• Thoughts that cause doubt about proceeding further

  These are thoughts that cause doubt about whether or not to pluck up the courage and proceed.

  Example: “This task will take too long before I see success.”

  You really just have to go for it regardless. Think of the positives and not the negatives. If you want to knock on some doors to find out about the application process for a job you may not normally consider for some reason, for example, but you feel a bit embarrassed asking in front of people, just do it. You will develop more confidence and try it repeatedly until you line up more interviews and succeed at finding work. It is the same with a business from home or an office, just do not let any doubts about your confidence or the length of time it will take get in the way.

• Fear emotion

  The fear emotion itself is like the plucking up courage emotion but stronger. Fear of failure, of negative reactions from family and friends (maybe based on pride), or fear of public ridicule even may all cause fear and completely stop you from proceeding with your pursuit of success in your chosen endeavor. Just ignore the fear and get on with it. You will be the one quietly laughing when you succeed.

• Comfort zone

  You can get used to your current approach to a task and that comfortable way of going about it can stop you from proceeding to take another alternative approach or additional tasks that will lead to success. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone. Give it a try!

• Perseverance

  Just when you think about giving up because you are not succeeding, do not give it up! Success is usually just around the corner. You cannot see it now obviously but it is there waiting. Persevere and you will succeed. Quitting is not an option!

• Pessimism

  If you are a bit negative sometimes you need to look at the positives and follow those only. You will never succeed and live a happy life with pessimism.

• Take responsibilty

  It is your life. Own it, rule it! Simple! The negativity of others is no excuse so do not listen to them because they do not know anything. They only become your alibi for failure. Also, dream, do not wish. Follow your dreams to the desired outcome. Set your goals and start.

• Hang around the right people

  If you have friends that are creative types then that will rub off on you. You will think of ways to overcome roadblocks to success.

• Procrastination

  Never think about doing something you really want to do and then wander off and do something else. Just get on with it!

• Pride

  Sometimes you have to take a job you may not like or do something else you do not want to do on the path to success. You might be concerned that friends will laugh at you or that you can think of a better way to do something other than what already succeeds. Just stick to what succeeds and you will be laughing!

• Other roadblocks

  It always seems that wherever you turn there is a wrong answer to queries and plans related to what you want to do. These roadblocks always have a (legal) way around them that you need to explore.

  It is usually money that stops people and that requires thinking about ways to raise more. Do you need to find a second or third job to pay college tuition fees? Do you need to borrow money for a vehicle to use for delivery work of some sort? How will you raise the money (legally, of course)?

• Vision of the future

  See your future success and work toward it now. If you have to take small steps then do so. Everyone has different circumstances and small steps are always a good start.

If you overcome negative thoughts and emotions, set your goals and find the answers to obstacles then you will be well on your way to succeeding. Do it today!

Your opinion?

What are your greatest fears on the road to success? Have your say in the forum in this board.

• Do or do not. There is no try. – “Yoda” in The Empire Strikes Back
• Find a truly original idea. It is the only way I will ever distinguish myself. It is the only way I will ever matter. – A Beautiful Mind Movie Quotes, spoken by Russell Crowe
• There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same: only love. – Don Juan De Marco, spoken by Johnny Depp
• Let me tell you something, Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, which is known throughout the universe for its… stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had different ideas, but nobody seemed to want to listen to them. Not even the Buddhists or the Christians. – K-Pax, spoken by Kevin Spacey
• Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that’s ours and ours alone. Something that can’t be learned… something that’s got to be remembered. – Legend of Bagger Vance, spoken by Will Smith
• My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things, trout as well as eternal salvation, came by grace and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy. – River Runs Through It, spoken by Robert Redford (narration)
• Every man dies, but not every man really lives. – Mel Gibson in Braveheart
• You get what you settle for. – Susan Sarandon in Thelma and Louise
• You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you that you can’t do it. You want something? Go get it. Period. – Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness.
• There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. – Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix

Stephenie Meyer

Look at the Wikipedia page for Stephenie Meyer and you will see the story of a former “average person” who went on to make millions as an author. Despite having an English degree she only ever worked as a receptionist after her graduation in 1995, until she started writing Twilight in 2003.

By the end of that year Meyer had signed a $750,000 three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company, according to that Wikipedia page. The first in the series of books, Twilight, was published in 2005 and was a hit. Other novels followed in subsequent years.

Twilight, the first movie adaptation of the series was released late last year and became a huge worldwide hit. Another, New Moon is due out in November and the third, Eclipse, is now filming. In addition to this, a new clothing line was recently launched to promote The Host, another book from last year.

There is a line of The Host t-shirts and skateboards available to order online. The line offers three designs and they all have the name The Host on them. The book is Meyer’s only adult novel and has been on the best seller list for weeks.

She has come a long way in the last 13 or so years and is listed on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world’s most powerful celebrities in 2009, entering at #26 with annual earnings exceeding $50 million. It is a great success story.

Link:

StephenieMeyer.com – official site

How To Win Friends & Influence People

This book – a classic best seller of all time, having sold over 15 million copies – was first published in 1936 and the copyright was renewed in 1964. The revised edition was first published in 1982 by First Pocket Books.

You have probably heard about this book, as its title has become part of the cultural lexicon. It floats around the edges of the pop-culture ether, easily recalled but little read.

It has many practical strategies described from observations on coherent interaction with other people all concentrated within this book. Written in a highly personalized, colloquial style that is reminiscent of a lecture it presents a common approach that would work for anyone.

The core of the book accomplishes four, overarching objectives:

1. Three fundamental techniques in handling people

2. The six ways to make people like you

3. The twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking

4. The nine ways to change people without arousing resentment

Readers will learn the following:

“Speak ill of no man and speak all the good you know of everyone.”

People react very badly to criticism; don’t do it, not to their face nor behind their back … especially not behind their back.

Say “Thank You”.

Express appreciation. People yearn, yearn to be appreciated.

Talk about what people want and help them get it.

“Arouse in others an eager want.”

Corollary: let others take credit for your ideas; they’ll like your ideas a lot more if they believe them to be their own.

WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU

Be happy to see people.

Greet everyone you meet and show an interest in them. Remember the things that are important to them.

Smile!

Remembers peoples’ names!!

Remember it, use it when talking to them. A person’s name sounds beautiful to them.

Draw people out.

Encourage them to talk about themselves and their interests.

Actively research the other person’s interests.

Every person you meet feels themselves superior to you in some way.

Strain to find out what that is and recognize their importance. Talk to people about themselves and they will listen to you for hours.

WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING

Don’t argue!

Give in! Agree that the other person is right; often they are and if they aren’t, you’ll never convince them of it by arguing.

Don’t ever tell a person they’re wrong.

They may be but telling them so is always counterproductive. It is difficult for a person to admit to themselves that they are wrong; harder still to admit it to others.

If you know you’re wrong, admit it.

Openly and freely admit whenever you’re wrong. And always leave open the possibility that you’re wrong even of you think you aren’t.

Friendliness begets friendliness.

Always begin that way. Don’t accuse.

Never neglect a kindness.

Look for ways to do or say something nice.

Start out by emphasizing areas of agreement.

When a person has said “no” it’s hard to get them to change even if they know they’re wrong.

Let the other person do most of the talking.

Listen patiently and don’t interrupt. Let your friends be better than you.

Let people come to your conclusions.

First, tell me what you expect of me; then tell me what I can expect of you. People will generally live up to the commitments they make to you as long as they came up with them on their own.

Think always in terms of the other person’s point of view.

Where they stand depends on where they sit; figure out where they’re sitting.

Some of the people you will ever meet are dying for sympathy.

Give it to them and they will love you.

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Dramatize your ideas.

“Don’t use logic; tell stories.” Make your ideas visible, concrete. Bear in mind that people don’t know until you show them what you mean.

Stimulate in others their innate desire to excel (perhaps through a friendly challenge or through competition).

BE A LEADER

Don’t go sailing into difficult interpersonal situations with guns blazing. You’ll always get a negative reaction.

Change “but” into “and”.

Be indirect in your criticism. Praise before you condemn.

Ask questions rather than giving orders.

Be very careful to help others preserve their dignity.

People crave recognition: praise the smallest improvement and praise every improvement.

Treat people as though they had the virtues you wished they possessed.

Give them a reputation to live up to and they will work like crazy to live up to it.

Praise the good; minimize the bad: encourage.

Make achievement seem possible. Take and encourage little baby steps. Seek out even the most insignificant of successes.

Napoleon: I could conquer the world if only I had enough ribbon.

The contents of this book are:

Part One

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Part Two

Six ways to make people like you
Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Part Three

Win people to your way of thinking
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
Appeal to the nobler motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.

Part Four

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Let the other person save face.
Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Your opinion?

Some of the book may come off as phony, but I think it is how you read and apply it. If you apply this in your life and you truly do care about other people and use these techniques with authenticity, you are not being phony.

This book is informative and helpful for anyone who wants to enjoy an even more enhanced connection with other people and or develop better conflict resolution skills when the need arises.

Well worth a read? Have you read this book?

Would you like to express an opinion in the forum or write a review? The link to the forum board for this is the Success/self help book opinions.

• The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins. – Bob Moawad
• I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou
• There’s a boundary to men’s passions when they act from feelings, but none when they are under the influence of imagination. – Edmund Bourke
• It doesn’t matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power. – Carlos Castaneda
• Freedom & security are found not so much in what we have, but what we know we can create with confidence. – Robert T. Kiyosaki
• It may be that those who do most, dream most. – Stephen Leacock
• Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. – Abraham Lincoln
• There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life – happiness, freedom, and peace of mind – are always attained by giving them to someone else. – Peyton Conway March
• The only limit to our realisation of tomorrow will be our doubts of today; Let us move forward with strong and active faith. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
• For an average man, the world is
  weird because if he’s not bored with it,
  he’s at odds with it. For a warrior, the
  world is weird because it is stupendous,
  awesome, mysterious, unfathomable.
  A warrior must assume responsibility for
  being here, in this marvelous world, in
  this marvelous time.
  - Carlos Castaneda

This is a brief story of Megan McArthur’s journey to space this year.

Born in 1971 and graduating with a B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of California-Los Angeles, 1993 and Ph.D., Oceanography, University of California-San Diego, 2002, it was a chance meeting in college with astronaut Kathryn Sullivan – the first US woman to do a space walk – that helped Megan McArthur decide exactly what she would do for a career.

Fast forward to May this year and Megan McArthur was in space helping to service the Hubble telescope, which was launched by Kathryn Sullivan.

After a career in science as an oceanographer, Megan McArthur joined NASA nine years ago. She started training in 2007 for 1½ years specifically for her first space mission. Its purpose was to service the 19-year-old Hubble telescope for a fifth and final time. She spent 12 days and 21 hours in space in May, performing the roles of flight engineer and mission specialist where she operated the robotic arm that secured the telescope for servicing.

She is one of 20 active women on NASA’s roster, along with 60 men. Her aim next is to go to the International Space Station. For now, though, she promotes science among her other work with NASA. She has been to Australia this month to promote National Science Week.

Sources:

WA today (Australia)

NASA Mega McArthur Bio

The Magic Of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

The Magic Of Thinking Big was first published in 1965. A version was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster, Inc (the version pictured). It contains real-life case studies to illustrate a point. Some people that read this book may find some of these examples hard to believe but they illustrate the point nevertheless.

Dr Schwartz defines a proven approach for getting the most out of your job, relationships and life in general. The reader can learn about turning defeat into victory, building favorable work and personal relationships and thinking like a leader. It is really all about getting rid of negativity and instead believing in success, overcoming fear, building confidence, becoming more creative and more.

It has 13 chapters:

• Believe you can succeed and you will
• Cure yourself of Excusitis, The Failure Disease
• Build confidence and destroy fear
• How to think big
• How to think and dream creatively
• You are what you think you are
• Manage your environment: Go first class
• Make your attitudes your allies
• Think right toward people
• Get the action habit
• How to turn defeat into victory
• Use goals to help you grow
• How to think like a leader

Dr Schwartz closes the book with the following quote:

“A wise man is the master of his own mind. A fool is a slave to his.” – Publilius Syrus

You can read an introduction for some chapters at Google Books or reviews at Amazon and similar places.

Your opinion?

Have you read this book? Would you like to express an opinion in the forum or write a review? The link to the forum board for this is the Success/self help book opinions.

• Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation – these are the great values of life. We can’t prove them, or explain them, yet they are the most stable things in our lives. – Jesse Herman Holmes
• Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash
• Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. – Dr. Dale Turner
• Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. – Leon J. Suenes
• If you have made mistakes…there is always another chance for you…you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. – Mary Pickford
• Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw
• Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. – Harold B. Melchart
• Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings. – Ralph Blum
• Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth. – Julie Andrews
• All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES. – Nike ad

Source: Great-Inspirational-Quotes.com

Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy was just 16 when he bypassed the usual clueless record companies to go straight to his market. He launched his music on SoundClick.com and soon saw some tracks being downloaded up to 35,000 times a day. Listeners loved his music and asked him to create a MySpace site, which he did in 2005.

The attention he gained there landed him a record deal and he then used YouTube to really launch his career with dance videos in addition to his music. His market was still a teen and young adult one and, because he did not have a “bad boy” image, YouTube was just the place for him (plenty of teenagers go there daily).

One of the ways in which he kept a good image was through his lyrics. In one interview this year, he told the ladies of The View that he chose to refrain from swearing in his earlier music because it would set a bad example to other young teenagers. So, parents did not have to worry about their teen children watching him in online video clips. The only influencing he was doing was all good; from his clothing styles to his dance moves.

His story has been one of the rising number of artists using social media to derive an income from digital revenue sources. He now uses a regular record company to promote his music. His efforts saw him spend many weeks on the Billboards Hot 100 singles chart and earned him a Grammy nomination in 2008. Now, of course, record labels are trying to ensure that they can take a piece of the artist’s digital revenue for themselves in addition to revenue from CDs they promote. And all because a kid from Memphis saw the huge potential in social media.

What was one of his keys to success, apart from clean lyrics? In a biography on Pop Tower, he tells a story of his composition book with all his goals outlined for the near future when he was in school. A kid found the book an read it loud and laughed. One year on and all those goals had come true. It is the age-old story: always write down your goals and work toward them.

2009 has continued to be a big year for him and he just turned 19 late last month. What a great story of how an enterprising kid took advantage of Web 2.0!

Links:

Souljaboytellem.com

Soulja Boy Tell ‘em MySpace

Sources:

Social Times

Soulja Boy Tell ‘em Biography on Pop Tower

Think and Grow Rich

This book is a classic best-seller that has been reprinted over and over again. It was written in 1937 and Napoleon Hill gives 13 success principles used by the great success stories of the early 20th-century. He interviewed Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie and 500 others.

One of the most recent versions of this book is called Think and Grow Rich, The landmark bestseller – now revised and updated for the 21st Century by Napoleon Hill with Arthur R Pell. Here is a quote from the chapter about desire:

“Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money or anything you wish to desire. It needs to be done in fair exchange.

Also write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, describe clearly the plan through which you intend to acquire it.”

In the updated version, Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D., a consultant in human resources management interweaves anecdotes of how contemporary millionaires and billionaires, like Bill Gates, achieved their wealth.

There are 15 chapters in this book:

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Desire
• Chapter 3: Faith
• Chapter 4: Auto Suggestion
• Chapter 5: Specialized Knowledge
• Chapter 6: Imagination
• Chapter 7: Organized Planning
• Chapter 8: Decision
• Chapter 9: Persistence
• Chapter 10: Power of the Master Mind
• Chapter 11: The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
• Chapter 12: The Subconscious Mind
• Chapter 13: The Brain
• Chapter 14: The Sixth Sense
• Chapter 15: How to Unwit the Six Ghosts of Fear

You can read an introduction for some chapters at Google Books or reviews at Amazon and similar places.

Your opinion?

Have you read this book? Would you like to express an opinion in the forum or write a review? The link to the forum board for this is the Success/self help book opinions.