Seree’s Lifestyle

The Secret Beyond "The Secret"

By now, just about everyone has seen the video “The Secret” or read the book by the same title or maybe they have done both.

Millions watched the Oprah Winfrey show about “The Secret” and listened to the principals talk about it and the Law of Attraction.

Many have visited the plethora of websites devoted to “The Secret” and the Law of Attraction. It has almost become a worldwide obsession.

I am sure that millions of people have tried to follow the instructions and get the Law of Attraction to fulfill their desires and dreams. And, I am also sure that the vast majority failed to see any difference in their life or current circumstances.

It is not because the Law of Attraction does not work. It does, very well in fact. It has to because it is a Universal Law. Just like the Law of Gravity, the Law of Matter and the Law of Energy, the Law of Attraction is governed by physics. You know, that science class we took but did not understand all that well, the one where we dropped weights down the stairwell and slid blocks of wood across the desk. It was the one where we got an idea about gravity, friction, motion and energy. Do you remember it now? Well, that was physics. It is the science that governs and explains action and reaction, repulsion and attraction.

The Law of Attraction is governed by that science and as one of the Universal Laws, it will work anywhere on earth if the proper actions, beliefs, powers and vibrations are utilized.

So, if that is the case, then why have most people failed when they tried it? It is simple really. “The Secret” or the Law of Attraction, has a secret of its own that even the promoters did not know about.

If you take a look at most of the people involved in “The Secret” you will discover that they are people like Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Dennis Waitley, Bob Proctor, Dr. Joe Vitale, Jack Canfield and other similar types. You will notice that they are all people with very strong personalities and passionate drive. To consider them as “ordinary” people is like considering a hurricane as just another gentle breeze.

That having been pointed out, do not despair. It does not mean that “The Secret” or the Law of Attraction will not work for ordinary people. It will. It will work for everyone, even the ones who have tried over and over and have not had it work for them yet.

All of the above-named people did not need to know the secret behind “The Secret” because of the kind of people they are, strong willed, passionate and filled with self confidence and drive.

The average person may wish for a million dollars, but subconsciously they know that they will never have it. As a result, their subconscious mind will not send out the proper vibrations to attract that million dollars to them. Wanting or wishing for something and believing in your whole being that you will get it are two different things.

So, for the average person, the secret behind “The Secret” is that you have to take baby steps. In other words, you have to start out small. Your subconscious mind will never believe that you will get a million dollars if you ask for it, so do not even try. Instead try asking for something simple, say a seat in a crowded subway car or on a crowded bus. Or how about asking to find a parking space on a crowded street or near the doors of a busy mall?

When you buy a lottery ticket, do not ask to win the top prize, ask for ten dollars or 20 dollars or even 50 dollars. Since these amounts are possible and believable, you can convince yourself and your subconscious mind that you deserve it and that it is yours. Give thanks for winning it as if it were already yours. Be passionate and convinced that it is and constantly give thanks for it.

When you see these simple results of the Law of Attraction start working for you, then you can try working on slightly bigger things. Do not go too fast and do not become discouraged. If you check the histories of the aforementioned people, you will find that they did not succeed the first time that they tried. Just think back on everything that you have accomplished in life, such as learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to dress yourself, to ride a bicycle, to read and to write. They all took time, practice, determination and a belief that you could do it before it actually happened. Getting the Law of Attraction to work for you is just the same.

In conclusion, you can get the Law of Attraction to work for you no matter what your current life is like as long as you start small, convince yourself that you already have it and constantly give thanks for having it. When you continue passionately working on it one small step at a time and constantly expressing gratitude for having it, then you will eventually see that the Law of Attraction works for you too.

Let The Laws of Attraction Works for You

How many times have you sat back and thought how wonderful it would be if you could just wish things true?

Humans have always been attracted to this kind of fantasy, embodied in the fairy tale of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. This desire, this need to have what seems unattainable is evident in the popularity of gambling and the state lotteries. People will spend their last dollars for the chance to change their entire lives in the course of fiver minutes. But the irony is vast. Without knowing it, humans have had the power to obtain their dreams within them all along. So have you. It’s called the Law of Attraction. It has been around since the universe began, and it is working in your life right now.

The simplest way of defining the Law of Attraction is this:
You get what you think about, your thoughts determine your destiny. Thoughts have an energy all their own, and they attract things which have a common energy. It is one of the Laws of the Divine Universe and it applies to everyone. It is as unbreakable as any law of science or mathematics. It does not even require your belief to work. Only to control it, to seize your destiny, must you believe in the Law’s power.

So the question is: how can you use the Law of Attraction to get what you desire? There are some guidelines to help you get started on the right path. Firstly, you must decide what it is that you desire. This is called developing clarity. If you find it difficult to determine what it is that you want, try thinking of it in the contrast. When you find what it is in life that you don’t want, it will be much easier to pinpoint what it is that you do want.

Your second step on this path is to use a technique called vibrational matching. This is nothing more or less than using quiet meditation to determine your feelings on your perceived desire. Use feeling and meditation to determine if your thoughts are predominately positive about this desire.

Finally, you must allow your desire to come to you. Your would be surprised at how often we prevent ourselves from getting what we want by focusing on the negative. Begin allowing things to come to you, and stop waging wars against the things you do not want. If you’re fighting something, that means you’re thinking about it. Therefore, without even realizing it, you could be attracting the very things you’re fighting against.

Before jumping headfirst into applying the Law in your life, make sure you read and research a little beyond this basic introduction. Studying others’ experiences can help you to avoid some of the common pitfalls newcomers are susceptible to. Beyond all, good luck, and remember: The Law is working in all places at all times. It’s up to your to use it for yourself, rather than allow it to use you.

Hypnosis - You Should Know It To Get Success

You’ve seen the stage acts where a hypnotist selects someone out of the audience and when he claps his hands, the unwilling participant struts around the stage clucking like a chicken. You’ve also seen movies where the hypnotist waves the pocket watch in front of the subject as he utters, “you’re getting sleepy … very sleepy.” Hypnosis is a little more than what Hollywood or Vegas make it out to be. Below is a brief overview.

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring altered state of consciousness in which the critical faculty is bypassed (mind in the conscious mode) and acceptable selective thinking established. Wow! That’s a lot of technical jargon! Simply put, this means that the reasoning, evaluating, judging part of your mind (conscious) is bypassed.

Hypnosis deals with the subconscious. Have you ever driven to work or home or anywhere, arrived at your destination but then had little to no recollection of the drive? Your reasoning, evaluating and judging parts of your mind were still intact and functioning (read: you safely arrived at your location) but your cognizant mind was bypassed. Hypnosis feels very much like that. It’s the same or similar feeling as when you day dream. People under hypnosis know exactly what they are doing.

What about control? Many people fear being hypnotized because they falsely believe they will have to give up control of their mind. Not true. Think about when you are so engrossed in a movie and you find yourself in tears. If you’ve ever watched Saving Private Ryan, the Titanic or the Passion of the Christ you know this scenario all too well. During these movies you were so involved that you actually felt emotion. You were literally in a hypnotic trance. Most importantly, though, you still had the power to emerge from that state if desired.

Your mind may be guided by a movie, self-hypnosis tape, or hypnotist, but you still have the power to resist. If you fully believe and acknowledge that you have the power to resist any control of emotions, then hypnosis is nothing to fear. Unfortunately, some people seem to give up partial control of their minds because they misunderstand who has the power. Unquestionably, someone can be fooled into believing that he has given up control in some forms of stage hypnosis or other experiments. That is likely what often happens in stage shows. But just because someone was tricked doesn’t mean it is right or that it will happen to you that way.

Think about it. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You are the one who allows your mind to be placed into deep states. You are the one who has the power to resist any unwanted suggestions. It’s really a misnomer when people say they were hypnotized. What they really mean is that they allowed their mind to be hypnotized or they allowed a hypnotist to give suggestions that they chose to follow.

Just remember that no one controls your mind unless you first grant permission!

Empowering Your Communication

The Blarney Stone is a historical stone, or actually part of the Blarney Castle in Ireland where it was believed that kissing the stone can grant you the gift of gab. Yeah, it seems strange in this day and age, but who are we to question tradition? It’s not like I’m saying that Santa Claus doesn’t exist (OOPS!).

There is so much to know about conversation that anyone, even I, could ever realize. You can go though watching talk shows; radio programs; clubs dedicated to public speaking; ordinary conversations; certain rules still apply when it comes to interaction through words. It may sound tedious, I know, but even though it’s your mouth that’s doing the work, your brain works twice as hard to churn out a lot of things you know. So what better way to start learning to be an effective communication is to know the very person closest to you: yourself.

1. What you know.
Education is all about learning the basics, but to be an effective speaker is to practice what you’ve learned. My stint as guest at every Toastmasters’ meeting I go to taught me that we all have our limitations, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to keep up and share what we know.

2. Listening.
It’s just as important as asking questions. Sometimes listening to the sound of our own voice can teach us to be a little bit confident with ourselves and to say the things we believe in with conviction.

3. Humility
We all make mistakes, and sometimes we tend to slur our words, stutter, and probably mispronounce certain words even though we know what it means, but rarely use it only to impress listeners. So in a group, don’t be afraid to ask if you’re saying the right word properly and if they’re unsure about it then make a joke out of it. I promise you it’ll make everyone laugh and you can get away with it as well.

4. Eye Contact
There’s a lot to say when it comes to directing your attention to your audience with an eye-catching gaze. It’s important that you keep your focus when talking to a large group in a meeting or a gathering, even though he or she may be gorgeous.

5. Kidding around
A little bit of humor can do wonders to lift the tension, or worse boredom when making your speech. That way, you’ll get the attention of the majority of the crowd and they’ll feel that you’re just as approachable, and as human to those who listen.

6. Be like the rest of them
Interaction is all about mingling with other people. You’ll get a lot of ideas, as well as knowing what people make them as they are.

7. Me, Myself, and I
Admit it, there are times you sing to yourself in the shower. I know I do! Listening to the sound of your own voice while you practice your speech in front of a mirror can help correct the stress areas of your pitch. And while you’re at it you can spruce up as well.

8. With a smile
A smile says it all much like eye contact. There’s no point on grimacing or frowning in a meeting or a gathering, unless it’s a wake. You can better express what you’re saying when you smile.

9. A Role Model
There must be at least one or two people in your life you have listened to when they’re at a public gathering or maybe at church. Sure they read their lines, but taking a mental note of how they emphasize what they say can help you once you take center stage.

10. Preparation
Make the best out of preparation rather than just scribbling notes and often in a hurried panic. Some people like to write things down on index cards, while other resort to being a little more silly as they look at their notes written on the palm of their hand (not for clammy hands, please). Just be comfortable with what you know since you enjoy your work.

And that about wraps it up. These suggestions are rather amateurish in edgewise, but I’ve learned to empower myself when it comes to public or private speaking and it never hurts to be with people to listen how they make conversations and meetings far more enjoyable as well as educational.

Conquer Your "Shyness" Now!

Many people suffer from some sort of shyness. They may fear that their actions will be scrutinized by others, and as a result, they have difficulty facing certain people or specific situations.

However, shyness is a condition that can fairly easily be overcome. In this article, we will look at a few techniques that can help you get rid of your shyness:

1. Try self-affirmation. Every day, as soon as you get out of bed, stand in front of a mirror and say, "I feel great! I feel fantastic!" This technique may seem a little silly at first, but it really helps: after a while, your mind starts to believe what it has repeatedly heard.

2. Make sure that you always look your best. There are no fancy tricks involved here, you just have to follow a few common-sense principles. For example, regularly take a shower, get a haircut, and put on a nice, high-quality suit. Also, make sure that your shoes are always polished! Knowing that you look good will help you build your self-esteem.

3. Acknowledge your shyness. There is nothing wrong with telling other people that you are a little shy –in fact, this can be a wonderful way to break the ice! If people know that you are shy, they will take that fact into account when they interact with you. They will appreciate your honesty, and when they are talking to you, they will understand that you’re not impolite or uninterested when, in fact, you’re only being shy…

4. Constantly try to improve yourself. Take up a new hobby and acquire new skills, and you may discover that your "worth" has increased –both in your own eyes and in the eyes of others. For example, you could learn a new language to improve your mind, or you could start working out to improve your body. Whatever initiative you take, people will admire you, not only for the results you will achieve, but also for the simple fact that you had the courage to set a step in the right direction!

5. Learn how to deal with rejection. No matter how hard you try, there will always be a few people that won’t like or accept you. As the song says, "You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself." Once you have accepted this fact, you will discover that it does not have to be the end of the world if a person doesn’t like you.

To a very large extent, shyness is "all in the mind" –once you start to behave with confidence, you are, in effect, no longer shy!

Do Not Let Anyone Steal Your Dream!

Do you have any dream killers in your life? Dream killers are those people who discourage you when you are trying to change your life. It’s amazing how many people tell their friends and family that they cannot succeed. This is especially true when you are trying to do something "outside of the box" like making money online or starting your own business.

The main argument these dream killers have is that your goals are unrealistic. They will advise you to be more "practical", and pretend they are offering you sound advice.

Many of them believe they are doing a favor by discouraging you. They think they are helping you live a life in "your best interest". But really, they are encouraging you to a live a life without vision.

If you are really motivated toward success, doing anything less than your ambitious goals will be unfulfilling for you. You end up wondering what could have been. You continue to live your life for other people, instead of yourself.

Your friends and family who discourage you from trying something new are only giving you insight into what they would do in your position. They do not have the vision and the drive that you do. They are only reacting out of their own fear.

Other people take the path of least resistance, but that does not mean that you have to. Your goals are important to you for a reason. You will only be happy when you achieve them. Giving up on your goals because other people think they are unrealistic is no way to live your life.

How to you overcome the dream killers in your life?

You may want to start with choosing who you spend your time with. If you want to be self-motivated, you’ve got to spend time with other people who are self-motivated. The same goes for the other aspects of success.

If the dream killers in your life are close relatives, and long time friends, try keeping your business goals to yourself for a while until you get going. By the time you’ve had a little success, they will probably be a lot more supportive.

Finally, the best way to overcome the dream killers in your life is to be confident in yourself and your goals. If you are truly confident in yourself and your ideas, then no one can stop you.

Keep your goals and dreams in front of you all the time. They will be your motivation, when some of your "well-meaning friend" try to discourage you.

Don’t let anyone steal YOUR DREAM!

The First Step!

We all know it and we’ve all had experiences where we realized the truth of it. The first step is often the hardest one to take. Not necessarily because it is so complicated. Although in some situations it can be hard because so many things are unclear at the start. The main reason that getting started with something can be so ‘difficult’ is because to take that first step requires making a decision and then take it one step further by taking action on that decision.

This goes for babies as well as for adults. A child that starts to walk isn’t sure if it can. After all walking is quite a balancing act. Especially if you’ve never done it before. The child already has the ability to walk. They have the necessary leg muscles and they also have a certain amount of balance since they can already stand. What they lack is confidence. It is mainly this lack of confidence that will keep them from taking that first step. Once the child discovers that it can move around quite easily, as long as they don’t try to cross too much distance at once, they become pretty comfortable. Before you know it you wish they were back to their crawling days; there is no more stopping them.

You would think that we grow over this "lack of confidence" thing as we get older. After all, as we grow we develop the ability to reason. And that should give us the ability to make better assessments about what we can and can not do. Apparently this is a bit over optimistic. Our ability to make good assessments is probably slightly overrated. Most decisions, if not all of them, are still made on an emotional basis, not a rational one.

Of course the first step is often used as a metaphor. But taking this literal can help in driving this point home. Tony Robbins, in his Unleash the Power Within seminars, organizes firewalks for thousands of attendees at a time. In firewalking the first step is most definitely the hardest. After the fist step all you do is just keep on walking. You don’t think about every step that you take. You just put one foot in front of the other and focus on the person standing at the other end of the burning hot coals. It’s that very first step that takes all the courage. The other steps are merely an extension. It doesn’t take much courage to keep on going once you’ve started walking. Stopping is pretty much the last thing on your mind.

It’s like this with many other challenges in life as well. Many times we fuss about decisions; things we might want to do, know we should do but somehow just put off again and again. We dread what might happen if things don’t turn out perfect. We worry about everything that can go wrong and we develop into masters at coming up with unlimited numbers of excuses. Of course we would rather call these "sound reasons for not moving forward". After all "excuse" is such an ugly word.

Even if you’ve done something similar before and you were successful at it, you can still get scared another time around. After all, circumstances could be different this time. Perhaps your performance isn’t what it used to be. You could have gotten rusty in some areas. Maybe you were just lucky the other time. This phenomenon can even occur in firewalking. For example; imagine you’re at a firewalk at a Tony Robbins event in London in February. Around that time of year it will be pretty cold outside. Due to the amount of participants, about 12.000 at such an event, it takes quite a while before you actually get to the burning bed of coals. They have set up the site in such a way that all the people can walk the fire within a 60 to 90 minute timeframe. Before you get to the fire your feet will be so numbed by the cold that you could hardly care less about some glowing coals under your feet. For a short while you may even consider slowing down your pace so you can warm your feet a little. Now take the same firewalk experience in June, when temperatures are a lot more pleasant. This time when you stand in front of the bed of coals your feet won’t be numb at all, and you know it. The thought of storming across does seem a bit more challenging when you realize this.

Some doubt is fairly logical when you’re trying new things. Even when you have proof that you’ve done something very similar before and succeeded, fear and doubt can creep back in and stop you dead in your tracks. But if you’ve done your homework. If you’ve properly prepared and you know the reasons why it will work, don’t spend too much time worrying. It won’t do you any good. Just focus on what you need to do and remember that after that first step it all gets easier.

A-Z of Personal Development Tips

Here are some personal development tips to help anyone achieve their goals in life.

ACCOUNTABILITY
Be responsible and accountable. There is nothing to gain from pointing the finger or blaming others.

BUILDING POSITIVE HABITS
Lay a foundation brick by brick, in no time you will have a great wall to protect from the negativity and negative habits that are so prevalent in the world today.

CONSCIOUSNESS
Become aware of everything. Be aware when negative thoughts cross your mind. Be aware of the people you associate with. Be aware of how you think and live your life everyday.

DRIVE
Don’t give up. Be relentless, if something falls short of expectations, take a step back, reassess, make the necessary corrections and try again, then again, and again if needed. It has been said that Thomas Edison made 1000 attempts before inventing the light bulb. Make no mistakes persistence will pay off.

EFFICIENCY
Becoming efficient and organized is the foundation of personal development. Strive to accomplish more in less time.

FINISH
Completion of tasks or projects is crucial to personal development and success. Once something gets started, make sure it gets finished.

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
Setting and achieving goals provides the empowerment to achieve anything in life. The world’s greatest leaders are master goal setters. Knowing where they want to go with a plan in place is the reason for their successes.

HAPPINESS
Life is full of bumps in the roads. Rather than dwelling on the negatives, take these little bumps and be happy that life has given a new challenge. Find a positive solution. Remember the song "Don’t worry, Be happy".

INDIVIDUALISM
Be the unique individual you are. There is no law that states in order to become a better or more successful individual requires you to change who you truly are.

JOY
Find the joy in everything. Life is too short to dwell on negatives.

KNOWLEDGE
Learn something new everyday. Talk to others, read books, research on the internet, find a mentor, or listen to motivational tapes or cds. The Tony Robbins, Brian Tracys and Zig Ziglars of the world became the leaders they are through their knowledge.

LEADERSHIP
Lead by example, be the model for others to emulate. Be knowledgeable, fair, consistent and approachable. Become a coach or mentor to someone. Strive for excellence.

MOTIVATION
Get excited about improving life. Be a visionary and achiever.

NEGATIVITY
Plain and simple, get rid of it, flush it down the toilet. Negativity is like poison and it is more contagious than catching a cold.If you associate with negative people it is imperative to get rid of them also.

OPEN MINDED
Keeping an open mind is crucial to success. Limiting thoughts and actions will hinder growth and more than likely bring everything to a grinding halt. Keep the eyes and ears open, the opportunity to grow is more often than not right in front of you.

PROGRESS
Move forward, eliminate procrastination and get things done.

QUOTES
A great motivator is to read quotes from well known writers, leaders in business and motivational speakers.

RATIONALIZATION
Use common sense, take the time to think things out before making decisions or taking action.

SIMPLE
Follow the KISS principle. Keep It Super Simple. If there is no need to complicate something, don’t.

TAKE CONTROL
Take responsibility for your life. Set goals, make plans,stay focused, and take action.

UNSTOPPABLE
Those who achieve their goals and dreams in life possess an unstoppable attitude. Their attitude can be compared to a F-5 tornado. These people believe that there is nothing that can get in the way of their success, if something tries, they will blow right through it.

VISION
Dream, envision, prioritize what is most important, and set out to accomplish it. At the end of your life don’t let yourself regret not doing the things you truly wanted to do. Envision it, Live it.

WRITE IT DOWN
Put your goals down on paper, post reminders around your home and workplace to keep you focused on them. Keep a journal of your life, document your accomplishments as well as your failures, it’s a great way to track your life.

XPERT
Become an expert at what you love, learn everything about it. Knowledge and passion leads to wealth.

YEARN
Without a need there is nothing to yearn for. Whether there is a need to spend more time with the family, make more money or get that promotion at work. Yearn for it, want it, crave it, then get a plan in motion to get it.

ZOOM
Get into the race car of life, buckle up, shift it into overdrive, put the pedal to the metal and zoom your way to the top.

See you there.

The Key to Success on Business is Imagination!

The average person thinks of a business person as either some kind of poker-faced accountant or some cherubic extroverted sales person.

You rarely read an article in the popular medium about an imaginative business person or often hear of one who is highly creative, artistic, and imaginative.

The popular concept of a business person espoused by the media is someone who is rather dull and linear in their thinking. They are referred to more often as “hard-nosed” and “practical.” In fact, many business people themselves buy into this erroneous stereotype.

Yet imagination is the heart of business success. While corporations themselves may appear to be based on buttoned-down rules and regulations, the entrepreneurs who started them have all, without exception, been highly creative and imaginative. Those corporations that remain innovative and progressive still retain some themes of imaginative expression.

Napoleon Hill, in his perennially popular book, Think And Grow Rich, goes into great detail about the seminal role of imagination in business success.

He talks about two types of imaginative faculties: “synthetic” imagination and “creative” imagination.

Through synthetic imagination, a person arranges old concepts, ideas, plans, and business models into new combinations. Now while nothing new is created, the new pattern yields surprising results.

For example, the self-help grocery store where customers do all the work of shopping is now very familiar to us, and we can’t even remember when things were different.

However, the original business model was to have people come up to the counter of a shop and present their list to the sales clerk who would then run around the store and fetch it for them.

Now, with the use of aisles, clear directional signing, and shopping carts, the job of a store is to keep it stocked and check people out.

In fact, even this idea of checking people out is becoming obsolete, with many stores now offering people the option to check themselves out. Thus, the customer does all the work. Pulling out and wheeling the shopping cart, selecting products, and checking themselves out, and carrying their own bags to their cars.

The result of this arrangement is that everyone is happier. The customer gets to be in control of their shopping experience and the retailer can handle many more customers.

The creative imagination borders on the mystical.

Here is how Napoleon Hill describes it:

“Through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man had direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It is the faculty through which ‘hunches’ and ‘inspirations’ are received. It is by this faculty that all basic, or new ideas are handed over to man. It is through this faculty that individuals may “tune in,” or communicate with the subconscious mind of other men.”

An example of creative imagination is the invention of the original recipe of Coca Cola, which went on to spawn the entire soft drink industry.

Business, then, is far from being a game of conservative rule-playing. It is humming with imaginative ideas on how to serve the marketplace. This aspect of business is seldom mentioned in the media and we are often mislead to believe that creative and synthetic imagination is only the domain of the artist.

The business person, especially the entrepreneur, who starts to exercise more imagination, will notice many more ways to make money, creating new channels of supply and demand for the marketplace.

Take Action to Achieve Results!

Success in any entrepreneurial endeavor is contingent on a simple truth: Learning does not always require thinking.

Actually, thinking often hinders learning. Hinders learning? That flies in the face of most of what we know, doesn’t it? As children we were often reproached when we made mistakes: “You just weren’t thinking! Don’t you ever think about what you’re doing?”

Then there’s the most successful personal development book of all time telling us to do what? …That’s right, “Think and Grow Rich”. True it is a fantastic book and a must read for success minded people. But many of us get so tangled in thoughts that we can’t get out of our “heads” and take the action required for success.

Socrates, one of the greatest “thinkers” of all time, said, “Action equals knowledge.” Action, not thinking, is how we achieve results. Take playing the piano for instance. We could think about playing the piano but we will never become better until we start pecking away at the keys. If you were to ask an accomplished pianist to think about what they are playing in the middle of a rapturous concert, the music would probably fall apart into a series of painfully disconnected notes.

Same is true with typing. Ask a person who flawlessly types over 70 words a minute to think about the key strokes, and you could probably watch the mistakes pile up. Thinking hinders execution. Thinking can hinder success. The fact of the matter is we can intellectualize all we want, but until we take action we will never accomplish anything.

There is a mantra in the martial arts that says “Ready, Fire, Aim”. Simply put, this means take action and correct that action as you go. It is quite probable that many businesses never get out of the starting gate because of over-thinking and over analyzing. Most people want all their ducks to be lined up in a row before they begin. This will never happen. The time will never be perfect. The key is to get started and then “keep on keeping on.”

In the martial arts, students practice moves over and over and over again. They train their bodies to transcend thought and take action in the moment. Imagine a trained martial artist getting attacked on the street thinking, “Hmm, okay I’m being attacked. Should I turn my body this way or should it be the other way? Okay, now I have to trap the assailments arms, tighten my fists, pull back, and strike.”

Of course this is not what happens in the martial arts. The key teaching in the martial arts is to ACT. NOW! …In spite of the mind’s tenancy to analyze the situation.

The worst kind of thinking is fear of failure. The “What if” disease. “What if I fail? What if people laugh at me? What if I lose all my money? What if, what if, what if?

Fear is paralyzing. It stops the movement necessary for success. Fear weakens our resolve, cripples our creativity, and ultimately stagnates our successes. Conversely, movement overcomes fear. When struck by fear, move. Do something!

So, don’t wait to explore your entrepreneurial spirit; take action now. When those pesky thoughts creep up, and they will, scare them away with the mantra, “Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think, don’t think…” and watch your dreams and goals cascade toward you.

What is the bottom line? “Don’t think and grow rich.”