Hi guys,
I haven’t been very active here lately. However I’ve kept reading great books and will get back to post about them soon. I have adopted been working on another blog where I will publish simple steps to help save the world, you can see everything thing there.
Please go have a look and comment/question what you read there.
Cheers,
Yannick
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.
if you haven’t read the other principles, i suggest you start with the first: the success principles – 1st principle – take 100% responsibility
As Napoleon Hill said ” whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” The human mind is so powerful, that it can deliver you literally anything you want, but first you have to believe it is possible!
you get what you expect our minds have been conditioned to deliver on what we are expecting, so hold positive expectations, change what you are expecting and your mind will get to work on delivering what you expect, as long as you believe it is possible.
believe in yourself and go for it Richard Bach said “sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can”. Most people fail not because they lack the skills or aptitude to reach their goal, but because they simply don’t believe they can reach it. Don’t worry about how you’re gonna get there or how you will meet the requirements, but believe you can get it.
Sometimes it’s not what you don’t know that holds you back, it’s what you do know that isn’t true, it is wise to question all of your assumptions about how things are done and be open to new possibilities. As an example, you can read the story of Cliff Young who won one of the toughest ultra trail run because he didn’t know it could not be done and that he would have to sleep several hours each night to complete the race.
So remember believe it is possible, but also don’t forget that you cannot hire someone to do your pushups for you.
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:
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.
(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):
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
Finally I took the time to write a report on the Great Wall of China Marathon, you can also see my first video here, but at least i’ll post some pictures here.
First, at our arrival to Beijing, I was agreeably surprised by the city. I was not expecting it to be so clean, so green and so easy to go around. There are trees or parks everywhere, but still less than bikes available for rental (download your app, scan the barcode on the bike and here you have a bike you can use and drop anywhere). of course the first few days, there was a bit of pollution but still ok (end of the winter means also no more coal burning in the city and also the pollution fight by the government is clearly giving results in Beijing). I was also surprised by the nice big roads, with big (huge) bike lanes, completely separated from the car lanes. Finally, another nice touch is all the electric motorcycles, no noise pollution is very nice (coming from Bangkok, this is a big change). However, they still clearly have to make progress on English… as even in international hotels (ok budget international hotels) staff spoke almost no English and relies on translation apps on their mobile phone to exchange with customers.
After few days visiting, meeting with the friends (5 of us are participating in the race), it was time to go to pickup our bibs for the Great Wall of China Marathon at the official race hotel. Small race means small organization, the bib pickup happened into the room booked by the organization. At least the organizer speaks English! A small hiccup with the bibs, my friends have bibs for half-marathon despite having signed and paid for the full marathon, the organizer takes care of it and tell them marathon bibs will be given to them before the start of the race tomorrow. We also take the opportunity to book the travel for supporters (package includes the same as the runners but not the entry to the race for half the price… no more details). The bib package includes a race T-shirt (not so many sizes available), the wording is nice but T-shirt is a very basic cotton shirt. Our registration completed, it’s time to head back to our hotel for dinner all together and an early night so we can wake at 4 for the departure by bus to the race location.
Almost there, all getting excited, we arrive at the meeting point where about 10 buses are waiting (most of them already filled up with runners), we get installed and wait for departure, while the organizers provide drinking water to all buses for the runners. We depart a bit late, but after an eventless ride, we end up at the race start point (beautiful mountains, and we can see the wall waiting for us… definitively not flat…).
The morning is quite chilly (15 degrees is for people living in Bangkok at least…), but weather looks nice and we’re getting ready for the race. There is a bag dropoff organized (again, a small bedroom rented by the organization at the starting place), a bit of a lengthy process, but we get our bags stored safely in the room and can head up for the start point.
We’re all still smiling (though still a bit cold), some were more prepared than others with arm sleeves… but here we are ready and eager to get going. And we won’t get disappointed, in short, the race was really nice, though really hard as well ;). It took me a bit more than 10 hours to cover the 40 km, 15000 steps and 2400 m up (and down of course, since we finished at the same point…). The winner of the full marathon finished the race just below 6 hours. A nice touch from the organization was the printed certificate given on the finish line:
So, if you go racing there, what to expect? first, we were quite lucky with the weather, it started at 16-17 degrees and was nice temperatures most of the day. We had a little bit of rain near the end, which renders the wall very slippery (I don’t see how people would be able to race on the wall if it was really raining) and can be quite dangerous (even with my Salomon trails…). Second, I strongly recommend to have your camelbag with water and food with you, don’t expect any water or food while on the wall (despite the course map and organization indicating so…). Water stations outside of the wall were providing water, sport drinks, and food (bananas were not ripe… and oranges were wrapped individually in plastic), though I relied on my own food for the whole race.
There were no marking for the course, but most of it, you cannot get lost (just follow the wall…) and marshals were mostly posted at the places where you could have gone wrong. (there was some issue for the fastest runners where the marshals arrived late and therefore some runners did more KM than planned…). The course map also indicates toilets on the wall, I guess they mean the stairs getting out the wall and taking you to the forest where you can feel free to take care of your business… I did use some toilets after we got off the wall but Chinese public toilets (cabins with no doors and just a hole on the floor, no water…)
As mentioned before and as you can see in the pictures below, the wall is not flat (almost never) and slopes can be very steep to a point where it is very hard to run even while going down… Some of them have stairs but they can be small or high, and not always very wide… I definitively recommend to run with poles (make sure you use plasticprotection at the bottom) or if you didn’t, use the ramps when there are some or the wall itself when none are available. The part that is not on the wall is mostly paved road, though not flat either…
The cutoff was supposed to be 10 hours for the finish line and 8 hours for the last turning point, however it was not enforced and the last runner finished the race in 11h30m. The race was on the 1st of may which is very high touristic season, however the part of the wall where the race is happening is not touristic at all and the few people there did not make bother us at all, and actually it was nice to have some people cheering us.
If you don’t want to wait for the buses to get full to go back to Beijing then you can discuss with the organization (in advance) to have a taxi organized for you. (If I was to go there again, I would probably have a car or van if a group taking us to the start and bringing us back to Beijing). There was a bit of traffic while getting back to Beijing (it was the end of a long week-end) but we ended there in about 1h30 which was ok. Almost straight back to bed, before one last day in Beijing. Surprise on the last day, a very nice blue sky greets us, I wouldn’t have thought that possible in Beijing:
(registered with my garmin Fenix 5)
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:
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
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:
Get ready for a trip that will change your life.
Bonjour,
Ce poste est en français car il s’adresse aux français qui voyagent beaucoup ou résident à l’étranger.
Évidemment vous pouvez utiliser skype pour appeler la France a bas prix. Mais il y a une solution française encore moins chère qui est de prendre un abonnement voip ovh.
Pour 1 euro par mois vous avez un numéro de téléphone fixe français avec un appel illimité sur 99 numéros de fixe français par mois.
En configurant un compte supprimé sur votre téléphone mobile, votre numéro fixe français vous suit partout.
Et si vous n’êtes pas dispo, vous activez votre répondeur avec notification immédiate par e-mail incluant un enregistrement sonore du message laissé par votre correspondant.
Pour pouvoir s’enregistrer il faut unr adresse en France et un moyen de paiement en France (virement bancaire par exemple)
Pour plus de détails :
https://www.ovh.com/fr/produits/test_gratuit_telephonie.xml
Si votre portable ne supporte pas SIP alors vous pouvez installer l’application gratuite zoiper
English 