The Mayonnaise Jar and the 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in
a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of
coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front
of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and
empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then
asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar.  He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of
course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar
was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty
space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the
important things --God, your family, your children, your health, your
friends and your favourite passions--and if everything else was lost and
only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the
other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is
everything else--the small stuff." "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the
things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play
with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse
out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house
and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first--the things that
really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee
represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes
toshow you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a
couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Call your friends now!!

THE TWO CORE FEARS AND THE FEAR OF SUCCESS by Lisa Jimenez, M. Ed

Fear of commitment, fear of responsibility, fear of loss, and fear of confrontation are all symptoms of the two core fears. All of these surface fears fall into two categories which are the core fears: Fear of Failure and Fear of Success.

If you experience fear of commitment, responsibility, growing up, or change, your core fear is the fear of success. If most of your anxiety comes from fear of rejection, confrontation, or not measuring up, your core fear is the fear of failure.

Let's talk today about the fear of success. The fear of succeeding and then having to maintain that success can be daunting. The fear of success is the most powerful fear over most people because it relates directly to the three inborn fears we talked about the other day. Fear of falling, fear of loud noises, and fear of abandonment.

The fear of falling represents the belief that once you've achieved success; there's no place to go but down.

The fear of loud noises correlates to sudden change. Perhaps you've been working toward something for months, and then, over night it seems, something comes through and suddenly you are successful.

The fear of abandonment is very real to a person on the journey of success. You might lose friends when you become successful. They might be jealous of your success, view you as arrogant, or feel that you just don't fit in to the "old group" anymore. We have sayings like, "It's lonely at the top," and your inborn fear of abandonment is challenged.

These three fears are inborn and naturally reoccur from time to time. You can counter them by replacing them with truth. Discover your truth about what success means to you and live your life based on these truths. Then you will silence these inborn fears and conquer the dream busters.

Face Your Fear of Success

"Helping people breakthrough hidden fears and self-limiting beliefs to live a more outrageous, faith-filled life."

Conquer your hidden fears of prospecting and create an unstoppable mindset!

How to Attract Love Through Affirmations -- Jeff Staniforth

==============================
Love is that ethereal experience that makes us feel
completely alive. where every sense is heightened, every
emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is transcended,
and life seems worthwhile. Love is the ultimate nourishment
of the soul.

It is said that the entire array of human needs is rooted in
our need for love. Our yearning for fame, fortune and
material things all boil down to our need to be
acknowledged, respected, admired - and above all, loved.

No truer words have been said than those that George Sand
wrote:
"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved."

The good news is, you can develop the skill to live a full
and joyful life, enhanced by love -- and experience all the
profound manifestations that love brings. Employing
positive, loving affirmations will help you develop that
skill.

Following are loving affirmations you can use to attract,
embody, give, receive and reap the rewards of love. As I've
mentioned in the previous issue of this newsletter, choose
the affirmations that feel appropriate to you -- those that
resonate with you, or strike an emotional chord. It is
important that the words feel comfortable to you and are in
line with who you are. Feel free to create one for your
specific need by substituting other words that have special
meaning to you:

* I am a radiant being filled with light and love.
* I love and accept myself exactly as I am.
* I now express love to all those I meet.
* I am a radiating center of divine love.
* Divine love is working through me now.
* I bathe in the unconditional love of my Creator, and it
radiates from me at all times.
* I love myself completely.
* Love comes to me easily and effortlessly.
* I give and receive love easily and joyfully.
* Others love me easily and joyfully.
* I now feel loved and appreciated by my parents, my friends.
* I express my love freely, knowing that as I give love, I
am instantly supplied with more.
* I radiate love to all persons and places and things.
* People are just waiting to love me, and I allow them.
* I breathe in universal love, and it radiates through every
cell in my body.
* I attract loving, beautiful people into my life.
* I always deserve love.
* I am attracting loving relationships into my life.
* I project love to everyone I meet.
* I love and approve of myself.

The last affirmation in the above list, "I love and approve
of myself," is one that Louise Hay (healer, minister, and
author of "Heal Your Body" and many other life-transforming
books) recommends.

============================================================

"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by
learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

- Sam Keane, "To Love and Be Loved"

ARE YOU IN IT - TO WIN IT? by Chris Widener

Have you ever heard this? "It isn't whether you win or lose. It is how you play the game." I am sure you have. But do you know who said it? Some guy who came in second place!

You see, I have a problem with that statement. It presupposes, or at least strongly suggests that winning and playing the game "right" are mutually exclusive propositions. Perhaps we ought to have this as our goal as we pursue success: We want to win, while playing the game right! I totally disagree with the statement that we should win at all costs. Instead, we should do everything good that we can to win at this game we call life. And we ought also do all that we can to help others win.

With all of that...here are some thoughts on being in the game - to win!

Any "game" worth playing is a game worth pursuing a win in. If I get into a game, I play to win. What nobility is there is playing like a slacker? What virtue is purposeful mediocrity? None! I live my life to be a winner - Spiritually, financially, physically, emotionally, relationally - every area of my life! If it is worth doing, it is worth playing for the win!

It is good to win. We live in an age now where people have reacted to sore winners by saying that we shouldn't strive for winning. Many of our schools have abandoned the idea of competition, and our educational scores show that. Kudos to all of the teachers out there who still tell their kids that they can be winners! It is good and noble to win! It is something to strive for. It is good to push ourselves, to stretch and reach for victory. It is a grand thing to want to win!

There doesn't have to be a loser in life. Yes, in teamed competition, there are always losers (but more on that in a bit), but in life, you can all win! We can all strive for the best and give it our all to win. 

Winners are the ones who move families, businesses, organizations, cities and countries ahead. Winners are the ones who push progress. You don't think that couch potato is the one who will cure cancer or open up the next great technology do you? No - it will be a person who has chosen to be a winner!

Losing can mean winning. Just because your score in a game or contest is the least at the end of the game doesn't mean all is lost. You can still be a winner in that you gave it your all, you competed at your highest level, you learned new skills and strategies, and you became a better player and person. That is winning in my book!

Winners help others win. That is right, good people, people who pursue winning by excellence, are also people who stop to help others so that they, too, can enjoy the spoils of victory. Pursue the win, but help others achieve all that they can as well! Winners make everyone better. When I get into athletic matches I want to play against the best. Yes, I may come up short in the score, but I will be better because that winner will make me grow in every area of my game! Winners stretch the losers so they can become winners too!

Questions for reflection:

Are you afraid of winning?
Do you think it is wrong to win?
Are you living each area of your life as though you are a winner?
Are you enjoying your wins?
Are you helping others win with you?

Friends, we need to be in the game of life full force! We need to be in it, and we need to be in it to win it!

Make People Do What You Want Then To Do !

How to Influence People and Win Them Over

You will never to be able to control people, but you will be able to let people control themselves in ways that benefit you. If you tell people what to do, they may not listen to you and will probably resent you. You must get people to do what they want to do, while you influence their control over themselves. This report will show you how to do that.

There are two ways to get people to do what you want. The first, behavior modification, allows you to change a person's undesirable behaviors using positive reinforcement. The second method of influencing is reality modification, and we'll concentrate most of our attention on this. This influencing technique is successful because of the way in which your requests are presented. In this report, I will show you how to get anything. The secret to getting what you want is the way you go about getting it.

KNOW WHAT PEOPLE NEED
There are three main goals people subconsciously seek. They are:

1. Symbolic rewards 2. Material gains 3. Security

SYMBOLIC REWARDS: We all have the need for symbolic rewards, such as recognition and praise. Everybody wants to feel important and special. The act of praising and recognizing another is a strong motivator. Always reward good deeds with praise, and give positive, constructive criticism for bad deeds. If you are patient, in time you will see the results of your compliments.

MATERIAL REWARDS: Material rewards mean a lot to people, whether they realize it or not. In any capitalist society, a person's status is judged by his material gains. Therefore, since money produces material gain, it is a strong motivator, and its presence can have a strong influence on others.

SECURITY: Everyone needs security and stability. Security is attained when people feel they belong and are needed by others. People want security in their jobs, friends, family, etc. There are many ways to increase other people's feelings of security:

a) Let people know what you have to offer and what you expect from them in return. Tell them why the relationship you have with them is the way it is.

b) Make people feel that they are needed and belong in the relationship with you. Show a need for their presence.

c) Let others know what their efforts are accomplishing and how they are affecting you. Make them feel important and special to you. Show them that their efforts are appreciated.

d) Make sure that parties in the relationship are compatible

HOW TO WIELD MORE INFLUENCE
Know What You Want: Have a clear idea in your mind about what to achieve, whether it be changing another person's undesirable behaviors or persuading him to accept your point of view. Fix this idea of what you want to achieve firmly in your mind. Know exactly what you want, and clarify any vague objectives you may have. Clarity of personal purpose is the first step to putting your influencing abilities to work.

Understand Expectations: Have a clear understanding of what others expect of you and what you actually expect of yourself. People often set unrealistic expectations for themselves by gathering up all of the good qualities they see in others, and trying to have them all within themselves. No one expects you to be perfect.

Be Persistent: Resolve to do everything better and be persistent until you attain the results you've been trying to achieve. Anything worth doing once is worth doing again and again. Don't let rejection or any other negative experience stop you. Learn from mistakes, better yourself, and keep on going.

You Must Give in Order to Receive: The old cliche, "there' no such thing as free lunch," is fact of life. If you want to receive something, learn to pay for it. Some things may have higher prices than others, and some things may have a higher value to you than others. Examine your options carefully and match what you can give with what you want to receive.

Pay Attention To People: People will help you get where you want to go. It will never be easy for you to make it alone. People can teach you and help you become more influential with others. Listen to other people and learn from them.

Expect A Lot: When you expect a lot, you can get a lot. Your expectations of others and yourself will become reality. Whatever you expect to happen will happen. If you push yourself hard, you will start to see results.

Build A Positive Atmosphere: When you create a "win, win, win" situation, you will start to win. When you start to think positively, your life will start to be positive.

Promise A Lot, Deliver More: Promise people a lot, and then give them more. This is the way the highest achievers have made it. Tell people what you will do for them, and then do more.

Give People What They Want: If you want things from others, you must first give. Don't expect others to make the first move - you have to. If you want to get ahead in life and be successful, you must make the first move. Everybody has certain goals and objectives they wish to achieve. If you can help them reach their goals and objectives, they will want to return the favor. Give people what they want and you will always be ahead.

HOW LISTENING HELPS YOU CONTROL OTHERS
Listening is one of the most important necessities of human communication. If you don't listen to people, you are missing out on one of the best ways to influence people. People will always listen to you when you listen to them. One of the greatest influencing tools is listening. When you listen to what's on a person's mind, you will find that communication barriers are broken. Even if you think you know what they are going to say, listen to them. If you are a bad listener, people will think that you are not interested in them. People will like you if listen to them. How do you feel about people who listen to what you have to say? Isn't your admiration for them high? Others will feel the same way about you.

Eliminate All Distractions: Distractions inhibit good talkers and listeners. It is important that you remove all distractions when listening to another person. You want to create a very warm and comfortable atmosphere for the talker.

What Questioning Will Do: Questions we ask people arouse their thinking processes. When you arouse people's think processes, you give them the chance to express their own ideas and feelings. The only way you will find out what you want to know about another is by asking questions. If you are able to help people think on their own they will respect you and like you. You have been able to do something for them that they were not able to do for themselves. By listening to others, you also fulfill their need to feel important. Through your concern, they feel special.

Keep The Conversation Open: In order to listen, you must keep the conversation open. Some people won't tell you everything on their minds, so you may have to question them to keep the conversation going. All of your questions should relate to who, what, why, where, when and how.

What Questions Do You Ask?: The questions you ask must have a specific purpose. If they don't, you will lose credibility. You must ask questions the person understands. Don't confuse other people by asking complicated questions, such as questions with many parts. Ask them one part of a question at a time. Try to get others to tell you "why." "Why" is one of the best questions to ask people. The reason for asking people questions is to get definite answers. Your questions should prompt definite answers, and they should discourage others from guessing at the answers. The therapeutic value of questioning is lost when people guess at answers.

How To Resolve An Argument By Listening: I have solved many arguments just by listening. It may be hard to believe, but it really works. It works when someone is trying to get his point across to you, and when he is yelling and telling you how right he is. Even if the argument is meaningless, here is how to deal with the situation so that you come out on top.

The first thing you should do is listen to what the person has to say without once interrupting. This is where your listening skill will come in handy. You should say "yes" or "I understand" occasionally to show the other person that you are really listening. It is important that you agree with the other person's point of view. If you don't think the other person is right, you must at least let the other person know that you understand his point of view. When the other person is finished saying what he had to say, ask him, "what can I do for you?' This statement throws many people off because they don't expect it. You will find, after using this technique, that most people give in to your point of view. The reason for this is that all people really want is for someone to listen to them.

HOW TO GET ACTION BY TALKING
It is very important to listen to what other people have to say. Its is also important for others to listen to what you have to say. This chapter will teach you how to create the most impact from what you say.

Get The Other Person's Attention: The first thing you must do when trying to make a point is to get the other person's attention. Make sure the other person is listening to you before you begin talking. If the other person is not listening to you, then you are wasting your time trying to get through to him.

Make Your Message Understood: Make sure your message can be fully understood by the others person. Don't use language or terms the other person will not understand.

Fill Your Message With Benefits: People want to hear what you will do for them, not what you want from them. Fill your message with benefits. The following two sentences show how this concept works. "I can show you how to be a better person if you listen to me" is much more appealing than. "Listen to me because I am smarter than you."

Begin Discussions With Agreements: When you begin a conversation, open with something about which you have a mutual understanding and on which both of you can agree. Here is an example of this concept: IF you want someone to turn the lights off when not in use, you should not say, "keep the lights off, you *@$!!"; instead, you should say "We both want to conserve energy, don't we? So could you please turn off the lights when you leave the room?"

Give Reasons For Your Requests: Don't tell someone to do something just because you want him to, or because it is a policy or rule. Give him a reason to listen to you. If you ask someone to follow a policy or rule, tell him why you expect him to follow it. Don't just tell someone to do something - give him a benefit-oriented reason for doing it.

HOW TO PERSUADE PEOPLE THROUGH PERSISTENCE
If you are persistent, you will eventually get what you want. The reason for this is that it easier for people to give in to you than to continue resisting you. If you keep asking for something, within reason, you will get what you want. Children are experts at this. The following are steps you must take to use persistence effectively:

Use A Direct Statement: In a direct statement, calmly tell the other person what you want. Here are some examples: "I want to..."; "tell me..."; "show me..."

Repeat Your Request: Repeat your request over and over to the person until you get what you want or a reasonable compromise. Don't let the other person distract you with excuses or accusations. Keep repeating your request no matter what the other person says.

Don't Lose Your Temper: You must be calm and collected at all times during your request. No matter what the other person says or does, always be calm and pleasant.

Get The Other Person To Make a Commitment: The other person may give you a vague answer to meet your demand, such as, "We'll see," "soon," "Maybe," etc. If you get a vague answer, push for a commitment to an exact date.

Fulfilling The Commitment: Make sure the person who has made a commitment to you does what he agreed. If he isn't living up to his agreement, be persistent and refer him back to the terms of his commitment. Refer back to them as many times as it takes to make him follow through with what he agreed to do for you.

HOW TO MEET PEOPLE AND MAKE FRIENDS
People enjoy the company of others, and everyone wants to meet people with whom they can have close and lasting friendships. Here are some steps to follow if you want to become more successful at meeting and making friends:

Introduce Yourself: Let your prospect know who he is dealing with. Visualize him as a friendly, considerate and kind person. Give him information that will make him receptive to you. Make the information benefit-oriented for him. Try phrases like, "I really like that dress on you, it brings out your blue eyes," or, "I overheard what you were saying, and I was really fascinated by how much you know about..."

Ask Leading Questions: Ask the person you are talking to a leading question. A leading question is one that provokes more of a response than a mere "yes or "no" Here are some examples: "Do you attend a lot of these charity balls?"; "How do you know the host?"; "Do you work downtown, too? What do you do?" The other person's responses to these leading questions will let you know if he is interested in you or not. If you try to sell yourself to the person immediately, you will get resistance. If you push too hard or don't ask your leading questions with true interest and sincerity, you will get negative answers, and the conversation may quickly come to an end. Try to make the person feel that you want his consent to expand on an idea that may be of interest to him. What you actually want is his consent to get to know him better. If the other person shows interest in you and begins to communicate with you, feel free to go a step further.

Open Yourself Up: Once the person opens up to you, you can begin to open yourself up to him. You have his attention, and he is interested in you. Once you feel comfortable in his presence, tell him your strongest attributes are, the ones that will appeal to him most. If you get a positive response, you have successfully sold yourself to him. At this point, you can feel free to further develop your new friendship. If the person is unresponsive, it may be that you sound pompous and boastful to him. In this case, you should lower your volume a bit and sound as humble and sincere as possible.

Winning The Battle: The final part is the easiest part of your whole selling approach. At this point, give the other person a choice. Don't give him a choice of whether to take you on or not, give him a choice of how to take you on. "Do you have a pen, or would you like to use mine to write down your phone number?" Instead of saying, "Do you want to go out with me?" say, "Would you rather go to a movie or out dancing?" After you have gotten the other person to make some kind of commitment, summarize the proposition and reward the other person for accepting. An example of that is: "Thanks for giving me your phone number. I'm really looking forward to Saturday night."

CONCLUSION
Getting along better with others is a matter of choice. Follow the principles outlined in this report and you will become a more influential person. Not only will people be happy with you, but you will be happy with yourself. Your choice to become a new person will be one of the best you'll ever make.

How to Persuade Anyone to Do Anything
By Michael Lee

The mind is an infinite wonder. It has the fantastic ability to transmute your desires into their physical counterparts.

You can do anything that your mind can conceive, as long as you have the belief and will power to back it up. So how can you use your mind to achieve your dreams?

One of the most effective ways is to use the "as if" principle. Act as if you are the person you want to be. Act as if you are already in possession of whatever you long to have.

So what do you want to be? You want to be a lawyer, doctor, athlete, or newscaster? Think, act, and feel like one. You'll be much closer to your goal if you're constantly intact with your objective. Be obsessed with your dream. It doesn't mean that if you want to be Superman you'll fly out the window. Not a good idea!

It's not enough that you act like one, but you have to actually ACT. Do what needs to be done. You might get so lost in your fantasy dream world that you've forgotten to take some action. Let your visions encourage and motivate you to actualize your purpose.

The problem with the people of the modern world is that they are too preoccupied with worries, anxieties, and negative emotions. As a result, they are adversely affecting their state of health. White lies have become prevalent nowadays in order to ease the burdens or to persuade others to do things that they thought are unattainable.

There was once a weightlifter who couldn't lift weights in excess of 300 lbs. So his coach devised a clever idea and told him that the barbell he has to carry weighs only 300 lbs. With all his might, the weightlifter managed to put it above his head. After he puts it down, the coach told him that he has just lifted 350 lbs. of weight! It's all in the mind!

A famous person once said, "Whenever you think you can or you
can't, you're right." If you think you are poor, then you are; unless you properly condition your thoughts to the positive mindset. I know it's hard to think rich if your environment is not conducive to such way of thinking. Use your imagination then! Visualize your house to be a mansion, your old car to be a limousine...well you get the picture.

There is absolutely no limit with what the mind can achieve. But you have to combine belief, will power, and action with positive thinking in order to arrive at your intended destination.

You see? The mind is a powerhouse. So what you have to do is mentally focus on your persuasion approach. Be absolutely confident.

Want to borrow your brother John's car? Say to yourself, "I am successfully persuading John to lend me his car." Say it out loud! Say it 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, until you feel the fire and confidence within you exploding like firecrackers on New Year's Eve. Now remember to say it in the present tense. Say "I AM successfully persuading John to lend me his car," and not "I WILL successfully persuade John to lend me his car." You've got to have it now, not in the future! So be relentless and assertive. Then picture yourself saying it to him with utmost assurance. Visualize your brother John smiling and obeying your every will. Envision him as a little boy giving you the keys to his beautiful car. He can't help but follow your every command. And wait. John is saying something. He's saying that you have all the right to use his car. He wants to pay you back for all the kindness you've shown him. You feel so in control of the situation. John can't help but do what you want him to do. It's like you've hypnotized him.

Now go out and just do it! Never show any negative or self-defeating emotion. You don't want to go out there having thoughts like: "I'm not sure if I can ever persuade him" or "What if I won't be able to do it?"

Many people can see right through you. They can sense your fear and anxiety. Be absolutely calm and relaxed. It would be better if you do the relaxation exercise below before persuading anyone. You may pass-up this exercise if you are time-constrained or if your persuasion exploits are minor.

1) Get a comfortable & quiet place to rest.

2) Relax your whole body. Command every part of your body to relax starting from your feet up to your head.

3) Count back slowly from 20 to 1, where in each count you relax deeper & deeper. Upon reaching 1, you are completely relaxed.

4) Now affirm your intentions. If you want to persuade John, say," I AM successfully persuading John to...." As you're saying that, picture yourself doing what you're saying in vivid and true-to-life details.

5) Then after about 10 to 20 minutes of continuous confirmation & visualization, count slowly from 1 to 20. Upon counting, slowly be aware of your surroundings. Feel refreshed & invigorated after doing this exercise.

6) Repeat this exercise every time you want to persuade anyone.

The same principles apply even if the person you're going to persuade is far away. Let's say you're a salesman who's going to write XYZ client an email regarding your product. Say out loud, "I AM expertly persuading XYZ to buy my product. XYZ is buying my product because it is the best he's ever seen. XYZ is so happy using my product." Say it many times with all firmness and assurance. Then envision him buying and enjoying your product. Imagine him thanking you over and over because he has gotten more than his money's worth. Visualize him treating you as a very good friend because you gave him the very best he could ever lay his hands on. Then write your email. Pour all your emotions into that letter. Not ordinary emotions, but genuinely pure and caring emotions that come from the heart. Write things that would make him happy and willing to do business with you. Even if he's many distance away from you, he will feel the aura of your presence. Your letter will be so powerful that he will comply with your demands.

Remember to always adopt this mindset before you go out there persuading or doing anything you have in mind.

Having Good Luck!

We are in search of always having "Good Luck!" and want to know why other people seem to have them all the time but not you and me, why?  Below are few articles which might able to end our quest for searching of ways to have "Good Luck!!" and probably become a good luck person!


The Seven Simple Secrets of Naturally Lucky People
By Charles Burke

We've all seen people who are just naturally lucky. They're the ones who manage to sail through life with more unexplainable "lucky breaks" and fewer disappointments than most people get. Success just seems to come easier for them.

Where most folks have to struggle just to get ahead, lucky people regularly have opportunities just plop down in their laps. Of course, they work hard, but that doesn't fully explain the special treatment that life seems to reserve for them.

It almost appears that they were born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths. Or born under a luckier star than most mere mortals.

Well, cheer up; neither stars nor spoons are at work here. All they have is seven simple secrets. These secrets are easy little things that you can begin applying in your own life. And when you do, things will start to change for you. Your career will begin to blossom in unexpected ways. And one day you'll realize that now everyone has started calling you naturally lucky, too.

Ready to command more luck in your life? Here are the seven simple secrets of naturally lucky people.

SECRET #1: LUCKY PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IN LUCK
I recently interviewed ten unusually successful business people for a book I was writing about the role luck plays in the lives of successes.

Nearly every one of them stated plainly they don't believe in luck.

In the next breath, however, they told about unending streams of "serendipitous" or "synchronistic" events that routinely happen in their daily lives.

I believe they don't like the word "luck" because it implies there's no way to control it. They've learned that there is.

If you prefer to call it serendipity or synchronicity rather than lucky, that's okay. The message here is not which term to use. It's about what you can do to get these kinds of things happening for you. When they do happen, you can call them anything you want.

SECRET #2: "BAD" STUFF HAPPENS TO THEM TOO
There are several ways to have good luck. The most common (and the most useful) is to find opportunities in problems.

Let's say you and I are neighbors, and our whole city has a common problem. Maybe it's infestation with insects. Or it could be a serious pollution problem from a nearby plant.

While almost everyone is griping and complaining about the problem, you might decide: "Hey, if I can solve this problem, it will help my neighbors, and it can also make a profit for me." Your neighbors only saw the problem, but you looked deeper and found an opportunity.

All great fortunes have been built upon solving great problems. That's probably the most common and the most controllable way to generate your own luck.

SECRET #3: MORE PEOPLE QUIT THAN LOSE
If you knew ahead of time without a doubt that your success was guaranteed, how much would you go out and do?

Would it make any difference in the kind of things you would attempt? How much higher would you direct your aim?

Well, a funny thing happened to me a few years back. I was sitting and feeling sorry for myself one day because of all the failures that I had been through.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that one particular case hadn't been a real failure. I admitted to myself (reluctantly) that I had simply quit too soon. I had quit before I'd really had a chance to fail.

Then I thought of another non-failure. Then another.

And before long, I was buried under an avalanche of similar cases. In fact, I couldn't think of a single time when I had actually kept on trying long enough to fail. In other words, I had never experienced failure in my entire lifetime.

Only quitting.

A realization like that will realign your reality. After that, it's hard to consider yourself a failure because you've never failed. Who knows what you might really be, down inside?

I began to wonder: what would have happened if I had stuck with even a few of those situations just a little longer? What if I stopped being so ready to throw in the towel and surrender too soon? Would I start seeing the number of clear successes in my life begin to grow?

I started finding a new resourcefulness within myself. My "keeping-on" average began to go up, and my "failure" average started declining.

I count that one realization among the most important in my life. Not because it solved a problem, but because it identified one. Once I could see that the problem wasn't even what I thought it was, I was then able to work on doing something else instead.

And you know what? My luck began improving.

SECRET #4: BETTING ON LOSING HANDS MAKES LOSERS
Successful poker players don't play every hand they're dealt.

If you keep count, the hands they fold far outnumber the hands they hold.

That's because a good card player knows the odds for every possible card combination. They know whether a flush beats a full house and which is more likely to occur. Good players don't bet on risk, they bet on probability.

Lucky people are very similar. They know longshots when they see them, and they may bet, but it's a calculated bet.

Lucky people are some of the most tenacious people on earth when it's appropriate. But they're also some of the quickest quitters when the odds don't favor them. In fact, they'll usually opt out of most situations before they even begin because they have learned to recognize and rank opportunities.

What makes a good opportunity? First, does it solve a WIDESPREAD problem? Second, do the people with the problem have enough money to pay for solving that problem? Third, is it easy to reach the people with the problem? Fourth, is the solution a really good one?

If they don't find all four factors, a lucky person will walk away because they know it's a losing hand, no matter how much they personally love the idea.

So if a lucky person sees he's holding a losing hand, he quits quickly and cuts his losses.

SECRET #5: MOST GOOD LUCK COMES THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE
Good luck almost never happens in a vacuum.

Several years back I read a book by Max Gunther titled "The Luck Factor." Most of the details in that book have dimmed, but I've never forgotten the core idea: Most lucky breaks are brought to you by other people.

Few people find significant amounts of money on the street or buried in the backyard. Perhaps even fewer win lotteries. Instead, luck comes more often in the form of opportunities.

You're with a group of ladies (or guys) who are sitting around complaining about how it's hard to find respectable men (women) to date. Everybody is really getting into the problem.

The person next to you leans over and whispers, "Don't you wish everyone would just quit whining?" But instead of complaining about all those complaints, a little lightbulb clicks on in your head. You realize a good computerized screening service for romantic introductions would fill a real need here.

You don't say anything, but weeks later, when you announce the new service, and you're flooded with calls from singles all over the city wanting safer introductions, all your friends whisper, "She's so lucky. Where did she get that great idea?"

You know where the idea came from, but you're not telling.

A great deal of "good luck" is manually created out of discomfort often someone else's.

SECRET #6: GOOD LUCK FAVORS THOSE WHO HAVE PREPARED
Let's say you're appearing in an amateur play in a little theater in your neighborhood. A big-name producer from Hollywood is visiting a sick relative, hears about the play, and for a bit of distraction decides to attend.

She sees a spark of something special in your performance, asks to meet you, and offers you a screen test. Okay, freeze the frame for a second.

Are you prepared for this big break? Have you done all the study and the practice and the foundation work it takes to be a professional? Will you have the technique and the skills necessary to do the job?

Or are you going to try and fake your way through it?

If you're prepared, you're likely to do well. This means a giant step toward your dreams.

And if you're not prepared... well, good luck with your day job.

SECRET #7: YOU CAN ATTRACT GOOD THINGS, TOO
All this talk about finding opportunities in "bad" events and developing your skills is important, but there's a more sunny side to luck as well.

Internet entrepreneur Joe Vitale terms it his "Magic Escalator through Life," and award-winning author John Harricharan has titled it "The Power Pause."

I interviewed both of these men recently, as well as eight other fascinating people, about how they manage to stay so consistently successful.

Every single one of them has techniques for keeping their mind tuned to the things they want. And they attend to this "mind tuning" every day. They're not casual about this. Oh no, they put regular effort into it. Their successes and their luck are not accidents.

If you're tempted to greet this with a dismissive, "Oh yeah, I've read those positive thinking books," then you need to think again.

The hardest part of Secret #7? Taking responsibility for the bad stuff in your life. If you've got uncomfortable situations right now, you'll never have the power to change them until you accept the fact that you created that mess... exactly as it is right now.

Admit to yourself that you created your own problems, down to the last tiny detail, and only then will you take command of the power to change those problems. Fortunately, it's not as impossible as it sounds at first.

Your mind is like a bucket. If the bucket is filled with muddy water, all you have to do is start a steady flow of clear, fresh water into the bucket.

Soon, the bucket (or your mind) is filled with clear, fresh contents.

Steady daily input of clear, fresh thoughts will change the things that appear in your life, without the need for major renovation. It just happens. You work on the inside, and the outside takes care of itself.

This means you don't fight the old thoughts. You give them minimum energy. You don't resist, you don't struggle. Instead, you put your attention as much as possible on the good things you want to appear in your life.

The lucky things you spend your time thinking about just start happening for you, and one day you wake up and realize, "Hey, I'm a pretty lucky person now. When did that happen?"

Charles Burke is the author of "Command More Luck," a book offering powerful suggestions for getting more cooperation from life, luck, and your own mind. Whether you call it synchronicity, serendipity, or just plain old luck, you CAN become more "naturally lucky."


Eight Ways to Become a Luckier Person

It is my belief that luck is something that you can create, rather than that there are just lucky and unlucky people in the world.

If you would like to believe the latter, no need to read further. You can just continue with your old expressions: "I have bad luck" or "Nothing good ever happens to me" or "Good things only happen to other people." And that is what you will continue to create.

However, if you are ready to change your luck, by doing a few simple techniques, which can be significantly amplified through the power of hypnosis; allowing these ideas to penetrate your subconscious mind, then do read on.

8 WAYS TO BECOME A LUCKIER PERSON
Luck is something you create and attract. If you will simply focus on each of these areas for one week each, can you not see how you luck would dramatically improve?

1. Get Ready for Luck: Become more prepared, alert and aware of all those many chance opportunities that ordinarily are available to you that you weren't able to recognize before.

2. Create Mental Alertness: There are an abundance of chance encounters that will come your way. Learn exactly how to make use of them. Create the ability to sharpen your mind and to become more mentally alert with razor-sharp thinking. Make quick and intelligent decisions. Have the ability to act upon information and ideas immediately.

3. Practice Generosity: The practice of generosity attracts luck. Find creative and imaginative ways of improving yourself and to become a more understanding person. Have the confidence to be a good friend toward others, including those whom you did not know before. Improve your attitude and project good positive vibes toward others and you will have pulled more lucky situations into your life than ever before.

4. Get in touch with your Desire: There is nothing in the world that is more attractive to luck than your desire. Find something inside of yourself that you feel very passionate about. That is in alignment with all of your values. There is a desire that is one of the many infinite combinations of all desires that is so special and so specific to you as an individual. Your likeliness of creating luck grows as you are able to touch upon and hone in on those few very meaningful desires that mean the most to you.

5. Increase your Intuition: Of course it stands to reason that intuition plays a huge role in the luck you have in your life. If you are able to tune into that inner voice that tells you that something is good or something is bad you will greatly improve your luck. Enhance your intuition by going into meditation or hypnosis on a daily basis and pay attention to your thoughts your feelings and all of your senses. The more you are able to tune into and trust your intuition the more success you are going to have in all areas of your life, especially concerning your luck.

6. Undo Past Bad Luck: Think about various situations in your life that could have turned out lucky for you, where in hindsight as you look back on these situations, had you acted differently, it would have been lucky for you. Now, replay the scene in your mind, having acted in the way you would have and experience the feeling of that new experience, allowing it to leave an emotional impact on your subconscious mind, thereby created a new path your subconscious mind will now take in the future. Your subconscious will help direct your thinking in news ways based upon the learning that you integrate through that feeling state.

7. Create a Luck Anchor: Create an emotional anchor, charged with the vibration of luck. When you are feeling low or your energy is low you are vibrating at a low frequency. The law of attraction simply states, like attracts like, hence, when you are vibrating at a low frequency you are only going to bring about things in your life that are vibrating at an equally low vibration. Think about the things that make you feel good, things are on a high vibration plane. When you are feeling good, your energy vibration is simply going to attract more of the things that are in alignment with your energy … Anchor this feeling in by squeezing your thumb and forefinger together. Now, whenever you need to access this resourceful state you are going to create, you then whenever you press your thumb and forefinger together and you will feel all those wonderful feelings.

8. Morning Luck Meditation/Affirmations: It's a good idea to begin the day on a positive note, to open you up to an awareness of potential lucky situations and to simply feel like you are a lucky person throughout the day. The first thing you will do every morning before getting out of bed repeat these affirmations: Today will be filled with all sorts of lucky opportunities; I am a lucky person; I experience luck in my life daily; I am learning how to create more luck; I attract good fortune; My intuition is increasing and guiding me toward luck; I feel my luck is changing for the better; I am in the right place at the right time; I enjoy new encounters which increase my chances of luck; Today could be the luckiest day of my life.

The Hypnotic Power of Confusion- Joe Vitale

"Did you walk to work or carry a lunch?"

Huh?

My father asked me that question more than 25 years ago. I still remember it. Why? Because it's a ridiculous question.

A famous comedian in the 1950s used to ask people, "Got a banana?" The question might make sense if asked in the right situation, but he asked it everywhere. I've forgotten the name of the comedian, but I still recall his question. Why? Because it's strange.

As I write this, I am creating new business cards for myself. I decided to add a confusing line to it. After some fun brainstorming with my girlfriend, I settled on, "Ask me about the monkey."

Why is "Ask me about the monkey?" worth putting on my business card? As with my father's question and the comedian's question, it stops your brain in its tracks. It makes you pause. It makes you focus on ME.

In the new ebook Larry Dotson and I just released, called "The Hypnotic Swipe File," we have a section about confusing statements. The theory is that once you stop someone with a confusing line, you can then implant a hypnotic command right after it.

In other words, if I write something like, "Apples desk fly dirt," and then follow it with "Read my new ebook," the chances are very high that you are now going to want to read my new ebook.

Why? Because the first line jammed your mind and the second line slipped into your brain while you weren't looking. I've just upped the odds that you will buy my new ebook right now. And if you don't, of course, it doesn't matter because I never really told you to go buy it. See?

The same thing will happen on my new business cards. Since I'm now known as "The World's First Hypnotic Marketer," I wanted a strange, confusing line on my new card. When someone sees "Ask me about the monkey," and then asks me about the monkey, I can simply point out that I practice hypnotic selling and I just got them to do what I wanted.

The Japanese practice this "hypnotic confusion," but probably unknowingly. A friend of mine flew to Japan once and reported back to me that the English phrases on all the Japanese products were bizarre. A tube of toothpaste might say, "Green days you not sing." A box of cookies might say, "Wood above fish."

How can you use this secret right now? Don't be afraid to be confusing. People tend to sort out whatever you say anyway and make sense out of it using their own terms. If you are describing your product in great detail, be willing to toss in something odd. It may increase sales.

If not, swirl up!

Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here, including the new book "Spiritual Marketing," the best-selling e-book "Hypnotic Writing," and the best-selling Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, "The Power of Outrageous Marketing."

The Fine Art of Changing the Brain - Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler

The fastest way to change your brain is through learning something new.
Modern neuroscience has clearly proven that the true essence of
learning actually IS a physical change in the brain.

However creating changes in the brain through a learning experience is
not a science. For although science can certainly tell us what learning
is, and what influences it -- effectively applying this knowledge
remains a fine art!

THE EMOTIONAL ASPECT
On a strictly biological basis -- it now appears that the thinking
(cognitive) abilities of the human brain developed over time, building onto
older areas of the brain dedicated to emotion and feelings.

This brings your second brain (the massive "brain" located in your gut)
into the picture. Both brains feed emotional "input" into your thinking
process.

The result is that our mental functions are strongly influenced by our
emotions. In fact, emotion and thought are actually physically
entangled.

This is why you may tend to easily recall events that are charged with
intense emotion.

PASSION ENTERS THE PICTURE
The best way to change your brain is to learn something new -- whether
knowledge or an action. But to be most effective, that learning must
evoke emotion.

Exterior sources of emotional motivation can sometimes help. But the
most powerful brain changes are made when your learning is fueled by your
own internal emotional desire, or passion.

Such an intense desire is most easily generated when you make an effort
to learn something you have a natural passion for. The act of learning
(changing your brain) then becomes rewarding in and of itself!

This is why it is so very important to identify your passions --then
build your life goals around them!

BUILDING NEURAL CONNECTIONS
An important thing to remember about brain expansion (learning), is
that you are building upon your past beliefs, experiences and knowledge.

New information enters your brain through existing networks of neurons
(brain cells). Your existing networks of prior knowledge actually form
the foundation upon which your new knowledge is built.

And so ... you create brain changes (learn) by attaching the new to the
old.

As you learn new things, your neurons make new connections. And as this
occurs, existing neural networks (interconnected neurons) are either
strengthened or weakened. But you are always building upon what has gone
before.

REMODELING NEURAL NETWORKS
Sometimes old neural networks are so powerful they can become a barrier
to new knowledge. This can result in carrying around childhood beliefs
for a lifetime -- even when you logically know they're no longer true
for you today.

Such beliefs obviously have strong neural networks that can't just be
dismissed. And they will not just go away on their own. But if you do
have such undesired childhood-based beliefs, there is a way to correct
them.

You will have to build something new onto those networks.

The better you understand your prior experiences, the more insight
you'll have into how to remodel these limiting "barrier" networks. The art
is to identify the aspects of those networks that serve you -- then
begin attach new learning onto those networks.

USING THE SNAP METHOD
I developed the S.N.A.P. (Substitute Neural Association Programming)
self-discovery approach years ago based upon my insight that much of what
we consider "wrong" is really just "incomplete."

Let's review the process: Modern neuroscience has shown us that two key
things are involved in changing neural networks:

The first is simply practice. Neurons that fire often tend to form both
more, and stronger, connections. But this is far more subtle than mere
repetitive practice, because neurons often stop firing if a stimulus
turns out to be routine.

Such "habituation" is what occurs when we stop hearing the cars that go
by our house during peak traffic hours. So mere repetition alone will
not build neural change.

The second thing that helps neural networks gain strength is emotion.
Recent experiments show that rapid brain changes are created by simply
by triggering neurons to dump our natural "emotion chemicals" on the
neurons involved in a new learning experience.

Your brain delivers these natural chemicals (adrenaline, serotonin, and
dopamine) to specific parts of your brain -- and frequent exposure to
these chemicals leads to rapid change in your neural networks.

The essence of the S.N.A.P. method of brain change can be summarized as
follows:

Start by building an active awareness of what you wish to change.

Focus on adding new insights onto old neural networks to make them more
complete, based upon your current reality.

Repeat this focus often (practice).

Be sure to interject positive emotion during your practice to speed the
reprogramming process.