Success - A Journey or the Destination? By Daniel Britton

Success, would you know it if you found it? It is notoriously difficult to measure success since the yardstick of success is nebulous and ever changing. Is success a destination or the journey? “On my way to success, I lost my happiness. How I wish I had smelt the roses! ”, laments an anonymous writer. But tread we must the lonely road to success. Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister once said that “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm”. As one of the great leaders of the last century he should know. This theme has been repeated often in our poetry, literature and plays. Who can forget the poignant story written by Robert Bruce and the famous quote, “Try, try and try again, until you succeed.”

Learned men have always said that success is something that cannot be measured and differs from person to person. Jim Rohn, America’s leading Business Philosopher describes success as “nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day”.

All of us want to succeed in our own unique way and we strive for it. But what is success is unknown to many of us. Are fame, name and money success? Can you term material gains as success in an individual’s life? The answer is a big NO. Motivational and Personal Development experts feel that happiness is the answer to success. In this material driven world if a person can stay happy through his highs and lows then it can be called success.

The poet David Frost said that ‘don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally’. How true. If you are passionate about what you do, you are sure to excel in that field, leading to success in your career. Professional success leads not only to happiness but also to innovate in your chosen field. If every individual can identify their core strength and work on it then success is sure to be achieved leading to happiness and satisfaction. Whether you are an artist or a writer or a doctor or a software programmer, being ardent and fervent about your work will show in what you do, leading to fame and name. Many achievers have said that once you achieve success you feel empty inside. But I beg to differ. If you are committed to your work with passion and zeal you won’t feel lonely. Professional success is like an aphrodisiac. You will want to achieve it again and again. British author Michael Korda says that ‘Your chances of success are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do. If you are in a job you hate, face the fact squarely and get out’.

We must attract success not chase it.

Many times, it is seen that a person with tremendous leadership traits, fails when he sets up his own shop. Qualities like hard work, tenacity and perseverance which seemed an asset somehow turn into a liability. This is due to the fact that they fail to take any responsibility. Don’t play blame games in case of failure. As an entrepreneur, you have to accept that the buck stops with you, each and every time. Taking responsibility is a major act of a true leader. All these attributes in a leader helps him in attaining success.

Former President Abraham Lincoln, failed to gain office many times before he finally became the President. His purpose and goals were clear in his mind and he did not give up. He said “try and try until you succeed” and that’s exactly what he did. Success and failure are like two sides of a coin. Sometimes it is heads and other times tails. If you can accept both with positive attitude, you are sure to succeed. The purpose of experiencing failure is to appreciate success when it comes to you.

‘I think we worry about failure too much. I don’t think that failure very often can hurt anybody. Its fear of failure that will absolutely destroy you’ says the learned Jack Lemmon. Just as the story of a spider inspired Robert Bruce to try and win his battle, it’s only your guts, determination and motivation that help you to achieve success in life.
Even in personal life success depends on a positive attitude, motivation to stay in a relationship as well as being sincere and dedicated to your loved ones which lead to success in the relationship. Very often we confuse issues and get side tracked leading to despair and heart ache. It is always wise to look at your cup half full. Achievement and motivation are like Siamese twins. One doesn’t exist without the other. When these two go hand in hand success is certain. This is true not only to professional life but to personal life as well.

‘The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed’ Lloyd Jones

Instead of just lamenting that you are not lucky enough to get success it is better to catch the bull by its horns. Take charge of your life and set about by starting with a positive thought. A single positive thought can lead to many big achievements in life. Consider for a moment the Law of Attraction; Rhonda Byrne in her book ‘The Secret’ says that, thoughts are powerful and transform themselves into things. We are like communication towers transmitting at different frequencies. When we transmit powerful positive signals which reach out to the universe, it brings forth beautiful and fruitful results in the form of success. If you transmit sad and negative thoughts you only get what you have transmitted. The ‘Secret’ was said to have been inspired by the classic text ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ which was written almost a century ago. This book lays out a blueprint for financial success and a free copy is available from The SuccessBlog at www.ursuccess.net

This is the difference between success and failure. Be clear in your mind what you are asking for. Remember there is no limit, no constraint to thinking big.

Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction- says Al Bernstein.

In conclusion remember that real success is achieved when there is undisturbed peace of mind and my favourite quotation on the subject by George Woodberry,

“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure”.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=377559&ca=Self

3 Great Reasons For Setting Goals By Daniel Britton

Goal setting is not new. Many business and motivational experts such as Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy have been extolling their virtues for many years. Napoleon Hill in the classic Think and Grow Rich writes:
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe he can achieve”.

But how exactly can the process of setting goals bring about tangible results?

For many, the goal of running a marathon is all about crossing the finish line. Consider this, that the larger achievement is the ability to get to the start line. The race itself may last 3, 4 or 5 hours depending on your ability, but the preparation will have been many weeks and months of effort, dedication and motivation. In other words the person you will have to become to be in the condition to start the race is the more significant part of achieving the goal.

Listen to an athlete, a best-selling author, a successful professional, or entrepreneur - they will all talk about dreams and goals! The visualisation of their achievements and success is in their minds way before they appear in reality. These are goals that have created passion in their lives, that move them into daily, monthly and yearly action, and that bring emotion because of the clear sacrifices that have been made preceding long aspired victories. Goals can create miracles and accomplishment by providing the inspiration to take action.

The Reticular activating System (RAS)
The reticular activating system is part of the brain that asks like a filter between the conscious and subconscious mind. It takes instructions from the conscious mind and passes them on to the subconscious. For example, the instruction might be, 'listen out for anyone saying my name'.

At any one time, we are receiving around 100,000 times more information than we are capable of processing. Most of the incoming stimulus is irrelevant to us so the RAS filters let in only what we need.

For example imagine that you are at a party and you are in deep conversation with someone on one side of the room. There is a lot of information that your mind could be processing, all the sights, sounds, smells, conversations etc but the conscious mind can only handle a small part of the information. Suddenly your attention is drawn to another conversation across the room because someone mentioned your name.

Another good example is when you have bought or are considering buying a new car. Suddenly that exact make and model are everywhere. It appears highly unlikely that there are suddenly more of those cars around, it’s just that you now begin to notice them.

So in what ways can the RAS influence goal achievement? First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your conscious mind. For example, by setting goals, saying affirmations, or visualising your goals.

Secondly, your RAS cannot distinguish between 'real events' and imagined one. In other words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Once we ae aware of this we can use it to our advantage. Imagine that you're going to attend an interview. You can rehearse the event by visualising it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice should improve your confidence and performance at the interview.

What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious - which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as 'background noise'. We then notice new opportunities and ways in which we can make our goals a reality.

A third reason why goal setting works is that the process of defining your goals brings you into alignment with your true desires and values. If for example, a person sets a goal to be a millionaire but inwardly has hidden and limiting beliefs about money, then the goal is unlikely to be achieved. It is only when the conscious and subconscious minds are in harmony that a person will identify opportunities and take the inspired action which is necessary for success.

An effective goal setting session should therefore incorporate a period of evaluation and review. In this way the underlying values and motivations can be identified. It is often said that the Why is more important than the How, and this is certainly true of goal setting and goal achievement. Once a clear reason is established as to why the achievement of the goal is so important then the vision of its success is more likely to bring the goal into reality.

In conclusion goal setting is an important method of:

• Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life;
• Separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a distraction;
• Motivating yourself; and
• Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals.

If you don't already set goals, there will never a better time to start than right now. As you make this technique part of your life, you'll find your career accelerating, improve your relationships and bring your dreams into reality. Further resources and a goal setting checklist is available from the SuccessBlog

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=378374&ca=Self