HOW...... The Biggest Three Letter Word In History

HOW

We have posters around the house with just one word HOW.

This is to remind us whenever things seem difficult, or if we think we can't do something.

"HOW do we ......?"

Never think it can't be done, find out how.

Sometimes lessons come disguised as problems, again we think "how can we learn from this?"

Sometimes we get so far with a goal and come to a grinding halt or hit a brick wall. Rather than give up, think HOW.

I'm now wondering HOW I can make this longer and ........ well I can't and I don't think I need to - that pretty much says it all.

HOW did this help?

This is so Apt

Shame on you.

This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won’t go by in your life you won’t regret walking out, letting them get the best of you.

Well, I’m not going home. We’ve come too far! And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails… but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE.

This far, no further! I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You’re going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that’s fine, we’ll just get tougher with it!

If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That’s how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you’ve got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise!

...............Cut from various films

Personal Development Drip Drip

OK this is going to be a little cryptic but hopefully all will be clear by Friday.

I have been studying Personal development for over 25 years (I skipped "Janet and John go Fishing" and went straight to The Magic of Thinking Big when I was 4 ;-))

I first read The Magic of Thinking Big when I was 16 and it amazed me, I couldn't believe people could think like that. My goal at the time was to own my own market stall, I decided to think big and try to get into university. I then thought I made it and stopped reading Personal development.

About 5 years I got back into it and for the last year I started to study it in the same way I studied for my degrees. Not just reading but making notes, and summarising books.

Something happened recently that made me realise how far I had come. I don't think you notice a difference, in the same way you don't see children grow when you see them everyday.

The same set of circumstances were presented to 6 of us and I was the only one that reacted differently, positively.

It made me realise how good Personal development has been for me. There are a few things you can do to get the most out of Personal Development.

I used to be a bit precious about my books, keeping them pristine. Then I realised they are a tool and we are a team, I use them to help me, making notes, underlining and scribbling in the margins. If this shocks you and it would have done me until a year ago, remember what the books are there for - they aren't an ornament they are to be used. If you want them to look nice by a vase instead. - Of course I don't treat my rare first editions like this but you get the gist!

Secondly learn to speed read - if you have as many books you want to read as I do you will benefit so much from speed reading. Not only will you read a lot faster but your understanding will improve. There are lots of good resources online, I would recommend Tony Buzan's book on speed reading. Being able to read 4 or 5 times faster means I can read a book 3 times, once just reading it straight through, then underlining and scribbling and finally going through my underlinings and scribbles and transferring the good points into my journal.

Finally - listen. I travel an hour a day, I used to listen to the radio, now I have a huge library of stuff on my I-pod that I play through the stereo for an hour a day everyday.

This week I will see the benefits of it. But more about that later..........

What Motivates you?

Or should that be who motivates you?

When I am in a coaching session one of the first things we discuss is motivation.

Clients give a variety of reasons, most of these involve other people.

A desire to impress others, to be better than others, to provide for their family, to make parents proud.

Motivation of itself is very hard, the above reasons for motivation are good but self motivation is the most important (and the hardest).

Consistent motivation is the key to any success. No one ever achieved anything (with the exception of winning the lottery ;-)) without motivation over a long period.

It's easy to be motivated when things are going well but how to you keep it going?

Here is a simple guide to master self motivation:-

1 Know your goals - you need to know what it is that you are motivated about. Goal setting is a huge topic in itself which I will cover in a later blog. The key principles however is that the goal must be defined. It is not enough to say "I want to earn more money" I remember seeing Tony Robbins respond to a goal like that by giving the person a dollar and saying "there you are - goal achieved".

It has to be specific. Eg, I want to earn £100,000 a year.

It must also have a deadline, goals are dreams with a deadline. If we work with the £100,000 a year that may seem a reasonable goal but if it takes 30 years to achieve it the chances are it isn't going to be worth much then.

So the goal becomes "I want to earn £100,000 a year by 31/12/10.

This is fine as it stands but to be a motivator that goal has to be big, £100,000 may be big for someone but if it doesn't make you shudder with excitement to think of it then it needs to be increased.

2. Make a plan how it will work, set small steps. Plan your work and work your plan.

3. Record your progress, as you see yourself getting closer to you goal this will motivate you.

4. Visualise the goal, make a visual representation of it. When you can see in your mind what you want it is easier to keep going. If it is something physical like a new car go for a test drive, touch it, feel it and hear it. When it is ingrained in all your senses you will increase your motivation.

5. Keep positive, associate with positive people who will support you.

6. The last and most important thing - Just Do It. There is no substitute for making a start. Don't think about it, just jump in get started and you will gain a momentum that will carry you through.

What's Inside You?

I heard a fascinating story today about Michelangelo, famous of course as the creator of David, considered by many people to be the greatest statue of all time.

The block of marble had been offered to many sculptors, even before Michelangelo was born.

They all refused the commission, believing that nothing could be done with it.

Michelangelo saw it differently; he saw what was inside the block of marble.

We can all be our own David; we all have it in us to be what we want.

How to we get there? How do we chip away at the block?

We need discipline, daily development. Working on ourselves, improving our skills and our mindset.

Make sure you are working to discovering your inner David.

The Ants Have It

One of the smallest animals in the world and yet one of the most productive.

We can learn a lot from ants. Have you ever watched an ant trying to get something? You can put any manner of obstacles in it's way and it will simply find another way around. Try and stop it getting to your sandwich by putting a big boulder in the way and it will go over it or around it, regardless of how big or high it is.

How many of us give up at the first obstacle? We have to keep looking for other ways to get to our goal.

Another amazing thing about ants is how they all work together. If the task is too big for one then others will join in, you never hear them moaning about who does what or that the other ant gets more!

Ants also know that they have to stock up when the times are good. They don't sit around watching 'Ant TV' because they have earned enough for that day. They know lean times are always just around the corner and that you can never achieve too much in one day.

How ant-like are you?

And how would your results in life be different if you were more ant-like?

To your wealth and prosperity

Steve Williams
UK Wealth Coach

What Have You Done Today To Achieve Your Goal?

It's so easy to kid ourselves that we are being productive when in reality we are wasting time.

I remember when I was studying for my first degree I was a master at procrastination.

I would convince myself that before I could study I needed music on and that it would save time in the long run if I organised my music into alphabetical order and wrote them all down so I knew which ones I had. Two hours later, having sorted that out, I needed a well earned rest!

Working from home is much like studying. You need to discipline yourself.

To help with this, I have a poster on my office wall that says:

Will doing this (a) earn me money, (b) spread my reputation, or (c) teach me a valuable skill?

If I catch myself doing something that doesn't meet this criteria, I stop and refocus.

What have you done today to acheive your goal?

Who Is Sailing Your Boat?

No one would set off in a boat with no oars, no sails and no engine.

Imagine setting sail without a map or compass.

What would happen on a journey like that? You would end up wherever the current took you. Sometimes into rocks, sometimes running aground and occasionally, if you were lucky, you might reach where you hoped to.

Yet this is how many people live their lives.

Dependent upon their boss or the economy to determine what sort of financial life they live.

Everyone should take responsibility for their future. This is particularly important in today's economic climate. There is no such thing as job security; the only thing that will provide you with any degree of security is your own skill set.

Too many people finish school or even university and think they have stopped learning. It's important to never stop learning, never stop adding to your skills. They don't have to be related to your job; in fact it is probably better that they are not.

Treat yourself as your one man business, because you are the commodity that you are selling to the whole world. Make yourself as valuable and marketable as possible. Never stop investing the time, effort and money in your lifelong learning and improvement.

And don't fall into the common mistake of thinking you are "sorted" if you have a good job or steady career. Who knows what your future holds?

How much would your family's life be changed if you were fired?

Or if you were made redundant?

What would happen if you became too ill to work?

Hopefully, you never have to face any of these possibilities. But one thing is for sure - if you ever do end up in these situations, it is too late to wish you had made better provisions.

I recommend that all of my clients take control of their finances by beginning their own part-time business. Whether this business offers you the income to save an extra £1,000 a year, or gives you the way out of your career, or funds your property investments, it is absolutely vital that you are taking action to control your own finances.

I recommend that my clients position themselves within the next trillion dollar industry; the wellness industry.

Don't spend another day relying on your employer, your spouse, your yet-to-come inheritance, the economy, the government, or anyone else to secure your future.

It is your responsibility alone.

And it is too important to delay for another moment.

Letting Go Using NLP Techniques

Why is it when we know what we want we seem to hold back and stop ourselves from getting it?

Our negative emotions often come from our unconscious and it seems at times that our unconscious is somehow sabotaging our efforts. This isn't the case, our unconscious always acts with the best intentions, it never purposely sabotages us without good reason.

I recently worked with a client who was determined to improve his wealth and yet despite all the good efforts he was making he didn't seem to be getting anywhere. It was the classic one step forward 2 steps back.

We spent some time looking into his beliefs surrounding money and wealth. It became clear that he had a negative view of wealthy people and this seemed to be the main thing that was holding him back.

We used an NLP technique called parts integration that helped with this blockage. The great thing about these sort of techniques is that they work very quickly, there is no need for repeat sessions and often they can be successful in 1 or 2 sessions.

The coaching session was by phone and went something like this-

We talked about his childhood and things he had been taught about money by his parents, we discovered that in particular his mother had a negative view of rich people. He was often taught that they were greedy and that they would have cheated to get the money they had etc etc.

We divided his emotions into 2 parts, on the one hand he wanted to be rich, on the other had it appeared he was reluctant to make that breakthrough.

I told him to put the phone on speaker (It's even easier on skype with headphones!) Placing his hands in front of him palm up about body width apart. Taking the right hand as the one that wanted to be rich we used a visualisation of this 'rich mindset' he had. We explored the reasons for this desire. Each time getting deeper and deeper into the meaning behind it.

"For what purpose do you want to be rich"

"I want to be rich because I want to have lots of money"

"For what purpose do you want to have money?"

"To be able to buy what I want"

"What will this achieve?"

"I will get a feeling of satisfaction"

"How will that benefit you?"

"I will feel good"

"What purpose will that serve?"

"erm........ I will feel more confident"

"How will that benefit you?"

"I wont feel as insecure"

"and how will that benefit you?"

"I will feel secure"

By this point he was repeating the answer (not as insecure - more secure) I knew that this was the core belief.

We then turned to the other hand and went through a similar exercise. Working through the beliefs, we went through "I don't want to be thought of as greedy", I don't want to be disliked, I want family to still love me, I want to feel secure.

The common belief was a desire to feel secure. The unconscious mind far from self sabotaging him was protecting him from losing that security.

I then asked him where his hands were now and as I anticipated they were a lot closer together, we then went through and exercise where we demonstrated that it was ok to be rich and he would still have his family (in particualr his mother's love). We worked on this until his hands came together.

He reported a month later that after freeing this mental blockage he had already witnessed some improvements in his wealth.

If you would like the chance to talk through any limiting beliefs you may have feel free to drop me a line at steve@ukwealthcoach.com

What are you going to do with your extra money

So the interest rate has gone down again here in the UK.

The bad news for us of course is that it will inevitably mean the pound will fall even further in value against the dollar. Oh well with baby's arrival just over 2 months away we wont be travelling to USA for a few months ;-)

The real good news of course for people on a mortgage that isn't fixed is that the mortgage payments have gone down again. To put it into perspective mine is now less than half it was 3 months ago.

So what do we do with that extra money?

With Christmas coming up it's tempting to go and spend it, I even heard a Government minister suggesting we spend it to help the economy. Incredible that this mess has been caused bu overspending on the banks and general public's part and they are now suggesting we overspend to get out of it!!!

There are 3 levels of advice that coincide with someones wealth mentality.

The poor wealth mentality will go and spend it.

The middle class will use it to pay off debts. Now this is a sensible idea to get rid of high interest consumer debt such as credit cards etc. That's the first place to start but don't take it too far. Don't play too safe, too middle class. We want to be wealthy here, not comfortable. Don't for instance start paying off more of your mortgage.

Your mortgage now is likely to be at a very low rate of interest. The rich way to deal with this is to invest that extra money, you will get a higher rate of return than you will be paying on your mortgage. Invest in an asset (remember an asset is something that pays you money and doesn't include your family home) that will give you a good return and will increase in value.

I can't give individual advice on here but look for an investment advisor and make sure it's one who puts his/her money where their mouth is. In other words ask how much % wise their income is from investments as against commission. Do you really want to be trusting an investment advisor that doesn't take their own advice about investing and only earns their income from YOU - your commission???

Noticing that I haven't blogged for ages reminds me, ironically, about one of the keys to success. Consistency. All successful people keep on keeping on day after day. It's easy to make excuses, I could say things have been hectic getting the nursery ready for our baby's arrival, or that we have both been unwell....
Truth is everyone has distractions, it's how you deal with them that seperates the winners from the losers.

Success is rarely a quantum leap, the breakthrough we see is the tip of a very large iceberg made up of hundreds of little pieces of work.

We have to make a commitment with ourselves, make a timetable of what we are going to do when and keep to it.

So on that point I shall be back blogging tomorrow.