For many years I have used the beginning of the New Year to set goals and help others do the same. This year, though, something is different for me… I did not set a goal.

This is vital information if you want to make BIG breakthroughs this year.  Every time we set a goal we unconsciously slip into the “how do I reach the goal?” mindset.  “How” is the key word in the question, because the how, at times, can be a difficult question to answer.

STEP 1:

Now think of something you would like to achieve, whether it relates to money, health, relationships or anything else in your life.  Pick just one thing.  Got it?

STEP 2:

Now if you could have the situation exactly as you would like it, what would that look like?  Got it?

Okay, so what comes next?

Well, for most of us, if you really want to achieve that “thing” (your answer above) you begin to think of ways to accomplish the goal.  The reason why most people fail to achieve really big goals is that the path to the goal is not in their head.  It's in the universe.  When you try to think of a way to achieve it you are literally forcing.  Forcing it never works.  It only causes frustration.  Still, there are plenty of people out there telling you to set new and big goals for the New Year.

Many years ago I changed my approach to life and business and, ever since, I always set goals.  Many of my goals were big.  VERY big.  Some of them I reached.  Some of them I didn't reach, or didn't reach them in the timeframe I had intended.  Usually though, I reached them all but changing the timeframe was sometimes necessary.  The problem this creates for many people is it causes pressure for them to reach the goal.  They then end up trying to figure it all out on their own.  For this reason, the plan they come up with will usually be within the belief framework of their own consciousness.  For most, this means more work and more effort because they have been taught if they are to achieve anything they have to work for it.  And usually work pretty darn hard for that matter.

I had my first real breakthrough with this when I realized that it was easier to earn $50,000 a month than it was to earn $50,000 a year.  Once I realized this, my life transformed overnight.  So breaking through the struggle of money is one of the first things a person should learn to do.  However, there are so many other areas where struggle is a problem for so many people.

Here is a piece of advice I would like to share with you that will help you achieve whatever you want in less time with less effort:

First, ask yourself…

“Who would I like to be this year?”

You see, doing and having are the result of who you are being.  Being is the first piece. Once you decide on who you want to be this year the exact way for you to be that will begin to show up.  If you are willing to act on those things you will zoom into the things you want.  After all, the universe knows how to get you a result much, much faster than you could possibly think of on your own.  All you have to do is go with the plan that comes your way as long as it will give you what you want to be.

You can accomplish much more than you ever thought possible in a much shorter timeframe.  But you have to be open to these suggestions first. Do you know who you want to be?

Of the 17 Laws of Success that Napoleon Hill wrote about, the number one law most people overlook is “Accurate Thinking.”  The major reason for this becomes apparent when you begin to study human behavior.  “Accurate Thinking”  can only be accomplished if one is to learn to think accurately.  Not only are most individuals never taught how to do this, their egos actually resist having to make this personal change.  The average adult has a very difficult time accepting the idea that they don't think accurately.  Interestingly enough, the more education and success they have managed for themselves the more ego that is usually built up and the more they resist these ideas.

I have witnessed many people who have paid for an expensive education (attaining various levels of success) meet terrible trouble once they are on their own in an entrepreneurial venture.  The reasons for this are often explained by the entrepreneur pointing out what “circumstance” brought down his/her business.

With the EGO in control they hold tightly to their story and continue their downward spiral until they either change or become so frustrated and overwhelmed they quit.  What's fascinating is another person can experience the same OR WORSE set of circumstances and not only does is not bring down their business, but it's used as a launching pad for even greater success.

When you break from the bondage of an employer and decide to follow your own path, you must understand that your success depends on a completely different set of rules than you played by before.  The new path that you are on is filled with new decisions and the way you make these new decisions must come from this new form of “Accurate Thinking.”  Prior to this, your decision making process was almost entirely based on weighing facts and circumstances ONLY and then making seemingly logical decisions based on prior knowledge.  This knowledge came from the rules you had previously been told as truths for your life.

One of the most troublesome decisions a person must make is when money is involved.  Usually it is the lack of money that is the problem.  It looks something like this:

The lack (or limit) of money a person has in their possession is a hard fact to them.  Yet they are attempting to follow their dream and whenever a person does this they are met with various opportunities that are essential to the fulfillment of the dream.  What is not understood is each opportunity requires the person to step into an uncomfortable place and overcome whatever challenge keeps pressing their situation.  In all cases, you are presented with the same challenge, though it may appear to come in different forms. If you look closely you will see the core of the problem is the same.

When the problem is money and it controls your decisions, you are not following the spirit within you, rather you are following a limited situation BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO OVERCOME THE SITUATION.  This requires a new kind of thinking –  “Accurate Thinking.”  To acquire “Accurate Thinking,” you must learn not only the concepts behind it, but you must experience it and integrate it into who you are as a person.  Now ask yourself this very important question.  When opportunity to advance  comes your way what is the underlying cause of your decision to either do it or not do it?  The universe will give you whatever you ask for but if you ask from a place of lack you will never get what you want or need.  The success you want is real, the wealth you desire is really here for you and everything you need to help bridge the gap between where you are right now and where you want to go is being presented to you everyday.  If you are thinking accurately you will see it.

What if someone told you your million or multi-million dollar opportunity was closely linked to your fear?  What would you think?

Think about that right now…even write it down and look at it several times a day.  Thinking – I mean real thinking – is a lot of focused work, but there are great rewards for doing it.

FEAR = a programmed concept you either created or acquired from another person.
DESIRE = a longing from within to change your results.

Often, people DESIRE to have more money, but they FEAR the things in their current circumstances.  Fear creates a focus in a specific direction, and all of your attention is on the object of your fear.  Did you get that?

Simple Truth…

This creates a very limited reality, and the reality you believe in becomes your truth.

People won't act on things they don't believe to be true, and when fear is involved, IT BECOMES A TRUTH.  Think about how real something is when you are afraid.  The big problem is when you are afraid you have a difficult time seeing other opportunities. If you have the desire to increase your wealth the opportunity must be there. That is an absolute law of the universe.  So give this some thought, look around and begin to see what you have not seen up till now.

Recently, I saw Larry King interview Donald Trump.  On the show, Donald shared how he makes it a point to speak at the Learning Annex whenever he can.  In speaking with the promoter of the Annex event, he said he realized all of the people in attendance were really pumped up about becoming successful in their lives and that he (Trump) didn't believe that many of them could be successful.  Larry King asked him if people were capable of learning how to be successful and Donald's reply was a little shocking.  He said that while you can teach some people how to get better at whatever they are working to achieve, most success was genetic. In other words, if you weren't born with successful genes then you would never really achieve success.

Now I have great respect for Trump, but he is missing an immense piece of our
human potential.  All people are born with the ability to win – they actually have
to learn how to lose!  Failure is a learned behavior and can change in ANYONE
who wants to change it.

Even the lack of wealth in a person's life is a learned behavior, and so
much of it is backed with negative beliefs.  People keep seeing their world the same way, seeing their business the same way and seeing their income the same way.  Maybe Trump was never around someone who worked hard at changing those beliefs and later achieved massive success.  Or maybe he has and he believes it's still in their “success genes.”

I do know this though – I have worked with people from all over the
world and with some guidance, coaching, and willingness to look deep into what
is controlling their thoughts and behavior they can change their income and
their success.

So here's your Income Acceleration Tip:

Don't let an ignorant belief or another person control what you do or what you earn.  Come to the realization that if you have the desire, you have the ability – you just need to bring it to the surface and do something with it.

The first step in earning large incomes is to simply believe that it's possible for you.  Once you start to entertain that idea it will lead to the next one and the next one.  Believe it or not – it is the ONLY road to success there is, and while people may have been born at different
places on that road we are all still on it.  Yes even you!

Many people come knocking at its door but few ever enter.  The land of success does exist but it's a funny thing trying to enter it.  I tried for many years, but nothing happened.

It's as if the pull or the draw to the door of success is very seductive.  It lures you, coaxes and tempts you towards it.  It says, “Come and enter this new land that is waiting for YOU!  Just turn the knob and step in.”  It would be so easy, but as we get close to the door, uncertainty of what is really on the other side creeps in like a lurking shadow from a dark alley around your mind.  It takes on an imaginary perception.

There are rules for success (otherwise known as laws), and many who have entered this Secret Land have told others about the laws.  Without fail, many who desire to enter and hear the laws are not willing to follow them.  They often want to change those laws to fit their own uncertainties and twisted ideals of what success should require.

FACT: Success does not care what you think of its laws, & it is not going to change them any time soon.

You must be willing to embrace the laws or remain on the outside of this Secret Land called SUCCESS.

One of the first Truths of Success is that you must let go of the THINGS that you cling to the most.  We must release the things we find security in, such as money, time, poor relationships and false jobs.  Each person has a vast amount of success inside, something they could be sharing with the world that would give them great satisfaction.  Something that would enrich the lives of other human beings.  Each person includes YOU!

If you understand at all you have to admit that something is pulling at your heart.  There is something inside you that wants to come out – if only you would just let go!

Of course there are the many trappings of adult life that you have created that seem like real boundaries to your success.  These include the responsibilities you have created for yourself out of your own ignorance, however they are nothing but illusions that begin to disappear once you make a committed decision to move forward on your dream.

Actually the Land of Success and most of what it requires to enter it was with you at birth.

Real Secret: Most of what you have been taught about the world is nothing but lies and fables designed to control you (which up until now has worked pretty well).

There is a reason you are reading this…

There's a very good reason it has come into your life at this time.  The question remains, “Do you grasp the reason why?   What have you put on hold?  What haven't you explored?  What is deep in your heart?  Who do you really love?   Do you acknowledge these things in your life?”  You should because this thing called life is not a practice run.  You are in the real game.  You step forward and really play.  The door is in front of you – come on in, we're waiting!

Relative to the grand scheme of things, your life span could be compared to lighting a candle and immediately blowing it out.  In other words, life is short – very short.  Missing out out on any of the joys life offers is a tragedy.

If your life is being controlled by your fears, you are most certainly cheating yourself.

Courage is the mental muscle that conquers fear.  Like all muscles, the more you use them, the stronger they become.  Courage is not something you are born with; it must be developed.  Individuals who fail to develop courage remain confined in a mental prison and face each day as mental lightweights.

It has been said if you face the things you fear, then the fear leaves you.

For years I believed that courageous individuals had no fear.  I was wrong.  Eddie Richenbacher put it very well when he said, “There is no courage without fear.”  We all have fear, however, not everyone becomes subservient to their fears.

It's likely that there is something you have wanted to do for years – move to another city, start your own business, apply for better positions, or go after the big account.  Whatever it is you should do it.  Remember, life is not a practice run.  This is it.  A little courage leads to more.

Observe those poor souls who are without courage.  They are merely tiptoeing through life hoping they make it safely to death.

You and I were never meant to live that way.  Learn to live the way you like by no longer living as you dislike.  Forge into the remainder of your day with an abundance of courage.  That's living!

Since I was a child, I have heard that when an ostrich is afraid, he buries his head in the sand to hide from the danger threatening him.  I have asked several people who know something about ostriches, and I am convinced that ostriches do not do this.  Someone has maligned the poor bird by assigning him a trait of certain human beings – but not ostriches.  When an ostrich is frightened, he either fights or runs.

However, think how the characteristic of trying to hide from our fears manifests itself in some people.  In the movies, when person is terribly frightened, they usually scream and cover their eyes with their hand so they can't see the horror or danger by which they are threatened.  When a person is operated on, he closes his eyes so he cannot see himself get hurt.  When we see a terrible accident, we turn our faces away so we can't see it.  We close our eyes to most unpleasant sights.  When we smell something unpleasant, we hold our noses. When we hear something unpleasant, we put our fingers in our ears. When we think something unpleasant, we take a does of sleeping pills or tranquilizers.

This trait of hiding from disagreeable facts is especially manifest when someone is trying to make suggestions to help us.  It is paradox that the recipients of advice should feel no annoyance when they ought to feel it and yet feel so much when they ought not to.  They are usually not vexed at all for having committed the fault, but very angry at being reproved for it.  On the contrary, they ought to feel grieved at the crime and glad for the correction.

One of the things that often holds us back in our success is the deliberate attempt we make to hide from the facts when the facts are unpleasant. Advice is seldom valued, though there is a great deal of advising and very little listening.  Usually we do not want advice – we want flattery.  And yet one cannot easily be our flatterer and our friend at the same time.  Some people actually owe more to bitter enemies than to pleasant friends.  The former sometimes speak the truth; the latter seldom do.  An enemy is often a friend in disguise who stings us into action.  He tells us the truth about ourselves.  Cato asserted that wise men profit more from fools than fools do from wise men, for some wise men try to avoid the faults of fools, but fools seldom try to imitate the good examples of wise men.

No criminal ever calls himself a criminal.  Jesse James thought himself a benefactor to society.  Napoleon said, “I believe I will be without parallel in history, that a plain man shall have attained to such amazing power without committing a single crime.”  All this, of course, is self-deception. It is a crime to deceive other people, and it is a calamity to deceive ourselves, especially when we pass the point of no return.

If you REALLY wish to improve yourself, you need someone on the sidelines to coach you and to observe your mistakes and warn you against repetition. Without someone to tell you the truth about your annoying mannerisms and bad habits and inexcusable mistakes, you may fall into the pit of self-delusion where disaster lurks.

Criticism is the hardest medicine to take, but it keeps us awake, while the kindness of a courteous friend is an opiate that puts us to sleep. Everyone ought to have a person who can cut into the tissues of his attitudes and habits occasionally, not to kill him but to bring him back to life.  It's easy to see faults from the sidelines, but everyone has a blind spot where he himself is concerned.  If we are so fortunate as to have someone who will occasionally give us the facts about our problems, we shouldn't get angry at them.  We should listen and keep our heads out of the sand and our eyes and ears open.

We should never deceive our friends, but even more important, we should not deceive ourselves.

For many years, I have been in the industry of helping people start their own businesses & coaching them on how to turn their ventures into cash-rich, income producing entities.  I have seen many people come to the table with great ideas and wonderful enthusiasm only to watch them meet their businesses with frustration, and in some cases, failure in the pursuit of their dreams.

The reasons for this usually come pouring out at the onset of a conversation, but many are left really perplexed as to why they are having such trouble when I ask,

“What do you think is the cause of the problem?”

I don't care how you slice it – when it comes right down to it (where the rubber meets the road), you will find that either sales have stopped or never even got off the ground.  EVERY BUSINESS (even charities and non-profits) must have sales to sustain business.

Hard Fact:

Many who enter business really want nothing to do with sales at all.

They loathe the idea and avoid having anything to do with it.  What is really unfortunate is that no matter what the dream is, somebody has to sell it or you will never receive the benefit of your dream.

I guess some people have the belief that if what they have to offer is good enough, people will line up at their door to purchase it.  They just don't understand it takes great marketing & sales skills to get them in the line to begin with.

Once you realize how essential it is to develop a sales consciousness in business and begin devoting the proper amount of time to your own sales development, it will drastically change the direction of your business.

Look at it this way…

If you have a wonderful product or service but little or no skill, you are left with the realization that you are going broke – even though your product is so wonderful everyone should have it! The point is, because you don't know how to sell it, nobody will buy it.

I would rather teach a person how to sell first and then let them come up with a business of their own.  Then no matter what they are faced with they can always sell.  They have the skill.  If you have the skill it doesn't matter what business you are in – you can do well.  But without great sales skills, no matter what business you are in, you won't do well.  Is this starting to make sense?  Good.

Whether you learn from such legendary marketing and business experts such as Dan Kennedy or the more modern solo-preneurs, all of them agree with the idea that your business, income and wealth all begin with a certain mindset.  Over the years I have never heard a better explanation than the one Raymond Holliwell gave in his book, Working with the Law.

Holliwell pointed out:

“If you are not succeeding, if you lack any good thing, look more closely to the cause.  It is not outside; it is somewhere within.”

Notice where you fail to use the Law correctly to think rightly.  There are 3 points in everyday life where one may fall into a snare & delusion:

Do you expect something for nothing?

Does it make you feel good or please you when you get something without paying for it?  If so, you are violating the Law.  Your returns will always be unsatisfactory.  No matter where you go be willing to pay your own way.

Have you known some person who hangs back when you go out for an evening's entertainment? They stand back and let the other fellow pay for the show.  People like that lose hundreds of dollars when they try to save themselves a few bucks.  The quality of thought they entertain REPELS many dollars they could attract. If you knowingly cheat another one of a dollar, it may cost you many dollars for the mistake.

Do you hunt for things that are called cheap?

Are  you are bargain hunter?  Cheap thoughts can only bring cheap returns.  Those who wait for bargain days will always have to take bargains, but remember – there are no bargains in life. If you have gained monetarily, you may have lost in other ways.

You place yourself in a vibration that lowers your present state.  It forces you below your proper level. It limits your thought to a state where you support underselling, cutting, bankruptcy and dishonesty on the part of the seller. He must deceive, cheat or lie about the price of the bargain (or some other article), because he is in business to make a fair profit. You become a party to the violation and come under its penalty.

Do you begrudge spending money?

Do you hate to pay your bills?  Release your money cheerfully, even if it be that last dollar you have.  Decide what your need is & if it is of greater value than the dollar in your hand, then spend the dollar cheerfully.  In this way, you comply with a law.

Oftentimes, we get to a low level and we begin to tighten our purse strings.

We begin to hold back.  This is like closing the faucet! It limits the supply from pouring in to you. The Law inevitably produces its own exactness as a rule of action. It's a Divine Law and tolerates no violation.

I recently found myself in a conversation with an individual who asked me why I don't cut my own grass.  He said,

“David, it must cost you a fortune to have your lawn cut. I would never waste money paying someone else to do something I can do myself.”

I asked him if he was on a fixed income, and he replied that he was.  I then asked him,

“How much do you think you could earn if you took all the time you spent on house chores and invested the time in learning how to better yourself and build a business that would earn you money each and every month – whether you worked or not?”

He was silent for a while and then said, “I don't know.  Is it REALLY possible?”  I looked at him and said, “Not only it is possible, but I can show you how to do it.”

The first words out of his mouth after that were, “What is it going to cost me?”

I replied, “A fortune!”  He told me that he suspected it to be pricey, but then I explained how he was filling his entire life with busy work that was costing him the ability to earn his fortune.

Hire others so you can have greater focus on creating the life you want.  Here are some suggestions of the things you should NOT be doing:

Cutting Grass
Doing laundry
Cleaning your house
Washing your car
Grooming your pets
Cooking your meals
Managing your bills
Fixing things around your home and office.
The list goes on and on….

Keep in mind as your income grows, you are creating more jobs for people who really do need them. That's a good thing.  As you grow, you help others do the same thing.  Hiring others to help you succeed adds to the world!

In your business start with VA's (virtual assistants) to help you with all of the weakest (or most problematic) areas of your life.  Save your time and allow yourself to focus on what you do best. Then you can watch your income grow!