The imagination is probably the most powerful tool that we have at our disposal. Everything that man has created was born out of the imagination. The difference between the life of a pauper and the life of a king is mostly due to how well or how badly the imagination was used.

It is through the imagination that our Universe is defined and that our reality is created. It could be said that our imagination is the seat of our consciousness and the house of our awareness. Everything that we consciously perceive is colored by the flavor of our imagination.

Given all its power and importance, should the imagination be allowed to run free and unbridled? That would be like sending off a nuclear aircraft carrier without a Captain. A certain recipe for disaster.

The imagination is a faithful servant when it has a strong master but it will become a tyrant when allowed to run free and unchecked. The main reason for that is the fact that the imagination is easier stirred by tragedy and negativities than it will be by beauty and creativity.

More people will stop to see a gory accident than pause to reflect on a beautiful and inspiring sunset. A novel without some tragedy would not sell and “good news” newspapers never got off the ground. Bad news circle the Globe in a matter of minutes but a superb achievement will only stir modest attention.

The imagination will obey the will. It answers any question that we may ask. It will focus wherever it is directed. And most importantly, it will take whatever slant it is instructed to take on any subject under the sun. That is, the imagination can look at a situation with a bright and optimistic outlook as it can do it veiled with the shadows of gloom and doom.

That is where imagination control becomes all-important. Any situation, condition or prospect can be viewed in a way that will brighten the picture and highlight its positive aspects. We see beautiful examples of this many times when people face hardships and find ways of seeing the sun shine in a very cloudy sky.

On the other hand, we’ve also seen people who were sitting on what looked like the top of the world and only saw sadness and desolation in their lives. It’s not what happens to us that defines our reality; it’s how we use our imagination to view the outside circumstances that creates our internal affective world and defines what it means for us.

As toddlers, a cardboard box could become a beautiful house and we could see a precious gem in a colored rock. Unfortunately, much of that magic has been repressed as we grew up. We became more sophisticated and more discerning – thinking that it was the smart thing to do. Not really. All that we accomplished was to hide one of our most precious gifts – the capacity to define our own world.

Imagination is one of the greatest gift and most versatile tool that was given to man. Used judiciously, it can perform magic. Left to its own wile it can have devastating effects. It can be a dutiful servant or a demonic tyrant. We get to decide what we make of it.

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The best way of climbing the ladder of success is by outgrowing the situation that we are presently holding. A person’s worth leaves clues and these clues don’t go unnoticed. Sooner or later, we gravitate to our level of competence.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not crowded at the top. There is plenty of room available just waiting for someone ready to fill the positions. The problem is not the lack of room; it’s the lack of people ready to fill the shoes that need to be filled.

Until we are ready to accept that belief, our chances of climbing the stairs of corporate or entrepreneurial success are considerably affected. No real progress is possible until a situation has been correctly assessed and established.

The problem is that we tend to follow the Pollyanna principle also called, “Positivity bias.” That principle says that, when doing a self-evaluation, we have a tendency to focus on our strong points instead of doing an inclusive survey of our real competences. In other words, we may not be as good as we think that we are.

In today’s fast paced world, being good at what we do is not good enough to rise in the corporate hierarchy. We are expected to be good; that’s what we get paid for. Being excellent will not do it either. Being excellent only means that we are filling our present place. It’s no reason to be promoted or to see an increase in our entrepreneurial revenues.

To be noticed, to be invited to fill a higher and more rewarding position, we must be outstanding. That is where the money is. That’s where the train that leads to the top starts. That’s where we get the wings that will allow us to soar above the crowd and reach the rarified air of the mountaintop of success.

Jim Rohn said it best, “Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.” It is by working every day to improve ourselves that we can acquire the competence to become outstanding and in doing so, become a magnet for opportunities and advancement.

The self-education that Jim Rohn talks about is not restricted to our area of expertise. It also encompasses the entire gamut of the disciplines covered in the self-improvement world. It’s about life’s philosophy, character building, communication and relationships along with the multitude of subjects being covered in the self-help movement.

Self-education is about personal growth in all its facets. It’s about learning how to make finer distinctions and about taking wiser decisions. It’s about better self-control and about leadership abilities. In one word, it about becoming a better and more complete person. Smarter and wiser.

Greater success is the natural result of inner growth and self-actualization. Just as the tree depends on quality soil to reach maximal growth, success depends on the abundance of the intellect to bloom and flourish.

Make no mistake about it. There is plenty of room for advancement in the corporate world and plenty of room for growth in the entrepreneurial world. What is needed is not more room it is more qualified candidates.

There are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting for those who have the courage and wherewithal to spend some time every day on self-improvement. Victory belongs to those who have earned it – not to those waiting for some lucky star that won’t ever show up.

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When it is well understood and assimilated, this one sentence contains an entire philosophy. It can become a life’s purpose, a source of motivation and a guiding light to achievement and self-actualization.

The part that says, “Life is a gift.” is particularly telling. Once that the fact that life is a gift is accepted, everything changes. Instead of feeling that life owes us we are left with the feeling that it is we that owes to life.

This could be better explained by using an analogy. Let us say that someone gives you a nice car. Chance are very good that you would be grateful for the gift instead of complaining that the car has not your favorite color and that it is not brand new.

Same thing with the gift of life. When accepted as a gift, we don’t go around complaining that all is not perfect. We accept the gift gratefully and do our utmost to enjoy it as much as possible.

Accepting life as a gift rather than as an ordained right is a slight but a very meaningful distinction. We are more prone to value and enjoy the gift and every day that is given us becomes an added bonus instead of a source of recrimination for whatever is not perfect in our eyes.

Serenity is not a matter of outside circumstances; it’s a way of interpreting our reality. It’s a matter of accepting what is, changing what can be changed and coping gratefully with what is given us. Life may not unfold exactly as we would like but it’s always better than non-existence or the great void.

The quote also says, life offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. There is a world of wisdom in these words. It’s about the duality of the Universe. It’s about the Ying and Yang that rules everything.

For every force there has to be a counteracting force. There are two sides to everything. Polarity is essential to existence. Without the negative, the positive cannot exist. Life is about symbiosis and contribution. In order to get, we must give.

The more we give and contribute, the more we get back. This fundamental truth is of special importance for anyone who happens to be on survival mode and struggling just to stay afloat. What can you give if you barely have enough for yourself?

Giving can take the form of support, advice, encouragement and above all human warmth. There is always someone who could use some moral support or a good word. It does not cost anything and it can make a world of difference to someone in need.

It is by sowing that we reap. It is by giving that we receive and no one is so poor that he does not have something to give. Contribution is more a question of attitude than a matter of material possessions.

Basically, what this quote says is that life is a gift and with that gift came some talents. Now, if we choose to appreciate that gift, cultivate those talents and share their fruits, the end results will be the life of our dream. One short quote that says it all.

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The outer layer of the brain, called the cerebral cortex or grey matter, has grooves known as, “sulci.” That is where the seeds of success lay dormant, just waiting to be discovered and nurtured so that they can metamorphose into beautiful and shining accomplishments.

Each of those seeds contains all the genes and other elements required to fulfill one of our dream or aspiration. They lay there, awaiting the heat that only a strong desire can provide, to break out of their shell and start growing like the mighty oak tree.

We don’t have to look in far-off or exotic places to find those seeds of success. They are right there, in our brain, just waiting to be set free so that they can grow and turn the invisible into the visible and the dream into reality.

Just as is the case of a stable chemical solution that needs a catalyst to start the desired reaction, our seeds of success need an outside stimulus to start the chain reactions that will propel them to actualization. That outside stimulus can only be provided by the heat generated by an intense desire.

Desire is the incubator that will break the shell of the dormant seed and give it life. Now, different seeds have different shells. The seed of bigger dreams have thicker shells, and the thicker the shell is; the greater the desire has to be if it wants to generate enough heat to break it open.

Desire is the genitor of accomplishments. Without a strong enough desire, nothing will happen. With a strong enough desire even the seeds that contain our wildest dreams can be awaken and set on their way to making the dream come true. The big dreams need the kind of desire that is flamed by passion and commitment.

Just as the Universe is controlled by specific forces and nature unfolds through very specific laws, dreams are turned into accomplishment by following a very specific pattern. When fully understood, we see that nothing in life happens by accident. Everything follows the law of cause and effect.

Great achievements start with a dream. As the dream takes shape, the desire to see it turn into reality also grows. When under the influence strong emotions, the desire has reached the critical point of intensity, life is infused into the seed of that dream and a new reality is created.

From that moment on, the life of the holder of that dream is changed forever. It is now growing time for the project and the creator of that project. That’s another law of the Universe. No major project or achievement is possible without some personal growth and transformation. Personal growth and achievement go hand in hand. We cannot have one without the other.

Once a project is completed, the person who started it is no longer the same person. Experience has been acquired, unsuspected personal resources have been found and a new level of self-respect has been established. That, in itself, might be even more important than the objective that was accomplished.

We have, in the folds of the grey matter of the brain, success seeds that are just waiting to be released through the influence of a strong desire. We have the seeds, all that we need to do is to supply the desire and then watch our dreams turn into reality and see ourselves expand into the person that we were meant to be.

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Strange as it may seem, in some cases, ignorance can be a blessing. Most of the world’s greatest achievements came to be because someone simply did not know that it could not be done. That’s when it would be appropriate to invoke the proverb that says, “Ignorance is bliss.”

The extent of what we can accomplish is only limited by the scope of our determination. Most of our limits are self-imposed. For thousands of years, people held the belief that it was impossible for a human being to run the mile in less than four minutes. But in 1954 Roger Bannister broke this imposing belief barrier.

In the whole history of the human race, no one had ever been able to break the four-minute mile, yet within one year of Bannister’s breaking the barrier, 37 other runners also broke it. And the year after that, 300 other runners did the same thing! Today, high school kids run the four minutes mile. All that because Roger did not know that it could not be done.

Most of man’s greatest achievements were thought to be impossible at one point. Someone did not know that it was impossible, went ahead and did it. Now it is seen as self-evident.

If we ever hope to do anything worthwhile with our life, the Art of Selective Ignorance has to be learned and mastered. That is, we have to learn to ignore all the reasons why it’s impossible to do something that has never been done before. We need to learn to ignore limitations, lacks and shortages.

One of the most important words in the vocabulary of great achievers is the adverb: how. They want to know “how” something can be done and they choose to ignore the reasons why it cannot be done. That is the Art of Selective Ignorance at its finest.

Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania has introduced us to the world of “learned helplessness.” He has demonstrated how one single failed attempt at something that we tried to accomplish can create the belief that it meant that we could never accomplish that objective.

He also showed that this “one attempt” could create the belief that since we’ve failed in this particular project it also meant that we would fail in something that is totally unrelated. And, as if that was not enough, this one failure can also be seen as a personal flaw or personal ineptitude.

In 1895, Albert Einstein sat the entrance examinations to get into the prestigious Federal Polytechnic School (or Academy) in Zurich, Switzerland and failed. What a great mind the world would have lost if Einstein had taken that failure as a sign that he was not intelligent enough to pursue a life of research.

We can always learn from our failures. However, we must be selective on what we choose to learn. Instead of learning that failures are signs of personal ineptitude, we should learn from what went wrong and how it can be changed in future attempts.

The brain is a wonderful tool but it does need someone at the helm to direct it. Allowed to run free, it can create havoc; well guided it can produce wonders. That is why we should learn to master the Art of Selective Ignorance.

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It’s never their fault. The world is dedicated to ruining their life. Not only are they negative, they are also contagious. Misery loves company so they are constantly recruiting. Nothing would please them more than to have us join their army; the United Victims of the World.

Just as we would approach a contagious patient with precautions and care, we need to treat these people with due circumspection. At best, they will rain on our parade and in the worst scenario; they’ll win us over to their side.

The human mind is like the hard disk of a computer. It will register whatever we allow to filter in. No one in his right mind would visit Internet sites known to be contaminated. The same precaution and care should be used for our mind.

It has been estimated that it takes at least seventeen positive messages to counteract the effect of a single negative one. That is something that should be considered seriously. No one is immune from negative and demoralizing influences.

To perform at the highest level, we must be in the greatest possible state of mind. Something that cannot co-exists with a mind laden with negative and gloom and doom influences. To be all that we can be, mental hygiene has to be kept at the highest possible level.

Some years ago, an experiment was conducted in the Bronx, New York. Some good and honest police officers were placed in a precinct contaminated with bad cops. In less than six months, all those stellar police officers were just as corrupt as the group that they were placed with.

We are much more susceptible to be influenced negatively then we would like to believe. That is because it is done at the level of the unconscious. The cancerous negative metastases are implanted in our brain without our being aware of it. That is why they are so insidious and so damaging.

It is a fundamental axiom that we become like those that we associate with. No friend is better than bad friends, and unless we are stuck in a jail somewhere, it’s always possible to find worthwhile people to associate with. An excellent way of doing this is by volunteering for community services. That is usually where the best of the best can be found.

Mental Spammers and drama queens are everywhere. We cannot escape them totally so, good mental hygiene is absolutely necessary. As much time should be spent every day reading or viewing uplifting material as we do on body hygiene. That is where the famous Latin quotation, “Mens sana in corpore sano.” (A healthy mind in a healthy body) gets all its significance.

High performance requires high-level maintenance. Just as no one would travel a bumpy gravel road with a high performance Ferrari, no one serious about personal achievement should take the chance of being negatively influenced by the wrong crowd.

To perform optimally we need to be in the best possible frame of mind. That can only be done by associating with people who deserve our admiration and respect. A small price to pay to be all that we can be.

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We see it all the time and we may be guilty of it ourselves. People who ignore their own needs, only think about others expecting to be repaid with gratitude and find themselves taken for granted and denied recognition for what they have done.

After awhile, these people are left feeling used and abused. They never realized that what they were doing was actually a form of manipulation. They were attempting to exchange service rendered for love and recognition. It simply does not work.

Love and kindness has to be a win/win situation or it will fail. If the satisfaction can be found in the giving, that is fine. But any attempt at bartering, conscious or otherwise, will fail. Love and gratitude are spontaneous responses. They cannot be coerced or forced. Either they are freely given or they will not come forth.

Actually it all boils down to true respect. Before we can truly respect others, we have to be able to respect ourselves. Again, we cannot give what we don’t have. Self-denial is not a virtue. It’s a lack of self-respect. It’s not a form of humility; it’s a form of servility.

The best possible way to be truly generous, loving and giving is by following the theory of Egoistic Altruism. Basically that theory says that you start by working in your own best interest first and then you extend your efforts toward others. That may sound selfish; it’s not. It’s common sense. Egoism is used to foster altruism; it’s not an end unto itself. It’s an effort to contribute more by becoming more.

The Egoistic Altruism theory is the antithesis of the victim mentality. It implies that the person will take responsibility for his happiness and welfare. It’s a way of teaching and inspiring through example. In one word, it means being part of the solution and not part of the problem.

We admire and respect those who have true respect for themselves. These people are seen as charismatic. We sense that if they can respect themselves, they will also respect others.

Our behavior is an extension of our feelings. When we are contented and happy, we spread joy and we’re generous. On the other hand, when we’re sad and feel deprived, it also affects our behavior. That’s the reason why it is important to look to our own best interest before extending our generosity to others.

Philosophers who support egoism have argued that altruism is demeaning to the individual and that no moral obligation to help others actually exists, and that all of our actions are based upon self-interest.

They are partially right. There is no moral obligation to help others and most of our actions are based on self-interest – but that’s as far as it goes. Contribution may not be an obligation but it is an essential requirement to self-fulfillment. Most of our actions are motivated by self-interest but if they do not, at one point, extend to the betterment of others, there is a character flaw.

Complete maturity implies the need for interdependence. That is, the need to share and contribute. That is where we see the nobility of man; that is where we become all that we can be.

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Reading self-improvement books serves an essential purpose however that purpose is not what you may think it is. We read self-improvement books because they motivate and inspire. Not because they inform. We already know what we need to know to succeed. The problem is that we’re not using it.

We also read self-improvement books because, unconsciously, we’re hoping to find a way to succeed without having to go through the basics. Sorry, there is no such animal. The Masters in any discipline, and that includes the Art and Science of Success, will tell you that everything starts and ends with the basics. Even the virtuosos and grand masters constantly practice and use the basics.

The basics fundamentals are the cornerstones upon witch any discipline or area of expertise are based. To master the basics is to master the art and science of that discipline. Everything else is just fluff designed to make it more palatable and interesting.

The basics in the Art and Science of Success are quite simple. They are: 1) Specific purpose, 2) Desire, 3) Certainty, 4) Action and 5) Perseverance.

1. Specific Purpose. Before a dream can be turned into reality, that dream has to be well defined and quantified. Any journey has to have a specific destination, so does an objective or a life’s mission. Before anything else is done, it is absolutely necessary to know precisely what it is that we are after.

2. Desire. The scope of the desire has to be proportional to the size of the objective. Wishing to climb Mount Everest would not be enough but a burning desire would do it. The desire is the fuel that propels the energy and enthusiasm necessary to reach the objective. The farter and more distant the objective, the greater the desire has to be to reach it.

3. Certainty. Certainty has been called, “The Winner’s Edge.” With certainty well implanted and doubts out of the way, fear is removed and the entire focus is on the goal to be reached.

4. Action. This has to be the most important ingredient of any achievement. Other basics elements required to succeed may be neglected but action is essential. Without action, nothing happens. With enough and well directed actions, almost anything is possible.

The inability to take action is the number one cause of crushed hopes and failed lives. Taking action is what separates the dreamers from the doers and the winners from the could-have-been. If one ever hopes to succeed at anything, action is essential.

5. Perseverance. Nothing of any importance ever unfolds without some roadblocks and setbacks. Few wars are ever won without loosing some battles. Jim Rohn says, “How long should you try? Until.” That’s how long perseverance should last, until the objective is attained.

Those are the basics of the Art and Science of success. You don’t need anything else. You put these five elements to work for you and success is within reach. Before you go to another seminar or reach for another book and success and motivation, try these. If that does not do it for you, there is something that you failed to understand or to implement.

As we quoted in the beginning of this article, “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

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Our notion about the magnitude or insignificance of our individual role on Planet Earth constitutes one of our fundamental beliefs. That belief may be empowering, as it may be the cause of a semi-wasted and totally meaningless life. It is evident that Barack Obama and a homeless crack addict do not share the same belief regarding self-importance.

Whatever belief we have on the subject is of colossal significance since it defines the scope of what is possible and what is impossible for us. It is a fundamental axiom that we perform as we believe ourselves to be. Henry Ford said it first, “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.”

We were all born with roughly the same bag of tools. We get to decide if those tools were destined to elevate humanity to new heights or if they were destined to rust-out in the toolbox. We get to decide if birth was the greatest possible gift of if it was a curse.

With the right attitude, the tools that we were given can be honed and perfected to perform with the accuracy and precision of a neurosurgeon’s performance. Left to the unpredictable forces of neighboring influences, those same precious tools will simply conform to social norms. That, by the way, is unfortunately what happens in most cases.

It does not have to be that way. We were given freewill at birth. We get to define our self-image. We get to choose who we are. We define our intrinsic values and we get to create our own destiny. That is, if we have the courage and wherewithal to do it.

That being said, the question becomes, “How do we find out what our mission is?” The first place to look is the area that we are most passionate about. In the thing that we would gladly do even if we were not paid to do it. That is where our talents are; that’s where we can find our most potent force. That’s where our mission lies.

One of the best examples of that could be seen in the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the days where bodybuilding was seen by most as a sport where the main requirements were big muscles and a gorilla’s brains, who could have believed that it was also the path that would lead to fame and fortune. Arnold did and he made his dream come true.

The Web world is full of incredible success stories. People who had a passion for IT and became billionaires. British author J. K. Rowling had a passion for writing, created Harry Potter and she is now a living legend. Lance Armstrong received worldwide attention by winning the Tour de France seven consecutive years.

These are but a few examples of people who became successes by doing the thing that they liked the most. They had a passion, exploited it and became household names. What is “your” passion? What is it that you would do even if you were not paid to do it?
That’s your key to success. That’s what you were born to do. That’s your Manifest Destiny. Your Mission.

We live in a world where anything is possible. Every new invention, every new discovery opens new worlds of possibilities. The opportunities are not narrowing down as the world evolves they are opening up. There is a place out there for someone with your specific talents and passions. Find it, fill it and you too will have found your life’s mission and ultimately, all the success that you ever dreamed off.

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Basically, self-actualization means working toward becoming all that we can be. It should be a process that starts at birth and last until the last curtain falls. Unfortunately, such is not always the case. Many people are so entangled in the problems of daily life that little thought or attention is given to self-actualization.

That’s a shame because self-actualization should be what life is all about. Life means growth. The moment that growth stops, stagnation and decay set in. That is true for all living organisms and it is especially true for humans. It is correctly said that some people die at age twenty-two, forget to fall down, and will only get buried past age eighty.

Self-actualization passes through three stages: learning, integrating and doing. Let’s review these three stages.

1. Learning is the first stage. Every new thing that we learn is added to our bank of reference where it can be used in the thinking process. That information serves to evaluate concepts and ideas; it can be used to make finer and more effective distinctions and is the basis for the entire conscious process.

2. The integration into the wiring of our brain of some of our knowledge has to be done in a way that it becomes an automatic reflex. That is the second stage of the self-actualizing process and it has much to do with self-control. It is evident that a person near the zenith of self-actualization will not react to situations the same way that an infant would. As we evolve and grow, we get to be more and more sophisticated in our automatic responses to situations and events.

3. The last, and probably most meaningful stage of self-actualization is the “doing” part. It is not what we know that really counts but what we do with it that really matters. It is by pushing our limits that we really grow. So long as we stay in our comfort zone, no real progress is achieve. It is when we really have to flex our intellectual muscles that growth occurs.

That is the primary reason why we should have goals and objectives. It is not reaching a goal that is the most important. What really matters is the person that we have to become to reach our objectives that really matters.

The real objective of goal setting is self-transformation, self-growth and self-actualization. The stories of people who never grasped or understood that fundamental axiom are legion. They are the tales of people who have achieved unbelievable success, acquired fame and adulation of the masses that end up destroying themselves because they are so miserable and unhappy that they can no longer stand it.

Material possessions, fame and recognition by themselves will not bring happiness. Successful living is above all a state of mind. It is found in the satisfaction that we are constantly growing and improving; in the realization that we are evolving and contributing. In the feeling that, day-by-day, we are climbing the path of self-actualization.

Once our basic physiological and emotional needs have been met, everything that we do is directed toward satisfying our need for self-actualization. Self-actualization has been called the master motive. In other words, self-actualization is the ultimate motive from which all other motives spring.

Once we’ve understood this basic fact of life, we are ready to make real progress. We are heading in the right direction. It’s not what we own that really matters; it’s whom we are that really counts.

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