Goals and Expectations

We should not confuse goals and expectations. Goals are the concrete and positive result of a fulfilled wish, and they provide satisfaction and success. On its side, expectations are focused on the behavior that we expect from other people. Setting a goal also means directing all our efforts towards achieving the goal, combining several tasks in order to attain it. However, to have an expectation reduces to delegating our wishes to the lucky concurrence of external factors.

Therefore, setting goals helps us to empower strategies, to create effectivity and to dominate the process of achieving whatever thing we wish. Besides, our goals create new opportunities, and improve our capacity for overcoming obstacles and conquering unexpected hurdles. As we move forward and reach the little goals that we had set, we also have the feeling of walking our paths faster, with a boosted self-confidence and a diminishing desire to return to the past. By the way, when we feel little or no desire to return to the past, we can be sure that we have improved as human beings.

Goals and Dreams

As aforesaid, a difference between goals and dreams lies in the time required for reaching them. Goals are closer. Besides, motivation also establishes a notorious difference between goals and dreams. We have more immediate and realistic motivations for reaching goals. On the contrary, dreams’ motivation is typically diffuse, sometimes very unclear.

However, dreams are the ultimate fuel of life, no matter how fuzzy they may be. As life moves on, we will feel the dream, approach the dream, dream the dream… we will be continuously reshaping the dream. Dreams are, after all, made of a very malleable matter. In life, we walk towards the sun, and our sun is composed of just dreams. Every step toward such sun kills a doubt. And each of such steps is a goal.

Organizing our Goals

We have to prepare a few lists for visualizing our goals and, in general, our action and thinking paths. When we write down our goals in a list, we are defining and outlining a plan to reach the goals. We are committing ourselves to fulfilling them based on practical aspects. On the contrary, the list of dreams contains relatively remote possibilities, excepting perhaps the first or second dream. In order to reach the first dream of the list, we have to conquer a chain of goals. In short, goals are the intermediate steps required for achieving the ultimate objective of your life.

Indeed, dreams and goals are different things. Nevertheless, both are descriptions of things that we want to get. Thereby, the lists of dreams and goals are complementary, and they are intertwined for the same objectives. Remember that in order to satisfy a dream, we first have to satisfy the goals linked to such dream. These are the documents we should elaborate for visualization:

1. List of Dreams: It’s obvious. Here we include all our dreams… It doesn’t matter how absurdly improbable they seem. Include everything you want: from being immortal to buying a skyscraper.
2. List of Goals: In this list we will include, in order of preference, the different intermediate goals required to reach our desired dreams. Once we have written down our goals, we have to imagine ourselves fulfilling such goals. Use your imagination.
3. Plan of Actions: It’s the ordered and detailed description of the steps we have to follow in order to achieve the goals. We will write down the best ways for achieving them and all the guidelines that we have to follow in a progressive and adequate approach. You should think of alternative paths for the same goal… look for options… we should always have something up our sleeve.
4. Success: Do yourself a favor and define here, with simple and clear words, what success means for you. It is the ultimate achievement of desire. What do you want? Money? Family? Health? Education? Fame? Just a nice job? Tell me.

In my seminars, I often know people who think that elaborating all these documents is very easy. Indeed, they look deceptively simple. But this is the truth: they are complicated documents. Further, it’s very improbable that you can say at some point: “this document is finally done and no more modifications will be needed”. Wrong. These are very mutable documents (you may easily require years to arriving to a completely satisfactory definition of success… you will be reshaping your dreams…) Other people think that they don’t have to write anything… that all the required data is in their head. I already wrote in Choosing a Topic for your Thesis:

Don’t be like those students of Algebra who think that only reading proofs, without writing proofs, suffices to approve the final exam.

So, don’t be like the bad students. But, why these documents are not easy? It’s just because creating such documents requires a lot of introspection. They require that we know ourselves very well. If we do not know ourselves very well, the documents are a good tool for learning… but such learning is not straightforward. For the List of Dreams, you first have to sincerely recognize what your true dreams are. For the List of Goals you have to analyze your dreams, and identify the activities required for achieving them. You have to think about actors, resources and deadlines. The Plan of Actions is really hard. You have to think like a fine strategist, considering probable and improbable possibilities. You have to anticipate defeats. You have to harness victories. Regarding Success… well, you have to discover the kind of human being you are right now. However, we have to create the documents, and simply recognize that they may be imperfect… don’t worry about that. Just write.

Visualizing Goals

Here is the key: visualizing is linking ideas and facts. Once the documents are completed, we can proceed to visualization. We can also think of visualization as the process of creating a mental image of what we want to happen, as if it had already happened. How good we are on this activity depends on the level of training of our minds. Other little secret for you: as every expert in motivation knows, the previous presented documents are really so imperfect that they cannot be used as guidelines for visualization… their true purpose is untangling the mind… the questions raised by such documents are what really matter.

During visualization, we use resources stored in the brain. Our unconscious mind accumulates the experiences. Thereafter, all our systems use the unconscious data as a reference basis for conscious and unconscious behavior. There is no doubt that the speed in achieving the goals is related to the clarity and frequency of our visualizations. A clear mental image allows for our minds to detect the new opportunities and avoid dangers. This way, the unconscious’ data provide more resources and reflexes for acting.

Viewing a goal is like sending an order to the unconscious. We demmand it to release its full capacity to achieve our objectives. Unfortunately, it is not the only thing that our mind will receive. When we knock on  unconscious mind’s door, we stir it up, and it’s very probable that latent fears suddenly awake. Such negative information can seriously block the action. Although there are no scientific instruments for measuring the power of visualization, I have no doubt about the importance of mental images of success for a happy life. If our goal, for instance, is getting a promotion, and we continually think about this goal, our mind and body will act toward such wish, and we will be promoted!

We must not forget that the practice of visualization is of great help to achieve our objectives. Once you grasp the habit of constantly visualizing the goals you want to fulfill, you’ll notice that your enthusiasm and self-confidence improve. Thus, the mind remains alert and awake, to detect all possible options, and fully complete the goal. The practice of visualization is recommended for those who intend to achieve success and personal satisfaction.

Goals, as Life, are a Cycle

Finally, please notice a simple yet vital fact: a goal implies a change of state. A goal never dies, it just transforms into another goal. As life itself, a goal is not an end point… it’s a cycle, in which we are continually revisiting the extreme points and the intermediate steps.

Thanks for reading. Please, let me know your thoughts on this. Take care!

You may also like…

• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• The Art of Saving (9)
• Exercises for Keeping a Young Mind (17)
• 10 Recommendations for Fighting Panic and Stress (6)
• Goals (4)

This way, The Seven Pillars of Health collects several sound habits focused on achieving a longer and healthier life. Esentially, the key points are:

1.- Drink plenty of water (ionized alkaline filtered.) Considering that the human body is composed by about 65% of water, we have to renew it continually, drinking between 2 and 3 liters a day. I’d take this recommendation with a bit of salt, because not everyone reacts positively to an increase in fluid intaking… some people have reported swelling, edema and increases in blood pressure after starting to drink more water than necessary.

2.- Rest about 9 hours a day. Sleep your 9 hours, or sleep 8 hours and complete the remaining one with a nap. During sleep, our body regulates the production of several hormones, the aging process is refrained a bit, the immune system is fortified, cerebral functions improve, and cortisol levels (a stress agent) are decreased.

3.- A good dietary regimen, which prefers “alive” food over “dead” one. That is to say, prefer rice, green vegetables, tomatoes, avocado, pulses, chickpeas, nuts, potatoes, vegetables, peas, and whole grain bread and pasta. Eventually, eat fish, eggs, cheese and chicken. You may eat red meat sporadically, but preferably, lamb.

4.- Exercise regularly. In the worts case, walk actively and daily for at least 35 minutes, to remove water and body’s fat.

5.- Detox by means of eventual fasting, and living in a zone with a clean environment.

6.- Take some vitamin and mineral supplements, phytonutrients and antioxidants.

7.- The last pillar we have to consider comprises controlling stress, keeping a young mind, learning to forgive, living a calmed life and learning to live with the power of smile, optimism and joy.

Overall, this is a good book. And we have previously presented topics related to Dr. Colbert’s “pillars” in this blog. Additionally, Dr. Colbert accompanies the pages of his book with passages from the Bible and exercises to bring you closer to God and your faith. Therefore, some people of nonchristian religions may find this book totally unappealling. But it’s definitely an interesting reading.

You may also like…

• Natural Recipe for a Healthy Prostate (11)
• Diet Tips for Preventing High Cholesterol Levels (52)
• 7 easy (and overlooked) tips for a healthy life (10)
• 10 Recommendations for Fighting Panic and Stress (6)
• New evidence of cancer link to mobile use (7)

Therefore, she has forfeited happiness, fearing “what might happen.” Albeit she knows that her disease is successfully controlled, “she does not feel the required confidence”… Confidence in who or what? Confidence in her doctors? No. I told her that she did not have confidence in herself. It had nothing to do with diabetes, specifically. She was just doubting her ability to respond to unexpected situations, related or not to her diabetes. Needless to say, very improbable situations. Fear is always the finished product of a lack of self-confidence. Besides, fear is never innocent.

I think that we should not worry about what might happen. It’s fine to review the possibilities, the things that may happen… logically, some results will be better than others. But we must not surrender to fear or worries. Rather than worrying about future possibilities, we should focus on living the present. 90% of those things that worry us do never occur. Concerning about the future is falling prey to anxiety… During such anxiety episodes, we want the future to arrive now, as soon as possible, to live it now… Sometimes living the future now is the only cure we find to our head spinning for the ocean of possibilities and those “things that might happen.” But that is totally wrong.

Time is wise, and shares its wisdom with those who are patient. Things occur, good or bad… things just happen. That should be obvious. And when they happen, we act accordingly. More often than not, we cannot anticipate how such “accordingly acting” should be. An that’s normal. However, problems raise when our minds tend to fall into the trap of believing that by “anticipating” we have a better chance of success once things have occurred. Yes, that’s true, “to anticipate” aids a lot. But… how many variables must we handle in order to our anticipation to be meaningful? Therein lies the problem: the amount of variables involved in our anticipated reasoning. To solve a concrete problem in some specific area (e.g., Physics, Economics, etc.), “to anticipate” can be crucial. In real life, anticipating would also be good… but life has an almost infinite number of variables beyond our reach, and therefore perfectly anticipating a situation makes no sense, and in fact, is unattainable beyond luck’s grounds. We have no control over the future. We must plan, in order to improve our chance of success, but we must also recognize our limits (be humble!): a perfect plan does not amount to a perfect future. Our true option is to live the present… by acting we enforce the bit of control we have over the present.

Finally, I like to think that life is multicolored. And it’s up to us which colors we do choose. Behind every joy there is always a bitterness, and each misfortune encloses some advantage. We select our colors. Again, don’t concern about the future… Let’s act right now! Future will always arrive, no matter our plans… we cannot change that fact. But once future has arrived, let’s act with self-confidence. By acting now, we show and enjoy the colors of our life.

Be happy

You may also like…

• Looking for True Happiness (8)
• 10 Recommendations for Fighting Panic and Stress (6)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• Meditation Gems: Managing your Time (5)
• On Good Sense (6)

Wait up. We have known a lot of people who used appearances deliberately, in order to deceive others. Again, that ’s just our sense of appearance struggling against ourselves Those people who like to use appearance to hurt others, are really being devoured by a great void and a huge loneliness. Appearances are their bastion to run away from such pain. They think they will “conquer the world” by acting in that fashion, but they only are losing the fight. And the price to pay is solitude. What a high price. But that’s beside the point. We know that life’s treasures belong to true warriors. And no true warrior hides her shinning armor. Being a warrior means to receive injuries. No success is accomplished without receiving injuries. It’s our scars, our last and first places, our defeats, our victories, the beings we have loved, the places we have visited… the only heritage of eternal time.

Appearance is a term linked to lies. It says how we want other people to see us, covering our true colors. Do we let how other people see us have too much influence on how we see ourselves? Do we live by keeping up appearances? More important, do we think that everyone is betraying us? Remember, balance is crucial.

Manny was the general manager of Lois’ company, and as such, he enjoyed wide decision authority. He was coming along well with his work, he was a model worker… apparently. However, one day the main secretary of the company resigned. She had worked for Lois’ father, who started the company several years ago. Before leaving, she told Lois: “Appearances are often deceiving. Beware.” After that caveat, Lois started to carefully look over the company books and stats. She was shocked. She discovered that Manny was involved in dirty and treacherous agreements with rival companies. Even some books reflected mismatches between the sets of figures. That’s why although we must avoid misjudging others, we have to be equally vigilant to protect ourselves of being framed by others.

Appearance, when established in a human being, tends to grow. Appearance sprouts more appearances in order to subsist. The cost of that growth, of course, is self-confidence. And when masks fall, we discover that behind the mask only a dark void was left. We, as imperfect humans, are also leaned toward misjudging others. First, all the things we perceive about others are heavily affected by our beliefs, fears, prejudices, feelings and experiences. Thereby, we don’t analyze information in its pure form… it’s impossible. We always process information influenced by our mindset, which may easily be a door to deception. And our body’s chemicals also alter our mood and attitude. We don’t see reality as it truly is, but as we want to see it. And appearance is the perfect disguise for everyone attending the party of farce. The summarized moral of the post is this: “beating appearances is a matter of living a balanced life.” When balance crumbles, appearances breathe.

Finally, let’s remember Socrates’ wisdom: The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be.

Live happily.

You may also like…

• Colors of Life (5)
• Looking for True Happiness (8)
• Meditation Gems: Managing your Time (5)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• Visualizing your Goals (5)

But intelligence has to be applied well. To win or to lose is the result of myriad events, most of which escape our control. And no matter how much importance we concede to time, we cannot control it. Time continues its eternal walk, indifferent to us little humans. However, when we develop and fortify our self-confidence, we understand that time only rules over the external aspect of life. And we get to know the imperishable truth that lies inside us. Our mind awakens. Our interior life does not know about yesterday or tomorrow… about old or young things… Inside us, we only know about the Now. Now that was, is and will be.

Of course we have to know how to manage our external activities well. Time is gold, and we are a duality: external and internal. But the external side cannot conquer the internal one. The wealth of human experience is eternal, free of time effects. Everything good lives inside us… it has not died, it has not vanished, it has not been wasted away. Love is eternal. Live your Time.

“That time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss unless you devote your heart to its opposition.” – The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams).

You may also like…

• Colors of Life (5)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• Meditation Gems: Appearances (4)
• Looking for True Happiness (8)
• Exercises for Keeping a Young Mind (17)

Good sense is the primary and the conditio sine qua non of a better and longer life. Thanks to it we are able to avoid wars, conflicts, hunger, and getting into troubles in general. It is only a matter of just applying it. The converse, i.e. a bad sense of life balance, turns us into fragile souls, easy preys for evil, envy, and lies. A lack of good sense provides a fake sensation of power… power which indeed is only a cheap mask for selfishness. A lack of good sense separates us from our family, our friends and from the entire world. Moreover, that fake power may lead to an hyperactivity which ultimately will burn us.

Good sense helps us to be true humans, as it improves our self-confidence. Those of us who act prudently, weighing up risks and outcomes, tend to turn into better parents, better sons, and real forgers of avant-garde societies. As aforesaid, good sense involves a keen sense of management and prudence. But it also requires sensibility: we have to be open and responsive toward others and toward our environment. Insensible beings are not only ignorant about others’ emotions, but they are also blind to their own wounds.

It’s my view that good sense is related to permanent consciousness. We should NOT live a routinary life, doing things the Nike-style: Just do it We have to find pleasure in our activities. We have to be always focused, always concentrated in the task at hand. Every problem and every task must receive its quota of time and attention. Don’t work thinking of anything else, as that leads to poor performance, and a progressive decrease in our quality of life.

Good sense follows the bounds of reason, reigning over natural appetites for the pleasure of senses. No real success can be accomplished and sustained in the face of inability to control oneself. Finally, we have to understand that good sense is the only way toward justice. And only fair people will prevail in happiness. Remember, though, that justice starts with ourselves. Our names may be linked to problems, to difficulties, but never should be associated with unfairness, bad sense or sadness.

Next time we have to cut a flower, let’s remember that good sense means acting with wisdom. Is there anything superior to the wisdom that nature shows in a flower?

You may also like…

• Colors of Life (5)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• A Thing that Truly Hurts Self-confidence (4)
• Exercises for Keeping a Young Mind (17)
• Three Gifts (6)

At the outset, such reaction is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a natural mechanism which prepares us for defense. Thus, anxiety is a relatively common emotion, naturally linked to survival. However, it may become a threat to our health if:

• The reaction gets out of control, forcing us to adopt a defensive behavior continually. This consumes body and mind’s energy, unproductively.
• Anxiety attacks are experienced, including severe physical and emotional disturbances, such as headaches, arrhythmias, irascibility, nausea and general pain. No matter the graveness of those symptoms, the result is the same: zero productivity and zero advance with regards to the feared issue. Plenty of weakening, though.

I always like to recommend an evaluation by a qualified specialist if we are facing health problems, including anxiety. Additionally, I think the following neat tips may prove useful in controlling the anxiety stemming from our daily chores and jobs:

1. Try to relax, silently, during at least 10 minutes every day. Modern living can make us very unaccustomed to silence, but both mind and soul speak in the silent moments.
2. Meditate, practice a correct and relaxed breathing, specially in those times in which stress is tougher.
3. If you ever feel trapped into a stressful situation, take a break and think: what I’m doing right now? Learn to identify anger, fear, sadness, happiness, anguish and envy.
4. Every morning, after waking up, say: “Thanks God, for the things I have. And with such things I do my best.“
5. Watch your diet. Include fresh fruit and vegetables as much as possible (without breaking the nutritional balance of your diet, of course.)
6. Follow some type of exercise program, outdoors. Exercise for at least 3 hours weekly.
7. Try not to use your watch for a week. You’ll discover the nice time management abilities of the mind.
8. Expand your social circle, looking for people with a personality similar to yours. I do insist, a good circle of friends is vital for keeping a good mental health.
9. Fears are defeated by talking about them, by accepting them. We should talk about the things that haunt us with a lovely person who knows how to heal… a wise mother… a dear friend. Such lovely people, whose words heal our soul, are a treasure.
10. Finally, find your spaces and a take your time for enjoying life… dedicate that time only to yourself. Allow yourself to be happy. Nature is open to us… why don’t we take some time to enjoy it?

Thanks for reading. Be happy.

You may also like…

• 10 Recommendations for Fighting Panic and Stress (6)
• 7 easy (and overlooked) tips for a healthy life (10)
• Colors of Life (5)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• On Good Sense (6)

What do we achieve by thinking of ourselves as “supermen” or “wonder women”? Too little, indeed. Trying to act (and even feel) like fiction heroes, in a frantic rush to enjoy something that really is too tiresome to be enjoyed. There is little reward in demanding ourselves the compliment of being perfect, effective, productive, attractive and winsome people who have no real problems at work or at home, and who always ignite the life of the party. Needless to say, there is no reward in working frenetically until our minds and bodies cannot handle it anymore: we would weaken and become sick. But we already know that time is unstoppable: other people would carry on our duties, and someday, we would be simply forgotten. In other words, no matter how much effort and blood we devote to our jobs, we are always dispensable for the furious wheel of businesses.

I’ve worked as a business manager for a long time, and have had the chance to meet a lot of people who burn-out very fast. That’s no surprise as they were but machines for working. Apathy and frustration resulting from prolonged stress and overwork will, sooner or later, lead to health problems. Absolute fatigue is an enemy of health and self-confidence. There are crowds yearning for turning into winners; they pretend series of victories, and are not willing to tolerate any flaws. But the winners’ mindset totally differs of this approach. They are obsessed with a need of self-confidence, wealth, fame and success, beyond any reasonable limit. Albeit they are free to do so, I think that these people are ruining their life: they have not learned to relax, to slow down, and to enjoy the wonderful things life reserves for those with true self-confidence.

What are the questions that motivates our work and related actions? The following are dangerous questions:

• How much have we earned?
• How much have we progressed in relation to other people?
• Are we going to be famous?
• Is it possible to win more money?
• Are we the best already?
• Did we ring up the cash correctly?

The problems is that, when these people reach their mental and physical limits, self-confidence hesitates and weakens because they suddenly discover that they are not absolutely flawless beings… and such reality does not match with their (fake) perfection. Thus, self-confidence is hurt.

Rather, we should be asking ourselves what have we done today? What are we doing right now? Better yet, let’s don’t ask… let’s answer and do the right things that we know should be done. Advance, perhaps slowly, but firmly. None of our steps should reveal fear. Let’s visit and share with our friends. Let’s improve our working, resting and familiar environments. Let’s enjoy our family. Let’s strengthen our ecological practices; by loving all living creatures, we are loving ourselves. Keep your mind young. Follow a healthy lifestyle. Obliterate panic and stress. Listen to your favorite music. Take a walk with the person you like. Breathe. Love.

Finally, we are heroes. Yes, indeed. But heroes in the epic adventure of learning to live well. Brave heroes. But above all, human heroes.

You may also like…

• On Good Sense (6)
• Exercises for Keeping a Young Mind (17)
• Colors of Life (5)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• Meditation Gems: Managing your Time (5)

Who are the Winners?

Winners are fortunate people, indeed. But except for rare cases, most of their fortune stems from hard work, and more importantly, from a sound and clear mindset. Winners have no time (nor wish) to be moaning about the “harshness of life.” Winners don’t complain about such things, because they understand that life, like a river, exhibits turbulent episodes in some parts, but caress and nourish the surrounding nature, all the way.

Positive Attitude in The Winners’ Mind

Nevertheless, all these years I’ve known a lot of people who are frequently bitching about their lack of money or general misfortune, but what they are indeed lacking is a positive attitude toward their money. Now, what does this “positive attitude” notion mean? Let’s start by answering a few questions:

• What really are the kind of thoughts that flood our minds when we think of our money?
• Which are the words we utter when speaking about our money and related things (such as mortgage, bank, expenses, etc.)?
• In the past, how much success have we attained by spending and investing our money?

For me,

Positive Attitude = Positive Thoughts + Positive Words

Note that the above equation simply states that a positive attitude amounts to a positive mental production. Most often that not, our past success (or lack of it) determines our mental precondition for new ventures. In this sense, experience acts as a conditioning for the new undertakings, which may be a good thing (or not.) It really depends on our ability to use positive attitude to fuel the success of the past, or to improve our performance with respect to a previous unsatisfactory experience. For new things, Winners always combine their positive attitude and their past (bad and good) experiences. A point here is that past experiences should never be a fear factor for money issues.

An important thing we have to notice is that if we are always complaining about our financial problems, and thinking that nothing can be done, our minds will be devoured by the negative thoughts. Worse yet, with time, our minds will get used to this mental state, and such mental states only attract more debt and despair. There is a huge difference between facing financial problems at a given stage of our lives (we all face or have faced this type of problems,) and thinking that no action can be done to improve the situation. Winners think different, and that’s why they are the winners. It’s just that simple.

Money Problems should be Faced through Positive Thinking

Our minds are a theater of thoughts, flowing and reshaping, every day. Some actors of such theater are excellent, but other are fairly mediocre. And what is the nature of mediocre thoughts? Short answer: our view on some aspects of reality. If some aspect of current reality bothers us, our minds will tend to create thoughts of angst. Mediocre thoughts have some noxious effects:

• First, they block any risky action linked to the problem (even though the outcome of such action may solve the problem!)
• Moreover, they activate the body’s defense system, sometimes uneccessarily stressing it.
• And finally, they are a waste of time and energy. Worrying achieves nothing. Why? Because worries change nothing; solutions and goals require (imply) change.

Now, most of problems we see in life are related to money, and therefore, money tends to become into a source of mediocre and harmful thoughts. That’s what we have to change. In order to attain wealth, winners introduce important changes in their thinking style. Remember what I said about thoughts being actors of the (mental) theater. Who is the director of the theater and of the play? You.

Let’s start by replacing negative thoughts by positive ones. If we are thinking of our limitations for dealing with debts and mortgage crisis, we have to replace the constraining thoughts by effective assertions: “I can overcome this problem“, “A lot of people have also faced debt and have solved it“, “I can be a winner.” The more diverse your positive thoughts, the better off you are.

Why do I also insist in that money is a thing, and that we are of much more valor than such material things? It’s because a lot of people like to think of money as being the ultimate goal, the everything, and when financial mess arises, they crumble. It’s a logical consequence: they have trained their minds (unconsciously, perhaps) to consider money as a the main pillar of life. Of course, when such people face troubles related to money, they may consider such problems as a “failure at life.” Winners cannot be like such people. We are assertive beings, which recognize any problem and face it. Life is wonderful, and it’s a providential gift no money can replace.

Winners Believe in Themselves

I’ll close the article with a few useful remarks for building the positive attitude of Winners:

• We have to learn to compose thoughts and words in order to be better. This is the first step towards success. True greatness starts out with true thinkings of greatness.
• When we start to think that we are able to achieve things (we can!), your thoughts acquire power, and your actions turn effective.
• When we say “I can“, we start feeling more powerful. Richness stems from positive thoughts and words. I can is an enrichment tool to support life success. More importantly, by saying “I can” we are speaking truth. Things we thought of as being impossible, should now be regarded as inevitable.
• When we feel the self-confidence stemming from “I can“, we attain the required clarity for doing things right.
• How could we know if we are thinking the right way? It’s easy, indeed. If we are having thoughts and words that steadily lead us to actions, then we are on the right track. It’s very important that you can verify that your thoughts and words are right.
• Every time we follow the way of thought -> actions, and succeed, our self-confidence is reinforced. And this improved self-confidence will be the nourisher for future paths and further (and harder) goals. Go step by step, and don’t set unrealistic goals (if you’ve read my previous post, you should be already aware of my insistence on not setting unrealistic goals.)
• Keep your attitude positive and keep at it. You will get there.
• We have to look forward. The future always brings new opportunities.
• Think BIG: Think further, think different, you’re not alone. Think of the people you love and care for. Learn to look the broad world, from both material and spiritual standpoints. Winners look for abundance in order to enjoy it, and share it.
• Being a Winner requires courage. Are you ready for this? If we act with courage, rewards of life will be even greater.
• Enjoy the little treasures of life.

Remember, the potential to achieve your goals resides in you. Look nowhere else.

You may also like…

• What I like about Credit Cards (14)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• The Art of Saving (9)
• 10 Recommendations for Fighting Panic and Stress (6)
• A Shining Job Interview: How to Succeed (9)

1- The first step in this direction is to sincerely point out the driving force or motivation. Let’s relax, and start listing the reasons that impel you to study some topic, as crude as they may be. It’s possible that your list is empty. Don’t worry, it only means that you have not identified any reason to study the chosen and very specific point (It’s for sure that you are an excellent learner in other areas of life.) If you don’t have any motivation to study, then give me the list of reasons why you don’t want to study, and please note that this list cannot be empty. Whether you found a huge list of driving forces or a list of reasons for not studying, the end product of this step comprises at least one item (a positive or negative driving force). Good.

2- Success is about achieving goals, and therefore is a relative notion. Highly successful students are those which set realistic goals, and attain them with the proper investment of resources. Thus, not necessarily the student with the best grades is the most successful learner. Now, we have stated what the successful student is like. Good.

3- If you have negative entries in your list of driving forces, it’s time to improve things quite a bit. First, identify other topics that you indeed like a lot, not necessarily related to studying. Perhaps you like pets, to cook or to play videogames. Now, try to establish associations or links between these favorite activities of yours and the subject of study that you dislike. For example, let’s assume that you dislike Literature (you perhaps think it’s an utterly boredom) but love your humongous pitbull “Casino Joe” Then you could start thinking how your dog would fit as a character into that novel you have to analyze: what its role would be and how he would interact with other characters in the novel. If you prefer to play videogames, then remember that making any game requires to prepare a detailed script including history, characters, goals and relations. Therefore, you could start writing down the script for your “dream” game. On the other side, you could imagine how the novel you are reading could be transformed into a videogame (start out by thinking which gaming genre fits the novel better: role-playing, adventure, action, and so on.) The basic idea is to find match points and links between our affections and our chores. And such links there always exist. Remember, to link ideas and concepts is the most important habit for successful students.

4- Successful students also exhibit other particular traits we should internalize:

• They are always trying to discover better approaches in order to accomplish their tasks (adequate studying place, availability of resources, etc.) You may find my post on Pristine Home with Feng Shui useful for improving your studying environment.
• They concentrate on the process of solving the task and understanding the involved ideas. Of course we are interested in getting good results, but the process is more important. A result is a very brief moment of life, while learning to develop processes is a skill that will last for the whole life.
• They interpret and analyze errors as a way of increasing their learning, i.e., they try to learn from their mistakes. This way, they see errors and failures as opportunities.
• They look for the required information in several channels (books, journals, newspapers, experts, Internet, and so on.)
• They consult experts and teachers frequently. This action provides a new perspective about the studied topics.
• They prefer tasks with some degree of difficulty and novelty, which stimulate their learning skills.
• They don’t apply the simple criteria of success-fail to their learning. Remember, they are focused into the learning process.
• They know how to handle groups.
• Finally, they work with passion.

5- Other chief habit is that of asking questions. We have to establish hypothesis and set concrete, realistic goals. After reading any text we have to ask several different questions related to its content, in order to verify if we have completely understood the text. It’s also important to try to relate such text and other areas of our knowledge. Again, linking ideas and concepts is a habit of highly successful students. So, link.

6- Whether studying or in general life, planning is an imperative skill. Here, we must strictly set the hours for studying, and should promote regularity in doing so. Don’t put off your studies to the last moment (just before the test), because in that moment you will be feeling stress and pressure, and both factors will prove disturbing for your learning; that’s the high price of procrastination. During the exam, it’s important to forget about panic and stress. And if you are planning for your thesis, you may find this post useful. Other planning tip I frequently give is that, when you are assigned a homework, try to solve it as quickly as possible, several days before the required date, but don’t try to complete it perfectly and don’t submit it immediately. I always recommend to do homework early, but deliver it at the last possible day. This way, you will let the homework and its concepts to soothe in, your pressure will decrease a bit, you will spot any error in the homework, and probably you will devise a few ways to improve your homework content and presentation before delivering it.

7- Review: Always keep revisiting the relation between your effort and your results., continuously trying to maximize it.

Finally, don’t worry if things do not always result the way you expected them to be. Time is your master, and there is more to life than studying specific topics. Your ability to understand this post is a solid proof that you have the required skills. And you have something more important: the aspiration of being better… that will lead you to achieve anything

You may also like…

• Choosing a Topic for your Thesis (4)
• Visualizing your Goals (5)
• A Shining Job Interview: How to Succeed (9)
• A Reader’s Happiness (6)
• Meditation Gems: Appearances (4)