Although I have written about this in the past, I only think it is appropriate to write about again. For one, I have had quite a few people request this very subject and I was at a conference investing in myself once again this weekend and I was able to learn and pick up quite a few good pieces of information from the speaker. I am also finishing up one of Jack Canfield’s books and it seems to fit nicely into this topic.
“Investing in yourself always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
This statement is so true yet so over looked. When you have an opportunity to buy a book or attending a self-improvement or business, do you think about it as spending money or investing in yourself? Two people can look at this situation and see totally different things. Which one do you think is going to be more successful? The answer is obvious and the only difference is the person’s mindset. And let’s say you do buy the book, are you going to read it and highlight it? 90% of the people who buy a book never make it past the first chapter. Buying it is not enough. You must be committed to excellence.
Setting measurable goals is like your own GPS for your dreams and life. The one major thing that goals do for us is make our brains and imagination start working on ways to close the gap. The gap that I am talking about is the gap from where you are to where you want to be. Once you put your goal in writing and tell others (use their freewill to help you), your subconscious is going to work very hard to close that gap as fast as possible. You will start paying more attention to the things that can help you on your path and you will start realizing which people can help you along and which ones to stay away from.
“Begin with the end in mind.” – Steven Covey
This is another great strategy that successful people throughout history have used. It could mean visualization or setting your goals from your end point and working back to what you can do tomorrow to reach your weekly goal, what you can do in a week to reach your monthly goal and so on. When actor, Jim Carrey, was trying to make it big, he used to go up to the hills in Southern California and use affirmations, telling himself that all the big time directors couldn’t wait to use him in their movies and he would believe that they actually felt that way at that moment. Carrey also wrote himself a check worth $1,000,000, imagining that he was paid his first installment for his first big hit. I AM is a very powerful statement. Don’t think of things as only in the far off future, they will only take longer to transpire.
One final thought for this week. I need you to imagine that you are in the NCAA Final Four playing in front of a huge national audience. The game is 100-98 and you have the ball. What are you going to do? Think about it, if you said shoot a three or go for two and tie, you have a losing mindset. That’s right, I said it! Why did you assume that you were losing? Start thinking like a champion and a winner and watch how your life takes a turn for the better.
