Do you know Brian Tracy? Yes, he is one of the top speakers in the self improvement field. Today, I listened to his CD in my car. Actually, I have heard this for a few times. But since I was driving the car, my concentration was not so good. I didn’t catch the whole message. Today, I got my mind quite clear and I listened to his lecture. I now got the gist of his speech. It is about being an optimist.

Brian said that being optimistic is one of the qualities of successful person. He said that he have met many successful people in many fields. He found that all of them are optimistic. That is why many of them can do the unbelievable things. The point is whether they are born with it or they develop this character later on in their lives.

Let’s see how Brian sees this. He said that the people who are optimistic have the following characters.

1 They think about what they want and how to get it all the time. Everybody wants good things, right? When you think of what you want, you think only about your good stuff. You develop an optimistic quality out of this. On the contrary, most people,-who are not so successful- think about what they don’t want all the time. They complain, they gossip, they think about the bad things that happen to them in the past. This may be one of the reasons why they are in their position now.

2 Successful people see that there is some good aspect from everything that happens. No matter how bad it is, they believe that there is something good about it. It is amazing that when you think that way, you will finally find the good point in everything.

3 They do not complain about problems. Actually, successful people know that problem is a part of their success equation. They do not concentrate with the problem itself but look for the great experience from it.

4 They only engage themselves to the good and positive information. They mingle with the positive and optimistic people. They read good magazines and news. They receive continual message of good stuff. This makes their optimistic quality stronger like having mind vitamins.

With the four qualities of the optimists that we list here, do you think whether they can be developed or they are naturally implanted? Whatever you think they are, they are.
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Today, when I was looking for some information on the net, I found something interesting about the New year resolution. I think a lot of people have this or use to have this. This is how you can make life more interesting. This is a form of goal setting. We will be talking about top ten things that people want to be in their New Year resolution. Here is the list including:

New Year Resolution

1. Spending more time with family and friends

We know that time is important. Most people in modern world do not know how to spend their time properly. As a result, they lack time and this is why they want more time to spend with their family and friends. This may be on the top of every list that is available to see.

1. Be more fit in health

Health is the issue that a lot of people are concerned about. Some people have problems in health and some may not. However, all of them want good health. They know that they need to do something in order to get that. That is how this choice becomes one of the top ten things that people want.

1. Lose weight

66 % of the Americans are overweight. So is the big percentage of the world population. Therefore, it is not surprising that people have this one as their New year resolution.

1. Quit smoking

Smoking is one of the bad habits which are very difficult to be taken care. A lot of people want to get rid of it and therefore put it into the list.

1. Be more fun in life

Happiness is what people long for. They want to enjoy their life more and be happier. Whatever they do, they want to have fun. And it can happen if they try hard enough.

1. Stop drinking

Drinking can bring a lot of problems in all areas of life. You can damage your health, relationship, financial and other areas by this thing alone.

1. Get out of debt

Economic problem can be one of the headaches especially in this economic situation. So, you can expect that a lot of people want to be out of debt.

1. Learn something new

We all want to be proud of ourselves. One of the methods is to achieve something that you have never done before. This is why a lot of people want to learn something new.

1. Help other people

Helping others can be the rewarding process and it helps people to grow spiritually. Therefore, some people set this up as their goal in New year.

1. Be more organized

Unorganized life is not appreciated and a lot of people want to correct it.

Does anything on the list match your new year resolution?

If you want to read the whole list in details, you can read the whole article about top ten new year resolution here.

There are times that we need some encouragement. Because a person’s action is directed by his thought, you can see that you get different result when you think differently. This is why we need to have good attitude at all time. It makes difference especially in some field like in sport. Only a short period of competition will determine if your years of training mean something. This is how the inspirational speech before the match comes into play.

If you have ever been in sport, you would have heard some of the good speech from your coach or manager before the game. That was because some good coach knows that the right state of mind is crucial for the success in game. Speaking the right thing encourages the team to move forward and may even make the team win.

Let me give you some of the example of the good speech before the game. This is an extraordinary act of Al Pacino from Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday“. The movie is about American Football. It was made in 1999 so it is a little bit old. However, what is said in the inspirational speech made by the character of Al Pacino can not be discounted because of the time.

I am not going to review this movie since I have watched it many years back and I will need to watch it again if I want to review it. I only remember some part of the movie and remember that it is quite a good movie. One day, I accidentally found the YouTube video on the scene that I like so I am going to post it here.

Enjoy watching this inspirational speech and then think what you can do today after watching the video in order to move toward what you plan for in your life.

The other day, I drove to the gym. On the way to there, I listened to my CD. That day, it played the lecture of Denis Waitley. Denis is a inspirational speaker who trained American Olympic athletes. I don’t know if he still doing that now. But that is not the point we are going to talk about today. Today, we are going to talk about how you move in small steps is important to your success.

Dr Denis Waitley

There is a proverb. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, it’s hard! That was what Denis discusses on this lecture. He gave the example of training Olympic athletes. For this level, everybody has a similar ability and talents. What they will have to compete is their mind power. How to do that? They will be trained to have more confidence. Here are what Denis taught.

The bar to train the athlete will not be set at the golden medal level. Instead, it will be set at the level that each individual athlete can achieve. Why do they have to do that? They do that to increase the level of confidence of the athlete. Once they are comfortable, the bar will be increased step by step until they reach the gold medal level.

This is how to have small steps to be the pathway to success. We can apply this to our life also. If we want to have a million dollars in our bank account, we need to accumulate from the first penny and move forward. It doesn’t matter how big jump we can have. But it matters that we move. Remember, inch by inch, it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, it’s hard!

The other day, I talk with one of my friends about the concept of religion. I told him that normally every body knows about the principles of most religions. We understand the concepts easily and we do not really need to learn from the leader of each religion. My friend said that we understand it because we heard about it before. It is similar to the tricks of magicians.

When you go to a circus and watch the magician’s show. You normally were amazed by the tricks he did. On the contrary, if you have known the secret of that trick before, you will not only be not-so-excited about the trick but also think that the trick is so easy to be solved. But if you will have to create a trick by yourself, you will know how difficult it is. It takes education until you are good at something. No matter if it is about religion or magic trick.

key to success

I therefore think further by focusing on the mind of creator. It can be the creator of a trick or a religion. It takes the same path. It is the path that is filled with uncertainty to succeed. When we see someone succeed, we always think that the person is such and such, so it is very easy to succeed. Do you see the correlation here?

Actually, the person who is going to succeed know nothing about the certainty that the achievement will be made. He may have that on his mind but on the outside, he is no better than others. He has no edge over others except what is in his mind. Others may think that they understand the success process. That can be true. However, only the person who really practices that process which leads him to succeed is the one who know the success process.

So, learn to deal with uncertainty in your life. Success will come out if you know how to handle it properly. The uncertainty on the outside world can be overcome with good plan and determination. You can do and be the same with other successful individuals by applying the same principle

Jim Somchai,

December 22  2008

When things go wrong. When you wake up at the wrong side of the bed. You feel bad since morning. Everything seems to be wrong afterward. Your car may break down on the way to work. You go to the office several hours late. You have a phone from your wife that she forgets to bring along her purse and she needs you to send her some money for her lunch. You get scold from your boss since one of your task has been messed up by your secretary. You don’t have time for lunch since the meeting drag over the time and there is a major task wait for you in the afternoon. You check your mail and find out that the credit card company wrongly charges your membership fee. You have to run late for your work. You are starving and exhausted. You went to pick up your wife and drive home and find out that the house doesn’t have electricity. It was cut out because you forgot to pay the bill since two weeks.

What do you think you should feel after all these things? I am sure that most people will say that the feeling should not be very positive. The reason is simply that the circumstances are suck and we all leave under the influence of the outside circumstances. One thing that I learn along the way from the top personal development people is that ” oustside circumstances does not really control your feeling. Instead, your inner mind is the one that controls how you fell during a particular period of time.

I just finished a studied questionaire on marketing behavior. Surprisingly, the same people answer the same type of questions differently if it is asked by different ways. This is due to the way the questions are structured and perceived in that person’s mind.

If you believe this theory, you have to understand that your inner mind has enough power to overcome the influence of other outside factors. No matter how bad the situation is, you always can find the way to feel good. This character is like other skill that people need to make. You need to practice in order to be able to master your feeling. Some of the simple techniques can be:

- Feel grateful of what you are already having. You have to practice to find that your life is great and find good things. Feeling of gratitude is very important for your advancement in every areas of life.
- Love and respect yourself. Find an anchor phrase like ” I like myself” or ” I am the best”. All these phrases can boosted up your self-esteem and good feeling.
- Be positive. Look for good points of everything. As mentioned in a great book, if you seek, you will find.
- Smile, walk faster, be enthusiastic,laugh easily. Physical movement can affect your feeling. Learn how to put the gesture that will boost up your good feeling. this will enhance your feeling regardless of situation.

Although, most people got depressed when the circumstances turn against them. The successful people know how to master their feeling by controlling their inner mind. This article gives you the tips on how to practice your mind to your positive feeling.

Jim Somchai
Feb 22  2008

The basics of setting a goal is an open secret known by top-caliber athletes, successful businessmen and businesswomen and all types of achievers in all the different fields. The basics of setting goals give you short-term and long-term motivation and focus. They help you set focus on the acquisition of required knowledge and help you to plan and organize your resources and your time so that you can get the best out of your life.

Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals.

The basics of goal settings will involve deciding what you really want to do with your personal life and what short term and long term goals you need to achieve it. Then you have to break down goals into the smaller and manageable targets that you must complete in your way to achieving your lifetime targets. Once you have your list waste no time in tackling your goals.

A good way to have a manageable list is to have a daily and weekly set of goals. By doing this you will be always in the position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal giving you the feeling of accomplishment.

Here are some pointers that should be taken into consideration in setting goals and achieving them.

Attitude plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind holding you back towards completing your simplest goals? If there are any part of your behavior that is being a hindrance or puts your plans into disarray? If you do have problems in these areas then the immediate thing to do is to address this problem. Solutions may include a visit to a doctor or psychiatrist to control your emotions.

Careers are made by good time management practice. Failing in a career is often attributed to bad time management. Careers require a lot from an individual which often makes the career the life of the individual. Plan how far do you want to go into your career.

Education is key in achieving your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree or require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed, make plans in getting the appropriate education.

Your family should never be left out of your plans. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent or when you want to be a parent. You also have to know if you really would be a good parent and how well would you relate to extended family members

Personal financial situations also play a major role in achieving your goals. Have a realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.

Physically gifted individuals may be able to achieve sports related goals like being in the National Basketball association or National Football League. Determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities. Physical limitations could however be conquered with proper planning.

As the saying goes -’All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, or something to that effect, is by all means true down to the last the letter. Giving yourself a little pleasure: should be included into your plans.

To start achieving your lifetime goals, set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily.

Then create a things-to-do list for the day.

Always review your plans and prepare for contingencies.

The basics of goal settings should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.
Jim Somchai

Jan 9  2008

Do you like the movie “Back to the future”? If so, you will love this movie. It is not easy to find a good family movie with the inspiring content like this one. Normally, the family movie is either rather weak in the method of proposing the meaning or somewhat too childish. This is the reason that many people ignore to see the PG movie despite the good nature of it. This movie has a lot to do with the inspiration in life. Come and let’s explore what I get from the movie.

A boy was left out in front of an orphanage house by a lady who we believe that she is his mother. That boy was brought up as an orphan who loves invention. He obsesses into doing that and nobody seems to come and adopt him until the age of twelve. Until he later wants to invent what can make him meet his mother. And the day he completes his invention, he changes his life forever. The story line is simple but subtle in some manner. For some hard core movie goers, it is not difficult to predict how the movie is going to end but it is very amusing to follow what we can predict. The animation is well drawn in Disney’s style and of course no bad language in it. As smooth as it is, we can learn several ideas and be inspired by it including:1. Failure should not be looked as bad thing. Instead, it should be admired.

Meet the Robinsons

Why do we have to admire when a person fail to do something? Because it means the person does something. There is a scene in the movie that the boy did mistake on fixing one instrument, the Robinsons family celebrate it with joy and encourage him to move forward. “Keep on moving” can be the motto in the movie. We can use this too in our lives. Don’t be afraid to fall since it is the path to our growth and achievement.2. People should be given the second chance.
When the antagonist finally accepts his mistake, our hero does not only take him back but also help him to get back in shape. Normally, when we meet the enemy, especially in this world nowadays, we want him to be destroyed. We should have mercy to everybody. Brian Tracy said in his book, the way that makes us resolve to be psychologically mature is that we forgive everybody including, and especially, ourselves. This is a good lesson to learn from the movie.

3. Do not give up on your future and on your self.
Although the movie is about the time traveling and about the certainty in the future, it also implies that the future really depends on our actions. Nobody can write our future except us ourselves. When we understand this, we will not complain why we end up where we are at the moment. We are where we are because we decide that it is our place now nothing else has stronger influence than this.

This is one of the good and inspiring movies we should watch this year. We can learn a lot from the movie and can be entertaining at the same time.

Jim Somchai
Oct 11  2007

When you think about future, do you see where you are going to be? Are you certain that you will have what you want in a certain period of time? Do you have goals? Is your life the way you want it to be? If you go back to where you were three or five years ago, would you be happy to see the status you are having right now? Do you believe that if you lead your life like this, you will wind up not much different from where you are now? Will you happy? These many questions relates to what we call “time perspective”.

Do you know that successful people have longer time perspective than the ones who are not so successful? Successful people think of the impact of the actions to their lives in three or five years late. They ask themselves if the situation helps or have some impact to their lives long term. On the contrary, unsuccessful people think about their short term gratification. They hardly have plan for future and their care less on their time planning if they have one. We can easily notice if we are a good time planner by seeing if we are often impulse buyers. If we buy things without plan or just by them because we accidentally bump into it. There is a tendency that we are the short time perspective people. We need to hurriedly correct that.Why does the long term time perspective matter? Because it relates to how we plan our lives for the good future not only just for being happy for a short while and then bear the negative consequences. Whether a person is successful is measured long term. Some even says that everything in life is measured by what you have on the last day of your life.

Right Mindset

I think it is logical and well spoken.For some investment like buying a house, we understand that people need to prepare well in advance before we go into it. We know that we need to prepare financially since the almost all of the house payment is for long term. We need to know the location and understand how we and our families can commute within the area. We need to know how the utilities are provided. Will there be any new construction nearby? How about the pollution problem and people nearby? We need to think a lot about these before we buy a house right? Why is that? Because buying a house is an expensive process for most people and it has big impact to the lives of us.

Planning a life is like buying a house. Unfortunately, most people take their lives for grant and ignore the process. They are not so careful on leading their lives and a lot of them end up in trouble in the latter years of their lives. Tragically, a lot realize this when it is too late for them to do anything. Don’t let this happen to you.

Start to honor your time perspective. See things in the longer term view. Ask yourself what will happen to you five years from now if you keep doing what you are doing. Will you be better off or worse off? Once you create a habit of asking this question, you will amazingly improve your time utilization which in the end will help you in the future.

Although there are a lot of concepts teaching that you need to focus and do things for the moment of now, there is the other angle of the time usage for the future results. This article talks about long into long term perspective and how to use your time effectively.

Jim Somchai
Oct 6  2007

Today I got a phone call from the phone company. The person in the line told me that I lacked one payment and it needed to be taken care of. I tried to explain to her that I have already paid a few days ago but she kept on talking. It seemed that she did not want to listen just to inform and then she would go. I tried to ask her to listen but she still kept on talking. I started to get angry and asked her to stop. Still she did not seem to understand. Finally, I told her that I would hang up the phone and I did. I was really mad at her. Why was I? I don’t know. I tracked down her name and wanted to make a revenge. I found out that I paid but for the wrong phone number. I am sure that I write the right number when I paid. Probably, the lady at the counter punched the wrong number and charged me to pay for other people’s phone. Again, I started to be mad at her.

This is the real event that happened to me just today. The point is whether it is worthwhile and reasonable for me to get angry. I think logically I should be mad at those ladies according to my own reason. They did wrong and they deserve to be scolded at. But when I rethink about it, what will be good for me if that is really happened. First the event has a lot to do with my assumptions. I do not know if my assumptions are true or not. I thought they are but who know. Secondly, it is for sure that if the event is good or bad is just my feeling. Whether the first girl is really rude on the phone is just my judgment. May be my expectation is not the way standard procedure is for her. May be I was not control my voice well to let her know that I want to speak. This may not be fair for her. Therefore, my first lesson from this event is that we should be fair for others. We need to not make our judgment by adding those negative comments toward what have happened.My second lesson is that I should not assume so much if it is not necessary. If it is not positive, I should not bother thinking about it whether it is true or not.

If I feel bad, I should have stopped my assumption immediately. I would ask myself if I can find any positive meaning from what had happened. In this case, I should be very happy since the wrong charge is just a small amount of money. It teaches me to be careful and check the receipt every time I make a payment.The third and the last lesson is that anger does not solve any problem. Instead, it affects your sanity and consciousness. You can not make a good decision with the anger mode. Anger also affects your physical body in negative way. You got higher blood pressure. Your heartbeat gets faster. You have more adrenaline in your blood. All these can cause your body function abnormally and at the end makes poor decision or action.

Some people said it is OK to be angry and some said to express your anger toward others is a healthy way to lead a life. I think that is not the way we should practice. We need to know how to handle our anger in order to keep our mind bright and shine. Anger is one of the negative emotions that we need to take care of.

We tend to get angry when things go wrong. We have a tendency to blame others and be angry. This article talks about how to manage anger and learn to take responsibility on what happens in our life.

Jim Somchai
Oct 3  2007