Excerpt from: Unleash Your Success, Volume 1

The common scenario for most people is to not take personal responsibility for how their life is or isn’t working, and for how they feel. Have you ever heard (or maybe even said), “When they did ________, I felt ________.” (When they yelled, joked, pleaded, I felt, angry, sad, excited.) The idea that they made me feel something disowns personal responsibility for life.

“When Susan yelled she made me mad.”
“During the argument they made me feel small and stupid.”
“Being in Rome made me feel romantic.”
“It made me sad when my friends left.”
“Being with her/him makes me feel loved.”

These are inaccurate statements. Read more »

Having a positive and optimistic outlook can help protect people at risk for heart attack and strokes.

April 17th, 2012 the Harvard School of Public Health said “the glass half full attitude” and happiness have been documented to lower risk of vascular diseases and heart problems.

For people who had documented risk factors for heart ailments of all kinds, the Harvard study showed that those who were the positive and optimistic were less likely than their less-optimistic or pessimistic peers to have a stroke or heart attack. Read more »

When a person is confident they tend to breathe slower and deeper. They are what are called belly breathers – bigger, deeper, slower breaths. It gives the appearance of calm confidence.

When someone is nervous, they usually breathe shallower and rapidly – fast, short, shallow breaths. This rapid breathing pattern is an automatic signal in the human brain that something is wrong.

Now you may not directly notice how someone is breathing or the rise and fall of their chest, but your peripheral vision automatically picks it up. You may not even know how you know that person is nervous but you get a gut feeling that they are. Read more »

Look for the good stuff in your life events. Even if there’s a struggle, what’s good about the situations you are in right now? What’s beneficial about them? Choose a positive focus. It’s healthful.

For instance, when people are experiencing depression, anxiety or worry, one of the key things to do is change ones’ mental focus.

A great way to change your focus is write a list of questions you could ask yourself that lift you up. Questions that can give you a mental boost and help you feel better on the spot. Read more »

John Wooden was the winningest coach in basketball with 10 NCAA National Championships in 12 years while at UCLA, said he had to create his own definition for what success was.

He looked in many dictionaries. He read what they said, and they all sounded right but didn’t quite fit for what he wanted to do.

He said his definition is, “Success is giving all you’ve got, every time, so you can be the best you that you can be”. He said that he taught his players Read more »

Here’s a way you can begin building the mindset of a champion. This is a way to actually get your brain to go in the direction of those ultra-high achievers, the champions in every field.

In many cases the human self-image or self concept has nothing to do with reality. It has to do with memories.

What you’ve experienced in your life up to now has built a mental concept of you–some real, some imagined. Read more »

In the early 1950’s, Ivan Borzormenyi-Nagy introduced the concept of an “Emotional Ledger” or an “Emotional Bank Account” which everyone keeps.

This emotional ledger is the mental record of the good’s and bad’s, experienced or perceived, by an individual. This ledger is the accounting of negatives and positives deposited into the mental and emotional bank account of each person you interact with. Read more »

Greek philosopher Socrates (469 – 399 BC) is known for his wisdom and as a teacher. This brief story is about both.

Strolling through Athens, Socrates crossed paths with a friend. His friend grinned and said, “Socrates listen to what I just heard about one of your students!”

Before the man could blurt out his story, Socrates said, “Just a moment. Before you tell me, I’d like to evaluate the news to see if it is of benefit to hear it. It’s the triple screening method for filtering through information.”

Socrates went on saying, “Before you tell to me about this other person, let’s take just a few seconds to screen through what you desire to say.” Read more »

Every single day is an adventure–sometimes scary, sometimes outrageously fun, but always unique.

Be enthusiastic about each day. What do you get to do today that you’ve never done before? Nothing you say? It’s just the same old, same old? Not so fast my friend.

This is a new day. It can be whatever you choose to make it. Even if you’ve done the same task for years, there are new aspects of it. Look for the uniqueness within this moment. Read more »

Today is the day to begin moving into the great future you desire. Bring all the enthusiastic energy you need to the surface of your being and leap into action

Free Yourself

It’s easy to make excuses. Blaming what happened on a situation or another person happens often. Excuses don’t really help, and they make you look weak. Read more »