Todd Tidmore, Life Success Tips

Author: Tim McKee
One, almost unerring, constant for the success of a business, from the initial spark of an idea to the celebration of its success in the marketplace is the business plan. Some of these plans take as little as a few months to come to fruition but most materialize over one or more years. In some instances the plan is actually a path where success is measured in non-traditional methods. Monetary gains may be shared with, or usurped by, the satisfaction gained by how well the �life-journey” is playing out. Life success can be geared toward a fixed plan containing shares of both financial and lifestyle attributes.

To plot a life history - which is what a plan of this sort is all about - is like reading a biography before the life has actually been lived. However, every biography reads like a full life regardless of what the subject really wanted to do. Some lives just played out like an out-of-control game. As John Lennon once said, �Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

There are countless stories of successful personalities who have not enjoyed their professional successes - or have purposely sabotaged them - because their personal lives and mental situations were less than ideal. Despite the money and fame these unhappy people began to feel like failures; such as a movie star losing leading roles to younger actors or the financial wizard who is cleaned out by a downturn in the market like the dot-com bust. Their respective lives did not have the balance to survive what they perceived as success or catastrophe. In order to have life success our guidance systems have to be fed more than these drives while complimenting them.

And like the business plans that are rife with brochures, onsite demonstrations and PowerPoint presentations the “Life Success Plan” operates best when the brain is being fed constantly with information detailing where the host wants to go. This stream of information is like the data that guides a hi-tech missile, constantly making small corrections to the flight plan in order for it to hit the target.

Continually feeding the mind with parallel aspirations has fueled countless of balanced life success stories and can be implemented on a variety of levels. CD’s and MP3’s can affirm a person’s goals during long commutes, while exercising and even while relaxing the park. Many of the great voices of the human potential movement - Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Dr. Wayne Dyer, etc. - are available in many audio forms. One successful realtor once commented, �I had a great stereo in my car and never tuned into one radio station during the five years I owned it.” What he said right after that was that, �the killer stereo” was a conveyor of his success affirmations and self-empowerment courses that were stored in his CD changer.

Now that we have the audio, what else is there? Another great tool for feeding the mind is nothing more than cut-outs from magazines arrayed on Bristol board. This is a visual idea imported from the boardrooms of Japan in the ’60’s. Some Japanese officials have up to 50-year company plans that can be inspected daily in a well-laid out collage.

For our purposes we are just going to show a 3-year plan. With a felt marker and ruler create on the Bristol board a grid of five rows and divided into four columns. Three of these columns are purposely wider with a narrow subject column on the left entitled, �Success Themes.” Financial; Mental; Physical; Emotional and Spiritual. Write these in the appropriate squares. The three columns have above them: Year 1; Year 2: and Year 3. Mark these as well.

Now comes the fun part. Gather up as many magazines as you can and start filling the boxes with pictures. For example, �Financial Success” in Year 1 may be a new car. But don’t just stick in any car. Pick the exact vehicle you want. Then trim the picture and glue it to the board. �Mental” success may be a picture of Christmas carolers, denoting your family getting together for the holiday. A picture of a hi-tech exercise machine may be in the �Physical” category, but make it the machine you really want.

Under �Spiritual,” you could cut out anything from a beautiful country churchyard setting to a view of a mesa outside Sedona, Arizona. It is your life, so you decorate the board with exactly what you want. You can even have the stereo going with your favorite music to give you inspiration.

Once you have completed your plan place it in a spot where you can easily eyeball it on a regular basis. If this is what you want then your personal guidance system created by the images will have no option but to steer you in this direction. In fact, many people are astounded at how close their lives begin to resemble the plan and that the fifteen pictures on the board begin to materialize into exactly as each one dreamed.

This is just another tool to add to your box. But is a constant reminder of what you want in life.

Author: Nickolove Lovemore
The secret to success is to do work you love. So do you love your work? Many individuals do work as a means to an end. Now, fundamentally there is nothing wrong with honest labour except this - whatever you do you are exchanging your life for it. In other words, if you do not enjoy your work you are literally living in a prison - one which you have created for yourself.

“The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life.”
Charles M Schwab

It is not a coincidence that many of the world’s richest people love what they do so much that they don’t see it as work at all. There are others who make vast sums of money but they don’t enjoy what they do. They are stressed out and often burnt out. Many end up drinking excessively and or taking drugs. Some, tragically, take their own life.

If you don’t enjoy your work you are not fulfilling your purpose in life. Life will always seem like an uphill battle.

“The work of your life is to discover your purpose and get on with the business of living it out.”
Oprah Winfrey

When Oprah started out she was not what was considered typical talk-show host material. Today, she is setting the standards for the industry plus it has made her a billionaire.

It is sheer folly to put off doing work you love because tomorrow is promised to no one. If you ask someone what prevents them from doing work they are passionate about a typical response is “I’ve got bills to pay.”

People often believe that they can’t make money doing what they love. However, the chances are that, whatever you come up with, someone, somewhere is doing it and making a lot of money in the process. If they can succeed in that line of work so can you. To think otherwise is a self-imposed limitation. All you have to do to succeed is to model (an NLP technique) the person who is, or even has been, successful in the area that interests you.

No doubt someone will tell me that they don’t know of anyone who does ‘x’. In that case, think laterally:

1. What industry is similar to ‘x’?
2. What are the lessons from that industry that you can apply to your situation?

This works because very often what is a success strategy in one industry can be a success strategy in another industry. It can even provide you with a competitive edge. You may have to make some minor modifications but why re-invent the wheel when you don’t have to?

So if you are in a deadbeat, dead-end, boring, frustrating, soul-destroying (am I hitting home yet?), “just over broke” job make a plan today to quit.

“Your chances of success are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you desire from what you do. If you are in a job you hate, face the fact squarely and get out.”
Michael Korda

Please note I did not say quit today. That would be irresponsible and for many would be a recipe for disaster, although many individuals have taken this approach and because their desire to succeed in their chosen endeavour was so strong they have been hugely successful. With planning and dedication you too can make a successful transition from working from pay cheque to pay cheque because you have to pay the bills to doing something you find rewarding, exciting, inspiring and challenging and still have your needs met.

Are you ready to take the plunge? Yes, here are a few simple steps that will enable you to transform your life:

1. Decide what it is you really want to do. What would make you leap out of bed in the morning?
2. Evaluate whether or not this is something you can start initially on a part-time basis until it generates sufficient income for sustain your desired lifestyle.
3. Set a date by which you want to be doing the work you love on a ‘full-time’ basis and by this I don’t mean 24/7.
4. Commit to making your career a success. Remember, when you commit to something you close off the prospect of failure.
5. Do work you love; love the work you do and be a great success to boot!