The Mother of All Systems: The Universe

The universe is the largest system of all, and yes, it is a system, like any of the others we discussed last week, and guess what? You are part of the universe. So you are part of that system. The beauty is that you are a living, breathing thinking part of that system, capable of defining your own goals and aspirations. You can determine what direction you want your life to move in, and if you move in that direction with enough force and dedication, the universe will invariably step in to help you towards that goal. Remember, all systems strive towards a common goal and towards harmony of their components. As a component, as long as your goals are not contradictory of the rest of the system, you can actually steer the entire system toward your aims. If you dedicate yourself towards a particular end without compromise, the universe, as a system, will naturally align itself with you and help you along your chosen path.

Ok, here’s the rub. The universe is massive. You, by comparison, are not. The universe will react to your energy, the energy you create with the thoughts you think and actions you take. The universe cannot however, read your mind. You need to be presenting the universe with the energy you want it to align itself with in reference to your life. Let’s say you have a job you dislike or even hate, or maybe just don’t want to continue forever. I know that’s probably hard for you to imagine, I know everyone loves their jobs, but see if you can stretch your imagination a little. Now the universe picks up on two things, action energy and attitude energy.

Action energy is what the universe uses to interpret actions you take and the events in your life. Attitude energy is how you react to those actions and events. When you go to work, the action energy you put out is “money energy.” You are taking action to make money. The universe perceives this and immediately looks at how you are reacting to that action. If you go every day thinking about how much you hate your job, how miserable it makes you and how awful everything about it is, the universe is going to interpret your attitude as not being happy making money. Like I said, the universe is huge, it can’t read deeply into every nuance of what you’re thinking, it just gets the broader message. All the universe sees is you making money and being miserable, which translates to “I don’t like money.”

Since the universe is a system, it will align itself to your desires. And the desire it perceives is to stop making money. Think of it this way: Compare the universes relationship with you to your relationship with an ant. You are huge, an ant is not. When you look down and see an ant running in a particular direction, you can instantly interpret which direction it wants to be moving in. What you can’t see is why. Just like you can’t guess why an ant wants to go where it wants to go, the universe can’t determine why you are thinking the thoughts you think. It gets the general direction you are trying to move in relative to the actions you are taking. I don’t want you to start thinking of yourself as small or insignificant with my ant analogy, I merely want to illustrate the scale of what you are able to perceive so you will understand what it is the universe is able to perceive when it looks at you.

By remembering that the universe only picks up on your action and your attitude, you can clarify your desires. The best thing you can do in this example is shift your focus at work. Focus on the fact that you are making money and that money is a good thing. Be glad that at the end of the day you will have made more than you woke up with. Let the universe see you being happy making money and it will support you in making more. By removing the negativity you feel about working, you remove the negativity the universe perceives that you are feeling about money. Once you actually replace that negativity with positive thoughts and energy, the universe will see that you unequivocally want to be successful financially, that you enjoy and desire the opportunity to make money. The universe will then align itself to the energy and goals that you are demonstrating and start helping you earn whatever you want. With enough of the right focus and energy, you can convince the universe to virtually throw money and opportunities at you. Remember, systems work best when all of the components are working in comfortable harmony. As soon as the universe starts seeing you as desiring money and success, it will feed you as much as it feels you can handle, because the happier you are as a component of the system, the better off the system as a whole will be.

In the example we just outlined, we talked about two extreme ends of the spectrum. At one end, you are a miserable employee, at the other you are the most positive and driven person you can be. There is obviously a bit of a divide here. Many people fall somewhere in between: there are good days where they are happy with their jobs and bad days where they are miserable. For these people (for most people that is) the universe is never going to get a clear impression of what they want.

You need to train yourself to control your attitude and outlook. If you are constantly switching back and forth between two extreme attitudes, the universe has no choice but to try and average out what you seem to want. Basically if you spend half of your time happy and half of your time miserable, the universe can’t really do much. It will ultimately average out your attitude over time and leave you pretty much where you started.

Accept that the universe is watching, and be glad that it naturally wants to help. Demonstrate, every day, with as much conviction as you can, the things you want for your future. Train yourself, as strictly as possible, to send a consistent message to the universe, and always be grateful when the universe responds.

Systems: How They Effect You, Your Business, and Your Life

Now that we’ve discussed goals, it’s time we talked about systems. Millionaires generally understand how important systems are. A system is nothing more than a group of parts or components that are all aligned toward one common goal, function or purpose.

Every part of a system is connected and impacts the other parts. The components of a system naturally seek harmony and balance with one another, as long as each component is still aligned towards the system’s goal. Due to the fact that all of these components are interconnected and naturally balancing, each component has the ability to impact the whole. Every component can have a direct and noticeable effect on the entire system on one level or another. Consider the highways in your own city or town. They make up part of a system. If there is trouble on one particular freeway, the effects often spill out onto nearby freeways and surface roads: one component affecting another.

These days everyone understands, or should understand the environmental problems we are currently facing. This is a perfect example of individual components affecting the entire system. A great source of information on the effects we have on our planetary system is Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Anyone who hasn’t seen this film should set aside time and rent it as soon as possible. The planet we live on is a system, all of its components working together and impacting one another, either on a large or small scale.

Everything is part of a system. Every system is actually part of a larger system. We are surrounded by them, and therefore must appreciate the profound level of impact that they have on our lives. Your body is a system, from your mind, to your heart, to your arms, legs and ears; and because all of these components are all interconnected, something as simple as a poor diet can lead to massive problems in virtually every other component of your system. Each component has the ability to affect the whole.

Consider the side effects that commonly come with medications: impacting one component of your bodily system ultimately affects other components as well. A more personal example of the human body system being impacted by individual components is comes from Lynne’s own personal experience.

Several years back, Lynne was suffering from terrible heartburn, so much so that one night she was having trouble sleeping, and at 3 A.M. decided she needed to go to the emergency room. In the hours that followed, it was determined that she had Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) and was prescribed a medication to counter the reflux. For the next two years she took a pill for her reflux every day. The reflux dissipated, only to be replaced by severe abdominal pain. One component of her system was affecting the rest of her system dramatically: to the point where she couldn’t even eat without experiencing intense discomfort.

After two years of anxiety and pain she took the step to visit a naturopathic doctor. For anyone who isn’t familiar with naturopathy, it is a branch of medicine that focuses on the source of the problem rather than treating the symptoms (for example, find the cause of the reflux, rather than suppressing it with a pill.) This doctor tested Lynne for food intolerances, and quickly discovered her body, her system, did not react well to soy products.

Since this breakthrough, Lynne has cut soy out of her diet (it is in a lot more things than you think, just start looking at ingredient labels) and is no longer on any prescriptions. Once Lynne understood what was happening to one part of her body, she was able to impact her body (her system) as a whole.

These examples give a very clear picture of the dramatic effect the parts and components of a system can have on one another. Millionaires understand the principles that govern systems, and how important it is not to underestimate one compenent can have on the others. In a few days, we’ll talk about the largest system of all, how it affects you, and how you actually affect it.

Building A Strong Goal

A few days ago, we discussed the four primary components of a goal in detail, so now let’s look at the importance they play in our future goal setting. The best way to do this is to build a goal, and investigate the negative effects of not including the various qualifiers we discussed last week. For our example, let’s start with:

“I’m going to visit the Grand Canyon.”

Great! We have an Action, a “what,” something we are going to do. That’s it though, that’s all we have. The reason goals are so useful is that they give people a reason to push themselves towards a particular accomplishment. The problem with a simple goal like this one is that it doesn’t have that “push.” There is nothing in this goal that drives a person towards achieving it. When qualifiers are left out, they don’t go away, they just take on a state of being implied rather than defined. The goal, with its implied qualifiers actually reads:

“I’m going to visit the Grand Canyon eventually, at least once.“

Pretty vague. Doesn’t exactly portray any real sense of determination, does it? It also doesn’t set us up for constructive goal revising. With this goal we’ll ask ourselves “Have I gone to the Grand Canyon, at least once, yet?” and the answer will be “No, but I said “eventually” so there is still time,” and we are left with no reason to revise anything.

Now, if we add or rather define a qualifier (remember, undefined qualifiers don’t disappear, they just become implied), this simple goal takes on totally new life:

“I’m going to visit the Grand Canyon before I’m 40.”

Wow! All we did was define a simple Deadline and we now have a goal that will actually drive us toward achieving our Action. Now when we evaluate our goal we will be getting closer and closer to that deadline, which will drive us to act.

What about a Quantity? Or a Method?

“I’m going to visit the Grand Canyon 6 times before I’m 40, by setting aside $30 dollars a week.”

There. Replace your original, Action only goal with this new qualified goal and I’m pretty sure you’ll be going on a lot more vacations. This goal will drive you to look at how far off your Deadline is, how much of your Quantity is still to be met in that time and a Method of how you will accomplish what you are striving for. It allows you to assess if your Method is effective enough as you approach the Deadline and perhaps modify one, or both of those qualifiers as needed.

Ultimately, the more you qualify your goal, the more effectively it can drive you to succeed, and the more readily it can be revised to be attained in the future. Obviously, not all goals are created equal. Sometimes you will need to replace your Deadline with a Frequency, for example if you wanted to visit the Grand Canyon once a year, or make ten sales every month. Along with your Frequency you might want to add a Duration, determining how long you want to maintain the Action.

The important lesson to learn is that the different aspects of your goals are important keys to your success. When a goal seems out of reach, don’t despair, simply reevaluate, revise and retry.

In the next post of this series, we are going to change gears a little, and shift our focus from goals to the importance of systems in your life.

The Anatomy of a Goal

Recently, we discussed the critical difference between how Millionaires and most other people approach the goals that they set. Today, we will look more closely at goals themselves, and how to structure, set and monitor them for optimum success.

The key point to successful goal attainment is never giving up on a single goal you set. As silly as it seems the old adage “if at first you don’t succeed…” really rings true for successful people. When you don’t experience success in reaching a goal, you must continue to strive for it until you do.

Many people feel that this is impossible, because many people don’t understand the anatomy of a goal. Goals have a few different parts, or at least they should, and if you don’t take those different parts into consideration, you will very often feel that you have “failed.”

Let me offer an example. Let’s use a goal that an online marketer might set:

“I’m going to make ten sales by April 30^th.”

This may seem like a very simple goal, but it is absolutely crucial that the person setting this goal recognize the different components that make up the anatomy of his or her goal and appreciate the significance of each. Let’s break down this goal into its different components, and investigate how to treat each one.

The components we will be discussing are the Action, the Quantity, and the Deadline. There is a fourth component not included in the example goal that we will discuss later on.

First, let’s consider the Action, as this is the most pivotal part of any goal. Goals pretty much boil down to an Action, as it is the only goal component that can stand completely alone. Simple goals are often nothing more than an action, which is why they are often left unmet, but we will discuss that more later. In the case of our example, the Action is to “make sales.”  This is what our online marketer is going to achieve and therefore is the heart of their goal.

Second, let’s take a look at the Quantity. This is actually an optional component, as some goals will revolve around a specific event, or an Action that can only be achieved once. If the Action in a goal you set can be achieved multiple times, consider including a Quantity in your goal. Generally speaking, when a goal needs a Quantity for its Action, but the person setting that goal doesn’t include one, they are implying a quantity of “at least one.” The importance of recognizing Quantity as a separate component from Action is that not meeting your Quantity does not diminish the success of achieving the Action. In our example the Quantity is obviously ten sales. When April 30^th arrives and our goal setter sits down to evaluate his or her success, they may find they only made seven sales, or five, or even one. They could very easily fall into the trap of feeling they had failed in achieving their goal. The important distinction for this person, and you, and me, to make is that they set out to make sales, and they did! They were successful in taking the Action they desired, even if they came up a little short on the quantity side. The appropriate step now is to reset to goal and work harder towards meeting their Quantity requirement.

The third component, and sometimes the most dangerous, is the Deadline. This is the “when“ of your goal. Not all people include Deadlines in their goals, which is can sometimes lead to problems. In the case of our example the deadline is April 30^th. The reason Deadlines can be so dangerous, is a lot of people have trouble separating them from the rest of the goal and moving forward. Many people feel that if they set a goal and aren’t successful by the date they hoped for, then there’s nothing they can do. After all, if your goal is to make ten sales by April 30^th, and April 30^th comes and goes with just five sales, how can you keep trying? This type of thinking leads many people to despair and feeling that they have failed.

The answer lies in the fact that the Action makes up the main body of your goal, while the Quantity, Deadline and a fourth component we will discuss shortly can all be viewed as qualifiers for that action. They can be revised or temporarily set aside. Let’s consider what happens to our example goal when only five sales are made and the online marketer starts getting a down on him or herself about it.

Think about the fact that it is now May 1^st and only five sales were made. Not an ideal situation, but think about your goal without the Quantity attached. In our example goal, you would ask yourself the following question: “Did I make sales by April 30^th?” The answer is, obviously, yes. Try removing the Deadline. You are now left with the question “Did I make ten sales?” The answer to that question is very simply “Not yet.”

This is where Millionaires set themselves apart when it comes to goal setting. They recognize the value of a Deadline, but don’t give it control of their success. The same applies to Quantities.

The fourth component to a goal that is somewhat optional is the Method. This is the “how” of your goal, and is generally the least included component. While not always necessary, if you are continually missing Quantities and Deadlines, consider adding a Method in your goal revisions. Remember, when you do not succeed at a goal, simply revise your qualifiers: Quantity, Deadline, and Method. An example of how a method would fit into a revised version of our example goal is “I am going to make ten sales by June 30^th by placing more classified ads.” In this revision, we have left the Quantity, because it is still something we can reach for, moved our Deadline to a date we can still reach and added a Method that will help provide focus for how to achieve our Action. If you are revising a goal that already includes a Method, consider adding additional Methods, or trying new ones.

Now that we have discovered the various components to effective goal setting, in our next post we will use them to create a goal from the ground up and further explore the value of a well built goal.

Setting Goals Like A Millionaire

In a recent post we discussed a few of the characteristics that make a person a Millionaire (and how it is those characteristics and not their net worth that make the difference). One of the most valuable pieces of the “Millionaire Puzzle” is how you handle your goals.

Think about the last time you set a goal for yourself. If you have a hard time with this step, that is one of your biggest problems. Millionaires are goal setters. They constantly evaluate where they are and where they are going. Notice I did not say “where they want to be,” but “where they are going.”

Let me ask you a question: the last goal you set for yourself, did you succeed or fail? If you succeeded, that’s great! Can you remember another goal you might have set where you failed? If the answer is yes, you are probably not a Millionaire (yet), because Millionaires don’t fail.

I’m not saying Millionaires never make mistakes, and that every action they take is a successful one, I’m just saying they don’t fail.

Millionaires don’t view goals in terms of success and failure. Millionaires view goals in terms of success and “in progress.”

If a Millionaire sets a goal and does not succeed, they do not view this as a failure. They view the goal as simply in progress, as in they are still working towards it.

That is why Millionaires don’t evaluate where they are and compare it to where they want to be, they compare it to where they are going. Because once a Millionaire decides to achieve or attain something, they will achieve or attain it. They won’t rest until they do.

The only reason a Millionaire’s goal is ever left unsatisfied is if the situation changes and that goal is no longer in their best interest. Period.

Millionaires approach their goals this way because they recognize what people commonly refer to as “failure” for what it really is: a reason to give up. Millionaires are very driven people, not prone to giving up on things. When a person says they “failed” at something, what they are really saying is “it didn’t work out as I intended, and I’m not going to find another way to make it happen. I give up.” This type of reasoning is completely alien to a Millionaire. When a Millionaire’s goal is left unmet, they change tactics, shift focus and continue striving to meet the original goal. They learn from whatever obstacle has slowed them down and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

How do you personally perceive “failure?” Is it an ending? Or is it an opportunity?

When you set a goal, and it remains out of your reach, you are instantly faced with a choice. You can accept failure, and move on with your life, having gained nothing from the experience.

Or…

You can accept the opportunity to grow. This is the way of the Millionaire. Where most see failure, the Millionaire sees education. They recognize that the goal they set is harder to attain than they originally thought and immediately and decisively take new action to grow beyond whatever is in their path.

Think about that the next time you “fail” to achieve a personal or professional goal.  Is your temporary lack of success really a failure? Or it is an excuse to throw up your hands and give up on your dreams?

One of the main reasons many (non Millionaires) feel that they fail at goals is because they don’t set or approach their goals appropriately. In the next post of this series, we will discuss the anatomy of a goal, what most people do wrong when setting goals and how to alter your goal setting techniques to all but guarantee your success.

The Power of Positive Energy

An important part of becoming a Millionaire is recognizing the value of positive energy. Millionaires put positive energy out into the world, and welcome the same positive energy from others. They do not, however, allow their positive energy to be tainted by the negativity of others. They isolate themselves from it whenever possible. This is mostly done by surrounding themselves with like minded, positive people. They avoid interaction with complainers, whiners and pretty much anyone with a “my life is so miserable,” mentality. Energy is contagious, both positive and negative, and Millionaires naturally, and intelligently, remove themselves from situations where they will be surrounded by negativity in any form.

Incorporate this philosophy into your own life. Complaints and negative energy are distracting. The irritation they perpetuate is background noise that prevents you from focusing on success and happiness. Don’t let yourself complain, not aloud nor to yourself. This might sound difficult, but it is possible. The best advice I can offer when starting out is whenever you feel a complaint (internal or external) coming on, stop and remind yourself that a complaint is a negative thought, and that negativity is seeping into every aspect of your life and holding you back. Push the thought out of your head and think about something else. If you can’t do that, try thinking about thinking about something else. Spend a minute considering the importance of not dwelling on the negative. You’ll be surprised how quickly the complaint passes and takes the irritation with it. You’ll find yourself thinking about thinking positively and suddenly realize that the urge to complain has gradually passed while you had yourself distracted and you dominated your negative energy. The bonus is that doing this feels empowering, the next breath you take is deep and full and now rather than being caught up in your negativity, you feel empowered and are putting off positive energy.

Accept the fact the person you are today is what has earned you the results you have experienced up to this point. Understand that to have a different life, you will need to be a different person. Avoid negativity, and spread positivity. Adopt the traits of Millionaires and start training yourself to live as one.

What Is A Millionaire?

I am a Millionaire. Are you? You might or might not be, and if not, you can certainly become one.

I can even tell you how.

The first step is discovering whether or not you are, in fact, a Millionaire already. The answer lies not in your bank account, nor your net worth. The property you own, the car you drive, the watch on your wrist and the phone in your pocket has nothing to do with the determination of whether or not you are a Millionaire.

Being a Millionaire has nothing to do with money.

That’s right. Nothing whatsoever.

Being a Millionaire simply means you possess certain mindsets, habits and traits that set you apart from other people, which will help you to both attain and maintain wealth. These traits do not make you inherently better than anyone else, they simply make you different.

A Millionaire is a type of person that anyone can become. In his book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker says, “Becoming rich isn’t as much about getting rich financially as about whom you have to become in character and mind, to get rich.” Read that again. Think it over. Accept it, because it is the truth that needs to be at the foundation of your success. Becoming rich is about who you are, not what you have. This is the exact reason that the vast majority of lottery winners are worse off financially within five years than when they started. A Millionaire is a person who possesses the necessary traits and habits to not only attain wealth, but also maintain it. Throughout this series we will discuss, in detail, some of the attitudes and habits necessary to develop to become a Millionaire.

Understand this: You need to be a Millionaire to be wealthy. If someone who isn’t a Millionaire, who hasn’t grown and attained the necessary mindsets, should suddenly obtain a large sum of money, they will invariably lose it rapidly. Why? Because they aren’t a Millionaire! They lack not only the ability to attain wealth but also to maintain it. This type of person will go from someone who had little or no money, to someone who was lucky enough to win a fortune, and then to someone who won the lottery a few years ago and lost it all. Millionaires create their own wealth, rather than waiting for it to simply fall into their laps, mostly because they recognize that anything that falls into your lap, can just as easily fall out of it.