Lately I have been asked—in various ways—

But that ain’t how I learned to pick the winners.

In reality, I wasn’t much better than most people when it came to picking winners in the Small Cap, IPO and, Private Held arenas, until I learned… How To Win at the Horse Races!

Having grown up in Cow Country (Oklahoma & Kansas), one of the first photographs ever taken of me was astride a big old strawberry roan called Katie. As my Daddy used to say, “Horses are like some children. Just when you’ve got them started in the right direction, they up and start trying to think for themselves.”

Anyway, thinking about horses, I remember with pain and fondness my younger days “punching cattle” on the Stelbar, Lazy Bar-B, and other ranches. I also remember with affection some of the ardent, avid, and obsessed “horse players” I had known over the years.

Sharing the typical cowboy’s love/hate relationship with horses — “The only animal dumber than a horse is a cow, but the dumbest animal of all is the one on the back of the horse.” — I had never been a “horse player” myself. However, making money (even by betting the ponies) has always interested me and I have adapted many of the techniques and methods I have observed in some of the most obscure money-making endeavors to my own chosen fields of endeavor.

Until I attended my first Kentucky Colonels’ banquet, I had kinda chalked-off playing the horses as a lost cause. Although betting the ponies is a money-making endeavor, it had never yielded any techniques or methods I could adapt to my own endeavors.

All the horse players I had ever known could do was talk about horses. If I mentioned a racehorse by name, they could tell me who that horse was by (father; sire) and who it was out of (mother; dam). They would tell me the sire and dam of each of those horses, and so forth. Sometimes back 10 to 12 generations. They bet the horses based upon the win/lose record of the horse’s lineage.

There was simply no way I could adapt that methodology to any of my business endeavors. After all, if you look at the lineage of most successful business people, you wouldn’t find much to indicate that they had inherited a proclivity to succeed.

Then, at my very first Kentucky Colonels’ banquet, my wife (Delores) and I were seated at a table with Colonel Bill. He was a “professional” horse player. Colonel Bill had for over 30 years earned his living (and a sizable fortune) playing the horses. Nothing else. He didn’t work for anyone; didn’t own a business (as such); and didn’t gamble on dice or cards. He just bet the ponies.

To say I was soon intrigued with Colonel Bill would be an understatement.

Not once in our conversation across that banquet table did he ever tell me the sire or dam of any of the horses I mentioned. Nor did he ever comment on the physical attributes of the horses as did all the other horse players I had known. His conversation was more that of another entrepreneur making money in a rather unique industry.

With my adrenaline flowing — I always get a rush when I talk with successful people in any area of life — I, of course, asked Colonel Bill how he had made so much money betting the ponies while all the horse players I knew were hit and miss winners.

His answer was, “Son…” (By the way, mostly for my lady readers, when an older fella calls a younger fella “son,” the younger fella, if he is wise or wants to appear wise, listens intently because he is about to receive what the older fella considers to be the wisdom of his age or life experience.) ” … gamblers bet the ponies or play the horses. I don’t. Strong horses with good lineages can lose races. And weak horses with poor lineages can win races. So, I don’t bet on the horses.”

Then he hit me with his secret … “I Bet the Jockeys.”

Colonel Bill went on to explain that if “Shoes” (Willie Shoemaker, who won over 8,000 races in about 30 years) was riding in a race, the odds were that he would win the race — no matter what horse he was riding.

The colonel didn’t know much about the lineage of the horses running in the races — nor did he care. (He commented that they all run about the same speed anyway.) But, he knew everything there was to know about each of the jockeys: their wives; kids; family ties; religion; politics; everything. He kept informed about new, up-and-coming young jockeys who were proving their winning abilities. And, he structured his betting to take into consideration that, every once in a while, a new, untried jockey would defy the odds and beat the older, tried-and-proven jockey.

So, if you want to win at the horse races … Study the Jockeys, Not the Horses!

(Please note that it won’t work at the dog races because the dogs don’t have jockeys. They just run their hearts out trying to catch a mechanical rabbit. Maybe you can figure out how to bet on the rabbit. It always beats the dogs.)

After meeting and listening intently to Colonel Bill, I soon found myself adapting his “Bet the Jockey” methodology to … Investing in Successful Businesses

Not just anybody can crawl on the back of a horse and call themselves a jockey. But anybody — and I do mean anybody! — can open a store, create a business plan, or dream-up a business idea.

The person who operates (holds the reigns of) a business is the “jockey” in the business “horse race.” Therefore, when investing in a business, it is most important to study the win/lose record of the person who is (or will be) operating the business — the “business jockey.”

As I have said in the past, a business (any business) is nothing more than a box, whether it be a Post Office Box or a marble-columned edifice. The “real” business is in the hands and minds of the people who do the business of business. Of course, in order to keep with our current metaphor, the business is a horse.

By betting on “business jockeys” with the best win/lose records, you can always pick more winners than losers. Of course, you miss out on some of the good deals when a new, untried “business jockey” wins big. On the other hand, if you bet too heavily or too often on new jockeys, you’ll find yourself with more losers than winners.

That’s why when I get any new business plan or prospectus, the first section I turn to is the information about the backgrounds of the principals. If they haven’t done business successfully before (especially if they are past the age of 40), I need an awful lot more convincing before I’m ready to invest.

This adaptation of “betting the jockeys” has served me well over the years. That’s why my win/lose ratio is 80/20 instead of the other way around.

Now … Go Ye and Do Likewise!

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over five-hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Mountains is published by Kallisti Publishing.

Having spent over 50 years in business successfully, J.F. (Jim) Straw now shares “Practical Instruction in the Arts & Sciences of Making Money” at the Business Lyceum — http://www.businesslyceum.com.

A dear friend of mine once said, “Life is like a three legged stool. You must balance all areas of your life in order to remain supported and strong to keep moving forward.”

I thought long and hard about what he said. He is absolutely right! If you choose only to focus on your career it would be like going about your day, every day, on a pogo-stick. Constantly moving and bouncing and never staying still for a single moment. In the mean time you miss out on other luxuries of life because the moment you stop you feel you could fall and lose everything.

If you were to focus on your career and family and forget about yourself, it would be like going through life on stilts only being allowed to take a break for a brief second to regain your balance. You would have to stay strong while your legs became fatigued with the demands that are placed upon them. In time and after continually balancing yourself with the demands of others, you would feel as though something has got to give or your energy would give out on you.

If you gave due focus to your career, family, and your personal desires, it would be like sitting on a three legged stool. All three legs of your life would remain strong, allowing you to sit comfortably and enjoy the triumphs and pleasures of life. Being supported keeps feeding you energy to do many things while at the same time allowing you the time to stop and observe. It allows you the time to notice many wonderful things around you whilst admiring what you have gained through the support system called life. Even when something unexpected happens, you are strong because the legs of your life hold you up while you hold onto this thing in your lap. It gives you the strength to deal with anything so you can continue to move forward with all the energy you need to do so.

If there is any area in your life which you have placed aside for too long, it is time to take notice. It is time focus on building that area back up in your life. If you miss your family or they miss you, take time to spend quality time with them. Spend the day outside, sit and have a wonderful family meal and talk about yourselves. Laugh and love each other during the precious time that you have.

If you are having a difficult time at work, take time to evaluate. Are you jumping on a pogo-stick or is it one of the legs taht needs dedication and focus? Two powerful questions to ask are,

What is happening?

What can I do about it?

Asking these questions help you to build this leg of your life. Take the much needed time to decide what actions you can take to help balance your life once again. When you know the answer, do it.

If you are tired, frustrated, and at a loss of what to do, perhaps you have been standing on stilts for far too long. If so, take time out for you. Each day dedicate some time to do something for you. It may be with others or it may be alone, either way, find time to enjoy life. What interests you? What do you enjoy doing? Ask these questions, gain the knowledge and then do it.

In order to give much needed energy to your work and home, you must have the energy to give. To have the energy to give, you must refuel. You do that by taking time out for yourself to recharge. Everyone and everything around you benefit a great deal more when you have the ability to give the energy needed.

Life certainly is like a three-legged stool. You are the craftsman or woman who decides the structure and power this stool has. Create your masterpiece and feel supported. Life will be fun and highly rewarding when you do.

–

Claire McGee, M.Msc leads a highly professional and uniquely qualified team of motivational teachers who are committed to working with corporations, educational entities, and individuals all over the world. Claire’s goal is to empower people with the realization that they are in control of their destiny and have the very real and very valid ability to achieve their goals. Claire is the author of I Believe Therefore I Am. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with her husband Phil and her children.

Channel your energy and efforts in the right direction by deactivating and defusing all failure ideas. With focused effort, you can become successful in everything you do. Extra effort is required for success, which is 2% inspiration and 98% work. Take action, because inaction invites failure. To be successful, action of some sort is always required.

The strenuous effort necessary for success is complimented by looking on the bright side of things. Output always equals input, so never feed failure ideas into your subconscious mind. Override negative concepts and ideas of fear and failure by not allowing negative thinking to take over your mind. Right thinking is refusing to accept the idea of failure. Everyone will suffer some temporary defeats along the way. Numerous temporary defeats can’t keep one who is focused from becoming highly successful. Refuse to accept temporary defeats as permanent failure. Continue to program your subconscious mind with the right ideas, regardless of what it looks like.

Positive words program your subconscious mind for success. Your subconscious mind accepts suggestions and takes orders from your conscious mind. Don’t allow negative suggestions to be planted into your subconscious mind. As your conscious mind rejects negative thinking, your subconscious mind will successfully work for your benefit.

Feed your subconscious mind with positive ideas and concepts. The only limits to your success are those you place upon yourself through negative thinking. Use your thoughts and words to create a positive concept of yourself and your own abilities. In reality, you are only limited by your imagination. Renowned scientist Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is everything; it is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Visualize and imagine seeing yourself as you want to be, then follow through on your imagined activities. Your mental picture programs your subconscious mind. What you imagine yourself to be will become more real as you reinforce that picture with action. Always picture the end result. Picture in your mind exactly what you’re going to do. Your mental pictures program your subconscious mind, so create extremely detailed pictures on your mental screen. You can have whatever you’re visualizing if you believe that it is possible and apply massive action to make it possible.

Visualize with your conscious mind all the good things that you want while devising methods to make your goals come true. As you picture to yourself mentally exactly what you want to achieve, the creative power of your subconscious mind will reveal the next step.

When using your mind to create a new reality, action is always required. Imagination and initiative are to be combined because no one is relieved from effort and work. Imagination is part of the creative process, but initiative is needed to follow through on your idea. Imagination without initiative accomplishes nothing and is the equivalent of wishful thinking. Imagination accompanied by action is the most powerful force in the world.

You can achieve whatever you can imagine if you’ll do everything possible to achieve your established goal. Everyone must make up their own plan for successful achievement and give it their best shot. Power comes from organized activity to fulfill your plan for achieving your goal. Think positive thoughts while dedicating yourself to its attainment.

–

 Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

Believe it or don’t, I just flunked another test for “entrepreneurial” traits!

From my test score, it appears I am probably better adapted to washing dishes than running a business. Then again, according to the governing laws of aerodynamics, bumble bees can’t fly either.

Let me tell you a true story about those tests. You’ve seen them. They usually have a headline like

Do You Have What It Takes To Become An Entrepreneur?

Back in 1977, an old millionaire friend of mine in his late 70s sent me a 20-question test with a personal note asking me to answer the questions and return them to him. He said he was conducting an experiment and wanted honest answers. No fudging allowed. So, I answered the questions and returned them to him.

A couple months later, the old millionaire sent me a letter detailing his experiment and reporting the results.

The “test” he had sent to me had been published in a big-name, prestigious business magazine, with a self-scoring answer-sheet at the end of the article. It was the “work” of a world-renowned psychologist.

After he had taken the “test” in the magazine, my old friend was disappointed to learn that he didn’t have what it took to be an entrepreneur. As a matter of fact, even though he had been a real entrepreneur all his life with millions of real dollars in the bank to prove it, his test results indicated that he should have been a 40-hour-per-week wage-slave and put all his money in safe and secure bank deposit accounts.

Having failed the test miserably, he decided to send a copy of the test to 35 real entrepreneurs he knew, just to see if he was some kind of psychological freak. Maybe he was just a bumble bee flying with the F-14 fighters.

All 35 of the real entrepreneurs—including me—who received the test from him were self-made millionaires. No inheritors or lottery winners. Their educational backgrounds ranged from elementary school dropouts to a few with doctorates ranging in age from their mid-20s to late-80s.

Guess what? According to the “test,” not one of us had what it took to be an entrepreneur. We all failed! The old millionaire sent the fully-documented results of his experiment to the world-renowned psychologist who had created the test. The learned psychologist responded, “The traits indicated in the test are necessary to becoming an entrepreneur, but they are not required to be an entrepreneur.”

In other words, if you pass the test, you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur, but you can’t be one.

So, why did I tell that story?

Well, I’ll tell ya. After taking and flunking a number of those tests, I got to wondering.

What Does It Really Take To Be An Entrepreneur?

Since I couldn’t find an answer in my own experience, I started asking each and every successful entrepreneur I met, “What motivated you to start and succeed in your own business?”

As you can imagine, the answers I received ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, from mystical hocus-pocus to ultra-logical reasoning, from irrational psycho-babble to text-book business plans.

Then, a few years ago, a young millionaire in his early 30s solved the riddle for me. He looked me straight in the eyes and said …

“I don’t really know. One day, I decided to do it and just did it!”

So, all it takes to be an entrepreneur is a decision to be one. Once the decision is made, you will do it!

The decision is yours and yours alone!

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Mountains is published by Kallisti Publishing.

Having spent over 50 years in business successfully, J.F. (Jim) Straw now shares “Practical Instruction in the Arts & Sciences of Making Money” at the Business Lyceum — http://www.businesslyceum.com.

Imagination unlocks the door to abundant life. The power of imagination is a key to achieving success. Using your creative imagination will help you discover solutions to your personal problems. Your subconscious mind doesn’t distinguish between what’s a real experience or imagined. Your subconscious mind reacts to what you imagine and to the information you program into your conscious mind.

Program your subconscious effectively by seeing yourself as you want to be. Believing that something is possible programs your subconscious mind to bring your vision into reality. Using your conscious mind to visualize all the good things you want programs your desires into your subconscious mind. Believing that you already have your desires causes your subconscious mind to go to work for you to devise the methods that will make them come true.

Use mental pictures to program your subconscious mind. Create extremely detailed pictures in your mind’s eye to recreate anything in your life that needs to be re-established. If you believe that whatever you’re visualizing is possible, your subconscious mind will automatically react to give you whatever you’ve programmed into it, either real or imagined.

Our physical circumstances are influenced by our thoughts. To receive, you must first believe that whatever you’re working towards is possible. Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given unto you …seek and ye shall find …if thou canst believe, all things are possible …as though hast believed, so be it done unto you.”

The first step is to know exactly what you want to accomplish and be specific about the objective you want to attain. Once you’ve established a creative climate for your subconscious mind, it will give you fresh thoughts, new ideas, and action to take.

Your subconscious mind goes into action after you give it an objective to achieve, a goal to reach. Imagination and initiative together have creative powers, which is why action is always required. The subconscious mind stops working for one who fails to take inspired action. Follow up and develop inspiration given by your subconscious mind. Daydreamers accomplish nothing because they lack the power of commencing (imagination plus initiative). Achieving success is 2% imagination and 98% initiative. See in your imagination the desired end result, then apply massive action to manifest your goals.

Negative ideas allowed to dwell in your conscious mind keep your subconscious mind from properly working for you. Negative results come from negative thinking. Positive results are produced from positively programming your subconscious mind. Output equals input, therefore bad thoughts and actions can’t produce good results. Mind law says that good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. In life, you get back exactly what you’ve programmed into your subconscious mind. Failure comes from programming your subconscious mind with the wrong kinds of thoughts. Success comes from programming your subconscious mind with the proper input or material.

A person literally becomes what he thinks about, so control your life by controlling your thoughts. Negative thoughts accepted in your conscious mind will cause a bombardment of problems. The less you think of a problem, the more it will fade away. Instead of thinking about what you fear, concentrate entirely on what you want. You become what you think about, so control your thoughts to only think about what you want. Keep the fear of failure out of your mind and concentrate on the solution instead of the problem. Your success requires effort in addition to right thinking.

Success is 2% inspiration and 98% work, so act now!

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

Here lately, I’ve been reading a lot about “How to Motivate Your Sales Team” in the multitude of e-zines I receive. As always, the ideas ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.

To be quite frank with you, I have never tried to “motivate” any of my sales people (dealers, associates, affiliates, whatever).  I always figured that those individuals who were “real” would take the bull by the horns and make the sales to make the money, because, in the words of Andrew Carnegie:

“There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself.”

Beyond that, as Frank Tibolt said:

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates inspiration.  Inspiration seldom generates action.”

Rather than wasting my time trying to “motivate” people, I have always spent my time supporting the efforts of those who were doing something.

So please don’t wait for me to start ”motivating” you. It won’t happen.

But, as always, I am here to answer any questions.

Don’t be bashful. Anytime you have any kind of question, just ASK! (You may recognize that from my book, Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Mountains.)

I may not tell you what you want to hear, like the b.s. artists do. I will tell you the facts of the matter as I know them to be from my over 50 years of hands-on experience in the business community. That’s what I’m here for. Your success is just as important to me as it is to you, because when YOU succeed, I succeed, too.

Feel free to pick my brain.

And, remember what Charles Steinmetz said:

“No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.”

I ain’t from the government, but I am here to help you.

Go for it,

Jim

P.S. Let my hindsight become your foresight: http://www.businesslyceum.com/YourMentor.html

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Mountains is published by Kallisti Publishing.

Facebook. It has pretty much dominated the social networking scene. Let’s face a fact: if you’re not on Facebook, then you’re practically a pariah. Heck, even I am on Facebook! (More importantly, Kallisti Publishing and Charles F. Haanel are there.)

But, as Yoda uttered in The Empire Strikes Back, “There is another.”

That other site is Google+, Google’s answer to Facebook and its entry into the social networking scene.

At the moment, Google+ has been described as a ghost town, because even with all of Google’s might, they just can’t seem to attract users. At least, not near as many as Facebook.

One person thinks that that might change.

That person is Guy Kawasaki, the Apple evangelist, venture capitalist, and author.

Why does he think that? Simply put, he thinks that Goggle+ is better. Just like he thought that the Apple Macintosh was a better computer oh so many years ago, after playing with Google+, Mr. Kawasaki thinks that Google+ is a better place to create networks and share information.

In a word, Google+ “enchanted” him.

That brings us to Mr. Kawasaki’s latest book: What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us. It’s a book that instructs a person about how to use Google+ effectively.

Mr. Kawasaki wrote this about his new book:

1987 was the last time I wrote a book about a product (The Macintosh Way). After using Google+ for a few months, I felt the need to write another product-oriented book. This book explains “what the plus” makes Google+ as special as Macintosh.
My goals are to help you to derive as much joy and value from Google+ as I do. My topics include: How to circle people, how to perfect your profile, how to craft effective posts, how to comment, how to respond to comments, and how to share photographs.

And indeed he does. Mr. Kawasaki shows the reader — step-by-step — how to use, operate, and take full advantage of everything Google+ has to offer. The table of contents tells the entire story.

Chapter 1: Why I Love Google+
Chapter 2: How to Get Started
Chapter 3: How to Master Circles and Streams
Chapter 4: How to Make an Enchanting Profile
Chapter 4+: How to Achieve Trustworthiness
Chapter 5: How to Comment
Chapter 6: How to Share Posts
Chapter 6+: How to Optimize for Social Search
Chapter 7: How to Share Photos
Chapter 8: How to Respond to Comments
Chapter 9: How to Hang Out
Chapter 10: How to Get More Followers
Chapter 10+: How to Be a Little Fish in a Big Pond
Chapter 11: How to Deal with Bozos
Chapter 11+: How to Thrive in the All-Boys’ Club
Chapter 12: How to Avoid Cluelessness
Chapter 13: How to Get Google+ Help
Chapter 14: How to Master Google+

So, just how clear does Mr. Kawasaki make things?

What the Plus! is richly illustrated and written in a step-by-step fashion, almost like a set of instructions one would get with a piece of Ikea furniture. Mr. Kawasaki leaves no stone unturned. From creating your avatar to adding people to your circles, everything is explained. This truly is the Google+ operator’s manual.

I have Google+ profiles (me and Kallisti Publishing). In the past, I found Google+ confusing, to say the least. I am happy to say that with the help of What the Plus!, I am getting the hang of things.

Mr. Kawasaki wrote in the Preface:

From my perspective, Google+ is to Facebook and Twitter what Macintosh is to Windows: Better, but fewer people use it, and the pundits prophesy that it will fail. As a lover of great products, this rankles my soul.
I hate when people don’t use the best tool. Sometimes people don’t know that a better tool exists. Sometimes they know it exists but not that it’s better. Sometimes they try the better tool, but the tool doesn’t stick for them.

Is Google+ better? (Obviously referring to better than Facebook.)

In some ways, yes it is. But, does that make a lick of difference if the audience (friends, family, associates) are not there? Xanadu may have been a beautiful estate, but it sure was lonely.

But, as Mr. Kawasaki notes in his book, that can all change in an instant. Remember MySpace?

What the Plus! is available only as an e-book. You can order it at http://www.guykawasaki.com/what-the-plus/.

My final recommendation is this: If you would like to really learn how to use Google+, then get What the Plus! immediately. You’ll be glad that you did.

Over the past 50 years, I have been thrilled and delighted to see hundreds of people succeed in business, but I have watched sadly as literally thousands of people have achieved little or no success.

There are a multitude of common characteristics among those who succeed, but there seems to be only one glaring common characteristic among those who achieve little or no success. That characteristic is simply never deciding upon one single plan of action and sticking with it day-in and day-out. They never achieve any success by doing a little of this, a little of that. They are, in effect, dabblers in business.

Back in 1987, a young man in Arkansas bought one of my $10 reports. It wasn’t a fancy business idea, but the young man took the idea and did it — over and over through thick and thin. Today, it still produces from $25,000 to $30,000 per month for him. He calls it his bread and butter business.

From his bread and butter business, he had money enough to pursue bigger and bigger business deals. Today, he is no longer a young man, but he is a multi-millionaire many times over.

If you really, truly, honestly and sincerely want to succeed, pick one business. Keep doing it day-in and day-out, even during the tough times when the business appears to be failing. That’s when your success will begin. It’s also when most people quit.

There are very, very few opportunities that couldn’t be the “best” for someone. It is all a matter of persistence.

Look around you. There are millionaires in every field of business endeavor. There are millionaire garbage collectors … millionaire bankers … millionaire shop keepers … millionaire day-care operators … millionaire internet marketers … etc., etc., etc.

As Albert Einstein said, “Anyone can be a genius, if they pick just one specific subject and study it diligently just 15 minutes each day.”

The same holds true in business. Just pick one specific business. Do it every day until you do it successfully.

Most people don’t fail, they just fail to stick with any ONE thing until they have mastered it.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, “The secret to success is the constancy of purpose.”

Do yourself a favor, pick something and do it until you can do it right.

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Moutains is to be published by Kallisti Publishing.

You can become a millionaire in one year or less using the tried and proven methods Jim can teach you. Visit http://www.businesslyceum.com/BeAMillionaire.html.

Oh those Mayans! As we leave 2011 behind us and enter into 2012, we do so with the thought that this may very well be the last year on Earth for all of us. That is, if the Mayan calendar and prophecies are true.

Chances are that they aren’t. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least live 2012 as if they were!

Think about it. What would you do if you knew with absolute certainty that this would be your last year?

One thing is certain: You would definitely live your life a little more (at least) fuller. You’d do some of the things you always wanted to do. You’d do your damnedest to make it the best that you could.

Right?

Well, why not live 2012 that way anyway?

Set some audacious goals.

Pursue them with a fervor boarding on obsession.

Stake your claim, make your case, and damn the torpedoes.

Why not? In life, I think you’ll find that you truly have not much to lose and everything to gain.

In 2011, we gave you the tools you need to attain everything you want. We released Claire McGee’s incredible book I Believe Therefore I Am. We updated Charles F. Haanel’s Complete Master Key Course and made it the most awesome personal development course you will ever find. We brought you the Master Key Coaching Teleseminars so that you could absolutely understand the Philosophy of Success.

In 2012, we’re going to take things even further.

We have J.F. (Jim) Straw‘s new book Mustard Seeds, Shovels, & Mountains, which will be released in January.

After that, we’ll supply you with books from such luminaries as Tom Papps, Dr. Maiysha Claireborne, and Alexandra de Scheel.

It’s going to be an incredible year. And we want you to experience all of the good that will be there.

It’s up to you, though. Make the choice that 2012 will be the most awesome year ever — for you, for your family, and for everyone around you. You can do it. Make the decision and then live it!

Live 2012 as if it were the last year ever.

I wish you and yours the best of everything in 2012!

I meet and learn from Champions every day. Not just in locker rooms but in classrooms, hospitals, homeless shelters, homes and office buildings. I’ve learned that to be a champion you must Think Like a Champion. Champions think differently than everyone else. They approach their life and work with a different mindset and belief system that separates them from the pack.

1. Champions Expect to Win – When they walk on the court, on the field, into a meeting or in a classroom they expect to win. In fact they are surprised when they don’t win. They expect success and their positive beliefs often lead to positive actions and outcomes. They win in their mind first and then they win in the hearts and minds of their customers, students or fans.

2. Champions Celebrate the Small Wins – By celebrating the small wins champions gain the confidence to go after the big wins. Big wins and big success happen through the accumulation of many small victories. This doesn’t mean champions become complacent. Rather, with the right kind of celebration and reinforcement, champions work harder, practice more and believe they can do greater things.

3. Champions Don’t Make Excuses When They Don’t Win – They don’t focus on the faults of others. They focus on what they can do better. They see their mistakes and defeats as opportunities for growth. As a result they become stronger, wiser and better.

4. Champions Focus on What They Get To Do, Not What They Have To Do – They see their life and work as a gift not an obligation. They know that if they want to achieve a certain outcome they must commit to and appreciate the process. They may not love every minute of their journey but their attitude and will helps them develop their skill.

5. Champions Believe They Will Experience More Wins in the Future – Their faith is greater than their fear. Their positive energy is greater than the chorus of negativity. Their certainty is greater than all the doubt. Their passion and purpose are greater than their challenges. In spite of their situation champions believe their best days are ahead of them, not behind them.

If you don’t think you have what it takes to be a champion, think again. Champions aren’t born. They are shaped and molded. And as iron sharpens iron you can develop your mindset and the mindset of your team with the right thinking, beliefs and expectations that lead to powerful actions.

About Jon Gordon:

This post is a guest post by Jon Gordon. Jon is the Wall Street Journal and international bestselling author of a number of books including The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy, and his latest, The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work. Learn more at www.JonGordon.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonGordon11 or Facebook www.facebook.com/jongordonpage.

There is guaranteed success when you never give up! The lack of perseverance is the only thing that can prevent your success.Perseverance is one of the most important personal character traits needed to succeed in life. Nothing worthwhile can ever be accomplished without perseverance. Persistence and determination supersedes genius, education, and talent. Those who refuse to persevere have little hope for success.

All those at the top have the same character trait in common: perseverance.The history books are full of examples of people who succeeded as a result of never giving up.The biographies of great people proves that persistance pays off.Perseverance is required for successful achievement.The most successful people in all fields never give up. Persistence and perseverance will allow you to succeed also.

Temporary setbacks can’t stop you if you’ll refuse to acknowledge defeat or give up. Bounce back when it appears that you’re down for the count. No one achieves total success without going through setbacks, hardships, and opposition. Perseverance means to hold out and remain steadfast until the end. Let perseverance carry you through pain, distress, pressure, and disappointment. Perseverance is the only key that can turn defeat and failure into success and victory. It’s impossible for a persistent man or woman to be kept down for long.

If you fail, start over. Change your methods, learn from your mistakes, then try a new approach. Once you convince yourself that there has to be a way to do what you want, you become unstoppable. Believing that a problem can’t be solved makes it unsolvable. Believing that solutions are possible attracts the right answer to you.

When things aren’t working, back off and start fresh. Come back for another go at it and you’ll eventually reach your goal because of your persistence. Picture the end result in your conscious mind and your subconscious mind will take over and direct your actions. As you see your goal in your mind before it manifests and go over your future in your mind, your subconscious mind will lead and guide you in the right direction. Your subconscious mind will take care of any past missteps by directing you to do whatever is necessary to compensate for your errors. All you have to do is get action going toward the attainment of your innermost desires and your subconscious mind will guide you in the right direction.

But above all, persevere!

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

Grab an opportunity and see where it leads!

Opportunities. They’re all around us. From jobs to friendships to learning opportunities.

What’s stopping you from taking advantage of them?

One thing that might be stopping you, as it’s something I’ve seen within myself at times as well as in some Master Key Coaching clients is this:

Sometimes — too many times! — we fear making that leap of faith.

For whatever reason, instead of jumping into the ”fray,” so to speak, we hang back, almost as if we were awaiting the “perfect shot.”

Unfortunately, perfect shots are few and far between. If ever!

Sometimes, we have to grab an opportunity, even if it’s not exactly the one we want, and run with it.

Sometimes, we have to take the “low paying” job because it MAY LEAD TO the job that we real want!

We may have to do work that we’d rather not do as it may very well BE A STEPPING STONE to the work
we will actually enjoy — and which may make for us our fortune!

We just might have to work with people who rub us the wrong way because those “friends” may CONNECT US WITH the friends that will become our lifetime business partners or employers.

Do you see what I am saying here?

Everyday there are opportunities that you can grab.

Everyday there is something that you can reach for.

It might not be the “ideal.” It may even be the barely wanted.

It’s a start, though.

And it may lead somewhere.

Haanel wrote in The Master Key System that “Life is an unfoldment, not an accretion.”

Sometimes you have to have just enough faith to take a leap, even one that you would normally not take, and allow life to unfold.

Try it. If only for a day or so. See what happens.

I can practically guarantee that you’ll be glad that you did.

In the first Week of The Master Key System, Haanel describes what he calls the “world within” and the “world without.” What did Haanel mean by these terms?

Of course, we don’t have Haanel here as a reference. We can take the message of the book as a whole as clues to what he meant exactly, though.

The world within is one’s mind. It’s one’s thoughts. It’s one’s feelings. As Haanel wrote, it’s forces are mighty — mightier than we think.

The world without, on the other hand, Haanel described as a “reflection of the world within.”

I would make a slight change to that. I would say that the world without is or can be jaded or slanted or skewed by the world within.

The difference is small, but it is significant as we progress in our studies of this philosophy.

The world within can — and often does — alter the world without. Actually, it happens all the time. It’s part of the interplay that happens betwixt the two. It’s what I like to call the “Dance.”

There are many examples of the Dance all about us. Sociologists have been investigating it for quite some time, an example being Phillip Zimbardo‘s Stanford Prison Experiment.

Investor George Soros used Karl Popper‘s theory of “Reflexivity” to make more than a billion dollars trading currency. Popper’s reflexivity is an example of the Dance — the world within influencing the world without and vice versa.

The influence of the world without and the world within (and vice versa) is possible because, as Haanel wrote, we “live in a fathomless sea of plastic mind substance.”

I want to state here that this “plastic mind substance” is not and is not anything related to quantum theory, subatomic particles, or man’s mental influence on said particles as has been portrayed in various movies and books. Personal Development (the attainment of goals within our society) and quantum physics go together much like fish and bicycles. They don’t.

That being said, everything that we see and have and that moves us and influences us are ideas.

This world of ideas — this world in which we swim and which in turn moves us — is what Haanel meant when he wrote “plastic mind substance.” Think how often the world is changed by an idea — an idea that is brought to fruition by one’s actions and daring.

The car, the light bulb, the indoor toilet, the computer, the cellular phone: All ideas that in turn changed us and changed the world in which we “swim.”

The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel. Find it for free at www.TheFreeMasterKey.com!

Since I’ve been publishing The Master Key System and Charles F. Haanel’s Complete Master Key Course, I’ve received (and answered!) literally thousands of calls and emails about Haanel‘s philosophy of success. From speaking with so many people, I noticed that the vast majority completely miss the point of The Master Key System, thus they’re not getting results.

Most of the observations I make on these calls come from the work I’ve done with my Master Key Coaching clients.

So, what should you really be learning as you read The Master Key System that will actually make a difference in your life?

Since 2000, when I began publishing The Master Key System, I’ve observed how other people, coaches, and publishers advertise or talk about the book. The most common description is that it is the “handbook about the Law of Attraction.”

Surprisingly, I think just the opposite. While the law of attraction is discussed in The Master Key System, it’s not the book’s (or, I dare say, Haanel‘s) main talking point.

From my years of study and coaching, I’ve found five main things you should learn from this philosophy. As you now read and study the book, keep these points in mind — you’ll see the book from a totally different perspective and you’ll reap great rewards from it.

1. You will learn how to focus.
   To be able to focus is the ability to dedicate your mind (your thoughts) to one problem (or goal) for an extended period of time. By mastering this skill, you’ll far outreach most people, who flitter from one thing to the other without result.
2. You will learn how to achieve mental clarity.
   Instead of a brain and thoughts beset with “noise,” you’ll see things clearly — rationally. You will rid yourself of the “shibboleths” of your mind.
3. You will se the things in the world for what they are rather than what they appear to be.
   Instead of seeing symbols and perceptions, you will see things truly — objectively.
4. You will learn the greatest skill of all: how to THINK.
5. You will learn that the Master Key System is really about solving problems.

The Master Key System is not a “magic” book. Merely by reading it will you attain anything. You must put this philosophy into action. You must use it!

If you’re looking to learn how to “manifest,” you will not get that here. Fortunately (or unfortunately), there are plenty of “teachers” that teach that. If you want to learn how to really attain and achieve, then concentrate on discovering the items I listed here. They are the “key” that will unlock you and help you to attain all of your dreams.

Q: A Business Lyceum Attendee once asked me …

“I’d like to call upon your expertise and years of experience … I have come across a manufacturer in China that manufactures a product that would appeal to the market here in the U.S. Therefore, I contacted the mfr. and expressed my interest to be an agent for them in the U.S. They responded by saying that they welcomed my inquiry and that they are in fact, in need of an agent for the U.S.

“What I want to do is get exclusive distribution rights for their product in the U.S. Since I’m a novice at this, I would appreciate your direction. What should my next step be?”

A: Since the manufacturer in China has already expressed an interest in establishing an agent in the U.S., all you have to do now is negotiate a deal with them.

If I were doing it (as I have before), my next step would be to write them a letter; something like this …

Dear Mr. (use the name of the person who responded to your inquiry):

Thank you for your kind response to my letter of (date).

In response to your letter of (date), my company would consider it an honor to represent your product(s) in the U.S. (or, the U.S. & Canada; or, North America) on an exclusive basis.

To that possible end, please provide us with your lowest possible distributor prices, along with quantity breaks, quoted CIF (name your nearest U.S. Port of Entry).

We have taken the liberty to enclose herewith a preliminary contract for your consideration.

Thank you for your consideration. We are looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Along with the letter, enclose a contract for their consideration. You may want to have your attorney assist you in creating the contract in the proper legal form. The contact could be something like this …

EXCLUSIVE SALES AGREEMENT

This AGREEMENT is made on the dates signed below, by and between (your name) of (your address); hereinafter referred to as (your one-word name), and (the Chinese company name) of (their address); hereinafter referred to as (their one-word name):

WHEREAS (Chinese company) is the manufacturer of (name of product) and is desirous of having said product distributed in the U.S. (or, the U.S. and Canada; or North America); hereinafter referred to as “territory,î and,

WHEREAS (your company) is a distributor of such products in the above stated “territory;”

IT IS AGREED by the parties above named, in consideration of the promises and covenants hereinafter contained, as follows:

1. (Chinese company) grants to (your company) the exclusive sales and distribution rights to (name the products) throughout the above “territory.î

2. (Your company) agrees to diligently sell and distribute (name the products) in accord with the terms and conditions of this agreement.

3. (Chinese company) agrees to turn over to (your company) any and all orders and inquiries regarding stated product(s) it shall receive from the “territory.”

4. (Chinese company) will provide (your company) with all technical data regarding the products; sales literature, brochures, catalogs, etc. currently in use for the product(s); and any and all future improvements (Chinese company) may develop relative to such product(s).

5. (Your company) agrees to buy the stated products exclusive from (Chinese company) and refrain from marketing similar products in competition with (Chinese company).

6. (Chinese company) agrees to maintain production capacity capable of supplying the orders
produced by (your company).

7. (Your company) agrees to sell a minimum of XXX units (the quantity of products you plan to sell) of (Chinese company) product(s) during the first year of this agreement. Should (your company) not sell XXX units within the first year, it shall be to the determination of (Chinese company) whether or not this agreement shall be continued for additional years. This agreement shall renew automatically for additional years so long as a minimum of XXX units of the product are sold each year. (Define what one unit of the product is to be.)

8. (Your company) shall have the sole discretion to determine the methods of merchandising the products under this contract.

9. (Your company) has the unfettered right to, and may, assign its rights and obligations under this agreement to a third party.

We, the undersigned, agree to the terms and conditions of this agreement on the below written dates.

Signatures:

Note: Be sure the products you are going to be selling can legally be imported into this country. One time, in the mid-1960s, I had the exclusive rights to sell a “Magnetic Therapy” machine from Japan in the U.S. Only problem was, the F.D.A. forbid its import because of its unfounded medical claims. Today — over 30 years later — Magnetic Therapy has gained acceptance — without F.D.A. approval. So, check the product out with the Department of Commerce before you agree to sell something.

Although I, personally, have used letters and agreements similar to the above over the years, I went to the works written by the known authority on Exclusive Distribution Rights — the man the media call “The Millionaire Maker” — my dear friend, E. Joseph Cossman (may he rest in peace). For most of the wording above, rather than digging through my own archives, it was easier to find a draft copy in Joe’s course and edit it for you.

If you are really and truly interested in acquiring Exclusive Distribution Rights to products and, more importantly, learn how to effectively market those products once you have the exclusive rights, do yourself a favor: Go to your local bookstore and buy any book you can find by E. Joseph Cossman. Then again, if you wanna get the best of Joe’s material, go directly to his website at http://www.cossman.com and take a close look at his “Home Study Course.” You’ll be glad you did!

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Physio-Psychic Power – The Ultimate Success System is to be published by Kallisti Publishing.

You can become a millionaire in one year or less using the tried and proven methods Jim can teach you. Visit http://www.businesslyceum.com/BeAMillionaire.html.

To succeed, you must first have a goal. Those who do not establish goals to achieve will fail because they have no objectives to attain. Every human should have a specific and concrete goal to shoot for. Once you reach a goal, to avoid stagnation, you must establish a new goal to strive to reach.

Proverbs 29:18 says,

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

You can give yourself goals to reach without knowing how they will come to pass. Simply concentrating on the goals you want to attain will cause the methods to take care of themselves.

As you visualize all the benefits you’ll gain after reaching your goal, you’re programming your subconscious mind. Visualizing your future gives your subconscious mind goals to reach for you. Establishing a goal for yourself is the first step to whatever you desire. Your subconscious mind cannot work for you unless you give it a goal to reach.

Mental pictures of yourself accomplishing your goal drives it deep into your subconscious mind. As long as you don’t allow thoughts of defeat or fear to stop you, your subconscious mind will show you how to manifest the goal you’ve programmed into it.

Dedicate yourself to the attainment of your goal. Make up your own plan for successful achievement and give it your best shot. Unswerving singleness of purpose and organized activity withdraws universal power. Determine to follow through on your plan without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Your controlled attention, sustained effort, and concentrated energy unleashes the power of your subconscious mind. Opportunities never come to those who sit around waiting, but to those who are motivated by a burning to desire to act.

Establish a goal for yourself, learn all the details, then do everything you can to achieve it. Exert all your efforts and energies on your goal without listening to the opinions of others. Discussing your plans and goals with others has the potential to bring chaos and confusion in your mind. The information and guidance you receive from your subconscious mind is more important than the opinions of doubters.

You should never discuss your dreams, aspirations, and goals with anyone because everyone has different ideas about how to reach a certain goal. Jesus gave excellent advice when he said, “Go and tell no man.”

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

Everybody wants to know How can I get rich?

Well, here’s how  I did it.

I learned very early in life that the only way to make money was to “sell” something — either a product or a service — something people wanted or needed or do something for them they couldn’t — or wouldn’t — do for themselves.

I learned to “make do” with what I had until I could get what I needed to do a better job.

I learned that I had to do anything necessary (but legal) to get to where I wanted to be, even if I didn’t like doing it. Especially if I didn’t like doing it. You can do anything you need to do, until you can do what you want to do.

Start by doing what is  necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
– Saint Francis of Assisi

I learned to never ask anyone to do anything for me that I wasn’t willing to do myself. And everyone who has ever worked with me has taught me about what they have done for me and how they did it. After a while, I could do it, too, but maybe not as well as they did.

Anyone can be a genius if they pick just one specific subject and study it diligently just 15 minutes each day.
– Albert Einstein

I learned to pay for what I wanted. If I couldn’t afford it, I saved to be able to afford it. (Sometimes it seemed like forever.)

I learned that no matter how long it took to achieve my goal (whatever it was), it would have been just as long if I hadn’t persisted, but I would have accomplished nothing.

I learned that nothing is as easy or as fast as it should be. It only gets easier and faster when you know how to really do it — and learning how to really do it is just a matter of doing it over and over and over until you finally find out how it works. Of course, if you give up after the first (second, third, or fourth) try, you’ll never do it.

The secret to success is the constancy of purpose.
– Benjamin Disraeli

I learned most of what I know from my mistakes and failures.  My successes never taught me anything. They were only based upon what I had learned from my mistakes and failures. (That’s why those who are afraid to make mistakes or fail never achieve the success they desire.)

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.
– Bill  Gates

I learned that my most prized possessions were my customers. People who, directly or indirectly, paid for my lunch every day. That’s why, unlike my contemporaries, I reply to my customers emails personally.

I learned that money is not an end unto itself. It is only a way of keeping score. The saddest people in the world are those who are forever chasing the almighty dollar and the vast majority of them have no real respect for money.

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.
– John D. Rockefeller

I learned to ask for what I wanted or needed and to graciously accept a “NO” as readily as a “YES.”

Yes, you can get rich, but you’ll have to do  it yourself. No one will do it for you!

I get tickled by people who want to start at the top of the ladder. For some unknown reason, they honestly believe they are better than I am, since I had to start on the bottom rung and climb up one rung at a time.

When I mention the above, I often hear  ”Yeah, I could do that, but it will take too much time. I need money now. And I don’t want to just make a little money, I want to get rich.”

Sorry, you’ll have to start where I started. Do what you need to do to make a little money? Then do more and more of it to make more and more money. As you make more and more money, the greater the opportunities you will have to make even more money.

Nothing succeeds like success. Even small success.

The more things you don’t want to do, the fewer and fewer things you will do until you are doing as most people do: Nothing but dreaming!

I can teach you how to do it, but you won’t get it until you actually start doing it yourself.

–

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Physio-Psychic Power – The Ultimate Success System is to be published by Kallisti Publishing.

You can become a millionaire in one year or less using the tried and proven methods Jim can teach you. Visit http://www.businesslyceum.com/BeAMillionaire.html.

[This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005. Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html]

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Anything becomes possible when you can see it manifested in your own mind. The journey of success begins by first perceiving it, then having absolute faith without giving up. Actively pursue your goal every day and refuse to give up until you acheive it.

True success doesn’t happen overnight and takes time.

Success is never giving up and overcoming obstacles.

Your success or lack of it is determined by what you do with what you have.

The gaining of something planned is the standard definition of success. To accomplish anything, you must create a plan and work at it. Failure is failing to try. Without a plan of action, you don’t have a blueprint for your success.

Take authority over yourself through the successful development of your skills, talents, and abilities. Seek knowledge and create a plan to put into action.

Passion and motivation lead to success, which is only guaranteed by taking action now.

Create short-term and long-term goals for yourself. Every goal should be realistic and specific with a completion date. Goal-setting today will determine your success or lack of it tommorow.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Write down the steps necessary to reach your goal and gather information relating to it. No goal will come to pass without a plan of action. Success is based on the importance of planning. Failure is failing to create the proper blueprint to achieve your specific goal.

Your success can only expand to the size of your vision. Proverbs 23:7 says,

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Your thoughts set the course of your life, which is why you become what you constantly envision. Big dreams demand big expectations. When your vision is big, it’s more likely that your success will be big. Create your plan, work it, and refuse to give up. Have a written plan of what must be accomplished every day to ensure that you’re taking action related to your goals.

To reach your highest level of success, changes always need to be made. Knowledge alone doesn’t guarantee success; it’s action taken based on your knowledge that creates change. Success is only guaranteed to those who are committed to it.

Have big dreams and goals. Success begins one step at a time. You will become successful in every noteworthy area of your life by learning and gaining knowledge. You must gain understanding in the area you want to be successful in. We have the responsibility to educate ourselves because understanding and knowledge are essential to manifesting success.

Your ability to succeed is hidden in continuous self-improvement.

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara King is a full-time author, philosopher, researcher, and writer, working in the metaphysical and spiritual fields. As a contemporary spiritual teacher, he conveys the timeless profound messages of the ancient spiritual masters of all traditions. His works blend physics, spiritual philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and mystical Christianity with life-changing results. Jawara’s foundational teachings bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a spiritually global coherent practice; guiding thousands of people to transform their lives through one of the greatest teachings in the world today. He has written five self-improvement books outlining the philosophical and spiritual framework necessary to bring forth a spiritual awakening in the real world.

Sometimes I get tickled pea-green over lavender, especially when I receive an email like this…

Please remove me from your list. I don’t want to know about how to do business, I just want to make some money.

This puzzles me. You see, the only way I know to make money without doing business is by getting a job. So, if you don’t want to know about how to do business and you just want to make money, then get a job.

Unfortunately, all too many of the promoters both online and off lead people to believe that they can “make money” without applying sound, time-tested, and proven business methods.

I guess I’ve spent too long in the “real” business world (over 50 years) and the only things I have ever written about are “real” business methods that have worked for generations upon generations of “real” business people. That’s why some of my reports have sold well for over 30 years – with only minor updates.

Methods never change in the “real” business world. Applications change almost daily.

Real business just keeps on working for generations. Flash-in-the-pan “make money” programs have to be continually updated with new launches because they don’t rely upon real time-tested and proven business methods.

You’ll have to decide whether you want to try to “make money” using the latest magic formula of the week or do real business and make a fortune.

Think about it.

–

About this article’s author:

J.F. (Jim) Straw began his long, successful career in business at the age of nine when he sold his first cans of Cloverleaf Salve and copies of GRIT newspaper. As a mail-order marketer with over 700,000 customers worldwide he has sold over four-hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) worth of products and services by mail — everything from beauty supplies to heavy equipment, burglar alarms to sleeping bags, fishing lures to women’s wigs, automobiles to wheelchairs, investment opportunities to seafood, consulting services to “how to” courses. His book Physio-Psychic Power – The Ultimate Success System is to be published by Kallisti Publishing.

You can become a millionaire in one year or less using the tried and proven methods Jim can teach you. Visit http://www.businesslyceum.com/BeAMillionaire.html.

The “wealth consciousness” (or the “money consciousness,” the two will be used interchangeably in this article) is more than merely thinking that you are wealthy or that you have a “right” to be wealthy. It is a way of looking at the world and seeing opportunities, possibilities, and avenues for wealth creation.

Have you ever heard someone described as having a “mind for business”? Or that someone has the “Midas touch“?

To what are they referring?

They’re referring to that person’s ability (talent, skill) to see a way to make an activity or product or service profitable. Let’s use Bill Gates as an example.

The “secret” to Mr. Gates’ wealth is that he saw profit and a business opportunity where NO ONE ELSE saw one. At the time, the entire computer industry was focused on the hardware as the way to make money. When Gates pitched IBM on licensing his software (something which at the time was quite revolutionary) and he stipulated that he could license to other companies, IBM approved, their thinking being that you make money with the hardware and not with the few cents in the licensing fee for the software.

That is the deal that began Mr. Gates’ rise. It made him millions.

THAT is the money consciousness. Looking at a “deal” and making it a better deal.

Get it?

The same with Steve Jobs and Apple: They got many of their ideas from the Xerox PARC facility because Xerox did not see how those technologies could make them money. One (Apple) had the “money consciousness”; the other (Xerox) did not. (Although it must be said that they had and continue to have it it many other areas.)

So, it’s not a matter of gratitude nor of “putting the Law of Attraction into operation,” it’s a matter of looking at the things around you and seeing the economic possibilities with them. Develop a solution to a problem you (and perhaps others) have. See the world with new eyes and ask yourself the question “How can I make it better?” Look at the world around you like you’ve never before seen it and perceive the value in it.

Finally, take what you’ve found and make money.

You will have found the “money consciousness.”

Learn everything about the money consciousness with Charles F. Haanel’s Complete Master Key Course.

Your thoughts are physical vibrations of energy and real forces. The thoughts you are choosing to entertain are creating your life every moment. Any thought habitually repeated with emotion and feeling makes an imprint on the subconscious.

There is a direct relationship between your thinking and the problems and opportunities of your life. By working with your thought and beliefs, you can choose your reality.

Changing your thoughts and beliefs changes everything. What you believe is the attracting force by which life experiences are drawn to you.

You are a creative law unto yourself, so whatever you believe is right. What you see in your mind is what you get. All that we experience has its root cause within.

Open up your mind to various options and possibilities. The only real boundaries are those that exist in your mind.

Listen to what you are thinking and saying. How you perceive and frame your situation in your mind is very important because it’s being imprinted into your subconscious. Your subconscious picks up everything you say. What you say over and over again is what you’re programming your mind to believe.

Only speak of what you want to manifest in your life. Don’t live a life allowing your own thoughts and words to work against you. The power to get what you want and not get what you want is in your words.

Discipline your thoughts to focus on the positive side of life to keep negative forces from working against you. You will become what you talk and think about all day and every day.

Serious self-reflection is a tool to discover what you want out of life. You can’t get ahead without clearly defined goals and a plan to achieve them. Knowing where you are and where you’re going will determine your future situations and circumstances.

As you make the decision to do something, the plans and ideas will begin to flow. Don’t worry about how you’re going to do something or how it will happen. Opening up your thoughts will cause opportunities to open up.

The opportunities and problems you meet in life are related to your thinking. Your beliefs form an energetic vibration attracting or repelling events, circumstances, and people. Since you attract according to your beliefs, each belief should be carefully examined. Once limiting or empowering beliefs take root within the subconscious, they will be reflected back to you as experience. Therefore, you must examine which beliefs are working for or against you.

Free yourself of undesirable beliefs and embrace new ones that will work in your favor.

–

Jawara D. King

About this Article’s Author: Jawara D. King has emerged as one of the world’s finest spiritual teachers of our time and is a frequently invited to speak at schools and Universities. He has been interviewed by The Center For Union Facts, ABC-7 news, NBC-4′s Chris Gordon, MSNBC, and other television networks. He is a certified spiritual counselor and an internationally renowned author, researcher, and speaker in the field of self-development, consciousness, enlightenment, inner peace, and grief counseling, and facilitates clients in personal growth and discovery, appearing frequently on radio talk shows. He is the author of the spiritual classic WORLD TRANSFORMATION: A Guide To Personal Growth And Consciousness.

I am somewhat sensitive to sounds. If I hear something out of place — an errant squeak, a slightly off-balance picture on a shelf that knocks as it wobbles when a person walks by it — I have to investigate the source of the sound and fix it so as to make it stop.

When I heard a small, barely audible knocking in my office a couple of weeks ago, I just thought it was the wind.

Then I felt everything swaying ever so slightly. I still thought it was the wind.

It lasted longer than a burst of wind usually lasts, though.

That’s when I received an email that stated that my area was struck by a small earthquake.

Holy cow! What the heck is going one here?

I know that some of you in places like California are laughing at me. I’ve seen the web sites showing the “damage” from the earthquake that originated in Virginia: the toppled lawn chairs and shaken knick-knacks.

You must understand that this was my very first one! Ever. It was the first for probably everyone in my area. It was … Weird.

Moving forward a couple weeks later to this past weekend, my area found itself once again being toyed with by Mother Nature.

This time it was flooding.

The Susquehanna River rising and almost covering the Market Street Bridge in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

A couple places in my area were decimated. Our downtown was evacuated and people expected the worst. The levees that were built to withstand waters of up to 41 feet held strong even though the river crested at over 42 feet.

It’s been somewhat crazy. I even quipped that if hordes of locusts appear, I’m calling game over!

My area isn’t the only place. There are fires in Texas. Flooding in other places. Hurricanes.

What’s the point of all this?

Already in my area, clean up has begun in earnest. People who have lost everything are assessing things and planning their next move. Businesses are moving as quickly as possible to get things up and running.

Human nature, even when forced to the brink by Mother Nature, perseveres and prevails.

In our individual lives, we cannot control everything that happens. As Forrest Gump said in the movie, sometimes “crap happens.” (I sanitized that for our all-ages audience.)

What counts is how we react to the crap. What counts is what we do after the crap has passed. What counts is that we keep on keeping on after all the crap is thrown at us.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Friedrich Nietzsche who exhorted “Build your houses on Vesuvius.”

Life, no matter how safe we try to play it, will always toss something at us. It will do its best to knock us down a notch. It will take its best shot time and again.

We’re better than that, though. We’re stronger. We’re smarter.

So dream big and plan bigger.

Talk loudly and act boldly.

You might fall and fail. You might lose and be defeated. You might end up battered and broken.

But you’ll overcome it. You will prevail. You will stand tall.

That’s just what tough “sum-bitches” like us tend to do.