The secret to success by positive thinking and The Law of Attraction

Ralph Waldo Emerson said-we become what we think about all day long. This could not be any truer. What do you think about all day long? Who's going to win on football on Sunday? Do you think about what you're going to wear to Sally's Party or that Nicole Richie has been dating? If you are thinking about trivial things all day think-don't be surprised if your life seems trivial.

You can't think about ridiculous, trivial things all day and then once in a while if you're in the mood to say, "Oh yeah ... and I want to be successful." According to Emerson-just start to think about success all the time and it will come soon. Emerson understood fully the law of attraction. The law of attraction is the secret of all major successes. It says that you attract what you think and focus on.

You can start leveraging the power of the law of attraction today. Me care not if you have the flu, you have two broken arms and 2 broken legs – there is something you can do today that you create is going to be successful before you know it. Start spending a lot of your day just thinking about success. Read and listen to any motivational program that you can find. Start using visualization and to fill your mind with thoughts of success instead of worrying about what Jay-lo and Britney. C'mon-if your mind is filled with garbage most of the time, you will have to trash! It is as simple as that. Think about what you want long and hard enough and it comes-action will follow. In the same way be-think about what you don't want and it will come. If you sit around all day and think---I don't want to end up poor, fat and sick, you will inevitably end up poor, fat and sick. The spirit knows what you fill with. Even if your intention is to prevent something-if you think about it enough-it's likely to end up in your life. So don't think about negative things. Don't think about what you don't like or what you want to avoid. Think positive and only about what you want. Your thoughts become your reality.

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Traveling Lightly Through Life

‘A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~Lao Tzu

I’m often asked what inspired me to become a minimalist. The answer: I fell in love with traveling lightly.

After over-packing on a few trips—and suffering the misery of lugging around a heavy suitcase—I vowed never to check a bag again. On my first trip to Europe, I opted for a small carry-on instead (replacing my wardrobe of clothes with a packet of laundry detergent).

The experience was exhilarating! I was mobile, flexible, and fancy free. I felt like I could go anywhere, and do anything, when I wasn’t loaded down with stuff. And I thought, wow, if it feels this great to travel lightly, how wonderful would it be to live this way?

I began to edit the contents of my home with the same fervor as I had my suitcase. As I slowly ditched the extra “baggage,” I could feel the weight being lifted from my shoulders.

Excess possessions are like excess luggage: they can tie us down, get in the way, and drain our sense of energy and adventure. (Have you ever passed up a job offer because of the hassle of moving, or a vacation because there was nobody to “watch the house”?)

Conversely, the less stuff we have to worry about, the more nimble we become—and the better able to embrace new opportunities and experiences.

To regain our freedom, we simply need to lighten our loads. We can accomplish that by borrowing a few packing techniques:

Start with a clean slate. Travelers start with an empty suitcase, and select each item that goes into it. Take a similar approach when decluttering: empty the entire contents of the drawer, closet, or room you’re working on. Then carefully consider each item, and decide whether to return it to the space. Choose what to keep, rather than what to toss.

Question every item. In a small carry-on, every item must pull its weight. Demand the same of your household possessions: have a conversation with your stuff, and ask what value it adds to your life. If the answer is “not much,” give it the heave-ho.

Set limits. To keep his bag light, a traveler might limit his pants to two, his shirts to three, and his socks to four. Use a similar strategy to keep your stuff under control: decide, for example, to own only five sweaters, fifty books, or the amount of craft supplies that’ll fit into one storage box.

Use modules. Take inspiration from packing cubes, and gather like items (cosmetics, office supplies, video games) into separate “modules.” Consolidating your stuff helps you see how much you have, weed out duplicates, and keep a lid on further accumulation.

Think versatility. To save space, light packers favor items that do double- or triple-duty (like clothes that can be dressed up or down, and layered for different climates). Use the same principle in your home: choose versatile or multi-functional items (like a sleeper sofa, or all-purpose saute pan) over single-task ones.

Digitize. Digital music, books, and documents are not only easier to transport—they’re also easier to store. Use technology to transform physical possessions into bits and bytes: scan paperwork, convert CDs to MP3s, and buy electronic books instead of paper ones.

Live on the edge. The light traveler addresses her needs as they arise; if she runs out of toothpaste in Tokyo, she simply buys some more. Adopt a similar philosophy at home: instead of stockpiling stuff or holding on to “just in cases,” acquire things on an as-needed basis.

In addition to lightening your load, it also helps to lighten your step. Life, like travel, is no fun when you’re plodding through each day, checking off an itinerary, or worrying about what might go wrong. It’s significantly more pleasant, in the words of an old Chinese poem, to “drift like clouds and flow like water.”

Some tips for traveling well through life:

Take the slow train. Instead of speeding through your days, slow down and savor every moment—we only get to take this fabulous trip once. I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly in no hurry to reach the destination.

Look out the window. Too often, we approach our lives with tunnel vision—focusing only on the road ahead, with our foot on the accelerator. Instead, give up the wheel and enjoy the ride; look around, and take in all the beautiful scenery.

Ditch the itinerary. Much fuss is made over goals, plans, and schedules. But any good traveler will tell you that the magic happens when you let go of the reins, and let things unfold of their own accord. Take each day as it comes, and be surprised and delighted by what transpires.

Be mindful of fellow passengers. You’re not on this journey alone; be considerate of your travel companions. Smile, be polite, and respect their privacy and space. Don’t be the guy that nobody wants to sit next to.

Go with the flow. Not every route will be smooth, nor every connection on schedule. Don’t despair if your plans fall to pieces; be fluid, and welcome the possibilities a detour may hold.

When we approach life like wayfarers, we realize that “more” isn’t necessarily better—and in fact, can be downright burdensome. I’ve never known any traveler to envy how much luggage his neighbor has.

“Less,” on the other hand, can be absolutely liberating—and make for an easier, more exciting, and infinitely more interesting journey!

Francine Jay is the author of The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life. She writes about living with less at Miss Minimalist.
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Read more about simple productivity, focus and getting great things done in Leo’s book, focus.

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Motivation for success with success

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Many years ago, as a fledgling Chemistry teacher, I opened the textbook for the first time and read a simple, yet profound, statement on the fly leaf. Before the very first word about the subject was the most important thing the book would say. The words read:

Nothing fails like failure. Nothing succeeds like success.

As a psychologist, I can say without hesitation that these words are the Rosetta Stone of success in business, marriage, the pursuit of arts or a craft, and life in general.

When you fail, regardless of what motivators tell you, the first impulse for most people isn't to pick oneself up by the bootstraps and do it again; it's to stop and avoid the sting of failure and stay as far from that activity as possible. Usually, after a little while, when the pain of defeat has subsided, many will give it another shot. But repeated failure usually eventuates in cessation of the activity, and sometimes that's not all bad. We are hard-wired to evaluate our activities and do more of what works and less of what doesn't. It really is a fruitless waste of time to continue your best efforts with something that will never yield your desired result.

There, of course, is the problem of deciding what is smart for you to relentlessly pursue and what makes better sense to drop like a hot potato. This column is not about making that decision; rather, it's about what to do once that decision is made and the road to success is fraught with failures along the way. In other words, what can you do to keep yourself motivated to move through your moments of failure as you move along that path to your ultimate success?

The first thing to do is realize that most motivational speakers are not very well grounded in the psychology of what they do. They give a good speech, which certainly motivates you to do something, but often lacks a plan of action which includes what to do when you fail. After all, as the motivators say, "failure is not an option." But as we all know, failure, while being an option we may never willingly, or knowingly, choose is more than an option. It is an inevitability. And telling others to simply suck it up and keep moving is more easily screamed from a stage than it is to do in the privacy of your own mind.

The problem with their exhortations is that when you do face failure, their words ring in your head and you begin to doubt your own abilities rather than the plan or pursuit. Over and over, many motivators will tell you that countless others have "done it", therefore so can you. When it doesn't happen, it is very difficult not to look at yourself and ask "what's wrong with me?"

For more help with this, see my Naked Thinking

As a motivational styled speaker myself, and psychologist, I want to make it very clear that it is important to continually monitor what you're doing and evaluate both your plan and your execution. But, the intent is to find ways to improve both, not find fault or a source of self-derision. Derision is rarely a good source of motivation for anyone whether it's from a coach, parent, boss or your own inner voice. Objective self-evaluation, on the other hand, is an important component for both motivation to continue and self improvement.

But what can you do to keep yourself going when all you meet is one obstacle after another and little positive result from your efforts? How can you make yourself stay focused on yet another attempt at placing one foot in front of the other? Remember, "Nothing fails like failure", so, if you have yet to reach your desired outcome, or, even any of the intermediate goals that will get you there, how can you keep these setbacks from completely snuffing out your last remaining ember of the flame that once burned within you? The answer may be as simple as cooking.

You may think this is silly, and if I were to recommend that you take up cooking to reach your goals as a movie star or franchise owner, it would be silly indeed. Cooking is, however, an excellent example of an activity you can use to create instant successes. It's a well defined project that takes anywhere from a few minutes to days to complete. It has a beginning, a purpose, a plan, a production, a performance and an immediate feedback for success. Many other extra-curricular activities afford the same kind of motivating elements as well.

Playing a sport such as golf allows a person to begin and end a project within a few hours. Each hole is a challenge. Each time you get better even a small bit, as from hole to hole, you can gain an immediate sense of improvement and accomplishment. Team events such as soccer, football, softball, etc. all have similar elements. Some people may use shopping as a way to simulate a project that has an immediate outcome with a sense of accomplishment hidden in it.

This feeling of accomplishment and the sense of confidence it can induce, is referred to as self-efficacy in psychology. The more experiences you have that can increase your self-efficacy, the greater your ability to withstand other defeats becomes. There are two dangers, however. The first is that you may gain so much of that sense of self-efficacy or esteem, that you become nearly addicted to that activity and it takes over other parts of your life. You may find yourself going back to whatever you did that gave you these feelings again and again while neglecting other things, including what you've set out as your ultimate goals. (This is often, and incorrectly referred to as an addiction as in becoming a sports addict or shop-a-holic. It is not an addication, but a powerful motivator and distraction.)

The other danger is that the activity can be self-defeating in itself. For example, if you like interfering in other people's lives, setting others up for mischief, buying things you don't really need, starting projects you'll never finish, or becoming so self-satisfied that you no longer yearn for other goals, hobbies and the like can actually stall your efforts.

So what do you do? When life is handing you one big "no" after another look for a way to create a smaller project completely unrelated to your other goals that you can tackle, complete, and find a sense of accomplish with. Some examples may include: painting or drawing, photography to the point of creating a finished wall hanging, throwing a dinner party and doing all the work, taking up a new sport or musical instrument and preparing for a game or recital. Other ideas could include planning and throwing a reunion or other social event, or building something in or around the house. When you're done, bask in the glow of a very important fact: you really can make a decision, plan it out, execute it and accomplish your goals. And by reminding yourself of that when you are rejected and dejected, you will find that extra little "something" within yourself we call motivation.

About your author: Phil D'Agostino, the author of NakedThinking, how to feel less, think more and make better decisions, is a licensed psychologist and author of the email broadcast E-Motivator He is a professional speaker and corporate trainer and has delivered more than 1,200 programs since his first in 1989.

His work has brought him to consulting with hundreds of companies, municipalities, military and government entities. He is also a personal coach and human performance specialist and has helped entities of all kinds achieve greater productivity. His easy, humorous and conversational style is well-received and helps teams and groups by helping each member develop his or her inner best. Let Phil help you. See his book at NakedThinking.Com and his site at bemotivated.com