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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One of the major roadblocks to self-expression is the fear of rejection. People will go to their grave with the song still in them because of that fear. Wonderful opportunities have been lost and the quality of life has been dwarfed for many because of it. The fear of rejection, in the best-case scenarios, is very annoying and in extreme cases, it’s a debilitating curse.

Before we can learn how to handle successfully the fear of rejection, we need to understand its nature. The fear of rejection is a phobia. It’s an excessive fear of something that is innocuous or harmless. It’s an exaggerated reaction toward an imaginary threat. Nothing else.

The worst that a rejection can cause is a bruised ego. Nobody ever died of a bruised ego. However, that is not what a person in the throe of the fear of rejection will perceive. Just as is the case of any phobia, the response to the threat is highly exaggerated and the fight or flight response may become be activated.

When that happens, a benign threat will be perceived as an eminent danger that could have devastating if not of deadly consequences. That’s what a person affected with the fear of rejection will feel and that’s what his reality will be. No wonder that the response takes on such a disproportionate dimensions.

Eliminating the fear of rejection is affected primarily through a desensitizing process. The possible effects of rejection must be carefully and logically scrutinized. The following questions must be carefully examined, “What will happen to me if someone manifests, in words or in action, some expression of disapproval, criticism, resentment or rejection?”

If we have to be honest and sincere about it, the worst that can follow a rejection is a bruised ego. And that is only in the cases where we will allow our ego to be affected by the incident. Words by themselves have no power to hurt us – that is, unless we allow it to be.

The more we explore the real effects of rejection, the more we understand that it has little consequences or significance. Someone does not like us or disagree with us; so what? Everyone his entitled to an opinion and we certainly don’t have to share it.

No one can rise in the social hierarchy without gathering a proportional share of people who will disagree, show unwarranted resentment and express some form of rejection. It goes with the territory. Champions, winners and mover and shakers know that and understand that it’s a very small price to pay for the life that they live and enjoy.

In the Stone Age, rejection meant that you could be excluded from the clan and left out of support and resources. This is no longer the case. In today’s world, rejection might even be seen as a sign of personal success. If you’re a nobody, no one will criticize and reject you; you’re not worth the effort. On the other hand, as you rise above the crowd, some opposition is to be expected.

No one enjoys criticism and rejection. On the other hand, incidents involving opposition have to be seen in the proper context. If someone else is on a different wavelength, it’s not necessarily a reflection on our self-worth. It takes a big person to be understanding, forgiving and tolerant. Not everyone has reach that level. So, let’s not be overly affected when we come across one of those poor souls who tries to rain on our parade. It’s not worth the time or efforts.

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It would be almost impossible to overstate the importance of the self-image. It molded our personality, defined our character, and it directs our behavior. The self-image is the way that we perceive ourselves to be. It defines how we behave, it sets the boundaries of what’s possible for us and it shapes the way that we present ourselves to the world.

The self-image is responsible for the quality of life that we’ll enjoy or the lack thereof. For all these reasons and many more, our self-image is of capital importance. Every possible effort should be made to have the best possible self-image.

Before we attempt to change the self-image, it must be understood that the self-image is a personal belief and nothing else. It is not something that we were born with or that is inscribed in our genes or DNA. As far as the self-image is concerned, we were born with a clean slate that we filled by accepting suggestions that were given by parents, friends, teacher and peers and through some personal observations.

We were the ones who accepted those suggestions and made those observations so, even if were not consciously aware that we were accepting those suggestions, we must take full responsibility for the process.

Changes are only possible by taking responsibility for what concerns us. No change is ever possible by taking on the victim stance. The reason for that is simple. We have control over what we created or have allowed to be created in our brain but if we adopt the beliefs that it was due to outside influences, there is little if anything that we can do to change it.

Once we have accepted responsibility for our self-image, the second thing that has to be done is to write down what that image is. It is impossible to try to change some vague notion. Just as we would not try to redecorate the inside of a house that we have not seen, it would be foolish to attempt to change a self-image of which we only have some vague concepts.

Formulating the description of our self-image demands some introspection. The best way to do that is by sitting down and writing a paragraph describing who we perceive ourselves to be. That paragraph is simply a rough draft. It won’t be perfect and we should not even try to make it perfect.

However, in days to come, that draft has to be reviewed and corrected until we have an accurate description of what we perceive ourselves to be. It may take days and it may take weeks but the exercise should be done until we are satisfied with the finished product.

Once that this is done, we must define and write down what we believe that we could be if we were all that we could be. That is our ideal self-image. That’s the image that we want to fill; that’s the person that we want to become. That’s how we want to see ourselves – it’s our new and improved self-image.

We now come to the final stage of the exercise. That ideal self-image must be placed where it can easily be seen and read over and over again with conviction until it is completely believed and accepted.

People who have tried this technique were amazed at the results that were achieved in a relatively short period of time. Every time that the ideal self-image is read, it reinforce the belief and eventually turns it into a conviction. That’s the power of autosuggestion. It’s the ideal tool to change a negative self-image into the glorious image of what we fundamentally are.

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Our little trip on Planet Earth is a one-time deal and it does not last forever. Depending on how we look at it, that may be a very somber thought or it could be a tremendous source of motivation. One way or another, it certainly changes the perspective from which we view life.

When we take an honest look at the fact that our time is limited, everything changes. There is no more time for pettiness, there is little time for worries and all that really matters is what we truly want to accomplish before the final curtain falls.

With maturity we get to understand that life is about productivity. It’s about doing, achieving and growing in the process. We also get to understand that life is about engagement. It’s about contribution, it’s bout making a statement, and it’s about fulfilling our manifest destiny.

Seen in this light, our mortality becomes a great motivator. It gives us a sense of purpose and a sense of urgency. It’s a wakeup call. It incites us to focus on what is important and what really matters. It’s a constant reminder of how precious and important life is.

To be truly effective, the awareness of the fact that we have been given a limited existence has to be exercised with balance. If that awareness becomes excessive it may create a paralyzing obsession. On the other hand, if completely ignored, it could lead to a purposeless existence.

Chances are that there is little that we can do to extend the time that is given us except to follow the sensible rules that we all know regarding personal health care. However, even if there is little that we can do to expand the time that we have been allotted, there is much that we can do to fill that time with more life.

Intensive living is the result of passion. The kind of passion that can be found while pursing goals and objectives that are larger and bigger than we are – through goals and objectives that will demand complete involvement and complete dedication.

The kind of passion that feeds the thirst for knowledge and discoveries. The passion for self-discovery and self-actualization. The passion for life and everything in it. The kind of passion that is felt when we are involved in something that matters, is important, vital and essential.

Passion is the fuel that generates energy, flames the imagination, opens doors and bolsters courage. It is what gets us up early in the morning and keeps the flame burning until late in the night. Passion equates vitality and confidence as it creates the charismatic aura essential to success. With enough passion, almost anything is possible. Without it, everything is an uphill battle.

The kind of passion that we are talking about here is closely associated with caring. It’s caring enough about who we are to understand that we were placed on Planet Earth for a mission. It’s caring enough about ourselves to have a sense of purpose and destiny. It’s caring enough about ourselves to realize that we count and that we matter. In one word, it’s caring enough to see the grandeur of man and to live up to that vision.

Our time on Planet Earth is limited. We can use this fact as a reminder that time is precious and should be used judiciously. Seen in that light, it becomes a source of inspiration and a great motivator. The gift of life is the greatest there is. Let’s make the most of it while we still can.

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A lot of people who are attracted to the art and science of self-improvement are motivated by the lure of money. They want to know better and more expedient ways of climbing the ladder of financial success. It’s no accident that the bible of the self-improvement world is called, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

That is really unfortunate because financial success is really only a relatively small part of what self-improvement should be about. First and foremost, self-improvement should be about finding ways of having a more successful life and money is only a part of that equation.

Until that is understood, all the personal work done in self-improvement is next to useless. Money may be essential to a happy life but it’s only an aspect of the whole picture. This has been clearly demonstrated in the stories of people who have achieved great levels of financial success and were left so disillusioned that they ended up committing suicide.

Self-improvement is mostly about acquiring the tools and the knowledge necessary to take control of our life in all of its aspects. It’s about learning how to control the internal Master System that directs all human behavior.

Man is without a doubt the most sophisticated and complex creation or invention on Planet Earth – yet it did not come with an Owner’s Manual. That is what the science of self-improvement is all about. It’s the next best thing to that Owner’s Manual.

The emphasis in self-development should be on Personal Control and not exclusively on financial success. This point cannot be stressed enough because it’s the number one reason that people get into any of the self-help disciplines and fail.

The science of making money is not all that complex. It could be summed up in a few sentences: 1) Be obsessed with money. 2) Keep on trying to find new ways of making money. 3) Work very hard and save. Anything added to that is superfluous. Nothing else is needed.

On the other hand, real self-improvement is a life-long process. It’s not about learning new tricks on how to influence people. It’s about understanding why we do what we do, about fundamental personality change and about character building.

The title says it all, self-improvement. It’s about improving who we are as humans. It’s about learning that our past does not equate our future. It’s about coming to grip with the fact that it is possible to change and finding out how those changes can be affected.

The time invested in self-improvement can yield amazing returns. It can open the door to great achievements, transform lives and turn a meaningless existence into a world of greatness. No one has ever achieved anything worthwhile without using the principles found in the science of self-improvement.

Like any other discipline, self-improvement requires going through the theory and practice parts of that science. Learning without doing is moot. It does require work, discipline and diligence. It is a lifelong process, nothing that can be done overnight. The results are proportional to the time and efforts invested.

In one word, self-improvement is about understanding what motivates us to do the thing that we do and about character building. Once that this is understood, we are ready to plunge into the wonderful world of self-improvement knowing that our expectations will be met.

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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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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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Success is the end result of multiple victories honorably won. For that reason, anyone who aspires to succeed must be passionate about winning. It could even be said that most of the world’s movers and shakers are more motivated by the desire to win than by the objective that they are after.

Winning is processional and it’s a way of life. Without the competitive spirit, no great achievement is possible. Ambivalence has no place in the arenas of success. Either the game is played to win or it’s a no contest.

Life is about competition. That’s how evolution worked from ameba to man, it’s how mankind grew and it’s how success is achieved. To live and grow is to compete and win.

Strong and effective competitors share two common elements. They have a unique mindset and they posses outstanding personal resources. Let’s take a look at these two items.

Winners believe that they are fighting for a cause that is larger than they are. They have a sense of destiny. They understand that they have an important role to play in the grand scheme of the Universe and that what they do matter.

Taking such a stance is not reserved to the privileged few. Anyone who has the courage to stand up and claim his birthright could see himself in that light. It’s a question of self-esteem and a question of self-confidence. Something that anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort can acquire.

Along with that mindset, winners have outstanding personal resources. They were not born with these resources they acquired them. They did so by constantly waging the ultimate war, the battle to constantly outdo themselves.

Life’s noblest conquests are the ones that we have over ourselves. Those are the battles that we should be obsessed to win. That’s were we expand and grow. It’s where we acquire the personal resources essential to lasting success.

We learn very little when we stay in our comfort zone. A bodybuilder will grow by challenging heavier and heavier weights. That’s also how our bank of references (personal resources) works. We learn by overcoming larger and larger obstacles and facing ever-greater obstacles.

It could be said that the story of accomplishments is the story of victories. Victories that start with victories over self then extend outward to public achievements; thus creating a self-propelling and ever growing circle of personal growth, victories and achievements.

If we look at it with a cold and calculating eye, we can see that life, in all its forms, is an eternal competition for supremacy. We cannot escape it. Either we enter the arena and compete or we are left by the wayside and become a burden on society. Those are not cruel and uncaring words they are facts.

The world does not owe us anything yet it has already given us much. It is up to us to find the opportunities available and do the best that we can to turn them into successful and rewarding accomplishments. That’s what we were born to do. To quote Julius Caesar, “Veni, vidi, vici.” (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

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To succeed at anything, obstacles have to be surmounted, lack of resources has to be overcome and people have to be influenced. In order to accomplish that, the efforts displayed have to be proportional to the challenge.

One of the primary causes of failures is failing to correctly assess the required efforts needed to reach the objective. We tend to underestimate what it will take to reach the brass ring. We also tend to look at those that we consider be successes and be amazed at how easy it was for them.

One of the reason for that is that we see what we want to see rather than take the time to dig and find out what the truth is. We fall prey to the Pollyanna principle; that is, we tend to have positive bias. We tend to highlight the positive sides and downplay the negative aspects.

The reality is that there are very few overnight successes. Success is like a beautiful, elusive and capricious woman. It has to be intensively pursued before it can be won. If success were as easy to attain, as some gurus would like you to believe, almost everyone would be a resounding success.

Success is the logical outcome of adequate planning, realistic objectives and a solid commitment to leave no stone unturned until the objective is achieved. That is where the magic of massive action comes in.

Massive action implies that whatever barrier and every obstacle that stand in the way of completion of the objective will be assailed with irresistible force until it falls. Massive action is the offspring of an irrevocable determination; it is the result of being willing and ready to put forth whatever ethical effort necessary to achieve success.

The problem with massive action it that is has a bad connotation. It seems to imply all work and no play. That could not be further away from the truth. In order to achieve great success, the work and efforts required have to create passion and it has to be fun.

Unless the work involved contains its own reward, long lasting success would be next to impossible. True success requires total commitment. Something that would be impossible to achieve with the ambivalent attitude of someone who’s only interested in the result and is not passionate about the process to get there.

Massive action requires passion. It requires the passion that will allow the professional athlete to break the pain barrier and give his all at each performance. The passion that will sustain the entrepreneur who has just lost everything and find the wherewithal to turn around and start all over again.

Success is a science and not a fluke. It is something that can be studied and learned like anything else. Part of this study includes the mechanisms of massive action. Not a very complex subject. Suffice to know and understand that massive action is essential to success and that passion is essential to massive action.

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We live in a fast paced world. What was true yesterday should be questioned today. Either we develop the ability to change and adapt or we fall by the wayside. The age of dogmas is now passé. Everything is open to question and fluidity is the order of the day.

Time was when we could find security in familiar surroundings. That époque is now over. We must learn to surf with the tide of current events and situations. With the explosion of technology, we no longer live in a community but in a global village.

How then can we set our compass straight and keep our bearings in the midst of that turmoil? For that we need to turn to our basic values. Those can be seen as the North Star of the modern day sailors. Just as the North Star guided sea Captains for centuries, our basic values will guide us in the tumultuous and ever changing sea of life.

Our basic values are the fundamental beliefs that create the core of our character. Most of the decisions that we make are directed by those values. These values are incrusted in our self-image and perceived identity. They define who we believe ourselves to be.

Yet, given all their importance, most people have never taken the time to examine those values. No one would set out to sea with a faulty or unchecked GPS (Global Positioning System.) The same attention should be accorded to our values because they are the only one who can truly assist us in charting our way through an ever-changing world.

The first thing that needs to be done is to makeup a list of at least ten of our most important values. That list should be sorted out by order of importance and then evaluated one by one to make sure that those values are empowering and not conflicting with each other.

Your values could look something like this: 1. Health, 2. Personal Growth, 3. Family life, 4. Financial Security, 5. Relationships, 6. Adventure, 7. Contribution, 8. Spirituality, 9. Recognition, 10. Legacy.

Once the values have been sorted out by order of importance, they should be checked to ascertain that they are compatible and not conflicting. Someone who would have “adventure” and “security” as personal values is on a conflicting path. Adventure and security will not make compatible bedfellows. One of the two will have to be changed.

Our personal values are simply beliefs that we have acquired along the way. Our parents, our peers and the society in which we live have passed on most of them to us. Those beliefs are not cast in stone and they are not dogmas. They can be changed and they should be changed if they do not serve us the way that they should.

With our value clearly established, decision-making is no longer an issue. We know exactly where we intend to go; we know what’s important for us and what should be avoided at all cost. Our compass is set and even in turbulent times it’s easy to keep the cap in the intended direction.

We are the Captains of our ship and so long as we are guided by our fundamental values, the ship will stay safely on course. That is, so long as those values are dictated with quality and integrity in mind.

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