Pay Yourself First

Today on Key to Success I would like to talk about a little known secret of the wealthy. That is, to pay yourself first!

One of the golden rules of the wealthy is to 'pay yourself first'. Before you pay any of your other monthly expenses you give yourself 10% to invest. No, this money is not for buying a new car or your next holiday, it is for long term wealth accumulation. You invest this money in real assets (this does not include your mortgage) that return an income to you. The income returned should be higher than inflation to allow the magic of compounding to work. As your money grows, the income returned increases and your wealth builds.

The wealthy use the income from their assets to buy the things they want. The average person will buy things directly from their source income or borrow it from a money lender. Can you see how this works? The assets of the wealthy keep on increasing because 10% of their source income is always used to purchase new assets. They are then free to spend the income from their assets without suffering any impact on their material wealth. As their income increases they are able to purchase more of what they desire.

Here is a great quote from Jim Rohn that says it all....

"The philosophy of the poor versus the rich is this: The rich invest their money and spend what is left; the poor spend their money and invest what is left.

Give yourself a boost up the ladder of success and pay yourself first!

The Importance of Decisions

Today on Key to Success I would like to talk about how the decisions we make now will impact our future.

Every moment of every day we are making decisions. Whether we are aware of this or not the decisions we make now will set us on a new course for the future. Even deciding not to do something is a decision and will somehow leave it's mark in the future. So, why then are our decisions rarely questioned when they have such a lasting impact? It's because our natural tendency is to go with the flow and follow the same decisions we made in the past. What we are actually doing is choosing the easy option over the better option!

When we choose the easy option we stay in our comfort zone, whether it's good for us or not. But, do you realise this is why we don't escape our current circumstances? The only way to become successful is to make decisions that take you down the road of success. It's just that these decisions tend not to be the easy ones. They often require effort and discipline but I'm afraid there is no other route. If we are not willing to change what we do, then life will not change for us either.

We simply have to question every decision we make. Is it the easiest option or is it the best option? The more you choose the best option the more successful you will be.

How do you determine the best option? You have to know where you're going. When you have made clear targets for yourself you will know what the best option is. The easy option will lead you away from your target or will take the form of a distraction. The best option will take you to your target quicker.

Leverage

Today at Key to Success I would like to discuss leverage.

All successful people use some type of leverage during their daily activities. In fact, the ability to leverage your time, energy and money is key to success. Both energy and money can be leveraged by the choices we make. For example, money can be leveraged through the magic of compounding. In turn, we can leverage our energy by the lifestyle choices we make.

Time itself cannot be leveraged as we can't produce more of it. However, we can manage it better and borrow some off other people.

Are you using leverage in your life? Are you aware for example that profits are better than wages? Are you aware how your diet impacts your energy levels? Do you take time out every day to see if you are making effective use of your time, energy and money? Or, do you consider it a waste of time?

Don't make the mistake of the vast majority. Time spent on yourself is always worthwhile. The little effort you spend early on, will repay itself in the future over and over again. We can only make changes in our lives if we change what we are doing now. The more effective we make ourselves the more successful we will become.

Taking Action

Today on Key to Success I would like to talk about taking Action.

A while back I heard the statement "Affirmations without action is the beginning of delusion." The truth in this statement is simple yet profound. So much teaching today focuses on the spiritual part of manifestation and leaves out the necessity of taking action. Think about it, we wouldn't have been given personal power as humans if we were not meant to exercise it. You see, taking action is faith in motion. By taking action towards something you are showing faith in the outcome. When you do this, you set in motion a greater force that will bring you the things you need at the right time. There is an old expression that makes this very clear and it goes like this "Synchronicity is God's way of remaining anonymous."

Affirmations do have their place and are a great tool to motivate us but it is through taking action we see the results!

When we take action we must question whether or not it is the right action. Is it helping us reach our goals or moving us further away? If we eat that extra desert, is it going to help us lose that 30 pounds or not? It is easy to become distracted by something or someone else, so keep focused on your targets and always question your motives. The key to success here is to take the right action at the right time! Throughout the day do what you can, do the best you can and go that extra mile. Take sufficient rest but don't let the weeds grow under your feet. Repetitive action with continuous refinement leads to excellence.

When you do more than you are paid for, with a higher quality than expected, you build value in yourself and become more valueable to the market place. Understand this and you will have grasped a fundamental key to success.

Self Discipline

Procrastination is the habit of putting things off. Self discipline is the secret weapon we use to overcome it. If we were to take some time out each day to look at what our habitual behaviour is doing to us we would truly understand the need to introduce self discipline into our lives. Have you ever wondered what opportunities you have missed because of procrastination? Do you understand the consequences of your eating habits on your health? It is quite easy to see how some of our habits actually move us away from our desires when we make an honest assessment of our current lifestyle. It is unfortunate that the stronger a negative habit becomes the harder it is to give it up. It becomes addictive and we make up all sorts of reasons and justifications why we should continue doing it. Now let me ask you this. What if you were to replace one daily error or negative habit with one daily discipline on a week by week basis? Do you see how you could turn your life around? You see, the introduction of new disciplines has a sort of compounding effect. Not only does it become easier to introduce a new discipline but we are also able to introduce major changes that previously we would of thought not possible!

Imagine if you were to cut out that chocolate bar and replace it with some fruit each day, if you took a walk each lunch break rather than sit at your desk. The impact on your health would be noticable in just a few weeks. Your energy levels would improve and so would your confidence. Every new disipline would affect all other disciplines and before long we would have very little room for the negative habits that once controlled our lives. Self discipline is a major weapon on our road to success. Don't settle for a life of mediocrity use self discipline to become extraordinary.

Positive Mental Attitude

Today at Key To Success I would like to talk about how a positive mental attitude can change your whole life. What we think about tends to become our reality. A lot of people spend their time dwelling on what they don't want in their life rather than what they do want. The only result they will get from this, is more of what they don't want.

A major key to success is to develop a positive mental attitude. Attitude is like a filter through which we experience the world. Whereas, a person with a negative mental attitude will dwell on problems, a person with positive mental attitude will concentrate on solutions. Likewise, a person with a negative attitude will say "I can't" and a person with a positive attitude will say "I can".

Success only comes in cans :)

If we changed our attitude to what life throws at us we would see more of what life has to offer. The great news is that you "CAN" change your attitude. Just like anything else in life it is just a simple choice we can make here and now.

In the words of Victor Frankl who was a prisoner in the Nazi Death camps...

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone."

If he could change his attitude under such adversity then there is absolutely no excuse why we can't change ours! You see, our choice of attitude will make a massive difference to how our lives will turn out. Being nice and friendly to people takes no more effort than being offhand or aloof. They are habitual conditions that we can choose to change the instant we become aware of them.

The power of influence can have a tremendous impact on our attitude. If you associate with people who are forever gossiping, complaining and blaming then beware! The negative attitude of these people will influence how you feel. It would be prudent to disassociate with these people as soon as possible. Influence is a very subtle beast and will over time affect your attitude. I personally dont watch the news or read newspapers much because everything presented is nearly always negative and can leave you feeling a little down, even if on a subconscious level. When you feel negative life responds accordingly.

Don't just try and avoid people with a negative attitude; associate with those that have a positive mental attitude. Learn from those who are successful and see how their attitude has shaped their lives.

Have a clear vision of the future to help lift you up. Imagine the positive feelings that will come from achieving your goals. Familiar sayings like "expect the worst and hope for the best" are utter nonsense. Always expect the best and it is sure to materialise. A positive mental attitude will help shape your destiny for the better!

Lifes purpose

There's no greater key to success than discovering your true lifes purpose. You become filled with passion and excitement. Nothing or no-one can stop your progress. You have finally connected your heart with a greater cause and found something worthy to live for. The ultimate key to success has been found. Does this describe you? Not to worry, it's the same for the majority of people. It's unfortunate that most people allow their intellect to rule their heart. The mind is a great tool for planning, sorting out problems and gathering knowledge but should not be allowed to run the show. When all is said and done the mind is a wonderful slave but alas a terrible master!

When we dream something big the mind steps in and tells us it's not possible. When we are admiring something beautiful our mind steps in and interrupts the moment. When we talk to other people we can find ourselves thinking of something else. There are endless situations where the mind takes control. The sad thing is, we are hardly ever aware that it is happening. We talk ourselves out of our biggest lifes purpose with ease and then we wonder why success will never be ours.

When our daily actions and thoughts are incongruent with our lifes purpose we lose energy and vitality. There is a sort of hidden pain when we march to the beat of someone elses drum. It starts in the mind and shows up in the physical. The word disease (dis-ease) is a perfect description. We are not at ease with what we are doing and we pay the price on a physical level.

What should you do about it? Start listening to what the heart is saying; learn to master the mind. If you know your lifes purpose then work on it and try to bring it into your life on a daily basis. Don't make up excuses why you can't do something. "You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going." There would be no successful people if everyone were afraid to make mistakes. Successful people fail far more than most people simply because they "have a go" more often. They are not lucky, they just create the conditions for good things to come their way. It's simple math. If I try 100 new ideas out this year and you only try 2, who do you think is more likely to make it - even if 90% of my ideas fail! People will do more do avoid pain than gain pleasure. This is the very reason we are held back from realising our dreams. We become scared to fail and therefore never even have a go. When we have a life purpose that we truly believe in we connect with a limitless energy source. We become so full of energy we feel unstoppable. It is this very energy that is required to overcome our inertia and attempt new things. The more we make these strengthening decisions the harder it is to make weakening decisions.


Bring purpose into your life. If you find yourself without any direction or anything you can truly believe in then use personal development as your life purpose. Teach others what you have learnt and experienced. Make a living from it. As sure as night follows day there will come a point of realisation and then you will know without doubt what your true destiny is. You see, as we reach higher states of being through continued personal growth we attain a greater capacity to discern what we truly require and therefore attract into our lives. There is a great book called Wishcraft by Barbara Sher about helping you discover what you really desire. It just maybe your key to success.

Getting Results through setting personal goals

The key to success principle today is about getting results through setting personal goals.

At the end of the day it is results that count! You can work hard all day but if there are no results to show for it then what has been the point. Without a clear vision of our goal how can we map the steps required to get there? Likewise, if the goal is clearly stated but we don't bother to plan the journey we are certain to lose our way. The key to measuring our progress has to be in the planning! How often do you start the day with a 101 things to do and end up feeling as though nothing has been achieved? The truth is that we often spend a lot of our time doing things that aren't important to achieving our personal goals.

When we have a clear vision of our goal we can create a plan to get there. Military strategists use a great method of backward planning to map out the course of their military campaigns. It is a very simple process but a good key to success. First, start out with a clear target in mind and then ask yourself what the last step would be just before you reach your target. Write the step down and then repeat the process for each step as though it were the target until you end up where you are now. Working backwards like this is a great way of planning your personal goals. Of course, the steps you need to take won't always be clear and it often takes the completion of one step to understand precisely what needs to be done to complete the next. This fine tuning as it were is an ongoing process and can be adjusted from day to day. The point is though, at least now we have a plan by which we can measure our results.

Before each new day starts we can now determine what we need to achieve. We can draw up an "at least" list of the most important things we need to do and concentrate on only those things that are relevant to our targets.

Of course, the key to success is to ensure we follow these guidelines on a daily basis. Every day, you should try and achieve something that moves you towards your target. This way you will never lose sight and distractions will have a harder time trying to drive a wedge between you and your personal goals.

Get down to some serious personal goal setting (more on this later) and develop a plan of action. Watch as your results go through the roof!