What if I told you that there is one fundamental law with the power to completely change your reality. Would you be interested? How would you respond if I told you that this fundamental law is easy to understand and implement, regardless of your current circumstances.

If you could radically simplify the whole concept of creating a better reality by making one simple change in the way you run your life, would you be willing to give it a try? Before you say yes, I’d like to tell you a little story.

Don’t expect something for nothing

There was once a poor exchange student who rented a room above a fancy restaurant. Every night as he ate a plain bowl of rice for dinner, he would sit at the top of the stairs and enjoy the wonderful smells coming up from the restaurant below. As he ate, he would savor the aroma and imagine that he was dinning on the delicious delicacies being served down in the restaurant.

When the restaurant owner found out what the exchange student was doing, he took him to court. He wanted the student to pay him for the enjoyment he had derived from the food smells coming from his place of business.

The judge listened intently and then asked the student if he had any change in his pocket. When the young man said yes, the judge asked him to shake his pocket so he could hear the coins rattle. Then the wise judge told the restaurant owner: “The sound of money is sufficient payment for the smell of food.”

What’s the point?

Millions of people have bought into the idea that they can sit around visualizing a better life and that somehow it will manifest. When it doesn’t happen they go searching for the missing secret or a new technique that will make it happen. I am not saying that visualizing isn’t powerful because it is, but visualizing alone is not going to change your life.

You would never expect the smell of food to satisfy your hunger or the sound of money to pay your bills. Visualizing is a great way to get very clear about where you need to focus your attention, but more is needed to produce a meaningful outcome.

The law of consequences is about reality

Like all fundamentals, the law of consequences is based on truth. That means that putting it into practice requires a realistic approach and a willingness to accept personal responsibility for your life. It also means letting go of the fantasy based idea that somehow your world is going to be magically transformed without any effort on your part.

I realize that pie in the sky, fairytale promises of a better life without any effort are popular, but I prefer to deal in reality. How about you? Are you ready to fully embrace a realistic approach to creating a better reality on every level?

What is cause and effect, and the law of consequences?

Simply put, we are talking about cause and effect. The law of consequences states that every result or outcome (effect) happens for a reason (cause). Everything we do produces some kind of outcome and by carefully considering the possible consequences of any action, word, thought, or decision in advance, we can be much more successful at producing the outcome we desire.

Wisdom consists of the anticipation
of consequences.  ~Norman Cousins

Recognition of the law of consequences is fundamental to understanding how we influence our own reality. It can be incredibly empowering to know that everything we do (cause) leads to an outcome (effect), but to benefit from that knowledge we must be willing to accept full responsibility for our behavior.

Let logic be your guide

For some reason there are those who want to complicate things when you start talking about cause and effect, but I’m not one of them. At its most basic level we are simply talking about action and reaction. If we have the foresight to consider how our words and actions will play out, we can make better choices that will have a positive influence on the quality of our life.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe
in cause and effect. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here’s a little exercise that can vastly improve your reality on every level. Before you make a decision, think it through to its logical conclusion. Ask yourself: If I do this is it likely to produce desirable consequences, or is it something I will regret down the road? If you get in the habit of walking your decisions through this simple process before you commit to them, it will change your life.

Is the concept of consequences something you embrace?
Have you ever paid a price for not thinking things through beforehand?
The lines are open!

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My book TRUE SELF is the fastest inexpensive way (coaching is the fastest) to make positive life changes very quickly. Do you want to discover your core passions, dismantle your hidden, limiting beliefs, and realize your most desired goals? TRUE SELF will guide you smoothly through the process.

Before you went to sleep last night, you probably had a pretty good idea of what you were planning to do when you woke up. Did you do a little mental review of the next day’s activities?

Because most of us have some kind of schedule that we try to keep it is perfectly natural to give those activities some thought ahead of time. But let me ask you this: did you also give some thought to how you’re going to feel when you woke up this morning?

It is one thing to consider what we are going to do, but it’s quite another to consider how we are going to feel.

Emotional planning

The reason you knew what you were going to do when you woke up this morning is that you gave it some thought. You considered how your day was going to go beforehand. Why not do the same thing with regard to your emotional state?

When you take the time to visualize yourself waking up in the morning feeling great after a wonderful night’s sleep, fully energized and ready to go, you are actually planning for tomorrow. Now, instead of planning your activities, you are planning your emotions!

How can we do that?

First, take a few moments to visualize a pleasant morning experience. Then indulge yourself in those good feelings, actually allowing yourself to get all wrapped up in how wonderful it is to wake up feeling really good.

When you go to bed with positive thoughts about the next day, guess what? Chances are you will actually wake up feeling good because you have already experienced it in your mind. You’ve already been there once and your mind doesn’t know the difference between the actual experience and the imagined experience.

When you wake up tomorrow your mind is going to recall what you already programmed into it.  As far as your mind is concerned, you’ve already had this experience once and it felt great. It is exactly what your mind expects to happen.

Planning your emotional experiences

Why not give some preliminary consideration to how you are going to feel, not just tomorrow morning but every morning?  In fact, why not take it a step further?

If you are going to work tomorrow, why not stop and imagine yourself going to work and feeling absolutely wonderful about it? See yourself in an unexplainably good mood all day long.  Consider any activity that’s going to affect your day and feel yourself enjoying it! When you actually have that experience, you will be preprogrammed to enjoy it.

Use your emotional leverage to create an enjoyable reality

The fact that your mind records your “visualized experiences” as real gives you a wonderful opportunity to master some very useful advanced life skills. All you need to do is practice these skills to benefit from them.

Thousands of scientific studies over the last 40 years have proven that athletes can radically improve their performance using this technique. Why not use this same approach to improve your perception of tomorrow?

Take control of your attitude

We have much more control over our feelings and moods than most people give themselves credit for.  I invite you to start exercising that control immediately. I encourage you to start planning ahead by making an emotional schedule for a great day - no matter what activities you will be involved in.

You already know to some degree what you’ll be doing. Why not choose to also know ahead of time how you’re going to feel about it?

Emotional planning means giving some forethought to how you are going to feel about upcoming activities and events.

How do you expect to feel tomorrow?
Do you feel that you can realistically plan your emotional attitude”
The lines are open!

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Do you realize that you have at your disposal the power to change the state of those around you in an instant? I am not just talking about people that you know, but also people you have only seen once and that you have never even talked to. Yes, you can change the state of a complete stranger in a moment, from a distance. That’s a lot of power, don’t you think?

Before we explore this remarkable source of influence, let’s consider a few basic facts about human communication.

Some possibilities

Most of us tend to focus on our verbal communication skills, and that’s reasonable. After all, being able to express yourself accurately, and convey your thoughts in an understandable way, is a very valuable skill. We have all been touched to the heart by well-crafted words, and we highly value that ability.

It makes no difference whether they come from a great public speaker; a captivating author or a dear friend; words have the ability to touch our lives. But we are not talking about words today. The reason is, because in order for words to be able to touch somebody’s life, they either need to hear them or read them. Remember though, I said we could do this from a distance without talking to the other person.

Can you think of a way to do that without words?

How about body language? Our body language definitely affects the way others view us, in fact, it also affects the way we view ourselves. Yes, body language conveys an important subconscious message to everyone who sees us. So body language is definitely a powerful means of communication, but it doesn’t necessarily change the state of others. What it does do is influence their perception of us as a person.

As important as our words and body language are, they still don’t have the power to change the mental state of someone who sees us from a distance.

What’s left?

How about our external trappings? You know, our clothes, the car we drive, the cost of our wristwatch or jewelry, and things like that. Those things certainly get other people’s attention, don’t they? In reality though, aren’t they just an extension of our body language? They may convey a message about our financial status, or level of credit
card debt, but that’s about the extent of it. Besides, we are not talking about changing people’s perception of us, are we? No, we’re talking about finding a way to change their mental state.

Any more ideas?

Imagine that you are walking down the street and you make eye contact with someone who looks sad or depressed. What would it take to add a shot of joy to their life instantly? What could you do in a moment, without a word, that would help them feel better right now?

What if the tables were turned? Imagine that you are the one walking down the street feeling blue, and someone else makes eye contact with you from 20 feet away. What could that person do to help you feel better in an instant?

Did you figure it out yet?

The answer is really very simple and yet frequently overlooked. Here’s how you can use your influence to instantly change their state. Look them straight in the eyes and give them a warm, sincere smile. That’s it, smiling at other people has the power to change their focus and lift their spirits in an instant of time. It forms an immediate connection between you and them, and sends a powerful message of good will. It’s a friendly little gesture that can reach clear across a room and touch the heart of a complete stranger. That’s pretty powerful!

Think about it!

How do you react when you are just going about your day, and someone you don’t even know smiles at you for no apparent reason? You probably smile back, right? It’s a natural reaction. How does exchanging smiles with someone make you feel? You do feel better, don’t you? Smiling is a simple way to make everybody feel better immediately. That’s a pretty wonderful ability to have at your disposal, don’t you think?

Feel better while helping others to feel better too?

So what are you going to do about it? Why not use this power liberally to improve your life and the lives of those around you? Go ahead, exercise this great power every chance you get and see if it doesn’t transform the quality of your life. People will be attracted to you like a magnet, and they probably won’t even know why. But you will know why, and you will feel good about it. In fact, it will probably make you smile!

Do you think that there is power in your smile?
When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?
Are you smiling now?

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Every speck of scientific research on the subject of human potential says that we all have much more potential power and ability than we are currently using. On some level I think we all probably realize, or at least suspect, that we have massive potential. The problem is, realizing that you have this powerful potential and actually tapping into it are two completely different things.

In fact, very few things are more frustrating than knowing you’ve got the resources to make a dramatic difference in your life, but not being able to access them. It’s like finding your dream home, having more than enough money in the bank to buy it, but the bank refuses to let you access your account.

Why is it so difficult to realize our full potential?

Have you ever wondered about that? If we have all this amazing potential, why can’t we just open up those resources and use them whenever we want to? It’s interesting that the entire scientific community is struggling with the same question. They readily acknowledge the almost limitless power of the human mind, but they can’t figure out how to tap into it.

I brought that up to make a point. When it comes to developing our potential, over thinking can actually hinder our progress and conventional thinking won’t get us where we want to go. I believe that there are two distinctly different kinds of wisdom that we all have at our disposal, and that relying too heavily on one will drown out the other.

Two very different kinds of wisdom

In the manmade world of science, mathematics, and all the other academic pursuits, we have been conditioned to rely heavily on analytical wisdom. We think everything out and analyze it thoroughly in an effort to “find the answers” to our questions. Obviously, being able to think is a very useful ability and frankly, I wish more people would make better use of it. But thinking is not always the most productive way to find answers. In fact, sometimes it just gets in the way.

When we look at the natural world we quickly realize that analytical wisdom is nonexistent. There is only genetic wisdom, what we like to call instinct. This is the core wisdom that I believe resides within our genetic blueprint. Now here is something that I find extremely interesting. In the absence of analytical wisdom there are no imbalances. This brings me back to the point I made earlier, that over thinking can actually interfere with your ability to unlock your potential.

Acknowledging human genetic wisdom

Some of the richest and most meaningful experiences in life have absolutely nothing to do with analytical thinking. The bond of love between a man and a woman, the act of conception, giving birth, and a mother nursing her new born baby are all good examples.

The same is true when it comes to avoiding danger or protecting our loved ones. If you see a truck barreling toward you at 50 miles per hour, do you need to analyze the situation or do you just get out of the way? If your baby is running toward the deep end of a swimming pool, are you going to think about it or are you going to grab them before they fall in?

Life is sustained by breathing, but we don’t give it much thought unless something interferes with the process. When we are hungry we eat and when we are tired we sleep (unless too much thinking keeps us awake). The wisdom to do all of these amazing things does not come from our analytical mind and over thinking any of them will only get in the way.

Unlocking a greater share of your amazing potential

Obviously, when it comes to accessing more of our potential, overanalyzing the situation is not going to help. Instead, learning to quiet our minds will encourage our innate genetic wisdom to become more pronounced. This will allow greater balance between our two types of wisdom and greatly increase our resourcefulness. Here are some practical ways to help you do that.

1) Listen to soothing instrumental music with your eyes closed and
. . try to feel the music inside your body as it moves and changes.

2) Sit on the beach or by a river and listen to the sound of the water.
. . Try to listen with your whole being so that you can feel the rhythm
. . created by the moving water.

3) Go outside at night, lie on your back and look up at the night sky.
. . Relax and let go of your thoughts as your eyes adjust and the stars
. . become really visible.

The natural world runs on the exact wisdom you are trying to connect with. The more you immerse yourself in nature, the easier it will be to develop your genetic wisdom.

Moving toward balance

If you want to unlock your potential to a greater degree, don’t allow your analytical mind to take over your life.  Reaching your true potential requires a different kind of wisdom. It means developing a completely different concept about what is possible and a whole new attitude about life in general. It also requires a different set of life skills in order to produce a higher quality of results. That is exactly what I explore with you in my book TRUE SELF.

Modern life is full of artificial mental stimulus and sensory input. This creates an environment that over stimulates our analytical mind while drowning out our innate genetic wisdom. It takes conscious effort to restore a more balanced relationship between the two, but the benefits are far greater than the effort required.

Have you been over thinking your life?
Are you losing touch with your genetic wisdom?
The lines are open!

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My book TRUE SELF is the fastest inexpensive way (coaching is the fastest) to make positive life changes very quickly. Do you want to discover your core passions, dismantle your hidden, limiting beliefs, and realize your most desired goals? TRUE SELF will guide you smoothly through the process.

If you had the power to fix any problem in the world, what would you choose to fix and why? Recently I asked this very question on facebook and twitter. We all recognize that there are plenty of things going on in this world that cause unnecessary pain and suffering. I asked this question because I was curious to know which issues were of greatest concern to those I interact with.

As you can imagine, there were a lot of caring people with something of value to contribute. Here is a sampling of the many responses I got: corruption, jealousy, gender inequality, hunger, heartache, suicide bombing, and war.

Would you change those things if you could?

Of course you would, we all would, because such things offend our deepest sense of right and wrong. The truth is, the vast majority of our fellow human beings are also troubled by these kinds of injustices and wish they could find a way to do something about them.

That’s why there are so many well supported charities and positive action groups. Wherever you see unnecessary pain and suffering you will also find at least one group of people who care enough to try to right the wrong. It’s a beautiful testimony to the caring nature of people in general.

But what really needs to change?

Is there some root cause or common denominator that fuels the majority of these problems and injustices? And if so, is there anything you can do about it? Well, I believe the answer to both questions is yes. First, let’s consider the root cause.

If you look closely at most of the problems that create pain and suffering on the world scene, I think that you will discover that greed plays a prominent role. Greed is defined as an intense or extreme selfish desire for wealth, power, or material possessions. When someone cultivates this desire to an extreme, they tend to abandon their concern for the welfare of others.

Chasing the illusion

It should be noted that greed is fueled by a misguided attempt to fill certain basic human needs. Interestingly, none of those needs can ever be filled with a greedy, selfish approach. No matter how much wealth, power, or material possessions might be acquired through greedy pursuits, they will never be able to fill the void.

What are those basic human needs that can’t be satisfied by wealth, power, or material possessions? They are core needs like happiness, contentment, fulfillment, gratification, and satisfaction. The ridiculous illusion that any of these core essentials can be filled by selfish or greedy pursuits has plagued mankind throughout history. It simply does not work that way, it never has and it never will.

Becoming part of the solution

If greed is at the heart of the problem, then what is the solution and what can we do about it? For starters, we need to dispel the illusion that external sources have the ability to satisfy our most basic human needs. Things like happiness, contentment, fulfillment, gratification, and satisfaction are an inside job. They are not something we pursue, they are something we embrace and cultivate.

A guided journey of self discovery can put us in touch with our true nature and core values. If we align our lives according to those values, our passions and response patterns will fortify those values and we will behave in a way that feels harmonious with our true nature. This is how we nurture feelings of happiness and contentment. This is also the key to how you can become part of the solution rather than a contributor to the problem.

Exerting a positive influence

Each of us can choose to live, and use our resources, in a way that counteracts the influence of greed and selfishness. How can we do that? One way is by manifesting qualities like compassion, charity, and generosity. This will have a direct influence on everyone we interact with and will encourage them to embrace a higher standard. But we can and should do more!

We can choose to use our resources to support the growth of companies and businesses that take a responsible approach toward this planet and the people on it. In the world of business, money talks and the collective voice of the masses is what decides who succeeds and who doesn’t. Responsible spending and consumer awareness has the power to change the playing field.

You can change the world

Never underestimate the ability of a small group of dedicated people to
change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Individually and collectively we have the ability to facilitate positive change. Before we can make that happen though, we need to raise the bar on what we expect from ourselves. Once we step up and take responsibility for our own actions and attitudes, we need to interact with the world in a way that supports those brave individuals and companies who also conduct themselves in a responsible way.

You have the power to change the world. The question is, will you?

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My book TRUE SELF is the fastest inexpensive way (coaching is the fastest) to make positive life changes very quickly. Would you like to discover your core passions, dismantle your hidden limiting beliefs, and realize your most desired goals? TRUE SELF will guide you through the process.

The rising costs of gas, food and everything else is having a negative effect on many people’s state of mind these days. Do you find yourself  getting distressed over the current economic situation?

High prices can definitely affect much more than our wallets, they can also influence our overall attitude and mindset.  Negative thoughts and feelings about money can easily rob us of our sense of joy and happiness, which puts us in the grip of negativity. It becomes like a big dark cloud blocking out our light. When we allow this to happen, realize it or not, we have given our power to negativity.

Negative feelings prevent us from being a truly happy, loving, and abundant person. Abundance and lack cannot coexist. One or the other will always prevail.

Two opposing forces

Take a minute and focus on the words, positive, happy, loving, abundant. Those are good words aren’t they? They give us a positive and optimistic feeling.  That good feeling represents the way we truly want to be, our natural positive and loving state.

We actually block our ability to attract abundance into our lives when we hold the feeling that we lack money or any other resource. When we are confronted with high prices at the checkout stand or gas pump and we get distressed, it puts us in touch with these negative feelings.

Connecting the thoughts and feelings

Here’s how we can use these situations as an opportunity to raise our awareness and initiate a quantum shift from a mindset of lack to one of abundance.

The next time you find yourself in this kind of situation take a moment to notice if you are distressed about high prices. If so then you are in a mindset that is focused on lack. Our mind is only creative. It tries to create whatever we focus our attention on. If we hold in mind that prices are too high and we cannot afford it, our mind will immediately go to work to make that our reality.

Approval or disapproval?

When we don’t like something or feel distressed because of it, that means that we disapprove of it. By disapproving, we are sending negative energy to a situation we already see as negative. When we disapprove of anything or anyone we are feeding our consciousness with additional negative energy and compounding the problem.

When we make a decision and let go of the negativity and disapproval, we are releasing that negative energy from our consciousness. The next step is to project positive energy and approval into that situation, effectively replacing the negative with positive.

Granted, this shift in mindset won’t cause prices to come down, in fact they may even go up. What it will do is prevent external forces from having a negative influence on our sense of joy and abundance. When we operate from abundance we attract abundance into our life and free ourselves from the grip of negativity.

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With so much information and advice bombarding you from every conceivable source, how can a budding entrepreneur distinguish between real opportunities and mere busy work? Answering this one question correctly can literally mean the difference between massive success and unknown obscurity.

If you try to have a big presence on all the social media sites, comment on all the top blogs in your niche, listen to all the free training from every new launch, do all of your own SEO, design work, and content creation,  how busy will you be? As an entrepreneur, time is your most valuable resource, and like everyone else, you only have so much of it.

Will doing all these things really grow your business?

Each of the things I mentioned can add to your overall growth when done correctly, but there is a downside. If you spend too much time focused on those activities, you won’t have enough left over to do the things that really matter. Instead, you will be working twelve hours a day and not making any money.

Here’s where things get a little tricky. You probably do need to do some of these time consuming tasks unless you are in a position to outsource them. So, how can you fit everything in and still have time for a life?

Choices need to be made, that’s how!

If you try to do everything you won’t accomplish anything worthwhile. You’ll be incredibly busy, but you won’t have much to show for it and eventually you’ll burn out. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am reasonably sure that your reasons for wanting to be an entrepreneur didn’t include working twelve hours a day, seven days a week, and making little or no money. And yet, that is exactly the experience many are having by following all the popular trends.

Instead of focusing on the latest flash, I prefer a more pragmatic approach. In every area of life there are always simple, profound truths that will outperform flash over the long run. Granted, when it comes to building a successful business these simple truths may not seem very glamorous compared to the lure of the latest get rich with the click of a button product, but they work and that’s what I care about.

Simplicity is an entrepreneur’s best friend

Complicated strategies can be intellectually appealing because they usually have a big wow factor, but I prefer to go with simple whenever possible. That’s what I have for you today, 3 simple, common sense solution for making the most of your time and effort while trying to grow your business.

1. Do more of what works. For entrepreneurs and small business owners, all tasks are not created equal. Some activities make a direct or indirect contribution to your income, others are much less important with little or no influence to your bottom line. You need to distinguish between the two and prioritize you time and energy accordingly.

I’m not saying you can completely ignore everything that doesn’t grow your income. What I am saying is that the bulk of your time needs to be spent on things that you know are contributing to the growth of your business. Instead of chasing every new moneymaking scheme that comes along, identify what is already working for you and find a way to take it to the next level. The 80-20 rule works well for this.

2. Stop trying to be all things to all people. Thanks to the internet you may have a worldwide audience, but the whole world is not your niche. You need to figure out who your product or service resonates with and focus on them. It is much more effective (and profitable) to fine tune your message for a specific crowd rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

The world is a big place made up of thousands of specialized niches large and small. You only need a small tribe of loyal customers to be a successful entrepreneur. Avoid the temptation of the broad market because it will dilute the effectiveness of everything you do.

3. Personalize your approach. Would you rather do business with the impersonal corporate world or with a real person who is personally involved? Personal branding can transform an unknown entrepreneur into a wildly successful business person.

We all prefer to do business with those we view as authorities and those we trust. Personal branding makes it possible for an entrepreneur to fill both these criteria. When your audience feels connected with you in a deeply motivating way, they will be eager to do business with you.

Narrow your focus to grow your business

Crafting a business breakthrough strategy for my business coaching clients often requires a great deal of creative innovation. But before we move to that stage, we always cover the tried and true fundamental growth strategies first. These are the kind of strategies that should form the foundation of your entrepreneurial efforts.

If you do more of what works and less of what doesn’t, your business will grow. If you focus your efforts and attention on those who already need what you have to offer, your customer base will expand and so will your income. If you are transparent and sincere with your audience in a way that makes them feel connected to you and your message, they will carry you to success.

Are you building your dream on proven growth strategies?
Have you allowed busy work to get in the way of success?
The lines are open!

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Are you ready for your business breakthrough? With a lifetime of business building experience I am ready to help you make a business breakthrough.

Because our life happens one day at a time, there is a tendency to view each day as a separate and independent event. While I am a big fan of living in the moment, it is equally important to understand how one moment relates to the next.

Life is a cumulative experience

Those with something to gain want you to believe that major changes can happen almost instantly and with very little effort. They try to convince you that you can be a millionaire, or the picture of perfect health, if you just buy their product and use it for the next thirty days.

Promises like that can sound very appealing. Don’t be fooled, there is no such thing as an overnight success, or even an overnight failure for that matter. Sometimes it may appear to be that way, but that’s just because we were not in a position to witness the whole process.

See the big picture

In actuality, success and failure are the result of prior choices and actions. Barring any unforeseen catastrophic events, your life today is the sum of all your yesterdays.

To succeed in any area of life we need to learn to view today, not as a single disconnected event, but as a major contributor to our future. This requires a special kind of awareness. It means being able to look ahead and see the likely consequences of what you are doing right now.

Shortsightedness eventually brings pain

If we don’t see the connection between are choices today, and our quality of life tomorrow, there will pain and disappointment in our future. We see this scenario being played out every single day.

One common example of this kind of shortsightedness is someone who eats and drinks without any regard for the long term consequences. Over the years their weight and blood pressure rise steadily. The function of their liver and pancreas is slowly impaired, and their level of physical activity decreases. Then, seemingly out of the blue, they are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, or worse yet, they have a heart attack.

Still no clue

What’s their response to their new reality? They either wonder why, or they chalk it up to getting older. When in truth, it was the predictable outcome of two or three decades of not associating today’s choices with tomorrow’s reality.

We could say the same thing about a relationship that slowly goes bad, or constantly rising debt that leads to bankruptcy. Failure to recognize and acknowledge that our future is the culmination of all the previous days and years is a sure path to pain and disappointment.

Awareness leads to success

On the other hand, we can make good use of the cumulative nature of life to help move us steadily in the direction of our goals and dreams. However, before we can do that, we need to adopt a different mindset with relation to how we view the accumulation process.

We live in a world that wants everything right now. People have linked their positive emotional anchors to instant gratification. They have no patients for, nor do they find any pleasure in the process. They just want the result without having to do the work. The problem with this mindset is that life simply does not work that way.

Learn to love the journey

Life is about growth and change, that is the journey we are on. If we only focus on the final outcome we miss the joy associated with our experience. In other words, we miss out on life itself.

On the other hand, if we live each day with no awareness of where it is leading us, then we have no direction and will never achieve any goals. What we want is the best of both worlds. We want to fully enjoy and experience each day, and know that it is moving us ever closer to the realization of our long term goals.

How can we do that?

1) Shift your mindset with a question. You need to weigh each day’s activities and decisions according to your long term goals. Simply asking yourself, “will this move me toward success or away from it?” will increase your awareness and change your perspective

This applies to personal goals, business goals, and relationship goals. For example, If you are considering a second helping of dessert, ask yourself if that will move you toward your weight loss goal, or away from it. If you are about to find fault with your mate, ask yourself if pursuing that conversation will strengthen your relationship or undermine it. Always consider the long term consequences before to make a decision or take action.

2) Learn to find joy in the process. I learned this from the legendary Bonsai Master John Naka. When I was relatively new to the art of bonsai he told me that if I did not learn to find enjoyment in the training process, I might as well buy finished bonsai trees and just be a collector.

But I wanted to create not collect. We are all the creators of our own life; we can’t just buy the life we want. Doesn’t it make sense to enjoy the creative process while staying aware of our overall direction? We do this by holding a vision of our desired future and finding joy in each step of the journey.

3) Review your actions weekly. Every week take a few minutes to look back and double check your direction. Are you still moving toward your goals, or do you need to make some adjustments? Were there any activities over the past week that did not support you goals and should be eliminated?

Then review your goals to see if they are still what you want. It is not unusual to discover that the goals themselves need to be adjusted from time to time to stay in harmony with who we are right now. Don’t be afraid to reevaluate your goals as you grow and progress.

Using the present to sculpt the future

As we can see, within the scope of normal circumstances, there really is no such thing as instant success or failure. Learning to maintain a constant awareness of how today’s choices effects tomorrow’s life will empowers us to create the future we want, while finding joy in the journey.

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