‘Shark Tank’ offers valuable business lessons

With Black Friday upon us, it’s time for the annual media laments about America’s greedy businessmen. You know the drill — stores open up too early and stay open too late, all to make a quick buck off of an overly commercialized holiday; is there nothing these scrooges won’t do to get between us and our wallets?

If you want to be reminded of why American business is one of our country’s greatest assets, not something to bemoan, spend your Black Friday evening watching “Shark Tank.”

The ABC show, now in its fourth season, may seem just another silly reality program, a chance for megalomaniac billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to insult little people coming to him for a handout. In fact, it’s one of the most informative and optimistic shows on network TV.

Entrepreneurs stand before five sharks — some combination of Cuban; real-estate mogul Barbara Corcoran; QVC’s Lori Greiner; technology innovator Robert Herjavec; FUBU founder Daymond John, and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary — pitch the idea for their company and then offer the sharks a share of it in return for some investment.

Economist Todd Bucholz says that this is actually a pretty good approximation of what goes on when entrepreneurs meet with venture capitalists. In fact, he says:

“Take two people who have an idea to start a business — people with similar education, background and networking capabilities. If one of them watches ‘Shark Tank’ for six months and the other watches ‘American Idol’,” then “the former will have a clear advantage.”

A former senior White House economic adviser who’s launching an educational-software company, Bucholz says that people who watch the show will be “forced to confront questions they might not have thought about — including profitability and reach and which potential partners they should do business with.

“In fact, many of them will realize that their schemes are hare-brained. Just because everyone’s told you you’ve made the best ice cream, doesn’t mean you’ll knock Baskin Robbins off the shelf.”

Richard Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes magazine, says that when the sharks ask questions like, “What’s to prevent me from going home and making the exact same product?” they’re offering potential entrepreneurs a vital lesson. For some, the answer lies in understanding patents and intellectual-property law.

Others, though, need to understand what Karlgaard calls “their unfair advantage” — the thing that can give them a real leg up over others in a chosen field.

“I think it’s a great question for people to think about. What are they really good at? Your unfair advantage is more likely to be in a place you’re passionate about. Where you’re willing to work 80- to 100-hour weeks. Most people aren’t willing to work that hard.”

Even for those not thinking of going into business, “Shark Tank” is a useful corrective to our collective impressions about American business.

With all of the news of Twitter and Google and Facebook, you might get the idea that entrepreneurship today is basically a matter of creating apps. In fact, many of the products presented on “Shark Tank” are tangible goods — from grilled cheese sandwiches to bottles of nail polish (that also include nail polish remover).

“A lot of people want to build lifestyle businesses,” notes Karlgaard. They want “the freedom and autonomy” that come with privately held businesses. That QVC’s Lori Greiner is one of the sharks reminds viewers that American entrepreneurs aren’t all based in Silicon Valley.

And they’re not billionaires either. Some “Shark Tank” contestants have scrimped and saved for years, even decades, to get to this point. Cuban, for his part, always seems to offer special encouragement (if not always cash) to the entrepreneurs who haven’t taken on enormous debt, who “hit the pavement” and sell their products door-to-door, or at least retail store-to-retail store.

We should not take the American spirit of entrepreneurship for granted, says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former chief economist for the Labor Department, who grew up in Britain.

One year, she and her brother came up with an elaborate scheme to buy blue jeans in the States and sell them out of their dorm rooms for more than twice the price. Her mother, she recalls, was “deeply embarrassed.” In other countries, says Furchtgott-Roth, “the money you earn is not as good as the money you inherit.”

Watch a few episodes of “Shark Tank,” and you’ll remember why we parted ways with those ideas a few hundred years ago.

Article Source: http://nyp.st/183K2Xw

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The Six Benefits of Character In Your Success

Most people in ministry, business, career and in their daily lives want to be successful. The one thing that I have found over the years that speaks volumes to your success is "character." Character is defined as behavior on display. It is the visible demonstration of Godly values on a moment-to-moment basis.

Character commands respect and commitment. It is anchored by integrity and is maintained in adversity.

There Are Six Benefits Of Character:

1. It gives you a platform for others to hear you.

2. It makes it possible for others to trust you.

3. It gives others permission to see you as role model and mentor.

4. It becomes a magnet to attract provisions for your vision.

5. It positions you to be a blessing to others.

6. It positions you for promotion.

It is your responsibility to bring yourself to a place of change where your character is a reflection of your inner strength. This type of change requires knowledge and honesty. It is on purpose and by design.

Character change requires discipline. Some people short change themselves by limiting themselves with false beliefs concerning character. There are three false beliefs that hinder people. First, the belief that they cannot change because they tried once and they were unsuccessful. Second, the belief that character change is not their responsibility. Third, the belief that their character is not as bad as it seems.

There are three reasons character change will advance your success. First, change provides a natural example to other. Second, success and fulfillment can be postponed until you change. Third, your future hopes and desires will hinge on your character change.

If you want to experience greatness in your life you must believe that character change is possible for you. You must make a decision to have victory in every area of your life including character. Find a role model to pattern your life after and then develop a life plan strategy to develop your character.

When you take these six benefits in mind and ponder on where your character is, in relation to your success, you will discover that in every step, phase or level of your success there are some benefits to having a right and godly character.

You Character Assignment:

In reviewing the six benefits of character which one is most important to your success now?

What, if anything, do you need to do to develop your character to experience more success?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ginger_London

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What Determines Our Success in Life?

I am surprised at how many people associate success only with having or making a lot of money, and who are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Ironically, it's exactly those people who are the unhappiest ones, and the reason is simple: success means happiness first, and happiness is what attracts all the other good things in life, not the other way around.

However, there are also successful people in this world who are happy - but these are the ones who have become successful by doing something they love. And this is the only viable way that brings success in the long run.

Of course, when people are struggling to make ends meet, success might seem like an intangible goal. They can't simply quit their jobs, as that would put them in dire straits - but they can do something else: start working towards their dreams at least 1-2 hours/day.

The reason why only 10% of the people succeed in life is their determination and persistence in going after what they want - the majority is either giving up or not even starting. And most of the times it's not the failure that stops them, but the fear of failure.

Most successful people have failed many times, but they never given up. Failure is part of the process and instead of being afraid of it, we could very well embrace the idea. It will happen anyway, but we can choose how to respond when it happens - and this is what determines our success in the end.

The people who are in the top of their field today were in the bottom in the past, and maybe they didn't even know at that time what their purpose in life is. What made the difference between them and the majority was their dedication and perseverance in pursuing their dreams, once they identified them.

We all can be successful, but first of all we have to become aware of the 80/20 rule:

80% of the reasons that are holding you back from achieving your goal are inside yourself. They are the lack of a skill, a quality or a body of knowledge. Only 20% of the reasons you are not achieving your goal are on the outside. Always start with yourself. ~ Brian Tracy

Did you know that most successful people today were once either fired from their jobs or considered "unfit' for those positions? Moreover, some of them were homeless, on welfare or living from paycheck to paycheck. Most of them were also judged, misunderstood or considered losers, because their behavior and vision didn't fit with the one of the majority.

The fact is: no matter what you do, you will be judged - so you might, as well, do what you really want. It takes time to become an expert in your field, but time will pass anyway, so why not use it in your favor?

What's your excuse right now for not following your dreams? Do you blame others for your failures or your inability to achieve what you want? In this case you may first consider taking responsibility for your life, as most likely 80% of the reasons for your lack of success are determined by your actions/thoughts/beliefs.

Being persistent doesn't mean doing things exactly the same way every single time. If it didn't work one way, consider it a feedback and try a different approach, rethink your strategy instead of compromising or reshaping your goals.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein

It's very important to decide exactly what is it that you want to accomplish in all areas of your life. The most effective way is to make a plan and work on it every single day. So why not start today?

Below are some guidelines that most successful people follow:

1. Know what you want

Define your goals clearly and be specific - imagine that you would have to present them to someone who doesn't know anything about you or your field.

2. Take action

Work on your goals every single day and make sure your actions go along with your values, not against them.

3. Monitor your results

Instead of looking how far your destination is compared to where you are now, look at how much you have accomplished already. When you fall, get up and move on - there's no such thing as failure, just feedback. Learn to see the positive side in every setback, as most likely it happened to give you a lesson that you can learn from.

4. Be flexible

If you're not flexible in your behavior and not willing to adapt or change, you'll most likely break in the early stage of your journey. If you can't change the situation, change your perspective about it and focus on the solution instead of the problem itself.

5. Strive for excellence

Don't be afraid to aim high - if your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough. Start thinking from the end, as if your dreams are already real by assuming the feeling of your wishes fulfilled.

Instead of focusing on the money you can get, focus on the value you can offer. When people see the value in your products/services they will want and recommend them to others. Don't make the mistake that so many people do when they reach a certain level of wealth: they forget the human side and focus only on the profit. Today you might be up, but tomorrow you could be down - that's how unpredictable life can be.

When you achieve your goals and become successful, never forget where you were when you started; be confident but not arrogant, and most important: no matter how successful you are, stay humble and never forget the people who have helped you along the way.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought ~ Buddha

Dare to dream big and never let anything hold you back from pursuing your dreams. You can do whatever you put your mind to. It's never a matter of can; it's a matter of want.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eleonora_L.

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The One Critical Factor For Success

 As a Breakthrough Coach, my role is to assist women three ways: (1) helping them identify those areas in life that are not working or could use improvement; (2) uncovering the obstacles that stand in the way of moving forward; and (3) creating a structure for success that includes goal setting, support, and motivation. There is no greater feeling than seeing a client or workshop attendee put the pieces together and fashion an exciting new path for herself.

In my personal as well as professional life I've discovered that although it takes several important elements pieced together to bring us what we want, there is one critical factor that is necessary for success. That element is the right mindset. Without this in place, it is extremely difficult to manifest what you want. Let's explore this concept further.

Mindset

Mindset is the combination of thoughts and beliefs we hold. From a young age, we begin to see the world around us a certain way, based on our observations and experiences in our home, from the media, and from other influential people around us. As we grow older, these thoughts coalesce to form belief systems that usually lay hidden in our subconscious where they steer the actions we take, or don't take, in life. Thoughts on the other hand stem from the conscious part of our brain. The reason it is difficult to often create the success we want is because our thoughts and beliefs may not mesh. When that occurs, the subconscious - the deeper, more rooted aspects of our psyche, win out.

Let me give you an example. Say you want to leave your job and double your salary in a new position. Your conscious thought might be, "I want a great new job where I earn $100,000 next year." Your underlying belief system, however, might be telling you, "I don't have what it takes to get that type of position... Who am I to think I can earn that much... They'll never hire me... " When the subconscious rears itself and creates disagreement between itself and your conscious thoughts, your actions will be consistent with the belief, not the thought. In this case, you most likely will stay in your current job or make a lateral move, thus sabotaging your chances for more success.

Our mindsets are at the core of what we achieve in life: whether we live the life of our dreams or suffer in stagnation and mediocrity. It's so important that working on it forms the foundation of all of my coaching work.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_H_Garroway

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Are People Pushing Your Buttons?

Do you find there are a few people that can "push your buttons" and make you feel angry, belittled, victimized or any other emotion that you dislike? Maybe it's your boss who ignores your contribution to the workplace, or a business assistant who is abrupt when you discuss a project with her, or a family member who criticizes you.

Regardless of who is doing the "button-pushing" the resulting feelings you harbor can have devastating consequences including damaged relationships, mistrust, poor productivity and more. Solving this situation is important if you want to have success with less stress, worry and headaches.

Your first inclination may be that the other person needs to change, but this is probably not possible. The only thing or person you have control over is you.

How can you take control and be empowered to feel better about any conversation with them? The following strategies will help you protect your emotional buttons when faced with a person who is trying to get a hold of them.

Remember what you want your life to look like. If you want to be known as an aggressive no-one-is-going-to-get-the-best-of-me person, then go ahead and let your anger fly. After you let your anger out in the face of the offender, how does this make you feel? There may be a little relief, but most people feel pretty bad. If you want a life of harmony, balance and fun then don't give your power away by letting your anger rage. Remembering what you want your life to be like can lead to clarifying conversations and/or assertive responses.

Have some compassion. Change your perspective about the other person from one of "He is horrible" to "Gee, he must be having a bad day, or he just doesn't know how to communicate properly." Looking at him differently replaces your feelings of anger and victim with those of compassion, understanding and gentleness. Which ones will make you more happy and productive?

Change your energy. Do something to shift your icky feelings to those that feel better. Get into nature, take some deep breaths, take a walk, drink some water or read something inspiring. You cannot have bad feelings and good feelings at the same time - choose the good.

Dump the relationship. If the button-pusher continues it may be time to seriously consider dumping the relationship - find a new job, get a new assistant or leave an abusive relationship. Only you can decide the essence of your career, business and your life. The choice is yours.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeanette_Eleff

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Turning Setbacks Into Success

From the time we are babies, we have setbacks: we don't get fed fast enough or have a wet diaper changed promptly, our frustrations leading to crying and tantrums. Setbacks, disappointments, and obstacles are unavoidable as we progress through life. It is how we handle our setbacks that will determine the results we create. Will they stop us from being successful or are there ways to turn them around to our benefit?

Quitting or Winning

In my office I have the following quote prominently displayed: Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win. How true! When we move out into the world and begin taking risks such as starting relationships or jobs, we may come face to face with obstacles. The intimacy of a growing relationship or the challenges of a new job may force us to examine our fears and "stopping points." Do we plunge ahead despite our perceived limitations or do we take the easy road and stop? What if we want and choose to continue only to find our self up against a big roadblock that we're not sure we can overcome? What we do next can influence the whole course of our life to come.

When my husband and I opened our travel agency ten years ago, we were completely gung ho. We knocked on doors, made many phone calls, advertised here and there, and generally threw ourselves into sales and marketing to drum up business. In many ways, we had more "misses" than "hits" like the time we invested a few hundred dollars to host a travel club meeting only to receive one booking, resulting in a financial and emotional loss, or the many times we advertised in different places and never received one phone call.

Sure, we had our bubble burst a lot in those early years of growing a new business. The setbacks were numerous. We both became quite discouraged and frankly, it would have been easy to quit. We came to a crossroad: we could walk away from our financial investment in this business and look for another career or we could learn from our miscues, plot a different approach, and patiently trust we would make a success out of this venture. It took a few years, as many new business owners are told to expect and happily we went on to build a thriving travel agency.

Setbacks are opportunities to reassess our position. They can be viewed as "tests" to see how committed we are to the end game we've planned for. Perhaps we do need to stop and see if the path we've chosen is truly the best one for us and it is okay to admit that it may no longer be viable. An honest assessment and decision to stop is not necessarily quitting. On the other hand, a setback can signal that we've reached a plateau in our own growth and that to move forward, we need a new approach. This attitude provides us with a great opportunity. What can I learn or do differently to be successful? You can turn setbacks into success. It comes down to how you choose to view the situation and what actions you take or don't take next.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_H_Garroway

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Think You're a Failure?

Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're right." The same is true with failure. Since the true definition of success is being content with yourself, then if you think you're a failure, well... you're right! Sounds harsh, I know. Fortunately, going from failure to success isn't nearly as hard as you think. You just have to do one thing: change your mind. Here's how to do it.

• Stop comparing your life to others'.

Success isn't the same thing as perfection. One is attainable and the other is a complete figment of your imagination. Since perfection doesn't exist, you'll never be perfect. There will always be someone who has something you don't, whether it be riches, talent, or career fulfillment, etc. Everyone has different gifts, and we all take a different path, but you have to remind yourself that different isn't better. You will never be successful until you stop evaluating yourself based on someone else's reality.

• Stop living for other people.

Many of the things we spend our whole lives trying to attain are things that other people have told us are important. We want the big house and fancy car to keep up with the neighbors. We must have the perfect hair and flawless makeup to look like the Photoshopped images on the grocery store magazines. Before you overwork yourself trying to live up to someone else's standards, stop and ask yourself what is really important to you, and then focus your efforts in that direction.

• Celebrate you.

Stop having a pity party and experience a different kind, one that celebrates the unique and vibrant person that you are. Start by making a list of qualities that you like about yourself. If you've been indulging in negative self talk for a while, then you may find this to be a challenging activity, but don't give up. With practice, you'll get better. Once you've identified your strengths, you can start building on them rather than trying to be someone you're not.

• Don't take life so seriously.

Yes, the bills have to be paid. Your to do list is getting longer and bad things are happening in the world. I get it, but not everything in life has to be serious. Allow yourself to smile and enjoy a laugh with a friend. After all, isn't a life of joy the most successful one you could hope for?

If you think you're a failure, then you're misinterpreting wealth or beauty or some other fleeting ideal for success. Let go of this misconception and start getting to know the person within in order to acknowledge infinite wisdom.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melissa_Maypole

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Healthy In the Mind, Healthier In the Body

 It shouldn't surprise anyone that the more you read the greater your chances of success. Still, there are some dyslexic billionaires that don't read much at all. They have trouble learning that way. It's not that with a lot of practice they cannot become efficient readers, it's that they find ways to work around their problems and avoid reading too much. So how do they do it? Well, there are audio books, movies, and there is story-telling. You can learn a lot about how to be successful in the world and get new insight by talking to people and listening to them explain their perspectives and listening to their stories.

Much of what people tell you is not exactly accurate, even if they are not really attempting to lie, perhaps they just have a bit of false memory? Or, they are trying to put their best foot forward. Either way, the more you learn about people, human nature and empathy, the better you will do in life. Further, a healthy mind often comes with a healthy body too, so there are added benefits besides just straight success.

Now then, whereas, dyslexics might find a way to get the same input without reading, there is really no excuse for anyone who can read well, not to.

There was an interesting article in Science Daily in the second week of October 2013 titled; "Reading Is Good for Your Health," which stated; "People with poor reading skills are likely to be less healthy than those who read easily, according to recent research. Literacy skills are important for keeping in good shape," and "Some people don't seem to obtain necessary health information because they're not good readers."

Still, I think that may not be the only reason. So if we take this research with that recent study showing reading increases empathy then we might say this helps with relationships meaning people are not lonely thus, happier. Happy people do not get sick as much and tend to have better immune systems. This study begs more questions.

It might also be that smarter people enjoy reading often and have more developed brains. The more developed the brains is the more nerve connection you will possess. And this means better faculties for more movement thus, reducing laziness. A healthy body equals a healthy brain and vice-versa. So feed your brain with good reading, and work to maintain your body and health using that brain of yours. So consider all this and meditate on it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow

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The Law of Success: An Overview of Napoleon Hill's Lesson Thirteen

Lesson thirteen in Napoleon Hill's book The Law of Success is entitled Failure. Hill says, "Neither temporary defeat nor adversity amounts to failure in the mind of the person who looks upon it as a teacher that will teach some needed lesson." You are the student if you are open to learning and growing from the experience.

Hill suggests that the lessons learned in "failure", which is really a temporary defeat are often not possible to learn in any other way. When you view your setbacks in this way, you are on the road to success by learning from the mistake. Your error is only destructive if you accept it as a failure!

Your enemies can be your greatest teachers. They often find your weak spots, but if you acknowledge what those weaknesses are and mend them, you can improve yourself. So hating your enemies only gives them strength instead of building you up by learning from them.

Search for the blessings in disguise from both your "enemies" and your so-called failures in life. Your friends generally don't point out your defects, and enemies do. So Hill believes a few enemies are needed to learn and grow!

Hill feels so strongly about failure being to your advantage that he states that most great men such as Socrates or Christ have experienced it and their achievements have had a lasting legacy as a result. "The success of each man seemed to be in almost exact ratio to the extent of the obstacles and difficulties he had to surmount."

By rising above a so-called failure, you become stronger and wiser as a result of the experience. Defeat has its own language, which forces us to listen. But it does take a strong measure of courage to unearth the blessing in a failure.

So Hill advises you to be thankful for defeat and view it as temporary instead of permanent. As you survive it and keep going, you will reach higher levels of achievement. Only you can brand yourself as a failure. So do not look at your defeats in such a way.

Look for blessings and expect good fortune to come your way after a setback. Use failure as a teacher and guide. Have faith in yourself and believe that you will rise above any obstacle. Embracing this lesson although sometimes challenging, will bring you success and achievement. It is one of the sixteen success ingredients that Hill has placed in his book The Law of Success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Shultz

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Three Success Secrets Elite Mental Athletes Use to Win Big

 I use the term "Elite Mental Athlete" to describe the people who seem to be always successful moving onward and upward. These successful people have discovered three important success secrets, the same secrets that the world's most famous athletes use to win Olympic gold medals and national championships.

The same three secrets that bring those athletes success on the court, on the green or in the arena can help you create the success you want in the office, on the Internet and in the marketplace.

Sports psychologist Chris Carr says that elite athletes do these key things: 1) "Set goals wisely"; 2) "Talk to yourself"; and 3) "Visualize your performance." Elite Mental Athletes follow the same secrets. What do these keys to success look like in real life? Here are some examples:

1. Set goals wisely. In real life, that means:

• Do your homework and the extra credit.
• Be creative, try new things.
• Raise your own bar and keep raising it.
• Praise, encourage and reinforce yourself.
• Have short and long-term goals so you know you are always making progress.
• Look at your processes from a new perspective, and or get a new perspective from someone else, shake things up a bit and make things fresh and more interesting.
• Something new and different creates more energy and stimulation.
• Be passionate.
• Take yourself and what you do seriously.
• Have self-confidence and self-respect.
• Make excelling your goal.
• Own your successes.
• Compete against the best, compete with people you respect.
• Prepare, commit, be self-disciplined, practice self-motivation, and follow your passion.
• Deliver exceptional personal performance.

2) Talk To Yourself. Create a personal mantra, a saying you repeat constantly in your head to encourage and motivate yourself to reach your goal. Some examples include:

• "To be a winner all you need to give is all you have."
• "Practice while others are sleeping."
• "Prepare, prepare, prepare."

3) Visualize Your Performance. Imagine yourself succeeding and create a mental movie of every step from start to finishing, casting yourself in the role of the successful hero.

• Picture yourself getting into position to take the first step of the process to reach your goal.
• Break down the necessary actions into a step-by-step sequence, then put your mental movie together frame by frame, seeing yourself doing each action.
• See the launch moment, and then go further, taking your mental movie into the follow-through until you see the victory achieved. Whatever your "medal" is, visualize obtaining it, holding it, savoring it. Make the image real in your mind.

What are the positive results/goals of being an Elite Mental Athlete? You will:

• Reach your individual goals
• Raise your own bar and reach higher goals
• Master new skills
• Turn weaknesses into strengths
• Create new opportunities for yourself
• Gain personal confidence, self esteem approach obstacles with your proven set of tools of achievement
• Continue to grow.

If you follow the three steps, you will become an Elite Mental Athlete. You'll succeed, and you will have earned your success. Not only that, but others will recognize that you have what it takes to make your goals into reality. Most importantly, you will create the reality you desire.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Faith_Monson

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Visualization As A Tool for Success

According to definition, visualization is the process of recreating all kinds of sounds, images, and feelings in your mind. The visualization in your mind should be surrounding an activity you want to participate in the future. Many people associate visualization as being a powerful tool for success in health, finance, personal relationships, and other aspects of life. In fact, this process is used by both men and women in virtually every area of life. Visualization is a power possessed by everyone. If you improve your skills in visualization, you will be able to accomplish your goals much faster.

In simple words, visualization is the art and ability to see with your mind. It is a recreation of mental images energized and sustained by intensely concentrating on a desired goal. The basic concept related to visualization is simple and straightforward. What you see with your mind is something you believe in. Thus, it becomes your reality. Here are some reasons why visualization is a powerful tool for success in health, finances, personal relationships, and other areas of life.

Activates Your Peak Intelligence

Visualization can easily activate your peak intelligence and performance. It is a mental exercise to virtually create a situation, state, or goal that you want to physically occur in your life. Visualization and imagination are powerful tools to help you achieve everything you want in life. In fact, you may have used visualization a lot of times during your life without even realizing it.

For instance, you may have thought about your favorite coffee and suddenly feel the urge to make a cup for yourself. You may even have thought about visiting a place while imagining its favorite spots, and eventually planned a vacation there. Whenever you do such things, you are using the power of visualization.

Uses All Your Senses

The primary reason for the effectiveness of visualization has been the use of all your senses. When you practice visualization, you imagine everything about something. You imagine how it sounds, feels, tastes, and smells. Since you have more sensory input, you are encouraged to turn your visualization into reality. Thus, visualization helps you reach your goals faster.

Overcomes Limited Thinking

Most people limit themselves and don't look beyond these limitations. People tend to limit their beliefs and thoughts, thus unintentionally limiting the life they know. If you're one of these people, visualization can help you overcome such limited thinking. When you're open-minded, you dare to think bigger and act accordingly. You tend to explore more possibilities and opportunities. Visualization helps you realize that limitations are just within your mind.

Ways to Make Your Visualization More Successful and Powerful

— Begin visualization in a relaxed state.

— Hear, see, and feel every possible detail.

— Use all your senses.

— Keep control over imagery.

— Strengthen the effects of your image. Make it more colorful, brighter, louder, closer, sharper. and larger.

— Enjoy your visualization.

Visualization is a powerful tool. In fact, it is one of the most powerful actions you can take on a regular basis to achieve your goals and to find success. It helps you become the person you always wanted to be. Use this tool continuously and consciously to create the perfect kind of future for yourself.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_R_Lorenz

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The Acronym of My Life - PASSION

Based on my own personal experience, I've been approached countless times by individuals who tell me that they're passionate about their business asking me to invest. As I delve deeper, majority of the time I find that the entrepreneur falls into one of these three categories:

1. These individuals only have an idea and are not willing to put in the work, nor resources, to turn that thought into reality.

2. The entrepreneur works hard in the beginning but lacks the stamina needed to build their business for the long-haul.

3. Instead of enthusiasm and excitement, these individuals actually hated their business and want out because of financial losses, overworked, etc.

Just to be clear, the dictionary defines passion as "a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something." When people are enthused and excited about something, a sense of pleasure arises and they're willing to go the extra-mile to create high-quality work in an effort to deliver value to end-users. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case and many entrepreneurs, in my opinion, actually fail to walk-the-talk. Let me explain.

To me, passion is more than enthusiasm and excitement. Rather than throw this term around lightheartedly, I've created an acronym representing a series of simple questions for this particular word. Not only have these questions helped me determine if I'm truly passionate about something over the course of my life but also aided in reminding me of what's required to turn those dreams into reality. Hopefully it'll do the same for you regardless of your passion(s) in life. So without further ado, let's begin:

P = Persistence - Am I willing to persevere through all obstacles, including rejections, to make this happen?

A = Attitude - Will I possess the right positive attitude and do what's needed to turn this passion into a viable business?

S = Self-Motivation - Is this something that I'll be self-motivated to accomplish on a daily basis, even if the work was done for free?

S = Sales - Am I so passionate about this that it becomes second nature to sell this dream to others?

I = Innovation - Do I really love this enough to constantly innovate on products or services for continual improvements?

O = Over Deliver - Can I over deliver and provide exceptional value to consumers?

N = Niche - Am I experienced enough in this niche to not only help others but also become competitive and profitable?

If I answered a resounding "Yes" to all the questions above, then I know that it's truly a passion worth pursuing. In essence, the items listed are also all characteristics of any successful entrepreneur. Therefore, I would recommend that you quickly run through this checklist if you're unsure if something is truly your passion. Answering the questions will also let you know if you have the right mindset and ambition to turn that idea into a profitable business. To end this post, I would like to share two quotes from renowned philosophers that'll help you reflect on the topic of passion:

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." - Nelson Mandela

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Achieving Success: Minutes, Hours, Days, Years

A successful life is made up of a string of successful days. A successful day is made up of successful hours. A successful hour is made up of successful minutes. What does a successful minute or hour or year look like?

We see people whom the less-wise and less-intelligent among us might think of as successful, and who are not really as successful as they are wealthy or famous. They could lose their wealth, their looks, or their fame just as fast as they gained it and there would be nothing left. We do, in fact, see that all the time. For example, professional athletes who age-out of sports and within a few years are bankrupt, in spite of having made millions of dollars per year for several years. It happens. They did well in their working lives, and they made a lot of money, but they were never successful and didn't know how to handle the downsides of life.

As we study successful people, we see that they have trials and opposition, the same as anyone else. They just deal with them much better.

We see other people who are very wealthy and lose it or a large portion of it, and they go to work and build it back. The wealth didn't make them successful. The success helped them become wealthy.

I have seen people who are extremely successful and have never been wealthy, and will probably never be, because they don't care about it.

We see people who seem to be successful by the world's standards, but who don't seem to have any sense. Politicians, CEOs, movie stars, athletes, and rock stars give in to very unsuccessful emotions and ruin their marriages and families through extra-marital affairs. They ruin their lives with alcohol and drugs. They break the law trying to get or stay rich. In today's world, people seem to adore them no less, and many of them keep their offices or the status or their wealth and work. But none of them can be thought of as successful. A successful person would not reach such a lofty position and then chance the ruination of it through any form of stupidity.

A good bit of success is remembering to stay successful. It's easy to get to a place where many other people wish they could be, and then think too much of ourselves, and become proud and cocky, and lose it all or do things that an intelligent person should never even consider.

Every minute, every hour, every day, every year are important to those of us wanting to be successful. And that should be everyone. Success is getting to the end of our lives having gotten as close as we are capable of being where and what we should be. For those who don't know where or what they should be, part of success if learning where and what they should be. Successful people know. If we never try, or if, anywhere along the way we give up, we can't be successful.

Now that we know what a successful life is, we can understand that each week, day, hour, and minute are the same. A successful minute is one where we are learning and working toward becoming what we are supposed to become. More of those than not in an hour is a successful hour, and more of those hours than not gives us a successful day.

Each year, I spend a week at a lake, boating, skiing, water boarding, tubing, eating, conversing, playing, and having a very good time. Is that a successful week? It is for me. I'm still learning. I'm still watching other people, and I know they are watching me. I'm still thinking. I'm still considering what I should be doing, and what I should be becoming. I'm still thinking about the beginning of my life and the end of my life, and all that is in between. And I am resting and recreating, which are important for a successful life. We can no more go through our entire lives without resting and recreating than we can go through our days without sleeping. We have to charge the batteries sometimes.

A life of success is generated by successful days. Knowing this, we must press forward. Success is predictable. We do not just arrive at success. Success has no boundaries. We must never stop aiming to achieve success. Only by staying persistent can we truly be successful.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Weldon_Smith

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Key Success Principles To Achieve Your Goals

We all have goals in life that we would like to achieve. However, we see that only 5% of the people achieve their goals.

To a common man it may seem that people who achieve their goals may have some special talent or are probably lucky. But the reality is that achieving your goal does not really depend on one's talent or on luck. It is merely a matter of understanding a few principles of success that separates the achievers from non-achievers. Following are some of the key principles of those who achieve their goals

Clearly Defined and Documented Goals 
One of the most important principle that leads to a difference between achievers and non-achievers is having a clear goal in mind and committed on a piece of paper with dates written on it. This is an important aspect that many people miss out on. It creates a different level of motivation once the goals are written down on a piece of paper. Committing goals on a piece of paper creates the extra motivation and the dates against the goals creates accountability. The true character of a person is reflected when a person is accountable to him/her-self. Those who are not accountable are anyways not going anywhere in life.

The committed goals should be written in such a way that a person sees them at least 2-3 times a day. This can be achieved by sticking these goals on a fridge or putting them on a white board in your room. Seeing these goals and dates against the goals truly forces the accountable person to get out of the comfort zone and push to achieve their goals.

Self-Discipline 
Being your own boss is the most difficult situation to be in. A person that can discipline him/her-self is someone who cannot be disciplined by anyone else. In our life, we have a choice, either we discipline ourselves or we get disciplined by someone else. The earlier in life we learn to discipline ourselves, the less we are going to be disciplined by others. Discipline means, having a clear action plan and working on that plan every day little by little. Consistency is more important than working on your goal for 10 hours in one day and then NOT working on it for the rest of the month. Success is build upon consistency. Working 21 days consecutively on something creates good habits that leads to consistency which in turn leads to the achievement of goals.

Recommended Reading 
A great book that details 21 simple steps in achieving once goals is written by RP Smith. The book is titled "How to Achieve Your Goals in 21 simple steps" by R.P. Smith

I really liked the simplicity in the book and it really helped me in identifying the gaps that I had in my thought process. These gaps were the roadblocks for me in achieving my goals. The book is simple and provides the confidence to a common man on how success can be achieved by following some really simple common sense steps.

It is available at Amazon for $5.97. I think this is the best $5.97 that I ever spend in my life. Just missed a cup of starbucks coffee today to pay for the book and it was well worth it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Farhan_Ahmed_Khan

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Progress Is the Key to Achieving Success

Many people have goals, but not very many people have written goals. This is a big problem. The first step to achieving anything is to first have it clearly defined. A vague idea of what you want is not good enough. You must have every detail of what you want planned out, and the best way to do this is to write down everything you can think of that has to do with what you want to accomplish in life. This is the starting point for a successful life. Now, you must enjoy the process of getting there.

It is great to have a clearly defined goal and to think about it often, but you can think about it 24/7 and that won't make it come true. You must take action! And you must enjoy this part of the process or else you will likely give up before you ever see success.

The best way to enjoy the process of moving toward your goal is to choose something you love! The most brilliant man will most likely fail if he attempts to make a career out of doing something he hates! Go within yourself to find what you truly enjoy in life and do that! This will almost guarantee your success if you can maintain focus. By loving what you do, you will have the passion and drive to continue doing that even in the face of adversity.

Certainly, you will come across tasks that you must do that you do not enjoy, but the goal should be to minimize the time spent doing these things. Outsource whatever you can so that you can spend your time focusing on what you really enjoy. If you love your work, you will have no other option but to succeed.

I see many people go into certain fields of study just because the occupation pays well. This is not a smart move. The truth is that there are people out there making plenty of money doing just about anything you can imagine. Money comes to those who are passionate about what they do. It's as simple as that. When you have the passion, you will create more quality for other people. People pay for quality, and they pay well.

Be smart when choosing what you want to do with your life. It can be the deciding factor for your success. Set big goals. Enjoy the process of reaching them.

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Learn About An Essential Key To Success

This post is not for everyone, but it is for the person who is struggling to be happy for other people who seem to be achieving success in different areas of their lives. If put simply, the inability to be happy for others in their successes, is parallel to someone protesting for their local bank to close down one day, but then submitting an application for a loan from the local bank the next day; shooting oneself in the foot yet seeking to climb a hill right after, all of which is done unknowingly of course.

However, seeing others succeed is in fact a gift from the universe to us. It reminds us that if we believe, we can achieve. We can have successes too, when we to learn to understand that the successes of others are like beaming lights to us; giving us an example of how we can achieve success too. However often times many of us are so frustrated by those who are succeeding that our mind-set instantly fights it by offering us negative thoughts that convinces us to fight that person's success by denying it or finding something negative to say about it; this of course dis-empowers us from finding success. By fighting the laws of the universe and the example of what can bring that success about, is also saying we are not open to that experience.

Inside each and every person is a wealth of gifts and talents to bring us success and happiness in our own unique way; it's our own personal light to shine and allow others to see their light. However when we choose to dim the lights of others, by turning our eyes from the lights of others we remain in darkness to something that came to bless us. That's right, someone else's success is your blessing. If you can move your emotions out of the way you will be able to see the lesson in their blessing. Not only does the light reflected through other people's success give us hope when things seem really bad; it lights the path for others to follow. Someone else's success doesn't mean they are better than us, it means they've placed enough positive attention in a specific area that brought them the results they were looking for. We can do that too!

If this is you, today try to see all those who are successful as a blessing, someone you wish to learn from. Let their examples become roses in your garden, allowing you to create an environment that in conducive to success; after all people who desire to have success don't intentionally go out and pick for their garden that, which isn't successful. So the next time you have the opportunity to meet or hear about someone else's success, celebrate them, appreciate them and most of all see them as the roses you would like in your garden.

There are many keys to success like, getting our mindset open for it, having persistence and being around people who are thinking like we think and having someone on your side whose only motive is to see you operate in your full potential.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donniece_Greene-Smith

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What the Rich Know That the Poor Don't

I believe that everyone has the potential to become rich, but why are the resources found only in the hands of a few? This is one of the questions that come up often. But I think the answer is not farfetched.

The rich people have learnt powerful skills and timeless principles that they practice every day and this has allowed them to remain rich. These skills and principles which they have mastered, is what separates them from everyday people, it is what makes them remain in riches (wealth). Circumstances may change, but principles remain the same.

Here are a few of those principles;

A. Rich people Think Abundance, but Poor People Think Lack.

The rich have a completely different mindset when it comes to how to make money. It begins from how they think. Scripture says "as a man thinks in his heart so is he". One thing the rich have been able to master is their act of thinking. They understand that their thoughts would breed actions and their actions would breed results. They understand the first law of success which is "First within, then without". Who you have become on the inside will be reflected on the outside. When you realize that most people are poor, it is good for you to make up your mind that you won't go along that mind path that they have chosen to follow.

B. Rich People See Opportunity, Poor People See Problems.

Imagine a teacher who got an appointment to teach at a secondary school and he had to teach the senior class, the ones preparing for their final exams. He taught them throughout the term and after they had written the exams, a large number of them failed and had to repeat the class. The teacher could react to this by saying "I don't even understand why these students are so dull, after all my efforts of teaching, they still failed". Yet another teacher comes and sees the amount of failure among the students and he immediately recognizes an opportunity to make money while imparting positively into the lives of these students. This can be done either by writing a book on practical guides to passing their exams excellently well or he organizes extra classes for the students, where they have to pay an extra token to get coaching for their exams. The difference between the two teachers is that one saw a problem and the other saw an opportunity.

C. Rich People Allow The Interest On Their Investment to Compound.

The truth is no matter how great talent or efforts, some things just take time warren buffet says, building wealth is one of them. There is always a time interval between the time when you make investments and when your investments will yield dividends. The rich understands the law of delayed gratification.

The rich understands the principles of compound interest and they make it work for them. They simply take the interest that accrues from an initial capital invested and put it back into the business to generate more profit from the initial profit.

D. Rich People Mind Their Associations While The Poor Don't.

It is said that your network will determine your net worth. Rich people are careful and deliberate in creating a particular kind of network around them, people with empires in their mind, people whose ideas if worked on and invested in will become gold mines. Even the scripture says he who works with the wise will be wise. Spending time with wealthy people is vital if you want to succeed financially. You'll be amazed at how your perspective changes when you hear people talking about how much they make in a single day.

I heard the story of Jacky Kennedy, the once upon a time wife of John F Kennedy, when she said "If I was broke, I know what I will do to get back on my feet, I will go to the most expensive restaurants in new york, buy myself a glass of water and eavesdrop on the conversations of the rich". They are careful not to keep within their circle of friends people who are myopic in their thinking. This is how important your association can be.

E. Rich People Make Their Money Work For Them While The Poor Work For Money.

A very large number of people work for money. This is because of the impression that we were given while growing up, that to become successful, you must study hard, get good grades, go to the best schools, secure a good paying job and save until you retire. There is nothing wrong with all of this as long as you are fulfilled. But Robert Kiyosaki says the problem with this approach is that you only make money as long as you work. He said the only thing of value that you have to exchange is your time. But when we exchange our time for money, our earning potential is limited because you can only make money while at your job. And so to make more money you have to work longer hours, which is physically taxing. He says that the rich dad told him "the poor and the middle class work for money, while the rich have money work for them. They do this by learning to invest and then putting their money in assets like businesses and investments that generates passive income, until they reach the point where they don't have to work anymore. They simply spend their money on assets while the poor spend theirs on liabilities.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelly_Erezi_Umuakpero

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