Josh Hinds Motivation and Inspiration Journal

Lest the title of this article lead you to think I’m totally discounting the role that planning plays in the overall success equation, I do want to point out that I’m not against planning. Rather, in most cases it’s the order in which most people set out on the path towards achieving their given endeavors which I believe deserves reconsidering.

Have I totally confused you?

Stick with me and I believe things will be clearer in just a moment.

Most people follow a path similar to the one listed below when setting out in the direction of whatever worthwhile endeavor happens to be occupying their mind at the moment.

1. The initial idea comes to mind. They decide they want to pursue whatever it is.

2. They setout about planning and thinking about ways to accomplish whatever it is that they’ve deemed worthy of pursuing (starting to sound familiar?).

3. During the regular planning process generally one of two things begins to happen…

A. They begin to believe that by following the plan they’ve formulated they have a good chance of reaching success. From there they move forward working their plan.

OR…

B. Self-doubt begins to kick in and before they know it, they’re literally swimming in all the reasons why whatever it was that what once held promise in their mind is now suddenly something that they couldn’t possibly achieve. At this point most folks can just about hang it up, unless they’ve got someone, or they’ve developed the mindset necessary to overcome this “stinking thinking” and get their line of thought more along the lines of option A.

Fortunately, there’s another option to consider. Which is actually something I feel pretty strong about — that no matter what conventional wisdom may tell us — there’s always another way, even if it’s not always obvious.

So if that’s true, what’s the other way I can hear you asking…

Rather than taking the approach most folks choose to take…

Which is basically a Ready, Aim, Fire approach towards getting things done (i.e. achieving ones intended goals and dreams). Instead I suggest adopting the Ready, Fire, Aim approach.

The difference you ask? Look at it like this…

In the first example: Ready = your initial decision or commitment that you want to pursue something worthwhile in the first place. Aim = the planning phase of things. I won’t rehash it as we covered it in depth above. And Fire = the action which you take which ultimately becomes the difference between whether or not you get started in the first place. On it’s surface this first option is fine. In fact It has been proven to work just fine for many people.

Yet, I’m convinced the second option of… Ready, Fire, Aim would work even better.

Why? Let’s look at it like this.

You make the commitment to pursue whatever it is you’re committed to accomplishing. But rather than running the chance of letting loose that part of each of us which wants to convince us why we can’t do something, we bypass it almost completely. Instead, we lead with some real action. That is to say, we get real, honest to goodness buy-in on whatever it is we happen to be pursuing. We’re in the game so to speak.

Of course, the last step is important too, because after we’ve gotten started by taking action, we take Aim — that is we do plan. To some this might sound silly, but think of it like this. Our planning is in alignment with the importance of making corrections. Have you ever heard someone say, “what’s the definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over again.”

On a more serious note, that’s why the system I’m suggesting is Ready, Fire, Aim — and not just Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire — you get the idea don’t you? Because it is possible that in taking action first, even though taking action early on is a good thing, it is possible that the action we have chosen is well — wrong. That being the case I will say that the same end result can happen to our friends who made the choice to go the ready, aim, fire route.

You see, just because they made the choice to plan every thing out to the best of their ability prior to kicking into gear, certainly doesn’t guaranty that they’re not going to end up taking wrong actions anyway.

The big difference of course is that you and I, by making a point to lead with action, and at the same time giving ourselves the wiggle room to learn from any wrong turns we make — inevitably end up achieving in our given endeavors far quicker than those who chose to take the more common ready, aim, fire approach.

While there are any number of reasons which could lend proof to what I’m saying, about the best I can come up with is that when we set out with a sincere willingness to follow a  worthwhile goal, and are truly willing to learn whatever is required of us in order to reach the pinnacle of success in our particular undertaking, those people, events, and yes skills which are necessary show up.

There’s a saying I bet you’ve heard before — it says, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” To the best of my thinking that is very much why “Ready, Fire, Aim” — gets results.

In virtually every one of life’s adventures the person who makes a choice to lead first with action, even if initially it’s little more than a sincere willingness to take action and move forward (provided they commit to learn what’s necessary along the way) will be better off than their counterparts who choose to run the risk of getting stuck in the planning phase of things.

In summary, I want to make it very, very clear that I’m not saying that planning in and of itself is the problem, rather it is the fact that most people either plan to the point that they never get started in the first place, or they allow the fear of actually doing what is necessary to get in the way — knowing they would be that much better off had they simply made the choice to step out into the unknown and gotten started sooner rather than later.

As you give thought to what you’ve just read, consider the following quote, “the doing of a thing makes it so” — throughout your day look for times when you can repeat that simple phrase and gain strength from it.

It’s your life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds

*Josh is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author. For details on having him appear at your next seminar, event, or company meeting visit www.GetMotivation.com/speaker/

(c) All rights reserved.

While I might concede that the spoils of life don’t always go to the most deserving. I hold true to the belief that without a doubt the “spoils” are always more enjoyed when one has lived a life with integrity and not sold out on the things they value most.

I have known men and women who have gone from the top, to the bottom, and back to the top again, and a common thread among most all of them is that they always held tight to their integrity.

I would advise that you always make the effort to remain the person who never looks down on another, no matter what place in life you may currently find yourself. If you are in an enviable place, be thankful, but don’t live in a way as though you are above anyone else.

Life rewards those who remain humble no matter what success they may acquire. At the same time, often the person that brags or begins to believe they are above another tends to find themselves caught in a bit of “success quicksand” for lack of a better term. Be sure you never become that person struggling to get unstuck.

Yours in success,
Josh Hinds

* Josh is the author of Why Perfect Timing is a Myth: Tips for Staying Inspired and Motivated Day in and Day out! Grab your copy at http://www.getmotivation.com/booklet/

(c) All rights reserved.

It has been said that you and I tend to become what we think about most. If we believe this to be true doesn’t it stand to reason that we would do well to take an active role as to what we allow to become our most dominant thoughts?

Hopefully you would agree that we would all benefit greatly by choosing to recount the daily achievements we experience. No matter how small or insignificant you may view them at the moment each should be acknowledged — and framed in our mind as they are — successes. If we neglect to do so there’s a chance that we will end up focusing on the occurrences of our day that don’t help to build our own self-esteem.

There’s great personal power that comes from celebrating both our larger achievements as well as the small successes that we experience ongoing in our lives.

The reality is that you and I have the choice to allow ourselves to gravitate towards thinking about the negative things we have experienced, or we can choose to take a more pro-active approach where we make the choice to re-live in our mind the positive accomplishments of the day.

It really does get right down to making the choice to see things from a half full versus half empty mentality. Make the choice to see the positives and that’s exactly what you’ll notice more of.

Action exercise:

At the end of each day just before heading to sleep take a moment to write down several successes from the day. Remember that they don’t have to be monumental to count as a success. Anything from meeting a new person to calling on a new client and just about anything in between qualifies as a worthy achievement.

After you have written down your daily list — read over what you’ve written and each time you do so close your eyes for a moment and try to experience the positive feelings associated with your given accomplishments.

By following this idea we can actually control what we choose to focus in on. While we don’t always have complete control over what happens to us, we do have the choice to focus our minds on (and thus give power to) those things that are most likely to get us on a positive path.

My hope is that the ideas shared above help you to better take control of your most dominant thoughts. Always remember that if one person can succeed in a given endeavor then so can you and I.

– Here’s to your success, Josh Hinds
http://GetMotivation.com

(c) All rights reserved.

If you buy into the old saying, it takes money to make money you’re really missing the boat. In fact some of the greatest success stories ever told are of people just like you and I who started with little or nothing and grew their business idea into a masterful success. Would it have been easier say if these folks had had access to deep pockets when starting out on their business journey? Maybe, maybe not — who knows for sure.

One could make the case that in some of the situations had these bootstrapping entrepreneurs had it easier at startup many of them would never have learned the value of persistence and the necessity to be creative in growing their businesses in the first place.

It makes you think doesn’t it? So my question now is what are you waiting for? It’s your life that’s waiting, why not get on the ball now and take a little action and start moving towards the success that awaits you?

–It’s Your Life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds
http://GetMotivation.com

(c) All rights reserved.

If I were to ask you what your definition of success is could you answer it in a relatively quick fashion? Or would you do as so many do, fumble for an answer — rattling off the common responses which tend to show up when one is asked this question. Answers such as… I’ll be successful when I have x number of dollars in the bank.

Or would you instead have an answer which is highly personal to you, to your own life, where you are now, combined with a carefully crafted vision of where you want your life to take you in the future?

As Henry David Thoreau so eloquently said — “Most people lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” In my humble opinion many people miss the mark, not because they lack the ability to achieve success in their given endeavors, but rather because they never take the time to truly identify what success means to them. And as a result end up moving aimlessly hoping to hit upon what it is they think they want to achieve — often not even truly realizing what it is they are seeking.

When we have a solid definition crafted we can use it to lay out a plan which we can follow that will naturally put us in alignment with whatever it is that we believe to be most important.

Believe it or not I have had conversations with people who after taking the time to define what success means to them personally — realized in that very moment that they had in fact already experienced many times where they had met with great success in their life. Imagine that, here were people who longed to achieve this magical place, but up to that point hadn’t ever taken the time to get clear on what that “place” even was.

Upon doing so, they acquired a different outlook, one which they could feel good about, knowing that they had already experienced many times where they’d already met with personal achievement.

I’m fond of the saying, “success begets success”. Which in its simplest form means that one achievement — no matter how small it may appear at the time allows us to build upon that achievement and move forward on the next task, which upon completion will propel us further on our next undertaking. Hence, success begets success. Or, one successful outcome leads to greater accomplishments.

If you have yet to get clear on what success means to you — take the time to do that now. Be sure that your definition is highly personal. Acknowledge times in your life where you have met with positive outcomes. Take pleasure in those times and be sure to give yourself your due credit (you earned the right to do so).

When you have your personal definition of success clearly defined you will have a powerful road map from which you can make decisions — you will have a gauge from which you can look at potential goals and ideas and measure the commitment it will take to see them through to completion based on those things that are most important to you.

In some instances you may find that a given undertaking isn’t really in alignment with your definition of success — and that even if you were to achieve a goal or set of goals that it wouldn’t move you closer to what you personally define as leading a successful life.

At other times it will be crystal clear that your current endeavors — the path you find yourself on are totally in line with what you’ve taken the time to define as being successful after you’ve compared them to what you’ve identified.

Most of all you will gain a sense of peace from having clearly defined what success means to you — thus ensuring you stay on the path towards living your perfect life.

Action steps:

1) Take the time right now to get clear on what success means to you. What will it look like? What will it feel like? What things are truly most important to you? What resources will be available to you when you are leading a truly successful life? What difference will having those resources available to you make not only in your life, but in the lives of those around you — family, friends, co-workers, etc.?

2) Each morning, before you begin your day recite to yourself your personal definition of success. Close your eyes as you recite it to yourself and take a moment to think about what it will be like when you are truly living your own definition of success. Consider any actions that you must take in order to move yourself closer to whatever you define as successful. See yourself doing those things with ease — and as you’re doing so moving closer to whatever it is that you have identified.

For the steps mentioned above to work you will need to create a habit around doing them. At first, it may appear that you aren’t being authentic — or you may even feel that you’re telling a lie to yourself. The main thing is to do it anyway.

The reason it may not feel authentic is because it’s something you may not be used to doing. Think about the first time you learned how to ride a bike. You had to tell yourself that you would learn to ride a bike. You had to instill the belief that you could do it — which of course eventually led you to a point where you were able to do it with ease.

Through this simple exercise you will develop the positive habit of keeping your own definition of success nearby at all times — which will ensure that you are working on and staying plugged into what is necessary in order to fully live your own definition of success.

It’s your life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds

* Josh is the author of the booklet: Why Perfect Timing is a Myth! available at: http://www.getmotivation.com/booklet/

(c) All rights reserved.

It was speaker and author Napoleon Hill who said, “Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.” Well said, and so true.

Yet…

There have been times in my life where I’ll be darned if I could have seen how Mr. Hill’s words of wisdom rang true. But alas I’m getting ahead of myself.

Whenever I speak to companies and organizations, immediately following my introduction — the one where the person introducing me is gracious enough to recite all my personal and professional successes… I usually start by saying — funny, it never seemed to flow quite like that during the journey.

Then I begin to share my personal story — the real meat and potatoes that led me to where I am at this point in my life. Yep… the adversities, the challenges, and at times… the bone headed mistakes

I’d like to share with you a glimpse into my past in the hope that you can relate it to whatever challenges and adversities you may be working towards overcoming. I preface with the point that I don’t share my past to give power to it — my adversities are not my reality. Just as yours are not yours.

You may find them to be in the now — true, but you have all the power inside you to change your current reality just as I did, and continue to do in my own life. So my hope is that you will find courage in my story to move forward in pursuit of your own personal greatness.

Josh, the young years…

I was not what you might consider a brilliant student. I could have applied myself more perhaps, but I still had some very real challenges. I was diagnosed with a learning disability in math in grade school, and not to long after that I was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome.

If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a quick overview. It’s a neurological disorder which can have any number of symptoms that appear in many different forms. TV for some reason sensationalizes it by focusing on the very rare symptom of uncontrollable obscenities (a symptom that I and most people with TS never have to deal with I might add).

In my case, I was and am blessed that I always had a very mild case of TS (Tourette’s). Yet, I still had Tourette’s and at a young age let me tell you — it can be a challenge no matter the severity. I also had very bad handwriting. If you’re wondering my point for mentioning that — I’ll touch on it more below.

Josh the teenage years…

Aside from the obvious challenges I experienced growing up our family lived a fairly fortunate lifestyle. We were blessed with a lot of abundance, in the form of monetary resources. My father was an excellent businessman.

The exact year escapes me, but just prior to entering teenagerdom our family experienced a VERY big lifestyle change. Through a business deal gone bad all that my father (and of course our family) had achieved was gone. We found ourselves in the unfortunate place of having to start over.

Just to make the point of how dire the circumstances were that we found ourselves in — there was a point where we had a car, which was heavily relied on by the way that had no reverse in it. Not to make light of this, but you would absolutely be surprised how near impossible it can be to find a parking place where you don’t have to back out of it.

At around 18 years old, my old buddy TS showed up with an interesting new symptom (i.e. challenge) for me. Allow me to explain. Though I’m really not sure what the official name of the symptom is, nor do I really care, imagine if you will a sensation where you know exactly what to say, but for the life of you, you can’t spit it out.

I refer to it as a blocking tic. And like it or not — this interesting adversity was now there in all its shining glory for me to deal with. Along with I might add anxiety which at times came in the form of, of all things hearing a phone ringing — for fear that upon answering it I’d not be able to say a word and the person would just hang up (which did actually happen at times).

There were other challenges of course, but if I only recounted the adversities I’d be missing the point wouldn’t I?

So upon reading the above part of my story I’m guessing you can see why I had such a hard time relating to Mr. Hill’s words about every adversity carrying with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.

Fortunately, over the years and along my personal development journey I’ve been able to see first hand that what Napoleon had to say was right on and absolutely true!

Allow me to explain…

Let’s go back to my “young years”… remember how I mentioned I had terrible hand writing? Well I also was blessed to have an incredible teacher by the name of Ms. Presley.

As much as anyone she helped to instill in me a foundation of personal development I now teach to everyone I come into contact with through the speaking, writing and coaching that I do. That is — finding a work around. Not accepting the challenges that come our way as the end result.

Here’s how she did it. My reality at the time was that my hand writing was near illegible. You had to be able to break code to make out my writing What was the solution you ask? At a time when folks didn’t rely on computers near as much as we do now in the classroom, she taught me how to type. That was my workaround. Simple, perhaps even obvious, but she did it.

And that, for me was a major step in my eventually formulating the idea that there’s absolutely, positively always a workaround that can be applied for whatever personal success we as individuals strive for.

In fact, looking back I can see clearly now how the idea of the workaround helped me to overcome my disability in math. You see, while conventional wisdom might say we should be good in math if we hope to excel in business endeavors — my experience with the workaround told me that all I really needed to be good at was working a calculator or a spreadsheet. And of course as I learned later on — I just needed to make the choice to work with folks who complimented my weaker areas and skills.

Hopefully the examples above are helping to illustrate the truth that every challenge in fact gives us the chance to grow and become the person we were meant to be.

I’m not done yet though…

Allow me to go back to my “teenage years”…

While it is true that the financial lifestyle change was a challenge — one that I would not wish for anyone to ever have to experience. I now see clearly that it is responsible as much as anything in my life for shaping me into the person that I am today.

Allow me to tell you why I say this. First, but certainly not least I was suddenly (for the better) in a place where I had only myself to give to anyone that I wanted to become friends with. There were no fancy perks that came with “being Josh’s friend”.

I learned to accept people at face value, and to be the best person I could be — as I was banking on the idea that you attract the type of people to you by the type of person you are (over time I’ve come to realize that’s an absolute truth in life). To this day I am still in close contact with many of the friends I met during that time of personal adversity.

To put it frankly I don’t think I’d be the same person I am now had it not been for what I just mentioned.

Interestingly enough, we started a new family business (kudos to my father for understanding and teaching me through example that you can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always control how you react to it). Times were still very lean of course — and we didn’t meet with immediate financial success, but we were taking the actions necessary to head in the right direction.

So it was that at 15 years old I had the chance to work in the family business. Fortunately, there were no extra resources available at the time for me to do odd jobs and such and be paid minimum wage, so a position was created for me.

I would be calling on prospective clients (via the phone) to pre-screen and set the appointments for my father and the other commissioned salespeople who worked in the company.

I should add that there aren’t many times I can count in my life where not knowing what’s supposed to be impossible have proved so right. So I accepted the new position that was created for me. I did surprisingly well with it.

My teenage years moved on with increased levels of responsibility and then about the time I turned 18, my old “friend” TS (Tourette’s) reared its head one more time. I was on the phone getting ready to schedule an appointment when what seemed to be without warning I could not for the life of me spit out what I wanted to say. I sputtered out what I was trying to say as best I could, and the woman I was speaking with, bless her actually helped and said, don’t you worry it’s all ok. But it was not, I thought — all ok.

Here I was at a point in my life where I thought I had things pretty well figured out. I’d been a student of personal and professional development since I was 15 years old (thanks to one of the salespeople who encouraged me to start taking my development seriously). With all this acquired knowledge and skill at my disposal it appeared to me at the time that I suddenly had this most basic of needs near nonexistent (my ability to communicate).

It was a major adversity let me tell you. Fortunately I didn’t give up, I certainly could have done more, but I did the best with the resources I thought I had at the time and continued on making the best of things (or so I told myself).

As time moved on the chance opened up for me to move to Louisville, KY. While I wasn’t there all that long it was an incredible time of personal growth for me. I was exposed to a bigger outlook on business in general. I met some incredibly talented people and really learned how to expand my thinking — and in turn begin looking beyond what people had achieved from a point of simply being in awe — and instead saying, if they can do it, so can I.

Flash forward and I relocated back to my home town of Tuscaloosa, AL. — along the way I registered my first web site address — which was the first step in what I do now.

Though at the time I had no idea that tiniest of actions would lead me on the path I am now. Life is like that though, if you follow your passion — you don’t have to know all the details in advance. You do have to take real action and be willing to give your dead level best to all you do, and in doing so the details present themselves and your eventual success always unfolds.

As you’ve read what I shared above I do hope that you’re able to use it as a catalyst for whatever challenges you may find yourself faced with. Life is not an end game. It’s not about the getting there as much as the enjoying it (often times right where you are) in the moment. Truly it’s about the journey.

Here are a few more key points that I’d like to expand on from my story above.

While I was dealing with my blocking tic, and the occasional anxiety as a result of it, I was always looking for my workaround. I knew I had the strong desire to work in the personal development industry, but the thought of speaking professionally seemed a distant dream at the time.

What could I possibly do to compensate for my sub-par communication skills I wondered? I would write them rather than speaking them from the stage. If you’re thinking to yourself, well that’s easy for him, he writes for a living, let me assure you, I have absolutely zero formal training in writing, nor journalism (which I’m reminded of on occasion by people who take the time to critique something I’ve written…lol

What I did have was the knowledge and thoughts that I knew would help others. So I just fired up my old word processor and wrote what I had to say just as if I were speaking it. It worked, and years later I’m still doing just that.

While some may read what I just said about my need to resort to writing and see it as a weakness — my life experiences have shown me first hand that the particular adversity was in fact a blessing in disguise.

Here’s what I mean…

Because I had to hone my ability to effectively communicate my thoughts through the written word, I got better at it. In doing so, the articles and essays I’ve written over the years have appeared in countless places. They have been solely responsible in many cases for leading to the opportunities I have now to speak professionally to companies and organizations.

So the question is, was it really a hindrance — or something that I needed to experience to get to the point where I am now? Makes you think doesn’t it?

And so it is with life’s challenges and adversities. The obvious approach — the easy approach is to assume that the given adversity is meant to keep us from doing or having what it is that we desire.

Yet, the reality is that on the other side of every adversity lies the opportunity to unleash our own personal greatness!

It’s your life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds

* Josh is a professional speaker and trainer who gives motivational keynote presentations on overcoming personal and professional adversity and turning them into triumphs. For details on having him speak to your group or organization visit http://GetMotivation.com/speaker/

(c) All rights reserved - Josh Hinds

Often times we have a goal or a desire, but we think that we lack the skills or training necessary to accomplish it.

Not long ago I was speaking with a woman who was struggling with just such a situation in her life.

She wanted to write a book. As we talked it was apparent to me that she not only had the idea, she had the entire thing plotted out in her mind.

I asked her why she hadn’t already written it.

“Because I’m not a writer. I don’t have the training necessary to do it. I don’t know how to put my thoughts down on paper so that they flow like they do in my mind.”

I could certainly understand that. So I asked, “why do you think you have to be able to “write” to complete your book?”

She was naturally puzzled. Seriously, I said, it’s obvious that you have the main ingredients all set. You just have to figure out the best way to make it happen.

Here’s what I suggest. First, let go of the areas that you’re lacking in. Focus on what you have going for you. In your case, you’ve got the entire thing in your mind. That’s huge!

Secondly, let go of the part of your thinking that says there’s a “right way” to do something. What matters in the case of the goal you’ve set is the final outcome. Having your book completed. So what do you care how you accomplish it exactly?

So here’s an idea — get a tape recorder or digital recorder. Speak your entire book into it. If you feel more comfortable speaking parts of it into the recorder do that. Once you have that done, have it transcribed. It’s actually not that expensive.

Alternatively, you could look for a writer or a journalism student who you could pay to help get your ideas written down in a readable format. The important thing isn’t the specific approach you choose. What matters is that you take real action on your idea.

I could see her eyes light up. “It seems so obvious now, I never considered that I didn’t have to spend the grueling hours I was sure it would take to write it myself”, she said.

Isn’t that interesting? All it took to help this woman get unstuck was to introduce to her that there was more than one way to do what she wanted to accomplish.

You see, all too often we focus on the areas where we are lacking — where we need improvement — whereas we would be that much farther along if we would simply work within the skills we have already developed (and be willing to learn new ones along the way). There’s a lot to be said about thinking outside the box.

And so it is with whatever dream you hold for yourself. Whatever it is that you want to achieve — you have to know deep down that even though the solution may not be obvious the key to your achieving it is within you.

It’s your life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds

* Josh is the author of Why Perfect Timing is a Myth: Tips for Staying Inspired and Motivated Day in and Day out! Grab your copy at http://www.getmotivation.com/booklet/

(c) All rights reserved.

As I’m writing this I’m looking at my vision board (if you’re not familiar with what that is, don’t fret, I’ll touch on it more below).

On it are several things (goals) I want to see manifest in my life. At the top it reads very simply… ‘Vision Board — with the saying, “Thoughts Become things”. By the way, I’m fully aware that some folks would read that and make the assumption that just because a person thinks they want something, and give thought to it, that it is simply not enough to necessarily achieve it. To which I would concede, that’s partially true.

Notice I say only partially true, because we’re not just talking about fleeting thoughts here. What I’m referring to is one’s dominant thoughts. Those thoughts which are so ingrained in our mind that we naturally, and often I might add, more easily take the necessary actions which are needed to see them through to the point at which they become a reality. There is a BIG difference between a dominant thought and simply thinking you’d like to have something.

When it’s a dominant thought, it sticks with you (think of it like the difference between Super glue and the Elmers glue you used to use in grade school). You are always asking yourself how you can go about making your particular endeavor a reality, and when you find that one plan of action doesn’t work out as you’d hoped it would, you don’t run for the hills thinking, well I tried that and it tanked so I quit… No, when something is a dominant thought you understand that each attempt is simply a part of the learning process from which you can grow — and by trying another approach you will get that much closer to what it is that you truly desire.

So hopefully you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt and believe me when I say there’s a lot of truth in the saying “thoughts become things”.

Now here’s the rub… Assuming that’s true, that the thoughts and ideas we focus on most become real and tend to show up in our lives it’s worth pointing out that the old saying doesn’t discriminate. Listen up, because it’s that important. Here’s what I am saying… if you’re focused in on negative things, you’re going to see negative results and events creep into your life. Just the same as if you were focused in on positive things or events.

Unfortunately, the reality is that it works both ways.

Here’s a little illustration to make my point. Recently I was having a conversation with someone who was telling me about their new manager. This person was just absolutely sure that it was going to be a disaster.

They’d literally made their mind up before the new manager had ever even appeared in the office for the first time. Well guess what? The first week was absolutely terrible! This person almost transferred to another department.

Fortunately, time was given (ironically, not that long) and low and behold, things weren’t nearly so bad after all. Isn’t it funny how life works like that? You see, this person was so absolutely sure it was going to be awful that it literally became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Quite simply, her thoughts, became her reality.

Now I’m happy to report that the last time I talked to this person she told me she was surprised that it might actually end up being a good thing. Now she’s seeing things through a positive lens, and guess what she’s getting? You got it, more of what she’s focused on.

Now I will say that in absolutely every instance this might not work out exactly as I’ve said. However, I think the quote by Zig Ziglar makes a terrific point with regards to that. He says, “positive thinking won’t let you do everything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking”. While I may not have gotten Zig’s saying quite right, I think the point is made just the same.

So assuming you’ll concede that our dominant thoughts (either positive or negative) tend to become our reality — doesn’t it make sense to think (and take action on) the things you want to see in your life, rather than those you don’t? Remember, either way you’re going to get something… so it might as well be of your choosing don’t you agree?

Now before you think I’ve broken my promise from above to cover vision boards, here’s a quick overview, it’s by no means exhaustive, but I think it’s worth mentioning in case you’re not familiar with them.

First, there are any number of ways to make your vision board as elaborate as you’d like. I won’t attempt to say you have to include all the bells and whistles on yours for it to be effective. It’s a personal preference.

Personally, I’d have to admit that the one I’m currently looking at of mine is pretty blah — but it isn’t the design or layout that’s powerful, it’s the thoughts/things that are on it. It’s a piece of cut out cardboard where I have included some written goals and pictures which represent the things I’d like to see transpire in my life.

Again, it’s not particularly attractive, but that’s not really the point. What is important is that when I focus on those things on my vision board, my mind can more easily go to work doing the things which will drive me towards taking the necessary actions which are needed if I want to see those things become a reality.

Consider it a powerful reminder of what you want to achieve. Plus, like your success journal (hopefully you keep one) it can end up being quite an incredible source of personal validation as you’re able to see quite literally, the things on your vision board come to fruition in your life.

So that in a nutshell is what makes up a vision board. Again, nowhere near an exhaustive overview, but I think it gets the point across. Needless to say it can be an incredibly effective tool to use in your personal journey towards achieving your goals.

Vision boards work, because they help to keep us plugged into those things which we want to achieve. But like anything, you can’t just keep your vision board hidden away where you never see it. Think of it like a billboard, but instead of advertising (which are things others want you to notice) you’re putting thoughts about your goals and dreams — those things which are important to you into your mind on an ongoing basis.

Action Steps:

One, create your own vision board. Include pictures, or write something, anything that will represent what you want to achieve.

Two, in addition to the more traditional vision board mentioned you could play around with what I call a mini-vision board. Take some 3×5 index cards and basically do the exact same as you would with a vision board. The index cards approach will be a lot easier and convenient to carry around with you then a traditional sized vision board would be. Remember the old out of sight, out of mind saying.

Finally, whatever you do, do something. The more you keep the things you want firmly in mind — and sight, the better the chance you will give yourself of making them a reality in your life.

– To your success, Josh Hinds
http://GetMotivation.com

(c) All rights reserved

Have you ever noticed how often we hear the term, “take massive action”? Sure massive action is great, but it’s also a bit relative from person to person isn’t it? Plus, just think about the word itself. Doesn’t it imply that it’s going to be hard, or overly difficult to accomplish?

Sure working on your dream is going to take some level of effort. Most anything truly worthwhile does. But hard? (Massive makes me think of mountains… personally climbing a mountain makes me think I’d better be ready to sweat!..lol) Where’s the enjoyment in that? (the sweating, not the mountain climbing

So while I’m certainly not going to claim that taking “massive action” is a bad thing at all… I am going to say that even the smallest of actions can be a very good start towards stepping in the right direction towards achieving your hearts desire…

Have you ever heard the saying, “success begets success”?

Essentially what that means is with each sense of accomplishment you experience (no matter how seemingly minuscule you may see it at the time) very often it’s enough to move you forward towards the next target you’ve set your sights on.

Consider a person whose just started running or jogging — and eventually moves up to the level where they are ready to run a marathon. Rarely does he or she start out feeling as though they could finish the race, much less enter one prior to building up to that point in their training.

Yet, overtime as they get in better physical shape (i.e. experience one small success after another) they eventually reach the point where not only do they believe they could give running a marathon a chance, but they could even finish the thing, and perhaps have a shot at winning it.

That my friend is what we are talking about when we hear the saying, “success begets success”. You see, each time we stretch beyond one of our self-imposed comfort zones we are in essence experiencing… success leading to another success. Our belief system expands to the point where what once appeared inconceivable is suddenly no longer quite the challenge we once saw it to be.

It’s a lot like building muscles. When you start out with an exercise program chances are, your body is not going to be used to it, and as such, you may feel as though you’ll never get to a point where you could ever imagine enjoying it.

Stick it out however, and before long you won’t feel good unless you’ve gotten that work out in before the day’s over. That’s the old saying, “success begets success” in action.

Give some serious thought on the quote above. Really ponder it in your mind for a bit. Write it down, repeat it throughout your day when you’re faced with challenges. And as you force yourself to move through those challenges (no matter how uncomfortable they happen to appear at the time) notice how the feeling of fear towards the particular thing has lessened once you have reached the other side and attained personal achievement in your particular endeavor.

It’s your life, LIVE BIG! Josh Hinds

(c) All rights reserved.

While it’s important to set goals — because as the saying goes if you want to get somewhere you have to know where you’re headed — it is also essential to give yourself the wiggle room necessary to adapt to changes that occur in life.

Be focused and persistent on the path towards achieving the goals you set, but also be willing to take any necessary steps that might reveal themselves along the way.

Success in any endeavor is rarely achieved by following a straight line, but that’s not all bad. Life’s changes and challenges can help to keep things exciting, because it is through overcoming the challenges which pop up that we grow to the point where we can apply our acquired knowledge to any future endeavor.

To further illustrate my point consider what keynote speaker and business philosopher Jim Rohn has to say, “Set a goal to become a millionaire for what it makes of you to achieve it.” Think about that for a moment. When we develop the skills needed to achieve our goal, the rewards of the particular goal may come or go in our lifetime, however our ability to recreate the result is always there — ready for us to tap into at will.

Simply put, learning to adapt to change as it finds its way into our life is an essential part in developing a mindset which is conducive to achieving any and all endeavors we pursue.

– To Your Success, Josh Hinds
GetMotivation.com

(c) All rights reserved.