Few people have guts to tell it the way it is. Robert Kiyosaki, in this incredible video, says things like,

“Four things make 90% of the people poor: taxes, inflation, debt, retirement plans.”

And then he provides solutions. He says,

“America will become a third world nation – rich and poor. That’s it. Tell me something money does not affect. Most guys are just wimps. Pussies. Cowards. They don’t have it. so they should get a job. It takes discipline. Most people would like to have a great body like Charles Atlas, but they’re at Burger King wolfing down a Whopper with fries. I don’t know how you can expect to get anything you want without some degree of long-term commitment. Quitting is the easiest thing to do. That’s why most people don’t make it. Everybody has doubts and fear of failing. But look at Tiger Woods or any great athlete: when the going gets tough, that’s when they turn into geniuses and most people turn into wimps. Get off your butt. If you want to be a mechanic, you go hang out with mechanics. If you want to get rich, hang out with rich people.”

3 Things You Need to Succeess

When it comes down to it, you need three things to succeed in business:

• Do you find that although you’re honest, loyal, hard-working, committed, and conscientious, yet you’re not making money?
• You attend the seminars, read the books, and apply the principles, but nothing seems to work?

Don’t worry; there is a rational reason.

Your Values Determine Your Value

I heard about a poor immigrant dishwasher who was asked by his boss what his goal was. The man replied, “To own this restaurant.” His boss laughed at him. He underestimated the power of passion and work.

That dishwasher was holding down three jobs at the time, and within a few years, he owned three restaurants, including the one where his boss asked him what his goals were.  Immigrants are statistically five times more likely to become millionaires than the local people in any country, because they are prepared to do whatever it takes. And they don’t mind paying their way.

J. C. Penney said, “Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.”

Leverage is what it’s all about in business. That is, after all, how the rich get rich.  And that’s why I love being a Joint Venture Broker – I use leverage.

How about getting leverage on your mind, so that you can accomplish your goals faster and easier? It costs nothing, and it’s simpler than one might imagine. They say, “Affirmations, like ‘I’m happy, healthy, and successful’, consistently spoken out loud with enthusiasm and belief, work.” Well, that’s at a very basic level. One can ramp that up significantly.

Stepping Up Affirmations

Entrepreneurs often spend too much time worrying.

Statistically, 85% of the things we worry about will never happen. Those things include:

• worries over our past that can never be changed,
• worries over which we have no control,
• irrational concerns or fears,
• and worries about the future.

Worrying about something never solved the problem or affects the final outcome in any way.

The Futility of Worry

Excessive worries cause negative emotions that release chemicals into our bodies which wreak physical havoc – high blood pressure, headaches, heart conditions, and more. I loved Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”.

Worry can ruin relationships, make your face drawn and ugly, and affect every aspect of your life negatively. Leo Buscaglia said:

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”

The more attention you pay to worries, like plants, they grow bigger and stronger, until they control you. Someone once said:

“People gather bundles of sticks to build bridge they will never cross.”

Dealing with Worry Effectively

How do we deal effectively with worry? Action. Pat Schroeder said:

“You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.”

Face you fears. Shine the light of intelligent, rational, and balanced evaluation on them, and the shadows of fear and emotionalism will retreat.

My Personal Recipe

Here’s my personal recipe for handling worry. I have a very vivid imagination, so you should know that I have to carefully manage my tendency to make mountains out of molehills and elaborate expansively on the smallest concerns.

Cutting to the Core of Fear with Self- Talk

I was walking from a business meeting to my car in a parking lot when I realized that I was in a constant state of worry. I knew I had to take control of things right away, so I took advantage of the fact that there were no people anywhere close and I could have a good, long talk with myself.

I have found this to be very therapeutic, talking out loud to myself. I would literally ask myself, “OK, Robin, what is your biggest worry?” I would answer myself. Then I would ask:

• “Why do you worry about that?”
• “What’s the worst that can happen?
• “What if it does happen? What would you, or could you do?”
• “What do you fear losing?”

…and answer all these questions.

Picture This & Deal with Fears One Step at a Time

I would then mentally put each of these worries in a tin can on a big shelf. I would name my five biggest worries (or more, if necessary), put them all in cans on the shelf, then one by one, in my mind, as I walked around that parking lot, I would take the can off the shelf, open it up, examine it in detail, and create an action plan.

For example, if I needed to write a letter, make a call, set up a meeting, or whatever action was necessary, I would resolve to do that, put it on a mental “Action List”, and take the can of the shelf.

If there was absolutely nothing I could do to alleviate that worry, remove it, or prevent that which I feared, I would realize that there was nothing I could do, and I would take it off the shelf, too.

The Last Step is Taking Action

I waddle around that parking lot for about an hour, until I had mentally and emotionally dealt with all my worries in this way. I talked myself through everything. I had an action plan, I was relieved, I had perspective, I was calm, and I was ready to attack again. I thanked myself, got in my car, drove home, and diligently went to work on my Action Plan.

When you confront yur fears and take action to diminish your worries, remove them, or set up contingency plans, you take control of your mind, and therefore your emotions and your life.

You are bigger than your worries.

Nelson DeMille said:

“Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.”

You are bigger than your worries. You have a lot more strength that you think you have. You can choose how to deal with your worries – fight, or flight. You can let your worries dominate you, or you can decide to b the boss. Change your self talk, change your attitude, take action, and win.

How many times have you said, “I don’t feel like it”, but you go ahead anyway and do it, and you’re very happy you did?

In life and in business, feelings are not always the ideal indicator, especially when they involve a spot of sloth or discomfort on your part.

Dive In & You’ll Find You love It

Recently, my amazing daughter urged me to go for a ride with her on a wild-looking machine at the fairgrounds that whirled people around upside down, high above the ground. The last time I rode on one of those things, I was a teenager. Now I’m 56, but I agreed to accompany her. I didn’t feel like it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

My wife persuaded me to go to Disney World for the first time. I certainly didn’t feel like that, but I did it, and I loved it. After that, we visited Disneyland as well!

Yesterday, my two friends suggested we jump off the boat and swim in the cold waters of Howe Sound off Horseshoe Bay. I didn’t feel like it, but I dived in, and it was great.

Quitters Don’t Win Gold Medals

• Do you think athletes feel like training for hours every day, in all kinds of weather, enduring constant pain?
• How about that awful food they eat on their special diets?
• Don’t you thing they feel like gobbling fatty burgers or lining up at the trough for ice cream?
• How often do they feel like quitting?

Those who do quit don’t win the gold medals. The same goes for entrepreneurs. Someone once said:

“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.”

Note, in the above quote, that the author says, “Reached and KEPT” – it’s OK to win once, but to keep on winning, you have to discipline your feelings and urges.

…And Once You Get There, Keep On the Gas!

Ross Perot said:

“Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment.

As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment.”

Beware – pride comes before the fall.

Lee Iacocca said:

“I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.”

Consciously Cultivate Habits that Get GOOD Results

And Jim Rohn said:

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. One discipline always leads to another discipline.”

That’s good news – doing the right thing instead of the easy thing becomes a good habit.

Small habits that get good results need to be developed and maintained in order to reap long-term rewards. Those who quit easily and seek the fast buck never get anywhere, and they develop a reputation for excuses and for not being reliable. James Allen said:

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set.”

That self-discipline to do the right thing in spite of what you feel, is what separates the men from the boys.

Earmarks of a Winner

Champions don’t make excuses, and they fight on, regardless of their feelings, comfort zone, or the opinions of others. When losers tell them, “Don’t work too hard, take it easy, rest more, dress down, don’t be so aggressive, don’t upset people”, winners simply go deaf. They associate with other winners and hear only their mentors and coaches.

Do the right thing, continuing in good and bad times to do the right thing, in spite of what you feel.

Conquer yourself, and you can reach any goal you wish.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt.

Winners say, “Talk is cheap. Your past actions predict your future choices. Show me, don’t tell me.” I agree.

If you’re wondering why your efforts and endeavors usually result in frustration, failure, disappointment, and pain, while other people, working on the same things, make pots of money, this is for you.

If you feel like you’re accident prone, all alone, and your chances are blown, don’t moan and groan – I might just have the solution for you.

Does this sound familiar?

You might be as smart as others who get rich while you get into more debt, you might work even harder than they do, you might be more motivated, and yet your attempts seem to be doomed to perpetual failure. You feel like a loser.

Dumb people are making money and you’re floundering. It’s just not fair!

Same products and services, same market, same pricing, same opportunity, yet while they seem to attract success and wealth, you feel like you’re magnetizing perpetual flops. Why?

Well, it’s not as mysterious as it may seem.

There’s no magical, imaginary demon or devil undermining your success and jumping at every opportunity to pull the proverbial rug out from under your feet. It’s not your age, appearance, education, or parents. It is a lot more simple than that.

The good news is that when you know what has been contaminating your progress, undermining your success, causing you stress, and making this mess, you can remove and change it, and put yourself on the road to health, wealth, and happiness.

A Good, Workable “Success Recipe”

Usually, we earn money and succeed in our endeavors in direct proportion to our self worth or self esteem. Guilt, a poor self image, and mixing with the wrong people (losers) is what generally sabotages our efforts, in spite of our hard work and good intentions.

The solution, therefore, must be to improve one’s self esteem.

The way to do that is through rigorous, sustained self discipline, and a good, workable “success recipe”. This, in my opinion, will “oil the wheels” of your programs and activities, and add jet fuel to what you’re doing. Confidence, enthusiasm, and belief are signs of a strong self image, and they attract great results.

Three major areas need to be addressed:

Area #1 – Your Input

…The people you spend time with and the input you’re exposed to. Discipline yourself to cut the losers out of your life and read good books, like Atlas Shrugged. Do not wilt nor hesitate – remember, self discipline increases self worth, and that increases the old bank balance.

Area #2 – Your Appearance

Look your best at all times, buy good clothes and shoes, groom yourself well, look like a million bucks, act and walk and talk like a successful entrepreneur, “Fake it until you make it”, and don’t hang out in crummy places. Only the best for you, my friend.

Treat yourself as a successful person would treat herself. Look the part, and you’ll start to feel the part. Believe and achieve!

Consistent, persistent attention to doing your best in everything you do will make you feel great about yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you will start attracting winners and money into your life.

Area #3 – Your Self-Talk

…What you tell yourself – your self talk, and the questions you ask yourself will determine how much success you achieve. Never put yourself down – be your own best friend and fan.

Here are some great questions and affirmations I strongly recommend you use at least ten times a day, every day, until they are a habit. Speak out load, with belief, sincerity, enthusiasm, and commitment:

• I am happy, healthy, and successful.
• I am a money magnet – I attract wealth and great people into my life every day.
• What is great about my life? What do I have to be grateful for?
• I am bulletproof, unstoppable, and strong.
• Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better, richer and richer.
• I am a guided missile on my way to my goals.
• People are fortunate to know me and work with me.
• I am a money machine, a dollarmaker, and a wonderful, generous, happy person.
• How can I double my net worth in one year?

Self discipline = self worth  = a self made millionaire.