Unfortunately, most people look at life through dark glasses and, consequently, everything looks gloomier than it should. This is normal because the normal mind is hard-wired to look at reality by filtering it through our conditioning and, in doing so, it is more likely than not that the mind ... Views: 2639
Here’s a question that you may have never seriously asked yourself. Are you happy with yourself and with your life? The chances are that there are things that you would like to change about both you and your life – I have rarely met anyone who is truly happy, they are few and far between. ... Views: 2999
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to better yourself and being constantly beaten backwards. Embarking on the adventure of personal development can sometimes seem similar to trying to scale Mount Everest and finding that, every time you make a little progress, you suddenly start sliding ... Views: 2554
Even though the effects of depression might be all too real in your life, depression is not real. If you’re suffering from depression, you’re only imagining it because depression is the direct result of your subconscious mind’s obsession with useless thoughts that were impressed upon it during ... Views: 2962
The purpose of life is to be happy – so says the Dalai Lama. Jesus Christ said something similar when he said that he came so that ‘you might have life and have it to the full’. Unfortunately, however, having worked in the field of personal development for more than fourteen years, I have ... Views: 2587
You don’t need self improvement. You’re perfect all ready – you just need to realize it. Some aficionados of personal development might call the process ‘self-realization’ – a big word (two actually) for something that is within every single person’s reach. There’s little pointing in ... Views: 2248
Today is a new day – one that has never happened before, a unique day that will never be repeated. Now is a new moment. And, in this new moment, you have a choice. You have a choice - which thoughts you are you going to pay attention to just at this moment in time? The probability is that ... Views: 2557
Normal behaviour is rarely appropriate and often completely inappropriate if not totally bizarre. How could it be appropriate? Because normal behaviour is triggered automatically – you don’t have to think about it, you just react – by your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is fine ... Views: 4223
A great deal has been said and written about the so-called Law of Attraction’. It has been popularised by videos and books, like ‘The Secret’ and by televisions talk-show hosts such as Larry King. It’s been around for decades – Florence Schovel Shinn’s book ‘The Game of Life and How to Play ... Views: 2810
Are you an avid reader of self help or self improvement books? Because many people that I know are constantly reading, constantly learning, constantly searching, constantly gaining a deeper understanding of what it takes to change your life. Unfortunately, however, it is not reading that ... Views: 2649
I have no idea exactly how many personal development, self improvement or so-called self help books were sold over the last year – but I do know that it is one of the fastest areas of growth in the publishing world with millions of books being sold every year. I also know that these self help ... Views: 2190
Do you ever feel uncomfortable, anxious or tense? Are there things that you worry about – things that sometimes even keep you awake at night? Are you ever nervous or apprehensive? Do you get hassled or lose your temper easily? Do you feel that you suffer from stress? If you perceive ... Views: 3354
Most of us want more out of life. This is not to say that you’re unhappy with what you have. Indeed, the secret to happiness is wanting what you already have! But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be constantly striving to scale higher heights of happiness and success because there is no ... Views: 1997
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you’re surrounded by people who have no idea that their subconscious mind is creating their very own version reality as we speak. All these people – so-called normal people – have no idea that their subconscious mind controls them and, by virtue of the ... Views: 2234
Our world, our entire universe and, indeed, your own daily life operates like a big energy-exchange machine. Ground-breaking discoveries in the field of quantum physics has begun to confirm just how this energy actually works. But, for starters, we already know that everything is made up of ... Views: 2090
With the continuous and massive growth in sales of self improvement or self help books and the proliferation of personal development websites, wouldn’t you think that you would by now have witnessed a major shift in human consciousness – a marked improvement in the human condition? In other ... Views: 1744
How would you feel about the proposition that you can achieve anything – absolutely anything – in which you can believe? Well, whether you realize it or not, that’s what you’re actually doing at the moment – you’re living the life that you believe you can live. Years of research in various ... Views: 1598
All too often in our daily lives we find ourselves in situations in life that could be described as less than ideal, whether it’s in our job, our relationship or, indeed, just in terms of how we feel about ourselves. Did you ever wonder how you got there? Well, the answer is extraordinarily ... Views: 1477
Simple question – how many good ideas have you had that you simply never bothered to do anything about? And, have you ever noticed that some of the most successful people are where they are as a result of some really simple idea – the kind of idea that you say to yourself “I could have thought ... Views: 1383
What impact does your self esteem have on your personal effectiveness, your relationships and the normal course of your daily life? How does low self esteem affect your view of what you can and cannot achieve? Indeed, what is low self-esteem, how does it even come about in the first place? Are ... Views: 1988
I got an invoice from my lawyer a couple of days back – for what exactly I’m not sure, as his services didn’t really match the bill! He said he was sending out invoices to a as many people as he could think of, to “keep the wolf from the door in these challenging times”.
Challenging times ... Views: 1427
Too many people are going through their lives wishing, hoping, wanting or waiting for something to happen. “I wish I could just get that lucky break.” “I hope that tomorrow will be better.” “I want to win the Lottery!” Unfortunately, what most people don’t realize is that nothing “just ... Views: 3183
The normal mind is anaesthetized. I’ve come across people who do things they know they shouldn’t be doing but they appear not to be able to help it. I know people who insist on reading every single email the moment it arrives even though they’re supposed to be in the middle of something ... Views: 5494
A long-standing friend recently recommended one of his best-loved self-help books to me – it was the latest in a long list of his recommended reading. In chatting with him, I enquired as to how he was getting on putting into practice what he was learning from all his reading. It emerged from ... Views: 1699
I was chatting to a client’s PA last Wednesday – she started the conversation with “Are you looking forward to the weekend?” When I mentioned to her that it was only Wednesday, she replied “Ah, but the weekend’s almost here once you get past Wednesday lunchtime!” Indeed, as I write this on a ... Views: 1189
As I travel around from country to country, working with and talking to my various personal development clients, I am struck by the number of people who are doing what they’re doing for the money. In asking them what they would do with their life if money were no object, few tell me that they ... Views: 1457
I hear from quite a number of people – clients and readers of my Personal Development Ezine – who tell me that they have become far calmer, more aware and focused as a result of the various little “mental exercises” that they undertake to banish stress and move themselves in the direction that ... Views: 1688
I’ve just spent a couple of days with a client here in the French Alps – someone who regards his personal development as of paramount importance in his life, someone who has altered his daily routine, going to bed one hour earlier to ensure that he has an extra hour each morning for meditation. ... Views: 2085
One of the most important elements of ongoing business success is gaining and maintaining competitive advantage. Lots of businesses talk about it, lots of businesses strive for it, but very few businesses really understand it. Put simply, competitive advantage means being different – not just ... Views: 1817
Stop watching the news! Stop reading newspapers! Indeed, we have to keep up with important developments in the news but, beyond that, normal people wallow in bad news, love discussing bad news and being the first with bad news. And, unfortunately, you know what they say, bad news sells ... Views: 2008
Although most of my clients are business people, because of my personal development work with young aspiring sports people, I often get to spend quite a bit of time with people who have not yet grown so inward looking that they miss out on the joys of life. The psychological facts are plain, ... Views: 1255
If your life isn’t all that you want it to be or if you’re unhappy with yourself – what you think is going on has nothing to do with reality! Decades of research prove that the normal subconscious mind quite literally makes up your reality for you. This personal version of reality has absolutely ... Views: 1361
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could flick a switch to change your life? What if you could simply press a button to achieve your hopes and goals? Well, if you look around the internet a little – not much searching required, you will find personal development websites that suggest that ... Views: 1602
So many people struggle against things that they can do nothing about. So many people become upset or annoyed about things over which they have no control. And oh so few people take control of the one thing in life over which they can exercise absolute and total control. Like puppets, we ... Views: 1385
A couple of months back, the New York Times ran a series of articles with the above title – all about the manner in which road accidents are almost invariably the result of a loss of focus or, in plain English, not paying attention. Again, I notice that Loughborough University in the UK has ... Views: 1346
We’re all called upon to be leaders – if you have children, people reporting to you at work, friends who confide in you – leadership is required of you. You mightn’t call it that, but that is what it is. Above all, we’re called upon to lead our own lives. Yes, we’re called upon to be leaders ... Views: 1271
Perhaps this is an unusual introduction to an article on personal development or self improvement but, I would like to start by quoting 50 Cent – yeah, the rapper 50 Cent – who said “Most people can’t handle boredom. That means they can’t stay on one thing until they get good at it. And they ... Views: 6105
I may be in danger of breaking into song here – and anyone who has heard me sing will confirm that you don’t want to be there when that happens! Seriously, thought, the well-known hit song does actually say it like it is – “Ooh heaven is a place on earth”! Confirmation of this fact comes from ... Views: 1993
It’s quite amazing how often people tell me that they’re “suffering from low self-esteem” or that they’d really like to build their self-esteem. More often than not, I simply tell them to get a grip, or call me back when they can explain to me what low self-esteem is! “Get real” is the key ... Views: 1207
Many people reading so-called personal development or self improvement articles or, indeed, any of the vast number of self help books that continue to proliferate will know all about the concept known as the Law of Attraction – that, by your state of mind, you attract into your life the things ... Views: 1880
From talking to clients in various countries, from talking to radio talk-show hosts, from following the latest news it could be said that we live in desperate times. And, as the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. No they don’t. What people need now is a sharper and ... Views: 1678
Undoubtedly, we, as normal crazy adults, are built to worry – it appears to be an integral part of our hard-wiring. And, if we can’t find something to worry about, we’ll invent it. I once had a client, who should have known better, telephone me to tell me that he was having sleepless and that ... Views: 1948
I recently spoke to a client who told me that he was plagued by what I would describe as useless thought – feelings of inadequacy, distractions, negative thoughts, worries, even fears. The first thing that I said to him was that, at the very least, he could count himself among the horribly ... Views: 1841
A clear mind is the only state of mind worth being in. It enables you appreciate what’s actually happening around you and places you in a position to act – rather than react, which is the normal response of so-called normal people. A clear and focused state of mind alerts you to the ... Views: 1695
Years of psychological research suggests that we are not living life to the full. This research concludes that we go through the motions of daily life, using the faculties of automaticity (to enable us perform almost everything mindlessly), categorization (so that we can pigeonhole every new ... Views: 1214
I’ve just received an email from a reader who tells me that, after wasting many years on “normal” living and “normal” people, she is now determined to take the necessary steps to find peace of mind, contentment, happiness and success. Her use of the word “normal” refers to many of my articles ... Views: 1626
Are your intentions honourable?! An age-old question asked by prospective fathers-in-law – and one that is at the very centre of whether or not you can achieve the success that you want out of life. In terms of aiming for success, we need to know what we intend to get. Truth is, most people ... Views: 1365
You may find yourself dissatisfied with your life. You may find yourself trying to find a way to break away from stress, uncertainty, insecurity and anxiety. Or you may have simply reached a point in your life when you know there must be so much more to be had out of life – beyond the ordinary ... Views: 1337
How do you achieve lasting peace of mind? Well, the answer is in both the question and the title of this article. You find it within, in your mind, where else would you expect to find it! It doesn’t matter what is going on around you, what is happening in your life or who is doing what to ... Views: 2450
Our lives are the product of what we ourselves do to create them. Although, ultimately, we cannot fully control our lives, we can, in the right frame of mind, exert a huge influence on our success and happiness. Unfortunately, however, the normal person exerts little or no influence at all ... Views: 1494