"Optimism"

Life and God are one and the same. You are God's child. God would never close all the doors around you. His unlimited love and compassion wouldn't allow Him to be that cruel. God always keeps more than one door open. They may look as if they were closed, but they have, in fact, been left slightly ajar.

Just a mild knock is enough and they'll give way. But our eyes are blinded by our ignorance. We fail to see the open doors through which the light of God's grace is pouring in.My child, never lose courage. Never lose your trust in God or in life. Always be optimistic, no matter what situations you find yourself in. It's very important to be optimistic. Pessimism is a form of darkness, a form of ignorance that prevents God's light from entering into your life.

Pessimism is like a curse, an illusory curse created by the illusory mind. Life is filled with God's light, but only by being optimistic will you experience that light.Look at the optimism of nature. Nothing can stop it. Every aspect of nature tirelessly contributes its share to life. The participation of a little bird, and animal, a tree, or a flower is always complete. No matter what the hardships, they continue to try, wholeheartedly.

Only humans are pessimistic, and this causes suffering.Amma knows it isn't easy to always be optimistic. You may ask, how is it possible to be optimistic in the face of the many hardships and sorrows in life? It is true that it's difficult--but by being pessimistic you move towards even greater despair and darkness. All your strength and clarity of mind gets dissipated, and in the darkness of pessimism you feel abandoned and isolated. Optimism is the light of God. It is a form of grace which allows you to be much more perceptive and to look at life with greater clarity.

Our attitude creates problems

Y o u r A t t i t u d e
I s Y o u r O w n
R e f l e c t i o n

Think of the little things over which we frequently quarrel about. A wife comes late from office or delays the evening tea and a tempest is created over the teapot. Quarrels over insignificant matters end up with the final solution of mutual divorce. This is reality.

Misunderstanding is often the result of ‘Attitude’. It affects relationships most. If we do not develop appropriate understanding, we invariably contaminate our vision about facts. Ego conditions our attitude and determines our consequent actions. We, therefore, need to give up our ego with true humility and that in turn enables us to respect another’s views.

While the whole world is craving for understanding it seems we are determined not to understand anything anyone says because of our ego. Communication without ego enables us to clear misunderstandings. We must be open and frank while talking and understanding enough while listening and filtering facts from feelings and opinions. A human being is basically an emotional creature but we forget this and expect cast-iron logic from others. We tend to forget that quality of our life is dependent on the quality of relations we make and maintain. Is it really difficult?

WE HUMANS live in an environment full of misunderstandings. We have hi-tech gadgets to communicate, but we fail miserably to get the other person to understand us or show some concern. Among uncivilized tribals or the illiterate rustics we find strong bonds of love and affection but amongst the so-called civilized gentry there is hypocrisy, jealousy, snobbery and cut-throat competition. These seem more prevalent than loving relationships. No two persons seem to understand each other well and as a result we suffer in domestic, social, official, national and international life. Most of our problems centre around misunderstanding.

How To Look and Feel Young

Live Life , Enjoy Life

Luckily for us in this day and age, we all look much younger than did people our age fifty, or even thirty, years ago. The great advances made in our knowledge of nutrition and their application by most of the population are in part responsible.

The same factor has a lot to do with our feeling younger. Another contribution to our ability to look younger is our increasing knowledge of how to use makeup, clothing, cosmetics and other things to help achieve our ends.

Your philosophy of life is the most important single factor in determining the way you look and feel. It is, after all, the basis of everything you do, whether you've consciously formed such a philosophy or not.

One cannot exist without it, but many people are unconscious of having one.
First, decide what's important to you and what isn't. This philosophy of yours goes into every area of your life and affects every member of your family. It should, therefore, in most instances, be a family-shared thing.

You and your husband and children can well work out a family plan for living together. Some families would rather leave a bit of dust on the furniture and under the rugs if it means they can have junkets together to the beach in summer and the skating rink in winter.

Others would rather never go anywhere than occupy a dusty house for one minute. Each attitude is very much the business of the person who adopts it, though frequently neither person has the slightest understanding of the other.

In our quite proper eagerness to look and feel younger, do not let any one of us lose track of the fact that maturity is a condition greatly to be looked forward to and desired. Maturity is a state of mind. It does not mean old age.
It can happen to people at almost any stage of life. And immaturity is a sign of a lack of development for the chronological age one happens to have achieved. When you reach maturity you are self-disciplined, thoughtful, understanding, self-confident, and most of all loving - of yourself and other people, despite acknowledged faults.

The way you decide to keep your mind lively and stimulated is up to you, but do realize that the best way is to encompass as must of the world around you as you possibly can. One of the best ways to be stimulating and interesting and thus attractive and desirable to others is to decide what work you'll do in our community - and do it.

What about your participation in community activities? In other words, it's an absolute certainty that there are all sorts of interesting things going on around you; to become involved in them will not be at all difficult and will add variety and spice to your life as well as to that of others.

There's another characteristic of youthfulness - optimism. You needn't be a pollyanna to be optimistic. You need only to have the happy faculty of looking on the bright side of things, which is really a habit of mind. Pessimism puts wrinkles in your forehead, draws down the corners of your mouth and makes you very unhappy, usually for no reason at all.

Looking and feeling younger is first of all an attitude of mind. But it is a great deal more than that. You might try to just think yourself younger in appearance and in spirit and find that nothing much happened at all. It takes real work and enthusiasm in a variety of areas to gain the end results!

"A Smile Makes Someone Else Day Bright"

H A P P I N E S S I S C O N T A G I O U S

A smile is a language that everybody understands
It costs nothing but creates much.
It happens fast but its memory may last forever.

Keep Smiling

Why Do People Fail Or Succeed

Why People Succeed or Fail Parkinson's Law is one of the best known and the most important laws of money and wealth accumulation.


It was developed by English writer C. Northcote


Parkinson many years ago and it explains why most people retire poor.

The Way the Law Works

This law says that, no matter how much money people earn, they tend to spend the entire amount and a little bit more besides. Their expenses rise in lockstep with their earnings. Many people are earning today several times what they were earning at their first jobs. But somehow, they seem to need every single penny to maintain their current lifestyles. No matter how much they make, there never seems to be enough.



The Key to Financial Success

The first corollary of Parkinson's Law says: "Financial independence comes from violating Parkinson's Law."Parkinson's Law explains the trap that most people fall into. This is the reason for debt, money worries and financial frustration. It is only when you develop sufficient willpower to resist the powerful urge to spend everything you make that you begin to accumulate money and move ahead of the crowd.

Slow Down Your Spending

The second corollary of Parkinson's Law is: "If you allow your expenses to increase at a slower rate than your earnings, and you save or invest the difference, you will become financially independent in your working lifetime."This is the key. I call it the "guage." If you can guage between your increasing earnings and the increasing costs of your lifestyle, and then save and invest the difference, you can continue to improve your lifestyle as you make more money. By consciously violating Parkinson's Law, you will eventually become financially independent.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately:First, imagine that your financial life is like a failing company that you have taken over. Institute an immediate financial freeze. Halt all non-essential expenses.

Draw up a budget of your fixed, unavoidable costs per month and resolve to limit your expenditures temporarily to these amounts.Carefully examine every expense. Question it as though you were analyzing someone else's expenses. Look for ways to economize or cut back.

Aim for a minimum of a 10 percent reduction in your living costs over the next three months.Second, resolve to save and invest 50 percent of any increase you receive in your earnings from any source. Learn to live on the rest. This still leaves you the other 50 percent to do with as you desire. Do this for the rest of your career.

" IF YOU HAVE DESIRE TO ACQUIRE,NEVER RETIRE TO REFIRE"

"Fear Is All In The Mind Made Up By Us"

Turning Your Fear Into Faith

Don't let your fears defeat you , All human beings do have fears even the bravest person alive but the difference is they learn to overcome those fears by focusing on the positive side.If you believed that you'll succeed that time will come but is you are a prisoner of your fears,you will be paralyzed by the ghost you had created.

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.

Ironically, yesterday's Gospel reading was about the hemorrhaging woman I talked about in my post about the statue of Jesus in the Hopkins's administrative building with the inscription: "Come, all you who are weary."

It was a perfect reading for me yesterday because I was feeling fearful all day--unable to locate exactly what was triggering so much anxiety, but feeling panicked all the same. There was such a relief when I got to the part where Jesus turned around, saw her, and said: "Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you."

In my devotional, "Magnificat," Father Simon Tugwell, O.P. writes:

Faith punctures the self-sufficiency of our world, so that there is room for God to be God. Perfect charity is when that puncture has become all-embracing, so that we are nothing but space for God to be God. All that we find in ourselves is God being all in all. ... And by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we too are drawn to be displaced from ourselves, so that we might live "no longer for ourselves but for him," and that God may be at the center of us, "more intimate to us than we are to ourselves."

Somehow I always forget--when I'm in that panic spot--that I'm never truly alone. God is always with me, and especially on the darker days when I doubt the power of goodness and love.

"Thoughts Are Very Powerful"

Strength Of The Mind

There is a Universal Law that states "Where thoughts go energyflows". We are often bombarded with negativity, and we tend to engage in negative thought patterns more often than we realize. Many are an aware of the power of the mind. Our ability to mold and shape our destiny lies within the power of our thoughts.Does this mean directing our thoughts will make our lives simple al lthe time and that nothing "bad" will ever happen? Of course not.

Life will always have its little pitfalls, but through controlling and directing the energy we put out, we make our lives easier. With this effort, our minds become clearer enabling us to remain focused on that which truly matters.Remember also, that like attracts like. If your thoughts are mostly negative,most of what you receive and perceive will be negative as well.

Today's Exercise:Today be mindful of your thoughts. Seemingly random thoughts can hold a lot of power. Make an effort to direct your thoughts in a positive manner in order to restore balance.At the end of the day note anything you learned through being more observant of your thoughts. What were the proportions of negative to positive?How often did you catch yourself in negative self-talk? etc.. What you observe today may surprise you!

"Positive Outlook in Life"

BE POSITIVE

Negative things within our mind
Can cause so much despair
The many doubts and discontent
Brings hurt that we must bear.

So sad to keep it all inside
Causes so much grief and pain
When we stop to think about it all
Its ourselves we have to blame.

The way we feel is up to us
God can and will give us peace
If we have a better attitude
The pain we feel will cease.

Don't let bad thoughts haunt you
Too special you are by far
Remember God who gave you life
Loves you just the way you are.

Be content with the person you see
Because perfect is what you need not to be
You do not have to pretend to be someone you are not
For inside of your heart beauty is what you have got
And once you allow your inner beauty to shine through
All eyes will most certainly be on you
For looks in life only goes so far
But when you are proud of whom you are
Happier with yourself is what you will be
For your inner beauty is what is what others will see
So you do not have to look a certain way
For others to accept you on any given day
If others do not like you they are the ones missing out
On the chance to find what it is you truly are about
So never think you have to change to fit in
Always remember, true beauty comes from within.

Live as you will wish to have

Lived when you are dying....

"Always strive to be a better Person"

Give up complaining...
and focus on gratitude.

Give up harsh judgments...
think kind thoughts.

Give up worry...
trust divine providence.

Give up discouragement...
be full of hope.

Give up bitterness...
turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred...
return good for evil.

Give up anger...
practice patience.

Give up pettiness...
put on maturity.

Give up gloom...
enjoy the beauty that is around you.

Give up jealousy...
pray for trust.

Give up gossiping...
control your tongue

Give up sin...
turn to virtue.

"New Beginnings"

A NEW BEGINNING

EACH DAY IS A NEW BEGINNING
WITH A CHANCE TO TRY AGAIN
ALL THE MEMORIES TO ERASE
THAT SEEMS TO BRING US PAIN

EACH DAY IS A NEW BEGINNING
WHEN WE CAN START ANEW
TO SORT OUT OUR PRIORITIES
AND KNOW WHAT WE MUST DO

EACH DAY IS A NEW BEGINNING
IN WHICH TO DO OUR BEST
IF WE TAKE THE FIRST STEP FORWARD
GOD WILL HELP US WITH THE REST

"Be Strong"

New day, New morning, New life...............................

Stop and reminisce about your yesterday..............................what had you done? what did you had yesterday that you don't have today? Does it makes you a better person? Assess yourself...........................

Whats done cannot be undone but instead make it your best competitor to make a brighter tomorrow, be it your guide and teacher to achieve your goals and hopes in life, we might be travelling along the rocky road but think of your toughest obstacle in life and compare it on what you are having now, it will make you feel stronger to face the challenges in life. Don't compare yourself to others because everyone were carrying different kind of loads, depends upon a persons capacity. Always remember, struggles in life helps us to be stronger just learn how to to cope with it.

GLORY will reckon you, if you will reckon about GLORY!!!!!!!!!!

"Things we could apply in our daily lives"

"Positive Living"

1. Learn to love virtue.
2. Control anger.
3. Don't forget Charity.
4. Don't prevent philanthropy.
5. Don't betray confidence.
6. Don't forsake motivation.
7. Don't despise learning.
8. Don't freeload.
9. Feed the hungry and then feast.
10. Emulate the great.
11. Discern the good and learn.
12. Speak no envy.
13. Don't shortchange.
14. Don't flip-flop.
15. Bend to befriend.
16. Shower regularly.
17. Sweeten your speech.
18. Judiciously space your home.
19. Befriend the best.
20. Protect your parents.
21. Don't forget gratitude.
22. Husbandry has its season.
23. Don't land-grab.
24. Desist demeaning deeds.
25. Don't play with snakes.
26. Cotton bed better for comfort.
27. Don't sugarcoat words.
28. Detest the disorderly.
29. Learn when young.
30. Cherish charity.
31. Over sleeping is obnoxious.
32. Constant anger is corrosive.
33. Saving lives superior to fasting.
34. Make wealth beneficial.
35. Distance from the wicked.
36. Keep all that are useful.
37. Don't forsake friends.
38. Abandon animosity.
39. Learn from the learned.
40. Don't hide knowledge.
41. Don't swindle.
42. Ban all illegal games.
43. Don't vilify.
44. Honor your Lands Constitution.
45. Associate with the noble.
46. Stop being paradoxical.
47. Remember to be righteous.
48. Don't hurt others feelings.
49. Don't gamble.
50. Action with perfection.
51. Seek out good friends.
52. Avoid being insulted.
53. Don't show fatigue in conversation.
54. Don't be a lazybones.
55. Be trustworthy.
56. Be kind to the unfortunate.
57. Serve the protector.
58. Don't sin.
59. Don't attract suffering.
60. Deliberate every action.
61. Don't defame the divine.
62. Live in unison with your countrymen.
63. Don't listen to the designing.
64. Don't forget your past glory.
65. Don't compete if sure of defeat.
66. Adhere to the beneficial.
67. Do nationally agreeable.
68. Don't depart from good standing.
69. Don't jump into a watery grave.
70. Don't over snack.
71. Read variety of materials.
72. Grow your own staple.
73. Exhibit good manners always.
74. Don't involve in destruction.
75. Don't dabble in sleaze.
76. Avoid unhealthy lifestyle.
77. Speak no vulgarity.
78. Keep away from the vicious.
79. Watch out for self-incrimination.
80. Follow path of honor.
81. Protect your benefactor.
82. Cultivate the land and feed.
83. Seek help from the old and wise.
84. Eradicate ignorance.
85. Don't comply with idiots.
86. Protect and enhance your wealth.
87. Don't encourage war.
88. Don't vacillate.
89. Don't accommodate your enemy.
90. Don't over dramatize.
91. Don't be a glutton.
92. Don't join an unjust fight.
93. Don't agree with the stubborn.
94. Stick with your exemplary wife.
95. Listen to men of quality.
96. Dissociate from the jealous.
97. Speak with clarity.
98. Hate any desire for lust.
99. Don't self-praise.
100. Don't gossip or spread rumor.
101. Long to learn.
102. Work for a peaceful life.
103. Lead exemplary life.
104. Live amicably.
105. Don't be harsh with words and deeds.
106. Don't premeditate harm.

107. Be an early-riser.
108. Never join your enemy.
109. Be impartial in judgement.

"You Can Do Anything just keep believing that you can"

"You Can Do Anything You Believe You Can"

Just start somewhere. Resolve to do something.You might even write out what you want to accomplish. Then explore what you need to do to reach you goal, and start doing it, step by step.

It's the same as if you were planning a trip: you get a map, make your preparations, and then start traveling the right road. Don't get "bound up" in any problems that stand in your way. Do something every day to resolve them. Trust your instincts. Do one thing at a time.

Remember... if you sow seeds of fear, doubt, panic,and procrastination, it will most likely work against you. If you keep doing the same things you're doing now, you will keep ending up in similar places to where you are now.

Once you start making progress towards your goal,you will be magically propelled towards eventual reward. Just keep listening and taking direction from inside you. Be patient; your dreams will not come true overnight.

But start now, and go with love and courage and confidence. Don't be afraid.You can do anything you believe you can. And don't forget to keep an open mind and heart to check yourself along the way.

You can do it! Go for it, and good luck.

"Effective ways pursuing your goals in life"

"Seven Ways to Boost the Power of Your Goals"



Using Intuition to Conceive and Achieve Your Dreams," on how to boost the power of your goals. Again, my only advice is to say that if this stuff makes you crazier, go for a walk instead
(which is what I had to do for a long while).

But if you want to get serious about some goals, her seven ways to get started may be helpful:

1. Picture Your Goal Often

Imagine yourself in the goal state. Add details to your image of the goal. The more clear and positive your picture is of you being in the goal-state, the more compelling and powerful your goal will be.

2. Accomplish Goals Through Small Steps

Suppose your car has a dead battery and you must push it to get it started. The greatest effort to get the car moving is the first push. This is when you break the inertia and move the car from rest to motion. Once moving, it takes much less effort to keep the car moving.
If you're like many people, you often have trouble getting started moving toward your goal. The problem is inertia. You are a body at rest! You must break the inertia to get moving.

3. Take Small Steps

Set the objective for a small improvement over a short time period.
Begin at your current level of performance with the first objective, the proceed in small steps. Ask yourself for small improvements only.

It's similar to practicing yoga. In yoga, you assume a posture that you can do without undo strain, then you stretch a little bit. You don't demand too much or try to force yourself into a position.

Don't set yourself up to fail by demanding enormous changes.

4. Set Yourself Up to Win

Set yourself up to succeed.
Your small step should be only as big as what you know you can achieve with relative ease.
If the goal is something difficult because it is distasteful or involves an entrenched habit, then shorten the time frame of the objective.

For example, suppose you want to stop smoking. If, for your first objective, you demand that you will chew gum every time you feel like smoking for a month, you are likely to fail. Chances for success are better if you make the first objective for one day instead. When you meet that objective, set another one for a slightly longer period of time.

5. Get Into Motion

The objective helps you get started and creates momentum. Once you've broken the inertia of a bad habit you have also started to develop a winner's attitude, which will help you to succeed.

6. Slowly Stretch Your Abilities

Don't worry about the steps being too small. No step is too small as long as there is some stretch and some movement. Remember the inertia principle: A body in motion will tend to stay in motion. Use small steps to keep yourself in motion toward your goal.

7. Make Getting There Fun

People often equate self-management or self-discipline with austerity--sacrifice and withholding of pleasures. Such an approach is a mistake and will undermine your success.

Grease the skids of change with fun. Enjoyment of a task lessens the toil.Consider physical exercising. Doing jumping jacks and running in place isn't much fun. By comparison, playing tennis with a friend is more fun. And it provides a good workout. With this in mind, think of ways you can build fun into the process of achieving your goals.

20 Ways to Enhance Your Get-Rich Potential

1. Practise Being a Good Communicator

Enroll for a course in improving your communications. Learn how to be more persuasive and enticing in the way you present yourself, your product and the way you package what you sell. Success in any business depends on how you market your products and services, and doing this effectively does require good communication skills. It also requires a well thought out strategy and a convincing story line. Get some professional help in this area to set you thinking along these lines. Don’t forget your feng shui though – everytime you get up to speak, each time you chat with a potential customer or client, face your sheng chi direction. This way, you will be further increasing your chances of success.

2. Think Three Steps Ahead

In the day-to-day management of your business, always think three steps ahead. Good anticipation is not only the key to success, it is also the guarantee of survival. Make it a habit to anticipate customer demands, inventory levels, price increases, staff shortages and so forth. You will find that over time, the habit of thinking ahead will become so ingrained in you that it becomes second nature. This is called experience. Doing it consciously makes this habit more powerful.

3. It’s Ok to be Imperfect

Whatever the outcome of what you do, always bear in mind that it is impossible to be perfect. Events and outcomes almost never work out exactly as you plan them to. Sometimes results exceed your expectations, and other times, your new product launch can fall as flat as a lead balloon. It is not necessary to berate yourself for the occasional failures. Chalk things up to a bad experience, even bad luck and then move on. Remember that it is by accepting your imperfections that you know you are all human. The key thing when you fall is to be able to pick yourself up again, each and every time.

4. Keep Things Simple

Do your very best to simplify all the tasks and processes inside your head. Make a resolution this year that you will NOT allow anyone to confuse you with complicated suggestions OR dilute your determination by being negative. When you keep your goals focused and clear cut, the task at hand gets simplified, and when you stay positive in your expectations, your energies are that much more powerful. The good news about keeping thought processes simple is that your own resolve becomes the engine that drives you, and this is the best way to harness your powerful inner chi.

5. Identify Your Income Sources

So many people come to me with business ideas that describe their vision and dreams – and they paint a rosy picture of how they will set up their business and yet when I ask them “so what’s the source of your immediate income” they look blankly at me. Remember that all ideas are good, but very few have the potential to be successful simply because the source of income has either not been thought through or the people behind the business is depending on some Government handouts, or on “friends”, or upon a single source that might well dry up. When a business cannot generate its own sources of income, then it is not a business. It is simply a project. Viable businesses always have the ability to generate its own source of incomes and to fill a market need.

6. Draw a Decision Tree

I learnt to draw decision trees at the Harvard Business School way back when. It’s been over twenty-five years since I studied in that august institution and I am still using those wonderful trees. They are like mind maps except these decision trees also contain what I think are the outcomes of decisions. One decision leads to other decisions and in drawing a decision tree, every branch keeps getting split into smaller and smaller branches. The process of drawing a tree forces you to engage your mind to think ahead, to not stop at each decision. This is because every decision always leads to another decision, and another and another. E.g. if you make a decision tree on whether to rent or to buy your office premises… if you decide to buy, you need to decide where, how big, use your own capital or borrow, if borrow, how much to borrow, from which bank, and then you need to think of the outcomes… will you be successful at finding the right location, at getting a bank to lend you money, and so on. Your decision trees can be as simple or as complicated as you wish… but simply thinking about it sets you thinking in the right direction, which is to think ahead.

7. Keep Your Spirits High

The secret of success lies in constantly rejoicing and keeping your spirits high. This requires real effort but once mastered, it becomes a precious skill indeed. Rejoice at every triumph but also learn to meet every setback with a smile of acceptance – and view it as a signal to change course a little. When bad things happen, you can actually feel happy that a piece of bad karma has ripened and has therefore dissolved. Its gone, passed on. And when something good happens, also rejoice, because it means some good karma has ripened. Just remember to create more good karma by doing something nice for someone or donating something to a worthwhile charity. When you look at your life this way, how can any year be a bad year?

8.Go Global in Your Search for Markets

A successful business can be built on just about any skill, product or service and sold to just about any market. The key is to find the market or markets, and this means finding new ways of reaching the marketplace – either via repackaging an old product, finding a new way of marketing a service, or generating new needs in consumers in different markets. In the past many successful businesses were built simply on the basis of imperfect markets and imperfect information. Today, the marketplace is very near perfect indeed. Information flows across the globe almost instantly via satellite and via the internet. This is the age of global communications and those of you who are clever will use the new technologies to help you go global in your search for markets. Make big allowances for the differences of markets, but go after them nevertheless.

9. Be a Niche Player

If your business is built around your passion for a sport, a hobby, or a past time, you might want to read up all about niche marketing. Some large businesses have been built this way, where the focus of all the company’s promotion efforts are directed at trade magazines and at specific outlets. Niche businesses are highly focused on a specific customer base. A lot of business can come your way when you learn to surf the Internet. Use the powerful search engines to bring you into the households of new customers.

10. Take a Fresh Approach Each New Year

At the start of every new year, I look at all the projects I have on hand and ask myself “What fresh approach can I bring to what I do? Is there anything I can do to make what I sell more attractive?” It is the process of thinking that stimulates the creativity within me, keeping me on my toes and preventing me from coming across tired and ancient. Keep your eyes open each new season. Look at everything innovative coming out during the year. Derive ideas from groundbreaking trends in colours, shapes and materials. Go in search of new-fangled products, pioneering inventions and the latest strategies. Pick out the more promising of the new trends and transform them to fit into your world.This is not an easy exercise but it gets easier with practice. Remember that all the most successful superstars constantly reinvent and repackage themselves… like Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Pavarotti… all the designer names and car brands have to keep a step ahead of the competition by coming out with a brand new models. So to stay ahead, be leader. If all you do is copy the leader, you will get left behind.

11. Build a Team

Never try to do anything completely on your own. No man is an island. Whatever business you are in, set about the task of building a trustworthy team. Make this your major priority. Invest time, effort and money in creating a team you can rely on. Remember that in any venture, having responsible people around you is more important than having clever people. There is no need for everyone to be clever, but there is a need for everyone to be reliable. A core group of lieutenants does not get built immediately. It takes time. And in the initial years, I strongly recommend to go for the flat organization chart as much as you can. This way, every member of your team has access to you.

12. Make Clever

ChoicesIf you want to succeed in business, do be discerning about the choices you make. An excellent way to decide is to generate what business schools refer to as trade-offs. Ask yourself what you will be giving up when choosing a particular alternative. Making choices are usually governed by many factors and it is never easy to choose between options, but if you list out to yourself what you will be foregoing when you choose a specific course of action, you will instantly find it easier to decide. Tradeoffs usually make you choose between long and short-term solutions and between different people’s opinions. Choices may not always be good and correct at the same time. The key is to weigh things carefully in your mind and then be decisive.

13. Get Internet Savvy

There is no alternative for those who want to grow and make money in the business world – you absolutely must get Internet savvy – if you do not you will simply get left behind. You will become uncompetitive and you will lose out. In the last ten years, technological breakthroughs in cyber space have advanced so much that the entire world’s households and especially the buying public are all hooked up. If you have not yet signed up for surfing facilities, do so immediately. Invest in a website. Get technical in all your operational and logistics needs. Today, there is an incredible amount of software that makes the operational and administrative side of doing business extremely easy. If you are the owner of your business, sign up for a course that gives you some basics in computer usage. Learn to surf, search, download and install programs.

14. Improvise

– Change As You GoIf truth be known, there really is no cook book approach to successfully managing a business. It’s not like we can have a foolproof recipe for success every time. No indeed. Successful managing of any business always requires the person holding the ropes to improvise, to change direction, to go off course albeit temporarily. This enables the business to overcome sudden obstacles and unexpected hindrances. These are the dynamics of being successful and here is where luck comes in. In a year when the chi energy works in favour of success, the cards are not so difficult to play. The year 2006 is indeed such a year. This is why this is such a great year to be brave, try new strategies and take some risks. In a year when the chi energy is not as conducive to business, it is better to lie low.

15. Create a New Angle

One way of keeping your business fresh and up to date is to work at creating a new angle and remember it’s the story that makes the angle. This means looking at the same thing from a fresh perspective, creating a totally new package from another point of view. There are many facets to almost every aspect of a product or business and the challenge to the entrepreneur is to stay constantly revitalized by offering yet another fresh outlook. You can see that even in the movie world, old hits get new treatments and become hits once again. There have been so many successful remakes that it really gives us encouragement to try applying the same strategy to our own business. This simply means looking at our same old product and giving it a new twist by adding or changing the “look”.

16. Be Adventurous

Successful business people usually have a sense of adventure and what this means is to have an attitude that is receptive to new things and new phenomena. An attitude of courage is important because only the courageous have the vision to see and try new things. Implicit in being an entrepreneur is this sense of adventure – to boldly experiment with the unfamiliar, to do something in a non-traditional way and to occasionally go against the grain of conventional wisdom. When you are adventurous, you must guard against having too high expectations. In fact, it is a good idea not to have any expectations at all. Just keep an open mind and go with the flow.

17. Make Every Day A Happy

every day a happy day. Do this by making someone happy each and every day. It is easy. A smile does it every time. A nice email sent to someone. Practising patience. Responding nicely to a customer or a salesgirl. Patting your dog, feeding your fish, giving someone a shoulder. You may not see the connection between being a success and being happy, but chi energy plays a large part in the success equation, and happiness chi is almost always more powerful in attracting success than negative chi. The next time someone causes you to raise your voice, watch your mood swing from stability to instability and you will know what I mean.

18. What’s Your Killer Talent?

We all have it. Yes, that amazing skill at doing something really well – the challenge is to discover it young enough for you to develop your skill and nurture it so you can later turn it into something of a life passion. Because what you are good at will almost always be something you adore doing. It can be a sport – golf, tennis, riding – and if it is, you can well become a celebrity sports star. That’s a business that seems to be the most lucrative these days. Or you might have a talent at some performing art – singing, dancing, acting – whatever your killer talent, don’t spurn it. Identify what you are really good at doing, study every aspect, nuance and angle of all the related industry areas that are connected with your skill, and then build a business around it. In every sport, hobby and past-time lies a whole range of businesses that can be developed. The chances of success are also that much higher when you enjoy what you are doing.

19. Salute Your Heroes

For many years I found incredible inspiration from reading books authored either as self help books or as autobiographies written by the likes of corporate heroes such as Jack Welch, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Donald Trump – there were so many helpful anecdotes, tips and experiences in these books and they did so much to fuel my determination that for years I followed their careers. I still do. These are not perfect icons of management expertise, but the problems and strategies they dealt with were real and although what I did was on a much smaller scale, nevertheless I could identify with them. Go in search of your business idols and use them as your inspirational icons. Let their success spur you on to yours.

20. Make A Wish List

To stay focused about your goals and aspirations, try making a wish list. You can be as outrageous as you like because your wish list is for your eyes only. When you write down your wishes, you are giving important energy to your innermost desires and something magical almost always happens. Keep your wish list inside a special silver or gold box or better yet, inside a wish-fulfilling wheel that you spin constantly to activate it with powerful energy. I have been making my wish list for over thirty years. Mine are kept inside my library of personal notebooks, which are in turn kept in a very special chest. Yes, I invest plenty of energy on my wishes - and my focused concentration is what makes my wishes come true.