Everyone has a dream - many dreams actually - but few believe that they can actually achieve them. Nevertheless, some people achieve their dreams while others live lives of regret. Some are inspired and follow through, while others delay or give up entirely on their dreams in exchange for whatever excuses they comfort themselves with.

What are the factors that make that difference between the person who achieves and the one who regrets?

Here are three simple steps you can take to help you live the life of your dreams:

1.      Motivation. Everyone has their own motivations for their dreams. Consider what motivates you towards your goal. It could be financial freedom, more free time, or a second home in the Caribbean. Whatever it is, remind yourself of it on a daily basis.

For example, having pictures of your dream Caribbean home hung on the fridge or in your work space will remind you of your dream and refresh your mind with motivation.

• When you suffer inevitable setbacks or frustration, a visible reminder of your dream will help motivate you to do what is necessary to get back on track toward your goal.

It is also important to give yourself rewards along the way. Rewarding yourself after making a breakthrough, such as acquiring a new client, learning a new computer program, or sharing a smile with your teenager, is absolutely necessary to effectively following through on your path to success.

Treat yourself to a nice dinner, take the day off for a game of golf, or reward yourself with something else you like. Your reward will give you a refreshing break from the trials and tribulations on your path to success and bring you new energy to continue working toward your goal.

• Giving yourself a reward here and there along the way will reinvigorate your motivation with its positive result.

2.      Planning. Although developing a systematic plan may seem obvious if you want to achieve your goals, many people overlook or downplay this process and then wonder why they aren’t moving forward toward their goal. Be sure to take the time to plan your path for greater success!

• Once you have a broad plan to reaching your goal, you must fine-tune all the details. Put it down on paper, even if it’s an emotional or psychological life goal, and determine the steps necessary to make that goal a reality.
• Put a time frame on it. Put all excuses aside with a finite deadline for each step.
• Be realistic of your own competencies.

Creating a realistic step-by-step plan with a deadline will bring your dream to life. Setting definable little goals to achieve on the way to your desired large goal will enable you to follow your plan through to success.

3.      Action. Lastly, no dream or goal can be achieved without action. If you’ve developed your plan as recommended, you will see that there are a number of little steps you must take on a daily or intermittent basis that will further you on your path to your ultimate goal.

• Your little steps give you the map to your treasure. Take action to follow your map. Each step you complete brings you closer to your goal.
• Evaluate your actions and revise your map as necessary. If a plan falls through, then be adaptable to change it until you find yourself back on the path to success.

Motivation, planning and action will enable you to create and live the life you’ve always wanted. It may take some time, but following these steps will guide you to success.

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Technorati Tags: Goal, Motivation, self help

Opening my heart and emotions to those who are close to me gives me a warm feeling.

I nourish my soul when I share it with my loved ones. I know my feelings and thoughts are safe with them, and I can be completely honest and open with them.

By sharing in this way, I am made stronger and feel loved and appreciated. I enjoy the feeling of community and the strength that comes with sharing myself with others.

When I am able to share my feelings and thoughts openly and honestly, I am also better able to receive open and honest dialog from my loved ones.

When others trust me wholeheartedly, I am honored to feel worthy of their trust. I respect their needs and offer open and honest guidance. Building this trust is essential. I am proud to be trusted and worthy of trust.

Today I will open my heart and share openly and honestly with others. I will also open my heart to receive open and honest communication from others. I will lend my ear and my heart and I will be a part of a giving and loving community.

Self-Reflection Questions:

1.        Have I been open and honest with those I love?

2.        Have I opened myself to receive open and honest communication from others?

3.        How have I been strengthened by my openness?

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Do you talk yourself out of being excited and hopeful every time you feel good about yourself? Do you often start out feeling confident in yourself and your abilities, and then drop to zero confidence when your inner dialogue kicks in?

This negative thinking is something many people struggle with, but there’s a better way.

You can combat negative thoughts with positive-self talk instead of letting an automatic negative thought process rule your life.

Negative Thinking, Positive Self-Talk, and You

Many people lack the confidence to realize that they deserve to feel good about themselves. These people never pay attention to the fact that they are the ones telling themselves that they don’t deserve rewards.

Are you one of these people? You can discover if you are sabotaging yourself by tuning into your thoughts and listening. What do you hear? Are you encouraging yourself with positive thoughts? Or are your thoughts filled with negatives?

• You may not even realize how negative thinking may be dominating your life. This may be something that you deal with daily and have come to see as normal. However, it’s only normal if you allow it to be that way!

Positive self-talk is the practice of responding to negative thoughts that run through your mind. For example, when you tell yourself that you can’t possibly land the job because you aren’t good enough, you can respond with positive thoughts that do not leave room for negativity. These thoughts can be as simple or complex as you like. The important thing is that you continue to think positively.

• Positive self-talk allows you to be the one controlling your thoughts!

Many people pair positive self-talk with affirmations. Affirmations are simple statements you can repeat to yourself over and over again. You can allow these thoughts to become true for you. The process is as subconscious as it is conscious.

When you continue to reaffirm the positive thought, you will make it true for yourself until you eventually don’t need to remind yourself to think that way.

• Affirmations are positive statements that replace your negative thought processes. You can change your life one thought at a time!

When you are feeling low and thinking negatively about yourself or your future, try saying, “I give myself permission to be successful,” or “I see myself in the winner’s circle.”

Strive to replace your negative statements with positive thoughts when you repeat your affirmations. Soon it will become second nature to repeat your affirmations anytime that you start to think negatively.

• With positive self-talk you can truly change the course of your life. You can go from being a negative person with no hope for the future, to being an optimist who can achieve anything you put you mind to.

Does this mean that there won’t be challenges along the way, or that you’ll never fail? No, because those things are a part of life. But what it will mean is that you’ll have a better attitude, which will allow you to grasp the very best that life has to offer.

Positive self-talk isn’t difficult and it’s worth the effort that is involved because it can truly change the way you view yourself and the world that you live in.

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Technorati Tags: Confidence, self help, Subconscious, Thought

Do you remember that first spark of hope you felt when you watched The Secret? I clearly remember the desire that filled my heart, knowing that – Yes, I can make my dreams come true – FINALLY!

But how many of you soon saw that hope dwindle into frustration? How many of you (and be honest now) started muttering things like:

- “It seems to work for other people, but I just can’t get it right.”

- “I’m frustrated that sometimes I can get it to work, but sometimes I can’t. What’s the trick?”

- “Why am I having so much trouble?”

- “I think the universe is against me.”

- “I’m trying very, VERY hard but still nothing is happening!”

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. About 97% of people also couldn’t make the Law of Attraction work for them the first time round. Think about it, just like anything else, you have to practice many times before you see success. A child doesn’t learn to walk without falling over a couple of times, right?

But in practice, everything is easier said and done. When you’re frustrated, it’s hard to stay positive. And it’s especially harder to stay positive when the evidence all around you is screams negativity like the unstable economy or senseless acts of violence such as those recently seen in Mumbai.

And do you know what happens when you fail to stay positive? That’s right – you start attracting negative things in to your life.

So how can you make the Law of Attraction work for you – without getting frustrated? How do those who successfully implement the Law of Attraction do it with such confidence and finesse?

Well, here’s three quick tips so you will never feel frustrated or tired of begging from the universe, because you know how to start manifesting like a pro.

1. Allow Yourself To Receive

Just like a lost child who approaches a police officer and asks, “Excuse me Sir, can you tell me how to go to the post office? Can you? Can you? Can you? Can you? Can you?” Well, if the child goes on and on asking, the police officer can’t even give an answer, right?

Well, it’s the same thing with your mind. If the only thing your mind is doing is transmit, transmit, transmit, the universe — which is trying to respond — can’t give you a single thing because you’re not allowing yourself to receive!

So, have the confidence in yourself and stop exhausting yourself by running around person to person begging for riches, and then wondering why nobody is dropping a penny in your cup (Hint: It’s because you’re running away too fast for them before they can even reach for their wallets).

Just think of your desires and leave it out there, go away, and trust that your cup will be filled with gold coins (or whatever it is you asked for) when the time is right.

2. Be Patient With Yourself

Receiving takes time.

Sadly, many people give up just a couple of steps before the finish line because they’ve decided that if it’s not working by now, it’s never going to work at all. Worse still are those who throw in more and more energy because they think that with more resources, the results will come faster.

This is like expecting 9 mothers to conceive and deliver a baby in 1 month. You also can’t bake cookies in half the time by doubling the temperature. You’ll incinerate those cookies to ashes!

In simple terms: Everything in this world has a natural development time, and this fact will not change no matter what resources you throw at it.

So relax and be patient. Remember that you too, as part of the universe, are also governed by the laws of the universe, and you cannot change the natural development time.

If you remember this, you will less likely work yourself up into frustration, or worse, push yourself into a downward spiral of negativity.

3. Support and Educate Yourself

Like the child who is learning how to walk, you need support. You also need to guidance on how to do it, and also the role models to look up to.

Many people give up because they think that “The Secret” is the “be all and end all” solution. Well, it’s NOT. “The Secret” is just a small portion. It was never intended, and has never been, the whole answer.

Coming to the conclusion that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work when all you ever did to educate yourself was watch “The Secret” 19 times (without looking at changing the habits of other areas of your life) is like coming to the conclusion that exercising is not an effective way to lose weight because all you did is run on the treadmill for 2 hours a day (but you’re still stuffing yourself with fried foods and cheesecakes).

So seek and be hungry for new knowledge. Also, make an effort to be amongst people or communities where you can support each other, learn from each other and also share new knowledge that you have found.

While the Law of Attraction is not an overnight delivery service, it will indeed deliver, if you do your part too!

Check out the site here – go to http://offto.net/11Forgotten/

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Do you suddenly feel a surge of energy when look at a picture of your children? Do you ever see a picture and remember that that is why you are working so hard every day?

The power of motivating imagery is immense and can work for you in your everyday life, no matter what your struggles are. The right image can help you get through almost anything.

Using Motivating Imagery Wherever You Go

Where do you turn when you’re at home and you need a bit of motivation? You may have pictures of your family or perhaps pictures from a previous vacation. You can look at those to remind yourself why you do what you do.

It usually isn’t difficult to find motivation when you’re at home because you’re in the midst of all that you’ve worked hard to accomplish. But what happens when you’re at work and dreading every minute of it?

When you’re at work and your boss has just finished his annoying rant, or your co-worker just finished disturbing your peace, you need a quick source of motivation to keep pushing forward. Where can you find that burst of energy when you’re in the middle of a busy workday?

• You don’t have to look any further than your computer for all the motivating imagery you need.

Escape From Stress With Motivating Computer Wallpaper Backgrounds

You can download motivating wallpapers to your computer desktop so when you’re in the middle of those stressful moments, you have a source at your fingertips to inspire and motivate you.

These inspirational images can serve as a powerful reminder of why you work so hard. If nothing else, you can lose yourself in the image for just a moment. This can help ground you and let you see the world in a different light.

• A moment of refreshment recharges you and gives you the power to attack your to-do lists in a positive and systematic way.

There are many types of inspirational wallpapers for you to choose from. Many of them are simply an inspirational image, while others combine a quote or affirmation with a scenic picture. These can be very powerful because they use images and words, the two things that the mind responds to the best.

When you’re having a hard time, you can look at the picture and escape from the whirlwind that surrounds you. As you do this, you’ll begin to feel peace return to your life in the matter of a few seconds.

Motivating imagery can work wonders. Whether you’re sitting in your office or away on business, you may just need something calming, familiar, and reassuring to bring back your motivation and inner peace.

The great thing about the wallpapers is that they don’t take up any space, they’re often free, and no one has to know they’re there. You can use these images whenever you’re at your computer and need a helping hand. This is a quick and easy tool that has the power to recharge your batteries during a tough day.

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Technorati Tags: Inner peace, Motivation, personal development, positive thinking, Self Esteem, self help, self hypnosis, Self Improvement, spiritual, spirituality