Monday, April 20, 2009

Practical Steps to Increase your Success Consciousness

Practical Steps to Increase your Success Consciousness
In terms of success, background and education are not deciding factors. Your ability to continuously focus your mind on positive thoughts, however, is the key factor for success. By positive thoughts we mean a focus on what you'd like to achieve rather than what you can't see or don't have in your life.

There are several powerful techniques that you can use immediately as you embark on your journey of having positive thinking patterns guide you to whatever it is you want to achieve. The effectiveness of these techniques depends on continuous and repetitive exposure to positive messages that trigger positive thoughts.
Create a positive environment

First of all, it is important that you create a positive work and home environment. What are the areas where you spend most of your time during the day? Is it an office, a kitchen, a study, a factory etc.? Is the environment where you spend a lot of your time a motivating place filled with positive messages? Does it inspire you to be creative and have positive thoughts?
For example, if you spend most of your day in an office in front of a computer, install inspiring screensavers or desktop backgrounds. Decorate your walls with inspiring pictures. Have pictures of significant and successful moments on your desk. All these "things" around you affect your thoughts. Make sure that the places you spend most of your time trigger positive thoughts. Once you've established a positive environment, you'll see these your positive messages on a continuous and repetitive basis.

Expose Yourself to Positive and Inspiring Information

A lot has been written about the effects of our thinking on our life. By now many people know that in some way or another, their thinking affects their life. We hear things like: "Think positive. As you think, so shall you be. You can choose to see the glass half empty or half full". Does this sound familiar? And yet, how many people, maybe including yourself, have you encountered who you would truly classify as "positive thinkers"? Probably not too many, right? As soon as we get up in the morning we usually get busy doing things and let our thoughts flow freely as the day unfolds. The amount of information our brain processes in a day is unbelievable. Therefore, it is not easy to constantly monitor our thoughts and make sure they are always positive. We can make a true difference, however, when we consciously chose to expose ourselves to positive, inspiring and uplifting information. Minimize the time you spend processing negative information. Ask yourself what kind of books are you reading, or what kind of programs are you watching on TV. Are they inspiring, encouraging and positive, or do they expose you to information that decreases your energy level?

Affirmations

Affirmations are a wonderful and effective tool to focus your mind on positive thoughts. The best way to use affirmations is to write down what you want to achieve. The important thing is that you write it in the first person, present tense as if it had already taken place. For example: "I am earning $ 50,000. I live in a red two story brick house with an ocean view from my bedroom window." Be as specific as you can in your description. Read your affirmation(s) several times a day.

Visualization

This technique is often used by athletes. It's all about seeing yourself succeeding. Visualization is most effective if you define a few moments each day where you can be at a quiet place without distractions. As you close your eyes, you visualize what it's like to see your goal fulfilled. As you do this ask yourself "What does it look like, how do I feel about it, what does it smell like etc.?" It is like a movie sequence that you keep playing and refining in your mind until it becomes and feels real. Repeat this exercise several times each day.

Affirmations combined with Visualization

The combination of both affirmation and visualization is an extremely strong tool. If you can both say your affirmations to yourself and visualize the achievement of your affirmation at the same time you actually multiply the effectiveness of both tools.

Success Conversations

Each day many of us spend a fair amount of time in transit from place A to B and back. Think about all the time you either spend in your car or public transportation on your way to work and back, the time you invest taking your children to school and back etc. You may want to use this time constructively to increase your success consciousness by having "success conversations" with yourself. You can do this by imagining a situation where you've already achieved your goal and now tell others about it. Say your goal was to lose 20 pounds and be in great physical shape. Your conversation then could be "You know Mary, I just decided to lose 20 pounds and work out on a regular basis and it really didn't take me too long to reach that goal. I now just feel like a new person and get so many compliments on my achievement." Be creative in your success conversations. If your goal is to start your own business, imagine yourself talking to your employees about the stellar results your company just achieved, or see yourself giving an interview to a business news reporter about the success of your company. "Success conversations" is a very powerful in focusing your mind on success. Again, the key is continuity and repetition.

Prayers

Whatever your faith of spiritual orientation may be, prayers are excellent and proven means to materialize your goals. By praying we are asking our creator for help in achieving our objectives. Praying is most effective because it is often connected with a strong faith or belief system. The actual belief in that "As you ask, you shall receive" will drive our thinking patterns and actions to the realization of our goals. Since many people pray each day before they go to bed, it is easy to establish a daily routine.

Talk to your subconscious mind

Whichever of the above tool, or combination of tools, you chose to apply, from a timing perspective we strongly suggest that you also apply it / them right after you wake up and before you go to sleep. Many studies have proven that our subconscious mind is very receptive when we start relaxing before we fall asleep and right after we wake up in the morning. An interesting fact about our subconscious mind is that it unconditionally "believes" whatever we tell it. It is like a little machine in the background that just executes commands without questioning them. Therefore, if we succeed in reaching our subconscious mind with continuous, positive and constructive commands, it will automatically start executing and focus on the materialization of our goals.

Take Action

Last but not least it is incredibly important that we start taking action toward our goals. Often times we simply think that our goals are so out of reach that we don't even know where and how to start which then can lead to not taking any action at all. The good news is that it doesn't really matter how big our goals are. The simple fact that we take action, no matter how small, sends a very strong signal that we are actually in the process of realizing our goal. In other words, we are already moving in the direction of that goal. Remember "Every journey starts with one single step" - Confucius. Let' assume that you'd like to be independent and start your own business. This may appear to be a rather daunting task. However, even if you just start researching about the market, or take a business class at your community college, or think about a name for your business, there are always small but achievable steps where you can take action toward your goal. Remember, the "size" of your action does not matter. What matters most is that you do take action.

Take Decision Taking decision is most important tool.You should take a firm decision that you will put your efforts to become successful and you will put your attention towards success.

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Contemplative Questions

Here is a set of questions that would provoke you and put you through some soul searching. They are not about religion nor about ethics. They are merely about you.

They are not meant to serve as solutions nor are they meant to lead you anywhere. These questions are meant to serve as tools to discovering yourself.

1) Do you perceive the Presence of a benevolent force guiding, protecting and shaping your life? What name do you give that Presence? When did you best feel this Presence?

2) What is your opinion of God? Is your opinion drawn from religion, books, parents and or your personal experience of life?

3) Do you pray? Do they get answered? How often?

4) Do you think it is possible to relate to the Divine? What relationship would you opt?

5) Here is a story for you - Two fierce enemies once did a penance to placate god and receive boons vying with each other. God appeared to the first man and asked what he wanted. He said "give me twice of whatever you give my enemy". Then God appeared to the second one. Even before God could say anything he asked, "God, would you please tell me what my enemy asked for? On knowing his prayer request, he said, "then God, blind me in one eye."
Now what would you wish for yourself, your best friend and your worst enemy if God gave you a chance?

6) Have you ever experienced a coincidence or chance that seems to have involved so many people and factors that you can't stop wondering if a mastermind was behind this operation? If yes, do you savour the experience often and have you shared it with someone close to you?