I knew this dog once, called Jack. He was like any other dog. He would sit steering at you while you ate hoping for a treat to be thrown his way. Jack is a master motivator. He understands basic principles about how to get what he wants. Firstly he must be near the opportunity. Where the food is. For a dog proximity is key. He will sit close to the food.

Secondly, jack plants the seed or consideration in your brain. He sits directly in front of you and if you notice he doesn’t stare at the food, he looks you directly in the eyes. For Jack he must be noticed, he must be considered for his wish to potentially come true. Jack plants the seed of his success without saying a single word.

Finally for jack to be successful he is persistent. Think of how many times Jack has had to wait patiently only to be ignored while i stuffed my face with a sausage roll. He has failed time and time again but every once in a while, Jack gets something.

Are you getting some?

Most of us go about our lives drinking cups of tea without a care in the world. It often pays to stop and check the quality of the beliefs in which we base our routines. What I mean is, it pays to check the kettle every once in while.

My Nana enjoyed a beautiful cup of tea several times a day. She meticulously prepared the Choysa bag in her favorite white mug. Neither did she know that there were ants in her kettle. No one knows how long the ants had been there and why they were there. All we know is that they were there and that’s concerning.

Let’s stop and check the kettle once in while.

Once you have your rhythm its easy to play the same song over and over again. The good songs make us feel great, and the sad songs give us words during our sad times. What comes first? The emotion, the thought, a biochemical change, who knows but we all sure know about it when our emotions change like four seasons in one day.
A word, context or event can set off a whole set of emotional responses that make very little sense to us. This is because we all carry a complete repertoire of responses cued by pre-existing scenarios that we have experienced in our past.

Your response to something today could have been learnt many years ago and it may not be doing you any good. Even worse you could be replaying a significant life event over and over again. Scary isn’t it! It makes sense to try and repeat a positive experience but why would we want to repeat negative experiences?

We set ourselves up for positive or negative experiences according to our beliefs. A negative experience in the past creates a belief that we attribute to be true, and depending on its significance we will continue to dwell and potentially manifest time and time again. What we hold to be true in our minds we shall seek to manifest in our day to day lives.

Do you notice any re-occurring themes in your life? Could you be repeating the same pattern over and over again? Relationships is the most obvious area for playing our patterns of learnt behavior but you can also play out series of actions and thoughts that lead to business failure or under performance.

All is not lost, accepting your personal stories and being aware when they begin to manifest is a good first step of living in today. Freedom of mind takes a great degree of personal understanding and patience. Let go of yesterdays you, embrace who you are today in this moment and trust that your choices are in your best interest.

Forget everything you know about Money! Its not real, it doesnt exist. Us kiwi’s know that more than most as eftpos has certainly reduced the tangibility of a transaction. Money, Money Money, its not real, it doesnt exist. Ok I am repeating myself now, but I really want to make sure that what I am saying to you is sinking in. We dont need money, we cant eat it, we cant live in it, we cant holiday in it. Ok you get the picture. Money is but a concept. An item for exchange, an idea for status, a method to judge ability to complete action. Then why do so many people seek it out. Why do we want more of this stuff and for what purpose?

Well Im thinking that we have all been trained, like mice in a maze, and pigeons for food, we have been sold the ideal that if we can get money everything we have ever dreamed will come true. This is perhaps the greatest lie you have ever been told, and I am afraid this lie is being told everyday on television, in schools and between parents and their children.

Everything you ever wanted can come true and it doesn’t take a cent. You do not need to sell your soul for your dreams, you don’t need to be another sell out in this world. What you believe in can be stronger than any dollar. Detach your dreams from your dollars! Throwing more money at something wont create a solution or solve the problem. Your mind, your creative genius, your time, your ability to interact with others, your values, beliefs, none of these things have ever had anything to do with money. This is why a millionaire can lose a fortune and get it back the next day. This is why someone on minimum wage can win lotto, be instantly rich and live terribly or lose it all.

STOP chasing money! STOP worshiping money, forget the pay check. Now focus all of your efforts back to you, thats right, if you want to live a better life you are going to focus on making you a better person. Start by setting strong standards for your life, say to yourself “In my life I will stand for these values.” In my life “I will live this way regardless of circumstances.” In your life you are time rich! You have all the time in the world to do the things that are important to you. You spend this time with the people that you love, doing the things you love to do. You accept that there are tough times and these are faced with strong people, people that will stand along side you, in mutual support.

Money is an illusion that clouds your mind, money is the distraction that teases your focus away from what’s really important. Work hard to follow your passion, try and make yourself a little bit better everyday. Educate yourself, commit to a life of trying to help others.

Now if you are reading this without a cent in your pocket, perhaps you have lost it all and all this is a bit hard to swallow. After all its hard to be told that money isn’t important when you can barely clothe or feed yourself. Perhaps you know better than anyone that the necessities of life come with a cost, and perhaps you also know better than most, that “living well” doesn’t cost a cent.

I bet you have tried your hand at a few different jobs or business ventures over your life time. I would be willing to place a bet that the closer the activity is aligned with your primary talents the greater the level of personal fulfillment you received and further financial success.

We thrive when we breathe life into expressing what we value the most. What do you value?

Some of us are blessed with secondary skill sets. While this can very helpful it can also be very distracting in our quest to find the right pathway in our personal development. Do you sometimes feel that you are off on a tangent? We all feel this way when day after day we work outside of our primary capability or purpose. Sometimes this working lifestyle goes on for so long we lose sight of what our primary purpose or talent is. Sometimes so many commitments mount up that even the thought of change seems insurmountable. The truth is you can rediscover your natural purpose by connecting with your individual talent.

In marketing businesses we would term this a companies “Unique Selling Proposition.” In Management theory we would say its the “Competitive Advantage.” Whatever language we use, the facts speak for themselves. You do one thing exceptionally well, some things pretty good, and a lot of things terribly. In which area do you spend the majority of your time?

Think back to the times when you have thrived! What made you the best or better than most at a particular activity? Did you feel the flow, a moment of absolute fulfillment and ultimate realization that you were doing exactly what you were intended to do from the day that you were born. I think you know what I mean, and I think you know what it is.

So stop lying to yourself, face the truth, start reconnecting with your natural passion one step at a time. Maybe at first you will not be able to commercialize your talent, perhaps at first your talent will be only a very small aspect of your life. Whatever your personal circumstances I wish you well, I pledge my hope to you in your pursuit of fulfillment. May your world be abundant with what you value most and may you thrive through the evolution of your personal talent.

In this overly negative media environment it is important to be careful who you listen too. Maintaining a positive mindset can be more difficult than it sounds as the chorus of doomsayers reiterate the difficulties in the economic environment, another business closure and further job losses. I wouldn’t suggest cutting yourself off completely from what’s going on in the world. But I would suggest that there are alot of positive stories out there also. So do yourself a favour this Xmas and start feeding yourself something positive. Be more selective about what’s on the television, and seek out the hope stories. After all it wont be fear and worry that got you and your business to where it is today. Its more likely the moments when you were feeling confident about the future, you took a risk or two and it paid off. The moments that made you were probably the moments you were filled with hope and excitement about the future.

If that sounds a world away from where you are right now, at the very least concentrate on being cool, calm and collected as the world collapses around you. That way, as the important decisions need to made you can do so with a clear, rational head and avoid the rash panic.

Lastly, find those people who still see the positive and their focus will be your medicine.

You can study the art of creating wealth, you can emulate and learn from the worlds great thinkers. At some point you have to get down to the nuts and bolts of it.

Understanding how you are geared and seek rewards may hold a few clues to your future.

Are you a creator or a contributor?
Are you into creation or growth?

Creators are really great at coming up with ideas and getting them started. If a creator has half an entrepreneurial soul in their body they can pull together a plan, and the resources to get a business off the ground. Once things are up and running and value has been created they then get started on the next idea.

A contributor is into growth over creation. They are motivated by developing and growing already established and stable businesses. Personally they like to assume less risk than the creators. Their buzz doesn’t come from bringing something to life, rather their satisfaction is from seeing consistent results from their steady contribution to one business.

We can also think about this topic of time and space in terms of gears. What I mean is that the creators in general operate in the low gear range of 1st and 2nd, they can get up a really steep hill with a good rev of the engine. In contrast the contributors work away in the higher gears cruising for longer distance.

Everyone can operate in each of these distinctive areas for some time. Which area comes more naturally to you? If you can figure this out you will be a step closer to your pathway to wealth and personal satisfaction on a day to day basis.

Imagine if we could focus a large proportion of our time and efforts into those activities that once completed have a lasting positive impact on our lives and the lives of others. Consider what you could achieve if you dedicated yourself to the building blocks of adding value.

In our personal and business lives we create structure and routines that can serve or burden us. Our esteem and our energy is a determinant of the choices we make every day. We can choose to feed ourselves through activities that energize us and make us better people, or alternatively we can choose activities that drain us of energy and deplete our esteem.

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