Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Resolve

“Resolve says, ‘I will.’ The man says, ‘I will climb this mountain. They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, too rocky and too difficult. But it’s my mountain. I will climb it. You will soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying.’” —Jim Rohn
“People do not lack strength; they lack will.” —Victor Hugo
“He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.” —Brian Tracy
“To think we are able is almost to be so; to determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself; earnest resolution has often seemed to have about it almost a savor of omnipotence.” —Samuel Smiles
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.” —Leonardo da Vinci
“I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.” —William Hazlitt

 Al-Ghazali's Path to Sufism: His Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-Dalal) and Five Key TextsThe Path to Spiritual ExcellenceBreaths from Beyond the CurtainThe Divine KingdomThe Healing Power of Sufi Meditation

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Law of Accumulation

By: Brian Tracy

The Law of Accumulation: how your financial fortune accumulates slowly over time and then becomes enormous, like a snowball. The Law of Accumulation: Every great financial achievement is an accumulation of hundreds of small efforts and sacrifices that no one ever sees or appreciates.

Develop Discipline
The achievement of financial independence will require a tremendous number of small efforts on your part. To begin the process of accumulation, you must be disciplined and persistent. You must keep at it for a long, long time. Initially, you will see very little change or difference but gradually, your efforts will begin to bear fruit. You will begin to pull ahead of your peers. Your finances will improve and your debts will disappear. Your bank account will grow and your whole life will improve.

Build Up Momentum
The first corollary of the Law of Accumulation says: "As your savings accumulate, you develop a momentum that moves you more rapidly toward your financial goals."

It is hard to get started on a program of financial accumulation, but once you do get started, you find it easier and easier to keep at it. The "momentum principle" is one of the great success secrets. This principle says that it takes tremendous energy to overcome the initial inertia and resistance to financial accumulation and get started, but once started, it takes much less energy to keep moving.


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Start Slow, Finish Fast
The second corollary of the Law of Accumulation says, "By the yard it's hard, but inch by inch, anything's a cinch."

When you begin thinking about saving 10 or 20 percent of your earnings, you will immediately think of all kinds of reasons that it is not possible. You might be up to your neck in debt. You might be spending every single penny that you earn today just to keep afloat.

If you do find yourself in this situation, instead of saving 10 percent, begin saving just 1 percent of your earnings in a special account, which you refuse to touch.


Increase As You Go Along
This small amount will begin to add up at a rate that will surprise you. As you become comfortable with saving 1 percent, increase your savings rate to 2 percent, then 3 percent, then 4 percent and 5 percent and so on. Within a year, you will find yourself getting out of debt and saving 10 percent, 15 percent and even 20 percent of your earnings without it really affecting your lifestyle.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately:

First, decide upon your long-term financial goals and then resolve to work toward them one step at a time. The first steps are the hardest and you must discipline yourself to avoid backsliding into old habits.

Second, practice the law of accumulation in other parts of your life as well. Resolve to master a subject one page at a time. Lose extra pounds one ounce at a time. Learn a language one lesson at a time. The cumulative effect can be enormous.

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Financial Goals
Getting Rich Your Own Way: Achieve All Your Financial Goals Faster Than You Ever Thought PossibleTips For Identifying Your Family's Financial GoalsDave Ramsey's Financial Peace University DVD 4-Pack: The Great Misunderstanding, Cash Flow Planning, Dumping Debt and Relating With MoneyWorry-free Investing: A Sure Way to Achieve Your Lifetime Financial Goals (Financial Times)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Seven Keys to High-Energy Living


By Brian Tracy

Energy is a key luck factor. For you to be at the top of your form, to be action oriented, fast moving, and extremely productive, you have to have high levels of physical and mental energy.

For you to be able to take advantage of all the possibilities around you, and to have the continuous enthusiasm that keeps you and others motivated and moving ahead, you have to organize your life so that you feel terrific about yourself most of the time.

1. Eat the Right Foods
The first key to high energy is a proper diet. To perform at your best, you must eat the right foods, in the right balance, and in the right combination. Your diet has an inordinate impact on the amount of energy you have, how well you sleep, your levels of health and fitness, and your performance throughout the day and into the evening.

2. Watch your Weight
The second key to high energy is proper weight. Proper weight is essential for health, happiness, and long life. Being slightly under your ideal weight is best. As they say, you can never be too rich or too thin. If you are not happy with your current level of physical health, you need to set specific goals for yourself for the weeks and months ahead.

3. Exercise is Essential
The third key to high energy is proper exercise. The best activity for high energy and physical fitness is aerobic exercise. This type of exercise requires that you get your heart rate up into what is called the training zone three times per week. This training zone is about 120 to 160 beats per minute, depending on your age. You then keep it there for at least 20 minutes or more each session.

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4. Get Lots of Rest and Recreation
The fourth key to high energy is proper rest. You need an average of seven to eight hours of sleep each night to be fully rested. You need to take off at least one full day each week during which you don't work at all. You should take regular mini-holidays of two or three days each, every couple of months. You should take one and two week vacations each year when you relax completely and get your mind totally off your work.

5. Develop a Positive Mental Attitude
The sixth key to high energy is the elimination of negative emotions. This can be the most important thing you do to assure a long and happy life. Your ability to keep your mind on what you want and off of what you don't want will determine your levels of health and happiness more than any other decision you make.

6. Start a Personal Mental Fitness Program
The seventh key to high energy is for you to go on a 21-daypositive mental attitude diet, one day at a time. Resolve that, for the next 21 day, you are going to keep your mind on what you want and keep it off the things you don't want. You are going to think and talk positively and optimistically about your goals, other people, and everything that is going on in your life.

7. Become a Personal Powerhouse
The more you practice the health habits we have talked about, the more energy and vitality you will have. The more you keep your conversation focused on your goals and on the things you want, the greater the amount of strength and power you will feel. You will be more alert and aware. You will feel more positive and action oriented in every situation.

Action Exercise
Resolve to become intensely action oriented from now on; whenever you get a good idea or something needs to be done, move quickly.

Flight Plan: The Real Secret of Success
"Flight Plan--The Real Secret of Success"
You need a flight plan to succeed. I'm always amazed at how many people fail because they just don't have a plan. And having a plan isn't enough.

Just like an airline pilot you must make course corrections to arrive at your destination--your goals. Click for more >>



Healthy Food
The World's Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of EatingThe 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and WhyThe New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy EatingThe Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Need to Lead

By Brian Tracy

The greatest need we have today, in every area, is for men and women to practice the values of integrity, discipline, responsibility, courage, and long time perspective, both as individuals and in their families. These are the key qualities of leadership.

Our society needs leaders at all levels who practice the principles that lead to long-term success. Especially, we need people in positions of authority and political power to support and encourage others, whose lives and work they influence, to develop character and resist the tendency to act expediently in ways that are harmful to themselves and others.

Everyone needs to take "The Values Pledge," to live by it, and then encourage others to live by it. It is only the solid bulwark of character, based on values, virtues, long-term thinking, and the accurate assessment of secondary consequences that can curb and mitigate the destructive influences and behavior of the Expediency Factor (the E-Factor)

Live In Truth
The philosopher Immanuel Kant postulated what he called "The Universal Maxim." He suggested that "you should live your life as though your every act were to become universal law for all people." The very best judge of truth for you is to ask, "Is it true for me?" If everyone was to be encouraged to live their life as though your every act were to become universal principle for all others, most government policies and programs would be abolished overnight. The fact is, that the only way that many "something for nothing" ideas in government and society can be put forward is with the hope that most people will not take advantage of them.

Think about it. What if everyone were to go on welfare? What if everyone were to apply for every government program that was available to them? What if everyone dedicated themselves to doing the very least amount of work that they could get away with? What if everyone began spending all their time trying to get free money from anywhere that it might be available?

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Four Questions to Stay on Track
There are four questions that you can ask and answer every day to keep yourself on track in each part of your life. First, ask yourself; "What kind of a world would this be if everyone in it was just like me?"

When you ask and answer this question honestly, you will admit that if everyone in the world was just like you, this would probably not be the best of all possible worlds. Look inside yourself and think about some of the things that you could change or do differently to become a better "citizen of the world."

The second question you can ask is, "What kind of a country would America be, if everyone in it was just like me?"

This is perhaps the most important question that we can ask and answer for ourselves. If everyone in America did the same thing that you did, every single day, would America be better, happier, healthier, and a more prosperous democracy? If not, what are some of the changes that you could make in your behaviors that would make America a better place?

The third question you can ask is, "What kind of a company would my company be if everyone in it was just like me?"

If you are honest with yourself, you will see different things that you could do to become a more valuable and important contributor to your company. Perhaps you should start a little earlier, work a little harder or stay a little later. Perhaps you could volunteer for more assignments, or upgrade your knowledge and skills as they relate to your job. How could you become the very best person you could possibly become at your work?
The final question, and perhaps the more important, is, "What kind of family would my family be if everyone in it was just like me?"

If everyone in your family behaved the way you do, and treated everyone else the way you treat them, would your family be a warmer, happier, and more loving group of people? What could you do, starting today, to be a better family member?

Take the High Road
The true mark of the superior person is that he sets high standards for himself, and refuses to compromise those standards for any reason. He sees himself as a role model for others. He behaves at all times as if everyone was watching, even when no one is watching.

The truly superior person does not give into forces of expediency. He does not seek something for nothing. He refuses to take anything to which he is not entitled. He insists upon earning everything he gets. He practices the Golden Rule and treats everyone the way he would like to be treated himself. He sets high standards for himself and continually strives to meet those standards. If everyone in America were to take the pledge below, this would be a better country in every way.

Action Exercise
Take the Values Pledge
"I hereby resolve to clarify my values and then to live by those values, to remain true to the very best I know, and to be the best person I can possibly be.
"I will not compromise what I know to be right for any reason. I will live my life as though my every act was to become a universal law for everyone else."

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The Need to Lead

Tribes: We Need You to Lead UsThe Next Generation of Women Leaders: What You Need to Lead but Won't Learn in Business SchoolGrowing Small Groups: Everything You Need to Start and Lead a Small Ministry that Makes a Big DifferenceSeeing the Need and Choosing to Lead: A Leadership Workbook & Guide for Real-Time Student EngagementHow to Lead: What You Actually Need to Do to Manage, Lead and Succeed