Promise Yourself:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others.
To be too large to worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

Enjoy your optimism and share it with others.

So here are my ten reasons why I love blogging:-

1. It keeps me on my toes with what is currently of interest.
2. It is an opportunity for me to explore my own issues around the subject matter that I choose.
3. Researching the articles is great – I learn something every time.  How does it get any better than that?
4. My blog creates a link to others who offer comments and I find that very interesting.
5. Having a blog has caused me to be a blog surfer and I have all but given up TV watching in favour of all of the amazing things that I find on blogs.
6. I continue to have to learn about SEO and other interesting marketing strategies and that has only occurred because of my blog.
7. It is really nice to be part of a worldwide community of bloggers.
8. Old friends have found me and contacted me via my blog.
9. Blogs are more fun than facebook.
10. I get to keep polishing my writing skills in preparation for the book that I have in me.

So there you have it, ten reasons why I love blogging. What do you love so much that you can write ten reasons really easily?  Go on, have a go, have some fun and a positive experience.

This example is the article that I read called “Join the Million” just before I went on holidays four weeks ago. Now I have to say that I did not forget this one; it touched a cord for me and got into my mind and heart.  So here it is.

The Australian Women’s Weekly published this article in the January 2010 edition and invited 1 million women – daughters, mothers, sisters and grandmothers to inspire climate change action. The idea is to make small differences to the way that we live and to individually save 1 tonne of greenhouse gas each per year.  The target is very straightforward – reduce carbon dioxide pollution, the main greenhouse gas causing global warming, by a minimum 1 tonne each per year.

The website, 1millionwomen.com.au provides you with all of the help that you need to work out how to save your CO2 and even calculates your savings!! So what are you waiting for?  Are you up for the challenge?  Sign up, learn more ways to cut CO2 and help make the world a better place.  And I am sure that it is not necessary to be an Australian woman.  How does it get any better than that?

Oh, and just for the record, I did not fail to take action on this one. I signed up and got started just this week and will report on my progress via this blog.

That means the giving of smiles, greetings and love to other’s regardless of race, culture or religious beliefs. So I wish you every happiness for whatever you are doing over the next few days, weeks, months and years.  I send you warm greetings and love to nurture your mind, body and soul and I wish you prosperity in every way in the coming year.

Above all, I send out positive and loving thoughts to the thought pool of the world and universe and I trust that as the present custodians we will find a way to live in peace with each other and harmony with our environment.

Have fun over the coming holidays and stay well and safe.

First, try  to understand how you normally react when you experience hardship. You must know whether you fall back and stay back and therefore see the situation as negative or whether you quickly recover, take a positive perspective and look immediately at solutions.  The one thing that is definite is that overcoming hardship is a skill that you need to get through life.  Positive or negative, you decide.

If you have taken note of how you react and know that you get up quickly and start looking at the situation as an opportunity and find solutions, then you are functioning from a positive perspective. Well done, stay on that path.  You have probably also found how much easier it is to get around barriers when you are thinking about solutions and what it is that you want to happen.

If, however,  you have identified that you fall away and stay away, reacting to adversity as if it is a problem then you hold yourself in a negative state and it is unlikely from this point that you are going to easily find ways to get on with what it is you want to do. No doubt you spend a lot of time thinking about what you don’t want, how hard life is and wishing that it could be a lot simpler.  Well it can be and it is all up to you and how your choose to act.

Having identified that you see problems and not solutions or opportunities, take a little time now to start to work on changing that habit. First, make a pact with yourself to stop talking about problems and start talking about solutions.  Language makes a big difference as does your silent mind chatter.  If all that your mind hears is how impossible the situation is, then that is being reinforced continuously.  If all that your mind hears is what you do not want, then that is what you will get.  Remember, the powerful Law of Attraction says that you get what you focus on.

Additionally, the people around you will hear how hard it is and will reinforce that to you and to themselves and possibly even to your customers. Almost everyone these days is looking for what can be done, not what can not be done and quite frankly, if they are paying, then that is reasonable.  So stop with the talk about problems and start with the talk about solutions.

Then, sit for a moment and write down a list of all of your problems. Alongside that, list all of the possible solutions, even if they seem a little crazy.  Go over those solutions and see what you need to have at your disposal to make it work.  Ask your self a few questions such as – can I get those things?  What do I need to know to do this?  How can I get that knowledge?  Who do I know who has it?

Right now you are in solutions mode and doesn’t it feel great?

When you are swamped by a problem, seeing only the negative, you can bet it feels pretty bad. As soon as you move to solutions, you mood will lift, your brain will fire off ideas and you will start to get motivated.  Great, stay with that.

Last, and most important, take action. It is not enough to see a way around a problem or to see any event as an opportunity.  The next and sometimes most difficult is to get active.  Go and get those things that you need to make something start to happen, persist, do not give up, every day decide what you will do towards your solutions and just keep on it.

Stay with the basics – decide what you are going to do, take action every day, persist and keep an eye out for when you have succeeded. Celebrate that moment.

1. Provide yourself with a weekly inspirational fix from a positive, self development source. You could consider subscribing to a journal of excellence such as “Success Magazine” or an online site such as Napoleon Hill’s Mastermind.  You could spend some time on inspirational blog sites or buy/borrow books from such authors as Brian Tracy, Zig Zigglar or Jim Rohn.  These great investments into yourself will help you to work with the only person over whom you have direct motivation – yourself.  Invest in yourself to stay positive.

2. Commence a prosperity journal. Join those who keep a daily journal or diary and create the opportunity to look back over where you have been and how far you have come.  This is a delightful way to track your progress and give yourself your own positivity fix.  For this particular exercise, you do not even need much by way of equipment, expense or time, just a little discipline until you have created the habit.  Get yourself a notebook and each day, at a time that suits you, make entries about the good things that happened to you over the preceding period of time.  It can be as simple as having been shouted a coffee or someone let you into the line of traffic.  If it was nice, then write it down,  regularly read back over your lists and savor those moments.  Soon they will become very common for you.

3. Move outside of yourself and do something for another person; a random act of kindness. Such acts will give you a feeling of well-being and satisfaction and it is hard to hold a negative thought while feeling this way.  Do this as often as you possibly can and watch your positivity and optimism grow.

4. Play, have fun and enjoy yourself lots and often. Use as much creativity in this pursuit as you can muster up.  Building your enjoyment in life and developing your creativity is a great thing even if you are not concentrating on becoming and staying positive and optimistic.  It is just fun and I beg of you, try to be negative while having fun.

5. Seek out the positive in every facet of your life, but most importantly, mix with like minded people. If you are on the path to positivity it is much easier when you are with positive people.  That may mean that you create a bit of space away from your negative friends and associates for a while until you are well and truly in your positive mind set.  Once you are confident in holding your positive stance you will likely be a great influence on them and others around you.  Being influential is great, go right ahead and enjoy it.

There are many, many other actions that you can take to gain and maintain a positive attitude and these five are great to start with. There is no need to overload yourself; if this is all that you ever do, you will find that it works.  The trick of course is to be committed and consistent until you have embedded these as daily habits.  Above all, enjoy the journey to positivity and have fun with these five tips.

This all points to the fact that entrepreneurs hold a particular attitude. And almost anything that you read on this subject will say that.  An entrepreneur believes that they will be successful, they create an aura of success around themselves and they take a very positive attitude towards achieving success. Of course they do a lot of other things as well, but they hold a positive, optimistic view of the world and their ability to do what they want to do.  They move in a circle of like-minded people and they take the necessary action to keep their positive mindset.

I grant you that is not easy when being bombarded by negative input on a daily basis, yet if you wish to succeed as an entrepreneur it is something that you must do. So here are a few pointers in how to get started with creating your positive attitude:-

• Put your attention on being positive and looking for other positive people.  Within a very short time you will start to hear your own words and those of others and you will identify the positive and negative tone.
• Take a little time out of your busy day to write down what you are thinking about in terms of optimism or pessimism.  Check in with yourself to see if you feel positive.  Do this at least once per day and keep your focus on seeking optimism.
• Find a test for optimism versus pessimism – positive versus negative and see how you rate.  Do this test regularly to see if you are shifting.
• Actively seek out positive things about people or situations and then thank someone for what they have done.  As you continue this process, soon you will be thinking more about the positive and less about the negative.
• Make an effort and send people a written message of thanks.  This makes you think about positives about that person  Send five of these a day for a while and keep up the practice.  People might be a little shy of it at first, but I know people who have kept every one of my notes!
• Go out of your way to help people and be surprised at how good that feels.  Such help will take you outside of yourself and let you see the good in others.  As you get repaid for your kindness, you will see more and more good in others and the world at large.  And become more and more positive.
• Start to associate more and more with those people who are positive, listen to how they talk and the words that they use.  Try it and see how it works for you.
• Finally, read some good personal development material, so that you can keep going.   Inspire yourself on a daily basis.  Try The Gratitude Effect by Dr John Demartini as a starter.

I will finish this piece with a lovely quote from actress Mary Pickford “You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not falling down, but staying down.”

Fortunately I have a great group of people to whom I can turn for masterminding and that is what I did. I am even lucky enough that that circle is wide and allows me to choose those who have had the exact same life experience.  So lesson number two was to be sure that you have the network to mastermind with and go for help quickly.  There have been times in my life when I have tried to do everything for myself, including solving problems.  These days I know that masterminding is much smarter and I even have one network deliberately put together to support my new home business in personal development.  Collective wisdom is an old practice used for many years to find the most exciting and innovative solutions.

The outcome is that I have stopped looking back, or even seeing myself in the present moment and I am tapping into my imagination to put myself into the future when the problem is solved and I have achieved success with that particular matter. Guess what – things are changing, I can see a way through and I am seeing opportunities to resolve this problem everywhere I look.  I am receiving unsolicited help and all up it is just like magic.  Just the way it is meant to be.  Oh and the other thing I did – relaxed and enjoyed the journey.  The trip is just as much fun as the arrival.  It’s funny how life works!

Think positively. Find me one successful person, in business or any area of life who does not take a positive attitude to anything that they do.  This is important for more than one reason; it is important because successful people attend to three main areas in life – their business, their health and their life balance.  Being positive is well recognised as contributing to good health and positive people easily see many of the opportunities that come their way in business and in life balance.  Positive people have energy and enthusiasm and get things done.  Action is required if you wish to be successful.

Avoid negativity in any form. Negativity draws energy away from you, it positions you to miss opportunities that are sitting right in front of you and it allows you to see only the bad things around you rather than the good.  It drives you down.  Negativity also attracts negativity, call it karma or the Law of Attraction, but negativity attracts negativity and negative people have to work so much harder to find success.  So work easier, identify your own negativity, act on it, stay away from negative people and find yourself a group of positive and successful people to associate with.  Find me a successful person who has a negative attitude!

Be disciplined and take action. Things do not just happen for you, even if you do have the power of the Law of Attraction working for you.  You have to determine what you want, what you will have to do to get it, be disciplined and get to it.  Be disciplined in every area of your life; be good to yourself and make time for your needs, set up your day, week, month and year to take all of the things that you will do to succeed into account.  Schedule them into your life and finish them.  Celebrate each and every one of your actions and achievements and get to it again.

Take care of your own motivation. It is not up to anyone else to provide you with motivation.  This is an internal thing and if you are low on motivation then get your self onto a good personal development program.  You will never be sorry because then you will look for inspiration and not motivation.  And then feed your inspiration weekly.  Never be afraid to spend money on keeping your self in the forefront, because when it comes to business success, only you will make the difference and you are what you think and believe.  Thankfully you can take control of both.  I can not emphasise enough – become a devotee of self development.  Get onto the best program and if you can not find one then contact me from this site – I will be glad to assist because there is nothing that I love more than to see people succeed.

Persevere. Big shots are just little shots who keep shooting.  Go into your venture with the attitude that you will give it everything you have, not just give it a go.  Remember this, it has taken you years to get to where you are now, it might take you some more years to hit the top and you do not want to give up when success may be just around the corner.  Keep at it, have faith in yourself and cultivate confidence – there’s that self development program again.

In essence, Shawn helped us to understand the “Up Principles”, with the advice that the more that this is practised, the easier it becomes and the more positive you will be. And why would you bother.  Well there are many reasons including good health but the most exciting for me is that positive people get to use more of their brain.  That is enough for me.  You see more and can be more creative.  When you are in a positive state of mind the perspective broadens and the brain can build new neural pathways.  More thank enough for me.