We’ve all had goals that we wanted to accomplish at one point or another. They might be something big, like going to graduate school or buying a house, or something adventurous, like spending a month traveling the globe. They can be long term goals like saving a certain amount of money to retire on, or short term goals, like losing ten pounds before swimsuit season arrives. Regardless of size, they’re meaningless without a plan to achieve them.

So just what turns something from an idea or vague future plan into a specific goal to work toward? First and foremost, you can’t just say “someday I’d like to learn a foreign language.” Instead, you have to put a timeline on it. That means deciding that you want to learn to speak Spanish within the next five years, and then figuring out when you need to start taking lessons in order to fulfill your goal within that time frame.

Be Specific

The key to setting goals is being as specific as possible, from setting a start and end date, to defining exactly what you want to do. Don’t just decide you want to move to a new city eventually; flesh the idea out and decide that you want to move to a specific location, like Portland, Oregon, within the next two years. Then write down your goal and come up with a plan to achieve it.

In order to achieve your main goal, you need to set up a plan containing mini-goals. For instance, if you want to lose twenty pounds within the next six months, set sub-goals along the way to lose four or five pounds per month. Then set a goal to research diet and workout plans over the next week.

After you’ve finished your research, set mini-goals to workout at least four times a week, to eat more vegetables and less red meat, etc.

Of course, this works for pretty much any kind of goal you’re working toward. Once you’ve settled on a big goal, the initial stage should always involve setting smaller goals (or milestones) and doing research to help figure out how best to reach your goal.

Are you trying to save enough money to travel to Europe two summers from now? Research various savings accounts’ interest rates so that you can pick the highest-yielding option. Read travel guides and websites to get an idea of which cities you’ll want to visit and what hotels or hostels you want to stay in, how much airline tickets and rail fares will cost, etc. Then you can estimate the amount of money you’ll need to save to reach your goal. After the research is done, you can set mini goals to set aside a certain amount of your earnings every pay period in the savings account.

Ask For Help

Finally, never be afraid to ask for help and advice. Do you have a friend or relative who has achieved a goal similar to yours? Ask them for tips! This is especially worthwhile if your goal is life changing and involves something financial, like saving to retire or buy a house, or something related to career advancement or education, like learning a language, going back to grad school, or working toward a promotion or new job.

People who have been there before can give you helpful strategies for realizing your specific goal. So utilize all the information sources you can get your hands on, from your successful coworker or thrifty parents to the internet and your local library. Then draft up a plan and stick to it—you’ll be celebrating your achievements in no time.

My time here at Today is that Day has been nothing less than wonderful, and I am very glad that the blog posts and other content from the site will most likely still remain available even after the new owners get done moving things around. The community that has been built around this site is the most empowering and uplifting group of people that I have ever been exposed to, and I am grateful that via the power of the Internet, I will still be able to interact with many of you.

My own life has changed drastically over the last year, and all of the changes have been for the best! I got married to my wonderful new wife, Shanna, and we live on the east coast of Florida which is a dream come true for both of us. I have rejoined the U.S. Military as an Air National Guard soldier, and I will spend 6 months at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi during 2009 learning all sorts of cool, high-tech stuff. My military affiliation will be financing a full-time college education that will also be in the high-tech arena. In addition, I have finally launched the incredible health & fitness website: Surfside Fitness, which is a project that I have been working on for more than 6 months. The result of that work is a beautiful new site that will be an awesome resource for a great many people.

Surfside Fitness is where I will be spending most of my online time, and with major props once again being given to my incredible designer, Jason Larose, I am looking forward to helping thousands of people to attain high levels of health and fitness via that site. I got it completed just in time for the fresh start that 2009 will bring for all of us!

Surfside Fitness is more than just a website and blog, however. The site comes complete with:

• A full suite of services including Fitness Consulting, Online Fitness Training, Program Evaluation, and lots more
• A fitness blog that will be updated several times each week, and a plan is already in place to ensure not only frequent updates, but very high quality health and fitness content as well
• A free health and fitness community that is simple to use, yet packed with tons of features like personal blogs, video uploads, picture uploads, groups, forums, and more
• Frequently updated videos and featured products that will be more than just a stale rotation of old content. The video and product updates will be coming straight from the cutting edge of the health and fitness arena

Since my primary goal with Today is that Day has always been to empower people to believe that they can take control over their lives and build those lives to be wonderful, I want to leave with a parting message:

Never, ever, EVER GIVE UP!

For my wife and I, 2008 has been one of the hardest years of our lives. We have had every imaginable difficulty, and some difficulties that you probably CAN’T imagine. To say that we had to struggle this year in order to get to where we are now would be a radical understatement.

We made it through the fire by sticking to our guns and staying focused on our goals!

There were no hand outs, no easy streets, no miracle cures, and no safety nets. We have had to fight, kick, scratch, and bite for every ounce of success that we have had, and if we had given up, then none of these wonderful things would have happened in our lives.

We sit poised on the brink of a new year that – although there will still be challenges – we are better armed from every conceivable level to achieve success than we have ever been in the past.

We got to this point by believing in ourselves, believing in each other, and keeping our eyes on the prize.

Stay focused on what you want, never give up reaching for it, and your success is guaranteed.

I’ll look forward to seeing you all out there wherever our paths cross again, and in the meantime, remember to always enjoy your life. If you’re not having fun, what’s the point??

Now, I would never recommend that someone just “give up” – far from it. However, there is something to be said for reevaluating any given situation and deciding that starting from scratch – now armed with new knowledge and experience – is simply a more effective or enjoyable use of your time.

In my recent move to the beach, there were many “must haves” that were part of the process, and by checking out the following examples, you can get an idea of how to make a fresh start in your own life, if and when the time comes to do so.

1) Decide what you want AND what you don’t want

Knowing what you want is only half the battle, because it is very easy to miss critical details if you don’t also consider what you don’t want your new life to include.

The primary goal when I moved was to get close to the beach – close being defined as walking distance. The initial search for a place was very fruitful, and there were more places to look at than there was time to do so. By the end of a full day spent looking at properties on Florida’s Space Coast, it seemed that the biggest hurdle was going to be deciding which one was the best!

However, as the details were discussed and properties started being weeded out for various reasons, it became very clear that the north/south location of the house was a bigger factor than originally realized. By putting both a northern and a southern “line in the sand” on the map, the search for a house instantly became much more productive because the desired area had now been so clearly defined. The initial search spanned almost 20 miles of coastline, while the updated search encompassed only about 6 miles.

The perfect beach side home was not found until the realization was made that there were northern and southern boundaries that I did NOT want to cross. That focus fueled the remainder of the search, and it was less than a week after making that realization that a lease was signed on the new home.

2) Define just what it is that you’ll be doing with your new life

It’s easy to say things like “I want a great relationship,” or “I want more money, “ or “I want to lose weight”. However, those types of vague assertions about what you want will only focus vague energies on the process of actually attaining them.

In my case, part of the plan when moving to the beach was to start a new fitness related business based in a coastal community. After spending 3 years as a personal trainer – and then voluntarily walking away from that life – I had to ask myself how this was going to be any different than the last time. What type of business was I going to build that would have all of the joys and benefits of the fitness lifestyle, but without the drawbacks that caused me to back away from that path before?

The answer – I am ecstatically proud to reveal – came in the form of Surfside Fitness and the absolutely magical work of my graphic and web designer, Jason LaRose. I defined the business model and Jason brought it all to life with incredible skill, professionalism, and vision. I don’t know what I was more excited about – the detailed business model that I came up with, or how well Jason brought it all to full-color life.

Click my beautiful Surfside Fitness logo to check out the splash page of the site, and while you’re clicking, be sure to visit Jason’s site and hire him to bring his magic into your world as well.

3) Realize the contrast between your new life and the old life

The age-old definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different result. If you don’t do things differently than you did before, then you haven’t recreated anything – you’ve just copied and pasted.

How are YOU going to be different in your new life? It’s not just about picturing yourself with all of the joys and trappings of the new life that you want to create, because that is just putting the same habits and lifestyle choices that you have now into a world that looks a bit different. If YOU aren’t different, then your new life will not be any different than the old life.

In my situation, it was a matter of getting back into the “public eye”. I have done the majority of the writing that I have done at Today is that Day for almost 2 years while living a comparably secluded lifestyle. I have worked from home or at local coffee shops for the majority of the time, and a business like Surfside Fitness cannot be run from a coffee shop!

My contrast will be going from a life of almost seclusion to a life of being out in public almost every day. The last time I lived that lifestyle I was well on my way to attaining a 6-figure income…

4) Check your old habits at the door

A conscious decision like the one discussed above to be a different person is all well and good, but what about those nasty habits that will be leftover from your previous lifestyle? Any habits that take you away from the dream life that you are building need to be kicked to the curb.

In my case, it is electronic communication. I’ll admit it now in front of all the world that I am an Internet junkie! I send an email when I should call someone. I go to Google when I could just pick up the yellow pages or call information. I send text messages or leave comments instead of just having real-time communication.

Yep, I’m hooked! However, now that I am the figurehead and the primary trainer for a brand-new, ultra-cool fitness company, I’ll need to give my keyboard something of a break. The Internet and my blogs will always be a part of both my business and my personal life, but as the owner of a “real world” company, I need to kick the electronic habit and start communicating with people more often in real world ways.

5) Make a serious commitment to yourself

In today’s day and age, starting a “business” can be as quick and easy as putting together a website, and that level of ease also brings with it the danger of not taking things as seriously as we sometimes should.

Life is meant to be enjoyed and – as a general rule – should not be taken too seriously. However, at the same time, if long-term success or happiness is the goal, then something more than just a token effort will probably need to be applied.

My example of this is with regard to my own level of health and fitness. If I am going to teach and lead others to fitness success, then I have to be in great shape myself. As regular readers know, I started the P90X home fitness program 3 months ago, and stuck with it through the duration – right up until the last week and half that is!

The P90X program is a 90-day system, which ends up being a total of 13 weeks of training. Mid-way through week 12, I simply ran out of time. Between packing, moving, painting my old house, unpacking at the new house, and fixing some things that needed to be fixed there, I simply ran out of daylight every day. I was up at 6:00am, out the door by around 7:00am, and not home again until late that night, and then I repeated that sequence every day. There was simply no time available to exercise for an hour each day, so I had a tough decision to make.

Do I “give up” on P90X and just say that I ALMOST finished the program? Do I “pad” the truth and say that I finished it, even though I only made it through 11 1/2 weeks?

Well, I am not the type to lie or to even stretch the truth, nor am I the type to “almost” finish something. So, I did the next best thing:

I committed to start all over again!

Yup, I’m insane like that. Well, at least that’s how it seems, but the truth of the matter is that I am not crazy, I am just committed to my career and to leading by example. That type of commitment takes serious will power, but it also leads to serious success.

The key thing to remember here is that a new life requires CHANGE. You can’t hold onto a previous life if you want to build a new life. I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll probable say it many times more:

If nothing changes, then nothing changes!

It seems simplistic to say that in order to get what we want, we need to first know exactly what that is, yet defining the exact details of our desires is often not as easily done as we think. Without a proper understanding of the specifics of our desires, it is very easy to end up wasting time as well as mental capital focusing our attention in the wrong direction.

The missing piece to the success puzzle is not so much having the opportunities to achieve success, but rather first knowing exactly what it is that we want. It is critical to not only have a “general” idea of our desires, but to also plug in the very specific factors that need to be present – or absent – once the desired goal has been obtained.

It is very easy once we have decided to make lifestyle improvements to then get caught up in the excitement of those improvements, and not perform our “due diligence” in order to determine precisely what our success will look like. Without knowing exactly what success entails, we will:

• Lack the ability to track our progress to see if we are moving towards our goal
• Waste time focusing both physical and mental efforts on tasks that are not directly related to our specific goal.

Some common examples include:

The person who decides to lose weight – What exactly does “lose weight” look like? If you don’t know how much weight you want to lose, or what clothing size you are wanting to fit into, how will you know if you are making progress? How will you know which type of fitness program to get involved with? How will you even know when you have attained your goal?

The person who wants to become wealthy – Well, “wealthy” to a homeless person is a few clean outfits to wear, the occasional shower, and a consistently full belly. What exactly is wealthy to YOU? You need to define a very specific lifestyle that defines what wealthy means in your mind, so that you can both work towards that goal, as well as measure your progress along the way.

The person who wants a great relationship – Try to draw a great relationship on paper, and you’ll see that illustrating such a vague concept is challenging at best. Is it a romantic relationship? What type of intimacy are you looking for? What type of companionship do you want? What things are you NOT willing to have in that relationship?

The above are just some general examples in order to give you an idea of what I’m talking about here, but this same concept can – and should – be applied to every area of your life where you are looking to make improvements.

Why is it important to define what you don’t want in addition to the details about what you do? Simple: in order to keep from wasting time and energy on tasks, plans, or circumstances that are not in alignment with your preferred end result!

Visualization

One of the most effective (and proven) ways to get what you want out of life is to practice visualization. In short, whenever you go somewhere enough times in your mind, you will eventually go there in the body as well.

If you use visualization in order to bring about positive changes in your life, how can you visualize effectively if you don’t know exactly what those changes are? Moreover, what happens whenever you effectively visualize something, yet when it arrives, it isn’t exactly what you wanted? You’ll have to go right back to the visualization drawing board!

Productivity Practices

The idea behind productivity practices is to achieve some desired end result. Sometimes it is something specific like a project that you are working on, while at the same time productivity practices can be used to effectively work towards positive lifestyle changes.

How do you remain productively working toward a lifestyle goal if you don’t know exactly what that goal is? How do you keep from wasting time on tasks that will not take you to your desired end result if you don’t know precisely what that end result is?

Crunch Time

When it comes down to the wire and you are getting very close to the attainment of your goal, you will find yourself needing to make critical decisions about how to move forward.

• Am I at my goal body weight? If so, what’s next?
• Have I attained “wealth” as I define it? If so, what do I do with it?
• Have I secured a wonderful relationship? If so, how do I keep it?
• Have I {insert any other life goal here}? If so, what are my next steps?

How can you know how to move on to a new goal in your life if you can’t even say for sure whether or not you attained the last one? What if you “sort of” got what you wanted, but sort of didn’t at the same time?

Do you then just settle for whatever you got, or do you reassess and then decide how to move forward? Either way, you can’t make that determination until you first determine whether or not you even attained your original goal.

All of these ideas about how to properly stay focused on success in order to then attain it share this common trait:

How do YOU define success?

No matter how easy, fast, or convenient any given method is for getting what we want out of life, there are a myriad of things that could jump directly in our way on the road to goal attainment. If we don’t have a back-up plan, then we are stuck staring directly at a road block, with nothing left to do but turn around and go home in defeat.

There is another option here, however, and it requires you to look at your goal from a more global perspective, rather than believing there is only one road that will get you to wherever it is that you want to go. Your path to success is NOT a permanent road. There is only one goal, but there are multiple ways to get there.

If you pin your entire hopes, dreams, and desires on one method, one set of circumstances, or one path, then your very happiness in life will be dependent on that one method, circumstance, or path.

It is important not to view that which stands in your way as your ‘enemy.’ It can often be your best friend, sending you on a detour that takes you around what could have been your biggest stumbling block.

- Neale Donald Walsch

It is certainly understandable that we tend to see things in black and white. A certain cause will result in a certain effect, and we were all taught as children that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Life does not deal in straight lines, however!

Picture the following scene to illustrate this concept in a real-world, 3-dimensional scenario:

You are standing on one side of a deep chasm, and you need to get to the other side. The chasm is very deep, and there is an old, rickety rope-bridge tied to trees on either side, and the whole thing looks pretty unstable.

You HAVE to get to the other side, though. What do you do?

Most 3-dimensional thinkers would say that they have no choice – it’s the rope-bridge or nothing. Why do they think that way? The rope-bridge is a straight line.

In truth, there are multiple ways to get across a chasm, but when I painted the scene earlier, you immediately assumed that you had limited resources. That is exactly what we do in life, which is why we tend to base all of our hopes for success on the results of any one plan of action.

There are unlimited ways for us to get what we want out of life (to get across our chasms), yet people tend to only see one path, or maybe a small handful of paths, and they ignore anything that they personally don’t see or don’t understand.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you think that your way is the only way that could possibly work, not only are you being radically short-sighted, but you’re being a bit ego-centric, too.

Who are you to say that whatever methods you personally come up with are the best methods for getting what you want?

• Logic and reason don’t always work
• Throwing caution to the wind doesn’t always work
• Asking others for advice doesn’t always work
• Getting educated/informed doesn’t always work
• Following the examples of others doesn’t always work

In fact, there is NOTHING that always works for every person. Each situation is different, and the outcome of each situation is different.

The phrase “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten” is a truth of our existence that most people believe in wholeheartedly, as well they should. Here’s the rub, though:

Someone else could come along and do what you have always done, but get completely different results.

You, on the other hand, need to change tactics.

• If you have been using logic and reason, then perhaps you need to get more esoteric: Meditation, visualization, affirmations, etc.
• If you have always flown by the seat of your pants, and that hasn’t worked, then get more “grounded” and try more traditional methods.
• If you have always followed the advice of others, but you still aren’t successful, then maybe you need new mentors, or maybe you should just look inside your own mind for your answers.
• If you have spent years getting educated/informed/experienced so that you could be successful, but you still aren’t, maybe it’s time to put the books down and start applying what you have learned.
• If you have followed the lead of successful people before you, but their methods aren’t working for you, why don’t you try coming up with your own methods?

The bottom line is that no matter what methods you have been using, if they haven’t worked yet, then they probably never will. Open up your mind to the possibility that your path to success may be so confusing, so convoluted, and so backwards and illogical that you could not possibly imagine it in advance.

Once you are in that open-minded state, you may very well be amazed at how clear things suddenly become.

The Twitter CONCEPT, however, might be about to turn into something that people can actually put to some good use, and I am working with Gary Evans from Positivity Space on a project that just might turn into something very, very cool.

In essence, we are considering building an interface that would allow people who were on the road to success to be able to stay in touch with each other as a means of keeping each other accountable, reminding each other about critical success processes, and just generally partnering up for success.

The “new” part of this idea comes in when this entire process is accomplished over short messages, rather than emails, telephone calls, message boards, etc. It will be more like quick wake up calls or reminders, and less like philosophical debates about personal growth and development.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Anyway, I put a write up about what Gary and I are considering over at Personal Development Partners, and we are inviting everyone and anyone who is interested in sharing their thoughts to join in the conversation and let yourself be heard.

If you are a PDP member then you can just click the link to head over there and join the discussion. Non-members can also read the post, and they can either sign up at the site for free in order to participate and share their thoughts, or, just drop your ideas into the comment box below this post.

When Gary first approached me about this, my first thought was I’M SO BUSY!! However, Gary is a great guy with great ideas, and I realized something in that moment of considering how busy I was:

I am ALWAYS busy, and it often causes me to forget to do things that I SHOULD be doing to create the life that I want to be living. The site that Gary and I are proposing would lessen or even eliminate that obstacle.

Definitely worth checking out:

Can you Twitter yourself to Happiness?

The problems start when we fail to recognize the signs that are put before us; the very clues that tell us that we are capable of more than we are presently experiencing. We tend to see these “signs” as problems, and we push against them instead of recognizing them as the glorious gifts of insight that they truly are.

No matter what problems you are facing, there is an opportunity for you to grow as a person, and to create a life where those same problems either don’t exist at all, or they are no longer relevant to you. However, if you see those signs as problems that have to be solved – rather than personal growth opportunities – your entire life will boil down to nothing more monumental than simply reacting to your surroundings.

As this picture indicates, it’s not just which direction that you look, it’s what you see when you look there. Are you looking with jaded eyes that see everything in the worst possible light because of what you have been through in the past, or do you see a learning or growth opportunity in even the most extremely negative circumstances?

Make no mistake – life is not just an exercise in academia, or a chance for hearty philosophical debates about how things SHOULD be. Your life is hurtling before your very eyes right now, and the way that you look at your life is far more important than what you actually see.

• If you don’t like your job, or don’t feel like you are making enough money, that is a not a problem, it’s a personal growth opportunity.

What do you need to learn, or what action do you need to take in order to improve your career status? If you are not happy with your career, yet you stay in your position anyway, what does that say about you, and what can you learn from that, and then take action on?

• If you are having issues with another person – a friend, family member, co-worker, significant other – that is not a problem, it’s a personal growth opportunity.

What can you learn about yourself or that person that will make the issue go away? What steps can you take that will remove this person from your life, or remove their ability to affect your life? If you don’t enjoy another person, yet you continue to allow that negativity into your life, what does that say about you, and what can you learn from that, and then take action on?

• If you are overweight and can’t ever seem to stick to a nutrition or exercise program, that is not a problem, it’s a personal growth opportunity.

What is the true reason why you aren’t sticking to a healthy lifestyle? What skills, habits, or resources do you need to acquire in order to stay on track? If you don’t like being overweight, yet you continue to allow yourself to be that way, what does that say about you, and what can you learn from that, and then take action on?

There are endless examples of this same concept, and you can probably think of a few that apply to your life at this very moment. The formula is very, very simple:

Something you don’t enjoy in life = An opportunity for you to grow out of it

As long as you continue to see yourself as the victim of the circumstances in your life, you will continue to BE the victim. Being a victim is not so much as feeling the effects from any given set of circumstances as it is allowing yourself to BE victimized by those circumstances.

So, are you going to read this, become empowered, and then go right back over into the victim’s corner, or are you going to come running out of there, fists up, ready for action?

The choice, as always – is yours. I hope to see you out in the ring!

Today is Day 1 of the P90X® Extreme Home Fitness Program, and although at face value that would seem to just be about my own health and fitness, it actually goes much deeper than that, and there is a valuable personal growth lesson that can be learned from this story.

The P90X program is 12 DVD exercise videos that encompass what is arguably one of the most intense and effective exercise programs ever created. When looking at the promotional materials for P90X, and the before and after success stories, you can’t help but become excited about the possibilities, and to marvel at the sheer scale of success that you can attain as a result of going through the program. The weight loss, health, and fitness benefits are staggering in their implications, and the whole thing seems larger than life. Then, when UPS finally delivers your fast track to success, you tear open the box, and this is what you see:

Now, my own obvious lack of photographic skills notwithstanding, after the weeks of research that I did on P90X before I bought it, it was such a contrast to see all of the empowerment, strength, weight loss, and personal growth potential contained in such a little black box! Therein lies the personal growth lesson, however:

It’s not the size of your solution that matters, but rather your dedication to doing what it takes that determines your success – or lack thereof.

P90X is intense and extreme, and as I indicated, I did A LOT of research on it before I decided to buy it. There was one thing that came across loud and clear, however, no matter how many blogs posts I read about it, no matter how many interviews I watched or listened to with people who have used it, and no matter how many before and after pictures that I looked at:

You have to DO the work if you want the reward!

No one who successfully got results using P90X did so by:

• Making a half-hearted effort
• Only doing the parts of the program that they enjoyed
• Working out only when they felt like it
• Doing the exercises, but not sticking to the nutrition plan
• Sticking to the nutrition plan, but not doing the exercises

The people who got phenomenal results did so by:

• Having a goal and not losing sight of it
• Doing everything that it took to attain their goal, even if they didn’t want to, no matter how hard it was, and no matter how tired they got
• Sticking to the plan for 90 days straight, rather than jumping ship when they didn’t get a “quick fix”
• Consistently doing the work, 6 or even 7 days each week

Do you see a pattern here that has been discussed many times in the personal growth and development community?

Having a Goal

Doing what it takes to Succeed

Perseverance, even in the face of Adversity

Consistently working at your Plan

There is no quick fix for success, no magic pill, and no one who is going to come and save you. Whether your goal is weight loss, financial success, fulfilling relationships, or just to achieve inner peace, YOU are the only one who can do what it takes to make that happen.

There is no cavalry coming over the hill, no miracle money-making scheme that will solve all of your problems, and no Mr. or Mrs. Right who wants to be with you until you are worthy of being with.

People say that happiness is an inside job, and that is certainly true. However, SUCCESS is an inside job, too. With no knight in shining armor on his way to bail you out of being “stuck” in a life that you don’t want, there is only one person who can truly save the day for you, and that is you.

Please act accordingly.

As for me, I’ve got 90 DAYS OF PAIN in front of me. Is it because I LIKE pain? Hardly. It’s because I am a health and fitness coach, and even though leading by example isn’t always easy, it IS how you become successful, and it is also how you earn the opportunity to work with other people and to empower them to have the same success that you have had.

That sounds like a goal.
That sounds like doing what it takes to succeed.
That sounds like perseverance, even in the face of adversity.
That sounds like consistently working a solid plan.

That sounds like the recipe for success. As I said, please act accordingly.

p.s. – If I’m not back in in 90 days, SEND HELP!

I’m not saying that you should just work, work, work, and never have any play time. Balance is the key here, but most people are decidedly OFF balance in their self improvement efforts.

During the week you are constantly on the go with the job, the family, the chores, the commute, etc., and you’ll be lucky to get in a solid hour of self improvement time on any given day. However, when the weekend comes, you then try to pack in all of the stuff that you didn’t get done during the week, plus you want to relax, have fun, and unwind.

Well, the relax, have fun, and unwind part is something that should be a part of every day, not just the weekends, but ask yourself honestly how much time are you dedicating each week to your self improvement efforts?

• How much time did you spend reading this week?
• How many hours did you put in working on your business?
• How much work did you do on your educational goals?
• How many times did you exercise?
• How often did you do your affirmations, or your visualizations?
• How much time did you spend meditating?
• How much one-on-one interacting did you do with people that are part of your success plan?

The list could go on and on, but by now you should be getting the picture. Self improvement requires you to actually improve your life, not to just live it. As you approach an hour, a day, or a weekend when you could work towards your goals, it would be a grand idea for you to do just that.

Sure you can go party like a rock star and have a blast, or you could take a well-deserved siesta from your stressful life, and there are times when that is exactly the thing to do. However, it’s not every time.

Sometimes you need to put away your party hat, or your plans to go paint the town red, and plan instead to spend your down time working on yourself and your future, rather than continually taking those “well-deserved” breaks.

If you are trying to improve your life, it’s not break time. It’s time to get down to business.

What’s surprising, however, is that even though P90X is one of the most effective weight loss and fitness programs out there, the health and weight loss benefits are only part of what people get from using P90X. In addition, they get something that is not as measurable as weight loss and increased health, but just as important – they get empowerment.

Ever since announcing the Million Dollar Body Challenge, and choosing P90X as one of the fitness programs the participants can use, I have been researching P90X extensively. The amount of data available about the program is nothing less than staggering, and here’s the best part:

It’s all good!

Normally, even a very popular book, video, program, etc., will have a fair amount of people who don’t think that much of it. With P90X, however, the only negative comment that I’ve heard is that it’s really hard! That is, of course, why it’s really effective.

I have read dozens of blog posts and articles, poured over the company literature, seen multiple videos about the product, and even talked to people in person, and no one has had anything bad to say about it.

So, that is all well and good, and if you haven’t already checked out P90X, I definitely recommend that you do. You can see 3 cool videos about it and get signed up for the Million Dollar Body challenge by going right here.

There is more than just health and fitness to be discussed, however – let’s talk about empowerment.

The Discipline to Win

The people who successfully complete the 90-day P90X program do it by, quite frankly (and literally), working their butts off for 90 days straight. P90X is not easy, and like any good fitness program, it includes both a structured exercise program and a structured nutrition plan.

The P90X graduates are all people who took control of their lives for 90 days straight and said, “I am going to do this. I will not back down, and I will not give up. I will stay focused on my goal of making it to day 90, and I will not allow myself to be distracted in any way from reaching my goal.”

Hmmm…that sounds a bit like the recipe for success in any endeavor, doesn’t it? The P90X grads, however, have an edge that most people don’t: They know that the system works.

They know that by staying disciplined and on track, that the results will be there. It isn’t hearsay to them, it isn’t a rumor, it isn’t some vague bit of personal development advice – it is a fact.

They know that by staying their course for 90 days, they can accomplish truly amazing things, remarkable things, measurable and noticeable things. They can accomplish things that not only make other people stand up and take notice, but more importantly, things that have empowered them to succeed in any endeavor in their lives.

Their success with P90X, although wonderful in its own right, is just a stepping stone to success in other areas because they now have confidence, and faith, and they understand the power of positive habits. By the sweat of their own brow, they have seen that they can accomplish something that was neither easy, nor short-lived.

They have learned perseverance and discipline; they know the taste of victory and they know it tastes so sweet because they earned it, they worked for it, and they deserve it.

Does all of this mean that you should run right out and buy P90X just so you can be like them? Unless you are in perfect physical condition already, sure that would be a great idea. However, even if you don’t, at least take the message of this blog post to heart:

Victory is sweet when you earn it, and you aren’t earning it if you are sitting well inside your comfort zone watching the world go by.

Is it all about the chiseled abs, the sculpted shoulders, or the beautiful legs? Nope! However, when you work hard enough to have chiseled abs, sculpted shoulders, or beautiful legs, you suddenly realize that there is nothing that you can’t do.

And that, friends and neighbors, is definitely something worth working for, wouldn’t you say?

WHAT’S NEXT?

Join the Million Dollar Body Challenge
Check out the P90x Extreme Training System®
Sign up for the free Today is that Day Newsletter
Discuss this post at Personal Development Partners
Get reminded of this wisdom with Offline Merchandise

Self-sabotage is not just some cutesy catch-phrase, but rather a state of being that is every bit as real as poverty, obesity, homelessness, and any other world-class problem that you can think of. The human capacity for beating the crap out of our own dreams is, sadly, one of our greatest talents.

Don’t despair, however, because there is an easy way to get the ball rolling back in your direction, and it starts with 3 simple things to consider whenever you are faced with any lifestyle challenge, or even just a momentary challenge that you are trying to get through.

Focus on what you WANT, not on how you are going to get it

When it comes to getting what we want, our attention immediately go to HOW we are going to get it, and immediately on the heels of that comes our belief (or lack thereof) in whatever methods we came up with.

If you wanted to cross the street, you would know that you just had to look for cars, then put one foot in front of the other, and you would believe 100% in your ability to to do that. However, when we want something more complicated, our belief in our ability to get it runs in direct proportion to our belief in whatever method we come up with.

Here’s a clue: You don’t know everything!

Just because you came up with some “master plan” for attaining your desires does not mean that your plan is going to come to fruition. You could attain what you want by your plan working out, or, you could get what you want through some other method that you could not possibly have foreseen.

Coming up with a plan is awesome, and you should plan to your little heart’s content. However, you must also be open to attaining whatever it is that you want through means other than the means that you came up with. If you fail to do that, you will be a slave to your own plan, and if your plan doesn’t work out, then your belief in your ability to get what you want will disappear instantly.

Once the belief is gone, the chance of getting something is gone just as instantly.

Get out of your own way by coming up with a great plan, and working diligently on that plan, but at the same time remaining open to your desires coming at you from a direction that you never even considered.

Mentally prepare for the worst-case scenario

Directly on the heels of our ability to get something being based on our belief that we’ll get it comes our attachment to having it. Whether you want world peace, or if you just want to get a decent cup of coffee, you want whatever it is that you want for some reason.

Whatever that reason is, you want it because you want it, and you are attached to getting it. You feel that you will not be happy – over the long-term or the short-term – unless you get whatever it is that you want.

Here’s another clue: Your happiness is NOT dependent on you attaining that one desire!

No matter what it is that you want, unless your very survival depends on you getting it, your life will continue even if you don’t end up with it. You may not have world peace or that award-winning cup of coffee, but your days will continue to clock away just the same. In the end you’ll find that you getting what you wanted was not the “end all, be all” to you attaining happiness.

Get out of your own way by mentally planning for the worst-case scenario. What would happen if world peace never came about? What would your life be like if you didn’t get that cup of coffee? Once you have answered those questions, embrace the fact that there is a real possibility that you won’t get what you want, and then come to terms with it.

By releasing your attachment to getting whatever it is that you want, you also release your need to find a rock-sold, fail-proof plan to attain it (see above). Put simply: Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Have a back up plan

What if your worst-case scenario actually happened? What if world peace went the way of the dinosaur (doesn’t something have to exist before it becomes extinct?), and what if your perfect cup of coffee never got brewed?

What would you DO?

In the step above, when you mentally prepared for the worst-case scenario, you helped yourself to release your attachment to getting what you want. However, the critical next step is to actually PLAN for a life that doesn’t include getting what you wanted. By doing this step, you further release your attachment to getting your desire, and you also increase your belief that you will be happy even if you don’t get it.

Sure, most people want world peace or a good cup of coffee, but let’s not fool ourselves – there has to be an existence that we can be happy with even if those things never happen right?

Maybe we turn inwards for peace, or the wars of today are the building blocks of an incredibly wonderful future.

Maybe we decide that coffee isn’t all its cracked up to be, and we develop a real appreciation for water, and its many health benefits.

Get out of your own way by planning for the life that does NOT include you attaining your desires. Call it your “back up life” if that helps you to feel like you aren’t giving up on your dreams. Practice this concept by thinking in terms of some real-world examples:

• What if you don’t get that job? What will you do?
• What if your business fails? What happens then?
• What if your girlfriend dumps you? What will you do?
• What if you can’t become a super-model with P90X? What’s next?
• What if your boss really DOES hate you? What’s the next step?

None of these examples are meant to insinuate that you should just give up – far from it! Rather, the goal here is to encourage you to plan for your goals, work toward your goals, and be happy when visualizing your goals. However, by releasing your attachment to actually attaining your goals, you will remove the biggest roadblock that you have to getting them – YOU!

In fact, unlike many bloggers, Ed actually shares his wisdom “offline” as well as on the ‘net, and he has been coaching people one-on-one about the Law of Attraction concepts for a long time. I have personally had the privilege of talking to Ed on the phone many times, and his character and integrity are even more evident in real time than they are on the Internet.

Edward Mills
Creator of The Energetics of AttractionEd’s latest project is a teleseminar series called the Energetics of Attraction. In short, the Energetics of Attraction combines a person’s individual energy patterns with classic Law of Attraction practices, and the end result is a level of control over your life that the Law of Attraction alone has trouble delivering for a lot of people.

After all, how many times can you be told to visualize, say affirmations, and just generally feel good about life? Yes, those things work, but the Energetics of Attraction takes it to a level that standard Law of Attraction teachings don’t deliver.

The teleclass is 100% free of charge, but it is also coming up quick, so if you want to get a slot, cruise on over to register right now: Energetics of Attraction

On the call, Ed promises to deliver all of the following:

• How to simply AND easily separate your personal energy from other people’s energy (OPE). This one simple technique can literally change your life overnight.
• Why sending your intentions “out to the Universe” is not enough and how to GROUND those intentions into the physical Earth!
• How to instantly shift your perspective and increase your personal vibration. 

Overall, it sounds like great stuff, and it doesn’t cost a dime, so why not check it out and see what Ed has to offer?

This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader.

As you check out these quality links, be sure to help the authors out by adding their posts to Stumbleupon, Digg, or your favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

1) The Art of Manliness - The post The Virtuous Life: Industry does a great job of pointing out that although we have the means to outsource many areas of our lives, that doesn’t necessary mean that we should.

2) Christine Kane – With all of the talk on the ‘net about how we need to get over our egos, Christine’s post Getting Rid of Your Ego: A Personal Story brings a well-rounded and realistic point of view to that whole topic.

3) Unusual Business Ideas That Work – If you have ever wondered why people will pay $19.95 for something, but they won’t pay $20.00, or if you are in charge of pricing your own products or services, I definitely recommend getting an earful of the insight provided in the post Why $19.95 Sells And $20.00 Don’t.

4) Debra Moorhead – Although making that extra effort has been a well-known ingredient to success for a long time, Debra’s post The Secret to Becoming a High Achiever has some really good info about the actual patterns that surround the go-getter, and why those patterns equate to achievement.

5) The Next 45 Years – Eating healthy meals leads to healthier bodies, yet despite the fact that people realize that, sometimes you just have to eat when you are on the road. If fast food must be a part of your life, check out Alex’s post Simple Fast Food Hacks for Eating Healthier and find out how to eat as healthy as possible at some restaurants that normally offer less than wholesome choices.

Blog Carnivals that have recently included posts from Today is that Day:

Carnival of Creative Growth #25 at Energies of Creation

Fourth Edition of the Carnival of Improving Life at ImprovedLife.ca

Carnival of Life, Happiness and Meaning #41 at Life Insurance Lowdown

Personal Development Carnival: Issue 36 at The Next 45 Years

Thanks as always to the authors who create content worth sharing, and to the readers who inspire us to do so!

This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader.

As you check out these quality links, be sure to help the authors out by adding their posts to Stumbleupon, Digg, or your favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

1) Brian Kim - As my regular readers know, I am a big advocate of people doing their own thing, and Brian’s post How to Deal With the Fear of Quitting Your Job in Order to Start Your Own Business does an excellent job of breaking down the process of going into business for yourself. It’s not as complicated as many people think, and anyone can do it. If you have a dream of owning your own business, Brian’s outline of the process is definitely recommended reading.

2) Change Your Tree – Everyone is busy, and many people will cite the fact that their busy schedule is what keeps them from making consistent improvements in their lives. In the post 6 Simple Ways to Sneak Self-Improvement Into Your Daily Life, Kevin not only lists some great ways to sneak in your self improvement efforts, but he encourages people to share their own methods in the comment section of the post.

3) Pick the Brain – For years people have been thinking of proper diet and exercise as simply methods of losing weight, but the truth is that a healthy lifestyle has a ton of benefits, and weight loss is only one of them. In the post 10 Reasons to Work Out That Have Nothing to Do With a Sexy Body, John lists some of the wonderful benefits of working out that many people never take the time to consider.

4) Alex Shalman – In a post that ended up being more controversial than Alex probably originally intended, Fasting: Clear Mental State And Longer Life discusses the benefits of fasting. The conversation in the comments section covers a lot of different opinions about what people think of the fasting process, as well as the benefits.

5) eSoup – Although the idea of following your passions in order to make money is a valid concept, it can also become a limiting belief if you feel that your passions have to make you money. In the post I’d like my crayons back, please, Sharon does a wonderful job of explaining that sometimes you can use your gifts just for the sake of enjoying them!

Thanks as always to the authors who create content worth sharing, and to the readers who inspire us to do so!

Things have been quiet on the blog this week, as I have been continually working on Personal Development for Stupid People, and I ended up putting a lot more heart and soul into it than I had even originally envisioned.

That, of course, is a wonderful thing, and the eBook itself is 100% done, and ready to go. However, as promised, I am also doing an audio version, and the recording and editing of that has taken longer than expected. Not to worry, though, it will be done and ready to go on Monday, April 7th.

You can refer back to this post to get the details on what it is all about, and look for the official launch on Monday. Also, if you are not already a member of the free Today is that Day Newsletter, now is the time to sign up! All newsletter subscribers will receive 25% off of the price of Personal Development for Stupid People, as well as all of the other Today is that Day products.

Million Dollar Body Challenge

I have also been busily working on something that I am – quite frankly – ECSTATIC about, and for anyone who wants to get in shape for the upcoming summer, you’ll want to get in on it!

I’m not going to give away the full scoop right now, however, since there will be a post out next week that will have all of the exciting details. For now, I’ll just say this:

• It’s going to be a health coaching program based on structure and accountability, and with me using my 3 years of experiences as a personal trainer to keep everyone exactly on track.
• There will be loads of prizes, including daily giveaways and even a chance for the grand prize of $250,000 – if you take the right steps to qualify. 
• The program will be kicking off on May 1st, and since I will be coaching all of the participants, there will be a limited number of slots.
• It’s only going to be for people who are seriously ready to take charge of their health, and are willing to commit to the program.
• For those few who want to commit to their health and also their financial success, there will be an opportunity for that as well. 
• And finally (and this is my favorite part) – it’s going to be intense!

Stay tuned for all of the details coming out next week, or, if you just can’t stand the tension, shoot me an email if you want an advance notice before everyone else finds out, and I will secure you a slot in the program! 

WHAT’S NEXT?

Discuss this post at Personal Development Partners
Check out my Personal Development Products
Join the Today is that Day Newsletter

Would you be willing to give an hour of your time if it meant being a part of something actually worth being a part of? 

When someone asks you what you are doing at 8:00pm this Saturday night, say that you are doing your part to save humanity from it’s own short-sightedness. When that peaks their interest, then just send ‘em right here:

99% of you reading this (myself included) did your part to help create this problem, so how about doing your part to help fix it?

Many thanks to PDP Senior Thought Leaders Thea Westra and Shauna Arthurs who brought this to my attention in this thread at Personal Development Partners.

I’ll be sitting around my house bathed in candlelight at 8:00pm this Saturday. What about you?

If you are interested in learning more, you are welcome and encouraged to ask me questions directly, to discuss the product in the comments section below, or to click on through to the product owner’s website for addition information and support.

Review of The Million Dollar Mindset by James Arthur Ray

The first thing that I want to say about The Million Dollar Mindset is that it totally lives up to its name. Although there is plenty of specific information given about creating wealth, everything that James talks about goes back to the fact that having the proper mindset about what you are doing is at least as important as the actual things that you do.

The product comes as 6 audio CD’s, and one of the CD’s has a very helpful workbook that you print, and then fill out as you are going through the program. The workbook not only encourages you to take notes of critical points that are discussed, but also has spaces for you to write down answers to various questions and activities that are introduced throughout the program.

Normally, people tend to gloss over the activities that are part of products like this, and I encourage you NOT to do that. One of the first activities that is on Disc 1 netted me over 20 great ideas for ways to gain success while teaching people about personal development, and over half of them were ideas that were well off the mark from anything that I had considered in the past.

Disc 1 – The Illumination Factor

In Disc 1, James dishes on the fact that success is something that you become, and then the money will follow. His specific quote is:

“Success is not the result of making money. Making money is the result of Success.”

He goes on to explain concepts such as the fact that it takes a bigger person to make $100,000 per year than it does to make $10,000 per year, and that only about 1% of the population has successfully grasped true wealth creation concepts, which is why the majority of the civilized world is still trading time for money – e.g. having a JOB.

James also talks about having multiple streams of income, and how each of your streams of income need to be in alignment with the things that bring you happiness and fulfillment; what he calls “Psychic Income”.

This concept is not new to most people who have been hanging around the personal development community for very long, however, by going back to the fact that over 95% of the world is still trading time for money, it is clear that being aware of something and taking action on it are two entirely different things!

Disc 2 – The Science of Success

In this disc, it is pointed out that the entire process of attaining success is simply a matter of consistently taking part in proven methods of doing so. In other words, if someone else can become a millionaire, then you can too, as long as your thoughts, feelings, and actions remain in consistent alignment with successful practices.

James also discusses the huge role that your subconscious mind plays in the attainment of success – or lack thereof. Just as consistent application of successful practices is a requirement for attaining success, your subconscious mind must also be constantly fed empowering, and belief-filled thoughts. No amount of successful practices will amount to continual improvement and creation of wealth if your subconscious mind is filled with self-limiting beliefs, or feelings of poverty and lack.

It is possible, and even simple, to reprogram your subconscious mind, but as with everything, a consistent, repetitive effort is required.

Disc 3 – Taking Charge

There is SO much great stuff on this disc, but I will keep it to the highlights, starting with this absolutely GOLDEN quote from James:

“Results do not equal NO RESULTS plus a good story.”

In other words, at the end of the day, the week, the month, or the year, you can have as many wonderful excuses as you want about why you didn’t consistently engage in your successful practices, but all that will matter is whether or not you did.

There are also several key psychological factors that are discussed in great detail on this disc, and they include:

• Fear – the avoidance of pain as a motivating factor
• Desire – a cue for us to grow enough on a personal level in order to attain whatever we desire
• The Path of Least Resistance – recognizing that the pain of not having what we want can be used as fuel to attain our goals
• Personal Growth – since growth is the key to success, growth is also the driving factor behind our desire; it is the growth that we want, not the objects or experiences
• Lack of Understanding – using our lack of understanding about how to do something as a motivating factor to grow, rather than a self-replicating, dis-empowering belief
• Self-Motivated Action  – the difference between “selfish” and “self-centered” and how to use that knowledge to stay in touch with your strengths
• Instant Gratification – a method of controlling our natural desire for the “big win,” yet staying highly motivated during the journey

Again, there is a lot of awesome content on this disc, and that is just a brief synopsis. I recommend a heart-felt study of this disc to discover some interesting and empowering facts.

Disc 4 – Providing Value

One of my most memorable parts from this disc is when James says that you should always provide 10 times the value that a customer has paid for.

He discusses not just delivering massive value to the people who purchase your products or services, but about the fact that you are not looking for one-time sales. Rather, your goal should be to build a trusting relationship with that customer, which benefits both you and the customer in countless ways. Since becoming a millionaire requires that you do something that gives value to others, providing more value than people pay for ensures massive success in any endeavor.

There is also a very interesting section on this disc that references a study done by Howard Gardner about how each and every person is a genius in at least one or two broad areas of life. By discovering which of those areas of your life YOU are a genius in, building your product or offering around those areas is a great way to ensure not just success, but joy in your work as well. They are:

1. Linguistic Intelligence
2. Logical Intelligence
3. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
4. Spatial Intelligence
5. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
6. Intra-personal Intelligence
7. Inter-personal Intelligence
8. Apprehension of the natural world

James give a full description of what each concept means in the real world, and despite some of the intense names, they are all very down to earth concepts. I found several that I was comfort
able with saying that I was very good at.

Disc 5 – Strategic Influence

Very interesting concepts discussed on this disc, including an acronym worth remembering that I will share in just a minute, and also this important bit that is certainly worth making note of:

James discusses the fact that all people who have ever accomplished anything of note had strategic influence, and that influence can be done on an individual, per person level, or it can be done on a larger level.

He talks about Robert Chialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and how the acronym C.R.A.L.S.S. can help you to remember the best ways to influence people in a manner that is beneficial to them, as well as yourself. Again, it would take too long to write out a full description, but here is what C.R.A.L.S.S. stands for:

• Consistency
• Reciprocity
• Authority
• Liking
• Social Proof
• Scarcity

I found this disc to be particularly eye-opening, and my notes are kept handy for whenever I get into the creation and maintenance of my own products and services.

James does point out, however, that although a firm understanding of how to use these psychological factors could be used for both short-term and long-term gain, that it should always be remembered that the goal is a long-term relationship with customers, not a short-term sale.

Disc 6 – Creating a Winning Team

The information on this disc could be used by someone who wants to create a great mastermind group, or even just a group of people to work together on a project, and for anyone who works with teams in a business environment, this should be required listening.

The idea, as James points out, is that each member of the team has their eye on the same prize, not that each member of the team acts like a bunch of robots, simply doing what they are told. That stifles creativity, and ends up being a process that creates stale, boring results, not to mention unsatisfied partners or teammates.

“Winners hang out with Winners”

It has been often discussed that one of the best ways to learn how to create success is to spend time with successful people. An interesting example that is given on this disc is that of people who live in low-income, or high-crime areas. Why is it that the cycle of life in those areas keeps on replicating itself over and over again?

Are people who live in those areas simply not as smart, talented, or creative as everyone else? Hardly. Those cycles of life keep repeating themselves because as people are raised in those environments, they simply mimic the actions and the mindsets of the people around them.

James also talks about the difference between creating something remarkable and valuable vs. simply trying to out-do your competition. Many people are beginning to realize that the entire concept of competition is itself steeped in thoughts of lack, and that type of thinking will only create more of the same.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I learned a lot from listening to these 6 CD’s, and despite the length of this product review of The Million Dollar Mindset, I only scratched the surface of the in-depth notes that I took, or of the material that was shared on these 6 discs.

Each disc is approximately 1-hour long, and each succeeding disc builds on the concepts that were talked about on the previous discs. It is very apparent that James Ray’s philosophies on life and success are constant, and you will find that consistency in this entire product, and in all of his teachings that I have been exposed to.

Would I recommend that you purchase The Million Dollar Mindset program? Absolutely, but only on 2 conditions:

1. That you are going to actually study the knowledge and techniques that James shares so that you can understand how they work.
2. That you are going to then apply that knowledge to growing a new or existing business or service offering.

These CD’s will not turn you into a millionaire unless you are willing to find a way to provide value to the world at large, and then consistently apply the principles that are taught!

Most people would gladly accept a second chance if it was offered to them.

Who among us hasn’t made decisions in the past that – despite our present level of happiness – we might have done differently if given the opportunity? Well, until time travel becomes both proven – and accessible to the masses – we all have to accept the fact that there is no going back, only moving forward.

That being the case, why is it that people get a second chance every single day of their lives, yet they never significantly change anything?

Many people want their lives to be a certain way, yet they have the completely incorrect belief that they have already missed their golden opportunity. Their ship finally came in, but then it left port without them. Lady luck finally came calling, but they were in the shower and didn’t hear the doorbell. They finally picked the winning lottery numbers, but then left the ticket in their pocket when they did the laundry.

Then there are the people whose lives deliver a less than subtle reminder that there is only so much time here on Earth to accomplish their goals. Anyone who has ever had a near-fatal accident, a heart attack, or a debilitating illness or disease comes out of that experience with a renewed desire to get moving on their goals, lest the next incident be more permanent than their first wake-up call was.

The simple truth of the matter is that you don’t have to wait until you have a brush with success or with death before you can start chasing your dreams with a vengeance. Every single day – every moment, for that matter – is your second chance for success. If you are serious about getting something done while you are here on this plane of existence, here is a 3-step process that will guarantee you’ll reach the finish line before your time runs out!

1. Fan the flames of your Burning Desire

If you want to get something done, you have to first know what it is!

That may seem like a ridiculous statement, yet it describes a situation that happens with most people. We allow our lives to become so busy and so cluttered with the tasks of our existence that we simply don’t spend enough time thinking about – and acting on – our true long-term desires.

Sure, most people have a general idea of what they want to get out of life, and they may even be on a general path to attain it. However, “general” is not a strong enough shield to protect you from the distractions that life will throw at you in the meantime. You need a specific goal; one that you don’t want to die without having accomplished.

Your goal does not need to be selfless, however, as many people have been led to believe. None of us were put here to accomplish anything less or more than what we personally want to accomplish. Even saints and visionaries who have sculpted the very fabric of history did so because it was what they wanted to do.

If you want to be a saint, then be a saint. If you want to be a sinner, then be a sinner. However, in either case, if you don’t know specifically what you want, then you’ll just settle for whatever you happen to get. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that is often something that won’t sound all that impressive during your eulogy.

If my life’s purpose is to learn and grow, while having a knock-down, drag-out good time in the process, then I want it said during my eulogy that I did exactly that, and that I never chased after some purpose that I wasn’t truly passionate about.

True visionaries have their own vision, and what other people think is of little consequence.

2. Learn from what didn’t work in the Past

Once you have decided what you want to accomplish – and I reiterate, what you have a burning desire to accomplish – then look back on all the days of your life so far to figure out why you don’t have it yet.

• Were you not clear enough about what you wanted?
• Did you not know how to attain it?
• Did you not apply yourself to the attainment of that goal?
• Was it your lack of confidence in your abilities that stopped you?
• Did you let other people hold you back?
• Were you a victim of the “victim mentality”?

Whatever your personal reasons are for not having accomplished your goals, there is only one person who is responsible for that, and it’s you. Don’t go beating yourself up about it, however. All lessons learned are learned for a reason, so rather than wallowing in self pity, simply do what we’ve all been told to do since the cradle:

Learn from your mistakes.

If whatever you did before didn’t work, it’s not going to work this time around, either. Change your tactics, and you’ll change your results.

3. Consistently apply yourself to the Cause

It doesn’t matter if your goal is to become wealthy, or to have the best lawn on your block, if you don’t consistently apply yourself to that goal, you’ll never achieve the level of success that you are capable of.

Most people have had at least some measure of success in the various areas of their lives, and most people will be able to remember a time when they:

• Had more money
• Had better relationships
• Had better health or a better body
• Had a better career
• Had more self confidence

Although there are sometimes circumstances that instantly or drastically take us away from “the good ol’ days,” there are no circumstances that can keep us from attaining the feelings of success that we had back then.

If you did it once, you can do it again.

Yes, I know, the excuses are already forming in your mind:

• I’m too old
• My health is not what it used to be
• I’ve had children, so my body can never go back
• I don’t have the job opportunities that I use to have
• It’s not possible to attain what I want

I have just three little words for anyone who uses any of those excuses, or anything similar:

Blah, blah, blah.

Does your age or your health affect your life? Sure. Does the fact that you’ve had children, that you’ve moved to a new area, or that you want something difficult to attain have an impact on the situation? Absolutely.

Here’s the rub, though. You can only be affected by those things to the extent that you allow yourself to be affected by them.

When you consistently apply yourself to attaining your burning desires, you open up a flood gate of opportunities to reach the level of happiness and success that you want. In fact, that happiness and success will very likely come in a different form, or from a different direction than you thought it would. However, if you don’t consistently apply yourself to the task of attaining your burning desires, then you will just as consistently fail to attain whatever it is that you want.

By knowing what you want to accomplish, you will put yourself on the path to attaining it.

By avoiding the pitfalls that have held you back in the past, you will ensure that you stay on the right path.

By consistently working towards your goals, you will create opportunities where before there were none.

If you don’t believe me, then I challenge you to try this method out for yourself. Unless, of course, you’re simply afraid of success. In that case, why are you reading a blog about personal development?

This has to stop.

You are at this moment (and you always have been) in a position of power over your life. No one can control what happens from this point forward except for you; it doesn’t matter what your present situation is. No matter who you are, or what your circumstances are, you can start right now to exercise your position of power, and you will retain that right for as long as you live.

Wow! Pretty cool, right? Okay, now what the heck does all of that mean?

In short, a position of power is simply your ability to control every single aspect of your life. However, a more situation-specific use of your position of power is where the magic really starts to happen!

Whenever you are considering any given course of action in your life, but you aren’t 100% confident that things will go your way, or that you will do the “right” thing, adopting a position of power with regards to that specific situation will put you in a frame of mind that ensures your success.

Career/Job

It is perfectly natural to question your level of confidence or your abilities when you are looking for a rewarding career position, but it is also completely unnecessary – if you have the right attitude.

I guarantee that no matter where you work or want to work, if you have a burning desire and intention to do everything in your power to succeed, you are already in a position to do that job 10 times better than people who have more experience than you, or who have more education.

Your desire and your intention to do a good job are far more valuable than any education, or even a gold-plated resume’. In fact, any employer that you are considering interviewing with would be lucky if you even gave them the opportunity to hire you.

That’s a position of power!

Health and Fitness

Many people who have struggled with their weight or their ability to be healthy will have very serious issues when it comes to having the confidence to achieve long-term success, or to excel in their fitness or athletic ventures.

There is nothing that you cannot do when it comes to your physical body. In fact, the physiology of the human body when it comes to weight loss or athletic success is one of the most well understood of all of the sciences.

If you have been led to believe that you can’t lose weight or become an athlete because of your genetics or because of some physical limitation, you have been lied to.

Adopt the attitude now – once and for all – that you CAN achieve success, that you WILL achieve success, and in fact, you HOPE someone tries to talk you out of it, because you’re ready to blow them out of the water with your confidence and your resolve to succeed.

That’s a position of power!

Relationships

Are you trying to find that Mr. or Mrs. Right, but you think you’re not attractive, or that you’re overweight, or that you’re not smart enough, funny enough, entertaining enough, blah, blah, blah…

If you keep thinking that way, you’ll find a way to prove yourself right over and over again. You probably already have several times.

You can have anything that you want when it comes to relationship success!

Have you ever seen a guy who has a huge beer belly and bad body odor, yet he is dating one of the hottest girls in town? Have you ever seen a girl with curves in all the wrong places and really bad acne, yet she is on the arm of a guy who could be an underwear model for Calvin Klein?

Is it magic? Are those people under some sort of a spell? Are they being blackmailed or coerced?

Hardly. In those instances, the people who seem like unlikely candidates for the relationship success that they’ve achieved have simply adopted a winning attitude – they have a position of power. As far as they are concerned, Ms. Hottie and Mr. Underwear Model Guy are lucky to even get their time and attention.

That’s a position of power!

Every situation that was just described could also be reversed:

• When it’s time for you to leave a job, not only is your present employer lucky to have gotten as much of your time as they have, but they owe you a good letter of recommendation, too! Even if you don’t deserve one, you can probably still get it if your attitude is on straight when you ask for it.
• When it comes time for you to stand down from your position as head health nut in your neighborhood or at your gym, you have already done your bit for King and Country. Make plans to continue on your own health and fitness path; the people that you have helped are better off for having had you in their lives. In fact, they should throw you a big going away party – complete with lots of cake and ice cream!
• When it’s time for you to leave a relationship, you aren’t getting “away” from someone that you don’t want to be with anymore. Rather, you have simply grown into a person that is no longer compatible with your previous mate. Not only are you well within your rights to take the nearest exit, but YOU will call the shots on how it all ends, not the other person.

Those are all positions of power.

It is very often the case that we try and we try, and as far as our level of effort, we should be a smashing success. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, something isn’t clicking into place, and we aren’t seeing the desired results.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results, then here is a quote to keep in mind:

Self Improvement 101:
“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten!”

Here is a list of 6 ways that you can kick-start your self improvement efforts, and you only have to do them for 15 minutes each day.

Here is the key, though: You have to do them for 15 minutes each day, and you have to do this for 7 days in a row.

There are 2 points to this exercise:

1. By doing something consistently for 7 days in a row, you will come to believe the very important truth that when you consistently apply yourself to something over and over again, you will come to understand and appreciate the sheer power of your will, and then you will be unstoppable.
2. By taking 15 minutes of your time every single day for 7 days straight, you will also come to understand that by consistently taking the time to work towards your goals, there will be measurable results, even with just the quick, 15-minute time expenditure.

Depending on your goals, your measurements might be obvious, such as weight loss, or a positive financial or career advancement. For other goals, it may be something more along the lines of a measurable increase in your level of confidence, an idea for an effective action to take, or maybe just a sense of peace or focus that allows you to excel in your future endeavors.

In any case, I challenge you to do this exercise for 1 week straight, and to really put your heart into it. By taking any one of these suggestions and giving it an honest, 100% effort for 15 minutes each day, 7 days in a row, I guarantee that you’ll bust through your self improvement plateau!

Research

Most people don’t know what they don’t know because they don’t know what they don’t know!

Did you get that?

In other words, ignorance is bliss. Spend your 15 minutes every day learning from quality sources about your area of interest. Don’t just randomly search at Google, or even read your favorite blogs. Pick one area of your life that you want to improve, and find one or more quality, reliable sources of information about it, and delve deeply into it for 15 minutes every day. Be sure to take notes about any actions that you are taught or inspired to take.

Quality Time

Many people have heard of “quality time” with regard to their relationships, and if relationship success is one of your goals, then you could certainly use your 15 minutes each day for that activity. Spend that entire block of time dedicated 100% to your significant other, with zero distractions. If you don’t have a significant other, then spend those 15 minutes every day writing out the qualities that you want in a potential mate, or even writing out your future relationship “success story”.

You can use the quality time tool for things other than relationships as well. Sit down in front of a piece of paper and spend 15 minutes every day writing down every single thing that comes to your mind about whatever self improvement goal you have. Write down all of the positives and the negatives that come to mind about your goal. Before long, you will start to see a pattern develop that will help you to figure out which actions you need to take to succeed.

Exercise

If your goal is health or weight loss success, then obviously exercise is something that should be part of your daily routine. Lose the completely inaccurate belief that exercise needs to be done for hours in order to be effective, however. If you do quality exercises at the proper intensity for 15 minutes each day, 7 days in a row, you WILL net measurable results. Check out Fitness Destinations or Workout Pass for more info.

Also, exercise is NOT just for people who want to lose weight. The mental and personal productivity benefits that regular exercisers have access to are well documented. You can crank up your level of success in life by engaging in regular exercise, even if you don’t want or need to lose weight.

Visualization

Visualization is not some “woo-woo” practice that only Law of Attraction junkies take part in. It does not matter what your personal belief systems are; the act of visualizing is something that you do in order to feel wonderful about your goal, and to put yourself in a state of mind that helps you to focus on what steps you need to take in order to attain that goal.

Visualization should be done 100% without distraction. Sit comfortably and in a quiet environment, or alternatively, listen to music that really helps you to “feel” what it will be like to have what you are visualizing for. If you are inspired to take any specific long-term or short-term action while you are visualizing, then do so!

Scripting

Scripting is basically the art of writing out what you want your life to be like. You write about your “perfect life” from the point of view of having already achieved it, and you don’t need to be an accomplished author in order to do this effectively.

Simply sit down and write out – in great detail – what your life will be like once you have attained your goal. Use lavish words that describe a world where you are mindlessly happy, and paradise would pale by comparison. Really get into the exercise and have a good time while you’re doing it. If you run out of things to write about, then spend your 15-minute segments reading and thinking about what you previously wrote. Be sure to really allow yourself to feel yourself in the world that you have scripted.

Meditate

The benefits of meditation have been so well documented that I will not use any time here to rehash those concepts. Meditation can be used as a tool to take yourself to another level of success, and it can be a powerful process if you are stuck and can’t seem to move forward in your self improvement efforts.

In a nutshell, meditation is time when you don’t actively think about anything in particular. Ordinarily, we have a difficult time NOT thinking about our lives, including our successes and our perceived failures. When you meditate, you give yourself time – 15 minutes in this case – to just let go and not worry about anything at all. By doing so, and releasing your attachment to your day-to-day concerns, you will often experience epiphanies which are “light bulb moments” when you are able to see things with an extreme level of clarity and a sense of purpose.

For more about visualization, scripting, and meditation, be sure to check out the Manifest a Miracle audio program.

Do you personally think that it’s possible to manifest a miracle?

If you personally don’t believe that some universal energy (God, the Law of Attraction, Buddha – whatever your definition is) has the capability of creating what you ask for, then you can stop reading right now. No amount of information about how to manifest a miracle is going to help if you don’t believe that it is possible.

Also, the question of what exactly constitutes a “miracle” is obviously another question that will be subject to each individual person’s belief system. Are we talking about a Divine Intervention here, or are we talking about something more “down to earth,” such as changing a life of squalor into a life of splendor?

Personally, I believe that anything and everything is possible, and that the term “impossible” describes nothing more miraculous than something that we have not yet figured out how to do.

History is replete with examples of so-called “faith healing” and “miraculous” cures for terminal or debilitating illnesses. Scientists and medical doctors admit that there is no proven method of repeating these amazing occurrences, but a lack of an explanation does not change the facts of those stories.

Whether you believe that a religious deity of some kind is behind the wonders of the human race, or if you believe that all conceivable wonders are merely the result of having a proper understanding of the laws of the universe, one fact remains clear in all cases:

In order to manifest a Miracle into your life, you must first BELIEVE that miracles are possible.

Now the question becomes what is it that you have to do in order to create a level of belief that allows you to harness the universal laws, or to take control over the divine powers that govern your life? What do YOU have to do in order to manifest a miracle?

I personally believe that human beings are capable of literally anything, and that it is our doubt about our abilities that limit us, not the abilities themselves.

So, in order to tap into whatever you personally call the power that works miracles, you must first remove the self-limiting doubt that is keeping you from wielding or directing that power.

When people watch movies like The Secret, You Can Heal Your Life, or What the Bleep Do We Know?, they are often not so much looking for the methods of creating miraculous lives as much as they are looking for proof that doing so is even possible.

In that regard, other than The Secret itself, no product has ever convinced me more of my own infinite power – or should I say reminded me – than Gary Evan’s Manifest a Miracle.

No, Gary is not some prophet, messiah, or even the graduate of some high-profile school of spirituality where they teach you how to wield the hand of God or any such nonsense. What Gary is, however, is someone who has proven conclusively that “if you do the work, you get the reward”.

In Gary’s own words:

“A pot of gold isn’t going to fall out of the sky and fall on your lap. Realistically you’re going to need about 30 minutes every single day to follow the Manifest a Miracle proven formula.”

I checked out Gary’s “proven” formula, and it boils down to this: If you have the faith, and you do the work, then you get the reward.

Most people who buy “life-changing” products will then read the book, watch the movie, strap on the audio, etc., but then they don’t follow through. They get all wired for success, but then they never plug themselves in!

Those same people, consequently, are the people who say that miracles are impossible. I don’t know about you, but I see a correlation there…

Is Gary Evan’s Manifest a Miracle program the next best thing to chomping on Eucharist wafers and praying to your Lord on bended knee? No product made by man will ever take the place of the word of God, for people who believe in such things.

However, right here on planet Earth (as opposed to the promised land), there are ways to manifest miracles, and Gary has a pretty firm grasp on how us common folk can actually get the job done.

p.s. – Although I obviously believe in Gary and what he teaches other people, I am also a “commoner” just like you. If you go through Gary’s Manifest a Miracle program, yet you still think you know of a better method than Gary’s to bring about miracles, not only will I personally reimburse you, but I’ll buy whatever product you claim is better than his, and I’ll give that product a review right here in front of God and everybody.

How’s THAT for a ringing endorsement?

The information about how to create a super-wonderful, all-star, non-stop happiness type of lifestyle has already been documented THOUSANDS of times on the Internet. Everything from “Top 5″ lists to the “Top 50 Ways to…” are all screaming their way around the cyber world right now, even as you read these very words.

To help people “bridge the gap” between their keyboard and their 3-dimensional lives, I have come up with a system for taking the highlights, wisdom, and/or “Top (whatever)” lists that are posted here at Today is that Day, and getting that information out into the real-world – where it needs to be!

This is a brand-new idea, and I am still working out the logistics, but the basic idea is to take the most empowering quotes, the highest bits of wisdom, or even just the smarmy comments that sometimes slip their way into my writing, and get that content onto various real-world objects where it will serve as a consistent reminder for you to live your life in a certain way.

In addition, many of us (all of us?) know other people who could benefit from empowering information, self improvement gifts, etc., but there is presently a very small amount of original empowering content that can be gifted to other people. The tired old “success quotes” have been said and done, while original inspiring content is something that is hard to find once the web browser closes.

Stay tuned for the full-on implementation of this idea, which will start appearing at the bottom of present as well as future blog posts here at Today is that Day. The full implementation will take me awhile, but it is my intention to get started on the process in the next week or so.

In the meantime, I have a few empowering phrases already plastered on coffee cups, mouse pads, tile coasters, etc., at the Today is that Day Self Empowerment Gift Store.

I will be adding A LOT more content to that page in the coming weeks and months, and I will also be adding blog post-specific products as I write new content here on the blog. Whenever possible I will use the colors or graphics of the site and/or of the specific blog post in order to make the merchandise more fun and attractive.

So, in short, stay tuned for more, and in the meantime check out the present merchandise that is available, and don’t forget to think of others as well! Who doesn’t need a coffee cup or a mouse pad that says “Today is that Day when I….Remember that my life is mine to create however I please.”?

Today is that Day Self Empowerment Gift Store 

There are 2 primary reasons for this. One reason is that people are simply too lazy to do what it takes to improve their lives. Yes, I’m calling you out. If you know how to improve your life, but you just aren’t doing it because you don’t “feel like it,” then you’re lazy. Feel free to get as angry as you want if that statement applies to you personally.

The second reason, however, happens just as frequently, if not more so. The second reason people don’t improve their lives – even after reading every personal development book on the planet – is because it’s just not a habit for them. After years or decades of living our lives in a certain way, we are simply not used to doing the types of things that will create positive and lasting changes in our lives.

The surest way to leap over that particular hurdle is to get into the habit of improving your life. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say, and you likewise will not be able to go from a “wannabe” to a SUPERSTAR by simply reading an empowering book, or attending a seminar. However, by finding ways to constantly remind yourself that you are on a quest for greatness – and that you need to take the necessary steps to get there – you will quickly find yourself accomplishing your goals, one Roman step at a time.

Virus Idea #1
Set up Reminder Systems that you’ll Actually Use

This idea is so simple that it’s nothing less than tragic that people haven’t successfully clued into it yet. If you have spent 10, 20, or even 50 years living your life in a certain way, then you are going to need reminders to change your daily habits into more productive practices. Those practices may include anything that you have in your personal development arsenal, but many of the popular things that you could remind yourself to do include:

• Reading something educational or empowering every day
• Having positive thoughts, even in your negatively charged lifestyle
• Reading and/or saying daily affirmations
• Having a more empowering emotional response to certain situations
• Spending time practicing good habits such as exercise, meditation, visualizing, etc.

Those are just examples of course, but the moral of the story is that you need to set up systems that remind you several times each and every day to take a certain action, or to have a certain thought. If you want to jump in with both feet, check out the Achieve Planner program, or Brad Isaac’s Achieve-IT! Goal Setting Software. If you want to start small, simply use Microsoft Outlook, or some other powerful task management system.

Virus Idea #2
Ask People to Hassle You

This may seem like an accident waiting to happen, but if that is your emotional response to the consideration of someone constantly getting on your case, then you are probably a great candidate for using this particular technique.

If you ask your friends, family, co-workers, or even your neighbors to point out the fact that you aren’t sticking to your alleged “promise” of self improvement, then one of two things will likely happen:

1. You will get so sick of them telling you that you aren’t living up to what you said you would do that you finally start doing it, or…
2. You realize that you are actually too lazy to improve your life, and you then move on to more frivolous time expenditures.

Either way, you win.

Virus Idea #3
Decorate your Life

Do you know those cheesy motivational/success/teamwork posters that you see in corporate meeting rooms, dentist’s offices, and in that “gifts for all occasions” store at the mall? Yeah, those posters are cheesy, but they are also effective.

Whenever you literally decorate your life with reminders of the type of person that you are striving to become, a strange thing happens; you actually start to become that person! Our environment rubs off on us whether we mean for it to or not, so why not take advantage of some truly no effort self improvement techniques?

Create a vision board, get some of those cheesy motivational posters, create a custom wallpaper for your computer like this one. Use sticky notes if you have to! The point is not that you make your environment into some sort of circus show, but rather that you create an environment that reminds you that you are on a path to greatness.

Virus Idea #4
Put your Back against your Personal Values

When all else fails, remember what your own personal values are, and then use them against yourself! People are very adept at consistently staying committed to whoever they think they are, so pull the core value card and use it for your own benefit.

• If you are an honest person, then make a promise to someone else that you are going to improve your life. It might not help the other person, but if keeping your word is important to you, then it will certainly keep you on track knowing that you made a promise to that other person.
• If you value personal integrity, then make a promise to yourself that you are going to follow through on your efforts. Don’t try this if you already have a history of breaking promises to yourself. Obviously you’ve been down that road and you need a new tactic.
• If your sense of responsibility is very important to you, then look at your goal in the light of how you will be a responsible friend, co-worker, parent, or family member by attaining your goals. If your goals are health or financially related, you can easily see how you can live up to a sense of responsibility to your family by staying alive and/or providing a financial security blanket for them.

Virus Idea #5
Daily/Weekly/Monthly Check-ups

No personal development effort is going to work if you don’t stop the presses once in awhile and take a look around to make sure that you are on track. It’s very easy to “claim” that you are on a path to wonderful success, but if you don’t have the track record to prove it, then who are you kidding?

• Set up a time at the end of every day when you honestly ask yourself if you did everything that you could have done that day to attain your goals. It’s OK to not have always done so; it’s the questioning of yourself that is important, not the answer.
• Every Friday, or maybe every Sunday, look back on the previous week and see if you have accomplished 1 week’s worth of tasks that will take you to your long-term goals. Again, if you didn’t, that’s OK, but by looking back to see where you might have gone astray, you can then do better the following week.
• Once a month check in with yourself to measure your results. Whether you are on a financial improvement quest, a weight loss program, or if you are looking to improve your social life, after 30 days there should have been some measurable improvement. If you spend 30 days working towards something, yet don’t see at least a minimum amount of progress, then you probably need to rethink your methods.

This carnival is dedicated to the concept of stepping outside of the box and living our lives in ways beyond the “norm”!

Whether you want to learn unique ways to think or act differently, or if you want to share your own unique ideas, this carnival is for you!

There will be a new edition of the carnival posted every month, on or around the 15th . You can click here to learn more, or click here to submit a post for the next edition, which will be posted on March 15, 2008.

If you like this carnival or if you are one of the authors featured in this edition, be sure to add this post to Stumbleupon, Digg, or your favorite social bookmarking site!

Personal Growth

SlowDownFast – If You Don’t Assume Responsibility, Who Will?

Frederic Patenaude Talks – The Power of Rituals: How to Build Positive, Energizing Daily Rituals 

Stephen Martile – How to Change Your Beliefs with Praxis, Part 1 

Gratitude Magic – Why Our New Year’s Resolutions Fail 

Personal Growth with Corinne Edwards – Hillary and Your Soft Underbelly 

I will change your Life – What Are You Doing That’s Different?

Self Help Blog – Procrastination Case Study 

Enhance Life – If You Want To Be Understood… 

Personal Hack – 9 Smart Perseverance Tips

Bootstrapper – 17 Ways to Stop Being a Perfectionist and Get More Done

Law of Attraction for Beginners – Waking Up Without An Alarm Clock

Never the Same River Twice – Weekend SmallChange: Listen to Deliriously Happy Music

We The Change – Top 31 Motivation Hacks 

Money/Success

Cyberca$hology – Costanza Success Principles

Copywriting Tips for Your Business – Saying Thanks… 

Money Blue Book -  How To Earn Free Airline Miles With Credit Cards

Miss Copy’s Blog – How To Kick Writers’ Block

Stephen Dean’s Blog – Deciphering Cosmopolitan Magazines

Personal Development by INTJ – Why You Should Be Careful When Your Business Is Going Well 

Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket – Working for Perks and Benefits—Revised for 2008 

FYI About.com – Sell Your House And Rent It Back: Avoid Foreclosure

The Michel Fortin Blog – Give Your Joint-Venture Offer An Extra Punch

Relationships

The Next 45 Years – How to Love Consciously

dotGirlfriend – 10 Best Chick Flicks for a Sexy Movie Night

Schaefer’s Blog – Say What You Need

Postcards from Nowhere – Love lets Go 

Intelligence

Sharp Brains – Mindfulness and Meditation in Schools for Stress Management

James D. Brausch – Your Natural Genius 

Learn a foreign language blog – The ultimate guide to successful language learning – Part one 

Health

Tupelo Kenyon – Finally the Truth About Diet – The China Study Review 

Total Wellbeing – Kangaroo Meat – Good For You AND the Environment

The Environment

BeThisWay – Gross and Not-So-Gross Ways to Save Water, and Money 

Energies of Creation – Why I Don’t Burn Cars Anymore

That wraps up the 16th edition of the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival! Many thanks to all of our authors, and don’t forget to add this post to your favorite social bookmarking website!

The next edition will be posted on March 15, 2008, and the closing of this edition is also the official call for submissions for the next one! Get the inside scoop on what this carnival is all about and access the submission form as well by clicking right here.

Rela
ted Content:

Do you work, live, or play in an environment or with a group of people who are constantly building you up and believing in your greatness, or do your surroundings serve instead to remind you of what you don’t want to have in your life?

Always remember that what we focus on in life is what grows. Call it the law of attraction, call in the power of intention – it doesn’t really matter what you call it. The bottom line truth is that it is difficult – if not impossible – not to put your attention and your focus onto the people and the circumstances that surround you. If you are surrounded by immature, belittling people who are not successful in the areas that you want to be successful in, it’s like jumping into a pool and trying not to get wet!

Health and Fitness Success

Most people in today’s world want to clean up some part of their health. They want to eat better, exercise more, lose some weight, etc. That is all well and good, but then they fill their lives with people and information that don’t support that goal!

• How many of your close friends exercise regularly compared to how many of them ask for your time when YOU should be exercising?
• How many of your co-workers bring healthy fare to work instead of dragging you to the nearest fast food restaurant at lunch time?
• How many of your family members are junk-food junkies, or demand your time when you should be at the gym, out on the trail, or working out at home?
• How many books or magazines do you read that reinforce your self-limiting beliefs about weight loss, rather than building you up for success?

Relationship Success

There was an old saying that my father used to have on a plaque that hung on our wall when I was growing up. It said:

“It’s hard to soar like an eagle when you fly with a bunch of turkeys.”

Although rising to the top amongst people who aren’t as focused on success as you is actually quite easy, it is nonetheless still difficult if everyone around you demonstrates varying degrees of the opposite of what you want.

• How many of your family members are happily married and have been for 20 years or more?
• How many of your closest friends are so in love that they actually glow with happiness?
• How many people do you know who are so confident in their relationships that they are able to focus on growing other areas of their lives because they have the relationship thing covered?

Financial Success

It has been said many times that a person’s income tends to be very close to the average of that person’s 10 closest friends. Take a look around your own life and see if it holds true.

Add up the approximate salary of the 10 people that you spend most of your time with – even if they’re not friends of yours – and then divide that number by 10. Is the figure that you came up with roughly what you make in a year?

Sure, there are exceptions to every rule, but for the most part, we allow the people and the financial circumstances that surround us to subconsciously create our own financial picture. 

• How many millionaires do you see hanging around those “Work today, Paid today” places at 6:00 o’clock in the morning, just chatting with their buddies?
• How many people with a 6-figure income do you see sitting around the local fast-food joint, waiting for their friend to get a 15-minute break from running the drive-through?
• How many times do you see a Ferrari or a brand-new BMW parked at the local convenience store while the owner is inside hanging around with his buddy at the cash register?

Obviously these scenarios don’t make any sense because people who have a lot of money simply don’t hang around with people who are in a radically different financial mindset. Or, for you “money isn’t everything” people, you could also say that people who don’t have money spend very little time hanging around with people who do.

Either way, the result is the same. It’s not the money itself that separates those people, it’s the mindset. James Arthur Ray does an incredible job of explaining these concepts in his Million Dollar Mindset series.

What do you do now?

Figure out what areas of your life you want to have more success in, and start doing everything in your power to spend time with people who have had success in those areas.

By “spend time” I don’t mean that you need to go play golf with them, either.

• If your goal is weight loss, then start spending a lot of time at the gym or in other environments that are supportive for people who want to be healthy. You don’t even have to know any particular person – just start spending time in supportive environments, and not spending time in situations that are dis-empowering.
• If your goal is relationship success, find some people who have been successful, and ask for their secrets. Read books about it, check out online resources, or just do some research out there in the real world.
• If your goal is financial success, get involved in some sort of a wealth building program. Learn from people who have been successful and find out how they did it. Here’s a hint: providing value!

Regardless of what your goal is, realize the fact that if you want success in that endeavor, it is absolutely imperative that you surround yourself with a winning team who will help carry you to success, rather than continue to spend time in environments where you are spoon fed belittling, dis-empowering, or negative circumstances.

This post was inspired by the PresidentWise^TM weekly teleconference held by Robert G. Allen. If you are interested in learning more about how to be successful – what Robert calls a “thoroughbred” – contact me for more information, or click on over to check out the BookWise Success Program.

If you’re like most people, the fire for success that you had on January 1st has now faded to a dull ember, and you need to start blowing on those embers, lest your passionate desires for happiness, health, and wealth will spend yet another year being nothing but pipe dreams.

Here’s a tip:

Don’t be like other people!

When you do what other people do, you’ll get what other people have gotten. Now, if you are going to do the things that happy and successful people do, then you’re good. Otherwise, you might want to rethink who your role models are.

On that note, here is a quick list of places to go, people to see, and things to do that can help you to reignite that passionate New Year’s flame, and allow you to remember that 2008 was going to be the year that was different than all rest.

If you don’t know exactly what it is that you want, but you just know that you want to be happy, then check out Alex Shalman’s Happiness Project. It’s a month-long study of how several successful and happy people have gotten to BE successful and happy. I’m one of those people (YAY for me!), and I could not give higher praise to Alex for what is an absolutely WONDERFUL project, complete with loads of fun, great prizes, and a chance to learn how it’s all done:

If you know what you want, but you’re just not sure how to get it, then stop procrastinating and join Personal Development Partners. Partners – you know; friends, business associates, mentors, people who want what you want and are willing to help you get it:

If you know that you want to lose weight, but you haven’t quite figured out how that whole “eat less, move more” thing works, then swing by Fitness Destinations for more exercise and nutrition info that you can shake a stick at, or, if you’re really brave, go to Craig Harper’s place:

If you know that you want more money, but you can’t seem to figure out how to get it, I highly recommend James Arthur Ray as a guru worth listening to. I am going through his Million Dollar Mindset program right now, and it rocks. Here are some of James’ other success-related resources:

If you know that you want a better relationship, but you just can’t seem to get over the hump of constantly attracting the wrong guy or girl into your life, Dan and Jennifer are experts worth spending some time with. Their blog posts and YouTube videos are awesome, fun, and highly educational:

There ya have it, folks! A whole pile of resources that run the gamut from basic happiness all the way up through millionaire status. Reignite those New Year’s Resolutions! Be different by actually getting the job done this year!

Newsletter 

The last time that I talked about the Today is that Day newsletter, I had decided temporarily to manage it myself. However, I’m happy to say that so many of you have been signing up for the newsletter that I’m having trouble keeping up with the administrative side of managing the list!

To keep the newsletter a fun and useful concept that doesn’t keep me from taking care of other important tasks, such as creating content for this blog, tending to PDP, and building the Wealth Creation for Superior Living podcast, I have decided to embrace technology and use a service that helps me to handle the administrative side of running a good newsletter.

I’ll still be writing the content, of course, but the day to day tasks of adding people to the distribution list, dealing with bounced emails, etc., are now going to be handled by 1ShoppingCart, a service that I highly recommend, by the way. I have used them in the past, and there “techno toys” are truly awesome if you have a newsletter and/or have products or services that you offer on the Internet.

So, for anyone who is already a subscriber to the Today is that Day newsletter, or who wishes to be (free stuff and discounts – YAY!), you can make sure that your subscription is processed accurately by simply putting your first name only and your email address into the new form found on the newsletter page. Privacy guaranteed, of course.

p.s. – This also means that I will be setting up an affiliate program for the Today is that Day products, so keep an eye open for that.

About this Blog

Apparently I need to read my own writing a bit more often, because it was recently pointed out to me that the “About this Blog” page had a few things on it that were woefully out of date!

The general concepts behind the Today is that Day blog are the same as they have always been, but I’m one of those “rolling with the punches” kind of guys, and my life’s circumstances tend to change rather drastically from time to time.

For anyone who has never read the About this Blog page, please feel free to do so at this time, as it is a brief read that does a great job of explaining just what goes on here.

p.s. – To that one heckler from the 3rd row? Yes, I AM aware that central Florida is NOT on the east coast. Sheesh…

Quotable Quotes

And finally, if you are sick of hearing all of the same tired old self improvement dogma repeated over and over and over again, now is your chance to put your money where you mouth is!

Rich Ezzo over at MysteryMoney has started a very cool project where people get to submit what THEY think are great quotes. All of the submitted quotes will ultimately be compared, talked about, slapped around, beat up, beat down, and then put in a washing machine on spin cycle. Any quotes that survive all of that will make the Top 10 list and become:

The Best “New” Quotes of all Time!

VERY cool stuff, Rich! Click on over there to check it out, everyone. Also, while you’re there, be sure to add that post to Digg, Stumbleupon, Mixx, or your favorite social networking website. This is a project worth getting the word out about!

p.s. – Rich is also looking for a few good judges to grease the wheels and share the news. If you are an author or a blogger with a positive outlook on life and a large reach in the community, contact Rich through his site about possibly taking part in this awesome project!

Who knows? If the whole thing ends up on Oprah, you could be one of the judges who helped set the stage for the NEW self improvement vocabulary!

If the Big Messiah comes strolling into town and convinces the Mayor that all citizens can avoid the pits of eternal suffering by attending a 2-hour church session every Sunday, and the Mayor makes it a law that everyone has to do so, there are two very distinct things going on. One of them is the mission itself – avoiding eternal suffering – while the other is the tool with which that avoidance is realized – going to church every Sunday.

When it comes to self improvement, whether that be on a personal level, a business level, or a relationship level – this same separation of church and state clearly needs to exist. However, most people blur the lines between the mission they are on and the tools that they use, and the end result is often a state of anarchy where neither the accomplishment of the mission nor the effective use of the tools ever seems to happen.

Business

If you are in the business of selling fishing poles, is it your mission to make the best fishing pole ever so that you become wildly successful? Most people would say, “Yes, that is a good idea”.

Survey Says: NO

Your mission is for your customers to have the best fishing experience possible by using your products and services.

By always keeping in mind that your goal is for your customers to have the best fishing experience ever, you will constantly be thinking of or discovering ways to make that happen, and your customers will keep coming back to you over and over again. Your loyalty to what your customers want – the best fishing experience ever – will cause them to have that same loyalty to you whenever they are looking for that experience.

On the other hand, if you just try to make the best fishing pole ever, you will be instantly unseated as the reigning leader in your industry by the simple act of someone else coming up with a better fishing pole. Yikes.

Relationships

If your goal is to find your “soul mate,” then having as many resources available for doing so would seem to be in order. Online dating sites, singles bars or clubs, your gym, even your work place are all tools that you could use to find your Mr. or Mrs. Right. Nothing wrong with using all or some of those tools, to be sure, but is access to those tools going to ensure your success?

Survey Says: NO

Your mission is not to have the option of using dating or social situations in order to find that soul mate. Dating and social situations are tools. Your job is to become the kind of person who is worthy of the soul mate that you seek, and you will very likely find that soul mate without even using any of the tools listed earlier.

By allowing yourself to consistently exhibit the personality traits that will attract that man or woman of your dreams, then you will reserve the right to act surprised when that person simply lands in your lap. Remember the golden rule (look up!) – Success is Something you Attract by the Person you Become.

Health

Oh, we are all familiar with the tools of the trade when it comes to health and fitness, aren’t we? Let’s find out if gym memberships, diets, workout DVD’s, yoga classes, and extreme nutritional lifestyles are going to guarantee success:

Survey Says: NO

Why? Because all of those things are tools. If you are not honestly interested in living a healthy lifestyle, and if you are not honestly healthy in your head, then your shiny new gym membership card, your vegetable juicer, and your library of “The Last Diet Book You’ll Ever Need” books are nothing more than false advertising.

Focus on your goal, not the tools that may or may not take you to that goal. Remember, your mission is to lead a healthy lifestyle that you actually ENJOY, not to feel like a slave to health whose eating and exercise habits are so extreme that you’re in great shape, but you have forgotten how to have fun in the process.

As always, the examples that I have given are just that – examples. You can look at your own life right now and decide if you have blurred the lines between church and state by simply looking at your results.

Whether it is your own success that you are after, or the happiness and success of your friends, family, or customers, if you are not getting the job done, maybe it’s time to refocus on the end result, and stop worrying so much about the tricks of the trade.

By the way, I follow these guidelines myself, and it is very apparent when I am asked, “What do you do for a living?”:

I am in the business of teaching people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives.

That is the mission, and things such as this blog, Personal Development Partners, and the Wealth Creation for Superior Living podcast are the tools that I use for accomplishing that mission.

See the difference?

This post inspired by a discussion of the book Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin.

Old Merlin would tell King Arthur what he needed to do in order to ensure happiness and prosperity for all the land, and as long as the King listened to his trusted adviser, all was well in the world.

Well, today we have those same types of people: we call them coaches.

There are many times when people would be well advised to listen to the wisdom of others, and a well-timed coaching relationship sometimes means the difference between taking steps down a path towards success vs. stagnation, frustration, and even misery.

The trick, as is often the case, is determining when it is that you need someone else’s help.

1) Listen to your Instincts

Every person comes equipped with an amazing ability to know whether or not they should do or not do any given thing. This ability is called instinct, and in today’s world of massive information overload, many people forget that their own “gut reaction” can be the most accurate tool at their disposal.

Ask yourself:

Is it possible for me to have the true level of success that I desire with my relationship, my money, my job, my health, etc., without having someone to help me out?

Important: Don’t shun your answer! No one wants to admit that they need help, yet there is no shame in having someone in your corner for awhile. If your instincts tell you that you could use a bit of assistance, then listen.

2) Look at your Present Results

This is kind of a no-brainer, but…

• If you’ve been trying to get rich for 10 years, but you are still living paycheck to paycheck, it may be time to concede that you need some expert assistance.
• If you have worked for 10 years trying to lose 20 or 30 pounds, but your scale is stubbornly stuck on a number that you don’t like to read, maybe you should admit that you need a helping hand.
• If you dream of a perfect world with Mr. or Mrs. Right, yet you are still bouncing from one relationship to the next, perhaps you should start combining your instinctive knowledge with the knowledge of someone who can see your life from a different point of view.

3) Use some Common Sense

The surprisingly elusive “common sense” factor will often give you a much needed wake-up call:

• Your goals of getting rich are unlikely to be realized if your claim to financial fame is 40 solid hours per week at the local McDonalds. Unless you are buying stock in the company, or you are planning to stick it out for the (high paying?) upper management positions, very few people become wealthy working at fast food restaurants.
• Your desire to be the next Mr. or Mrs. Global Fitness is not likely to be realized if you drink 4 lattes per day, your primary eating habits include a drive-through window, and your only exercise is trying to open those annoying foil ketchup packets while sitting in rush hour traffic.
• Despite your desire to be the best boyfriend/girlfriend or man/wife in the history of mankind, if you keeping dating “bad boys” or high-maintenance women who change lovers as often as you change channels on the remote, it is unlikely that you are going to succeed.

Who is Your Merlin?

Okay, so you’ve decided that you might be willing to entertain the prospect of having a coach – just for now, until you get on your feet. What next?

One-on-One Coaching

Having a life coach who works directly with you in order to empower you for success is a great way to go. Although you do have to pay a life coach for their services, the good coaches will be worth every dime, and they’ll probably end up with the title of Friend before all is said and done.

If you want to go that route, be sure to take a look at the coaching program offered by Gary Glasscock over at Manifesting your Life. Gary has the whole coaching thing covered, having successfully trained clients in the U.S., India, Australia, and New Zealand.

He is a Certified Master SPIRIT Life Coach, and is in the process of getting his doctorate in Metaphysics. Gary and I have been exchanging emails about his program, and he has just a few slots left in his next coaching cycle. He wants to fill those slots with people who are serious about making positive changes in their lives, so if that’s you, swing on by and check out Gary’s 3 Sessions for the Price of 4 promotion, which ends this month.

e-Coaching

If you want to go with a coaching modality that is not quite so “official,” then e-Coaching may be just the thing for you. It can be just as effective as one-on-one coaching, provided you listen to (and take action on!) the things that your coach advises.

I have just launched an e-Coaching program here at Today is that Day, based on my popular eBook, Energy Harmonics, and it is the first time that I have have offered any type of paid coaching service. People recently, as well as in the past, have told me that I would make a great coach, so I have decided to set up a limited coaching program that is open to people who are serious about making positive changes.

To get all of the details, click on through to the Energy Harmonics e-Coaching Program.

Whether you decide to check out Manifesting Your Life, swing by the Energy Harmonics e-Coaching page, or even if you are just going to grab a mastermind partner, the real point of this post is this:

It’s okay to ask for help. Only a fool thinks they already know it all!

Those other people may be friends, family members, teachers, spouses, business partners, customers, employees, etc., but at some point, others always need to enter into the mix.

As I am coming up on my birthday on the 14th, I was giving some serious thought to how I wanted to celebrate the day. I’m always up for a good party, and this year will probably be no exception. However, this year I’ve also started to give some serious thought to how I can give back on my birthday.

I played around with ideas like going downtown to feed the homeless, selling all of my products for half price, or maybe just spending the entire day Stumbling or Digging other people’s blog posts in order to help them get free traffic to their websites.

Well, all of those ideas had merit, but at the same time, they were all temporary, and I was looking for something with a bit more of a long-term benefit. It occurred to me that here at the beginning of the New Year, many people are giving thought to the upcoming 12 months, and putting plans in place to make 2008 what others are already calling 200-GREAT!

Now that idea appealed to me – doing something that would help other people to have a successful YEAR, rather than just one day of benefits from my birthday efforts. As I often coach other people to do, I re-framed it into a question:

How can I help people during the entire year of 2008?

The immediate answer that came to mind was to do whatever it was that each individual person could benefit the most from over the long-term. Since there are people from all walks of life hanging around the hallowed halls here at Today is that Day, I had to find a way to break it down into something more easily digested than “help everyone to do everything”.

Thus, I give you this, my official offer to step into your corner and do whatever I can to make 2008 the best year that you have ever had!

Self Improvement Seekers and Personal Growth Junkies

I can’t give away my products for free (mouths to feed and all that), but I can make my products as affordable and as effective as possible.

• Affordable – My products range in price from $12 to $37 each, but 3 out of 4 of them are part of the membership over at Personal Development Partners, and that only costs 20 bucks for a 6-month membership. 
• Effective - Reading an eBook will get you nowhere if you don’t do what the book tells you to do. From this point forward, I am offering unlimited one-on-one coaching to any PDP member who wants detailed instructions on how to get the most out of of Mental Meltdown, How to Invoke the Law of Attraction, or The Definitive Weight Loss Guide to Body Weight Exercises.

Whether your goals are to become rich and famous, find the soul mate of your dreams, or to lose a bunch of weight, I’ll be the coach in your corner. If you don’t see the value in that, I invite you right now to go check out the hourly rates of life coaches, and then compare that to $20.

I’ll be right here when you get back.  

Business/Website Owners

If you have a business and/or a website, chances are that you want your business to be successful, and you want to get visitors to your website. Well, I’m a business owner and a website owner myself, and I know that I want success, so here’s a novel idea:

Let’s help each other out!

It’s no-brainer stuff, really, but it is also true that small business owners and website owners often get so caught up in what they are doing that they don’t give enough effort to helping others for the mutual benefit of both parties. 

There are plenty of ways that people can help each other out, and I am actively seeking partners for all of the following activities during 2008:

• Joint Ventures – What can we work together on? Newsletters, teleconferences, eBooks & information products, audio/video productions, sharing of materials and resources, and whatever else we can come up with.
• Social Networking – If you’ve got a website and you aren’t actively using Stumbleupon, Digg, and similar sites to get quality content in front of a larger audience, believe me when I say that you are missing the boat! We can each help each other out, and it doesn’t cost a dime.
• Sharing Skills – What can you do? I can do plenty of cool stuff! I can make decent web graphics, I know the basics of HTML and CSS web design, I’m fairly proficient with WordPress and the blogosphere overall, I know about affiliate marketing and advertising techniques, I can speak about self improvement even more effectively than I write about it, and, despite being “retired” from the practice, I’m still proficient in the health and fitness arts. If you can do “x” and I can do “y” and there is a need for x and y to be put together, let’s do that!

In short, I want what I want, and in order to get it, I’m willing to help you get what YOU want. Whether you are just looking for ways to improve your life, or if you want to practice the power of the mastermind on business/website ventures, I am officially open for business.

How can I help YOU? Email me or drop a comment below!