The Great Expert Blog

How would you feel if I let you into a secret? This is something that our most successful people such as Richard Branson, Anita Roddick, Mother Teresa, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and Bill Gates, to name just a few, use or used and made into a habit throughout their day to day lives. Doing this made these people strong and powerful and enabled them to achieve the seemingly ‘impossible’ dream. This is a thing that made them hungry and after putting it into practice, made them even more successful. It differentiates a winner from a loser. In actual fact, it is so important that if you would not use it or have it at all, you could become heavily depressed. Most people talk about it and do not put it into practice. You already have it in you, however the intensity level may vary from individual to individual. YOU however, can change the level of this thing within your life as you so choose.

Before I reveal the secret, may I ask you a question? What would your answer be (there is no right or wrong answer) if I would personally introduce you to a friend who has a ten-bed roomed house overlooking the sea with 1,000 acres of land attached to it and a swimming pool and a tennis court? Inside, the house has been decorated by a famous designer, the carpets are all real Persian and some of the original Van Gogh paintings are hanging on the walls. This friend drives the latest Ferrari convertible and a Mercedes limousine. His wife is a beautiful model; his estate is estimated at more than £ 1 Billion. He works out on a daily basis and his body is just great looking.

What are your immediate thoughts? Are they a) what a show-off. I would never be able to afford that or b) How does he do it? What can I do to be as successful as him?

Whatever your answer is, just stop for a minute and think. If you went for answer a), what were your thoughts? Wasn’t your brain focusing more on the “never”? Weren’t some of your thoughts also related to jealousy?

If your answer came close to b), what were your thoughts here? Did you come up with lots of answers as to “how” you could be like this man?

(I am interested in your outcome and would be pleased for you to share it with me).

The reason I asked you to do this exercise was to make you think and to make you aware that everything starts with a single thought. More importantly, this exercise is to make you more conscious of how you think. The reason why you are the way you are, (apart from your environment and your friends and family) is down to what thoughts you have had so far in your life. There is a famous quote by Talmud that explains exactly what I mean.

“Pay attention to your thoughts, for they become your words,
pay attention to your words, for they become your acts,
pay attention to your acts, for they become your habits,
pay attention to your habits, for they become your character,
pay attention to your character, for it becomes your fate.”

Research shows that we human beings each have around 50,000 thoughts a day. The vast majority of those thoughts are not new. They are the same things we thought about yesterday, months, or even years before. Our mind focuses on the same things again and again. The thoughts are not new, they are recycled materials that keep on appearing again and again in our minds.

Now, just think about what happens to you if your thought process is mainly negative. That is the equivalent of a junk food diet that continues year in, year out. It clogs up your system; it poisons it, just like the diet would.

Now, you may say “You can not stop “bad” things from happening” and this is very true my friend, however, you can re-set your focus. Let me give you an example.

A beautiful baby girl was born on 27th June 1880 to Captain Arthur H. and Kate Adams Keller of Tuscumbia. The baby developed an illness at the young age of only 19 months, which left her totally deaf and blind. However the girl was so determined, by the age of seven, she had mastered the fingertip alphabet and shortly afterwards, how to write. By the time she was 10, she had learnt Braille as well as the manual alphabet and how to type. By the age of 16, she could speak well enough to go to preparatory school and to college. In 1904 she was graduated “cum laude” from Radcliffe College. This little girl became one of history’s most remarkable women. She dedicated her life to the blind and the deaf people throughout the world, lecturing in more than 25 countries worldwide and is well known throughout the world. Her name was Helen Keller.

Now, do you think she could have mastered all of this if she had had a negative attitude, if she’d said to herself “Oh, what a pity, what have I done to deserve this? Poor me. I feel really sorry for myself, why did this happen to me? I must be really bad, poor me, poor me. Instead, she chose the opposite, she took positive action for herself and took life in her own hands and wrote:

They took away what should have been my eyes
(But I remembered Milton’s Paradise).
They took away what should have been my ears,
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).
They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I had talked with God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul -
Possessing that, I still possess the whole.

Just like the other famous people I referred to at the beginning of this article, Helen Keller used the power of positive thought and positive thinking to achieve great things with her life.

It is true that who you are right now is the total of what you thought about up to this moment.

If you are not totally satisfied with who you are right now, the good news is that who you will be from now on is entirely up to you.

YOU have the power to change. Just Do It, Do it NOW.

Peter Gerlach is an international coach, author, entrepreneur, speaker, trainer, businessman, husband and father. He is a Founder Member of the Professional Speakers Association, holds a Gold medal from LAMDA and is a Past Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management. More information can be found at http://www.outstandingachievements.com

Be careful what you believe because that is what you will experience. Your belief system is a mechanism which is uniquely yours. It is powered by your desire and controlled by your thoughts and actions. In other words, your success is measured by the strength of your belief.

What is it that you desire? Often people do not have a clue what it is they want, they just know what they do not want. Now is a good time to evaluate your goals and determine the end result you want to achieve. Put your goals in writing and place them where you can see them throughout the day. Read them frequently to keep them fresh on your mind.

• Be inquisitive. Research and learn as much as you can on how you can achieve your goal. Use all possible resources such as books, CDs, courses and people. Yes, people. Talk to as many people as possible who are already successful in what you want to achieve. Ask, ask and ask some more about what they did to reach success. Do not limit your contacts to only the people you already know. Introduce yourself by phone or mail, explain your purpose for contacting them and ask for a tip. The worst thing that can happen is that they ignore you. The best thing that can happen is that they become your mentor and offer support and encouragement. Chances are you will receive at least one great tip from many of the people you contact. This method is the least expensive and most rewarding.

• Be unique. Next, take the ideas you learn, embellish them and come up with your own creative process. Think of how you can approach your goal in a way that no one else has. Dare to be different. Don’t be afraid to take risks. What do you have to loose? Write out a list showing the worst things that could happen and then list all of the best possible outcomes. Always maintain your concentration on your desired result.

• Be better than your competition. When you were a child and saw your older siblings or friends riding a bike (without training wheels), you didn’t look at their scraped knees and elbows and say, “Whoa, I could get hurt doing that.” Instead, you begged to try it for yourself. With a great deal of practice and often pain, you gradually learned how to maintain your balance. Before long you were trying to “out do” your friends with your speed or fancy tricks. When you fell, you would get back on and try again with even greater determination. From your very first effort, you believed in your mind that if you got back on, you would eventually learn to ride. I bet you even knew in your mind you would be the best in the neighborhood, in your school, in the state, in the world!

• Be positive. If you see obstacles before you, then you will also only see problems. If you have hesitations that you plan will not work, then it will not work. If you are influenced by the power of negative people, then you will never be any better than they are. Believe in yourself and what you are capable of achieving.

When your desire to succeed is stronger than the pain, fear or frustration of failing, there is no turning back. I challenge you to view your goals just like you did when you were a child before you learned about self doubt and negative criticism. Remember, anything is possible as long as you believe. Make a commitment that you will not let anything or anyone, including yourself stand in your way of reaching your goals.

Martha Lanier, President of Ignite Your Potential, Inc. is a professional speaker, author and coach. She presents programs on risk-taking, empowerment, leadership and personal achievement. She can be contacted at 770-886-6033 (Atlanta, GA), toll free at 886-IgniteU (866-446-4838-0020), email martha@marthalanier.com or visit www.marthalanier.com. Copyright 2005 Ignite Your Potential, Inc. All rights reserved. Duplication in whole or in part must include this entire attribution.