There’s a way to get things done with a smile.

Our mindset governs the driving force of our action. What do you think when you’re about to accomplish something?

“I have to do this”

“I must accomplish this”

“It’s my job”

“It should be done”

Thinking in terms of  ‘shouds’ and ‘musts’ demotivate us because we feel coerced. It robs us of choice… even if there is choice (otherwise you won’t be doing it). There is, however, an elegant way of re-empowering our decision to toil. It is to think this way:

“I am glad to do this”

A simple mind shift and BAM! You’ll suddenly see rainbows in the sky.

Gotta mop the floor? Think to yourself, “I’m happy to mop this floor!”

Try it.

Think that’s useful? Stop it…. and begin to think of something you always wanted to do. And do it right now. No ifs. No buts.

Just do the darned thing.

How do you feel when presented with options? Do you feel good? Wishy washy? Pathetic? Indifferent?

Your decision making process determines how much you influence the world.

Those with low self-esteem distrust their own judgement. It’s easy to get over this, nonetheless. Simply use the IDA strategy whenever you feel uncertain. Here’s the trick:

Intention -> Decision -> Action.

The confused can’t act if they can’t decide to act, and they can’t decide unless they know what they intend to happen.

Discover your intention by asking, “What do I want to happen?” Then decide how you need to change your behavior. From there, modify your behavior by acting differently.

Make this your goal for today. When you know what you want, you WILL make things happen.

That’s right. When you dream and do nothing about it- it reamains a dream. But give a deadline to achieve it. Magic begins.

Dreams and deadlines create actionable objectives. Work on them and you claim a reward: prosperity. I don’t mean just monetary affluence. It can be social, mental or spiritual prosperity.

Start dreaming more. And give them deadlines. You’ll have a wonderful life!

Consider that there is no limit to the laundry list of activities which you can choose to delegate your time. Therefore, there will rarely be a day during your life when you feel “tied up.” Think back. Can you ever recall a day when you felt that you had accomplished all the things you needed to do and would like to have done? I definitely cannot remember one. However, what’s key is not that everything gets done during a chosen day, but that the activities that are most vital to the achievement of your dreams have been concluded on a schedule set by you. To feel good about how you utilize time does not require being hectic every moment, or regularly playing “catch-up.” Positive feelings and the mental rewards coupled with real accomplishments are fashioned through effectiveness, since only effectiveness creates results.

Believe it. If you can double your effectiveness, by definition you can complete twice as much in the same amount of time. You will double the momentum at which you realize your objectives, and you will cut in half the time it takes you to reach your dream.

To boost your effectiveness, apply the 20/80 rule. Just twenty percent of the behavior on which you could opt to spend your time will generate 80 percent of the results you’re after. On the contrary, spending energy on the other 80 percent of your possible activities will produce only 20 percent of the outcomes you’re after including only 20 percent of the total sense of satisfaction from attainment.

When it comes to attaining your dream, just 20 percent of your activities will take you along your path faster and farther than others. Recognize that 20 percent and then splurge the lion’s share of your time, mental and physical energy on their accomplishment. Focusing first on the completion of that 20 percent is what alters energy-wasting efficiency into results-producing effectiveness.

Remember: it would be a misuse of your time to spend effort on anything not in the top 20 percent of the activities on your list, at least until that 20 percent has been fully satisfied.

“When you ask God for courage, do you think I zap you with courage? No I put you in a situation that calls for courage. When you ask God for great relationships, do you think I zap you with warm fuzzy feelings? No. I throw you in a situation that lets you exercise camaraderie.”

Beautiful isn’t it! He encapsulated in a single paragraph the secret behind The Secret. The secret behind manifestation.

You see, I’ve long understood that all those self-help programs, those manifestation methods, those attraction techniques do not ‘magically’ materialize your desire out of thin air. Rather, when you set your mind to something, you unconsciously set in motion a series of situations that inspire action.

Taking actions spells the difference between getting what you want. Or being frustrated.

Now here’s the real key to really adding magic to all your efforts. Take action today. Yep. Right Now.

Being in a perpetual ‘SomeDay’ mode will create just that… a life of wistful thinking.

“Joe,” I told myself “I gotta throw some out. Otherwise, how can new stuff come in?”

Sigh. Till 2006, I never followed through on my self-chastisement. The stuff keeps piling up and investing in new cabinets added to the stuff.

How many of you suffer from the collection bug?

Stepping back, I realize that collecting nonestop can be dysfunctional at times. It’s the mind whispering, “you better hoard, coz you’ll never get something like this again.”

That’s a self-defeating mindset. It gets you on a poverty mode of thinking.With such thoughts, its impossible to see new opportunities and take on grand challenges that may truly expand one’s horizon’s beyond the current myopic view. Why? You’ll perpetually be hiding, hoarding and protecting. How can you grow under such conditions- how can you attract things beyond what you already have?

Today, I begin throwing out stuff.

“Why are we here?”

“What is our purpose?”

“Does the world follow some rhyme or reason?”

And check out the great books and authors that elaborated on the idea: Summa Theologica, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The ‘Quoran, The Bible, Jean Paul Sarte, Socrates, Paulo Cohello, Donald Trump.

Okay, I arbitarily inserted up that last name.

But seriously. You never realized you were in the company of such eminence! Give yourself a pat on the back, Mr. Philosopher.

Stop, and consider how, after all that rheotoric, prose, and giddy exhortation, few of these dissertations truly arrived at some enlightening, jaw dropping Meaning of Life that literally gave you the golden answer to your personal existence. (people still keep searching!)

And Life, well… life just kept lifing along. nu ni nu ni nu

Step outside for a moment. Just humor me on this.

What do you see. Really drink in the detail now.

Okay. There’s a car passing by. Or maybe a tree with some bird poop on it. A cat (hopefully white) passing the street. Oh look! A dog spilling your garbage for you to clean up later!

What did they have in common?

Nothing.

Check again.

Okay… Nothing. Just a bunch of disjointed events.

But one of you might say, “ah I disagree. What I saw was a spirited sports car driver showing off to his girlfriend and experiencing a thrill burning gas and polluting the environment.”

Ah. Sounds like you just gave meaning to some meaningless event.

Or another would say “Man, that dog is out to get me. He spills trash everyday so I have to clean it up”

Oho! Looks like you colored some other event with yet more meaning.

What am I driving at?

Brace yourself.

Here’s the cold hard truth: every event on this planet is meaningless.

Got that?

Life is meaningless. In fact, life has no purpose, no rhyme, no reason. Your life, my life, everyone’s life is empty and meaningless- a void existence formed from an infinite strand of disjointed events that branches out into infinite possibilities based on decisions made every moment.

Squirming? Hear me out.

Take yourself out of the Life equation. Just blink out of existence. Stop. Ponder this: do you think Existence, Destiny, The Universe would suddenly weep and grind to a halt? No way! Life just goes on….. lifing along.

This is the meaning to life: that LIFE IS MEANINGLESS. With or without us, reality endures. But what gives all this some iota of value is that we give it significance. We give it subjective meaning.

You, I and everyone are simply Meaning-Making-Machines that ascribe meaning to what we observe around us.

Got that? Life is empty and meaningless AND everyone is a Meaning Making Machine. That’s the ultimate formula to life.

There is no meaning to the car rushing down the road, to the ferry crossing the channel, to the rocket landing on the moon, to George Bush taking a dump on the royal throne.

There is no inherent meaning to your trudging to work, eking out a living, raising a kid and throwing dishes at your spouse.

These are all events. Random events with no inherent meaning.

I bet you want to strangle me now. Or jump a bridge. After all, if life has no meaning, what’s the point of suffering through it (ah! another meaning)

But let me finish. Put away that .45

So… what’s the point to all this? To life? To these empty events?

Remember what I said earlier?

You are a Meaning Making Machine.

and Life is Empty and Meaningless.

Ask yourself:

What do you do when something is empty? YOU FILL IT UP!

Since you are a meaning-making-machine, you have the mandate to forge your own personal meaning out of all these meaningless events. Simply fill life up with a meaning that is so powerful, so inspiring that you simply must bound out of bed every morning.

It’s that simple. Life is inherently empty, but YOU have the Power to give it meaning.

And do you already realize what kind of power that is? You suddenly open up a whole new world of possibilities!

Think about that.

Did you once think that because you got fired, lost your wife, or got mugged, that life is cruel and demonic?

Or did you think that because you won a million bucks at the lottery that God out there must love only you?

NO!! NO!! NO!! Life is not inherently cruel and demonic. Nor does God favor you any more than the average Joe.

These are rich meanings you ascribed to life simply because of random events.

But wow… how those arbitrary meanings shape your future for all eternity.

Think of how a rape victim would live the next 20 years. “It’s hell. Every man is a monster”

Or imagine how Kiyosaki arises every morning. “Life is great! I earned $200000 more in royalties today”

Get what I’m driving at.

Life Is Empty and Meaningless, but You Have to Power to Give it Meaning.

Positive or Negative.

And how you choose to view life shapes the rest of your fleeting existence on this planet. You literally wield near God-like powers to reinvent your tenure on this world. Did you realize that?

It all depends on the Meaning Life Has For You.

And the best thing about it is: You Chose That Meaning.

It is an inner desire to achieve our best possible self, to go through life at our finest level! You I and everyone nurses an inner drive to personal greatness- to grasp that star of Akabar. Since this is a subliminal desire, it does not often fully surface in our everyday consciousness. Folks don’t even quickly understand that they even have it.

Nonetheless, our subconscious drive to greatness rests below the annals of our minds. And magically, our subconscious, being goal seeking, exerts effort to fulfill it.

Still, thousands fail to act to better themselves so that they can achieve superior greatness that can easily be theirs. They settle for mediocrity- or even yield completely. This unleashes an inner conflict between what they are and the greatness which their souls lust for in their lives.

This Inconsistency leads to depression. Then frustration. (and often suicide)

You know you’re afflicted with this grave inconsistency when you suffer a constant nagging sensation of frustration. Something’s wrong. You’ve got a vacuum in your life. And you feel you should do something to surmount it (you’re the biggest loser if you give up).

How do you escape this dire tribulation?

Allow me to recall that a few decades back, a research conducted at Harvard determined that dumb people (meaning low IQ) who were brainwashed that they were smart actually outperformed genuine smart people who were lazy.

Credo?

A man’s self-image ultimately shapes his behavior and helps him become what he envisions himself to be.

To become a truly great person, you must constantly and passionately picture yourself as being what you want to become.

Each and every day, you shal ACT AS IF YOU WERE THAT GREAT AND DESIRABLE and POWERFUL PERSOn.

Desire to be successful? Picture yourself as being successful.

Desire to be a star athlete? Rehearse the image of dominating the competition.

And do it every day of your life.

Tell yourself, “Self, Im in the process of getting more successful”

or

“Self, Im in the process of getting my kids into top flight schools…”

(it’s important to think ‘in the process’ so you won’t say “Hey, I’m lying to myself. I’m not successful!”)

Remember this: Positive Visualization enacts the grand Law of Consistency. You cannot think one thing and do another.

You can’t think Poverty and Suck in Riches.

You can’t Curse and Enjoy Love.

Hence… the ultimate powertool for Your success lies in your mind. Think Big and You will be Big.

Your imagination knows no boundaries. Allow your imagination to take you to places you’ve never been and conquer frontiers you only dreamt off.

And you will fly high, and attract the affluence you’ve always desired.

Dominate your universe, friends!

Just for one reason.

They simply can’t meet halfway. The negotiation starts with both parties neither yielding nor accomodating. Each one is simply preoccuppied with getting the most out of the negotiation encounter.

Poor negotiation skills lead to misunderstanding, then suspicion, then ultimately withdrawal. It’s the fastest way to lose not just your shirt – but your associates and friends.

I’ve discovered four top negotiation skills that can make your next negotiation encounter a more satisfying one.

1. Never open with your position. Ask the other side, “So what would your offer be?” This way you keep your needs private and could bargain up or down based on what your negotiation sparring partners disclose.

2. Always come to the table with a focused outcome. If you know exactly what you want, you’ll know how to drive the negotiation within those parameters. Unfortunately, many folks come to the table not even having an inkling as to what they desire. So they get frustrated each time an off-the-hat suggestion gets rebuffed.

3. Learn to elicit critieria and to match that criteria. In NLP, if you can find the other side’s heirarchy of values by asking “What’s important to you about xxx”” at least thrice, you can find the underlying reasons for their proposals. Discover this, then you can easily and naturally tailor fit your suggestions to what they truly want.

4. Agree agree agree. At the onset and the middle part of the negotiation, you will naturally find it to your benefit to minimize blatant disagreement. Avoid the temptation to slam down fists and disagree because you feel it makes you look dominant. Rather, listen quietly, taken an open posture, smile, and couch your negations in rephrased statements that illuminate the beauty of your counter proposals.

Superb negotiation skills are built on this foundation. Develop them and you’ll happily discover more fulfilling outcomes.