Dreams are easy to achieve if you are no longer willing to put up with mediocrity. The way to stop settling and start achieving is to overcome childhood fears that being criticized for trying an idea is worse than not trying at all. Dreams come true when we recognize that it is not bad to try and fail. Here are the secrets of some of the world’s most successful dreamers: Even the wildest dream needs a plan. Many people think Henry Ford invented the automobile. He didn’t. The automobile was i...

  1 ~ EXPLORE NEW POSSIBILITIES When you know yourself and believe in yourself with all your heart and soul, the unthinkable becomes thinkable. For example, Walter Russell, when he was 15 years old, was asked by his girlfriend if he would take her to the opera, but then she told him that she was referring to the entire series, not just one performance. The series cost $80, and since he was earning only $12 a week, he said: “That’s impossible.” She retorted, “I’ve never heard you say so...

  One of my heroes, Norman Vincent Peale wrote: “To overcome your obstacles and live the “I Don’t Believe in Defeat” philosophy, cultivate a positive-idea pattern deeply in your consciousness. What we do with obstacles is directly determined by our mental attitude. Most of our obstacles, as a matter of fact, are mental in character.” “Ah,” you may object, “mine are not mental, mine are real.” Perhaps so, but your attitude toward them is mental. The only possible way you can have an atti...

  “Self-talk,” the way we talk to ourselves in our minds, plays a hugely significant role in determining our level of happiness and confidence. Why? Because we usually become what we tell ourselves we are. Indeed, speaking to ourselves positively is the most effective way to create positive self-beliefs. Since we now understand the power of choice and the power of our minds, we know that our thoughts can be directed. Why would we allow negativity to pull us backwards into undesirable stat...

Getting angry, in some cases, can sap your strength more than spending the day cleaning your house or even running a marathon. This isn’t too surprising when you consider what this intense emotion does to your body. All sorts of anger, from little irritations to major blowups, produce a rise in your body’s levels of adrenaline, cortisol and other stress hormones, increasing your blood pressure and speeding up your heartbeat; the strength of the reaction depends on the degree of anger and your ...

MARLENE AND DAVID DIDN’T GET IT Marlene was furious at David, her husband. It was 7:30 at night and he still wasn’t home. She had made a lovely dinner and had prepared his favorite dessert. Marlene and both children had waited until 7:00 o’clock, but they finally gave up and ate without him. With each passing minute Marlene became angrier. She complained to the children about their father’s irresponsibility, and after dinner she impatiently paced the floor. When David finally arrived, Marlene...

Think for a moment about the people you most admire in your life. To whom are you drawn? Usually it’s the joyful ones who smile, laugh, compliment others and radiate happiness. I CREATE MY OWN HAPPINESS Happiness is all about focus. Whatever you focus on pulls you in that direction, either negative or positive. So the secret to happiness is to choose to focus on the positive in life, no matter what. Abraham Lincoln said, “Folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I’d say...

The first step to becoming the successful person you want to be is to get yourself out of the way. Michael despised his cubicle. He was envious each morning as he passed the offices with doors, occupied by executives behind large mahogany desks. Michael wanted a promotion, but it was a wish, not a goal. A wish is a goal without the do and the deadline. One evening Michael expressed his discontent to his wife. She quickly reminded him that he should be grateful for his job and be content. “Do...

To begin any change, first you need to identify all behaviors needing change, because you can’t alter what you don’t acknowledge. And if you refuse to acknowledge your own self-destructive beliefs and behaviors, not only will they continue, they’ll become more deeply entrenched and grow more resistant to change. Acknowledgement of your weaknesses (and strengths) requires absolute honesty about what is and what isn’t working in your life. You need to know both what’s working, (which you can ce...

Dreams can be a rich resource for creativity, decision making, problem solving, and self-understanding. We actually do much of our information processing at night. Dreaming helps us integrate emotional and intellectual material from the day – without the defensiveness that characterizes our waking thoughts. Because we’re more honest with ourselves when we are asleep, we’re often more insightful as well. RECALLING DREAMS You may not remember you dreams, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t hav...