Rarely – if at all – does anyone WANT to change. The results of the change are what actually motivate us. Keep your focus on those.

It’s impossible to go through life without experiencing negativity. A cheating spouse, a horrible boss, a conniving friend or family member; the list is endless, and we’ve all had at least one negative experience in our lives. It’s important, however, that we overcome those negative people and experiences so that we can learn, move on, and live.

A basic premise in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is that each of us has our own unique perception of reality created by using our senses – what we see, hear, feel, smell and taste. The very thoughts being calibrated by the Thought Compass are represented to ourselves via these same senses.

It’s almost always frustrating when we compare where we are to where we want to go. It’s better to compare where you are to where you started. That way, you’ll see the progress.

The problems with New Year’s resolutions are that most people aren’t really committed to them but feel they “should” make them because everyone else is; or they are committed to them but they make them too large and unwieldy.

Everyone has the power to visualize what they want, and by harnessing this technique you will be able to bring forth that which you truly desire. Thought is energy and affects our actions in daily life and the ways in which we confront obstacles. Visualizing what you want, imaging yourself in your ideal situation, will eventually cause those visions to be accepted by your subconscious, thus changing your habits and your entire mindset while attracting new people and circumstances that will help further your goals.

If you enter into your goal believing you can – and it doesn’t happen – at least you got to enjoy the ride for awhile. And during that time, you were invigorated, happy, and energized. Those emotions make you more aware, which make you open to new ideas, which allow you to try what you might not have tried if you thought all would come apart.

If you’re feeling like your treading water, the problem is most likely that you’re trying to do too much; rather than not enough. Slow yourself down. Ask yourself, “What ONE thing will I do RIGHT NOW that I will complete?” Then, complete it BEFORE you move on to anything else.

No task is too large, when broken down into small steps.

Why would Smokey prefer to live in the rain and cold instead of in a warm house?” my wife wondered. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” I granted. “However, if you look at it from her point of view, outside is all she knows. Frosty nights and wet grounds might not be pleasant, and she’d probably even enjoy being inside once she got used to it, but sometimes you stay with the discomfort you know rather than take the time to learn about something better.”

Ask anyone with a disability who has adapted (more the rule than the exception) or who has had a disability since birth (they’ve always seen themselves as whole) and you’ll learn that they don’t need sympathy and don’t want to be seen only through the lens of their disability. They’ll tell you that people who are stuck seeing them in terms of loss and suffering are missing who they are as people, sometimes depriving them of their potential.

People who do not achieve their goals “freak out” when things don’t go the way they want. They look at it as failure and the end of the road. The immediately follow up thought to that is, “As long as it didn’t work, why bother to keep trying?” They quit. Successful people look at sebacks as “feedback” and figure out a new way around it.

The biggest problem we face is NOT that we cannot do it, but that we make the goal unrealistic.
Remember “Think 1st.”

Pick 1 thing (not several), make it Small enough that there’s no objection in your mind to doing it, make sure you do it Today.