You begin to believe in yourself when you take the time to applaud yourself. Look back on your life and work and applaud your achievements.

Too often, we look at the lists we have created, the mound of work on one side of the desk that somehow is supposed to get to the other side of the desk and think, “will we ever get it all done?”

When we see our kids, we think “Are they ever going to grow up?” We wonder if we will ever go on that trip, ever learn that skill or do whatever it is that we seem to question ourselves about.

That’s the problem. We focus on all that hasn’t gotten done, the dreams that we never really accomplished, and rarely – if ever – focus on the success we have actually achieved.

It is hard to believe in yourself if you only look at what you haven’t achieved. Start a new tradition and habit – look at what you have achieved, what you have accomplished.

More importantly, applaud yourself for what you did complete, the challenges you did overcome, and then really acknowledge all the steps that it took you to get there.

Sometimes we rush and move to the next project and we don’t stop and acknowledge the steps that it took you to complete your task or accomplishment. It’s okay to pause and appreciate. You did it!

I see where I was, I know how it felt to be on that stage before a certain group. I know how it feels to hear the accolades, but that is the easy part.

What about all the steps it took to get on that stage. The calls and the follow up, the sales skills necessary to secure the invitation to be on stage, the creativity of developing the program, packing and traveling, and then delivering.

Each step along the way was Read more »

I have seen many times that it is not the challenge that holds us back but ourselves. I want to share a cool story to illustrate my point – hope you enjoy.

A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park wondering if anything could save his Company from bankruptcy. Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is troubling you”, he said. After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you”. He asked the man his name, wrote out a cheque, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money.

Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time”. Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a cheque for $500,000, signed by John D.Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world. “I can erase my money worries in an instant”, he thought.

Nevertheless, the executive decided to put the cheque in his safe first. He thought, just knowing it was there, would give him the strength to work out a way to save his business. With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and got extended terms of payment from closing some big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly a year later, he returned to the park with that uncashed cheque. The old man did not appear for some time yet the business executive decided to wait for just a bit longer. A while later the old man came along but seemed unmindful of the business executive. He stopped the old man and was about to hand over the cheque with a few words of thanks as well as share his success story. At the same time, he saw a nurse come running up and grabbed the old man. “I’m so glad I caught him”, she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling he is Rockefeller.” And she led the old man away by the arm.

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after. He understood that confidence is nothing but the distant vision held positively no matter what comes in between. It comes from one’s own commitment and dedication and is entirely internal.

This is a great lesson in motivation that i found floating out in cyberspace – check it out!

The saying goes: The expert in anything was once a beginner in everything. Truer words were never spoken.

But this isn’t what we see. This isn’t what we feel when we watch these Olympians. It isn’t what we think when we watch any expert or great success.

We see the finished product, shining brightly in designer packaging. We see triumph and achievement, not training. We see the riches, not the rags.

And this, as much as anything else, is why motivation – that inner drive that carries us toward all we desire – continues to escape us.

Today that comes to an end. Today I will open your eyes to a new way of viewing the changes you wish to carry out and the challenges that are attempting to stop you.

The Olympians we admire might possess unique physical talent and natural gifts, but that inner fire that compels them forward is within us all. It’s time to set it free.

Authors Don’t Write Books

Whether it’s a a friend who lost forty pounds or a track star streaking across the screen, our eyes can only see what is in front of us.

And more often than not, that picture of success is daunting.

It’s overwhelming, to see ourselves reaching those heights. No, it’s more than that. It’s unbelievable.

When we view success at its peak, we feel separated from it. We see ourselves as incapable of doing something similar.

Take a book, for instance. Read more »