self-development

here i’ll post about self-development, talks, events, reviews of books…

quotes

ythevenot@gmail.com

hi guys,

in this post (it will built upon time), i will put some of my preferred quotes about self development (and please don’t hesitate to add yours in the comments).

“Your life is a reflection of your consistent thoughts: what you think is what you become.”

“Desire is the beginning of all riches.” Napoleon Hill

“The only requirement for success is desire.”

“Success is a skill you can learn.”

“Winners are made, not born.”

“Winners do not Quit, Quitters do not Win.”

“Don’t reinvent the wheel.”

“If you help enough people get what they want, then you’ll eventually get what you want.”

“Everything we do is out of our need to avoid pain, and out of our desire to gain pleasure.”

“The constant pursuit of enlightenment causes us to forget what we have now.”

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

“Those who succeed in enjoying an extraordinary life think long term.”

“It’s not what do once in a while that makes you successful, it is what you do consistently.”

“The foundation of all success is discipline. For every disciplined effort there are multiple rewards. There is either the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret – the pain of discipline is weighed in ounces while the pain of regret is weighed in tons.”

“growth depends on how much discomfort one can comfortably handle in his life.’

“Motivation gets you started, but habits keep you going”

“Failures in life lack discipline and winners are willing to do what the failures won’t”

“If you have a big enough reason to do something, you will do it, because the meaning changes from pain to pleasure”

“We fail to use our full potential because of our limiting beliefs”

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve” Napoleon Hill

“If you think you can, or can’t, either way you’re right” Henry Ford

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we created them” ~Albert Einstein

“When you decide you will never quit, there can be no more failure for you, only feedback”

“An extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most.” ~Robin Sharma

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” ~Bruce Lee

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ~Albert Einstein

“Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day.” ~Brian Tracy

The ultimate success formula

ythevenot@gmail.com

hi all,

I went to 2 seminars by Michael bolduc this year and got interesting knowledge. i actually got his book and i’m now in the process of implementing ‘The Ultimate Success Formula’ from Michael Bolduc, one of the top success coach in the world.

First comment is that he’s advocating the same principles than other successful coaches (Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield…) so they must be producing results. The difference between Michael’s book and Jack Canfield’s success principles is that this book is more of a formula you can replicate. The main principles behind the formula are:
– people always try to avoid pain and get more pleasure
– ask the right questions: when you ask yourself a question, you control on what you focus and whatever you focus on you move towards.
– failure is not an option: once you are 100% committed to achieve your goals, you cannot fail unless you quit and stop moving towards your goal.

Basically, this is a short version of the formula:

1 – define your outcome clearly: you cannot hit a target you cannot see. so you will first need to define clearly what success mean to you, what goals are you trying to achieve. You will need to focus on why you need to achieve these goals in order to find the motivation to do what it takes to reach your goal. Imagine you have reached your goal and answer the question: How does it feel achieving this goal? Build vivid images carrying emotions and feelings (think you are realizing a blockbuster movie). Once you can see these images clearly, prepare a vision board and then review it everyday (twice a day even better, first thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed) to motivate you moving on with the next steps.

2 – believe you can achieve it: the human brain is a very powerful tool and whatever you can imagine you can achieve, you can turn every dream you desire into reality. To be able to do that, you need to get your subconscious mind (the emotions that control your behaviors) to focus on your goals. Unfortunately many limiting beliefs (i’m not intelligent enough, I did not go to school, i don’t know how to do this…) will be your main obstacles. You will need to identify them and replace them with empowering beliefs, new maps that will show you how to attain your goals. remember feeling good is always a choice, use your conscious mind to focus on what you want and get the resources you need to succeed.

3 – plan: you know where you want to go, you believe you can get there, so how do you do it? most people get stuck there because they don’t know how to achieve their goal. so you know need to find the answer to the question “what do I need to do to achieve…?”. Success is a skill you can learn, so you will need to model successful people and learn from the best. Identify the skills you need and learn them. For that you will need a detailed plan, try to focus on the next 3 months, then do a weekly and a daily plan. (plan the day the night before and the week before it starts, for most people week-end will work best but you need to find what works for you). Make sure your daily and weekly plans are aligned with your long terms goal. And remember it’s not only the destination that is important, but make sure you enjoy the journey.

4 – take action/build habits: It is now what you do once in a while that makes you successful, it is what you do consistently. In order to achieve your goals, you will need to take massive actions. The only way you will manage to do this is if you build massive pleasure to taking the actions on your plan and massive pain to not taking actions. Make sure you measure your progress consistently.

5 – interpret your results and use feedback: once you take actions, there will be 2 possible outcomes: 1 – you get the results expected, congratulations for this success, you can now do the same with your next important goals. This success will help you to build confidence for the next goal. 2 – failure. but what is failure? actually if you commit to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal, then failure is not an option, until you quit. There is no failure, only feedback, so when you get the feedback, see what is not working, why it is not working and adjust your strategy and your plan until you get the results you committed to get.

This formula can be used to achieve any goals, you can become very rich, very healthy, loose this weight you always wanted to loose so bad… anything is possible once you have learn all the steps and is committed to follow them until you reach your target. if you have questions or want to comment on this, don’t hesitate to post and i’ll be sure to get back to you.

good luck all.

 

the success principles – principle 5 – believe in yourself

ythevenot@gmail.com

if you haven’t read the other principles, i suggest you start with the first: the success principles – 1st principle – take 100% responsibility

If you are going to be successful in creating the life of your dreams, you have to believe in yourself, that you are capable of making it happen. Whatever you call it, self-esteem, self-confidence, or self-assurance, you need to have a deep belief that you can achieve what you want.

Believing in yourself is an attitude, which means it your choice. this is a habit you can build over time. you must choose to believe you can do anything you set your mind to do, and this is confirmed by latest scientific research. With positive self-talk, positive visualization and the proper efforts, you can learn to do almost anything. If you really believe it is possible and act as if, then you will do that is necessary to bring the results. The other thing needed is you need to know why you’re doing it.

The choice of what to believe is up to you as the story of Victor Serebriakoff shows, he used to believe his school teachers and thought he was dumb, dropped out of school and move from manual work to manual work until he enrolled in the army and took an IQ test who revealed he was a genius, he then decided to believe these results and became a very successful author, business man and later became international president of mensa (a society for people with very high IQ). He was always intelligent but didn’t believe it until he got the results of the IQ test…

You have to give up I can’t

As Henri Ford said: “I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”

The words “I can’t” (and similar ones: I wish I were able to…) are weakening you. Whereas your brain is designed to solve any problem you give it, the worlds you think and say actually affect your body and therefore your capacity to do what is needed. Take responsibility and remove ‘I can’t’ from your vocabulary, and the sooner the better.

Don’t waste years believing you can’t, take the story of Catherine Lanigan for example, she believed for years a teacher who told her she writes very badly and should quit for 14 years, until finally she gave it a try and wrote about 30 best-sellers.

It’s never too late, stop making excuses, it’s never too late to start, as the ancient Chinese proverb says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. the second best time is now.” there are plenty of stories to illustrate that, check Grandma Moses for example, she started painting when she was 78 years old, though some of her paintings have sold for more than 1 Million USD years later.

Also you’re never too young to start, don’t worry about not having enough experience or being too young, you will learn by doing. There are many stories of people being successful at a very young age (as artists, businessman, philanthropist…)

Don’t assume you need a college degree, 20% of America’s millionaires never set foot in College, just think about Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

What others think about you is none of your business, forget about what the others want to you to do or achieve, do what you need to attain your goals. As Dr. Daniel Amen’s put it in his 18/40/60 rule, when you’re 18, you worry about what everybody is thinking of you, when you’re 40, you don’t give a darn what anybody thinks of you, when you’re 60, you realize nobody’s thinking about you at all. So keep focusing on what you want, believe in yourself and take actions now.

 

 

 

the success principles – principle 3 – decide what you want

ythevenot@gmail.com

if you haven’t read the other principles, i suggest you start with the first: the success principles – 1st principle – take 100% responsibility

“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want” – Ben Stein
It may be obvious but it’s worth noting that one of the main reasons people are not getting what they want is because they haven’t decided what they want or haven’t defined it clearly and in details. Remember when you were growing up and other people kept telling you don’t do that, you can’t have that, you can’t have everything you want just because you want it… well that probably led you to finally loose touch with the needs of your body or the desires of your heart, and left you like many people today not knowing what you want.

So, how do you change that? Stop settling for less than you want. This is a habit, so to get rid of it the best way is to replace it by the opposing habit, start making choices again, stop saying ‘whatever’ or ‘I don’t know’, when you are confronting with a choice, act as if you have a preference. Remember you deserve to have everything in your life exactly the way you want it.

Here are few ways you can reconnect with what you truly want:

  • make a list of 30 things you want to do, 30 things you want to have and 30 things you want to be before you die.
  • ask a friend to help you make an ‘I want’ list: have your friend ask you ‘what do you want’ for 10-15 minutes and right down all the answers. By the end of the exercise, your wants will be more true expressions of your core values.

People often don’t think they can make a living out of what they love, however most of the time you can. Let’s make a list of 20 things you love to do, and the following principles will show you how to make money at it.

if you check back the complete title of Jack Canfield’s book, you’ll see that it includes ‘how to get from where you are to where you want to be‘. Well in order to achieve that you’ll need to know 2 things: where you are and where you want to be. Therefore you need to clarify your vision of your ideal life, ie: describe what your destination looks like and feels like in the following seven areas: work and career, finances, recreation and free time, health and fitness, relationships, personal goals, and contribution to the larger community. Don’t worry about how you’re gonna get there, just figure out where ‘there’ is.

Once your vision is clear, you just need to lock it in with goal-setting, affirmations and visualizations, then your inner GPS will keep you on track and get you there.

Don’t limit your vision in any way, let it be as big as it is, as Michelangelo said: “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”. Or as General Wesley Clark put it “it doesn’t take any more energy to create a big dream than it does to create a little one”. One of the few differences between the superachievers and the rest of the world is that the superachievers simply dream bigger.

Robert Fritz (author of “The Path of Least Resistance”) said “if you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.”  Don’t let anyone talk you out of your vision, many will tell you that you’re crazy, that it’s not possible… don’t listen to them and follow your inner GPS.

Here is an exercise to help you clarify your vision:

(for original resource, please check: the vision exercise)

Sit quietly with relaxing music in a quiet environment where you won’t be disturbed, close your eyes and ask your subconscious mind to imagine (clearly and with pictures as vivid as possible) what your ideal life would look like in the following areas (it is important not to limit yourself in that exercise, don’t worry whether it is possible to get these or how you’re gonna get it):

  • financial: what is your annual income and monthly cashflow? how much savings do you have? what is your net worth? what does your home look like? where is it located? how many rooms it has? what landscape is it sitting in? is there a pool? how is it decorated? What kind of car are you driving? what other important possessions do you have?
  • career: visualize your ideal job, where are you working? what are you doing? what kind of customers do you have? what does your compensation look like?
  • free time: what hobbies do you have? what are you doing with your family and friends in your free time? what kind of vacations do you take? what do you do for fun?
  • health and fitness: what does your physical body look like? are you free of disease? are you pain free? how long do you live? are you open and relaxed? are you full of energy? how much do you weigh? how much do you exercise? do you eat good food and drink a lot of water?
  • relationships: what is your relationship with your spouse, family, closed friends look like? are those relaltionships supportive, loving, empowering? what kind of things do you do together?
  • personal development: do you see yourself learning new things frequently, attending seminars, reading books? do you want to learn how to play an instrument? do you want to travel to other countries?
  • community: what does your community look like? what kinds of common activities take place? what charitable, philanthropic or volunteer work takes place? what do you do to help others and make a difference?

Write down your answers as you go or write them down after you finish the whole exercise. Review the results every day to keep your conscious and subconscious minds focused on your vision. For maximum impact, share your vision with a person you know will be supportive and positive. this will help you clarify your vision even more, and make it feel more attainable. Every time you share it, you strengthen your own subconscious belief that you can achieve it.

Continue to the next principle principle 4 – believe it is possible.

And remember if you want to read the whole book, you can get it here: The Success Principles(TM) – 10th Anniversary Edition: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield

the success principles – 2nd principle – be clear why you’re here

ythevenot@gmail.com

if you haven’t read the first principle, I suggest you start with it: the success principles – 1st principle – take 100% responsibility

Perhaps the most important action successful people take is to understand what they’re here to do, and then pursue that with passion and enthusiasm. They are “on purpose“, meaning they’re doing what they love to do, what they’re good at, and accomplishing what’s important to them. Then the people, resources and opportunities they need naturally gravitate towards them.

As Brian Tracy says “decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it”

That’s good but how do you figure out what’s the why behind everything you do? The things that bring you the greatest joy are in alignment with your purpose, therefore make a list of the times you have felt most joyful and alive.

The “life purpose exercise” can help you create with that:

  1. List 2 of your unique personal qualities
  2. List few ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others.
  3. Describe the perfect word as you see it and feel it in one statement in the present tense.
  4. Combine your 3 answers into a single statement.

Once you have your purpose statement write it down on a card you carry with you and read it everyday, preferably in the morning. Make sure you keep this in mind when you apply the other success principles so you don’t get to the top of the ladder only to realize it is leaning against the wrong wall.

Here are some sample statements:

■ To inspire and empower people to achieve their destiny

■ To uplift humanity’s consciousness through business

■ To humbly serve the Lord by being a loving, playful, powerful, and passionate example of the absolute joy that is available to us the moment we rejoice in God’s gifts and sincerely love and serve all of his creations

■ To leave the world a better place than I found it, for horses and for people, too

Hope this helps you all to find your why. There are several other ways to do it, feel free to add yours in the comments below.

continue to the next principle: principle 3 – decide what you want

the success principles – 1st principle – take 100% responsibility

ythevenot@gmail.com

hi,

Let’s start with the principle 1: take 100% responsibility for your life.
America’s foremost business philosopher, Jim Rohn, put it this way: “you must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.”
stop believing we are entitled to a great life, there is only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live. That person is you.
You need to give up blaming forever and about everything. Have you ever blamed anyone for any circumstance in your life? have you ever complaining about anything? if like most of the people you answer yes, then you are not taking 100% responsibility for your life.
you have to give up all your excuses, there are 2 types of men in life, the ones who are successful and the ones who make excuses.
Remember the very simple formula: Event + Response = Outcome. if you don’t like the outcomes you are currently getting, change your responses. Everything you experience today is the result of choices you have made in the past.
don’t develop insanity: “continuing the same behavior and expecting different results”. The day you change your responses is the day your life becomes better.
you have to give up blaming: “all blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you.” Wayne Dyer.
you have to give up complaining: think about it, people only complain about things you can do something about and people almost always complain to the wrong person. stop complaining and take action. Remember you either create or allow everything that happens to you. successful people face facts squarely, start taking the proper responses and your life will become much easier. Listen to your intuition. To be more successful, all you have to do is acts in ways that produce more of what you want. Try things you learn, new behaviors and do more of what is working, less of what isn’t. If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you always got.
Don’t forget, the world doesn’t own you anything, you have to create it.

Take 100% responsibility and enjoy the life you desire.

continue to the 2nd principle: the success principles – 2nd principle – be clear why you’re here

The success principles of Jack canfield

ythevenot@gmail.com

I recently listened to the audiobook ‘the success principles – 10th anniversary edition’. This is one of these books that can have a life changing effect if you apply what you learn. As Jack says himself “the principles always work if you work the principles“. So next I purchased the paperback version of the book so I can work on the principles one by one ( easier to highlight parts and go back to them when needed).

Not everybody will take the time to read the book and also to help me learning and applying the principles I’ll write a post per principle with a summary of what Jack is teaching. Hopefully this will help you all to apply this quote from Jacques-yves Cousteau “if a man for whatever reason has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.” Another related quote from brian Tracy “life is like a combination lock; your job is to find the right numbers, in the right order, so you can have anything you want. “

But keep in mind that “you can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you” as motivational philosopher Jim Rohn has put it. I will keep the order of Jack and therefore as per his suggestion, I recommend you follow the order to apply the principles.

If you want to read the full book, you can buy from:
the success principles

Here is a list of the principles:

  1. Take 100% responsibility
  2. be clear why you’re here
  3. decide what you want
  4. believe it’s possible
  5. believe in yourself
  6. use the law of attraction
  7. unleash the power of goal-setting
  8. chunk it down
  9. success leaves clues
  10. release the brakes
  11. see what you want, get what you see
  12. act as if
  13. take action
  14. just lean into it
  15. experience your fear and take action anyway
  16. be willing to pay the price
  17. Ask! Ask! Ask!
  18. Reject rejection
  19. use feedback to your advantage
  20. commit to constant and never-ending improvement
  21. keep score for success
  22. practice persistence
  23. practice the rule of 5
  24. exceed expectations
  25. drop out of the “ain’t it awful” club… and surround yourself with successful people
  26. acknowledge your positive past
  27. keep your eyes on the prize
  28. clean up your messes and your incompletes
  29. complete the pass to embrace the future
  30. face what isn’t working
  31. embrace change
  32. transform your inner critic into an inner coach
  33. transcend your limiting beliefs
  34. develop 4 new success habits a year
  35. 99% is a bitch, 100% is a breeze
  36. learn more to earn more
  37. stay motivated with the masters
  38. fuel your success with passion and enthusiasm
  39. stay focused on your core genius
  40. redefine time
  41. build a powerful support team and delegate to them
  42. just say no!
  43. become a leader worth following
  44. create a network of mentors and others who will up-level you
  45. hire a personal coach
  46. mastermind your way to success
  47. inquire within
  48. be hear now
  49. have a heart talk
  50. tell the truth faster
  51. speak with impeccability
  52. when in doubt, check it out
  53. practice uncommon appreciation
  54. keep your agreements
  55. be a class act
  56. develop a positive money consciousness
  57. you get what you focus on
  58. pay yourself first
  59. master the spending game
  60. to spend more, first make more
  61. give more to get more
  62. find a way to serve
  63. master the technology you need
  64. brand yourself with an online persona
  65. use social media in a way that enhances your reputation
  66. use the exponential power of crowdfunding
  67. connect with people who can expand your vision

Get ready for a trip that will change your life.

the personal MBA

ythevenot@gmail.com

hi,

I finished reading The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman few days ago and I highly recommend it. This book is a goldmine of information that will be very useful to people having or wanting to have their own business or people with top management positions. The book is well written and separated in small topics that can be read very easily. If you want to learn more on one specific topic, Josh proposes few books on each topic for further reading (most of the recommendations are top sellers). For each topic there is also a blog page on Josh’s website with more references and comments. The book comes with an index and is therefore very easy to use as a reference book or for research on a specific topic.
I don’t really agree with Josh’s idea that the book replaces a real MBA (I don’t have an MBA so not sure what you would learn there 😉 ) but I really enjoyed the read and learned a lot, whether it is about finance, human relations, sales… all the key subjects about business are dealt with and the principles are well explained, whether it is about hiring good people, increase your sales, understand the financial state of your business… it is all there! enjoy the read and don’t hesitate to add your comments or questions below.

what is the difference between success and failure?

ythevenot@gmail.com

hi guys,

What makes the difference between success and failure?
the first quote i’ll use is:
quitters don’t win and winners don’t quit

so unless you consider failure as definitive it is only temporary, if you don’t quit, you’ll find success eventually.
Winston Churchill also said something similar:
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

A Japanese proverb said:
Fall seven times, stand up eight.

if you stand-up everytime you fall, you will finally stay up 😉 (a good example of that is the story of the founder of Honda motor corporation)

Well, wish you all have enough courage to stand up again every time an obstacle stops you, only then you will find success.

cheers,
Yannick