The Only Secret To Success

The very crucial factor in determining whether we will succeed or not is told in the following article from a local newspapers which I would like to put up to remind myself and for anyone who want to succeed in life to think about it. Enjoy your reading...

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The key to success
by Chong Sheau Ching

Your attitude could well be your biggest obstacle.

I have been giving talks on writing, working from home, and building home-based businesses for several years now. Often, I get email from people who have attended the talks. Some are doing well after taking the plunge to try something new. They heeded the advice given to them and kept improving their skills and knowledge until they knew how to handle new challenges.

However, a large majority have not taken a single step towards what they had so wanted to do. A woman met me in a car park recently, and said"Your talk was good but a home-based business is not for me. I am too old to try new things.

"Also, I don't want to work so hard when my kids are still young. I don't have a tertiary education like you, so everything takes more time. I don't have the business skills and I am scared to do anything new!"

Just before she closed the door of her BMW, she threw in one last sentence, "And I don't have money for the capital!"

I was rooted to the ground after hearing so many "I can't" from her in one breath. The woman was in her thirties.

She was not the only one who has given me a list of "I can't". Young people gave a common reason:"I am so young, I don't have the business acumen" even though they were told that they could learn by doing and through seminars.

Retired people told me they were too old to try new things, forgetting that the founder of KFC started his fast food business when he was in his seventies! Some people believed that they don't have the energy, while others thought that their personal and financial situations were not conducive for them to try anything new.

In contrast, those who are doing well are the ones willing to learn from others. They don't give up easily. When difficult situations arise, they solve their problems with a positive attitude. Those who are religious also believe that bad things happen for a reason. If they have to face difficulties, it is because their God wants them to learn, experience, and think in order to train them for something bigger.

A homemaker friend who didn't have the confidence to do event management was asked to volunteer and organise an event for the disadvantaged. She met the disabled, patients with chronic illness, and poor people who have the odds stacked against them.

This is what she had to say after the event: "It is so inspiring to hear what some of these people are doing. The beauty of it is that everyone of them is not complaining about his or her situation. They have chosen to be optimistic, despite facing difficulties on a daily basis. Some people I know are much better off in life, but they do nothing except whine about what's not right in their lives."

After the event, she chucked out her "I can'ts" and tried her hand at writing, even though it was something she had not done before. She is still learning, but I know she will go far because of her attitude.

People who keep saying "I can'ts" should be reminded of 12-year-old Mohd Haziq who was born a paraplegic. Although he does not have the use of his lower body, he excels in football, swims, scoots around on his skateboard, using his arms to navigate his way around, and lift himself up. He bathes, dresses himself and gets ready on his own to go to school.

In Ghana, Emanuel Yeboah, who was born with one leg, was abandoned by his father at birth. His poverty-stricken mother raised him with great difficulty. Ten per cent of Ghanians are disabled, making disability a serious problem in the country. Disabled people are ridiculed and humiliated by the public.

As a child, Emanuel climbed coconut trees, fetched water and helped his mother around the house. He was excluded from basketball games in school, so he worked and earned money to buy a basketball. He negotiated with his friends that if they wanted to borrow the ball, they had to include him in the game.

After his mother passed away, the teenager decided to learn to ride a bicycle. He applied to a foreign foundation for a new bike to ride across Ghana to raise awareness about discrimination against the disabled. Eventually, he won a triathlon in the United States and learnt to make prosthesis to help other disabled people in Ghana. Emanuel went on to receive international awards for changing the Ghanian perception of the disabled and giving them a chance at education and sports.

Ghanians were mesmerized by his courage. People who are better off than him asked: "If he can do it, why can't I?"

His friend commented in the documentary about him, "When you do something from your heart, you will do it well."

This can-do attitude determines the success of many people I know, whether they are baking cakes from home, translating for overseas clients or writing for a publication.

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It is the mind of yesterday that makes us what we are today. It is the way we think at this moment that will eventually shape our tomorrow in times to come. So why waiting..., think and act now! Cheers!

Positive Thinking

I always remember what was taught by a reverand teacher in meditation that our mind can only focus on one thought at a very tiny moment of split of second. When the time span is extended, it is true that we will only be occupied by one kind of mind set during that period if we accumulate the same thought continuously or dorminantly most of the time.

So, avoid negative thinking by filling up your mind with positive thinking instead, read this article by Alan Fairweather, an associate consultant with d'Oz International, and author of "How To Be A Motivational Manager";

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THINK POSITIVE by Alan Fairweather

Let me tell you a quick story: When I was working in the beer industry, I was intrigued by our top 10 successful bar-and-hotel owning customers. The majority of them, to put it tactfully, did not seem to be particularly sophisticated business people. In other words, they did not seem to have had any kind of business training or acquired any qualifications. I asked my boss how these people had become so successful. He said, "They don't know they can't do it. You and I see the pitfalls, we know about business and we see all the ways we can fail. These people only see how they'll succeed."

This was a powerful message - these successful business owners were talking to themselves in a much more positive way than less successful people.

Your level of success in terms of your happiness, emotional well-being and anything else you desire is a direct result of how you talk to yourself. The most important relationship you will ever have is the one with yourself.

Listen to the self-talk that goes on in your head and ask yourself: "Is what I'm saying allowing me to be confident, on top and going for it?"

"Or is it holding me back and stopping me from achieving my goals?" If this is the case, you have to change tracks.

Talking to yourself in a positive manner will help you feel physically better. Words have an enormous power to create change in the chemistry of your body. Your heart rate, blood pressure, muscles, nerves and breathing will all react to the words you say to yourself.

Take a moment to say some words to yourself such as holidays, warm, sunshine, sandy beaches, swimming, chilled beer, delicious food. Are you starting to get good feelings? Or may be words like home, family, children, or Christmas make you feel good.

So think about the things you say to yourself and make every statement in the present tense. For example, do not say:"I'm going to make a success of this business" or "I'm going to get organized" or "I'm going to be much more confident"

Say:"I'm totally in control of my life. I am totally confident and positive. I'm achieving my goals. I have determination and drive."

What you are actually doing here is re-programming your subconscious. If you talk to yourself in a positive way, that is what your subconscious will focus on.

Top sportsmen know what they need to talk to themselves in a positive way to be successful. Research has proved that the success of the world's top golfers is determined by 20 per cent physical ability and 80 per cent mental ability. In your day-to-day task, you should be no different from sportsmen.

If you talk to yourself in a negative way, that is what your subconscious mind will focus on. If you think illness, you will become ill. If you think doom and gloom, that is what you will get. But you think health, happiness and success, you are on your way to achieving all of this.

Let me finish with a short story. In the city where I live, finding a car parking lot can be difficult. Say for example, I need to visit a bookstore and I decide to take my car. I say to myself:"I'm going to park my car outside the bookstore."

If I have someone with me, he will inevitably say:"You're nuts, Alan, you'll never get parked there, far better to park several blocks away in a quieter area."

And guess what, most of the time I get to park outside the bookstore. It does not happen all the time, but talking to yourself in a positive way is much more likely to get you the results you want.

Put this to the test right away: For the next seven days, listen to what you say to yourself and if it is negative, change it to something more positive. You will start to feel better, look better and have much more success in what you do.

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This definitely conforms to what had been revealed in the book by Napoleon Hill, "Think and Grow Rich". Your subconscious is your master of your destiny.