How relevant are you? What do you do that has enduring value? Bill gates can say his dream of having a personal computer in every home and every office has largely been realized (in the developed world at least). What are you going to be remembered for? Your legacy is directly proportional to your contribution.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

We are talking about getting ahead in this series of articles. What better way of getting ahead in life than making the lives of others better? The universe provides abundantly to those with an abundant mindset. The universe keeps away its goodies from those with a scarcity mindset. Thinking you cannot succeed by improving the lives of others is a self limiting belief.

Do not wait until you get rich for you to make a contribution. Make giving part of getting rich. Give until it hurts. Giving will open floodgates of blessings. Align your goals, actions and habits with making a contribution to others. I try my best on this blog to make a contribution in my readers’ lives. I want my success to be intricately tied to your success.

Succeeding by building others up is the most sustainable way of succeeding. If I work really hard to write great articles that will change your life, you are most likely going to keep coming back for more and maybe invite your friends to this site. It is the same in business and other areas of life. If you build other people up, they will be happy with you and spread the word on your behalf saving you big bucks in advertising costs.

Teachers Contribution

Teachers are some of the most under-appreciated contributors in society. I will dedicate some space for all the teachers today. I love teachers; maybe it has something to do with my dad having been a teacher and the fact that my sister is a teacher. I previously shared this video on the blog post about succeeding through building others up.

Video Transcript

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?
Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

In other words…

No matter what you do in life, whether you are a teacher or a lawyer, a cleaner or a business man, you can succeed by making a contribution. Find what others need and give them exceptional value. Always ask yourself, “what can I do to build this person or people up?.

Take stock of your life; are you making a contribution to others? Is the achievement of your goals going to be humanity’s nightmare? Be on the look out for ways you can make a contribution to the lives of others. Ask not, what others can do for you, but what you can do for others.

In Summary

There is no better way of getting ahead in life than aligning your success with that of others. You will not only enjoy your success journey, but you will sleep soundly at night after you make it.

If you like this blog post, please be kind enough to share it with your friends. Make a contribution to their lives by sharing this blog post (or am I pushing it? Haha!)

This year, I have been unshackling myself from mental slavery. I earmarked 2009 as the year of unparalleled professional and personal growth. It has meant getting rid of some beliefs that were royally screwing my life and preventing me from getting ahead.

I decided to start this blog to share my experiences, lessons and thoughts with others…why? To inspire you to be the best you can be. It has not been an easy road exposing my life to people I might never meet. But it is a small prize to pay to make a positive contribution in your life. I might never meet you in person, but it is my hope that your success will inspire others too.

Early this week, I posted a blog post about setting up systems to serve you. If you have a good belief system… a collection of ideas, outlook, habits, and action triggers, you will succeed. The kind of belief system you set up will determine how high you rise and how far you go. To succeed, you have to let go of self limiting beliefs.

Will Smith is one of my favorite actors of all time. You can watch him on a video I posted in January 2009 on the about page of this blog. He said that he believes whole-heartedly that our thoughts, our feelings, our dreams; our ideas are PHYSICAL in the universe. Your belief system WILL manifest itself in your physical life.

I am living testimony that positive thoughts can transform a life. I had reached the depths sheol and did not like it down there. My beliefs and ideas were keeping me down. I tried the positive thinking “nonsense” and it surprisingly made absolute sense to me. I urge you to give it a try my friend. Commit yourself to a complete renewal of your mind through positive thoughts. What you think, you become. What you believe, you get.

Let us look at a few areas of life that a shaky belief system can cost you (and what to do about it).

Finances

• Generosity – What are your thoughts on giving? I have found that the more you give the more it comes back to you. Do not hoard the little you have thinking that you will start giving when you “get there”. Commit a certain percentage of your time and resources for generosity. If you cannot give $10 to your church when you have $100, it is unlikely that you will give them a hundred grand when you make a million.
• Sow and Reap – As a man soweth, so shall he also reap. What kind of seeds are you planting in your life right now? Whether you realize it or not, you are a farmer. You are always planting and harvesting. If you plant an extravagant lifestyle on credit, you will reap massive debt. If you sow an automatic investment strategy, then you will reap compounded returns.
• Don’t work for money – Do you believe that you have to work for money? That is not cool. Let money work for you instead. Don’t rock up to a job you hate every day for the rest of your life just for the paycheck. Find your passion, do what you like to do, not what money makes you do. The irony is that the more you do what you enjoy doing, the more money you will get.
• The quickest path to happiness – I have said previously on this blog that those who say money cannot buy happiness don’t know where to shop. I maintain that view, but let me add something… you can still be happy without spending your money. The quickest path to happiness is contentment.
• Gain Financial Literacy – Do you bury your head in the sand and let your accountant crunch the numbers for you? Do you say that you are not good with numbers or that finance is too complicated? Such a belief system can cost you a fortune. Get busy now and acquire financial literacy. Celebrities who hand over their money to money managers at times end up in the poor house if they do not pay attention to the details of their financial standing.

Career

• Flexible goals – Some people believe that just because their biology teacher said it, they have to become doctors. Just because you were good in math does not mean you should be an accountant. Be flexible and adaptable to changing times and opportunities in your career.
• It may take time to succeed – Career success does not happen overnight. Be prepared to put in the hours, effort and perseverance. Success is normally found just after others give up. Push yourself, don’t give up.
• Formal qualifications are not the “alpha and omega” of career success. You can succeed in a career that you did not earn a degree. I am a graduate in Business (Marketing & Information Systems) but what I do has little to do with what I studied at uni. I know a lot of people who have had career success in what they trained in. I also a lot of others that have succeeded in areas of their passion even though they do not have any formal training.
• Work on your strengths – In school we are taught to focus on our weak areas. To repeat until we get it. But real life is a little different. Work on your strengths instead of wasting your time on what you are not good at. You can always subcontract your weak areas if you find success on what you are good at.
• It is never too late – I recently read a story about a middle aged lady that had gone back to university to study law. She had been running a clothing store for 20 years. She went on to become a successful lawyer. Do not be stuck in a rut for fear of change. As long as you are not six feet underground, you can do whatever you put your mind to.

Relationships

• Treat yourself nice – How you treat and perceive yourself will have a dramatic effect on how others treat you. Think about it, when you meet new people, you treat them according to how they present or express themselves. Put your best foot forward and others will treat you accordingly.
• Relationships are forever – Think of creating win-win situations with others. Whether you are talking with your customers or wife, treat them with respect and set a foundation for an ongoing relationship.
• Birds of a feather – You will be judged by the company you keep. People you surround yourself with can infect you with their enthusiasm for life or their morbid desire for punishment.
• Stereotypes – Do not succumb to stereotyping yourself or others. Take time to listen and learn about others before making sweeping statements.

In Summary

You can do whatever your put your mind to. Your beliefs affect your relationships, your finances, your health and much more. Think positively and constantly re-evaluate your belief system.

Kindly share this article with your friends. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this topic. For the readers who have supported this blog in the last eight months, I say a big thank you. I appreciate you.

I have experienced a few big changes in comfort zones in my life. I will share a couple of those experiences with you in the hope that you may see some parallels in your life. I hope you will be able to learn a thing or two about branding yourself outside your comfort zone.

In 1998 at the age of 18, I left Kenya to study in Perth, Western Australia. I had just finished high school and had hardly ever spent a night away from home. Up to that point I had outsourced the thinking about life to my parents. I had been living under their roof, eating their food, wearing clothes bought by them, being guided in everything. Then I found myself in a new city where I did not know anyone. I had to learn fast. I had to survive.

Who was Daniel Ngari in 1998? I was an international student with an attitude. I always told myself that Australia came looking for me, not the other way round. In my young mind, I was a valuable international student that brought in the much needed foreign exchange. I could vividly remember the Australian consultants selling the country (and universities) to us in my high school in Kenya.

That attitude helped me navigate the new city with confidence. Some of the people I met in Perth in my early days were under assumption that all Africans in Australia were asylum seekers funded by the government (not that there is anything wrong with being an asylum seeker). I met and made friends with a few African international students that were living so meekly, it was not funny. They had allowed the society to intimidate them. Here were international students paying top dollar for their education, yet they were being forced into submission by society’s perceptions. I was not about to let that happen to me.

You may be called upon to leave your city or the comfort of your environment. Whenever you go, decide in advance how you want to tune people’s perception of you (personal brand). You are the master of your own ship my friend. Do not let others tell you who you are. Decide for yourself then package yourself as you would like to be perceived.

When you step out of your comfort zone, find something about yourself that will give you every inch of confidence. You will need it. It may be something in your background, your looks, your charisma, your education, your attitude etc. Find something within yourself and use it as the springboard to branding yourself in the new environment.

Becoming a Blogger

I launched this blog six months ago on 5^th of January 2009. On that day I wrote a short blog post that I will re-post below. It took me another week before I mustered the courage to post a second blog post. I was getting out of my comfort zone and it felt really strange in the unfamiliar waters.

This is what I wrote on that first blog post:

For the better part of 2008, I was thinking of starting this blog as a way of connecting with my friends online, not as an anonymous advertiser that I have been for the last 7 years, but as a human being with a name, as a friend, and as a family member.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This blog post is the beginning of this site’s journey. A site dedicated to bring out the best of you through the power of positive thinking

I am not some sort of guru, philosopher, psychologist etc. I am just a regular guy trying to improve my life, and eager to share my lessons with others with the hope that it will inspire you.

Although I have known about blogging for a while, this is the first time I have dived into the blogging waters, if you notice some missteps, please let me know and I can improve with time.

Is there anything you have been postponing? Is there something that has the potential to change your life, that is within your power to do, but you have been putting off? In that case, my friend, just do it. Everything that you see around you started as an idea. You can create tomorrow’s reality by turning your ideas into actions. Ideas without action are not worth much.

I wish you all the best for 2009. Please post a comment below to let me know you visited.

Cheers.

Though I had been making a living on the internet for 7 years, I had no personal brand on the net to speak of. I had previously been making a living as an anonymous affiliate marketer and advertiser. But I knew that for me to build something of value, and to grow as a person, I had to launch this blog and build from here.

My friend, the first trick is to take action. The second trick is to take small bold baby steps. Don’t wait to have all the answers. Get started and learn as you go. I am still learning the ropes when it comes to blogging, inspiring people and build online communities.

If you are still operating in your comfort zone because of fear of failure, I encourage you to take action. Apply the power of Kaizen (baby steps) in your personal branding efforts outside your comfort zone. A little here, a little there, you will find yourself with a powerful and effective personal brand.

Summary

Staying at your comfort zone may look attractive in the short term. However, real growth only comes to those that step out of their comfort zones. Do not be afraid of testing new waters. Find something within you or around you that you can use as a springboard for confidence into the new zone. Start small but grow through taking action and active baby steps.

Freedom from Fear

To stamp your authority in your career you need to eliminate all forms of fear and live courageously. Get rid of the fear of failure, fear of punishment, fear of making mistakes and even the fear of being told “you are fired”.

Fear paralyzes and causes inaction. It modifies behavior and keeps people in their comfort zones. You need to break free from your comfort zone if you are to become an authority in your chosen career. Eliminate the fear of the unknown through constant learning, asking questions and throwing yourself in new and challenging situations.

I like this quote on fear by Marianne Williamson, from her 1992 book, “Return to Love”.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Specialized Knowledge

Enhance your personal brand by becoming highly skilled in your chosen career. You can gain expert status in you field through extensive reading, attending seminars or even apprenticeship. Dig deeper into your field than your peers. Stay in the bleeding edge of innovation in your area of work.

Power of Persuasion

In my favorite movie of all time, The Godfather, Don Corleone made Jack Woltz an offer he could not refuse. I will not get into the details of the offer but sometimes it is necessary to sweeten your offer for you to get ahead in life. People act out of the desire to eliminate pain and desire to gain pleasure. Learn how to use a balance of those two motivations to create an offer that people cannot refuse.

Know who to make the offer to, when and how. You need to practice to become more persuasive if it does not come naturally to you. Listening skills are vital in becoming more persuasive. Learn to listen to both what people say and what they do not say. Learn to read people’s body language and hidden message (like in this section of this blog post).

Unparalleled Value

Don’t just turn up to work. Ask yourself what you can do for your employer, more than you ask yourself what your employer can do for you. Understand and articulate the needs of your customers better than anyone else.

Learn to anticipate their needs and obsess about providing value. Be generous and give until it hurts. Seek feedback from your employer or customers on how your value has impacted them and seek to provide more value based on that feedback.

Remember that money is only a medium of exchange and has no intrinsic value.  The paradox of money is that the sooner you ask for it the less of it you will receive in the long run. Worry about giving value and money will take care of itself. Worry about value creation and delivery more than you worry about pay rises and getting paid.

Power Networking

Meet the key people in your industry. Do not be proud of just accumulating business cards in your rolodex. Make sure your personal brand and first impressions are working to your advantage.

Seek to be friends with your contacts. People love to do business with their friends. It is not corruption, it is human nature. Rarely do people enjoy playing golf with people who have a one track mind – business, more business and yet more business.

Do not pressure people in your networking efforts. Be desirable. Package yourself nicely. Let others seek you for your appeal instead of you pushing yourself to them.

Leadership Skills

Learn, internalize and practice leadership skills. Be good in goal setting, project management and be good with people. Develop your people skills by seeing the good in them, and seeking to bring out the best in others.

Develop your leadership skills through attending leadership seminars, talking with other leaders, reading books, blogs and watching DVDs on leadership skills development. Go out there and learn to lead by doing. Leading even the smallest of teams will develop more of your leadership skills than a seminar would.

Mentoring

Chart your own career path. Decide what is important for you. You do not want to wait for a mentor to tell you what is good for you. They will guide you based on their world view, past experiences and warped ideas of who you are.

Do not have just one mentor. Find many people who you admire and find little things about each that you can implement in your life. Do not become a clone of someone else.

To become an authority in your field and to prosper your personal brand, consider mentoring others. Share your lessons that you have learned over time. Give whoever you are mentoring genuine value. Be genuinely interested in helping the people you mentor.

Outlast Competition

Authority status is not acquired overnight. Be persistent in your aspiration for authority status in your chosen field. Continuously develop your career. Learn the ropes. Learn the people. Ingrain yourself in the culture. Be an insider. Speak the lingo.

Outlasting your competition does not mean staying with the same company or line of business all your life. But it does mean immersing yourself in one general area of business for years on end. Remember that rolling stones gather no moss. You need to stick around for the harvest. Authorities do not plant then leave immediately.

Believe in Yourself

Others may doubt you, do not join them. Conduct a SWOT analysis of yourself. Learn your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You cannot be everything. Find an angle and stick with it. Become really good at what you do using your own unique angle.

There will always be people who are better than you in something just as there will always be people you are better than. Do not let the success of others make you jealous or diminish your belief in yourself.

Be happy in your own achievements, however humble. Count your blessings everyday. Build your confidence by achieving and celebrating your milestones on your career journey.

Befriend the Rule Book

Each profession operates within confines of the law and standards. Know the limits in your careers. Stretch the limits but do not break them. Ignorance is not a defense. Find advisors to guide you when you get to ETC (end of thinking capacity).

Summary

To become an authority in your chosen career, you must first believe in yourself. Know the rules and network expertly. Gain specialized knowledge and use it to give unparalleled value. Be free from fear and develop your leadership. Authority status does not happen overnight so be prepared to work for it.

I would love to hear your comments on how to achieve authority status and other ways of enhancing your personal brand in a career setting.

A powerful personal brand is consistent. Consistency does not mean stagnation. It does not mean lack of growth. It does not mean doing the same thing over and over. Consistency in personal branding means sending a uniform message to your target audience. It means maintaining a standard and avoiding actions that could damage your personal brand.

One of the quickest ways to damage a personal brand is through inconsistency. When people stop paying attention to their personal brand, the results can be disastrous. They slide back to old habits or do things that damage people’s perception of them. For example, a successful businessman can damage his personal brand by being charged in court for domestic violence. An elite footballer can damage his personal brand by being exposed as having a drug problem.

To maintain a consistent brand image, it is important to set giant personal branding goals. These goals can then be broken down into sub goals. Consistent achievement of those sub goals over time gives a consistent brand direction. Those baby steps add up.

Powerful personal brands take years to develop. It is not the radical changes that you make to your personal brand that count. It is the small, gradual, never ending improvements that shape people’s perception f you.

Consistency Applied

• Health - Consistency in exercise and good eating habits help maintain a healthy body and mind. Regular exercise helps develop discipline and good health. This manifests itself in other areas of life and directly impacts on personal branding efforts.

• Finances – Having a consistent investment/saving plan helps protect a person in times of hardships. Putting aside a percentage of your earnings will ensure your personal brand is protected in tough times.Financial difficulties can be damaging to a personal brand. Being consistent in the way you prudently manage finances is insurance for your personal brand.

• Networking – Consistently meeting new people and developing existing relationships has a big impact on personal branding. It helps improve recognition and trust. It takes time for people to trust new contacts. It is not enough to attend one business networking meeting, collect business cards, and call it a day.Think of contacts as an investment. Think of how you can benefit from each other over the long term. Work on solidifying your relationship over time. Follow up with your contacts regularly by providing value or friendship. Do not just approach your contacts when you need something from them. Let the power of compounding work in your favor. Be consistent in the way you approach networking.

• Mind – You need to put your thoughts on a leash. Don’t let them wander off too far from where you want them to be. You can do this through constant affirmations and consistently reminding yourself what it is that you want to achieve.If you let your thoughts wander too far from your control, you will miss the bus. The bus that leads to success. This is one area of life where you are allowed to be a dictator. Dictate your thoughts. Consistently feed your mind with empowering thoughts that will help in your self improvement efforts and personal branding.

• Relationships – The best relationships are built through consistent communication. Consistent actions such as love, honesty and generosity are rewarded through fulfilling relationships. It is not what you do once in a while that builds a fabulous relationship. It is the small consistent things done regularly that count.

• Character – This is the area of lasting success that is unfortunately ignored by many who aspire to be successful. Setting and reaching character goals will make you a better person. Character is who you are when nobody is looking. Are you a man or woman of honor? of integrity? are you honest? Are you self disciplined?Character is different from talent, it is shaped over time by the events, decisions you make and actions that you take. The strength of someone’s character refers to their inner person, whom they really at the core.When a man loses every single earthly possession all he has to fall back on is his character. The strength of character consists of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, good behaviors or habits. Character is what determines a person’s ultimate destiny.

• Contribution – Giving value to others is the perfect way of building a personal brand. Developing a consistent habit of giving to others is like planting seeds of a powerful personal brand. Be a cheerful giver. Give something of value to people you meet. Not necessarily money but what you have in your reserves.When you give you are making a deposit in your spiritual account and you will reap your rewards with the same measure you give out. Obsess on consistently giving to others; whether it is through your time, ideas, money or gifts.

Summary

Consistency means sending out a consistent message regarding your personal brand. It means avoiding extremes and focusing on growth through taking baby steps.

It is the small steps that you take consistently in business, health, mind, relationships, finances etc that make the ultimate difference. Protect your personal brand through consistency.

I would love to hear your comments regarding the value of consistency. How has consistency helped you in your life? What areas of life do you think can improve if you were consistent? Your comments are most welcome.

Visualization means creating a mental image of your desired destination or path to your destination. A picture is worth a thousand words. Use that power of pictures and create a beautiful and captivating image of your success. This will open up your mind to the possibility and reality of achievement.

You can get or acquire whatever your mind thinks is possible. Even when others doubt you. The Wright brothers visualized that they could get a very heavy piece of metal to fly across oceans even faster than birds.

I am sure there are many who doubted them but they stuck to their guns and eventually made a working plane. It all begins in the mind my friend.

Servicescape Visualization

I had the good fortune of studying marketing at university. One of my favorite courses was called “Services Marketing”. I especially fell in love with the concept of servicescape that was part of the services marketing class. I ended up designing Servicescapes for imaginary companies and really enjoyed that. The 2 months I was obsessed with servicescapes stretched my imagination and creativity. I will introduce you to the servicescape concept and how you can use it in visualizing your goals.

Servicescape is how companies plan their physical and digital interactions with customers. Think of it like the landscape of the company’s services.

Servicescape is the difference in service that you get from a McDonald’s restaurant and a small local Indian restaurant. McDonald’s plan their servicescape with excruciating detail. Every thing is visualized and planned to perfection; from the questions asked, to the staff uniforms, from the milk shakes to the menus etc. The McDonald’s servicescape is then replicated in each franchise, getting inside one is like getting inside another. That is the McDonald’s secret, and also the secret of other restaurants franchises such as Nandos, KFC, Steers, Burger King etc

The service industry is very good at planning the servicescape, especially in the higher end of the market. For example, Hilton hotels will normally plan exactly how the customer interacts with the hotel. From inquiries, bookings, reservations, cancellations, check ins, security, checkout etc.

Every worker at the hotel is a cog in the servicescape machine. I was really shocked when I did the services marketing course at how much details these companies put in their servicescapes.

We would draw detailed maps on how customers would come in, who would meet them where, what kind of messages they get from the hotel etc.

The success of the high end service enterprises lies in how well they plan and execute their servicescapes. You may not be able to plan in detail at the level these high end companies do, but it would serve you well to have a clear mental image on how you are going to get to your success.

For example, in your career, you need to have a vivid mental image of the kind of training and career path will take you there. Otherwise you will follow any road, any road that could lead you anywhere. The power of visualization helps you determine your destiny.

Benefits of Visualization

• Visualization helps you focus on what you want. Focus is one of the secrets of achievement. You need to be able to focus on your goal and what it will take to get there. Visualization of goals gives you an idea of what is important for your success.

• Visualization helps you ask the right questions. What do you need to get to your goal? What resources will you need? How long will it take? Is it worth putting in the effort?

• Visualization whets you appetite and desire for success. If you picture your success clearly in your mind, you will have the requisite motivation to work towards your goals.

• Visualization leads to action. Before I write an article, I have to picture the person I am writing to, their situation in life and then start talking to him or her. I visualize this conversation and sit next to the keyboard and start writing as I would talk. Without visualizing what you want in life, it is hard to take action.

Visualization Methods

• Mental Visualization – Just close your eyes, get comfortable and imagine your success. Imagine it in color, smell it in your mind, touch it with your hands, get lost in the moment, lose yourself fully to the mental reality of your achievement.If you are imagining a family, listen to the kids playing with you; feel as you would feel if it were real. Immerse yourself in the reality of having attained that goal. Then expect it to happen. Do not have a doubt in your mind. Then chart the path to the attainment of that goal in your mind. Become a believer in your own success. Be your number one fan. Allow yourself to feel successful in anticipation.

• Drawing / Mind Maps – If your goal is to travel the world for example, get out a world map and plot your destination like a travel agent. Imagine yourself in those places. Mark even how long you are going to stay in each stop. If your goal is to build a house, draw the kind of house you want, if you want a wife or husband, draw them and write all the qualities they should posses. Visualize happiness and achievement and draw it as you want it. Create a mind map to your treasure hunt of success.

• Writing – Get a piece of paper and dump what is in your mind. Let it flow, write in prose or bullet point list. Get it down in writing as you visualize it. Say you want to start a company, visualize how much money the company will make and write it down. What value will you be giving your customers? What kind of servicescape shall you have? How much money do you need to get started? Dump it all on paper, and then organize it into a business plan later. You can visualize any goal and write the details on paper for further clarity.
• Pictures / Scrap book – They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Find the picture of what it is that you want. If you want to fly out of the country to an exotic destination, get the picture of your destination of choice and the airline that will take you there. If you want to be a lawyer get pictures of lawyers and courtrooms or law offices and add them to your scrapbook. I hear that some women even create a wedding album from cut outs even before they meet Mr. Right. Whatever it takes, do it.
• Emotional State – If you aspire to be financially free, imagine the emotional state you will be when you get there. Visualize yourself in that state. Just let go and enjoy the moment. Practice transferring your emotional state to the state of achievement. Be more comfortable in the state of achievement than in the current state. Every situation or goal has an associated emotional state. Find out what emotional state you will be when you get to your goal and practice being in that state. If you do this long enough it will become a self fulfilling prophesy. If you anticipate and fear failure, that too could turn into a self fulfilling prophesy.
• Share with a friend/public – Sharing your dreams and goals with a friend will allow you to visualize it. As you explain something to someone, you will find yourself clarifying in your mind what it is that you want. I am sharing my dreams and goals on this blog and it is helping me get clarity and visualize my success better. You can share your dreams and ideas with a friend or a group and the results may be amazing. Before you can put something in writing to others or speak it, you will have to visualize it and that is where you gain the edge. It becomes real in your mind and thus easier to execute.

Prayers as Visualization

This may not be popular with everyone so I am sorry if it conflicts with your beliefs.

Praying is one way of reflecting what you want and putting your hope in a higher being to help you out. Before your prayers even come out of your mouth, you get to imagine vividly what you want, or what you do not want. If you stopped there, you would still get some benefit from the prayer (or almost-prayer).

After finishing praying people believe that what they have prayed for has been heard and it will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. It is at this point that you become expectant, that you will succeed no matter what. That is a very important stage of success. Belief is powerful. What you believe to be true is your reality. Again if you skipped to this part, you will gain a lot. Pray often for your success no matter what your religious beliefs are. It is a fantastic way of visualizing success and attaining belief that you will get the results you desire.

Practical Areas to Apply Visualization

• Family – You can visualize the kind of family life you want to have, the moments you want to share with your family, how the family will relate to one another. You can visualize family outings and gatherings before they happen. You can visualize your own family even before you get one.

• Relationship – This is a biggie for most people. The person you spend time with influences how you feel about yourself and ultimately how high you soar in life. Visualize someone who is compatible with you and has the qualities that you want. See the person in your mind and make it your reality. If you are in a relationship and you want to improve things, visualize the kind of relationship you would like with your partner. Make it a reality in your mind. Believe it is possible and get to work to make it happen.

• Career – What you do most of the day can have a big impact in your life. Visualize yourself doing the work you love. If you are looking for a job, visualize yourself as having got the kind of job you desire. Visualize yourself as having attained your career objectives and get to work.

• Finances – You need to have a mental picture of the kind of finances you want in your life. Visualize how you are going to make money, spend, save and invest money. You can draw diagrams, write it down or use whatever method at your disposal to plan your financial future. If you are not up to the task, talk to a professional like an accountant or financial adviser.

• Lifestyle – This is where you can have the most fun. Visualize the kind of lifestyle you want to lead. If you want to be a social butterfly, visualize all the parties you will be attending, what you will be wearing, where you will be living, who your friends will be. Make it fun imagining the kind of life you want and then go and get it.

• Religion – Many religious people get motivated by the promise of the after life if they do not sin. You can visualize heaven and maybe even visualize hell when you feel like sinning. I hear that suicide bombers spend the last night before they kill themselves, fantasizing about 70 virgins in the after life. Now that is just wrong hehe.

• Health – Your mind has a tremendous impact on the recovery process. If you ever find yourself sick or disabled but have a sound mind, use your mind to will yourself back to good health or help you cope with the situation. If you want to achieve a level of fitness or quit some vice like smoking, start by visualizing yourself leading a healthier lifestyle. Good health begins with the mind and manifests in the body.
  

• Business – Last but not least, you can visualize starting a business in your mind. Plan its servicecape, create a business plan, and refine your value proposition and much more. Businesses re-engineering can also benefit from visualization and looking at things from a different perspective.

Summary

Visualization is a powerful way of attaining success. If you can picture it in your head, you are half way there. Develop your imagination and self belief when working towards a goal. If you can touch it, feel it and live it in your mind, then it will happen in the physical. I have barely scratched the surface of this deep and powerful topic. Feel free to research more on the area of success visualization and apply it in your life.

Sharing:

Please share this article with your friends .eg Facebook Friends. Inspire Your Friends.

Extended Grace

Every morning when I wake up I thank God for the gift of life. Growing up we always said “grace” before meals. In the prayer we would thank God for providing us with food, life, comfort etc. Later in life I tried extending “grace” to cover more aspects of my life; from health to relationships; from family to finances etc. It is not always automatic so I have to constantly remind myself to be thankful for what I have. Sometimes I get caught up with life and forget to be thankful for what I have. But real progress and happiness only happens when I am sincerely grateful for what I have.

The Attractor Factor

Think of yourself as a magnet. Whatever you think about you attract to your life. If you purposefully focus on all the good things that have happened in your life, you will get more of that. If you are married, be thankful for the husband or wife that you have. Keep focusing on the things you appreciate about your partner and are genuinely grateful for. You will notice that that will become a self fulfilling prophesy. You will get more of what you are grateful for.

Being grateful for what you have does not mean settling for less. You still have to work hard and aim high. But forgive yourself for mistakes and be grateful for the chance to learn from them. Recognize your progress towards your goals and be grateful. Being grateful helps you attract the very best to your life.

Gratitude is not the same as Indebtedness

According to Wikipedia, gratitude is not the same as indebtedness. While both emotions occur following help, indebtedness occurs when a person perceives that they are under an obligation to make some repayment of compensation for the aid. The emotions lead to different actions; indebtedness motivates the recipient of the aid to avoid the person who has helped them, whereas gratitude motivates the recipient to seek out their benefactor and to improve their relationship with them.

Below are some inspiring quotes to do with gratitude:

• Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful. Buddha

• Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. Denis Waitley

• Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust

• Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. Margaret Cousins

• The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. John E. Southard
  

The power of gratitude extends to all spheres of life. If you run a business, be thankful for having a business, for the customers that you have, for the ideas that you have, for the profits that you have made or can make. Instead of constantly chasing what you don’t have, be thankful of what you have. Treat your customers with care and gratitude. They will notice and tell their friends about you.

I am very grateful for the few readers and active commenters that I have on this blog. Thank you very much people. I really appreciate you being here, your visits propel me to write more. It would be lonely on this blog without your support. Thank you.

P/s – I happened to find a gratitude song that I used to love back in the days! Enjoy the video.

In this Series:

• The Power of Persistence
• The Power of Gratitude
• The Power of Positive Thinking
• The Power of Hard Work

I am fortunate to have grown up in a family that believed in the law of giving. Even though we were not rich my parents generously gave to the local community and people in need. Every year on the first day of January we would go to the orphans & disabled children’s  special home to give them food, money and company. As a child, I detested those visits. I saw it as my parent’s way of having new years party on the cheap. But my parents were insistent that I partake the ritual year in year out. Eventually I got it. I watched the result of my parent’s generosity manifest itself in more ways that you can imagine. Today we are a blessed family and I believe it stems from the law of giving.

When you give to others, you are acknowledging that you have plenty to go around. This is the opposite of a scarcity mentality that limits success. Look around, people who are extremely successful are generous souls. There are people who get ahead in life by less honorable means, but their success is not enduring. You have a better chance of sustaining your success if you base it on the law of giving.

Why do people give?

People give for various reasons. Some may want to give away to charity because they truly believe in the charitable organizations work. Other may give for publicity stunts or to absolve themselves from guilt. For the law of giving to work well in your life, you should evaluate why you give.  Give from the abundance of your heart and it will come back to you.

What can you give?

If you have money, give a portion of it to people in need. However money is just one of the things you can give to others. You can give other things that you have an abundance of. You can give love, respect, attention, company etc.

You can give to people around you not just to strangers and charities. Give to your children, wife, husband, family, friends, boss, customers etc. We live in a universe that has something for everyone so avoid a scarcity mindset and become a cheerful giver.

How do you make people feel? After a long period of time people generally don’t remember what you said but rather how you made them feel. Give people the gift of love and respect. Give kind words and encouragement in tough times.

Givers vs. Takers

Takers are selfish people who give less than they receive. They think that other people are stupid for being so generous.  It is tempting to be a taker especially when you think that no one will notice. Resist that devil and he will flee from you.

On the other hand Givers are wonderful people to have as friends, family, partners etc. They will give from the heart and try to exceed expectations. They are resourceful people who add value to everything they do. They aspire to give more than they receive but they end up receiving multiples of what they give. You should work at being a giver in life, business, and relationship and so on.

Spiritual Account

We all have spiritual accounts that we deposit into through our acts of giving. The more you deposit the more you can withdraw. If you are experiencing financial hardship, maybe you have been trying to withdraw from your spiritual account and the checks have been bouncing, marked as having insufficient funds. You can change this by being a giver and depositing to your spiritual account.

Payback Time

Giving paves way for receiving. The more you give the more you receive. Some times you will receive immediately, other times it may take years or maybe not even in your life time. This should not prevent you from giving. Don’t give with an expectation of a quick withdrawal. Giving is investing for the long term.

Bible Quotes on Giving

• “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them will receive curses” – Proverbs 28:27
• “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured to your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measure to you” – Luke 6:38
• Remember this: whoever sows generously will also reap generously – 2 Cor 9:6

Receiving Gifts

As much as you give to others  be happy to receive gifts. Don’t wait for gifts with bated breath but when you receive be really appreciative. Count your blessings one by one. Be thankful for the gift of life, the gifts of nature like air, water, sunlight. If you are in good health be thankful for that too. Remember to show private or public appreciation where appropriate for the people who give to you.

Summary

Be a cheerful giver. Give something of value to people you meet. Not necessarily money but what you have in your reserves. When you give you are making a deposit in your spiritual account and you will reap your rewards with the same measure you give out.