Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you live with more fun and freedom.


THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:
"Is this conversation I'm having with myself encouraging?"


THE PROMISE

Ask this question to center yourself whenever you become aware of your self-talk.


THE TIPS

Did you have a conversation with yourself today?

The answer is yes because every body in the world talks to them self.

Day-in and day-out we humans exercise our unique ability to talk to our self.

This ability is unparalleled in the animal kingdom, meaning no other species on the planet uses self-talk.

However, the real question to ask is not whether you have talked to yourself, but when was the last time you encouraged yourself while talking?

How often did you encourage yourself last month? How often last week? How about today?

If you are like most people, you can probably use one hand to count how many times.

This is because most people don't encourage themselves on a regular basis.

Why this occurs is a mystery to science and psychology.

One thing is for certain, poor self-talk is certainly not the way that nature intended for us to use this gift.

For example, how would it appear if you walked up underneath a tree and caught it talking to itself the way humans do?

Imagine it saying "Oh no they're falling off again! I must be a bad tree, my own leaves don't even want to stay on me!"

This would be simply ridiculous wouldn't it?

The same thing would happen if any animal acted in this manner wouldn't it?

Yet day in and day-out we continue to have negative and pessimistic conversations with our selves.

It is absolutely incredible that we allow these crazy conversations with our self to continue.

The best way to change this terrible trend of self-talk is to become more aware of how you talk to yourself.

Ask yourself "Is this conversation I'm having with myself encouraging?" whenever you find yourself debating, or talking to yourself.

The more you ask this question, the more that you will become aware in future conversations.

The more you become aware of your conversation, the better you can consciously ensure that your self-talk is encouraging.


THE SECRET

In any moment any bodies life on this planet can end.

Nobody really knows when this moment could occur for them, only that it will occur.

The only person that will be around at that time for sure is you.

When this moment happens you will again have a conversation with yourself.

When you speak to yourself during these final moments will you be encouraging to yourself?

Will you be able to look back and reflect in peace with the feelings of joy, adventure and gratitude that you felt for your life?

Or will the dialogue be filled with guilt, anger and regret from having an unnecessarily miserable relationship with yourself?

The bad news is that sooner or later one or the other will inevitably happen.

The good news is that starting right now you have the choice to decide which one.

Every moment of self-talk is an opportunity to build a better relationship with yourself.

Ask yourself "Is this conversation I'm having with myself encouraging?" to check-in with yourself during the day.

Your goal is to become your own best friend and your own biggest fan.

Figure out ways that you can use self-talk to speak to yourself as if you were head-over-heels in love.

Your challenge is to do the following simple but powerful exercise.

Imagine that you are so in-love with yourself that you can only compliment and encourage yourself.

After you wake up tomorrow say to yourself "congratulations, I must be awesome enough to have another day to be me, what a joy!"

Then you walk to the bathroom, flick on the light and give yourself a mental high-five for hitting the switch your first try.

When you pick up the right toothbrush and turn on the tap say to yourself "another job well-done!"

After you pick out an outfit, how about saying "wow.. absolutely stunning, world watch out for me!"

Continue on throughout your day in this way, complimenting or encouraging yourself at every conceivable opportunity.

The more genuine and honest you are with yourself the more self-confidence and personal power you will gain.

Try it for one day and watch in amazement at the energy you have and the emotions you feel!

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you live with more peace and love in your life.


THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:
"Am I a lover or a fighter?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question and you will become more conscious of how you radiate emotion and energy in your environment.


THE TIPS

If you are looking to find more love in your life, a great question to ask yourself is... "Am I a lover or a fighter?"

Re-stated a bit differently, the question could be asked as, "How do I contribute to this world, through cooperation, or coercion with others?"

Do you add joy in the world, or do you contribute to the anguish?

Does your heart pump stronger than your fist?

Do you make the people around you feel idolized or intimidated?

If the former is the case versus the latter, then indeed you may be a lover.

Why is being a lover important?

First of all, being "a lover not a fighter" is not just a good idea referenced in the lyrics of a Micheal Jackson song.

Here's why... Each and every moment of our lives, every single one of us are faced with a question.

Although this is a single question, the outcome that results from how this question is answered is as varied as the individuals answering it.

Everything that you see in the world, the love, the war, and the indifference, was created out of people answering this single question.

The one question that we continually are challenged with is whether to create out of fear, or to create out of love.

When people create, do and act out of love, the power of their passion reflects the bliss and beauty of life.

If you ever watched Tiger Woods play golf or listened to Pavarotti sing opera you would see a demonstration of this.

Other examples of the transcendental quality of beauty of nature when created out of love are expressed through classical art, music and poetry.

You are instantly connected when you come in contact with energy that has been molded from the fabric of love.

To feel love, or as some refer to it as, to feel God, satisfies our innate desire to experience everything in this world that is wonderful and great.

Therefore to feel "good", which basically just adds an extra "o" to the word God, also refers to seeking this connection to supreme source.

Feeling good, feeling God and feeling love should be the answer that you choose to express at all times.

The way to remember where the focus your creations resides is by asking yourself the question "Am I a lover or a fighter?".


THE SECRET

Human beings are energetic entities, which means that we are all made of energy and we require energy to survive.

You probably learned, if you remember way back that in school, that energy cannot be created nor destroyed.

However, what you probably weren't taught is that not all energy was created equal to begin with.

Some energy appreciates and supports our lives, while other forms of energy deplete and depreciate our lives.

Many people inadvertently feed on energy that depreciates their lives because they don't know any better.

For example, if you constantly watch the news, participate in rumours or gossip, or spread negative stories.

The energy that it takes to maintain those acts above should give you an indication of whether the energy is good for you.

It is important to pick good sources of energy because there is no getting around the fact that we need it.

Human beings are complex energy systems that require different types in order to function and feel good.

For example, we require food in the form of carbohydrates to fuel our physical self. If you don't eat in 3 weeks you'll die.

We require energy in the form of sleep and oxygen to regulate and maintain the mental aspects of our self, for things such as analysis and calculation.

The energy that our emotional self feeds on comes in the form of feelings, and the feeling that trumps them all is love.

Love is an emotion that makes the giver, the receiver, and even the observer, feel more powerful as a result of its expression.

Being able to express love and feel powerful is important to everyone because of one very special reason.

People inevitably tend to go where there emotions (feelings) take them, and not necessarily in the direction of their dreams.

Therefore, to get better results in life what we need to continually practice learning is how to experience more love.

By developing a loving relationship with your emotions you will develop your intuition and feel like you are able to follow your dreams.

The decision to act from love is so powerful that it can manifest instant change and bring about expressions like peace, harmony, and joy.

Just imagine how the world would be if everybody loved what they did for a living and felt blessed to be able to do it?

How much better would the world be if people did things because they loved to, and not just because they had to?

A world like this is not too far from the reality that we live in now, in fact it is only as far away as your imagination puts it.

To start living with more love, begin by imagining yourself putting more love into your day, your actions, and your daily interactions.

Check-in with your intentions by asking yourself the question "Am I a lover or a fighter?"

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will discover the secret of how to create more happiness whenever, wherever no matter whatever happens.


THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:
"Will I cherish the memories I am creating in this moment?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question and you will be able to live with less regret and more peace of mind.


THE TIPS

Most of us talk to ourselves a lot, in fact we do it day-in and day-out.

We talk ourselves into doing things and we talk ourselves out of doing things.

The problem is that we often get these two mixed up, that is, we talk our-self out of growth opportunities in order to spend our time doing things that keep us playing small.

We justify doing this for various reasons such as fear, lack and keeping within our comfort zone, etc.. but the bottom line is that giving up on dreams doesn't feel good.

One way to challenge your mental chatter, is to ask yourself the question "How can I find a way to cherish the memories I am creating in this moment?".

If you cherish the moments as you create them in the moment then they will become cherished memories in the future.

Yet how many times do we use the moment instead to think about all sorts of personal robbing and confidence stealing scenarios?

One such confidence stealer is worry.

It makes no sense to choose to spend your time in the moment worrying about some memory that has yet to happen.

Will your worrying produce a cherished memory that you will look back on in time and say "yeah, that was time well-spent?"

The answer is probably not because 99% of the time our worries never manifest, at least in the horrendous way that we fore-casted.

Another personal power robber is judgement.

Have you ever wondered where bad ideas and stupid mistakes come from?

There is no thing as a "bad" idea as long as we learn from the experience.

These are just labels in judgement, unflattering descriptions of the events that unfolded.

They all come from our imagination, merely fictions that we create.

What time teaches us is that often what we thought was the worst thing to happen to us was really a blessing in disguise.

Asking yourself "How can I find a way to cherish the memories I am creating in this moment?" will help you see the blessing faster.


THE SECRET

How often do you have to ask yourself the question "How can I find a way to cherish the memories I am creating in this moment?"

The answer is only as often as there are moments, only as consistent as you want to be empowered in those moments.

There is a moment every second, there are 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours in a day, 30 days in a month, 12 months in a year.

The standard measurement of these unique moments are what's known as experiences.

What type of experiences and unique moments did you cherish this year?

Our experiences accumulate as memories, which ultimately shape and influence our future experiences and memories.

How can you use the cherished memories of last year to influence the memories that you want to create this year.

The moments that make up the existence of our reality pass by for everyone equally at the rate of one second per second, what we do with those moments is what separates us all.

If you are 30 years old today, then since you were born you would have accumulated 3,153,600 hours worth of potential memories, how have you used them so far?

Many people feel that they are forced to accept people, places and situations, basically that they have no choice.

Thinking that you never have a choice is always an illusion because you always have a choice.

We may not like our choices and in some cases we may even be restrained from "physical" action in a situation.

However the choice that always remains is your attitude about the present moment.

You have a choice to decide if your attitude resists the moment or goes with the flow.

The biggest skill you can teach yourself is allowing the present moment to unfold in a symbiotic and loving way?

When you learn to adjust the attitude on the fly, your life will begin to become easier, lighter, less stressful.

"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" is a popular song originally recorded by Billy Ocean in 1985.

It is also an over-popularized cliché quoted by mentors, managers and motivators.

Basically it means that when situations in life become difficult, strong people show their strength by rising to the occasion.

The next time you are caught in a situation that you would rather not be in, before you take action ask yourself "How can I find a way to cherish the memories I am creating in this moment?" and then "get going"!

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will make you feel love and gratitude.

THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"What do I have to be grateful for?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question as many times as possible this week and you will be more grateful about your life's situation.


THE TIPS

The first step in counting your blessings is to write down all the things you have to be grateful for.

Before your start this exercise you may think that you don't have a lot in particular to be grateful for, if so you will definitely be surprised.

Start by finding a quiet room away from any distractions.

If you live in a busy place and cannot get complete silence then either wait to do this until you can, or just do the best you can.

You will also need a pen/pencil and note pad of paper, or a journal would be even better if you have one.

Next ask yourself out loud "What do I have to be grateful for?"

Think carefully, take your time and don't let yourself off the hook when it comes to answers.

One way of doing it is to brainstorm as many ideas that come up for you in a five or ten minute period.

Then you would take the ideas you generated and filter them into the type of gratitude expressed.

For example: People | Things | Other

People: Write down all the people that have made a difference in your life.

Things: Name at least 5-10 things that you enjoy doing on a daily basis.

Other: This could be an area where you keep track of miscellaneous things like "feeling grateful for being able to be a great dad"

Take five or ten minutes every day to jot down any new items on this list.

Be selective and choosy of what you put on your list, if you don't feel gratitude don't feel pressured to put up a convincing answer.

It is important to feel the feelings of what you enjoy, as if you were truly enjoying them in the present moment.

The above step is critically under-rated to the success of your ability to manifest using the Law of Attraction.

If you don't feel gratitude when you first do it, there is an extremely slim chance of manifesting more gratitude.

The reason for this is because like attracts like, thoughts become things, and what you focus on expands.

Therefore, if you feel grateful, think about being more grateful, you will inevitably attract more reasons to be grateful.

This is such a straight-up and simple-to-implement strategy for changing lives you probably are wondering why so many people don't it?

Because we seem to want to make things difficult for ourselves by default.

To make things go smoother in your world, start by concentrating on the things you feel grateful for.

Ask yourself the question "What do I have to be grateful for?" to brainstorm ideas.

Keep this list near by you and continue to add to it as you remember more things to be grateful for.

If you are feeling down and out and experiencing a bout of low energy, a great resource you to help "pick you up" is this list or journal.


THE SECRET

The secret to feeling truly grateful for a person, situation or thing is in the way that you express appreciation.

A great question to follow up with the first question is: "How do I express appreciation?"

In order to express appreciation you must first know what exactly you are thankful for, which means taking inventory of your blessings.

The good news is if you have done the work in the first exercise, you will have already written down a lot of blessings.

Now that you have a list of things that you feel grateful for, the next step is to ensure that whatever that is on that list feels appreciated.

Nothing feels better than feeling valued and appreciated, so consider it as the outcome when giving others feedback.

If you are really grateful for a loved-one or friend then consider when the last time you did something special for them to let them know.

We often don't show appreciation or express our true feelings until it's too late, make it a point to not let this happen this week!

You can also show you appreciation for material items, even though a lot of people might think different.

Contrary to popular beliefs it is ok to appreciate material wealth and material goods, in fact the more you appreciate them, the more you get back!

There is nothing wrong with appreciating material items, as long as you make sure that you show gratitude for them by taking care of them properly.

For example, you can not say that you appreciate being able to drive if you never change the oil or perform maintenance on your vehicle.

The currency for showing your true appreciation is your undivided attention.

Attention is energy and when focused is the most valuable and priceless gift that we can offer.

How would any one of your relationships feel if they could have an extra dose of a fully conscious and present you?

Try donating your complete and undivided attention to a loved one as a no-strings attached gift.

See if you can focus your attention for just twenty minutes. How about an hour? Can you make it a full day?

If you aren't sure what to focus on, you could start by showing appreciation of the common things we take for granted:

-Health

-Wealth

-Freedom

-Opportunity

-Relationships

When it comes to spending your attention there are two trains of thought:

A. You can spend your attention on the tried and true avenues of appreciation, the sure winners, perhaps if they like chocolates or flowers.

B. Another effective method to spend attention and show appreciation is simply by asking the recipient: "I'm here to help, please tell me how"

Notice in the last example it isn't "asking" whether or not you can help, that is too often rejected, but rather you are going to help!

Last but not least is it important to show appreciation to the person that we all have in common.

That is, of course, always no matter what above and beyond all instances, remember to respect and appreciate yourself.

When you put yourself into a state of gratitude your frequency changes, which changes your thoughts.

Change your thoughts, change your feelings, change your actions, change your life.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you help find stillness and inner peace.

THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"What is the true source of my suffering?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question as many times as you suffer each day and you will become aware of the source of your salvation.


THE TIPS

As you go about your day today ask yourself "What is the true source of this suffering?" whenever you feel down and out.

Try to limit asking this question to situations where you feel negative, versus times that you are just thinking negative.

Negative thinking can lead to the feeling of suffering but it is important not to dwell too much on the source of negative thinking.

There is really no sense in trying to determine the source of each negative thought that you have because there will always be another negative thought to replace it.

Negative thoughts are repeated in the mind throughout the day as if on autopilot, hence the term A.N.T.'s, for Automatic Negative Thoughts.

Negative thoughts are something that we cannot avoid and will never go away fully, no matter how enlightened, successful or positive you are.

However the most enlightened, successful and positive people have came to one crucial and critical realization.

What they've realize is that negative thoughts pose no inherent danger to anybody, in fact a negative thought itself has never caused a single negative event.

Negative thoughts must first be acted upon in order to create negative events, situations and suffering.

Therefore, there is no problem with negative thoughts if one learns to ignore them, however the problem with most people is that they believe they are their thoughts.

How frequently you believe your negative thoughts will determine how often there is pain and suffering in your life.

If most of the time you believe that you are your negative thoughts then you are extremely likely end up on a psychiatrist's couch or in a psych ward.

This is because the more firm and passionate we are about our beliefs the more emotional energy we encode into our experiences.

When we believe a negative thought passionately we give power to our negative thoughts which generates negative emotions.

Our negative emotions are interpreted by the body as negative feelings that inevitably motivate us to take negative action.

Negative actions are action, often sub-conscious, that are taken in the heat of the moment and that move us away from our highest hopes and dreams.

If this happened to you, you might be thinking well at least I took action, and besides... at the time it felt like it was the right action to take...

Beware of the beast called Justification... Justification sneaks into every situation and sedates the suffering with apathy.

Justification clouds the truth, like in this case hides the fact that you are taking action from a negative state of being and expecting to get a positive result!

How can you ever get a positive outcome to result from a negative intention? It's like squeezing an orange into a glass and expecting apple juice to come out!

Once you realize that the end of suffering comes as a result of many small paradigm shifts you will then be more encouraged to seek out and feed only your positive thoughts.

You will definitely invite more happiness in your life by putting your energy, attention and focus on areas of your life that are more positive.

Ask yourself "What is the true source of my suffering?" to uncover areas in your life that may need some attention shifting.


THE SECRET

The secret to ending your suffering is to first realize the true source of your suffering.

Suffering is not some invisible phenomenon that is floating around in the air waiting to attack its victims.

Suffering does not happen randomly to certain people while arbitrarily avoiding others.

Suffering happens as a direct effect of a cause, the cause being because you allowed it.

The reasons why people allow suffering into their lives is as varied and diverse as there are people.

This is because suffering is subjective, meaning that what makes one suffer does not necessarily make another suffer.

Suffering happens as a result of your beliefs, a belief that a person, thing or situation should be a particular way.

When the person, thing or situation does not conform or meet the standard you've imagined suffering is created.

For example, let's pretend that you drive your significant other to work everyday and it takes five minutes.

Pretty soon, after a few months of driving like this you would start to believe that 5 minutes was how long it takes.

Let's just say that all of a sudden traffic jams start happening due to construction and the drive now takes 45-minutes.

Many people just like you would be very upset with the new commute, and rightly so, because of how it would affect the rest of their day.

In this case when asked "what is the true source of your suffering?" you might reply something like "the incompetent city or slow construction!"

What you aren't realizing is that the source of your unhappiness and suffering stems only from you being attached to something.

In this example you have become attached to a particular way of thinking, the belief that the drive should only take 5-minutes.

However, what you would have failed to recognize is that the real source of suffering is the failure to update your current reality with new information.

Since the fact has become that the drive now takes 45-minutes, believing that it should take only 5-minutes is an attachment to an old and false belief.

It doesn't matter if 999 times in a row that the drive took only 5 minutes, the new reality is that the drive now takes 45 minutes.

When you fail to update your reality and try to operate with your old reality in a world where only a new reality exists, this undoubtedly creates suffering.

Imagine a butterfly trying to eat the same food in the same manner as it once did as a caterpillar, it wouldn't survive long after transforming would it?

Believing in your negative thoughts generates negative emotions and that suffering in turn produces a vicious cycle of more low energy and negative feelings.

To avoid the slippery slope of stinking thinking ask yourself "What is the true source of my suffering?" and look inside for answers.

Inside of yourself holds the key to everything you ever need in life, including the answer to the salvation of your suffering.

The Buddha summarized this best when he said "All unhappiness stems from attachment".

Once you realize that the true cause of your suffering is the result of attachment to a belief your mind you will feel more empowered to work with and release that belief if necessary.

In fact, every time that you come across suffering, by evidence of your experience, you should learn that it means its time to let something go.

Letting go of your attachments is the true secret to success.

Therefore, finding what you are attached to in the first place is the first place to start.

Asking yourself "What is the true source of my suffering" will help you uncover clues to your attachments.

Once you have found the source of your unhappiness ask yourself "What am I prepared to do about this?"

Stay strong to see the truth, be courageous enough to let go and always find a way to move forward from what is holding you back.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you overcome limiting beliefs and build unstoppable confidence.

THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"How did I grow today?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question every day and you will gain confidence, momentum and belief in your own abilities.


THE TIPS

Just before you go to bed today sit down in a quiet place and ask yourself the question: "How did I grow today?"

Paying attention and acknowledging your own growth is a very important skill that you must develop.

After all, only you have a vested interest in your own growth, after all, no matter where you go you'll be bringing yourself.

Unfortunately for whatever reasons, talking about and celebrating growth is a massively over-looked life skill that is not often learned.

Instead we are often taught to conform to the norms and told not to brag or show-off.

Have you ever heard this phrase said right after a compliment was given to you?... "Don't let it get to your head now!"

It's like we aren't allowed to enjoy our celebrations for too long or else it makes us a bad person.

We avoid attracting attention to ourselves to avoid looking conceited, cocky or over-confident.

As a result many of us grow up not knowing how to properly work with positive praise or how to learn from criticism.

This then leads us to experience growth as difficult, a struggle that remains for only positive people to pursue personal growth.

When it comes to living your life you are doing it such a way that is either helping you grow or die, and the best part is the choice is entirely up to you to decide.

Choosing to grow move you towards your hopes, dreams and the life that you know is possible for yourself.

Ask yourself "How did I grow today?" to map and track your rise to the top.

Look for strengths and successes that were revealed throughout the day, if needed keep a pad of post-it notes near you throughout the day.

Write down any challenge that you overcame, any problem that you solved, advice given, advice taken, or anything that you see as growth.

Find a journal to record all your observed strengths, achieved goals and documented growth.

Your "growth" journal is an invaluable asset in gaining self-confidence and building momentum.

Before you go to bed for the night take a few minutes and journal the answer to "In what ways did I grow today?"

List the ways that you grew today, find at least one way each day and as you get better try and come up with at least three ways per day.

Before you start your day in the morning take a minute to reflect in your journal and take notice of yourself as an amazing being that's always growing.

Celebrate your previous growth, strength and life lesson's by reading and remembering them.

Picture your previous successes in detail and remember how it felt to succeed, feel it as if it were happening again.

From that elevated state of emotion you can begin to tackle your day and any challenges that come along with it.

Whatever the result at the end of the day take a moment to record your new observations and successes.

If you commit to doing the steps laid out in this success cycle you will gain massive confidence within only a couple weeks.

Your self-esteem will improve as you repeatedly write and review the recent victories had over your challenges.

The more you stick to the simple process above the more capable and confident you will see yourself.

Ask yourself "How did I grow?" as many times as possible and watch yourself grow exponentially.



THE SECRET

When asking yourself "How did I grow today?" it is important to remember that growth doesn't always come from winning first place.

Your growth can also be derived from experiences taught from nature or lessons learned from strangers.

Growth often comes from unexpected places, a perfect example of this is your mistakes.

Many people think that growth only comes from acing tests and achieving goals, but failures can help us grow equally, if not more.

The absolute truth is that true growth can come at any place by anyone at anytime, it is only our judgement about the situation that negates the opportunity.

Read that last sentence over again because it is huge!

Every single one of us we're meant to enjoy the experience of our lives, but the single biggest problem for all is that we get in our own way!

The good news is that if you are responsible for being your biggest problem, then you must be equally equipped to provide your best solution.

To become a solution you must first take an honest look at how you are choosing to "grow" right now.

How are you spending the moments of your day, are they spent in ways that allow you to grow?

Are you choosing to move forward in your life on a moment-by-moment basis?

Are you aware that every single moment can and will reveal the path to your joy?

The trick to allowing the path to unfold is to first perceive yourself and your world with full unconditional love.

In order to learn from your mistakes you must be willing to let go of any attachments, expectations, or beliefs that don't serve your highest self.

This is undoubtedly the hardest step for most people to do, primarily because humans have a tendency to judge or label every single situation.

Instead you need to find a way to love yourself no matter who you are, who you were, what happened, what might happen, what should have happened, etc.

Always remember that when it comes to growth, it doesn't matter when, where, or how you start, the only thing that matters is you start.

When people realize the truth, beauty and simplicity of growing they even fall in love with their imperfections.

This symbolizes the first step on a never ending journey back-to-bliss as an unfinished masterpiece in the making.

After you've fallen completely in love with yourself you start to count both your wins and failures as growth opportunities.

You realize that you are always on purpose and that every moment offers the ability to increase knowledge and improve yourself.

What's even better about the whole process of growth is that you don't have to learn all the mistakes yourself.

The ability to learn from the mistakes of others is the magic bullet train to shortcut your fast track to success.

Do you have a support team such of mentors, heroes, coaches, mastermind groups, business partners?

Find people that hold the vision of your higher self for you at all times, eliminate naysayers and negative people at all costs.

This is your life to grow and you can choose who you want to enjoy that process with.

Asking yourself "How did I grow?" alone or in good company is the quickest path to a successful life.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will unveil the truth behind your behaviour and set you free from the invisible prison you might be living in.


THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"Am I willing to accept this set-point?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question before as many thoughts, feelings or activities as you can and you'll gain invaluable insight into your behaviour.


THE TIPS

You may or may not have heard the term "set-point" before, perhaps in the context concerning weight loss.

According to Merriams-Webster online dictionary a set-point is defined as: the level or point at which a variable physiological state (as body temperature or weight) tends to stabilize.

When you are young and still growing your weight increases accordingly, until you reach the point in which your weight stabilizes and tops out.

From this set-point you are likely to fluctuate up and down in small amounts say about 5-10lbs pounds.

Chances are high that you have been around the same weight for as long as you can remember right?

No matter how hard you consciously exercise and diet to achieve your "ideal" weight, your set-point regulates and governs your "actual" weight.

Your set-point should be the prime suspect for the yo-yo'ing because over time it will do whatever it takes to get back to its comfort zone.

Just like a thermostat in a house your set-point runs independent of the temperature outside, it only can regulate it inside.

So if you are in the middle of winter and turn your thermostat off, it has no idea that your house will be freezing, it's just listening to your command.

Similarly set-points don't always act in our best interest.

The nature of your set point is regulatory and isn't necessarily in-line with the natural growth instinct and ideals of your higher-self.

Therefore it is your set-point and not your higher-self that will attempt to foil even your most earnest efforts.

If you want to be warm in winter but your thermostat is shut off, then you'll probably freeze despite your best efforts to heat your house with matches, stove, gas, candles, hot water etc...

If left unchecked a set-point could keep you playing small, satisfied with the status quo and have you settle for a life of mediocrity.

So how do you end this vicious cycle of set-point self-sabotage?

For starters, by asking yourself, "Am I willing to accept this set-point?"

Nothing happens without reason, everything has an input and an output.

If you are not willing to accept your current set-point then you must be willing to change your cause.

You must be ready, willing and able to change your cause or input if you expect a different output or result.

Another question you might want to follow up with initially is "how has this set-point" contributed to bettering my being?

A set-point will either have a positive or a negative effect on your energy, vibrations and feelings.

Does the set-point reflect balance, harmony, truth, joy or moderation?

Does it feel happy, natural and in the flow?

Write down all the positive and negative outputs that have resulted from that set-point.

Once you have written them down take a look at your inputs and outputs and ask yourself "Am I willing to accept this set-point?"

One of the most empowering realizations that you can have is experiencing the fact that you actually can change your set-point.


THE SECRET

When it comes a set-point there are many more than just the one that influences your weight.

If you aren't sure if or how set-points affect you just take look in your physical world for clues.

Your set-point will tend to surface and show up in the physical world whenever energy and attention are added to the equation.

Your physical world reflects most of your set-points, although not every set-point will necessary surface or be easy to identify.

For example it is nearly impossible 100% accurately distinguish between an introvert and an extrovert based solely on exterior clues.

However, one thing that's for certain is behind each one of your behaviours is a set-point.

Your set-point controls and influences your choices based on your self-image and beliefs.

Do you continually measure your self, or self-image, against others?

Do you believe yourself to be inferior or superior to other people?

Neither efforts are beneficial because they are both merely illusions.

You cannot compare yourself to others because you cannot be them, it's like comparing the growth of an apple to an orange.

The most qualified person capable of being the very best person you can be is naturally only you.

Therefore the other measuring stick to truthfully hold yourself up to is against your higher self.

Ask yourself "Am I willing to accept this set-point?" in regards to living your highest vision.

Are you doing, creating, loving or behaving to the level in which you are truly capable?

Are you continually finding new ways to grow and become more like your higher-self?

Do you feel that when it comes to your life that you have a lot of choices and options?

Your choices and options are reflected by the amount of money and degree of freedom you experience.

If you don't feel you have a lot of money, freedom, options or choices then you probably aren't stretching your set-points regularly.

That's because the more that you raise and challenge your set-points the more options and choices you will earn as a result.

You are either conscious or subconscious in regards to each one of your set-points.

Only when you become consciously aware of an incompetency can you then strive to become more competent.

As you become more competent and confident in your set-points your performance will get better.

As you perform better over time you will become unconsciously competent of that specific task, technique, or trait.

Then you can free up your time and mental energy to focus on the next set-point of interest.

As you work through these set-points record them on paper or a journal, it will prove helpful later as a reference and reminder.

To start a new journey of inner growth and change ask yourself, "Am I willing to accept this set-point?"

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you transform yourself into the person that you always knew you would be.


THE CHALLENGE

Your Mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:
"Who am I becoming?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question as many opportunities you have this week and the promise is you will instill more pride, passion and purpose into your everyday living.


THE TIPS

First thing when you get up tomorrow morning ask yourself the question, "Who am I becoming?"

Relax and allow your mind to wonder freely while taking a few moments to ponder your answer.

When you picture your future self are you happy, proud or excited about the person that you are becoming?

As you reflect this question for some of you it may feel uncomfortable, you may feel the urge to pass judgement, or simply feel this is a question that doesn't seem to make any sense.

Some of you may not be able to answer the question, which is ok too, and if this is the case for you then it is important to realize that the asking the question itself is often more important than the answer.

"It's the question that drives us" --- Trinity (The Matrix, 1999)

We are all unique and the answers that each and every one of us comes up with will be different, however, as individuals there are a few things that we all share in common.

One such example is that regardless of what your race, height, weight, IQ, EQ, career, education, relationship or socio-economic status is we all have the same set amount of hours in a day to work with.

We each get 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute and each second passes by at a constant rate of one second per second, no matter what!

Therefore the person you are becoming is becoming so at a rate of one second per second every day.

You might be tempted to dismiss the power of each second, after all you might think to yourself "what good could possibly happen in one second"?

Like for instance who would want a one-second massage, one-second marriage or one-second shopping spree right?

However when you stop to really think about it, this second right now, not the second that just past, or the second from now, is really the ONLY second we EVER have.

Every second that passes is part of yesterday, the second that has "yet-to-come" will always belong to tomorrow.

The second known as "now" brings the gift of choice, and with it the power for any personal or life transformation.

This eternal second is shared by all, a gift, a present, the gift of the present moment.

When you ask yourself "Who am I becoming" do you notice that you are becoming someone who is increasingly friendly with, and passionate about the present moment?

Anything that you can ever do or anything that will ever be done to you will happen in the present moment.

The best way to give yourself the best chance of becoming a better you is to first learn how to stop looking at the old you as a reference point.

Your results today indicate your previous habits and your habits are a result of the accumulation of yesterday's choices.

The old you is a result of your old choices and decisions, and cannot be the result of the new choices and decisions that are available to you in this moment.

Even though you can see it with your own eyes, the old you is just an illusion, a fictional identity that only exists in our imagination.

It is fictional because we have the ability to change who we are, make our identities completely up, and start all over again if we want to.

No matter what type of person you think you were, no matter what your weight or age, and no matter what results you've gotten in the past you can use the moment that arrives in this second to become better.

Every second you have the opportunity to learn something about yourself, about other people and about life in general that can make the journey interesting and entertaining.

By choosing to learn about yourself, others and life you will inevitably become a better and brighter person.

The person who you want to be in the future can only become so if you choose to be that person now.

Every moment from now until your very last second you have the ability to choose to build a bigger future.

If you choose to do something new in the moment you set yourself up for something new and better in the next moment.

If you choose to do something that you've always done before, you will continue to get the same results you've gotten before.

Albert Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"

Become the new you by deciding today to invite the new you inside your head for a chat.

Then ask the new you the question "Who am I becoming?" and allow your ideal self to imagine what it would be like to triumphantly live your dream lifestyle.

Do you picture yourself as confident, competent and cool. Can you imagine how it feels to be a bold and brave adventurer?

Make it a goal to increase the amount of times you "visit" with the new you, even go as far as to write down the conversations you have with your higher self.

Delegate the new you to make the important choices in your life, decisions like whether or not to go to the gym, smoke a cigarette or invest in some new education.

Remember to celebrate any and all decisions made by the new you, regardless of the outcome.

When it comes time to make an important decision again, allow the new you to choose.

Let the new person with the experience of holding off even just that one cigarette answer the question "Who am I becoming?"

Life is constantly unfolding second-by-second, moment-by-moment and with it you are becoming the person of your choice, so remember to choose wisely.


THE SECRET

Even though your worth is priceless you must still proactively and persistently build yourself to increase your value.

What are you consciously creating that is helping to grow yourself, your valued skills and your service to others?

What are you doing on purpose right now that will cultivate you towards being the person you aspire to be?

Take a moment to ask yourself what you are deliberately doing today that is increasing your value?

One way to accelerate your success is to create an intention for the day, a conscious daily intention.

Choose either an affirmation that inspires and excites you or pick a personal declaration that you feel passionate about fulfilling.

An example of such an affirmation might be: "I am a strong communicator"

An example of a similar declaration could be: "I choose today to become the very best listener in all of my conversations"

Do you already keep a success journal to record all the things you are grateful for, and all the reasons you have to celebrate?

If so, a journal would be a great spot to also record your affirmations and your declarations.

Feel free to refine, evolve and tweak your affirmation and declaration statements until they accurately reflect the power behind your personal intentions.

How will you know when you are reading the "right" affirmation or declaration?

While there is no right or wrong answer, a good indication you are on to something is you feel a surge of energy, a rush of exhilaration, or even a nervous fear of excitement just from reading it.

Your job next is to take that powerful personal statement and read it over and over as many times as possible with the enthusiasm.

Read it first thing in the morning when you wake up. Read it last thing at night before you go to bed.

Try this assignment for at least one whole week and at the end of the week ask yourself "Who am I becoming?"

You have the power to become the person you always dreamed, figure out first who exactly that is and then put in the effort by choosing to be like that person now.

Take today's tip to heart and the total effort required will be less than you imagined and the reward you receive will be beyond your wildest dreams!

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will add energy and happiness to your life as quickly as you can apply it.


THE CHALLENGE

The Mindset challenge I am proposing this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"What am I tolerating?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question throughout the days of this week and the promise is that you will manifest what you do want faster, attract better situations and favored opportunities will arrive more freely.


THE TIPS

If you are ready to clean and clear out old stagnant energy that is holding you back and ready to move in fresh new energy to support you then you will want to read on carefully.

Today's tip is all about identifying and becoming aware of the things in your life that steal your energy.

The only way to build your own energy up is to first learn how to reserve and grow your own energy.

If everytime you encounter a situation you automatically react rather than respond than the situation is a toleration.

Take a moment to reflect over all major aspects of your life, areas such as your career & job, personal & spiritual fulfillment, family & relationships, health and wealth.

Look over these different parts of your life and remember to ask yourself the question, "What am I tolerating?"

As you find answers to this question you will likely begin to generate either feelings, be with the feelings and write your experience down in as much detail as possible.

Try to be kind to yourself and avoid the tendency to immediately place judgement on your situation.

Looking over sometimes sensitive areas of your life can make you feel both positive and negative, mixed feelings are common.

Identifying mixed feelings will also help you uncover areas of your life that you are tolerating.

Simply put, a toleration is the big and little things you put up with in your life without realizing how much they are costing you.

An example of a toleration could be the numerous sticky notes that might be plastered on your desk, in your day-timer or on your fridge.

Everytime you look at one of those post-it notes, whether you specifically read a message or not, you have expended some mental energy.

One might not think it's a big deal, but throughout the day this subliminal sign language steals your precious energy acting like a perpetual to-do timer.

Each time you walk by it interrupts the moment you were in to signal to your subconscious, here is a "to-do", and "look-at-this", "this could be important"!

You then have a choice to either re-read the message again for the x number of time, or choose to ignore the note until it catches your attention next.

Unaddressed post it notes, unfinished projects, unwanted interactions and even unspoken words can remain hidden in background of tolerations.

Then out of no where they seem to break up the moment you were in prior by taking your time and attention to re-address something you continue to not address.

Whenever a tolerations allows you to lose the moment you also lose energy and cannot gain "momentum".

If you want to build yourself up and become the person you know you are capable of then stop the vicious cycle of energy and attention spent unnecessarily.

Honestly, openly and seriously ask yourself "What am I tolerating?" and then be prepared to do some habit renovations.


THE SECRET

Not sure how to uncover your tolerations?

Take note of all your thoughts and feelings and be sure to record any ideas that come up for you during this exercise.

When you think about how you spend your time and what your day composes of where does your energy seem to soar skyward and where does your energy sink down?

For example an area of joy in my life is my love for long baths and hot morning showers, therefore just thinking about a bath or a shower could potentially add excitement to my day.

However, I've recently noticed that my energy can also sink down when thinking about showers when I recall the details of a particular water test I viewed.

This test demonstrated how the chlorine, a chemical used to treat the water, is pumped into the water system of the city I live in and is immediately subsequently sucked up by human skin.

Of course this demonstration didn't make me feel excited about showering anymore, in fact, I sometimes shudder at the thought of how much chemicals I've absorbed.

Bombarding chemicals into my body is not a positive feeling, yet it is a choice I must consciously make everytime I draw a bath or take a shower.

So for me a major area of joy in my life has now somehow become a dangerous deal and to solve the problem I must purchase a special water filter for my shower head.

Easy right? Easy minus the fact that cleaning and clearing tolerations can only be paid with the currency of time, attention, and work.

The only problem that most people find with putting in time, attention and work is actually putting in the time, attention and work.

Hence the reason tolerations exist in the first place, because they conveniently wouldn't correct or go away themselves.

Do you get caught up in simuliar situations that desperately require your time, attention and work?

Ask yourself "What am I tolerating?" and record all your answers in a master journal.

Day-by-day and one-by-one is the way to take time to tackle your tolerations, so be patient with yourself and positive with your progress.

Most importantly, remember to celebrate as you strike each one off your list!

Are you committed to becoming even incrementally better? If so, by taking your tolerations into full consideration you will quickly become exponentially better.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will revolutionize the way you see, act and feel about your day.


THE CHALLENGE

Your mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself: "Am I feeling joy?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question and you will uncover the roots of the problems that have been plaguing you and discover answers that will lead you to a life of pure bliss.


THE TIPS

Whenever you arrive at a fork in the road a great question to ask yourself is "Am I feeling joy?"

A fork in the road could be represented in your life as: making a decision, taking a course of action or choosing to be, think or feel a certain way.

Whenever you notice that you are at a crossroads ask yourself "Am I feeling joy" and then listen carefully for an answer.

Excitement and nervous energy are both excellent clues that you are following your joy.

If you aren't feeling enthusiastic, excited or even nervous about something than chances are likely that you won't put yourself fully into whatever situation demands your attention.

It is important to put your full attention into a situation because where your attention goes your energy flows and the results will show.

You reap what you sow and you get out what you put in, so if you were not happy enough to fully put yourself into a situation than why does it make sense that you would expect to be happy when you are finished?

If you put in an orange, a banana and an apple into a blender you wouldn't expect a chocolate milkshake would you?

It doesn't make sense to be upset at the fruit for not turning into chocolate right? Yet that is what we do when we go into a situation grumpy and ungrateful and expect it somehow to be magically transformed into an adventure of pure bliss.

Some people might feel overwhelmed at the realization that the same emotions that you put into a situation are primarily responsible for the type of energy and feeling you will get out of the situation. If this is you then you may take a while longer to deal with your new found responsibility.

But you don't need to make things unnecessarily overcomplicated for yourself by trying to look for, identify and manage a dozen emotions. The feeling you are looking for can be answered in one question: "Am I feeling joy?"

If you are not feeling joy in this moment then there is not a problem with the circumstance because circumstances are neutral, rather there is likely a problem with your internal joy meter.

A circumstance like someone breaking their arm seems to be a 'bad' scenario if you are the one who broke it, however, if you are the Doctor's office that is employed when circumstances like this happen, then the event would be viewed as 'good'.

Since this is the same event it cannot have both mutually exclusive feelings attached, unless the emotions that are generated are only subjective, meaning that only the person experiencing, not the actual experience, produces the feeling.

How can you change your beliefs about a situation in a way that allows you to be happy?

A master of their emotions allows them self to embrace every situation and find a way to accommodate the change or circumstance rather than resist the current.

Accepting and allowing joy in any situation is a sign that someone didn't get caught up in the current of emotion and is capable of going with the flow.


THE SECRET

Your joy meter is the automatic feeling of exhilaration when you are doing something you love.

Other questions to stimulate your thinking could be "How could I be feeling joy in this moment?" and additionally, "In what ways could I be feeling more joy?"

If you aren't quite sure how to tell if you are doing something that you love you can always learn to follow your fear or chase your goosebumps.

The goosebumps that can stand up on your skin even when you are merely discussing a idea that has your full attention is a great indicator that you are following a passion.

Alternatively, while most people associate fear as a bad thing, it can also be used in a more positive and productive way by indicating your feelings about a situation.

Just because you are nervous and anxious doesn't mean that you will fail and are not meant to succeed. Fear is just a way of telling us that the circumstances in front of us are important.

Successful people feel the same fear that unsuccessful people do, sometimes even stronger and yet they still manage to go through with it anyway.

When you are enjoying yourself you are living fully and completely in the moment, your face is lit up with a jubilant smile and, you are likely to lose track of time. If more people lived this lifestyle we would not have the mental pollution and poverty that plagues us today.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you appreciate yourself more, attract healthier relationships and be an overall better person.


THE CHALLENGE

Your mindset challenge this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself: "Would you date yourself?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question and you will gain a more accurate reflection of yourself and a better understanding of your fears.

Next time that you have a few minutes alone to think ask yourself "Would I date myself?"

You might be wondering the relevance of this question if you already have a significant other but, regardless of relationship status, a careful consideration of this question can provide insight into what you contribute to your relationships.

If you answered "Yes" that you would date yourself, then the next question is why? What kind of reasons came to mind that make yourself a worthy prize?

When taking a personal inventory the answers you learn might even surprise you!

Could you fall in love with yourself? What traits of yours are you most proud? Are you a constant source of support? What about your communication skills? Are you always finding good things to comment about your significant other?

Do you find yourself thinking "I wish my partner..." or "If only my significant other...."? If so, these might be the best signs that you need to look in the mirror first.

"What would you change/improve if you were dating yourself?" "What specifically do you love about yourself?" If you aren't excited about dating yourself then how do you expect anybody else to be?

It is important to note that your partner or significant other must also agree with your self-assessment. If you think you are the worlds best communicator and your partner thinks otherwise, then any adjustments made would be based on a false assessment and thus likely prove counter-productive.

A relationship should for the most part be 50/50 in terms of contribution. What strengths do you contribute? Do they equal your share of the 50%? How do the strengths that you identified help make the relationship strong in your partners opinion?

Use what you've learned from this exercise to build on your strengths and identify any areas where you might have the opportunity to provide more value in your relationships.


THE SECRET

Looking at yourself through an open and honest mirror requires courage and willingness to see yourself objectively in a new way.

It is the mark of a true leader to be able to acknowledge their shortcomings and build upon the strengths that they recognized for.

If for some reason you cannot uncover any areas of improvement for yourself then look at the areas of resistance, friction and conflict in your relationships.

In what situations do you feel most uncomfortable? Pay attention to your discomfort because there is always a hidden gift within.

Your discomfort often shows you the areas in your life that you should review and revise any belief systems that no longer continue to serve you.

"What do you need to improve within yourself so that you become a more effective attractor of your desired results?"

Put yourself in the other persons shoes, see things from their perspective and appreciate the gift of awareness as an opportunity to be the change you want to see in the world.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help you live with more focus, joy and gratitude.


THE CHALLENGE

The Mindset challenge I am proposing this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"In this moment, what is most important for my success?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question before every activity or challenge you come across this week and the promise is that you will be clearer about your actions and inspired to do more with your life.


THE TIPS

Before you get out of bed tomorrow, lay there awake and ask yourself "In this moment, what is most important for my success?"

There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to this question, only an answer that will either move you closer toward or further away from your goals and dreams.

If you want to supercharge your successes and activate the Law of Attraction to bring you more positive results then the default answer to this question could be..."feeling gratitude".

Being in a state of gratitude is always the best action in every moment because the feeling of being appreciative for your life will automatically attract more to be thankful for.

What can you be thankful for as you ask yourself this question?

Regardless of whatever it is that you are grateful for make sure that the rest of your daily actions are also guided by that question and aligned with that feeling.

After you have grounded your day in gratitude then ask yourself the same question as you make your way out of bed, ""In this moment, what is most important for my success?"

Keep asking yourself the question as often as you can to guide you closer toward your dreams and to make sure that those dreams come true, be sure to book some personal "you" time.

The first hour of your day is an ideal time to give yourself some quality time alone.

"In this moment, what is most important for my success?"

Some ideas that you can utilize this hour with are: visualize the goals and dreams that are important to you, look at a vision board, affirm positive intentions, read a book, meditate in stillness, or quietly review your long-term goals.

Take this time to set the tone of your day, ensure that you are focused on your goals and to help amplify the Law of Attraction to bring you what you do desire.


THE SECRET

Ideally the earlier in your day you make time for yourself the better, however you are not limited to specifically utilizing the morning.

Experiment making quality time for yourself in the afternoon or during the evening before you go to bed. Find out the best time to activate your peak mental and physical state.

To speed up the time lag between your dreams and your results you should find the time to do this exercise twice a day.

Also, if 60 minutes seems too long or you don't feel that you have time in your day then try starting with personal time of 15 minutes. Gradually increase your time to 30 minutes, 45 minutes and then to an hour.

Thinking that you do not have time to slow down and find out what is most important for you in each moment is admitting that you would rather continue to be blinded by your behaviour then to be motivated by your mindset.

It is only an illusion that you can continue to do what you are doing and get what you want.

To get what you want you must do what you've never done, otherwise if you have already done it you would have already had it.

Most people do not develop the habit of putting their dreams and goals in front of them and then they wonder why nothing ever happens.

Skipping your personal quality time is like skipping breakfast and wondering why you don't have any energy. It seems silly to wonder why if you haven't had any food right?

Similarly it doesn't make sense to think it is strange or mysterious that you don't have the results you desire in life without first finding the time to make the important goals an important part of your every day.

Ask yourself the question "In this moment, what is most important for my success?" to help keep you on track.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will get more serious about having fun in the game of life.


THE CHALLENGE

The Mindset challenge I am proposing this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"What would you trade for $50,000?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question after every activity or challenge you do every day this week and the promise is that you will be well on the way to discovering your purpose and living your passion.


THE TIPS

When you wake up tomorrow, ask yourself the $50,000 dollar question: "What would I trade for $50,000?" and see what kind of answers your mind comes up with.

First off your mind will typically try to determine the value of the offer in question... In this case how much is $50,000 worth to you?

Your mind may or may not think that $50,000 is a lot of money depending on your background and how much money you earn a year.

For example, if you earned a million dollars a year then $50,000 may seem like a little less money than to a person who earned $20,000 a year.

However, when determining what to trade for the $50,000 your mind will come up with logical answers, such as you are willing to trade any monetary amount under $49,900.

Why not trade $49,900 for $50,000 if you can make a profit off $100 right?

In fact it makes dollars and sense to trade money for money as long as you make money right?

But what about when it comes to trading $50,000 in exchange for non-monetary items?

What personal belongings of yours would you trade for $50,000?

Would you trade your eye-sight in for $50,000? What about an arm or a leg?

How about just a thumb or your big toe?

If you are like most people you probably realize that it doesn't make much sense to trade ANYTHING of yours for $50,000, especially a body part that you use often.

If you wouldn't trade $50,000 for any body part of yours then ask yourself this question...

"What would you trade for your life?"

You may agree that what your life is worth cannot be replaced in monetary terms, in fact there is no amount of money that can replace the value of your life because it is priceless.

So why have you been asking yourself this seemingly straightforward question?

Because what you have done with your yesterdays and what you plan to do tomorrow is exactly what you have been trading your life for.

Since you began your first job, entered your first relationship and accepted your first agreement you have been trading your time in for the wages and emotional returns that you have received.

Have you been trading your life in for $50,000 per year? $500,000 per year? How about a few million dollars every year?

It isn't your yearly revenue that is important but the reflection of happiness, joy, excitement and wonder that the way you spend your time brings back to you.

It is senseless to trade the priceless emotions of your life for any amount of money which is why it is so important to align your heart with your mind and follow your passion's in life.


THE SECRET

To gain more instant insight into your attitudes, behaviours and habits ask yourself...

"What am I trading for life right now?"

Look at your results, your lifestyle, your behaviour, your relationships, your finances, your investments and your risks.

Be honest with yourself... is this how you pictured life could be? Are you excited to trade your time in today for exactly what you are doing with it?

If you had one day to live, would you continue to do what you were going to do today? Would you continue to do the same thing you plan to do this week, this month or this year?

When you realize what you have been trading for your life next ask yourself, "is it worth it?"

If it is worth it keep doing what you are doing and know you can now act with added confidence that you are doing what you enjoy and love.

If it is not worth it, stop and ask yourself, "what would I rather be doing with my life?" and then immediately resolve to work towards making that the guiding force in your life.

Do what you love and love what you do and stop treating time like its worth what you paid for it.

We may not get to choose how long we get to stay as tourists on this shiny blue planet but we have every say as to how we choose to enjoy our visit.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help sky-rocket your confidence and success.


THE CHALLENGE

The Mindset challenge I am proposing this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"What did I learn?" or said differently, "How did I grow?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question after every activity or challenge you do every day this week and the promise is that you will gain insight, build self-esteem and celebrate more wins in the game of life!


THE TIPS

Self-talk is the name for the dialogue that all of us hear talking inside of our heads.

The voices can sometimes be encouraging in nature, however for most people their self-talk seems to be a negative chatter.

Some people call this negative chatter the "mono loco" or crazy monkey inside their head. Other people have used the analogy of an "Angel" and a "Devil" on your shoulder, whispering "good" or "bad" things into your ear.

How often do you recall hearing these voices? For most of us it is all of the time.

You will usually hear the voice try and stop you before you start a job, while you are working on the task and even when you have completed the work.

The voice will sound like fear, doubt and uncertainty which if listened to will leave you feeling weak, afraid and powerless.

The voice tends to take away our personal power from the situation, it will tell you what is missing and what you could have done differently instead to make it better.

The crazy monkey is never satisfied and it usually looks for perfection.

Winning first place, breaking new ground, shattering new personal records and undertaking new adventures do not matter to the crazy monkey. The mono-loco wants you to fail so it can remain safe and unchanged inside of you.

Listening to the monkey's self-talk will leave you weak, tired, frustrated and feeling like a failure no matter if you just finished winning a Gold in the Olympics.

Next time when the monkey comes to chat regarding your experiences, ask yourself today's question... "What did I learn?" or "How did I grow?" and it will help you find the "wins" in your world.

Finding and celebrating the small victories helps ensure you are focused on the elements of an experience that will allow you to grow.

Even if the only thing you figure you have found out is a new way of doing something "wrong" then asking yourself today's question will help find a way to reframe the situation so that you feel good about it.

The more you ask yourself these questions the more you will develop a mental database of memories in which you are a winner.

The more instances and examples you have in the back of your mind where you learned something the more you will feel like you are growing with each new experience.

Self-esteem is basically how you like, trust and respect yourself, and in life the more you build a base of learning and growth the more you feel confident to handle new situations.


THE SECRET

The secret to instilling today's habit to build a life of confidence and adventure is by keeping track of your progress.

You can keep track of your progress many different ways such as:

Writing it online such as a web blog or video blog. Keeping track by e-mailing yourself or recording a video to your blog whenever you come across a win.

Do you carry a cell phone with you most of the time? Why not try to text message yourself notes as they happen? You could also use the "notes" feature that is found in most mobiles.

You can also use good old fashion sticky notes or can create a special "winners" journal for yourself to record all your victories.

Feel free to experiment to find the method and combination of tools that work best for you.

Your job is to log all instances of winning and answers to the questions so that you will have a diary or record of your achievements.

If you ever feel like a loser all you need to do is revisit your journal for a whole history of wins.

After asking yourself the questions and recording the answers your final job is to party!

Celebrate your growth along every step of the way because your growing should be the adventure of your lifetime not the destination.

Monday Motivating Mindset

THE HYPE

This weeks Motivating Mindset will help put an end to the spring cleaning fever and welcome in fun under the summer sun.

THE CHALLENGE

The Mindset challenge I am proposing this week is getting in the habit of asking yourself:

"Do I love this?" or asked differently, "Does this _____ support me right now in feeling great?"


THE PROMISE

Ask yourself this question every chance you get every day this week and the promise is that you will live more freely with less headaches and hassles, and be ripe and ready for opportunity.


THE TIPS

If you want to create a new habit, a new life or a new belief a great tool to assist that change is to first change your surroundings and environment.

You don't need to throw away everything and start over again, the idea is to use this weeks questions "Do I love this?" and "Does this ______ support me right now in feeling great?" as you check and double check for any "clutter" in your environment that can be removed.

Clutter represents items on the still-to-do list, tolerances and unconscious agreements we have made with our self.

Clutter zaps our emotional energy, our creative juices and takes up needed space.

When you clear the space for new things the universe works like a vacuum to fill it.

Clearing clutter will help make new room for new relationships with work, money and can even help you attract a dream mate if you so desire.

Be sure to check the bathroom, kitchen and your office for clutter as well.

When you look in the environments where you spend your time every day, do they reflect what is most important?

If it doesn't excite you anymore, or you don't adore it like you used to then perhaps it is time to have this move on from your life.

This could mean a new job or relationship, but I am proposing a smaller start to your de-cluttering days.

Check your closet, the number one culprit of clutter and confusion.

Provide people that would love your wardrobe a chance to get some free demos before sending them to the consignment shop, or provide a donation to your thrift store.

Clearing out the proverbial closet will make you feel good.

Making good use of your clutter will make you feel even better.

The new clothes, relationships, money that will come into your life as a result will make you feel the best!


THE SECRET

Have you de-cluttered your bedroom?

The bedroom is one of the most powerful influences on your subconscious and affects your sleep more than you probably realize.

Make sure your bedroom helps bring your mind to a peaceful, relaxing, or joyful state.

Avoid crazy colors that play on your emotions every time you experience them.

Check for symbols of what you are NOT seeking, be sure they are NOT represented anywhere.

Immediately remove any symbols of low worth, dis-organization and toleration you have around.

Surround yourself with symbols of what you most want more of.

Seeking friends? Try hanging pictures of the ones you are already thankful for.

Seeking love, surround yourself with items from your imagination that you adore.

Who is your best friend?

Who is your best friend?

What kind of relationship do you and your best friend have together?

Feeling stuck in your current relationship but want to work it out? Perhaps you just want to take your relationship to the next level? Living by the following 3 keys, will help you fully enjoy the benefits of having a best friend.

1. Pay attention to what you say to your best friend

2. Pay attention to what your best friend is saying

3. Give your best friend unconditional love

Here's the twist...

All successful people have the SAME best friend!

You know it now right? YOU!

If you didn't answer yourself that is ok, we are sure you meant to anyway.

Well now that the secrets out of the bag, does it change any of your answers?

Re-read the top 3 keys and put 'yourself' as the best friend in question.

Love ya! You're the best!

Are You Well-Versed In Positive Self Talk?

This might come as a bit of a surprise but what you project forth into the world reflects back.

If you express love, you will receive love. Be respectable and gain respect. By becoming aware of our own internal dialogue or “self-talk” we gain choice. Choice over what we want to see in the world, choice over what we want to manifest in our reality. This is because our inner world creates the outer circumstance and events that we experience, only allowing an expression that is consistent with our inner most thoughts and beliefs.

Every time we possess a thought – of any kind- we have chosen it. If we chose to think negatively, to roll in garbage, to not monitor our mental thoughts – then we have chosen to be a product of bad thinking. Holding onto a thought is a choice, just like it’s our choice to insert a new one.

Like the original water that overflows because it’s being displaced from its container, the human mind can only hold one thought at a time. (Although we believe it holds more because it functions so rapidly). Therefore we displace the unsupportive thought in the conscious mind with a productive or positive affirmation. We can change our life by monitoring and improving the quality of our thoughts.

Become aware of the silent conversation you have with yourself. Listen to your self-talk, that is, what you are saying to yourself inside your head.


Are you a nurturing coach or a alarming critic?

Do you reinforce your own success or negate it?

Does your internal dialogue help grow your results or shrink your potential?

Do your thoughts magnetize or de-magnetize your ability to attract success?

If you find yourself using the "b" words in the first column, try substituting the "a" words instead:

Negative Self Talk Positive Self Talk
b. What if I try and fail? a. This will work for me!

b. This is difficult… a. Challenges are made to overcome!

b. I can’t do that… a. I’ll do that and to the best of my ability!

b. If only I were… a. Because I am smart I will do this

b. Why does this always happen? a. Good things always happen to me

b. I never get anything right… a. I always have what I need when I need it

b. I’m stuck in this rut… a. Now is a great time to get in the groove!

b. I’m such a screw-up a. Mistakes or only human and I like myself

b. I wish I had that… a. I have everything I need and more is on its way!

b. There goes another mistake… a. Things always work out for the best

b. I’ll never get there… a. I am reaching towards my inner most goals

b. I am cursed a. I am blessed

b. He’ll / She’ll never change a. I will change me today

b. Nobody cares as much as I do a. I want to do my best

b. I can’t lose weight a. I can eat healthier

b. My boss ignores me a. I will strive for excellence

b. Why don’t I ever get a break? a. I am not a helpless victim

b. I have no time to exercise a. I will make time to exercise

b. I’ll never get out of debt a. I take small steps each day towards my financial goals

b. He / She never listens a. I need to better understand him/her

b. My kids don’t respect me a. I will work to become a more effective parent

Hopefully these positive affirmations will give you some verbal ammo the next time stinkin' thinking gets a hold of your mind. Try them out, you'll be surprised at the immediate difference you will feel about the situation. If you have a powerful affirmation you would like to share with others, e-mail me at: successsensei@hotmail.com

Onwards, Upwards, and Forwards!

Six Behaviors that Increase Self-Esteem

Six Behaviors that Increase Self-Esteem by Denis Waitley
(excerpted from The Psychology of Motivation)

Following are six behaviors that increase self-esteem, enhance your self-confidence, and spur your motivation. You may recognize some of them as things you naturally do in your interactions with other people. But if you don't, I suggest you motivate yourself to take some of these important steps immediately.

First, greet others with a smile and look them directly in the eye. A smile and direct eye contact convey confidence born of self-respect. In the same way, answer the phone pleasantly whether at work or at home, and when placing a call, give your name before asking to speak to the party you want to reach. Leading with your name underscores that a person with self-respect is making the call.

Second, always show real appreciation for a gift or complement. Don't downplay or sidestep expressions of affection or honor from others. The ability to accept or receive is a universal mark of an individual with solid self-esteem.

Third, don't brag. It's almost a paradox that genuine modesty is actually part of the capacity to gracefully receive compliments. People who brag about their own exploits or demand special attention are simply trying to build themselves up in the eyes of others — and that's because they don´t perceive themselves as already worthy of respect.

Fourth, don't make your problems the centerpiece of your conversation. Talk positively about your life and the progress you're trying to make. Be aware of any negative thinking, and take notice of how often you complain. When you hear yourself criticize someone — and this includes self-criticism — find a way to be helpful instead of critical.

Fifth, respond to difficult times or depressing moments by increasing your level of productive activity. When your self-esteem is being challenged, don't sit around and fall victim to "paralysis by analysis." The late Malcolm Forbes said, "Vehicles in motion use their generators to charge
their own batteries. Unless you happen to be a golf cart, you can't recharge your battery when you´re parked in the garage!"

Sixth, choose to see mistakes and rejections as opportunities to learn. View a failure as the conclusion of one performance, not the end of your entire career. Own up to your shortcomings, but refuse to see yourself as a failure. A failure may be something you have done — and it may even be something you'll have to do again on the way to success — but a failure is definitely not something you are.