Motivational speakers have the remarkable ability to make success sound like a piece of cake. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising the fact that they help people find the inner will, confidence and courage to take action. What I can’t accept, though, is them hiding quite an important fact about success from you that seems so obvious, yet so discouraging when you’re not prepared to face it.

Prepare to fail

“If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward” Thomas Edison

Before inventing the lamp, a creation that I’m sure you’re quite familiar with in your everyday lives, Thomas Edison failed many, many, many times. But he was so determined to realize his idea that he didn’t quit until he found success. Thanks to him candle usage at home has been greatly reduced only to special romantic evenings at home, which, judging by the average American family, is about two to three times yearly.

Failure is like a barrier on the road to success – if you quit before you cross it, you’ll never reach your destination. Enough metaphors. In other words, always expect failure, because you wouldn’t want to have to face it by surprise.

Trust selectively

Which is the biggest factor entitled to screw you up at any time if you don’t pay attention? People, my friend, people.

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend, says one of my favorite 70′s songs by The Undisputed Truth. Sadly, we humans are the only breed of life on Earth that ruin one another not only in the name of survival, but for the sport. So be deadly careful whom you give your trust to on your stairway to success, because the wrong kind of person can easily drag you down.

It’s the extra effort that counts

Yet another fact that those full of enthusiasm godlike creatures who sell books, audio lectures and tickets to personal development conferences often neglect to share with you, is that sometimes you have to really sweat hard so as to win.

Have you ever heard of an athlete who broke a world record just by looking at himself in the mirror and repeating the phrase “Yes, I can!“? I doubt so. Mindset is quite important (you’ll succeed only if you think you will), but good old practice and experience should never be forgotten.

The problem with most people is that they always settle for good enough. But since quite a long time good enough is just not good enough. In today’s turbulent and busy world, everybody is looking for the best simply because they lack the time or energy to risk their investment on something or someone without a reputation. If you had to choose between a Volvo and some Korean-built car at the same price for your kid, you probably wouldn’t risk and choose to purchase the proven safe Swedish vehicle. So, yeah, being the best and throwing every single effort to keep that spot in society, home or work is vital. At least if you want to become successful, that is.

Talent sets us apart. It helps us stand out from the crowd with unusual (perhaps it’s more correct to call it perfected) qualities and abilities that others could find the will, time or chance to develop. Yet why do so many people still think that talent is a prize that only a few lucky gamblers in the gigantic casino of nature were able to win?

Those lucky, talented bastards

It is often curious how talent is used as an excuse by the lazy: when a particular person is good at doing something, they must be naturally gifted, thus they have an unbeatable advantage over others. So why should we, the naive peasants, waste time and effort to become better than or to even be as good as that same lucky talented overachiever? If you were the kind of person who’s favorite activity is watching football on Sunday while drinking beer in true couch-potato style and who’s biggest achievement in five years is having driven your family to a picnic some whole 30km away from home, than this unneeded investment of energy and mind power would seem completely unexplainable to you.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but nature never intended it to be that way. She never hand-picked your name with the intention of making you a star singer, popular piano player or record-breaking athlete even before you were born.

It’s your fault that you’re not the second Pavarotti

“The most exciting place to discover talent is in yourself” Ashleigh Brilliant, English Author

You’re to blame that by the age of nine you weren’t trying to imitate the tenor voice tone in Mario Lanza movies, nor were you taking part in a small local church choir, just like Luciano Pavarotti would. I bet you didn’t know that his first professional dream, even as a boy, was becoming a football goalkeeper? If Luciano had persisted in following that child dream, he would probably have become a would-famous player, instead of one of modern history’s best and most famous opera singers.

So I broke your dream of singing a duet of New York, New York with Laiza Minelli at the Metropolitan Opera. Here’s the good news, though: you have a choice of thousands of skills and abilities in which to become the best in the world. And you have a lifetime for doing so.

The power of choice

Each day, your own actions open and close doors that lead to your success. The choices that you constantly make directly impact your future. In other words, your life is in your hands. With the risk of sounding like Tony Robbins, I will firmly state that you too can develop a talent starting from now.

Notice my word of choice when speaking about talent: develop, not create, not find, not realize. As simple as develop. Why is that?

Well, even if you lost your chance of showing your remarkable voice to the world because you don’t look like Paris Hilton or you’ve never had the courage to chase this dream (which, Susan Boyle, by the way, completely proved wrong last year in the show Britain’s Got Talent), you can still start a blog, write the first words of the introduction to your future bestseller book, start running 15 minutes per day from tomorrow morning, so that by a few months you’ll be able to win the town’s charity marathon, or even start eating as many hot dogs as you can because you always wanted to win the local eating contest called Who Wants to Become a Grease-ball in 1 Minute. Because you can and because you have a choice.

Nobody will stop you for trying. Oh, and the first step should be the understanding that talent requires time and efforts instead of genes and luck.

Image by Amanda Kendal

While reading yet another inspirational ebook on how to build a better blog, I noticed how few of the tips I was actually applying. Sure, all of the ideas and tricks sound great and every blogger knows that that’s they way towards attracting a massive readership, but why doesn’t everyone (including me) put them into practise?

The same goes for real life. It doesn’t really matter how many personal development ideas you have. The question is how many of them are you actually using or on the path towards realizing them.

So what’s the idea here? Reading motivational books is good. Gathering ideas is good. Setting goals is good, too. But putting all of them into practise is much better. That’s what every successful person aims for.

I’d like you to think about this for a second: have you heard of any self-made millionaire that snapped his fingers and magically became rich? If you have, write to me and I’ll treat you a beer.

We often forget that success requires (exhaustingly) hard work. Only a great investment of time, will and efforts will get you to the top, unless one of your parents’ name is Rockefeller.

The question here is whether you’re ready to make the big leap and put all of your energy into succeeding and achieving your professional or personal goals.

People make wrong choices, all of the time. They start things that are often extremely difficult and time-consuming to finish. Yet they don’t realize that their actions impact directly their future in only two ways – failure or success. How do your current actions influence your own future and are you willing to change that?

Beginning from primary school, society puts you in a box with limits. You may have been good in chemistry, but your litterature grades weren’t so bright, for example. So you end up in a situation where you’re expected to be best in everything, which is simply impossible.

But there’s something that nobody in primary, secondary school or even university taught you. You have absolutely no limits when it comes to being happy.

You’re free to keep experimenting until you find your perfect job that brings you money and joy.

You’re free to keep searching for the perfect partner that gives you love, security and joy.

Sure, we live in tough times for changing jobs. And some of you may already be married, so there’s no need to experiment, is there? But just don’t stay in the box that society put you in – keep trying to be as happy as possible. It’s the small changes in life that matter. Break out of the limits and start your quest today.

This box is the box of good enough. Most people have a good enough job, good enough relationship, good enough house, good enough car. If you want to be one of them, that’s OK. But if you’re the ones that always search for the best, than you’re different. Because that’s the caracteristic of every successful or happy person I know.

1. The Secret

This book by Rhonda Byrne introduces the law of attraction in an easy to understand manner. It’s a must-read for everyone who’s watched the film its named after. Despite containing lots of quotes from the movie, it expands further with more clarity on how to really attract what you want.

Check out ‘The Secret’

2. The Law of Attraction

If there’s anyone that can explain the law of attraction to a monkey and teach it how to use it, that’s Michael Losier. His book will not only help you understand the key principles, but also apply them with surprising success.

Check out ‘Law of Attraction’

3. The Key

The titles of our three top books so far have started to sound a bit cheesy, don’t they? Contrary to their life-changing contents. This book by Joe Vitale is for readers with an advanced knowledge of the law of attraction. It proposes great solutions for common problems that enthusiasts face.

Check out ‘The Key’

Check out the law of attraction blog for more information.

I’d like you to stop and think over this for a second: Are you waisting your time on the wrong stuff?

Success means knowing when to quit and what to stick to. Yet so often we spend precious efforts on actions that don’t directly benefit our lives. Most people are afraid to quit simply because they don’t want to admit their failure.

But who said that failure is a bad thing?

Here’s a list of eight signs that you’ve failed and that you need to move on to something else:

1. There’s no reason to keep on going.
2. You don’t have the time required to succeed.
3. You don’t know enough on the topic (so start learning).
4. The project milestone is simply unachievable.
5. You’ve run out of money.
6. You just can’t get serious about it.
7. Enthusiasm or interest have gone away.
8. It sounds too good to be true (hidden risks).

Just remember: quitting something is the beginning of starting another thing. Even if you’ve failed, that doesn’t mean that you can’t to your best somewhere else.

Image by Ali Farid

Let’s be straight and honest here. Successful people who’ve realized everything by themselves have no secret stories and keys. Work hard, believe in yourself and have fun while doing it. The tough part, however, is finding the balance and it’s here that most people simply fail and give up.

So screw secrets and ultimate guides, as there are virtually no rules on how to live your life. Instead, concentrate on finding your passion and combining it with making money. Reading inspirational books is one thing, but true personal development requires action.

Richard Branson started out his billion dollar business by creating a magazine from nothing, working amazingly hard. It’s this passionate commitment that has been pushing him throughout the years to create world-known chain stores and even the first commercial flight in space.

Where some people see the law of attraction and positive thinking in general as something that doesn’t work, I see them as an opportunity. A chance to have a motivated and focused mind on what you want, forgetting about what you don’t.

Even if positive thoughts can’t create the reality you want, they can help you have a balanced mind that strives towards success.

My manifest of positive thinking

Thinking positively is good for you. It lets you understand what you want and often makes you come up with a way to get it. It’s not magical, but it does wonders.

But it’s not only about words. It’s about how you feel. Sometimes nice words trigger negative emotions. I too agree that the phrase “I have the perfect job” sounds silly and naive. So paraphrase! Say “I’m in the process of finding the perfect job.” You’re honest with yourself and you simply state your current ambitions and desires. I doubt that there is anything wrong about that, isn’t there?

Two remarkably useful questions

Here’s a tip: the next time you’re thinking of something that you don’t want, ask yourself “What do I want?” or “How can I change my current situation?“.

Ask that voice in your head, make plans, make anything needed to take your ambitions seriously. Believe in yourself and get motivated. That’s what positive thinking really is.

I’m happy to introduce my small ebook called Be Remarkable: The Simple Guide to Being A Great Person!

It contains 18 easy-to-apply tips that will help you make friends, influence people and be perceived as a wonderful person that people want to be with.

The ebook is light, of 8 pages, made with great love and appreciation for all of you who regularly read my blog. Get it today only for $5 USD, available for instand download after paymend in .PDF format. I have tried to summarize all of my life values and tips on successful relationships in a short and pratical manner.

Well, if there’s no guarantee, create your own. Be sure that whatever you’re doing will positively impact your life in near or distant future. Judge risks carefully and thoughtfully so as to avoid problems.

When Ben Franklin would make a choice, he would sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper, chart it up into two sides – left and right, and write down both the positive and the negative sides, thoughts and possible outcomes. Thus, if the positive side prevailed, he would take action. That’s an amazing way to decide with your mind, not your emotions.

So what if life offers no guarantee? Make sure you create your own with logic and rational thinking. You won’t be disappointed.

Sometimes you can learn a lot about yourself from other people’s opinion. You simply have to learn to listen carefully to others and trully understand what they’re trying to say.

But here’s the tricky part: take in consideration the opinion of those you you respect. A simple tip or even a bit of friendly criticism can give you an isight into the way you look in front of others. Truth is that we often don’t take our actions and way of behavior into consideration. This can even harm our social abilities and make us look strange from the third person’s view.

So my tip here is to simply pay attention to advice and criticism when it comes to you and always judge carefully if change is really worth it. Even a stranger can reveal something about yourself that you hadn’t noticed before – no matter if positive or negative.

When somebody’s giving you advice, imagine as if you’re having a free consultation with a psychologist or a behavior specialist. From time to time, the advice given can help you significantly improve your vision and way of communication. For me personally, those people who have the guts to tell you: “Hey, you’re a neat guy, but this thing particualrly annoys me…“, are people worhthy of respect.

Image © Circotasu, www.dreamstime.com

People can strive for success for years and do everything it takes to realize their ambitions. Yet when they succeed, they stop doing what they have to to keep their achievements and often lose everything. That’s why many have 15 minutes of fame and few have a lifetime of popularity. That’s why loads of companies go bankrupt.

Never stop doing what you can to be successful. Because once you stop, you’re grinding to a halt just like a train on a steep hill. Sooner or later, if you don’t do something about it, you’ll start going backwards.

Don’t let yourself without ambitions. They are the only stimulus that keeps us going. Even if you’ve realized your ultimate life goal, set a new one. Even if you’ve lost the desired pounds and look sexy, keep on exercising to maintain your body’s fitness.

We never really reach success. It’s simply a word that motivates us to undergo inspired action. But we should always look for success, no matter in what situation we are or how we feel. So let’s keep on the good work!

Your life is in your hands. Your success or happiness depends completely on your own actions. If something has gone wrong, it was your fault that you didn’t take action on time. And you know it well.

So why do you keep slacking off when it’s time to work? Is there really a reason you should be alone right now when you can be with your loved one or your closest friends? Why is it that you feel bad about something when you can simply take the steps towards changing it?

Honestly, I have no idea why. But don’t worry – it’s not only you. I slack off just like any other human being.

But the difference between successful people and slackers is that from time to time, succesfull ones do what they have to. Even if getting that project finished sounds boring, do it! You control your life. You decide whether to be active or not. So, please, make the choice now. It’s for your own good.

The toughest part of doing something, no matter if a favor for a friend, your work or household tasks, is actually getting things started. But once you start, you get involved into successfully completing what you’re currently doing.

Here’s how productivity works for me: I simply start doing what I have to do. As I get more and more involved into the process, I get motivated to show that my invested efforts will have an effect. That’s what all the fuss around Gettings Things Done is – eliminating distractions, concentrating and simply starting to work.

However, I doubt that you need whole books on the topic. At least, after reading some of them, including David Allen’s bestsellers, I’ve come up to the simple conclusion: Just start doing it!

So says one of the chapters of Guy Kawasaki’s books called Rules For Revolutionaries.

When people give you advice, do you take it more serious than your own judgment? Many do so and later regret having let others manipulate them. Remember that advice can be tricky, especially when not given from your closest friends and family.

Always rely on your own judgment and make decisions using your own brains. Rely on advice that you received, yet hadn’t searched for, only when you can’t make that decision by yourself. Don’t let the bozos grind you down with their false concern and malicious advice.

How to distinguish the bozos from those who care for you? Well, bozos are usually negative and always tell you that what you’re trying to do won’t work. People who care for you will help you find a working way to do something, they focus their advice on the solution, not on the mission impossible.

The article was inspired by my friend Mike Ramm’s great article in his Bulgarian blog. Thanks, Mike!

Wrote the post offline. The reason was that I had forgotten to pay my bill and simply didn’t have the time to do it the same day. What struck me was how much I can actually do without browsing the web and checking out social networks.

Internet is a productivity killer, isn’t it? And it doesn’t end here. It often slows down personal development. We read articles, communicate with self improvement bloggers, we get motivated, but we don’t actually do something to improve our lives. We continue browsing until we find the next wise thoughts to read.

From today I’ve decided to limit my browsing hours and the time I use to check my email and what’s going on in Facebook or Twitter. The challenge? Two hours per day for personal browsing. It may not sound like much, but I think it’s quite enough.

What about yourself? Do you think that internet is a productivity and personal development killer, especially with all the distractions it offers? I wonder if you could limit your browsing time, how much per day would you give yourself? Thanks in advance for sharing your point of view by commenting.

Image by Kevin Zhengli

You don’t need a new house to make yourself comfortable. Neither do you need a new body to build up self-respect. What you need is to realize the power of small changes. They’re the ones that make a difference.

So you’ve bought yourself a new shirt that fits you perfectly? It’s a small change but I’m sure you’ll feel amazing wearing that shirt. The important thing is to keep on making those small innovations into your life.

Create a celebrating attitude towards small details that matter. By the way, thanks for taking the time to read this article.

Image by Still Burning

We all make mistakes, that’s why we’re human. But I’ve realized that we can’t learn from all of them. If we did, we would be completely perfect. Once again, that’s impossible.

When you make a mistake, please try to learn from it. Make the effort not to make it in the future and to improve your life in a way that wasn’t possible before. Why? Every mistake has a hidden treasure chest of know-how and valuable life tips.

So either open that chest and grab everything it contains with full force, or ignore it and wait for another one to come across to.

Not learning from a mistake give us a feeling of guilt, doesn’t it? If you can’t make it go away instantly, it will pass with time. But know that guilt puts you in a one step forward and two steps back situation. You’re focusing on your past negative experiences, intead of trying to fix the faults in the present.

That’s why we’re human. We make mistakes, we learn from some of them, and others we just repeat. However, don’t make the mistake of feeling guilty.

Image by Scott Liddell

You’ve heard that old saying that fear is your friend, haven’t you? I completely agree with it. So let me share my top three reasons why.

1) Fear often tells you what exactly to do

It’s just a useless emotion focusing on the negative result of your current actions. It’s a result of hesitation and lack of self-assurance. That’s why it often tells you what to do, so as to be satisfied with yourself.

Make that first step and face your fears.

2) Fear is only an assumption

You can’t be sure that your worst fears will come alive. However, if you completely focus on them, don’t expect anything else – that’s because you’re focusing on failing just from the start.

My way for facing fears is doing what I fear by focusing on a positive result. Try it and you won’t be disappointed.

3) Fear is irrational

So you had an accident in the water as a kid and you never learnt to swim. You’re not afraid of water. You’re afraid that past events will repeat, which is often unlikely. It’s impossible to drawn taking swimming lessons from professionals, isn’t it? So why not try?

So think rationally and understand that most fears are just silly.

By the way, Leo Babauta has written a great blog post called A Guide To Beating The Fears That Are Holding You Back, I really recommend you take a look at it. He shares 9 practical tips on how to overcome fear that we all should try to practice.