine your life, there may well be all kinds of things that you are simply not grateful for; but, if you are prepared to do so, the more you look, the more things you will find, for which you are truly grateful. So why not start counting your blessings today by beginning your own Gratitude Journal. You might be surprised at the effect it could have on yourself.

Spend an hour or so writing down all the things in your life that you are grateful for - the effect on you, after only a short time, will be quite noticeable; and, if you make writing in your journal a habit, the results can be really profound. You will begin to see your life changing for the better. You will become more positive about life, you will meet its challenges with an enthusiasm you didn't realise was within you and you will develop significantly more influence with others.

Life Purpose, Mission and Goals

2008-12-30T09:50:00.001Z

The end of the year is always a good time to re-visit your Mission and think about your Goals. What’s that? You don’t have a Mission – or – perhaps even worse – you don’t have any goals? Well, if you do, that’s great. But if you don’t, right now is absolutely the best time to start!

Goals should be SMART, of course – that is, they should be …

• S – Specific
• M – Measureable
• A – Achievable
• R - Realistic
• T – Timetabled

You can get the low-down on goal-setting in my article How to Set and Achieve a Goal

If you don’t yet have a Mission Statement, I would encourage you to think about writing one. Now, I do mean writing your own, personal Mission Statement. You might think that such an undertaking is not relevant or important to your personal life, but it really is because it will help you to generate focus and direction in your life.

Take your time about constructing your Mission Statement – it should be a statement of personal meaning that embodies your Life Purpose. Now, that may be easy to say, but for many people, discovering their Life Purpose can be a lengthy undertaking. If you are not sure why you are here on the planet, then I suggest you read my free book The 7 Keys to Success.

Now then, about that Mission Statement!

A Good Mission Statement should be:
• A Clear Statement of Intent
• Short & Memorable
• Inspirational
• Forward-Looking

You can read more about writing your personal Mission Statement in my article Your Personal Mission Statement.

So right now is the time: forget about New Year’s Resolutions. They don’t work – but goal-setting does!

Take the time to get your Life Purpose clear in your mind. Embody the spirit of it in a Mission Statement; and then set clear Goals that plot the course of your life towards your destination.

If you already have these things in place, revisit them. Meditate upon your Goals, Life Purpose and Mission. Make sure they are right for you. Keep them in mind over the coming year and watch your progress.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-20T08:30:00.003Z

Here we are at the end of one year and the beginning of another. Looking toward the year ahead, we hope you will choose to make your life whatever you want it to be.

Have the courage to define what you really want; and then go for it ...

Little Book of Inspiration

You Can Collect Your vBook Here (No Payment Required) ...

Collect Your vBook Here

NB This is a Video Book (vBook) in PC Format only (sorry Mac fans!)

Always strive to be the best you can be! Give of your best; and you will reap the rewards of what you sow - you will get the best!

Seasons Greetings from White Dove Books and Happy New Year 2009.

With every good wish,

Will Edwards.
The White Dove Partnership

PS Please do pass this free gift on to your friends to help us
in our mission to bring Inspiration the World!

Your Life Purpose

2008-11-28T13:40:00.004Z

Many people would scoff at the idea that your life has a specific purpose; perhaps you are one such person. If so, I would like you to open your mind to the possibility that you have indeed been placed right here, on the planet, to achieve something important with your life. Yes – that’s your life we’re talking about.

When it comes to defining what we want out of life, many people actually struggle to say what it is. And in the absence of such a definition, they get on with what they think life is about: they get into the business of earning a crust – making a living; however you might like to put it. All the time hoping that one day, they will generate enough of a cash surplus to allow themselves the freedom to begin to do what they really want later in life.

You know, that’s really putting the cart before the horse; and it’s the consequence of not considering the most important questions first:

• What am I here to achieve with my life?
• What can I contribute to society?
• How can I best serve others?
• What would I love to do with my time if money were no object?
• What is the most important to me in this life?

Spend time, as much as it takes, answering these questions and you will be well on the way to discovering your life purpose. What I like to call The Deepest Desire of your Heart is your life work; your calling; or your vocation.

Read the following free book for more information …

7 Keys to Success - Click to Download

On Giving Up

2008-11-25T11:32:00.001Z

There is no question about it, if you want to be successful on the internet, you need to be persistent. I think most people think they are persistent enough when they start out, but when they give-up, they demonstrate that they just are not.

Recently, I came across the following stat: you need to invest 10,000 hours to succeed at something. At 4 hours per day, that equates to 10 man-years! Apparently this stat comes from a Radio 4 show which also proposed that if you were born in 1955, your chances of success are greater (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc). This is because these people were all at the right age at the right time.

It really got me thinking: how long have I been at this internet thing? How much of my 10,000 hours have I invested? And exactly how successful is my internet business? Well, first of all, I have been working on the White Dove Books site for the past 4 years; and, as it happens, I do spend about 4 hours per day, every day on the project – that is approximately 1,000 man-days (8 hour days, that is).

By the above calculation, I am about half-way to being successful (lol). Actually, I think this is probably about right too! I enjoy a healthy second-income from my internet activity; and I estimate that I will retire in 2 to 3 years from the growth of those activities.

There are ways you can short-cut this process of course: you can trade money for time, for example i.e. you can get other people to do some of the leg-work for you, but you need to compensate them for their effort. But generally, before you embark on an internet project, I believe this would be a good question to ask: are you willing to put in 5 to 7 years of solid effort at the rate of approximately 4 hours per day? If not, then my advice would be to pack it in now because you will save yourself a lot of frustration.

With a solid plan to grow your internet presence, and a dogged determination to succeed, you have the raw material. If takes time, effort, patience and persistence, but the rewards are definitely there for absolutely anyone who wants to tread the path. So the real question is: are you determined enough to succeed?