The Optimists Creed

I can't take any credit for this but it is a fantastic sentiment. It was writtine by Christian D Larson and here it is:


"The Optimists Creed


I promise myself...


To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind;
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet;
To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them;
To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism ccome true;
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best,
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own;
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future;
To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet;
To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticise others;
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble;
To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but in great deeds;
To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me."

When we are bombarded with the millions of negative messages and the seemingly incessant challenges of every day, just remember that some people, somewhere in the world are having the best day of their lives; ever.

Focus on that and the next person in line could be you.


Have a fantastic and successful day.


Mark.





 

How do you see yourself?

When you look in the mirror every morning, how do you see your self? Do you pick out all the spots and blemishes that you're not happy with or do you look at yourself and declare how great a person you are?

You may have all the success goals and strategies in place to build the future you want. However, if you hold an imperfect image of yourself in your mind, the chances are that YOU will throw a spanner in the works everytime YOU are trying to achieve something.

As every book and commentary on self-development from every century has continually stated; success starts from within. The first thing you need to change is your mind's image of YOU; and you can! It is so simple.

The first step is to create the image you want. Write down all the qualities you want for YOU; for example, if you want to be happy, then write that you are a constantly happy person. If you want to be organised, write that you are always organised and tidy.. Once you have written a picture of yourself, exuding all the qualities that you desire to have, then you can move on to step 2.

This second step is vitally important. Read it, every day as many times as you can. it may bot seem right at first but read it nevertheless. It's even better if you speak it out lound to yourself. Speak it with real conviction and feeling. Do this regualrly and least daily and your mind will replace the tarnished image you have of yourself with one you can be proud of.

Finally, guess what, once your mind has that image of you, you will become that person because your mind will influence every one of your behaviours. 

Go on, make start making a difference to yourself today.

Have a fantastic day,

Mark.

Success.

Do you believe you deserve success? If not, why not?


Everyone deserves success; in fact, it is your birthright. You did not arrive on this planet to be a failure, to live a life of mediocrity, suffering or even despair. You must believe in YOU to realise that success.


Whether for better or for worse, all of us are where we are today because of the choices we have or have not made. For some, this is a bitter pill to swallow and a good few will totally deny this. However, it is the truth and if you are brutally honest with yourself, you will realise this.


I'll use a personal example to illustrate this; I failed ALL my A levels back in the '70s. Why was this? Although I didn't realise it at the time, it was due to the fact that I constantly made the choice to go out partying and the choice NOT to study and revise.


Now, don't beat yourself up about this; in the majority of cases, this is not your fault. At school, we have an education system that teaches us academic knowledge but fails us in many other ways.


We are not taught properly how our constant and everyday choices lead us into different directions. If we have no idea where we are headed and no direction of where we want to go, then our choices almost become irrelevant.


Goal setting is so incredibly important at any age but the earlier we start, the better we will become at it. 


Once you have written goals in place and in mind, then you will make choices that will lead to accomplish of these. Once you start achieving goal after goal, you will find success and self-belief. 


Working towards your goals, whatever they are, brings you the success you are looking for and the success you deserve.


Have a fantastic day,


Mark.

Focus

Is your head spinning? Are you struggling to achieve your goals?

It is really difficult sometimes with the everyday 'noise' of things that need to be done. We may even be organised enough to make lists and plans of things that need to be done but what happens when that list of tasks becomes overwhelming?

The first step is to start prioritising. There are always things that need to be done that day and these need to be fitted in. however, just doing those things alone will not move you forward. So what do you do?  

Look at that list of goals again; pick your short term goals and prioritise them. Forget about the time or effort that it may take; just concentrate on one that is most iportant to you at that moment.

One that is decided and you have your number one goal, put all your focus onto it; make a plan of simple taks that need to be performed to achieve that goal. Make those tasks as small as possible, so they are easy to achieve. 

Once you have that list, then you can start adding them one by one to your list of daily activities. Even if one task takes several days to complete, at least you know you are moving toward your goal. I promise you that keeping to this disciplined focus and by making one little step everyday, you will achieve even the mightiest and biggest of goals.

Some people are able to concentrate on more than one goal at a time; however be honest with yourself. Trying to add too much to that daily list may mean that actually those goal steps never get completed. That will lead to frustration and a feeling of failure. I know that I can only focus on one at a time but, after several weeks, I can have achieved several goals using this discipline.

I'll leave you with a story:

A master racher took two students out into the woods and set them up to shoot at two targets over 100 metres distant. In the middle of both targets was a circle of a five centimetre radius.

Both students notched their arrows and raised their bows, pulling back their bowstrings.

The master then said to the first student. "Tell me what you see."

"I see trees, bushes and grass. I see the birds chasing insects in flight and I see two rabbits nibbling at the grass. I see a deer in the distance..."

"Put down your bow," the master interrupted, "for you are not ready to shoot today".

He turned to the second student. "Now tell me what you see."

"A small, blue circle".

"Then let fly your arrow".

That is focus.

Have a fantastic day.