December 04, 2006

Applying The Secret: Money

Before I start I want to say that I am not a financial planner and am just writing this as a suggestion to change your thinking about money if you find your finances aren't what you'd like them to be. This way of thinking has worked for me to attract more money into my life, but the amount of money you attract and manifest will vary.

With that said money is something we all could use more of. Though, most people focus on how much money they don't have and that's the thing which limits us from how much money we could have because when you are focusing on lack, worrying about lack or thinking of lack you are in turn creating more lack. What you focus on expands.

You need to think of attracting more money into your life by focusing on getting more and having more money now. So, how do you attract more of the green stuff into your life? First get clear of limiting beliefs about money.

Why you need to get clear of your current beliefs about money is because if you don't any money you do get will be repelled or you will subconsciously get rid of it because you haven't cleared you beliefs. You will not have the proper money mindset to keep and grow your money.

Here's some common money misconceptions which limit people:

1. It's hard to make a lot of money.

2. Rich people are snobby and greedy.

3. The only way to make a lot of money is by selling drugs, gambling or doing other illegal things.

4. Rich people are unhappy or money doesn't make you happy.

I could go on and on but I'll just tackle the above misconceptions for now.

1. It's hard to make a lot of money.

Yes and no. Yes it's easy to make money but at the same time you need to align yourself with the goal and find the right vehicle to make money. I just said it's easy to make a lot of money.

I can hear someone complaining about me partially disagreeing with that belief saying, "Now if it were so easy to make a lot of money why isn't everyone a millionaire?"

Here's why, most don't have the mindset to become one. Most people go around thinking they will never reach their financial dreams so why even try. Or they think because it's so hard to make the kind of money they want why even try.

Frankly, that's sad. This kind of thinking places mental roadblocks in your way to success and keep you from coming up with ideas to take action on. The universe will respond to whatever idea you send out. So if you think it's hard to make money then it will be for you, if you think it's easy then it will be.

Here's one reason why I say it's easy to make money, you have a money maker right in between you ears. The secret to your financial success is in your head. Your mind is your greatest asset to achieving anything you want. Ideas turned into action will make money. We only need to look to the process of manifestation for evidence: thoughts lead to feelings which lead to actions (or no action) which lead to results (or no results). This is what most millionaires of our century know.

When you clear your subconscious mind of the limiting belief that it's hard to make money you clear the path to come up with money making ideas easily and naturally.

Remember, ideas put into action equal money. If an idea pops into your head, take action. Money likes speed. Don't hesitate, wonder, worry, just take inspired action and you will get results. If you don't get any results, fine. Act on another inspired thought.

Here's one to get you thinking. If you wrote a book on a hot topic and sold many copies you can generate a fair bit of cash.

Once you start thinking on this level you wonder how am I going to do that? After a few days you'll come with a plan of action. The key step to attracting money is to act on your plan and follow through to the very last step.

Now here's where I partially agree with the belief it's hard to make money. Not everyone can get their idea into motion or knows people who would be willing to invest in their idea and turn it into a reality.

Not everyone is the friend of the rich and influential. Everyone doesn't know someone who can make things happen.

But thankfully you have your own network of friends and they have their own network of friends and on and on it goes. In a sense we are all interconnected by just seven degrees of separation (and the gap is closing as technology progresses). One of the keys to attracting more money is expanding your network.

It's not as easy as it sounds but it can be done and your script for a movie can very well end up in the hands of the head of a major movie studio through networking. Even though you may not know someone who can get your idea into motion a friend of a friend may. Two people can accomplish more than one can by themselves.

Though once you are ready to go forward you may fail to take action because of fear, confusion or limiting beliefs/misconceptions having more money which means most people fail to act on their ideas.

Or you may think the process of making money is hard and tedious. If you think that then it will be. Instead think of creating the exact level of financial success as a game, an exciting venture you are embarking upon. It doesn't have to be hard and tedious. It can be fun and exciting.

Check your limiting beliefs as they occur while you can take action and ask yourself why you have them. Your answers just may surprise you and you'll clear the way for bigger and better things by answering them.

We'll tackle the next two misconceptions next time.

November 30, 2006

ABC News Knows the Secret

The Secret is spreading. ABC Health ran a story about The Secret, you can read about it here, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2681640&page=1

November 13, 2006

The Law of Attraction

I'm sure some of my reader's are a bit confused by The Law of Attraction and other universal laws. It is really quite simple and logical and believe it or not can be explained by Quantum Physics.

Physics?

I know that word conjures up memories of high school sitting in physics class where your teacher is lecturing on and on about something you barely understand. Thankfully we won't have a lecture on Quantum Physics; I'll leave that up to Stephen Hawking.

Put simply, the Law of Attraction states like attracts like. You've probably had some exposure to this law, when people refer to the Law of Attraction at work in someone's love life. The notion of people attracting other people may seem "out there" to some, but it is very simple and logical.

Think about your friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, partner... These people are most likely similar to you in personality characteristics, tastes, beliefs etc... They are like minded. You attract people like you. That's only logical.

Here's where it starts getting complicated. These people are attracted to your energy or vibes you give out. If you are giving off negative vibes or energy you attract other people with negative energy and at the same time you repeal people with positive energy.

If you are someone with a positive personality would you stick around someone with depression? You might try to cheer them up, but if that fails your most likely to get away from them. They drain you of your energy if you stick around them very long. It all has to do with energy. We are giving it off all the time whether we realize it or not. If you took a Thermo Dynamic camera and took a picture of yourself you would see you are giving off energy in the form of heat. You are also giving off energy in the form of what you feel.

One of the laws of Physics is "everything is energy". The first time I learned this back in middle school I was surprised; I couldn't conceive solid objects were made of atoms, which gave off energy at varying frequencies. The physical world around us appears solid, it feels solid but it is actually made up of tiny vibrating atoms.

Since everything is energy, you are not only attracted to people and they to you, but you are also attracted to objects. These objects are attracted to you also since they are made of energy because they are giving off varying frequencies. If you get your frequencies to match with the frequencies of the things you want you and whatever you desire start to attract each other.

And if you realize this you can start to reshape the world you live in and change your life by attracting money, houses, cars, boats, planes, anything and everything you can think of. It's all energy. And it all starts with putting the Law of Attraction into action through your thoughts and feelings.

We'll have more on that next time.

November 08, 2006

Are You Living Life Unconsciously?

It seems many people are unaware they can control their own lives and have the power to have, do be, anything they want. Or they have control over their lives but something or somebody won’t let them; in other words this means they aren’t really getting the fact that they do have control over their life, not anything or anyone else.

Where you are now in life is a direct result of you and your beliefs about life. I have a little secret to share with you, what you think and believe determines your success and growth throughout life. If you don’t think you’re in direct control of your life than you aren’t, if you do think you are in control of your life than you are.

Just like you are what you eat, you are what you think and believe. Other people will have control over your life if you think you’re not in constant and complete control of your life every moment you are alive. Your boss, employees, spouse, kids, relatives, friends, the government: whoever or whatever you think and believe is control of your life will continue to be control your life if you think that. Until you consciously change that belief you will never be in control of your life.

This is a not so secret secret; it’s uncommon common sense. Yet so many people are going through life unconsciously and do what everyone else is doing and continue to think they are not in control of their lives. They are just living what is day to day without stopping and thinking about why they are living what is. Is it any wonder why so many people are unhappy and unfulfilled these days? Don’t live unconsciously, take the reigns of your life into your hands and steer your life in the direction you want it to head in. Thinking you have no control over your life is like thinking you have no control over a car while driving it.

If you still don’t think you complete control over your life just think back to this morning. You most likely got out of bed to do your daily activities or go to work. You have the choice to get out of bed or stay in bed all day. You have a choice to go to work or not go to work. You have the choice to do everything you do throughout the entire day. No one else makes these choices for you. They can certainly recommend you do something, but you ultimately have the power of choice in your hands. If you find yourself getting mad at your boss because of something he did or said, you made the choice to go to work. You also made the choice to earn your income by working for someone else. No one else made this choice for you but you.
That’s fine; no one told you it doesn’t have to be this way, until now.

It can be another way; your life can be the exact way you want it to be. This is the secret of life most people don’t know about, they aren’t aware of this simple universal fact. If you’re not happy with your life circumstances, know and believe you can change those circumstances. You are the creator of your own life. You will change them if you change your focus from “I have no control over my life” to saying “I control my life and everything and everyone in it.” Once you say or think that you focus begins to shift. What you focus on expands, and you get more of the same of what you focus your energy on. The control in your life will increase if you focus on the belief “I control my life.“ It all starts with awareness.

If you think you’re in complete control of your life you start to believe it after a few days. Then you start thinking of the things you want from life. What kind of people you want to be surrounded by, what kind of car you want to drive, the house you want to live in, the things you would rather do on a daily routine. After asking those questions to yourself you become attracted to the things and people you want and they in turn become attracted to you. This is because of the Law of Attraction, another universal law that controls our lives.

The Law of Attraction simply states like attracts like. People who know they are in control of their lives are attracted to and surround themselves with others who know they are also in control of their lives. In turn the Law of Attraction also works for people who don’t think or aren’t aware they can control their lives and they will only get more of the same results they always got until they change their belief to “I control my life, no one else.”

You are in control of your life and you can change your life. I know that; I believe you can. Do you know believe you can? Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Which belief will you make?

November 06, 2006

Daily Insight Returns!

My apologies to all my readers, the past couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity. My online businesses needed my attention this summer as well the attention I need give my family, not to mention the month long vacation I took to relax for a while. Though, during my vacation I saw a movie, which literally changed my outlook on everything in life from wealth to health to love, everything.

The movie has been very inspirational and has helped me in many ways achieve and continue to achieve my goals. That movie was The Secret.

It is all about the Laws of Attraction and the Power of Manifestation with featuring some of the most enlightened thinkers of the modern era such as Joe Vitale, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield and many others; I had known some things about the Laws of Attraction but not in as much detail as The Secret goes into.

Now it does cost $4.95 to view the movie at the official website, but if you are unsure about that just go to YouTube.com and search for "The Secret." There are a few clips on there from the movie.

No, I'm not an affiliated sale person for The Secret; I'm just trying to spread the word about an amazing, inspirational movie. It's more important to me that you view the clips at YouTube and understand what is being revealed to you, rather than buying the movie. Especially, if you think you cannot change your life. If you buy it, great! If you choose not to or don't have the money to, just view the clips and process the information. You'll thank yourself later.

The things I learned from that movie were literally life changing and I quickly found myself recommending the movie to almost everyone I knew and it also led me to scour the internet and bookstores for more information.

It doesn't matter who you are, what age, race, sex you are, or what part of the world you live. Everyone must see this movie and understand its universal message; I cannot say enough good things about it.

So, Daily Insight is back with a new look and new material! Again, I hope you can forgive me for my long absence and I hope you will make the decision to view the clips from the movie. My future post will be concentrate on the Laws of Attraction and the Power of Manifestation.

We’ll be back with more.

June 11, 2006

Graduating from College in Three Semesters: One Man's Story

Steve Pavilina accomplished the incredible (some may even say the impossible) during his college years- he managed to graduate from college in only 3 semesters. Not only did he graduate in that incredible amount of time, he graduated with two degrees. He even managed to not get overly stressed and even held down a part time job.

How he did this through connecting with his "purpose" and "mission." You can read the rest of his amazing story at his blog.

June 04, 2006

Daily Insight Accepting Submissions

We are now accepting submissions for Daily Insight

Feel free to share your information, experience and insight about personal development

Bloggers are also welcome to share; this is a great way to let a wider audience know about your blog!

Just send submissions to ehanso3@yahoo.com.Original works only please.

Copyrighted information is strictly prohibited and will not be accepted

June 03, 2006

Wishcraft Ebook

Just a quick update with some news you can use.

After the conclusion of our series Dream Catching, I forgot to give readers the link to Barbra Sher's Wishcraft ebook website. For anyone who is interested in pursuing their dreams you can download and read the book at Wishcraft.com

June 02, 2006

30 Days to Success

Steve Pavlina has a great post on how to measure your personal growth in a manageable time set, in a 30 day time frame.

June 01, 2006

Controllable Anger

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. Regret and guilt can take up and literally waste hundreds of hours of your time; self-discipline only takes a few seconds. An ounce of “bite-my-tongue” outweighs a ton of “I am-so-sorries.” One test of our size and maturity is what makes us angry —and how we express our anger.

A boiling temper can escalate into an argument or a shouting match where both parties walk away having accomplish nothing and feeling worse. Like any other emotion, anger has a toxic way of infecting others directly or indirectly. It’s unrealistic to try to be pleasant every second of the day but whenever you feel like your on the verge of getting angry, stop and ask yourself two questions: Is this really worth getting angry about and will I still be angry about this 6 months from now?

If you answer "no" to both of those questions you shouldn’t get angry. Though, if you answer, “yes” you need to do something also- use your words rather than your voice. State exactly how you're feeling in a direct, non-emotional way. People will listen to you more readily than if you are shouting at them.

Another way to diffuse anger is to gain a new perspective on the events that upset you by reminding yourself everything happens for a reason and that reason is for me to learn from the event.

May 31, 2006

Healthy Selfishness?

Healthy?

Apparently, according to Dr. Rachael and Richard Heller who wrote the New York Times Bestseller Healthy Selfishness: Getting the Life You Deserve Without the Guilt. The authors ask readers the intriguing and somewhat surprising question “are you too good for your own good?”

You may be asking yourself “but, isn’t selfishness a bad thing? Only narcissistic people are selfish.” Being selfish, in a mentally beneficial way, will actually make you a more giving, happier and caring person. According to the authors the main concepts of healthy selfishness is “to respect your needs and feelings, even if others do not. Especially if others do not.”

You can read the first two chapter of their book at www.healthyselfishness.com

May 30, 2006

Clean Your House Without all the Grunt Work.

Believe it or not some people still haven't gotten around to Spring cleaning and getting their house ready for Summer. It's better do the cleaning now rather than be stuck inside in July while everyone else is out having their Summer fun.

Shaking out the rugs and dusting off your furniture aren’t the most exciting things to be do when the weather is starting to get nice but here’s a few tips to get the job done once and for all.

-Put everything in a bucket that you’ll need such as dusting rags, furniture polish, all purpose glass cleaner, paper towels, etc…

-Tabletop items such as books, pictures, and other decorative items should be cleared from a surface before dusting. If you find many items crowded on one surface you’ll want to display them around the room or put them in other rooms throughout your home.

-Dust off your furniture first before vacuuming. Wiping dust onto your clean floors will only make the task longer.

-Open the windows to allow the fresh air in and cleaning fumes/dust out.

-Get rid of everything and anything you don’t use any longer. Sell all these things either on ebay or in a yard sale. Throw away items, which aren’t “sales worthy”, just be careful one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. If you come across anything you think may be a valuable, set it aside and get it appraised/ research asap. You never know until you find out.

-Clear away clutter. Clutter seems to attract the most dust, once you go through them you will have made future cleaning tasks easier because there is less dust in the house. It is also important to minimize dust as much as possible for asthma suffers.

-If you hate cleaning and find yourself grumbling put on your favorite radio station or play some music to get back in the swing of things.

You can find a litany of information about cleaning as well as a cleaning checklist at marthastewart.com.

May 29, 2006

Jump Start Your Diet

Starting a diet or a fitness routine can be an empowering and exciting thing to do. As time goes by though those feeling of empowerment may wear off and turn to feelings of dread and annoyance, which quickly makes some people want to drop their diet or fitness routine all together. But there are some ways to combat diet fatigue and get back to your goals of a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some things you can do to get back on track:

Have a visual motivator.

Put up an ad of a fit model on your wall in front of your exercise area or hang a pair of jeans you want fit back into to motivate you towards your goal. This is a good method to fight off procrastination.

Recognize your achievements

Whenever you surprise your self by making that extra effort to achieve don’t say, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that.” Instead say, “I knew you had it in you. You really can do it,” (You can say this out loud if you feel empowered enough) it sounds cheesy, but this method really works in the long run. You can even do something special for yourself when you reach a milestone mark and are starting to see results of your effort.

You can read more here

May 28, 2006

Protect Your Identity

Just a quick update today with some news you can use.

As the worlds advances more with technology and transitions get easier, the ability for criminals to gain access to other people’s financial information. Criminals want your money- no matter how much you have.

About.com has some simple yet important tips to help protect yourself from identity theft and fraud. Here are a few tips the suggest:

-Don't give your Social Security number over the phone unless it is absolutely necessary.

-If you have a roadside mailbox empty your mailbox as soon as possible after the mail is delivered. And don't leave letters with personal information in the box for pickup by the mail carrier; drop them in at the post office or in a U.S.

-If your throwing away old financial records tear them up as much as possible or even buy a paper shredder and use it when you're disposing of records such as tax returns, or unwanted credit card offers.

-Never leave printed receipts behind at the bank, ATM machines or gas stations.

-Never give out credit card, social security numbers or other personal information on a Web site that isn't secure (A secure website will have a web address starting with https:// and a yellow navigation bar)

You can find more here

May 27, 2006

Dream Catching Conclusion

So you have seen you actually can take control of your life and accomplish your dreams-no matter what they are. Just to recap the major things you need to work toward that dream:

1. Brainstorming session
2. A plan of action
3. A goal calendar charting when you expect to reach it
4. A list of first steps
5. What you’re going to do tomorrow
6. Networks
7. A support base

If you still think you can’t accomplish your dream don’t give up on the dream, just fit aspect of your dream into your daily life and “see what happens” as Barbara says. If your wondering if you’ll be any good enough at doing the items on your list or calling a contact just do it and you will see. The key to remember is your not suppose to be an expert at what your about to do you are just starting out. You are more than allowed to make mistakes without punishment from yourself or others. Do it right or do it wrong, just do it. You’ll thank yourself later.

It’s one thing to read words on a page, which tell you to do something it’s entirely different to follow through with them and actually change words into action. You’re are the only one who can accomplish your dreams and no one else can stop you from accomplishing them or accomplish them for you. Everyday you make a decision to live your life, but some people don’t know they can make the decision to live their lives the way they want to not the way anyone else wants them to. You are born with the power and capabilities to do change your life and catch your dream.

If you liked this little series based on the book Wishcraft you can read the e-book of Wishcraft or buy the book.

We’ll be back with more next time.

May 26, 2006

Dream Catching: Double Up

To achieve your dream you absolutely cannot try to pursue it alone need someone to help you through the times when you feel resistance creeping up on you or when you just need someone talk to.

This person can be a family member; friend neighbor-it could be anyone who supports your goal. This person will become extremely important because they will keep you on track and focused on the tasks ahead. They can give you an extra push of encouragement or just about anything. It can even be a person who is putting up resistance to your goal.

You can actually get someone who opposes your goal to eventually support it. Here’s how, you need to allow them the right to not support it at first. When you walk into the room and announce your goal and if someone says, “Why would you want to do that?” Which in turn follows with you responding, “well, what do you mean why would I want to do that.” Eventually it ends up with you feeling defeated and giving up. Instead of giving up, let them know you understand how they feel.

Your shaking up their world and turning things around, suddenly things are changing; you’re changing. Change is uncertain and many people fear it. Just respond by giving whoever it is the right not to like the dream, to hate it, to throw a fit or be mad because you quit your job or are going against your parent’s wishes of you becoming a doctor. Go ahead and make the changes and follow your plan of action. You will work up certain energy as you go about your goal or dream.

You will give off a certain energy that will make people curious and inspired about your dream. The best gift you can give someone is the gift of giving off positive energy that reinforces relationships-directly or indirectly. Sooner or later when they see how committed and optimistic you are they will eventually support whatever goal makes you happy.

You can even find someone with the same dream and use each other as support anchors. Whether you get the support of people who have a common goal or a family member you can’t pursue your goal alone, you will need a support base sooner or later.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the conclusion to Dream Catching

May 25, 2006

Dream Catching: Brainstorming with a Group

So, as you've already done in this post, you’ve formulated all the ideas you can think of to start moving toward your goal. Though, now you have to get the help of other people to contribute ideas. That's where a group brainstorming session comes in.

Brainstorming are the ingredient dreams are made of and barn raising is the oven that turns them into a reality. You have to ask yourself “who do I know?”

You may find yourself saying, “Well, I don’t know anyone.” What you’re really saying is you don’t know anyone who’s rich, powerful and can make things happen with the wave of a hand. Those aren’t the people were concerned with (yet).

It could be anyone you know, friends, family, co-workers etc… You will be amazed at what these people know and what they can contribute to getting you your dream.

You can either ask these individuals for help one by one or you can throw what Barbara calls a “barn raising party.”

This is a great technique to get your dream. Gather your, friends, and family somewhere and hold a type of gathering. (Barbara suggests that the number of people shouldn’t exceed fifteen. A larger group requires longer planning, not to mentiona a large place they can gather.) Everyone can create strategies, swap ideas and exchange personal contacts. In addition to that you’ll have a great time while building a foundation for your dream.

The beginning and the end of the party can be all about the party; socializing and having fun, but in the middle it’s all business. You have the floor and let everyone know your dream, what you have come up with so far and what you still need.

You should try to be as specific as possible when asking for something. If your dream is to be a movie star or start your own restaurant and you simply ask for “help” many of your guests will just smile sympathetically, shrug their shoulder’s helplessly or offer answers that aren't really what your looking for.

Though, if you ask for second hand pots and pans or if anyone knows someone in the media industry you will get more helpful responses. If don't know what you need, ask for more ideas. Barn raising is a excellent way to get your dream off the ground and get it into action immediately.

You need a plan to start getting on the road after you have established your networks. You need to follow up on information and contacts. There’s nothing worse than getting an unexpected phone from the person you met a week ago asking if you followed up on their information when you haven’t.

Most of your plan stems from the information you have gained through your networks, but you need to create some of it to reach it. You can have the key to your dream in your hand, but it is only you who can open the door with it.

You need to break down your goal into easy to manage steps so you can implement them immediately. Work backwards from the goal itself so you can have a clearer picture of what you need to do. Fill in the early stages with information from your networks. As you begin to follow up on contacts and gain more information you will see what steps you need to create in order to reach the next one.

For example you can’t become a model until you have an agent and you can’t have an agent until you have gone to a modeling agency. The key is to keep the steps small enough so you can start doing them tomorrow.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

May 24, 2006

Dream Catching: Paving the Way to Your Dreams

You need to have a definitive plan to reach your goal. It is essential to know what your doing and how your going to do it. How you catch your dream is by using the resource of your mind and the people around you. But before doing that you need to solve the problems you listed a while ago.

I’ve mentioned that you can solve almost any problem-including money problems money problems and how you can solve those problems is by using your head and collaborating with the people you know.

It’s called brainstorming and barn-raising in Wishcraft. Coming up with ideas on your own until you can’t think of anything else and then getting other people to help give you ideas of how to reach your dream.

We’ll begin first with brainstorming on your own. Take the list of problems you wrote down or if your just joining us take out a sheet of paper or open a word document and write down all the problems that stand in your way.

Once you’re done, go down the list and start solving those problems any way you can. Feel free to write down absurd or crazy answers such as "marry a millionaire" to solve money problems or "hitchhiking to New York" if your dream is to live in the Big Apple. No idea should be disregarded.

When you’ve finally gone down your entire list of problems and have written your solutions start to list the pros and cons of each solution. This will automatically get rid of the solutions which would be too crazy to act on, such as doing something illegal or putting yourself in any kind of danger or jeopardy.

Once you think you have brainstormed all you can and you think you’re out of ideas, you are not. You need to gather the ideas of other people in a group brainstorming session.

We’ll back with that next time.

May 23, 2006

Dream Catching: The Pursuit of Happiness

As stated in the previous post once someone gets over the road block of actually pursuing their dream they need to plan ahead and make goals.

One of the most important parts of getting your dream of is by establishing goals for yourself. You need to know what you want and how to get what you want in a manageable manner, so that you are actually able to start pursuing that dream tomorrow.

Your dream whether it is big or small is are easily attainable if you set goals for yourself and stick to a structure or even set up some guidelines for yourself. Barbara Sher has some to simple but essential rules to follow for setting goal's:

Rule #1: A goal is concrete

Rule#2: When you say "this is what I want" your not fooling around. This is what you really want or always wanted.

You must stick to your target deadline of a goal. A target deadline will depend on the specific goal. If your dream is grand and big the target deadline will be in the future. Though, you don't want to set the final deadline too far in the future or else you might slip into a cycle of laziness; reminding yourself you have "plenty of time" to work toward the goal.

A deadline of a year or two gets you into action within a few weeks if your dream is big because you think you only have a year or two to achieve your dream. Stick to the goal and set up a structure of how to obtain the final goal through smaller goals. You want to work toward a dream in a manageable way, a manner where you can do something tomorrow (more on that next).

You also want to make sure what you decided is really what you want or if your dream is really what you've always wanted. You don't want to work hard toward something and find out it is not something you want or is not what you expected. One good way stated in Wishcraft to test if your dream is really something temporary is to ask yourself would you rather dream about doing it or you'd you be happy actually doing it?

Another method mentioned is to imagine yourself in the future after you have accomplished your dream. In other words, dream of the future in first person. Do you love it? Can you imagine yourself doing it for years?

No dream or goal is written in stone so, if you think you have uncovered a false dream (something you think you should want but know it isn‘t your true dream), you can always search for a new one using methods discussed in the post regarding your
original self.

May 22, 2006

Dream Catching: Road Blocks

So, as we figured out in the last section you now know what your really want but, realism sets in. Can you really get everything you want by tomorrow? Most likely not. You know there is a difference between fantasy and reality. You need money, networks or other things to get your dream on the road to reality.

You most likely have some of these problems getting in the way of your dream; money, age, confidence, experience, it could be any type of problem. One method to begin conquering these problems is to write them down; whatever they are.

Once you’re done writing them down and you look over them you could start to feel overwhelmed or even depressed- you haven’t even began to pursue your dream yet and you‘re already feeling like you can‘t do it.

Though, Barbara Sher has something to say about your problems,

“Those are the easy ones! Those are the fun ones. They’re purely a matter of strategy and game plans.”

Here’s an example she uses to illustrate her point. Suppose you want to get across a river. There’s no bridge anywhere in sight and building a bridge is an overwhelming and time consuming task. You’re going to have to sail across, but what if you don’t have a boat? Borrow one. What if you don’t know how to sail? Get someone to do it for you. (Barbara Sher is a living resource of helpful ideas and comes up with some you never even thought of)

This is called strategic problem solving. I can imagine some of you are saying “yes but, it’s not that simple.” The phrase “yes but” sets off a mental dilemma Barbara calls the “yes but game.” Suddenly, these simple strategic problems become unsolvable riddles that are now the eighth wonder of the world.

What you’re really doing by saying “yes but” is your subconsciously complaining about doing whatever it is you’re about to do. You can actually start to use those subconscious complaints and feelings to your advantage through something Sher calls the power of negative thinking.

We’ll have more on that tomorrow

May 21, 2006

Dream Catching: A Sucessful Enviroment

As we learned in our last section the environment you were brought up in is incredibly important to catching your dream and becoming successful. Your childhood environment creates your current enviroment. An environment can literally make or break someone. The environment you grew up in has shaped who you are today. If you want to start living a better life you need to reflect on your childhood environment.

Barbara Sher, will be our guide for the rest of this section and will help us along in our quest for success. Very few people are better at self-improvement than Barbara is and her writing actually jumps out off the page and speaks directly to you.

First Sher wants us to ask ourselves some important questions:

"Were you treated as though you had a unique kind of genius that was loved and respected?

Were you told you could do and be anything you wanted-and that you'd be loved and admired no matter what it was?

Were you given real help and encouragement in finding out what you wanted to do-and how to do it? Do you blame yourself in not becoming all they said you could become?

Were you encouraged to explore all your talents and interests even if they changed from day to day?

Were you allowed to complain when the going got rough and given sympathy instead of being told to quit?

Were you bailed out when you got into trouble without reproach?

Were you surrounded by winners were pleased when you won?" (It could be anyone who was happy to see you succeed)


If you answered “yes” to all of these not only is Barbara Sher jealous but also so am I. If you answered “no” to some or most, think about how your life would be different if you answered yes. Where might you be today, who might you have been?

Don’t be dismayed because it’s never too late to bet the person you might have been. We'll have more on that tomorrow.

May 20, 2006

Dream Catching: Part II

As stated in Part I , you must do what you want and live where you want; this is essential for living your best life and it is the law to a life of fulfillment. But how do you even start to begin to do either of those things if you don't know where to start? They are both daunting tasks in and of themselves.

It’s not as daunting as you think it is if you break down the stereotypes attached with being successful. You may imagine the typical things attached to being successful, a life of luxury. Those are things attached to success and indicators of success. We want to go deeper into your perception of success and living your best life.

Here’s a poignant question, if you were to live today as if it were your last would you love what you’re doing that day? If you begin to ask yourself this question for a few weeks and you answer “no” most of the time, something needs to change very soon.

Each person needs to live their best life for that very reason and you know you’re not going to leave this earth without living a life you love. You can start tomorrow by doing something small and simple that will get you on the road. But how do you get on the road? Where’s the on ramp?

You can find that road by imagining your best life and what a typical day would look like. It’s very probable you could be thinking of mansions and millionaires. As stated before, even though those things are attached to success, they aren‘t your own individual dream- they are the results of your dream. Do what you love and the money will flow. You can be very wealthy and do what you love also. If your dream involves you driving a Ferrari and living in an estate you are entitled to that have that future Ferrari and that estate. But for now, go deeper than the end result by doing the following.

Ask yourself these questions: What did you love to do when you were young? What fascinated you? Do you still love it now?

If your original self has been left behind in the past, congratulations! You have just reconnected with it.

Though, now your thinking, “well, what does my ‘original self’ have to do with living my best life?”

Your original self has to do with applying what you loved as a kid (and still do) and applying it to your life now. How can people start doing that? They need to create an environment that nurtures what they love do.

More on that next.

May 19, 2006

Nothing for Nothing

Jim Edwards, successful internet marketer and entrepreneur, released a very interesting video this week explaining why individuals who rely on free information for their e-business will most likely never get the results they desire.

He explains people dependant on free information are getting cheated out of the top level information, the type of information that can skyrocket their online success.

You can read more at his, blog

May 18, 2006

Dream Catching: Part 1

We'll start our new series with taking a trip back in time to your past.

When you were a little kid how many times did you hear the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

You may have asked yourself the same questions even when you were only six. But on the other hand how many times did you hear “just who do you think you are?” from your parents. This probably wasn’t asked in an inquisitive tone. It was most likely asked by one of your parent’s when you were doing something you shouldn’t have done. It could have come when you were playing or experimenting with a newfound interest.

Though, as people get older they start to ask themselves the same question.
How many times have you asked yourself that question, it could come out of nowhere, when you least expect it.

“What am I doing with my life.” or “where is my life going?” It could even be followed by “is this all there is to my life? There’s more to life than... well, this.” Most people want to gauge exactly where they are in life and especially want to know where their ife is headed, no matter what their age. We all just want a map with a big X on it that states “you are here.” But instead of the map stating "you are here" besides the X it should state, “who are you?”

Some people may think, “Well that’s a strange question. I know who I am. I’m me.” Think about the things that give you your self-identity. Your job, your educational background, etc…

Author of the best selling book Wishcraft, Barbara Sher, has a very interesting thing to say about your identity. "None of those things are your identity." From Wishcraft,

“This may surprise you, but if I were sitting down with you to help you choose a goal and design a life individually tailored for you, I would not ask you for any of this information. I would not want to know what you do for a living, unless you were really excited by your job. I would not want to know any of the things you put in a resume--your background, your experience, your skills. All too often we are skilled in things we never really chose, things we have had to do--like typing or scrubbing floors (those were my skills)--not things we love.”

The things in life we’re skilled in are things we have to do to get a job in the current marketplace, not things we love to do. What if you could do what you love or live the life that you love? What do you want? What do you love?

That is your identity.

We’ll have more next on how to put what you love into action to live your best life.

May 16, 2006

Getting More from Life

We'll begin a new series called Dream Catching.

This series is designed to help you get what you really want out of life. We'll post a section of the seires every other day so you can take in the information and more importantly act on it.

You can be successful regardless of what people tell you. You can do anything with your life and live your best life at any age. Don’t think so? Head over to 43things.com and see what the world’s to-do list is. People all over the world, right at this very second are pursuing their dreams and are on a quest for their success.

Being successful in life means getting what you want out of life. Not what your parent’s want or what you think you realistically can want. It is centered around what your heart wants. What do you really want?

If what you want is ethical, moral and legal you can go succeed at getting it. You know you have succeeded when you love your life and find yourself strangely happier. You love your current state of life even though it has it’s ups and down’s. When you realize that, you are living your best life.

If you already love your life and have reached success, you may still find this information valuable. It doesn’t hurt to build upon what you already know. No matter how old you are, you are always learning and shaping your life.

However, if this isn’t you and you don’t think of yourself as successful than this will is exactly the type information you need and can use to put into action immediately. But how do you get there? How can you steer your life in the direction you want it to go in? It all starts with one question, how can I…?

We’ll have more on that next .

May 15, 2006

Unclaimed Money Grows to 14 Billion Dollars

There's a good chance you have some unclaimed money coming your way. That's because the total amount of unclaimed funds in the United States has topped 14 billion dollars and is growing.

Mellody Hobson, financial expert for Good Morning America, motivated viewers to get back their money with her May 1st appearance on the show's running special, 100 a Day in May. Shortly after the show. Many Americans sent phone calls and emails to relatives spreading the word. My family checked and found many relatives have unclaimed funds coming to them. Your probably do to.

You can go to abcnews to find out.

May 14, 2006

Getting More From Life

We'll begin a new series focusing on how to achieve your dreams.

Though, before we begin our new series I am going to give another link for some essential reading, this time from www.stevepavlina.com

Steve has a great blog devoted to personal development and getting more from your life.

Just glancing over some of his articles can make you happy, healthy and wise. We'll start to sort through all of this information next.

May 13, 2006

Work at Home Wisdom

We'll kick off the finale of Make Money Work for You with some word of wisdom from Paul Graham's article on. wealth and money

There is a difference between being rich and having money. Money is something you trade and exchange. Being rich is something you create all by yourself, it only can come from within you. That may sound cheesy but it's true. You don't have to have lot's of money to be rich. Money only creates financial freedom and more time to do what you love and be with those you love.

When you have money and time to finally find the meaning of these aspect’s your on your way to living your best life and what you want out of life.

If you want financial security you can achieve it through one or more of the methods above. It's best to diversify your methods so you ensure the greatest amount of security. Though, having all the financial security in the world won't necessarily make you rich. Being rich is something separate from money. You could be rich in family and friends or rich in knowledge or health or talent.

You can read more in Marshall Brian's post on this here.

May 12, 2006

The Millionaire Mind

Here's an interesting read for those following our series Make Money Work for You

As our series on making money online draws to a close I think it would be worthwhile to briefly discuss the mind of a millionaire.

I found a post about the book the Millionaire Next Door on webkew.blogspot.com very interesting.

It seems millionaires tend to be more frugal with their money than commonly thought. This makes sense when you consider how they save and invest money in long term assets (stock‘s bond‘s CD‘s) instead of spending a lot of money on liabilities which loose money over time (frivolous expenses which you know you don‘t really need but purchase anyway).

Just because they are wealthy does not mean the spend freely. In fact, according to the book, most don’t spend money they don’t have. Here’s an example of their spending habits the author outlines,

“The typical member (millionaire) of our group has never spent more than $41,000 for an automobile or $4,500 for an engagement ring. Neither our spouses nor we have ever spent more than $38 (including tip) for a haircut."


There’s an old saying, which sums this up nicely, “I’m rich but I’m not stupid”.

May 10, 2006

Make Your Blog Grow with SEO

Continuing along with the online portion of our series Make Money Work for You. I thought I'd pass along a very resourceful website for bloggers who are blogging for dollars (or pennies)
Problogger.net is a wealth of information for bloggers who are looking to improve their blog from monitization to readership and is the leading blog in its topic area.

Darren Rowse has an extremely helpful guide to SEO optimization for search engines.
Though when people mention SEO to bloggers many would rather eat glass than go through the hassle of optimzation.

Though, it is not that hard to optimize for search engine sucess. Here are a few tips Darren gives. You can optimize your blog both onsite and offsite techniques including inserting keywords into your posts, trading links, buying links and submitting your blog to various blogging directories. You can read more about Darren's SEO tips at problogger.net

May 09, 2006

Start an E-Business Without a Website

Continuing along with the online portion of our series Make Money Work for You

The only way to make money online in the old days was with your own website, which entailed finding a reasonable hosting company and hunting for a domain name that wasn't taken. Then, there were other issues to be faced once you got over those hurtles such as web design and web promotion.

Thing's have changed thankfully. Today people are making money online without having to chase a domain down and are doing it for no money or very little money.

If you are just getting started with your e-business here are a couple of options worth looking into:

Start an ebay business

Start Your own Blog

Create Your Own Website with Google Page Creator

You can find more information about staring your e-business at entrepreneur.com


It should be noted if you are serious about earning income from online business you need to have your own website. Even though some people are earning a full time living through free websites, it is advised to grow your business into it's own website.

May 08, 2006

How To Make Money with Your Blog(s)

For those who missed it our last post featured an interview with Weblogs Jason Calacanis. There are a few options you can do to make your blog generate some kind of money. One option you have you can run an advertisement program.

The only problem with these types of programs is you have make sure you understand the terms of agreement inside and out, otherwise inadvertently breaking even one of them can result in the program being cut off from your site(s) or blog(s); no second chances in many cases. If you’re not sure about a part of the terms of agreement, email the program provider or even look it up using the search terms “your advertisement program terms of agreement.” Pleading ignorance isn’t acceptable. To learn more about advertising programs you can go here, seoconsultants.com

Another option is to set up a donation button if you have a blog on a hosted Website. You may be able to pay for some of the hosting cost. Some people don’t make much from them, but if people really enjoy your writing style or appreciate the content they may donate; any amount they wish to give. It could be 1$ or 500$.

Some bloggers have been able to supplement their income with these methods and or have decided to go from being a part-time blogger to a full time blogger. In other words, they are able to make a job out of blogging, which is their main source of income. It can be done but it is not easy.

Interview with Weblogs Founder Jason Calacanis

about.com has an interesting interview with the founder of Weblogs Jason Calacanis.

For those who do not know who Jason Calacanis is the founder of his Weblogs, Inc, a network empire of blogs written for professional readership.
You can read more about hims at Wikipedia, wikipedia.org

We'll have more on our series Make Money Work for You here

May 07, 2006

Make Money Online

For those just joining us you can find a review of the last section here.

We've all come across the online get rich scams which liter the search engines and pollute our email. Unfortunately, this spam has given a black eye to making money on through the internet. Though, don't get dismayed by all that email spam because legitimate ways to make money online still exist.

These ways are endless and there are more ways emerging. Someone could write an entire book on just how to make money online, but I’ll try to keep it as simple as possible. Who knew you could generate money from something you do all the time?

There are ways to make money with or without a website. For those thinking of having their own website, it's not as hard as some think to set up your own web site. But what if you want to take your site to go beyond one that just sits around on the Internet? You can. If you dealing in e-commerce you could go with the option of having an affiliate program.

What is an affiliate program? Affiliate programs provide links to your site to receive payments from advertising in exchange for promoting your Web site. Simply, merchants who deal in e-commerce pay an affiliate program to send them traffic and the merchant is paid part of the commission. The amount your paid is dependant on the amount of traffic your able to send over the affiliate site.

How does someone get paid? The following from howstuffworks.com explains methods of payment through affiliate programs:
howstuffworks.com
about.com,
affiliateprograms.blogspot.com


Next up, ways to make money just by sitting in-front of your computer.

The Six Month Millionaire

For those just joining us you can find a review of the last section here

As we delve deeper into our series on Making Money Work for us, I think It would be useful to relay a story of someone who was very, very successful with making money on the internet. That person is Alex Tew.

In August of last year, Alex Tew lay on his bed in his home in Wiltshire England.

He was faced with a financial problem; how was he going to pay his year of college that lay ahead of him? Then, he wondered, "How can I become a millionaire?" The logic behind that enormous jump between “paying for college” and “becoming a millionaire” is if he set his aim high he may be able to get back a quarter of his goal. He had no idea how much his efforts were about to return.

In only twenty minutes he thought of using the internet as his money raising medium. Being familiar with the internet, he constructed the “Million Dollar Homepage.” The premise behind the Million Dollar Homepage was selling pixels (those little dots which make up your computer screen) as space for advertisers for only a dollar each. The minimum purchase was $100 for a 10x10 pixel square to be used as an online advertisement.

Alex goes into detail of his process saying: "I wrote the title to spark the creativity and then wrote down the attributes the idea needed. It had to be simple to set up and understand. It had to have a name to capture the imagination and be something that could be set up quickly with no physical delivery required. I wrote down some keywords and then the idea came out 20 minutes later - selling pixels. So I snapped up the domain name that very night."

Alex paid a small fee for the domain name (milliondollarhomepage.com) and a basic web-hosting service. He sold some pixels to his friends and family earning $1,000 dollars, which he spent on a press release. When the websites offer went public the demand for space on the site was astronomical. The pixels were quickly snatched up by anyone and everyone, including worldwide corporations. He was able to earn 1 million dollars in only 4 months and the rest is Internet history. Unfortunately, the million-dollar idea is also history because it is no longer original. People saw how incredibly successful he was and wanted their million too. Many of the imitators haven’t had much success with their Million Dollar Homepage spin offs. But others wanting to cash in on an idea like that should have faith in their own creative minds, take analyzed and affordable risks, and look at "failure" as a valuable teaching tool.

We’ll begin to get into the specifics about making money on the Web here. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

May 06, 2006

Make Money Work for You.

Part Two

For those just joining us you can find a review of the last section here here .

Before we continue with Part Two, I think it’s important to address some common misconceptions about what money can do for you.

The first misconception is important and some of you will be disappointed when I say money will not make you happy. There’s an old saying “money can’t buy happiness.” You can’t gain happiness through a bunch of little green pieces of paper. You are the only one who can make yourself happy. You can have all the money in the world and still feel miserable.

Secondly, having more money will not solve any problems besides financial problems. It’s be best to try to solve these problems before you seek ways to get extra income. Besides what good is it to be wealthy if you are always unhappy? So, extra money will only give you financial security, which gives you time to focus on personal growth, enjoying doing the things you love and enjoying time with loved ones. With that said, lets continue on.

As stated in yesterday’s post the key to making money work for you is to turn your earned income into flexible income. There are a number of ways to earn extra income doing this.

The first and most simple way is to start saving money. If you save 5 dollars a day you will have 12,600 dollars in ten years or 25,200 dollars in twenty years. The thing about saving money is it’s sometime difficult to stay committed to saving money. People are tempted to buy impulsively when they see something they want. If you get into the habit of putting a bit of your paycheck into a savings account, you will thank yourself later. But it takes a long time to save a lot of money. What if you want to have more money in a few years instead of waiting twenty?

You can invest in the stock market. “The stock market? But that’s too risky.” Only if you don’t know what your doing. Don’t do anything until you're ready. If you want to learn more, do so. Take as much time as you want gaining knowledge. You want to make sure you know the current conditions of the stock market before you invest. A few good books to learn about stocks and investing are One Up on Wall Street By Peter Lynch and The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham. Or you can go over to various financial websites. A good article people just starting out can be found at the Motley Fool's Guide to Investing

In the coming sections we’ll talk about starting your own e-business and making money online from multiple income streams. You read information on getting your Website started, and how your site(s) can generate money. Whether your starting your ready to start you first online business or are just learning how to navigate the Internet, the Web is a great inexpensive place to make extra money.

More on that next

Make Money Work for You: Part One

Turning the Tables on Money

As stated in the last post I recently read a book that made me aware of the financial opportunities around me.

Most people work hard for money all their life, but barley have any money left for retirement. The cost of living is increasing and American's live in a rapidly changing economy. Right now we are in a 12 trillion dollar economy- and it’s growing. Things are changing at rapid speed. Yet, there is still a great divide between the rich and poor. What is causing this division is the lack of education, not only academic education but, financial education.

Improving your financial education is the most crucial thing some people don’t realize, ignore or disregard when trying to increase their income. How do I make my money work for me? Is a question people want to ask themselves. There’s more to life than worrying about downsizing, outsourcing and complaining about your job. If you can get a tiny fraction of that 12 trillion dollars coming your way you probably won’t have to worry anymore.

Some people realize they can live their best life, but see no way of doing it. They have a good education, they have a job, which earns them five figures, but still are struggling. There’s an interesting shift that is occurring between salary and education in the 21st century America; a good education sometimes isn’t enough to be financially independent. What does it mean to be financially independent? It means making more than what you spend and only going to work by choice.

There are a lot of people who have college degrees and or even PhD’s but, aren’t making enough money to make ends meet. Some people of the younger generations are quickly catching on to that fact. They see movies stars, glamour queens, athletes and other highly paid figures who regardless of the fact of whether or not they gone to college, are earning more than enough to be financially secure. This creates a drive in some of people have that kind of financial security. There’s more to life instead of being worried about money all the time. People want to have time to enjoy their family and friends or devote some free time to developing personal growth.
There are many who are creating their very own companies on the internet. They are tech savvy and very ambitious.

This is not to say everyone should not go to college or quit their jobs immediately and become business owners. That would be about as smart as trying to fly a plane without knowledge of how a plane works. Getting a good education and gaining knowledge are one of the keys to becoming successful. Everyone needs a good education to build the foundation for the rest of their life. But the in addition to required classes, school’s should also teach finance and possibly business.

I’m also not saying being an employee of a company is a negative thing. Being an employee helps people learn how businesses work and this valuable knowledge will help people who want to start their own business. If your job is making you or your family financially secure and you have enough security for the next generation, that’s great! The main point I’m stressing is people need to build up their financial intelligence; the younger you are the better. If your job isn’t giving you security there are alternatives out there. For those people who are giving this serious thought think about it in this way: your life is your job, not your job is your life. It is your job to make sure you are happy healthy, wealthy and wise.

One thing getting stuck in the “rat race” does is it makes individuals focus on their jobs and how much money they are making or not making. But they need to start asking themselves "who am I making money for? Myself, the company or my boss?" It would seem like they are making money for themselves but, a chunk of their paycheck goes toward someone else's income.

Don't quit your day job just yet and don't think about dropping out of school unless your start-up is generating cashflow, just start building your financial intelligence. As Robert Kiyosaki writes financial intelligence is knowledge of “accounting, investing, understanding markets and the law."

The key to becoming financially secure is turning earned income into passive income. We'll have more on that tomorrow.

Make Money Work for You

As stated in out first post, we will explore how to harness the power of money and learn step by step how to make it work for you.

I recently came across something that changed the way I thought about money and income in a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This book explains how a person can generate wealth by doing relatively simple things like saving, investing and creating multiple streams of income.

It’s a New York Times Bestseller and is a great read to get yourself in the mindset of increasing your income and working at home. Intrigued by the book and hungry for more information I searched the internet. I came across more even more valuable information all over the internet. It was so useful to me, I thought I'd share it and pass along the gift of financial knowledge to anyone seeking it. The websites I found the most useful will be added to the links section in the days to come.

Next up turning the tables on money.

Daily Insight Replaces The Stanton Report

For reader's who are familar with the blog The Stanton Report this blog is the successor to The Stanton Report,I unfortunately had to take it down due to spam and other problems. The information from that blog will gradually be transferred into this one.

First up Make Money Work for You.