Tag Archives: #personal development

How to Change Your Life – Part 3

How to change your life part 3

A word from Jim Rohn on the topic

Self Discipline

If you are overweight and out of shape, going along to a gym won’t make a scrap of difference. Unless you go back, time after time, develop discipline around the issue, and make fitness development a habit! Just one trip won’t make a difference!

Perhaps the greatest challenge in making serious life changes is breaking out of the habits embedded over many years of use and daily reinforcement.

Changing habits is a huge issue; just ask any smoker, or someone who has tried to break or change a habit. Powerful self-discipline strategies are needed if you intend to break or change habits on your own. However, there is another way.

How to change your life part 3

       Breaking habits can be a challenge.   Image from fwweekly.com

Automating your life change program can be a powerful alternate strategy, especially when you have so much else going on in your life. Setting aside a few minutes each morning and evening to set up your daily program may make the difference for you, and begin the mental reprogramming you need to make these changes work, and stay with you forever.

How to change your life part 3

Putting your auto in drive!   Image from ask.cars.com

How does automating your life changes work?

There was significant research done by Pavlov, using dog feeding times and a bell, to record the use of stimulus and response to establish habits. This technique is essentially a prompt and reward for the appropriate behaviour once achieved. In a different but conceptually similar way, we program our minds each morning, and check off the results each evening, focussing on the positive achievements to feel the reward.

By implanting our goals, intentions and tasks in our minds each morning, we begin the process. For example, if your life change goal required you to take certain steps each day towards achieving it, by reminding yourself each morning by taking a few moments to note exactly what those steps are, your mind is then sent on a search for the opportunity to complete those tasks. It’s not something you consciously have to do, as your subconscious mind is already at work on the project.

During the day, your mind will locate the opportunities you need to complete those steps, and make you aware when it has found them.

To be specific, if you put the thought into your mind “I need to get a map of the downtown area today” and note it in your to-do list, while you are out and about, your subconscious mind is looking for where you might find such a map. When you near a newsagent, post office, information booth or other such likely place, it will pop a thought into your conscious mind and you will remember to look for the map you need.

How to change your life part 3

The power of the subconscious mind! Image from beyondthedream.co.uk

The same applies to either changing or creating a new habit – put it into your subconscious mind early in the day and let your subconscious do the work for you.

As with everything, the more you do this, the more practice you have, the better you become at noticing when your subconscious mind prompts you with one of your daily steps “to do” from your morning routine.

Once you have completed the task or the habit-forming action, you will feel a little sense of self-satisfaction and your self-discipline requirements are done.

In the evening, you sit with your program for a few minutes and review your day. On the list is the task: “Purchase a map of Downtown”. Check it off, and you have rewarded yourself in a tiny way, for achieving that mini-goal. If it was the new habit, you check it off also.

Of course, there are habit changes and other steps towards your goal that you will take each day. Each morning, you note them in your program. During the day, you find and achieve them, and in the evening, you check them off.

Doing this provides you with a visual and an emotional record of your achievements, and your daily use of this system begins to embed the new habit or activities into your subconscious mind, so that you no longer have to consciously work at the habit or activity to remember it – the new system has automated it and it is already happening.

A final step in the process is recording your achievements on a monthly sheet with a check mark, showing your monthly activities at a glance. Each day you completed or achieved the tasks and goals you set yourself is recorded for you to see, along with your moods and emotional state – the subject of the next blog. The chart Shows you your progress for the month at a glance, a visual pat on the back for your progress and success!

How do you set up self-discipline automation?

The program is the Life Change 90 program, a 3 month program designed to enable you to change your life over this 90 day period, with all of the Life Change tools you need, and many bonuses in addition. One of them is the Self-Discipline that the program develops.

Once this self-discipline is programmed into your subconscious, you automatically look for opportunities to advance your goals and life change process through your subconscious. It will seem like you are attracting, as suggested in the “Law of Attraction” promotions, all these wonderful opportunities to you. The reality is that you are training your subconscious mind to be aware of the opportunities when they appear around you, and to take action on them when they appear. The celebrations each evening for your achievements locks the successes and the new habits in place!

Download your copy of the Life Change 90 program now, to get your next 3 months of Life Change Automation started, as soon as possible.

If you need support with it, you have the option of Life Change Coaching to really power through your life change process, and greatly reinforce your self-discipline with the accountability of having a Life Change Coach to support your efforts.

Next time: Your emotional state during times of change

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

“If you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?”  ― John C. Maxwell

Related posts:

How to Change Your Life – Part 2

How to change your life – Part 1

Life Change Event Definition

How to change your life part 3

Enjoy the rewards! Image from tumblr.com

How to Change Your Iife – Part 2

How to Change Your Iife - Part 2

Taking Action!              Image from reellifewisdom.com

Your decision to change

“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.”  Author Unknown

 How To Change Your Life – Part 2

Something has motivated you to make change some serious changes in your life. It doesn’t matter what the motivator was, the important point is that you have decided to change – a huge step. Next, you need to act on that decision.

When planning something like this, the “six little helpers” are often a useful starting point:

What
When
How
Where
Why
Who

In How to Change Your Life – Part 2, let’s take a look at them. Some are critical at this time, while others are distractions – you need to know the difference!

What will change?

Your most important question – knowing what you are changing and what you are changing to, and aiming at. We touched on this in How to change your life – Part 1, and it is critical to keep it in mind. Clarity of mind leads to power of purpose! When you can see the goal clearly, you can map out the steps to it more easily. You can also see the obstacles too – and that is vital!

When will this change?

The answer will often be NOW, or in the immediate future. The urgency can dictate criteria that will override other factors at times, including the time available for planning. Allow as much time as possible, but use all the time available wisely. Be aware of deadlines!

How?

Step by step. We will focus on this aspect in later blogs, in great detail, but for now, consider it a “goalsetting process”. Start by seeing the end goal as having been achieved. Feel the sense of achievement in advance. Use that as a motivation to invest the time available into considering all aspects of your planning for this life change.

Where?

May not be relevant at the moment, but later in the process of changing your life, it will have a bearing.

Why?

The great distractor! Please don’t be sidelined by trying to understand “why” everything or anything is the way it is. Deal with the reality that right now, you have made a decision to change, you have already found reasons for it, and trying to understand other factors or people’s motivations for the circumstances will only take your eyes off the prize. Right now, you need to focus on the priorities and aside from understanding your motivation to change, asking “Why?” about most of the other factors is not usually going to assist your planning.

Who? Lots of WHO questions to consider.

How to change your life - part 2

Family support team.       Image from walkingwithattitude.com

Who will be affected by the change? Will they support you, or not? Who do you need to approach to gain support and guidance from, either from within your close circles, or from external sources?

Family is the first consideration – if you are making a major life change, you need your family onside, or a plan to deal with the consequences. There are times when the decision that is best for you may not be the most popular with your family, even if it is the best course. If that is the case, you need to get the required support you need from elsewhere, and plan for accessing the resources your family might usually provide from elsewhere too.

If your family are beneficiaries of your decisions, you need to involve them in the process – it’s the best way to ensure you retain their support.

Who else is likely to be affected by your decision? Co-workers, friends or others in your community? Is this important to you and to the success of your decision? If their support is important, how can you get them on board and keep them with you?

If they are likely to be adversely affected and not support you, how will you deal with this?

Who do you need support and guidance from, in specific areas? Would a Life Change Coach be valuable to you through this period?

How to change your life - part 2

Time for a life change coach?    Image from choosemylife.com

Life Change Coaches specialise in situations where you need to start over in one area of life, or for where you need to reinvent yourself totally. If you are making a fresh start, by definition, you are unlikely to be prepared or experienced in that area, just because you are starting somewhere new. However, you can access the resources, skills and experiences you need, possibly even some shortcuts, by retaining a Life Change Coach.

There will be many areas and moments in this change process where additional support could be valuable. Even if your family and friends are all on side with you, some of the situations will be outside the experience and knowledge base of any of those people, well-meaning though they are.

The other factors of importance here are objectivity and a broader perspective. Because a Life Change Coach is outside your immediate world, they will have a broader world view. Because they are not personally vested, they will have objectivity. Those two factors alone make a Life Change Coach a valuable investment.

For a free coaching session, CLICK HERE to access the Life Change 90 Free Coaching Session page.  Should you know of anyone else needing support with a life change event, whatever it is, please refer them here also.  Changing their life could also help change yours!

Next blog will be about developing and maintaining the self-discipline you need to successfully manage and maintain a positive life change experience.  Whilst life change CAN be an event, maintaining and reaping the benefits of the changes over time requires self-discipline!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails!

Ray Jamieson

Relevant articles:

How to change your life – Part 1

Life Change Event Definition

“Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive. We can’t control luck. But we can control the way we make choices.” ― Chip Heath, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work

How to change your life - Part 2

It’s what you really wanted, isn’t it?                       Image from saracville.org

Life Change Event Definition

Life Change Event

Oooops! Didn’t see that coming!                 Image from social-kerala.blogspot.com

Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.   Hugh Prather

What is a “Life Change Event?”

I was asked what I do recently and it gave me pause to think about the many people I have coached, consulted to and worked with over the last 25 years, and one theme kept coming back to me. Each person in their own way found a way to say:

“I expected more out of life than this by now!”

Each person was moving into a life change event phase, and needed assistance to make that life change.

Typical life change events:

• Forced job or career changes
• Trauma or tragedy in your family or close community
• Financial challenges forcing lifestyle changes
• Relocation to a new community
• Health challenges, accidents
• Relationship changes
• Birth of a child, or the kids leaving home
• Personal unrest or dissatisfaction with life, success and/or achievement
• Inspiration to set new goals
• Seeing someone else fail or succeed and being prompted to change
• A seminar. Workshop or even a conversation that changed your mindset

There are many possible life change events, and they will be different for everyone. The same #life change event will have different effects and impacts on different people. For example, your company restructure means that you are suddenly redundant and looking for a new job. For some people, it’s just a matter of getting another job. Someone else might take it as a sign that it’s time to find another career. Others might think it was time for them to set up that business they have always wanted to run. Others fall apart and cannot handle the thought of having no job security! It’s different for everyone!

Life Change Event

OH NO!                    Image from wagnernutrition.com

The Defining Factor

A defining factor of a Life Change Event is that it is an event for which preparation and support are required. It’s not something that you can just launch into without time, energy and effort invested into preparation and planning.

Perhaps you’ll have the resources. Maybe not. Maybe you can blunder through on your own. It will take longer, cost more and stress you more, but it’s to your own timeframe. Unless the Life Change Event is costing you financially as well.

You might also recognise the value of an objective viewpoint when looking at all your options, and retain a Life Change Coach to assist you to make this change process happen faster, more effectively and perhaps provide insights that will ultimately make it an incredibly powerful and positive event in your life, and that of your family.

If this is you, then Life Change Coaching is available.

Life Change Event

Make Tomorrow Different!             Image From adelarubio.com

What is Life Change Coaching?

Life Change Coaching is a specialised field. Rather than a performance coach who might help you squeeze the last increments of performance increase from your existing systems, a Life Change Coach is the person you need to see when it is time to reinvent your systems or yourself, to start over in some area of your life.

That new job, career, business strategy, investment, relationship – when the life change event is likely to impact your existing life in a major way, or you wish that it would, then it is time to call in a Life Change Coach.  When your existing life and or business strategies are not working, it’s time to seriously consider Life Change Coaching.

Click here to meet your new Life Change Coach now!

If you know someone else who is facing a Life Change Situation, please pass this message onto them – you know they will thank you for it.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails!

Ray Jamieson

The Entrepreneurs Credo

I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can,
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
Humbled and dulled by having the
State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.”

― Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Related Blogs:

Help From My Friends

Pandoras Box – can we close it?

Pandoras Box

Image from chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china; Guiyu, Guangdong province, (广东省贵屿镇) rivers and reservoirs have been contaminated, the villager is washing in a seriously polluted pond.

Pandoras Box

Prawns feed in seagrass,
Bream take the prawns,
Snapper takes the bream,
then to the dolphin they fall.
But hiding away is an insidious evil,
Mercury is lurking, killing them all.

A dolphin goes belly up and floats in the surf,
“Too much mercury” says one expert.
“Didn’t happen here,” says another,
Who cares where it happened, brother?
Just know that it did!
“It’s not our problem!”
Who are we trying to kid?

The dolphin told us the time is at hand,
To take a step back and look at our land.
Look at the stuff we pour down our drains,
Then we wonder, “Why all these pains?”

It’s really not hard to see why it is,
If we look to our fishes, our oceans and seas.
A solitary can lies in sand amidst coral,
Testimony to man, visiting Great Keppel.
Take him and flog him for this heinous crime,
For sullying God’s paradise with filth and grime.

His laziness is littered all over our shores,
Like pus, oozing from festering sores.
What’s the medicine, the cure, be quick,
“Get off your ass, clean up the grass,
Give the fishes something clean to drink!”

Who’ll put the lid back on Pandoras Box,
And seal it up tight with great big locks?
Is it too late for the fish in the sea?
Maybe for that dolphin,
but what about you and me?
Was our dolphin the messenger, a martyr for us,
To wake us, to clean up our mess?

If we could start again and rewrite the pact
With Mother Earth, our planet, an agreement to enact
To honour the fishes, the birds and the sand,
Would she still let us be custodians of this land?

© Ray Jamieson 1996

Pandoras Box

Image from chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china; In the Yellow Sea coastline, countless sewage pipes buried in the beach and even extending into the deep sea.

I wrote this poem after a holiday on Great Keppel, in the mid 1990s. The pollution around the amazing island of Great Keppel off the Queensland Coast infuriated me. However, more recently, something else raised my ire. It shouted that Pandoras Box is still wide open!

Pandoras Box

Image from teachoceanscience.net; drink can in a coral reef, just as I saw while diving off Great Keppel Island, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef!

A scientist was warning of the threat of sea levels rising due to ‘global warming’. By the end of the century, sea levels may rise by 200 millimetres and threaten vast areas of coastal settlements. That’s true; if it happens it would be an issue for low-lying areas of settlements. However, it seems that in the 2 decades since I wrote this poem, little has happened to deal with the much greater threat of the poisons we are pouring into our waterways and oceans and polluting the great planet we call home! So what if sea levels rise, if all the fish in the oceans are dead or mutated?

Science seems to be evenly divided on whether the planet is warming or not. There is little genuine scientific evidence either way, as temperatures do not seem to have risen appreciably over this time, and for everywhere that claims to have had a rise in temperatures, somewhere else claims a fall. There are as many scientists expecting a mini ice age as there are a global warming outcome and frankly, history suggests it will cool before it warms again! After the Hockey Stick Fraud, the Himalayan Glacial Fraud and the Forged Email fraud, the IPCC credibility as far as global warming goes has been left in tatters. Neither has the anti-global warming side been able to conclusively prove scientifically that there is no threat! But it doesn’t matter!

Nothing matters while our oceans and rivers are still polluted! Pandoras Box is wide open!

In 2011 I wrote a blog The Hypocrisy of the Greens on this topic and specifically pointed out the pollution levels of rivers and marine ecosystems across China and South East Asia, because of the billions of people affected by this pollution. It has now got to the stage where 40% of the Asian seafood available in Australian supermarkets is tainted with pollutants that were outlawed decades ago, and with the levels of these pollutants making the seafood unfit for human consumption! However, for those living on the rivers and their floodplains and relying on them for their daily meals, 100% of their daily intake is of toxic food.

Outside of Asia, we have industrial areas all over the planet pumping chemicals into great rivers such as the Rhine, Danube, Thames, Mississippi and many more, each with a vast floodplain, and each supporting millions of people and massive ecosystems, either directly or indirectly.

Pandoras Box

Image from encyclopediadubuque.org; MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN WITH FLOODPLAIN AREAS IN RED

It’s up to the local people in every ecosystem, every catchment area, to clean up their own local waterway. Pandoras Box is wide open – can we get it closed again? Can we solve the problems we created through pollution of the planet, without getting side-tracked by petty arguments about whether the temperate will rise or fall a degree, or whether sea levels will rise or fall a few millimetres over the next few decades?

Pandoras Box

Image from lplmc.com.au; Clean Up Australia Day on the waterways

This takes discipline from everyone involved, people, communities and nations, over long periods of time. The problem didn’t occur overnight and won’t be solved by next week, if ever this Pandoras Box can be closed again.

If you want to develop your personal self-discipline, look at the program Life Change 90. On a daily basis, it will prompt you to take another step forward towards being all you can be, and if healing this planet is part of it, then more power to you. If this is you, download Life Change 90 and start making a difference today.

If you have a business that works towards healing the planet or any business at all, then you need all the support you can get. The Business Profits Program might be for you. Unless your heart is in your business, and your business is profitable for you, then you are probably part of the problem, not the solution. Download the Business Profits Program and empower your business and your life and make your efforts count towards the contribution that is needed.

If you know other people who care about the planet and wish to contribute to healing it, then please pass this message on. The world needs as many of its residents as possible on the task!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

Recent Life Change 90 Blogs:

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Jim Rohn, Business Philosopher

Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn at home on stage.                                      Image from healthsourcelaunchu.com

I remember Jim Rohn.

Jim Rohn

What a way to think of life!                 Image from mylifemantras.blogspot.com

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.       Jim Rohn

One of the most quoted names of the business world in recent decades is E James Rohn (September 17, 1930 – December 5, 2009) or Jim Rohn, as most people knew him. Jim Rohn joined the speaking circuit during a period of #life change for him in the early 1960s with a talk at his local Rotary Club and in 1963, he delivered his first public seminar at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When he walked onto that stage, he walked into history to become one of the most influential speakers and motivators of the modern era, until his passing on December 5, 2009.

Some of the most famous and notable protégées of Jim Rohn include:
• Mark R Hughes (founder of Herbalife International)
Tony Robbins
Mark Victor Hansen
Jack Canfield (author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books)
Brian Tracy
Chris Widener
T Harv Eker

I first discovered Jim Rohn through his recorded seminars when I became a member of the Australian Institute of Management in Spring Hill in Brisbane, in the late 1980s. They have an amazing library and I utilised it to the max! Through borrowed cassette recordings, I devoured his wit and wisdom and came to respect him greatly. In April 1990, he visited the Gold Coast in Queensland and I attended my first seminar with him, a weekend Leadership Program. This began a friendship that I was privileged to enjoy for some years, until Jim retired in the USA soon after the year 2005. After our first weekend together where we chatted as often as I could get time with him, we caught up each time I attended his programs and seminars here in Queensland over the last decade before his retirement.

Jim was a man of small stature, but a giant in the business and speaking world. “Business philosopher” is the title that was coined for him and it is so apt. He exuded wisdom wherever he spoke, the wisdom that only comes from someone’s experience, never from a curriculum or textbook!

Through those many hours of recordings played on my car stereo, reading his books, emails and attending his programs, his philosophy and wisdom became a powerful influence in my life also. I was fortunate that I was also able to speak with him when he came to Australia, because the old saying:
A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books
is ever so true. Speaking with and sharing a table with Jim Rohn was a real privilege.

Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn Philosophy:                                           Image from millionairemarketingmachines.com

A sound bite from a Jim Rohn Seminar
The first evening seminar I attended with Jim was in Brisbane and only went for a couple of hours. This is part of the session:
“Last year when I was here, I recommended a book to you – “The Richest Man In Babylon”. How many of the people from that evening are here again tonight?”

About three-quarters of the room, over 500 people, put their hands up.

“Thank you, that’s great – nice to see you coming back again. Now, keep your hands up if you went out and bought that book.”

All but about 50 hands went down.

“That’s about right” he said. “Only around 10% of the people you talk to will take action on your advice, no matter how valuable you believe it is for them!”

He went on to talk about the book, and about how easy it was.

“It’s easy to buy, it’s easy to read, it’s easy to understand. However, it’s also easy not to buy! To buy this book, you need to make a conscious decision to become a better person, and that’s harder than not buying the book”.

That’s Jim Rohn philosophy, simple and profound. I love it! And yes, I bought the book.

Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.      Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn authored a number of books, simple and easy books too. Full of his profound style of wisdom, and so relevant to everyday living and working in business. Jim’s life story is fascinating and well worth studying for a moment. He was a sales clerk in his early years before he was offered a job in direct sales by a very switched-on mentor. He soaked up the teachings of this mentor and propelled himself to success in that company and then the next company when he changed. He wrote and spoke about his success and the teachings of his mentor throughout his speaking career, inspiring the millions of people he reached around the world. It’s the lessons that can only come from experience, from face to face dealing with people, observing and learning from experience. His experience is what makes it so valuable. His style of delivery is what makes it so powerful and profound.

I was privileged to attend Jim’s Leadership weekend, and many other events at which he spoke, and even worked with him onstage at Brisbane once, when he and the great Zig Ziglar were in Brisbane.  That was a wonderful event and I had the chance to speak with both these great men during and after their events.  Since then, I have added all of Jim’s writing to my library and more than a few of his audio programs – more than a national treasure, this man had something worth listening to!

I’m proud to say that through my career in coaching, consulting, and public speaking, I have applied many of the lessons I learnt from Jim Rohn. Those familiar with his work may detect his influence in the Life Change 90 Program, although the original inspiration for that program came from Og Mandino, who I wrote about last week. Jim’s influence comes through most strongly in the Business Profits Program, because above all, Jim Rohn was an excellent business operator, very successful, very smart. Having Jim Rohn on your team would be valuable for everyone, and especially if you were starting a new business, or revamping one that was a little tired – Jim Rohn energy would inspire any business and any team!

Whether you are interested in the personal life change that Jim Rohn inspired world-wide, or whether you would like some of his philosophy in your business program, there’s something here for you. I’m also proud to say that I think Jim Rohn would be honoured to think he had a small role in the development of either of these programs. His legacy lives on also.

To find out more about the Life Change 90 Program, click here.

If you have a business or would like to begin one, it most likely could benefit from the Business profits Program, so click here!

Either way, the wisdom of the ages will be with you, allied with the technology of the 21st century, to propel you forward to success and achievement of your desires, now and far into the future. I wish you well with your desires.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

Recent relevant blogs:

Og Mandino – Lessons from the Master

Life Change 90 Relaunch

RISK

Empowerment through Challenge

Og Mandino – Lessons from the Master

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Courtesy of Wikipedia

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
― Og Mandino

When Og Mandino touched my life

There are moments in our lives that are indelibly etched, that live with us forever. One such moment in my life is when Og Mandino first walked out on stage in front of me, sat down and began to speak.

It was a day in early 1987, at the old Boondall Entertainment Centre on the north side of Brisbane. There were half a dozen famous speakers on the schedule; I’d only heard of a couple. A friend and business associate at the time invited me along. He had a mobile mechanic business and credited much of his success to staying motivated by events such as this. That still holds true, we do need a regular injection of inspiration. I was then new to the corporate world and this was my first taste of it.

A couple of high energy, foot stomping, stand on the chair and chant speakers came on, one of whom has since mellowed and gained great popularity. When he spoke, there was a great energy in the hall, 17,000 people were up and chanting too, clapping and cheering.

Then Og Mandino took the stage.

The man had a presence I have rarely experienced. He spoke softly, invited us to sit, then he sat and began to speak. In contrast to the energy of the previous speaker, he hardly moved on his chair. The audience didn’t move, not even sure they breathed for the next hour as this man poured wisdom forth as though there was nothing else happening anywhere in the world. I don’t recall a single person coughing, not a chair creaking, not a sound for that hour, except the voice of Og Mandino reaching into my heart and changing my life around for me. If ever there was an audience with an angel, this was it.

I have no further recollection of any of the speakers of that day, although I still have the promo material and notes I made. Og Mandino had done his work. That was, I think, his last visit to Australia. He passed away in September of 1996, the world was saddened by his passing and his loss to humanity was incredible. However, the man left a legacy that I had begun to devour long before then. He was also an inspired author.

The Og Mandino Legacy

Og Mandino wrote many books, the most famous of all was “The Greatest Salesman in the World”. I read it many times, and followed up a number of times with the ‘workbook’ “The Greatest Secret”. It was while working through the exercises in this book that I gained the personal empowerment and inspiration that has me writing to you now.

Not only did #Og Mandino teach through the wisdom of his writing, he used strategies that if implemented, work brilliantly. Old but powerful concepts that the greatest teachers and philosophers down the ages have used to change the world. He made the suggestion that we record our successes daily, so that we could see at a glance, just how successful we were. He described a simple graph paper chart he used and I followed up on it.

First, I took a sheet of paper, ruled it up as I thought he meant, and went to work with it. Then I got my first computer, and created a spreadsheet in Excel. Each morning I would set my intention and goals for the day, and each night I would tick off my successes. My life turned on this program.

At the time, I was recovering both in health and from a business failure, and my goals for recovery from each went on this sheet. Month after month, I would check back and chart my progress. Some months I would see poor results, so I got out my diary and checked what I did that did not work – and saw how to change it for the better. Other months were a series of daily celebrations. On review, I could see what worked, so I incorporated more of those events and activities into my life. Simple although crude, but incredibly effective, daily doses of empowerment. Daily readings of Og Mandino books were a staple at this time in my life, consolidating my successes and carrying me through the dark times.

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Fundamentals Courtesy of pixpirations.com

After only a couple of years of rebuilding my health and my life, I restarted in a new career direction. I had undertaken the Entrepreneurs Program at University of Queensland, the Business Programs at Kedron Business College and numerous other courses, programs and seminars, when the share market crashed.

The 1987/1988 share market crash was a global catastrophe. Lives and businesses were ruined overnight. But I was ready. I found that people were coming to me in my new vocation of business adviser to get them back out of trouble, out of impending bankruptcy, business closures and persecution by the banks. I had made my own turn-around, and now armed with the tools of my recent experiences, I took on this challenge. The incredible part was that the empowerment strategies I had used on myself, combined with the business education I had obtained, were both the emotional and business support and advice that these ailing and failing business owners needed. We never lost one who came on board with us! We saved millions of dollars for companies that were within days and sometimes hours of closure, hundreds of jobs that would have vanished, ruining lives and families as they went. But we saved them all.

I thank Og Mandino for it. His teachings and wisdom enabled me to be in the right place at the right time, to make this contribution and Mr Og Mandino, I am eternally grateful to you Sir. Thank you.

The programs I created back then were followed by far more advanced programs in later years, seminars, workshops and advanced trainings in many fields, delving into the neuro-sciences and alternative thinking therapies and strategies way before they were popular or fashionable. Life has changed and evolved much for me since then, and the products and services I now deliver are far more advanced than anything I could have dreamed of back in the 1980’s. However, just like you can trace your DNA back hundreds or thousands of years, so you can trace the DNA of my programs and training back to the simple, fundamental philosophies and teachings of Og Mandino, and some of the other great mentors of my early years in business and training.

Whilst some people have said that “unless it’s created with the technology of the current day, it doesn’t work anymore”, I think about the other fundamental laws of nature and physics and the generalised principles that still make the world go round. Gravity is one such law. It’s still working incredibly well. Cause and effect. Very powerful also. Sayings like “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” and so on, still relevant and absolutely true. The fundamentals will always work. Because they are the fundamentals of life and of very our existence on this planet. They are there for everyone to use, if only they knew about them and would access them to their benefit.

Please look at this link about OG MANDINO. His life story makes for powerful reading. Before becoming a best-selling author, Og Mandino was a bombardier and pilot in the US Air Force during World War 2. He flew with fellow pilot and later movie star, James Stewart. During his early life after the war, he, like so many other returned soldiers, contemplated ending it all, but found inspiration in a book, and his life changed also. His remarkable life story is well worth reading…

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Air Crew Courtesy of www.natickvets.org

If you would like to experience the benefits of the teachings of Og Mandino as they influenced my life, you can. I have packaged much of what I learned from Og Mandino into Life Change 90, the life change program that over a period of just 90 days, can transform the life of the person who truly commits to it. No matter what you do, you are here, on this planet, and you are likely to be here for the next ninety days. Make them count. Get Life Change 90!

If you know someone else whose life could benefit from exposure to the principles espoused and taught by Og Mandino, please send this blog article to them. I’m sure they will thank you.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray

Moving House and all that stuff

#Moving House

Guess what?                                               Image from MotivatedPhotos.com

Moving House

“Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.”  ― Tahir Shah, Travels With Myself 

There’s something about moving house. New energy, new location, new start – another beginning. Yes, that’s all true. But so is the disruption, dislocation, disturbance and the dismay when the removalists, the phone or power company doesn’t keep their many promises to make this ‘the smoothest operation ever…..!”

And that’s where we are – moving house! For the next couple of weeks, we may, or may not get a chance to get more blogs out, but rest assured, after we settle into the new home, there is so much waiting for you. For example, the next couple of blogs – titles coming are “Empowerment Lessons from an Oilcan” and “Where to start”. Powerful, fundamental stuff, with a great story embedded around the lessons I found along the way.

Just like tonight. Moving house.

#Moving house

Oh no! I love doing that!              Image from motleynews.net

How do you keep your head together when the plan is to disrupt, dissemble and generally pull apart every part of your life as it is, box it and reassemble many miles and hours later?

There’s a way that is working for me. I work from the Life Change 90 program, and the organisation it provides in my day is handling everything for me. I put in my challenges and goals for the day each morning, I get my pep talk and off I go. The progress has been amazing – we are actually some days ahead of schedule! Then in the evening, I sit for a few minutes, tick off what we have achieved, tally the results, write a few words about the day and its progress and enable tomorrow’s plan and schedule to come through. I note that and I’m outta here – those few minutes morning and night have made the rest of my day so smooth!

One of the things I am working on is a mild revision of the Life Change 90 program. Correcting a few typo errors in the original text, which somehow I missed before it went to the producer, and adding a few details in a few sections to make it even simpler to understand and live with. By the end of the month, I expect the new version will be uploaded and available to you. If you are one of the folks who take a copy in the meantime, you’ll have the new one emailed to you, as soon as we get it back to us! No charge!

If you’d like this level of support in your day, whether you are moving house, or moving mountains, this is where to get it. Click here and download the best friend you could wish for online! If you know someone else who needs something like this, send it to them and share the love. After all, everyone needs a friend!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails. And removalist trucks!

Ray

“Some part of me can’t wait to see what life’s going to come up with next! Anticipation without the usual anxiety. And underneath it all is the feeling that we both belong here, just as we are, right now.” ― Alexander Shulgin

#Moving house

OK, we are ready!              Image from blog.gamos.gr

An Angel Without Wings

#Angel

A whole city of Angels!
Image from swotti.com

“If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”
Tennessee Williams, Conversations with Tennessee Williams

An Angel Without Wings.

God is forever creating new Angels.

One day some time ago, he finished another Angel – but was having a bad day and forgot to give her wings.

“Darn it!” he thought.  “Well, I won’t put her back.  I’ll give her extra serves of love and courage, a radiant smile and she can go to earth and be an Angel down there, where she won’t need wings.”  So he put her on earth, as a baby.

Earth was a harsh environment for the Angel baby.  Life kept putting obstacles in her way, challenges to solve and the burdens of other people to weigh on her also.  There always seemed to be something else to do, someone else to heal, to care for or to help.

“My Angels have a lot of work to do,” he told Saint Peter.

But with the extra love and courage in her heart, the Little Angel’s smile shone like a beacon through all her trials and tribulations.  She became an inspiration to those around her.

God said, “I will give her more to do.”  He sent more needy people her way.

Life’s ordeals and unscrupulous people took away all she had, her health, her marriage, her money and he thought, “Surely this will try her out!”

Her courage never faltered, still her smile shone and her love inspired those who knew her.

St Peter looked down and wept at what he saw!

“God!!” he cried.  “You can’t keep this up!  She has already done more by her example than many of your other Angels and raised her children to be like herself.  Her example inspires all in the world that see her.  Please ease her burden, so that she may freely work for you!”

“Perhaps, Peter, you are right.  I will think on it.”  God was pensive.  He stroked a whiskered chin with his thumb.  “I’ll tell you what I will do, Peter.  I will give her the love of a wonderful man, surround her with true friends and shower her with peace of mind and satisfaction for what she does.

Maybe in the future her burdens will ease – but right now, My Little Angel Without Wings has much to do.”

#Angel

WWII Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel in Papua New Guinea, assisting an injured Australian soldier. Angels come disguised in so many ways!
Image from en.wikipedia.org

“For truly we are all angels temporarily hiding as humans.”
Brian L. Weiss

There are many angels without wings, just like this one.  You know who you are, Dear Angel.  You know when you are an angel to someone who needs you, someone whose challenges need some extra attention and you can give it to them, even though your own troubles and challenges almost overwhelm you.  You know so many people count on you and you just have to be there for them.  Take a bow – you are not alone!

#Angel

An Angel at work!
Image from humanrights.gov.au

But you feel alone, Dear Angel, so much of the time.  You feel like the pain you bear will overpower you.  You feel like the isolation your situation causes will bury you in loneliness.  You feel like no-one else would understand your situation, even if you knew how to explain it to them.  And yet you keep on. And you keep praying.  Because that’s what an Angel will do.

More power to you.

This world has need of an angel like you.  We need more of you, many more of you.  If I could create the “Angel without Wings Network”, you’d be in there, with all those other special angels without wings, helping each other and helping heal the world.

There is an Angel Network.  However, it doesn’t cater for angels like this one, or perhaps an #Angel like you.  You are an Angel in hiding, a secret Angel that only a few people know about and appreciate, unfortunately.

#Angel

Even Angels have bad days!
Image from fanpop.com

What I do know is that you, our Dear Angel, need help.  You need to give yourself the best possible chance of making it through this, and out to the bright spot on the other side.  And to do that, you need a loving and supportive environment around you.  You need encouragement, morning and evening, to keep going.  You need to see your achievements each evening, so you know your day has been worthwhile, valuable to someone and satisfying to you.  You need your own goals to aim for and to achieve, and you need to be taught how to rise to all the challenges that life is and will continue to throw at you.

Maybe we can help with that.  Everything you need is in a program created to empower people and Angels facing challenges, just like you may be.  The support, the positive encouragement, the education, motivation and inspiration each day, right here with you, every day.

Need a hand getting through life? CLICK HERE FOR ASSISTANCE!  Let us empower you to make it, no matter what life throws at you.  After all, an Angel without wings still should feel what it’s like to fly!

If you feel that this post has empowered an Angel, or made an Angel feel she could fly again, please share it, reblog it and pass it on to other Angels without Wings.  You know who they are.  Every angel should feel like they have another Angel to share with, and to fly to at times.  This could be your time to fly!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails, Angels!

Ray

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version

Old Habits Die Hard

#old habits die hrd

Intense conditioning and programming of habits under way!
Image from git-security.com

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
Samuel Johnson

Old Habits Die Hard!

Norm was fresh out of the army.  For six years, it had been the ‘spit and polish’ routine, and “Yes Sir, No Sir” had been the way of life.  Now, all that was finished, Norm was back home for a while.  It felt good, having the chance to break away from all the routines and settle into the easier going life on the farm for a change.  Well, that was the intention. Old habits die hard!

The first day back, and his father decided to bring in a load of firewood.  While Norm and the other boys polished off breakfast, Dad put the chainsaws on the truck, along with a few crow bars and axes.

Breakfast over, the boys trooped out.  Suddenly Norm called out, “Hang on a minute,” and darted back into the house.  About a minute later, he reappeared, with a silly grin on his face.

“I don’t have to polish my boots for you bunch.” He said.  “Let’s go!”

#Old habits die hard!

“Some rules are nothing but old habits that people are afraid to change.”
Therese Anne Fowler, Souvenir

We all have conditioning drilled into us.  Conditioning is habit – we all have habits and have had for many, many years.  Our lives run by habit and that’s generally OK.  Takes a lot of pressure off remembering what to do, like breathe, walk and so on.  Subconscious programs are developed when we learn and develop habits.  We may not even realise they are running, while they take control of our lives.  Maybe we’d like to change them, but old habits die hard.

#old habits die hard

A habit to change?
Image from abcnewsradioonline.com

Not all conditioning or habits are good, and some may need to be changed as we outgrow them.  We do outgrow habits and their subconscious programs.

Habits and subconscious programs are like railroad tracks.  Hard to get off, once you get onto those rails.

#old habits die hard

A program in motion
Image from wikipedia.org

Programs can fail or go wrong, without us realising until it has happened.  That’s when trouble hits and we find the program no longer serves us.

#Old habits die hard

Can someone please explain this to me?
Image from gizmodo.com.au

Getting off tracks and out of habits and programs can be a challenge.  Old habits die hard!

#old habits die hard

A bit of a challenge changing tracks the hard way.
Image from ptarm.tumblr.com

However, done correctly, changing an unwanted habit or program can be easy!

#old habits die hard

Changing habits should be this easy!
Image from leungkm.blogspot.com

You just need to install a new program.  Not all old habits die hard, after all!

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
Jim Ryun

My Darling wife bought a new computer today.  A beautiful object, a work of art.  However, it’s useless.  It has no programs installed.  YET.  The program is in the box, ready to download.  Then, the computer will be ready to do the most amazing things for her.  With the new program installed.  Doing what SHE wants it to do.

#old habits die hard

Isn’t it lovely?
Image from zdnet.com

This is also how to change a habit you no longer want, a habit that is running as a subconscious program in your life.  Insert a different program into your computer.  Change your program!

#old habits die hard

One new program/habit coming up!
Image from www.mln.com.au

Yes, it can be done.  There is a program specifically designed to enable you to change habits, simply, quickly and without getting yourself off track and into trouble.  Creating a controlled environment around you, supportive, encouraging, and one that celebrates your successes and supports you into new habits and conscious programming of your mind and your life.  Old habits die hard, but only when you don’t know how to change them properly!

Click here to find out more about changing habits, and learning new ones that can make life so much better for you, in any way you desire.  And kick that old, unwanted habit to the kerb!

“A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.”
Desiderius Erasmus

If you found this post to be empowering, and supports you into changing old programs and unwanted habits, please share it with your friends and associates.  Reblog it so that other people can gain these benefits too.  They will be grateful you did.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails,

Ray Jamieson

 “Warren Buffett chuckled and said to me “I hope it’s not my bad habits”. Good Habits once established are just as hard to break as bad habits, and bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow. So what are you going to do about it?”
Lucas Remmerswaal, 13 Habits.com the Tale of Tortoise Buffett and Trader Hare

#old habits die hard

What a great New Habit!
Image from thingstodococoabeach.com

Empowerment through Challenge

#challenge

A leap of faith
Image from daretoleap.co.uk

Empowerment through Challenge

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” ― Roger Crawford

There are times when the road seems too hard, the climb too steep, the challenge too great.  There are times when the most reasonable decision would be to give up, admit that the challenge was just too hard, and go home.

There are also people for whom that is not a choice.

Their choice is to press on to succeed or literally to die trying – or not trying.  Sometimes, the challenge MUST be faced, whether we like it or not.  At these times, heroism surfaces.

The unlikely heroes are those people facing chronic illnesses, chronic pain, the “invisible diseases” such as Depression, CFS and Fibromyalgia and other illnesses that at a glance, people afflicted with them show no visible symptoms.  Other people with little choice are those whose children face a challenge and as parents, they must continue.  There are people struggling on minimum wage, raising families on incomes below the poverty line, with no safety net and where failing the #challenge means starvation.

#challenge

Invisible Illness – unsung heroes
Image from noonegetsflowersforchronicpain.wordpress.com

There are movies produced about some of the heroes.  We may never know the truth of their heroism, such as in the tale of “Lorenzo’s Oil”, where a father studied his son’s disease and in the movie, found the cure for it.  There are real life parallels to this tale now, especially since genetic engineering has become an acknowledged branch of science.

There are other heroes, such as where a person has been wrongfully convicted and either they or their partner studied law in order to challenge and perhaps overturn the decision.  Heroes where the underdog came through, changed their world, and that of many others too.

#challenges

Heroes of everyday challenges
Image from themotherhood.com

On a day-to-day basis, there are many heroes facing a challenge that will never make headlines, but is just as real.  The single mother, trying to raise her children, without support, on a budget far below what is necessary, in circumstances that can at best be described as a challenge.  The small business owner facing tough competition in a changing market, struggling to survive.  A person with low self-confidence and low self esteem looking for a new job, a career, or even just a friend. The dyslexic person in the admin role, trying to write a report.  So many people face challenges that to others are no big deal, but to them, it’s their life!

There are times when a challenge has created a break through in thinking and a whole new invention, solution or branch of science has resulted.  The problem has been solved because someone either “broke through” the problem with advanced thinking and higher intelligence, or they “broke with” the thinking; they tried something totally different, lateral and creative and found a back-door solution to the problem!  Only challenge provides this opportunity and it is how humanity has advanced.

Can you break through to succeed where others have failed the challenge?

It’s possible, but that doesn’t mean you always get your old life back.  Sometimes, it’s not there to reclaim.  You may overcome the challenge but you cannot unlearn the pain you endured.  You will be a different person, even if your old life is offered to you again.  It may not feel the same, because you are now changed, evolved.  You’ll need to grow into your new life, even when you succeed and overcome the challenge!

“Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.” ― Bernie S. Siegel

Where do you turn, when it is YOU facing the challenge?

The first thing to remember is that we are not alone in this.  Maybe there is no saviour nearby, but that doesn’t mean help is not available.  A quote from Einstein said “Man cannot solve the problems he created with the same level of intelligence with which he created them”.  In other words, to solve a problem, access a higher level of wisdom, and to do that we need to find or become someone with more wisdom.  Become smarter.

How can we become more intelligent when facing a challenge?

Specialised knowledge is required to solve a specific problem.  Go to the source of wisdom in that area.  Research, learn, outsmart your challenge.

Financial challenge – perhaps too much debt?

The local library has resources on debt and creditor control, but also resources on creating more income and cashflow.  Life Change 90 presented the Financial Empowerment blog recently.  It also has brilliant strategies on how you can become financially empowered by accessing higher financial wisdom and thinking.

Social challenge?

Personal development, working on your Self Confidence and Self Esteem can make a huge difference.  There are simple and easy ways to improve these critical areas of your life, when you know how.  These blogs HERE and HERE provide a pathway to tools, resources and education in those areas.

Health Challenge?

There are two parts to a health challenge:  Firstly, finding the cure and recovering from your illness, if that is possible.  Secondly, managing to live and function and have a quality of life while you face your health challenge.

#challenges

Starting over in a new life
Image from amputee.com

Facing a health challenge can be debilitating.  Whether it is pain, energy levels, tiredness, nausea, headache or more, when it is constant, it wears you down, slows thinking and numbs your feelings and emotions.  It is relentless.  The most positive person will face times of despair when it just seems too hard, too painful and just too much.  We wrote about this in the Challenges Of Chronic Illness Blog.  All the while you are feeling so miserable, you also face the medication, the hard work that you and your mind and your physical body must still do to actually look for and implement the cure and the healing process.  It’s even harder if there is no recognised cure and symptom management is your only apparent option.

What does your particular challenge have in common with all other challenges?

There are a few aspects of facing a challenge that are common to each, and therefore have a way of being handled and managed.  There are specifics which are unique to each individual challenge, and you will learn to handle these once you get the fundamentals down. Let’s look at the common aspects for strategies towards success.

Challenge Fundamentals

#challenge

We all need goals!
Image from traducirco.com

First:  Goalsetting.  It is vital to the life of every person on the planet, but handled differently when facing a severe challenge.  When life is easy, you can set huge goals and risk everything on them because you feel invincible.  But that’s not now.  Your goals need to be small, step by step goals that you might mark off in hours, or even minutes.  The increments to your milestones might be tiny, but they are there.  When you achieve them, you must celebrate like crazy!  For a person learning to walk after losing their legs in an accident, running a marathon is not the goal; just standing up is the challenge.  When you make it, celebrate!  And when you take the first step again, celebrate that too!  The marathon can come later; right now, let’s just take one more step!  Keep your goals small enough to achieve realistically, without compromising other critical areas of your life.  Celebrate each in your own way when you achieve them.

Second:  Support.  Who do you have around you?  A team is important.  Not necessarily friends because sometimes they try to not hurt your feelings, by not telling you the truth.  Someone impartial.  Maybe a coach?  Your church minister?  Someone who can be a mentor to you and honestly let you know how you are doing, by providing objectivity.

Third:  A program.  You MUST be organised.  This challenge will wear you down unless you have a plan of attack for it, and you follow that plan.  The plan needs to address your goals, and keep you up to working towards your goals every day.  It needs to empower your motivation to keep you inspired, even through tough times.  Affirmations and encouragement, inspirational education, new ways to look at obstacles, and challenges to broaden your thinking to find new solutions.  It should make you think laterally, to give you a fresh perspective.

Fourth:  Personal development and education.  To rise above your challenge, you need to be more of you than you are now.  Self education, self development, growth and evolution are required.  Your program must provide a pathway to a new level of consciousness if it is to work for you.

Fifth:  Encouragement.  A platform and a process to recognise and celebrate learnings, lessons and achievements.  When you have a win, it must be acknowledged.  Every night, you need your program to register your activities and achievements so you can chart your production and progress.

Sixth:  A Supportive Environment.  Even if you are totally alone, you need an environment around you that is positive and uplifting, conducive to success and progress, even if much of it is internal to begin with; especially to begin with – the time of most challenge!  This is when self-discipline and focus on goals is most critical, to enable you to build momentum towards your goals, to consolidate new habits where necessary, and to leave the old ones behind.  Your program must create this environment around you.

To learn about and access such a program, CLICK HERE for the framework and the features you need to build in, and the benefits it will give you.  Plug your life and your challenges into this program, to look at your world in a new light.  The light at the end of the tunnel!

If you feel better able to handle your challenges after reading this post, please reblog it and share it around.  You may be doing a friend or someone in your family the favour they have been secretly praying and crying out for!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails!

Ray Jamieson

Please also refer to my other posts on Empowerment, to assist you with your specific challenge.

Empowered by Gratitude

Empowered by my Failures

Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment

Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence

Financial Empowerment

Empowerment

Empowerment for Men

Empowerment for Women

Empowerment for Teens

Empowerment for Children

Personal Empowerment

What would an empowered man do?

Empowered by love

#challenges

A new lease on a new life!
Image from onlytoptens.com

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

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