Establishing A Clear Vision

In my last installment "Unlocking Your Potential Part 1", I spoke largely about establishing clarity in our lives. That is, really understanding that in order for us to move from where we are to where we want to be requires "seeing" clearly where we desire to be. Now some of us can hardly see past the next moment whereas others can clearly see years from now.

Regardless of how near or far you can see, what is important is that you can see! I want speak to those of you who like me and many others have had dreams in delay or perhaps got sidetracked by life general. It is important to establish a clear vision. Your potential releases itself upon specific, clear objectives that you set in front of you and which also places demands upon you to rise up beyond where you are to where you want to be.

That my friends begins with a single step that is initiated by the single most important decision you will ever make towards recovering your dreams. That single most important decision is the decision "to begin again". You must forge ahead regardless of where you've been and what you may think of where you are now. It is what we think that is critical to renewing our goals of success and refueling our motivation to take the necessary action that will move us closer to accomplishing our goals.

One definition of vision is "a mental image of what the future will be or could be like". To establish your clear vision, decide in your heart what your most positive future could be like and get a mental picture of it. Hold it there tightly! Fight to keep it there! To keep this discussion a bit practical and less success and motivation guru-like (since I'm no success guru anyway)...if you can only see to the next moment then that is what you must do! Seeing clearly from moment to moment gives you power to make decisions that will strengthen your ability to see longer and farther into a more positive future for yourself by allowing you the opportunity to make the important decisions now that will get you there later. Your life changes by what you do and what you do now. Again, no matter how near or far you can see, just decide to see! Decide to see a positive future moment for yourself!

You Must FORGE ahead

To recover your dreams, you must forge ahead. You must defeat whatever resistance you've experienced up to now and decide you must see again and dream again. That is the one step you must do for yourself and it is the biggest gift you can give to yourself. There are many things around you that can assist with you that defeating resistance to dreaming and taking action towards your dreams. This blog a resource, encouragement from life long friends, your pastor, your spouse or other types of support resources... but you and you alone have to take that encouragement into your heart and mind and ignite once again those previous dreams in your heart and reach towards your future once more. And you can do it. One small step leads to the next.

A step in this discussion is any decision and action you take that moves you out of feeling stuck and discouraged and into creating positive momentum and motivation for your long term success. What you really want to do is a establish a small series of "wins", accomplishments or completed tasks which lift your spirit regularly and renews your will to win and to get it going.

I've created an acronym to perhaps help encourage your renewal. It is build from our word "forge" in this discussion. To "forge ahead" means to move forward gradually and steadily. And that is what we want to do. As much as we may feel rushed on all sides these days by the pressures of life, take your renewal and recovery gradually and steadily. Temper your success and motivation with clear, specific actions with reasonable expectations for yourself and about your progress and outcomes.

You don't want to defeat yourself before you get started. So here's how our acronym breaks out: F-O-R-G-E

F = "Forget the Past"

0 = "Opportunity Abounds"

R = "Refocus Your Efforts and Energy"

G = "Getting Starts with Getting it Going"

E = "Experience Renewal of Mind, Body and Spirit"

Here's our acronym as a statement we can repeat to ourselves to help us refocus our thoughts and take positive actions each day:

I "Forget The Past" because "Opportunity Abounds" anew each day. Therefore, I "Refocus My Efforts and My Energy" towards "Getting It Going" and "Experiencing Renewal in Mind, Body and Spirit".

Final Thoughts For You

One of my favorite success and motivation coaches once said "You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going". That forever changed my perspective on moving towards my own goals. "It" can be and is whatever you need to do and have to do. You just have to do "it'. It is important to know however that you don't have to be perfect or get "it" 100% correct or accurate. That's a beautiful thing! No pressure! You are free to fail forward and into your greatest success to date. Remember to take time to renew your mind, body and spirit. You must take care of your self in order to take care of you dreams.

To Your Success & Motivation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind
"Change Your Mind, Change Your Life"

May 4, 2008 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

The Situation

I’ve been reading a few emails I’ve received recently and the common theme has been a discussion around struggle and opposition. As we reach for success and make the effort to sustain healthy motivation for change we encounter to bothersome stuck states.

Stuck states are those conflicting situations where we have made up our minds to make a change for the better and our intentions are set to take positive action and yet we find ourselves unable to take the first step. We can be stuck on bad attitudes, negative expectations, fear of failure or toxic relationships among many other possibilities.

The Scenario

Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is that there appears to be opposition to your success motivation goals. It is important to realize that your journey is your own. However, many others have gone on before you and have overcome failure and walked into personal success. You are not alone and there are solutions for your challenges.

You can and should expect conflict on your journey to success. You have to decide here and now that you will enjoy the success journey of your own choosing, expect positive change, except responsibility for your outcomes and see opportunity at ever turn.

The Solution

The greatest determining factor in breaking through your barriers to success, getting unstuck and out of failure patterns is to choose opportunity for success instead of opposition to success. What do I mean? Simply, that you must change how you interpret your challenges. Every instance opposition in your life carries and opportunity for you to learn, live or give. Ask yourself the following questions when you face a challenging situation:

1. What can I learn about myself from this situation? (What attitudes, character traits, choices, etc. does this situation reveal about me?)

2. How should I live in the face of challenge? (Choose courage, faith, love, hope, etc.)

3. What can I give in the situation? (Give yourself another chance, give your time to help someone else, give the gift of forgiveness for some offense, give up your own pride, give up on negative thinking)

Your perspective will be your directive in overcoming your challenges. By developing the habit of seeing opportunity for success instead of opposition to success you immediately place yourself in the winners circle. Success is the result of simply believing in yourself and choosing to persevere. But you have to be see the world positively. If you see your world positively then you will expect positive results. If you expect positive results you will take positive action under any and all conditions of life.

The result is that you will not get stuck or stopped by conflict or life challenges. You will be motivated for personal success because of hope that is born of a positive expectation. An expectation that you can indeed change your life by changing your mind. Upgrade Your Mind™ is what your success is all about.

The opportunity of opposition is that every challenge we face is but a moment where we can make choices the learn more about ourselves, live bigger instead of smaller and give more of ourselves to others instead of less. The opportunity is to always choose to live bigger instead of playing life smaller.

Your success becomes available to you once you are willing to own your dreams, have the determination to break free from negative thinking and negative choices while never giving up as you take positive action in the direction of clearly defined goals whose motivation is your success and personal happiness. When you change your mind, you will change your life.

To Your Success Transformation,

T. L. Pakii Pierce
“Change Your Mind, Change Your Life!”
Publisher, Upgrade Your Mind™

March 14, 2007 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

It’s been about 60 days since my last post and things have been really, really busy here. I want to thank you all for your continued readership and the encouraging emails I continue to get. I seem to get more emails than I do comments here on my blog. Again, thanks for your continued support.

I’m working on a new blog for Upgrade Your Mind and will be moving this content soon as well as starting a newsletter to supplement the Upgrade Your Mind web content and a few other items that would be useful to keep you encouraged and motivated!

To kick this off right now I want to post my reply to a reader who sent me an email in reference to the Be, Do Have video I posted. Here is what he wrote:

3 Step Formula for Creative Success

The video clip says Be, Do, Have. I enjoyed it but the problem is - what if I don't have the tool or thing to be an artist or actor or singer? How can I be an artist or actor or singer? How can I stay motivated to achieve anything and switch the voice in my head from failure to success? How do I stay motivated to do anything no matter who or what is pulling me down?

I’ve edited this email excerpt for clarity and withheld the name of the reader to maintain his privacy. I wanted to share this here because it is a very good question. With all the success motivation and positive thinking talk that takes place we have to remember the work and labor necessary for improving ourselves. It is success motivation applied.

All changes come through dedication and effort.

“If it’s worth it…then work it - because you are worthy of it!” – T.L. Pakii Pierce

Here is my reply and it is by no means all inclusive as a response.

Good question.

The video shares its these principals with the context being that of artists however, these success principles can apply to anyone, anywhere. Motivation almost always fails when we rely too heavily on outside forces to keep us going. One key is to harness the inspiration we can acquire from external influences (books, videos, audios, mentors, etc) for internal transformation. For example, the Be, Do Have video can be inspirational for the period of time that you are viewing it and even for a short time afterwards. But for true transformation to occur we would need to think about how the principles apply to ourselves personally and how we could take some action for positive success and motivation.

Think about one high point of the video and how that point can improve your life personally. Then ask yourself questions about how you can use that one high point to create positive life change. The idea is to come up with at least one single, easy action you can take based on that high point that will bring about that positive change. Then act! Nothing reinforces motivation like action. It is one thing to think and quite another thing to think in action.

Lastly, the greatest force any one of us can develop is a sense of purpose or urgency about our lives. We sometimes refer to this as "finding our calling". Some of use find that one true calling that serves as a unlimited well of motivation and determination throughout our entire lives and others of us move through several callings throughout our lives as our interests change, our skills change and our sense of what we find fulfilling changes. There is no one single pattern that fits all us or is common to most us.

One real challenge is that finding purpose isn't an easy process for a lot of us. It takes time, introspection and action to figure it out. You have to try some new things, explore some old things, learn some things tat are different than what you are familiar with now and make some mistakes along the way. The good news is that you are free to be you at all times! You don't have to be anxious for quick success or to become someone other than who you are. The better news is that it starts with a simple choice to be a better YOU and to experience all that you can as you follow your desires.

Your desires are sign posts pointing the way to new experiences and opportunities. You will find that when you arrive at certain opportunities that they suddenly become less desirable. That's okay! Move on to something else. You have only one life to life and you deserve to explore all of your options.

You will find that once you get a clear vision for where you want to go and a burning desire to get there that no-thing and no person can keep you down for long if at all.

Best to you!

© 2006 T. L. Pakii Pierce
Upgrade Your Mind
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

 

August 29, 2006 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

This is YOUR life! Why not live it?! I learn each day how important it is the do what you love and love what you do. There is much to accomplish and a lot of living still left of the proverbial table. I would venture to guess that some of you feel very much the same way.

Today I was thinking about the power of Intensity. Intensity is defined by one source as "exceptionally great concentration, power or force". Intensity is always and intentional act and we are in fact intended for intensity.

Choose Life
We are by design given great powers of mind and will so that we can intentionally direct our concentration toward the achievement of success in any and all worthy endeavors of our choosing. Intensity has as its motivation the results of power and force to push onward and upward. To understand that we can any moment yield great power and force through concentrating our efforts is powerfully motivating. Your future is truly just one thought away. It only takes a moment to change your life!

You may be saying, "Yada Yada Yada, so what so what?", "Where's the beef?", "So, what's your point?". Here's my point. You should throw yourself entirely into your life's purpose and to reserve nothing. Hold nothing back! Zero in on the things in life that you want to do that will allow you to make a difference in the world and go after it with your full powers of concentration.

When you become wholly focused on something and fully persuaded in your belief that something is within your reach, you will create from within the personal power and force to actually grab it. When you live with intensity you refuse distractions and you make darn sure that you get up from setbacks and create your comebacks!

Intentional Intensity
Realize that to live with intensity is to choose to be intense. You must be intentional and know that you were intended for this style of living. Do misunderstand living with intensity as being loud, obnoxious or crazy. Now ff these adjectives are found in your personality then more power to you and I certainly appreciate you for that :-) Yet rest assured that intensity is a lifestyle of the heart that fuels your commitment to being all that you can be and doing all that will make a difference in your life and the world around you. And living with your full commitment turned on and nothing in reserve.

Sometimes we get knocked about quite a bit and our intensity tends to simmer down a bit. You must turn the intensity back up and get back our there and in pursuit of what you have imagined for yourself. Success and Motivation! Add new fuel to your hopes and look up! You power to overcome and win is always, always, always a single choice away.

"But T.L., I did choose to win the last time and I lost!", you say. Nonsense! Losing is a state of mind, not a score, or being first, or being better than another. Winning is giving it your best shot and being willing to give it your best shot again, and again until you achieve the result that YOU desire. When you choose to continue on and on and on again, my friend you have already overcome and that is intensity. Being focused and never giving up. What power of force and resist the man or woman who wills to win?

Where do you want to go today?
Where are you in your life today? What do you seek? What were you in pursuit of? Do you need more excitement in your life? Are you lacking personal development and new growth in your life? I would suggest that you get intentional about intensity. Get focused and get in action ASAP! There is no replacement for taking action. You will never know what you are capable of until you try.

Intensity allows you to work hard, play hard and love hard! That's real living there folks. To do whatever you and live however you life ...with all your might! That's intensity and that's the life you are intended for.

© 2006 T. L. Pakii Pierce
Upgrade Your Mind
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

May 16, 2006 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

What is risk? Webster's Dictionary defines risk as the chance of loss. The challenge of success is the risk or number of risks that lay before us as we reach for our dreams of success. What risks are you facing? Are you even facing your risks?

Let me share with you some risks that I'm facing. I'm facing the risk of failure and ridicule as I continue to reach for my dream of public speaking in the area of success motivation. I'm risking financial challenge as I pursue a couple of other entreprenuerial endeavors I have as part of my plan to increase my own personal success.

I would be willing to bet that the greatest risk facing us all and the one with which we must confront and overcome is the fear of the unknown.

For many of us it is the fear of not knowing how it will turn out that breeds dread. But if we think about it there are no guarantees in this life. We wake up each day not know what that day will actually bring yet we go about our duties anyway.

However we find ourselves able to this because we find comfort in the familiar tasks that we do day in and day out. We go to the same job, do the same things and socialize with the same group of family and friends.

The Trick is to Risk it

The real trick is the risk it. To risk something by attempting something more is the challenge I offer you today. Yes, there is predictability in doing the same things everyday. While we cannot truly predict exactly what will happen each day, we do find comfort in the control we feel when we do the things that don't threaten our sense of security.

"He who accomplishes little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much..." Richard M. DeVos

My friend, are you willing to lose some confort in order to experience new success today? What is your motivation in playing it safe? What risk are you trying to avoid? Playing it safe only leads to misery and unhappiness as your greatness and true potential fight you from within in an attempt make themselves known to the world.

Oh I know the struggle between the mundane and the magnificent. If you are struggling because you have this urge to burst forth and do something great, become someone different or achieve something fresh and new then you must be willing to take the risk no matter what your risk is. Why? Because...

On The Other Side Of Risk Is Your Dream Fulfilled

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now!" Goethe

You will never know what you could have really achieved if you don't take that first step to making your dreams happen. You must take the first step. You dreams and your success are on the other side of your fear. Your motivation must be to reach and stretch yourself beyond your current comfort zone and achieve more.

To achieve more you have to risk more. When you risk more, you become more. Your life will never be the same. If you are in a rut and desperately want change in your life the real trick is the risk it. This is no real trick at all actually. The reality is that change is the result of specific actions. I believe you can change your life right now by taking that first step.

What step much you now take? What risk must you accept? What success are you willing to pursue?

Your change is one thought away. Act today and never be the same!

God Bless,

© 2006 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

February 27, 2006 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

There is a great yet silent movement of dissatisfaction that is occurring in the hearts and minds of many people these days. The more I talk and speak to people the greater a hunger I see as people clamor for a better understanding of the meaning of happiness.

There is a great silence accompanied by a long groan as many of us find ourselves living lives of "quiet desperation". We are overcome with boredom and frustration as we experience an increased restlessness about of life's progress. Why do we so often find ourselves living lives so far from what we initially imagined or find that certain successes we have indeed attained ultimately ring hollow?

I would submit that it is because we find ourselves fulfilling the expectations of the status quote or reaching for success as defined by others who may not share the same values or beliefs as we do as individuals. For example, and sure this is a classic example at that but let's take Madison Avenue as our cliche' in this discussion.

We think we know better but we in more ways than not, find ourselves defining success and ourselves by the values as set forth by the Madison Avenue executives. How much of our time is spend chasing the right corporate power suit, power position, power deal, power job, power home, power car, power relationships...

There is certainly nothing wrong with power. There is however a problem with how you define power and from where you derive your power from. A 6 figure sports car may provide the "appearance" of power and success but a sports car will never deliver ultimate satisfaction if I define part of my success and happiness as having a Porsche in and of itself. Okay let's tackle this another way as I don't think I'm speaking with the clarity that I would like.

True Power Results From Purpose
There are all kinds of power in the world and many ways to acquire power. I break power down into 2 basic categories. They are internal and external.

External power is power that Madison Avenue tends to focus on and it is the power that most of us covet the most. External power is what allows us to move and change our material world for better or for worse. External power is most associated with success and the motivation to build empires of people, places and things.

Internal power is what I like to think of as true movement of the human heart to transform oneself for the greatest good and service. Internal power is enduring character and integrity of mind. It is going the distance without ever quitting. It is getting up from set backs and always believing in comebacks. Internal power is the ability to move others from your ability to move yourself with you and those you touch moving ever the more upward and onward toward worthy value-based goals.

I'll remind you that these are my self-defined explanations and descriptions of power which I find suitable for my entry today and from which I live my life as well. With these definitions on hand I think it helps bring some clarity to where I believe we miss it when it comes to getting on with happiness in life.

A focus of external power misses the self-development component of your existence. It skips the whole "becoming" process of finding contentment. The message of external power says that by acquiring more people, places or things we find real happiness. What is even more sinister is that this message also promotes "get it now" mentality. Shortcuts are okay when seeking this power because as long as you don't hurt anyone you don't have to wait.

The truth is that we do hurt at the end of the day as find that no other people, places or things can ever fill that voice of "self" that we all must develop on the path to true success. At the end of the day a sports car is just that...a car. You are not a car and not amount of cars can help you become a great person.

Internal power is about becoming a great person whose capacity for love, generosity and service allow them to reap the benefits of our material world and truly enjoy them at the end of each day.

Happiness was once defined to me as feeling good about yourself, your relationships and your accomplishments. When you have a well developed sense of self and how you are positioned in the world you are not defined by other people, places and things and this empowers you to enjoy them all the more. Why?

Because people will let you down, places tend to lose their glamour over time and things tend to run down eventually. When you have proper perspective and self growth you can enjoy life in all is beauty and flaws. You aren't defined by how well is going. You define how well is going for you!

The Greatest Power and Key Living On Purpose
The greatest power of all is the ability to lift your life to new levels of joy and fulfillment by changing your mind and transforming your heart. The greatest power of all is mastery of self and the will to win in a worthy contest of life that challenges and changes your very nature.

The greatest power is the power to become another man or another woman. It is becoming that person necessary for your chosen path of success. It is internal transformation that is so powerful that you literally change your external environment to positively support your life's path. The real key to this kind of power is HOPE and VISION. Most of us have forgotten how to expect a better tomorrow. We lost our excitement for discovery and exploration because we've lost our vision. We can't see where we are going and so we have a hopelessness about our present.

Without vision we become bored and discouraged with our present situations and we get dismayed about the possibility of things remaining as they are. How can we ever have hope of tomorrow if we don't have a vision of tomorrow's possibilities?

A compelling vision ignites purpose, delivers hope and provides the power to change. Vision doesn't answer "how's" but it provides the most significant first step which is "why".

We have to know why we are committed to change,
and why we are committed to transformation,
and why we are paying the price,
and why we are not going to give up,
and why we believe we are here
and why we are going to make our mark in this world!

When you have enough why's you are driving towards a purpose driven life. A purpose driven life is full of hope and in pursuit of great visions.

What and Where Are Your Why's?
Pursuing material success as a means to end will only end in emptiness. Living a life where you may feel bored or stuck will only lead to emptiness or regret for not taking that chance for change.

Don't look back with regret either way. Develop a vision of purpose and hope and you will begin to supply your life with all you need for happiness. For your vision will supply you with the fulfillment all your provision, promise, power and protection necessary for a successful life journey.

WHAT should you be doing with your life and WHY should you be doing it? Decide what you must do and who you must become to do it and begin to experience that real life you really desire to live. Your freedom is just one decision away. You are on your way to never being the same again.

© 2005 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

November 30, 2005 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Phew! The past two weeks and the past 3 weekends I was busy building and rebuilding my home pc workstation...again. I'm going to just get an all new system. With that said, over the past couple of weeks or more I lost data and recovered it, had hard drives fail and motherboards lose power, along with operating systems that would not work properly because of all of the other issues.

My patiences was sorely tested and the frustrations continued to mount. Primarily because I just didn't have the time to give myself fully to resolving the problem which probably contributed more to the challenge than anything else.

I depend on my pc quite a bit for most of my activities and my pc contributes quite a bit to my daily productivity and personal success motivation. I read, write and listen to inspired messages with my pc and quite frankly without my pc I'm sort of like a fish out of water.

As I reflect back on these continuing technology related challenges I couldn't help but see some life lessons as I forged on for a solution.

If It Ain't Broke...
I'm sure most of us have heard the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Could there be a more mediocre message to adopt as a standard of wisdom? Basically with bit of wisdom is telling us to play it safe, don't rock the boat, keep with the status quo, resist or avoid change.

I've learned that more often than not that even if it ain't broke, you are going to need an upgrade as some point. Take my pc experience over the past few weeks for instance. I've determined that the time has come to upgrade the entire pc to accomodate the increase in usage and the need for a greater capacit to process my tasks much more quickly and reliably.

The point is that waiting for something to break is expensive on time and resources because it takes more of both in most case to get it going than it does to keep it going. It is far better to do routine maintenance and set goals to increase capacity based on some plan of growth.

And so it goes with our lives. We must have a plan of growth that challenges us to design and capacity plan. A plan the defines those areas must grow and expand in order to reap the rewards of success that we seek.

Success Turned Inside Out
Be careful about which messages of success you listen and adopt as a standard of value for your life. I submit to you today that true success is under seige in popular media.

There is a great emphasis on quick success and most if not all costs. From the movies we watch to the commercials or sitcoms we see, there doesn't seem to be an emphasis on the "character" of success. The very thought of slow success repels most. Get rich quick will never die. The path of character development and strong values will always be the road lessed traveled.

We must grow outselves from the inside out. We must tap into the true riches of value for self and for our fellow man. We must tap into the riches of love, generosity and integrity. We must tap into the riches of courage, guts and discipline and boldness. We must plug inward in order to have a true forward view of our lives and the possibilities for lasting reward and satisfaction.

Treasures Tried and You
Here's and secret for you...success isn't always quick and easy! Sure we can and will experience seasons of excellerated success and when your in the zone and operating in your strengths, success will seem easy. Yet we must handle ourselves with due diligence and not take our talents, gifts and abilities lightly.

Must challenge ourselves and meet the challenges of life with and bold attitude of positive expectation of progress, victory and achievement.

What I'm saying here is that life trials are opportunities and lessons the help us understand who we are as must as who we are not. Courage under fire as the saying goes...we can never experience our greater selves unless we choose to rise to life occasions in order to become bigger and better than who we were yesterday. It is then...when we've given it a try, given it a shot...that we become winners.

Winners don't always get it right, but they do get it going! Mike Litman shared that piece of advice with me and it changed my life. Let me say that again, " You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going!".

Try and then try again. Sure your plans can be frustrated as mine were by my pc woes. I learned that I need upgrades so that my computer can halndle the increased workload required for my success. Life is like that to. We must upgrade our minds and upgrade our lives constantly so that we can handle the new opportunities for success and increase that we desire.

What we really must do is become someone different than who we are today. That's how dreams come true. Change your thinking and you change your life! Who you can become is much significantly magnificent than the person you've ever been to this day. Do you believe that? I do. I believe that for you.

© 2005 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

November 9, 2005 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

I was once told that there are only two types of people the world dislikes.

People that fail

People that succeed

Where do you play?

Many of us spend way too much time playing the middle for various reason. Whether we are fearful of failure or lacking belief in our ability to succeed we face the temptation to play the middle ground of safety.

You see, the middle ground keeps us out of the limelight of public failures and safe from the resulting criticism and we also avoid being targets because of success. What we are doing is playing it safe. Most people don't like to be targets of criticism.

Are you playing it safe? Are you playing NOT to win? Are you playing the average joe role so as not to rock the boat of others and so that you may avoid the risk of failure or the discipline needed for success?

If that is you, realize this...average is your enemy not your friend. It is your right to shine and to shine brightly. You are unique and created for extraordinary living. At the end of the day you are choosing the average standard that you are destined to live an unfulfilled life so that you don't offend others.

Live Out Loud and Split the Room

When I walk into a room I'd rather split the room between those who like me and those who don't because my life makes a bold statement rather than going unnoticed. The temptation to play it safe and avoid rocking the boat is a strong one. Yet playing the average joe takes the greatest toll then any criticism, failure or success when cause.

Live out loud and be bold about who you are! Be noticed and enjoy it! You don't have to conform to anyone but you own belief and values. Resist peer pressure

You pay a price no matter what level of living you choose but I think the greatest price is paid by those who live a life of quiet desperation..that is a average life.

Every one of us has had a yearning and a dream of something extraordinary say, do and become in life. Every one us must confront that yearning and make a conscious decision to deny that spark of greatness and desire or choose the step out in faith and courage and go for it. Each time we deny ourselves for the average life we just create a greater internal conflict of building frustration and unhappiness.

You will never be happy playing it safe. I believe a lot of people are grumpy because they regret either never daring to live the life they imaged or they are currently deny themselves that opportunity.

You must resist that temptation to play it small and just play it big!

You must build the strength the live a life that is bold statement about who you are, what you believe and where you are going. You will not find power, joy and happiness until you begin to live your values, beliefs and stretch yourself for the greater success of your choosing.

Who cares about failure or success or criticism when you are living your best life now? The object is to become transformed and create a life for yourself that has the power to make a difference for other people. Failure becomes feedback and success becomes that expectation. Critics have to justify their existence somehow so what they say may validate their existence in their own minds but it has nothing to do with you. Right?

Focus on your finish and your enemies and critics go unnoticed by you.

I encourage you to choose extraordinary living! Whatever you do, great or small, do with and extraordinary mindset, extraordinary action and extraordinary words!

That's extra-ordinary. Be more than ordinary in all that you do. I know it isn't easy but you can do it. Start small and act with excellence and confident. Realize how special you are and gifted and talented you are and celebrate that in all that you do.

Don't you dare hold back on your gifts and talents because other people feel uncomfortable! They should be uncomfortable. They need to get up off their hind-parts and let their let shine also. But never hide your light or your life because others can't handle it. Never! Your life is given to you once and it is up to you live well while you are here. You must choose to live well.

To live well you must fight the enemy called average. To fight the enemy called average, you must leave your comfort zone, risk failure and expect success!

Make today an extraordinary day!

© 2005 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

October 7, 2005 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In Part 1 of this discussion I shared some of my thoughts about finishing what you started. I want to conclude our discussion with a few specifics about getting unstuck and getting it going again.

How To Finish What You Started

Here are 3 tips that may be helpful to you in getting started again. Whatever you need to restart; It could be a relationship, a occupation, a business, a dream, a vision, a transformation...whatever it is you should that you can do it. I believe in you.

This tips have helped because they are just plain simple steps to just getting back on track. You see when you over analyze what happened, how it happened, why it happened with negative self talk you are shutting down your ability to see that good that can come from any apparent setback or let down.

Sometimes just keeping an examination of your efforts simple and then taking action is all you need to restart your momentum. Success motivation and positive thinking but with action of course!

Tip #1
See the end from the beginning.

Hey, if you don't have a picture of how it should be for you and how you want it to end, how can you expect anything different. How can you restart your efforts or your life if you don't have a compelling reason to do so? You must dream and you must dream big and with intensity! Give yourself very big reasons why you should face each day with courage, faith and hope that you will indeed make it happen. Your setbacks, stops, and stuck states will never survive the brightness of a compelling future. Oh, and don't forget your shades!

Tip #2
Focus on the prize and not the process

Don't get overwhelmed by what you think you have to do to make it or how hard it's going to be to change. Truth be told, you will have to change but you should be willing anyhow. Sometimes we can get sidetracked by actions and commitments we have to make so that we can indeed make it.

If you focus on the prize and clearly communicate to yourself the real benefits of reaching your prize you find that actions necessary to be not as touch. your energy and power is most available to you to use when you are powerfully connect with your prize and your reasons for "why" you are doing what you need to do out weight any hardship or discipline required to attain the prize.

Tip #3

Use your reset switch often

We live in a world where we are taught to fear failure and avoid the risk of appearing stupid, dumb, silly or all three. Yet failure is a major component of reaching any level of success. We must change our thinking about failure and think of failure as only feedback. We should risk looking like and idiot for our dreams. You are worth it don't you think? Who cares what others think?

We are not perfect and life has a built in process that expects that. It's called growth, learning, maturing, mastering, practicing or whatever term you think fits. The bottom line is that for any expertise to develop, for any accuracy or mastery we must for a time fail, learn, adjust learn and try again. We each attempt we get better and better. How do we honestly think we can bridge the gap to our success by avoiding failure?

Hmmmm. Well thank God that we have a reset switch. You can decide to try again and again as often as necessary to reach your success. We are able to try again without anything preventing us from making and new effort. We need to simple want to. We can reset our thinking, expectations and actions which ultimately change out outcomes.

Well that's it for today. Your individual value is priceless. There is nothing that can be paid in exchange to the value that you have within you. I encourage you to unleash your value on the world by pursuing your highest purpose. In doing so you will be transformed and you will in turn transform the world around you. We need you to unleash your powerful self and share your gifts and talents with us.

So go ahead...finish what you started. It's not how you started anyway, it how you finish. See it, believe it and receive it today.

© 2005 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

October 4, 2005 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Life can get overwhelming and we get off purpose on a path not necessarily intended. On the other hand there are moments where we simply back away from doing the things that will bring us the most joy and fulfillment overall in our lives.

Jim Rohn made this powerful quote that has changed my life in a big way. He said:

Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

Wow. Did you get that? What he is saying is that the discipline in the commitment we make to ourselves for personal success motivation and to living our dreams far outweighs the regret of looking back on a life lived less than what we originally imagined or intended for ourselves.

This brings me to today's entry about finishing what you started. I'll start with myself first and this blog. I started writing this blog almost a year ago but I haven't posted a fresh entry since early August and from May until that time my postings dropped off considerably.

Due to the winds of change that have been blowing in my life for most of the summer with my day job and other activities my time became very short. I still continue to get emails from readers that are encouraged and uplifted by these messages I write here.

I'm continuing what I started. Writing this blog is not hard for me. It is a way for me to release some of the essence of who I am and hopefully help someone else along the way. I want you to know that I'm here and this blog is not abandoned. If this blog were to go way I would state that plainly so for now my journey and yours -- ours...continues!

It's Not How You Start, It's How You Finish

What broken commitments, dreams and pursuits do you walk past everyday? Just because you started something and it somehow came to a stop doesn't mean that all hope of getting that thing going again is lost.

The beauty of waking up every morning is that we have and opportunity to pick up what we dropped and just start where we left off. No matter what it is. If you've dropped something and you no longer choose to continue along that path then that's great.

But that's also the no brainer side of this discussion. I'm talking about those stuck states where we've exerted effort in the past to make our dreams come alive, to execute new change in our lives or just to do something as simple as eat healthier. Those stuck states bother us because we find ourselves unable to continue along a path that we so much desire for success in.

Well just say this to yourself until it becomes tangible and palpable in your belief system: "It's not how you start, it's how you finish!"

Where you started and how you started doesn't matter one single lick! Who you are today isn't and indicator of who you will be tomorrow. Your vision of your life and the decisions you make about how you want your life to play out will determine who you will be tomorrow.

So you see, you can just decide to continue your path and get back in game at any moment you so choose! That's awesome power! That's the joy of rising each day. We can forget yesterdays losses by creating new successes today. Failing is just another type of feedback anyway. So all things work together for your good. You can benefit from each event in your life and by making to choice to finish that most important thing that you started you can go on to change your world and everything in it with power and great joy!

You may have gotten started and then stopped. Whether you stuttered, stalled and fell...if you are still alive then you can get it going again at any time.

Your Past Doesn't Determine Your Future, Your Decisions Do

Today is your day my friend! You don't have to look back on your life with regret. All too many people end their life's journey with a lot of would have-could have-should have.

See your life from end and play it back. What do you see? What do you want to see? How will it end for you? You decide then commit.

The discipline of preparation, the discipline of facing your fears, the discipline of change and the discipline of transformation among many other aspects of reach for success are truly light weight workouts compared to the sorry and regret of wanting to have done things with your life and sadly finding that you've run out of early time.

You are never bound to your past so long as you have a bright future. Here's something I want you to try for the next 30 days. I was talking about this with a success coach friend of mine.

I want you to wear a pair of sunshades where ever you go for the next 30 days and especially in doors and especially on cloudy and overcast days.

Why? Because your future is so bright that you have to wear shades to keep your own eyes from being blinded by the better days that are in front of you and upon you right now.

Others will ask why you are being silly and wearing sun shades indoors or when the sun isn't shining. You tell them about your bright future as response but I want you craft your own unique response to them. This will help you internal what the sun shade symbolize: You future is as bright as YOU THINK it is.

It isn't your past that matters. It's the future that you believe is ahead of you that will make all the difference.

In Part 2 of this discussion I want to share with some some tips that will help you to specifically get the ball rolling again. Thanks for reading!

© 2005 T. L. Pakii Pierce - Upgrade Your Mind
The Mindset Motivator
"Think Well & Finish Strong!"
Daily Success Motivation and Positive Thinking for Powerful Life Change

October 4, 2005 in Success Motivation | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack