I know that people are constantly striving to get more out of life. I know that many people wish for, hope for, want for more success, more happiness, more wealth. But wishing, hoping and wanting something is simply a useless mental activity - a waste of energy - because the only thing that ... Views: 1655
Increasingly, I find myself talking to people who, until the pull themselves together, live in fear of the future. We might casually call it "worry" - we might even label it stress. But all it is is unchecked useless thought.
"All it is" is slightly misleading - because this fear keeps people ... Views: 1647
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: 1646
The secret to dealing with difficult people is to take the necessary action before they become difficult. Like everything else in life, if you deal with something before it becomes a problem, you’ll never have any major problems to deal with. The problem is, of course, that in the ordinary ... Views: 1628
Are you living dangerously? If you're "normal" and research indicates that at least 96% of us are, then, in fact, you're not really living at all - you're simply existing. What passes for your life is in fact an ongoing automatic treadmill of habitual, reactive self-fulfilling prophecies. You ... Views: 1623
You know the old expression - "They're a born leader!"? Is there any such thing - or can we all be leaders? Is there any secret that can be learned - that we can all learn? Or are some "leaders" and most of us "followers"?
Well, first of all, let's get a few facts straight. Most people ... Views: 1615
How are you going to be up to the not-too-onerous task of getting the very best out of life if you are mentally unfit? Unfortunately, many years of research confirms that the normal mind is not just unfit for effortless living, it has been living on a diet of clapped-out old movies (from your ... Views: 1611
It intrigues me – there is so much written on goal setting – and so little written on the much more important subject of goal getting. A client, Mike, recently told me that he’d been told, by his first mentor in business, that success comes from constantly setting goals. However, Mike soon ... Views: 1609
Having just completed another 'Client-Only' Advanced Workshop, I continue to get the impression that there is a gap between intellectually grasping and understanding the very simple and scientifically proven concepts on which my workshops, books and websites are based, on the one hand and ... Views: 1608
The ground-breaking science of quantum physics explains to us that you and I – indeed, everything in our world and in our universe – are energy. Nothing more, nothing less. And the manner in which we manage our energy has a direct moment-to-moment impact on our lives. Every action that you ... Views: 1608
I recently received an email from a journalist in the US asking me what I knew about people gaining an online certification for life coaching. And a few weeks back, one of my clients mentioned to me that he'd been approached by a life coach who had "qualified" following a weekend course and ... Views: 1607
Lots of people don’t like where they’re at in their lives. Some regret their missed chances – my grandmother used to repeatedly tell me that she wished that she was 18 again! The male “mid-life crisis” sees many such disillusioned people trying to re-find their youth – often with the help of a ... Views: 1601
One of my clients, a well-known solicitor, recently introduced me to her partners by saying “Willie is living the dream!” She was referring to my living in high the French Alps, where myself and my wife moved five years ago with our three children – a better quality of life, skiing in winter, ... Views: 1600
I have yet to meet someone who does not want to change something about his or her life – no one is 100% happy with themselves or their lives. Whether they’re seeking that illusory goal of ‘financial freedom’ or the utopia of the ‘perfect job’ (there’s no such thing, by the way), or they’re fed ... Views: 1598
I spent some time with a client last week who talked of his fears for the state of his business, how he was afraid of what others would think of him if his business collapsed and how he was afraid of where is marriage was going as a result. Although he believed his problems to be unique, the ... Views: 1597
We all want more out of life. Some of us want to change our lives radically – some of us have things about ourselves that we want to change. But, unfortunately, for most of us, life keeps getting in the way! The stress of everyday life – yes, millions of people are suffering from stress and ... Views: 1588
I was recently asked the difference between a "Leader" and a "Manager or CEO". A very important question at a time when those with real leadership qualities will outshine the "normal" people who've risen to a position for which, in reality, they are ill-equipped. Which leads me to the title ... Views: 1577
You’re one of those people who want to, to quote Oprah, live your best life. So, you’ve read the books – you know the ones, those feel-good self-help books. And you felt good while you were reading them. But your life has gone on much as it did before – with the normal stress and worry of ... Views: 1576
Myself and my family recently spent an evening on our balcony star-gazing – watching the annual Perseid Meteor Shower – when the earth passes through a band of wayward comet grit. Many people might just see one shooting star in their lifetime – but, in the space of about twenty minutes, we ... Views: 1574
The word ‘focus’ is often used in the context of success. We’re told, for example, that highly successful people are better focused than the rest of us. We hear stories about athletes or sports people who are totally focused. Surely, if either you or I could get some of this focus, at the ... Views: 1568
A number of years ago, a friend of mine asked me if I was happy. I replied that I was 100% happy at the time, to which she responded "Oh, that's very sad!" I went on to explain to her that one finds happiness within (where else would you expect to find it?) and that my being happy didn't mean ... Views: 1568
I know, I bet you that you think the title of this article is the wrong way around - but, unfortunately, that's how the vast majority of so-called "normal" people approach their daily routine. A recent survey of US employees by Gallup found that 74% of people don't like their work or workplace - ... Views: 1558
Real life is full of possibilities and opportunities that the normal mind is unaware of. That’s because the normal mind is rarely present – our subconscious mind expends most of our energy focusing on its internal ‘stored knowledge’. Taking the psychological-speak out of the last sentence, we ... Views: 1556
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: 1554
For the last thirteen years, in each two-day workshop, I've asked my clients if they love themselves, if they think they're perfect. No-one answers "Yes". It's damn difficult to motivate yourself if there are things about yourself that you don't like. And, indeed, chances are that there ... Views: 1549
I’ve been running Personal Development Seminars now for over fifteen years and still, after all these years practicing what I preach, I wake up some mornings plagued with useless thoughts – or the little rascals come after me during the day when I least expect it. But, of course, I should ... Views: 1549
The vast majority of people with whom I work talk about life change, as if it was something to be desired, something out of the ordinary, something that only happens when we arrive at major crossroads in our otherwise mundane lives. How little we know about the reality of life! Viewed in its ... Views: 1545
What steps do you deliberately take each day to ensure that you stay or track? Do you even know what 'on track' means to you? Do you know what you want to achieve? Do you know what makes you happy? Do you know where you want to go in life? Or are you just happy to go with the flow?
The ... Views: 1544
What kind of a day are you having today? Because, it doesn't matter what day of the week it is - Monday or Friday - it's a beautiful day. If you're not having your perfect day today, then you're wasting the only opportunity you have right now to be effortlessly happy and successful - doesn't ... Views: 1540
We all want more out of life. Some of us want to change our lives radically – some of us have things about ourselves that we want to change. But, unfortunately, for most of us, life keeps getting in the way! The stress of everyday life – yes, millions of people are suffering from stress and ... Views: 1540
There is over seventy years’ research that proves conclusively that you and I, as normal people, are crazy. Our minds control us, not the other way around as it should be – as sure a definition of madness as I have ever seen. The evidence started mounting up all the way back in 1936 when a ... Views: 1539
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: 1537
We all have our faults and failings. That is a statement of ordinary, honest fact. However, the vast majority of us mistake our inappropriate behaviour for some inherent character flaw that leads everyone to whom I have ever posed the question "Are you 100% happy with yourself?" to ... Views: 1533
This is the conventional “wisdom” that has been foisted on so many children during their formative years – when we all formed our view of the world, how it works and our place in it. It suggests that hard work will be rewarded and that you have to work hard to be a success. It suggests that ... Views: 1533
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: 1522
I wonder how much more time you would have on your hands, to do all the important things in life, all the things that you really want to do, if you stopped doing the things that you shouldn't be doing.
In conversation with a group of people earlier this year, they calculated that they would ... Views: 1520
The World Health Organization believes that stress will be one of the biggest killers of the 21st century. Stress is responsible for millions of lost workdays in the US and UK each year. Stress leads to eating disorders, sleep disorders, heart problems, a multitude of other health problems – ... Views: 1495
Ever wonder what you’re doing here – what life is all about? Ever wonder why life’s ups and downs toss you around like a piece of driftwood – why life seems to go swingingly for some people but not for you? Ever wonder will there be an end to stress and worry – whether, some day, you’ll be able ... Views: 1494
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: 1491
Over seventy years of psychological research proves conclusively that we live automatic lives. "Automaticity" is what psychologists call our extremely efficient ability to perform routine tasks without paying attention to them. Stop for a moment to reflect on how much attention you paid, ... Views: 1488
For all that has been written and said about goal setting, I have met very few people who are sure of what their goals are. And, with the proliferation of self improvement books and personal development websites, you could be forgiven for thinking that, with so many people wanting to change ... Views: 1485
Another “New” year is upon us – but what has changed?
Research (in the Universities of Chicago, Milan, Harvard – the list is quite long!) tells us that, in general, normal people lead repetitive lives where little ever changes. Sure, you might have made an important career change, met the ... Views: 1482
If you want to achieve effortless happiness and success, you’re going to have to let go. You’re going to have to let go of your normal ideas of success, you’re going to have to let go of your attachments to the things that you want that, only when you get them will you feel successful. Above ... Views: 1467
Many people are struggling at present – many have lost their jobs and many who still have jobs have taken a cut in their take home pay. Many small businesses are struggling, unable to access necessary credit from unwilling bankers – and some are going to the wall. But, also, many who are in ... Views: 1459
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: 1443
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: 1430
The average person goes through their adult life in a daze. Research indicates that they are incapable of devoting any appreciable level of attention to anything. It suggests that they only experience what they expect to experience and that the routine tasks of everyday life are done completely ... Views: 1424
Read the title of this article carefully – it doesn’t say “all the money you want” – just what you need. The defining line between needs and wants is a little more blurred than you might think because, when I use the word “need” it is used in the context of having everything that you need to ... Views: 1422
Over the last year, increasing numbers of regular readers of my weekly Ezine have pointed out that, in the current economic environment, it is very difficult to “keep your head” whilst everyone around you is losing theirs. (I should point out that they’re grateful to me for the weekly ... Views: 1422
The World Health Organisation believes that stress will be the biggest killer of the 21st century. UK Government statistics indicate that over 15 million workdays were lost in 2008 due to stress. In the US, the National Institute for Occupational Safety predicts that depression will be the ... Views: 1420