A Successful Attitude Helps Create A Successful Life

You Can Always Change Yourself By Adjusting Your Attitude 

Your attitude is the summation of your personal philosophy on life. 

As Jim Rohn says, "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out." 

Hence, your attitude, being the summation of your personal philosophy, can be considered the greatest determining factor in how you shape your life and control your destiny (i.e. how you Live A Determined Life).

Look at these personal philosophies and you can tell exactly what kinds of attitudes these highly successful people have:

The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are. ~Thomas Dreier

My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.  ~Oprah Winfrey 

Positive self-direction is the action plan that all winners in life use to turn imagination into reality, fantasy into fact, and dreams into actual goals. ~Denis Waitley

People who stay on top, who are winners year after year, have one thing in common – a winning attitude. They know that complacency breeds mediocrity, so they give 100 percent. They always are the best they can be, and they never spend time thinking about what they have done, because it steals from what they’ve yet to do. ~A. J. Foyt

Man is unlike any other animal on the planet in that we can create our own motivations and attitudes. 

This wasn't the common thinking for thousands of years when men thought they were merely at the mercy of pre-ordained destinies. William James, the 19th Century philosopher, was most influential in spreading the understanding that man could control his destiny. He wrote: "The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing their inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."

While that was extremely revolutionary thinking at the end of the 19th century, it is certainly the accepted thinking today, at least in those parts of the world which have advanced beyond the basic poverty level. 

The bottom line is, while you may not be able to change the world, or the events in the world directly or indirectly impacting upon you, you can always change yourself by adjusting your attitude and your thinking. 

This article is excerpted from the best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. 

Your Personal Growth Starts Now

Find the Courage to Live A Determined Life 

Be willing to take a chance on personal growth success. There is no advantage in waiting. 

After all, right now is the oldest and most experienced you have ever been, and the youngest and most inexperienced you will ever be again. No matter what age you are, the time to establish new goals and chart a new (or revised) path is now. As the author C.S. Lewis said, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream."

Having goals is important, in fact critical, to implementing personal change. As motivational guru Jim Rohn used to say:

Goals.

There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them.

There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them.

There's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

Having goals helps you plan and prepare your actions. As Stephen R. Covey noted in his book First Things First, "Much of our frustration and anxiety come from the feeling of being unprepared. Many activities become urgent as the result of lack of proper preparation."

Remember, your goals should be intricately aligned with your responses to the two questions above on what you are doing with your life and how the world will be better as a result of your personal journey on this planet. Your goals also need to be relevant to both your ego and spirit.

We are not talking about day-to-day living goals or "to do" lists, or even short-term desires like purchasing a new car or funding your child's tertiary education. Too many people get trapped focusing on goals such as these, and they end up so busy making a living they forget to make a life. 

To ensure you do not fall into this trap make sure your goals and desired outcomes are designed to create the Determined Life you deeply desire. 

Don't get so busy earning a living that you fail to make a life. 

After all, you are getting only one shot at this human experience. 

This article is excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. 

Making Progress on Goals, Dreams, Hopes

Even Small Progress is Progress

One of the critical choices you need to make concerns who you socialize and interact with regularly.

Who you interact and engage with partially determines what you dream, hope, and desire.

Who you interact with and engage also impacts your personal goals and intended outcomes (both short term and long term). You can change your desired outcomes by changing your circle of friends, acquaintances, and even co-workers.

As you embark on your Determined Life Journey, it is important to surround yourself with positive, forward-looking friends and associates who are good role models for you, trusted confidants and valued advisers.

This will help you develop a stronger sense of self confidence and appreciation of your own worth and talents. Surrounding yourself with an array of good people will also help you stay on track and continue your journey, especially when the inevitable bumps and hurdles get in your way.

Embarking on your Project You Life Journey requires initiative that only you can provide.

Too often people procrastinate, waiting until they believe they have all the right answers in hand, or for what they perceive to be the perfect moment of opportunity.

But that is why they are stuck. Many of the answers will be found while on the journey. And the only perfect time to start is NOW.

The only way to get unstuck is to get started ── now. Step by step. One answer at a time. One change at a time.

Remember, as the American psychiatrist David Viscott said, "If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed."

So don't just start. Continue. Proceed. Keep moving toward your intended outcome. Even small progress is still progress. 

This article is partially excerpted from the book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. 

Identifying a Path for Your Life Journey

The True Measure of Success in Life is Who We Are Becoming

It is said that if we could truly see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.

For one thing, we would stop taking for granted all the miracles of life (the daily rising of the sun, the twittering of birds, the laughter of children at play, the colors of the leaves as they change, the beating of our own hearts, etc.). Instead, we would treat and respect these experiences for the miracles they are.

As we start to see the miracle of our own lives, our approach to life changes remarkably. This leads to greater respect for our own existence, and a deeper desire for improving the physical, emotional, and mental aspects of our human vessels.

 In doing so, we also come to the clear realization that the true measure of success in life is who we are becoming rather than what we are accumulating (either in terms of experiences or material possessions).

Billions of words have been written in hundreds of languages about understanding the meaning of life. Billions more have been uttered and written about the need to find purpose in one's life. From a Project You perspective, these two pursuits are best stated and comprehended as:

The meaning of life is to discover, grow, develop, and enhance your unique personal gift and individual talents.

The purpose of life is to use your unique personal gift and talents for the betterment of mankind, planet Earth, and the Universe of Souls.

How you go about accomplishing this is up to you.

Everything in your life (now and in the future) is a reflection of the choices you have made or will make. Just remember, when you start to change yourself, you start to change the world.

In our next blog post we will give you some key questions to ask yourself that will help you identify and understand your unique personal gift and the individual talents you bring to the world. 

This article is partially excerpted from the Amazon best-selling book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback formats.