This is Episode 39 and I want to talk about how to overcome distractions. Life hit me hard one-day several months ago and I lost that battle. I have a lot of people both in-person and on WordPress who tell me they frequently experience similar events in their life. Therefore, I wanted to share what happened and how I dealt with it.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, and grew up in poverty. He was self-educated and eventually became a lawyer. There are many tales of Lincoln and his successes and failures before he became the 16th President of the United States.

He inherited the nightmare of a Union which was severely divided from President James Buchanan. Before he took the oath of office, seven states had already succeeded from the union to form the Confederate States of America. Buchanan had already given up hope of holding the country together. He did nothing at the end of his term to try to repair the division that was happening in this country. Congress also did nothing to defeat the growing rebellion.

Lincoln was the country's first Republican President and he was elected by a minority vote. He was disliked in Washington because he was an outsider. The media and the people saw him as a second-rate country lawyer. They thought he was ill-equipped and unable to handle the presidency. No one could predict the unparalleled strength of leadership he possessed.

In Negative Personality Traits Part 2, I want to talk about how you limit your possibilities by holding onto negative energy. Remember that the human mind is limitless and we can do all things if we believe in our hearts. To put it simply, your thoughts become your actions and your actions become your reality. I am living proof of this.

I believe in positive affirmations. Positive affirmations and changing your thought process will change the person that you are. I know this works because I am a completely different person than I was even a few years ago. Two things were limiting me. First, I was putting a time limit on my change. If it wasn't happening quickly enough, I would say it didn't work. Second, I held onto a lot of negative energy.

This is Episode 36 of my podcast/blog, Negative Personality Traits - Part 1. I want to talk about the power of releasing these negative personality traits. Our minds are very powerful instruments. For instance, it is said that we only utilize 10% of the power of our brains. That is a myth and scientists have discovered we use 100 % of our brains. Our minds are so powerful that they can store our every thought and emotion. Depending on your thoughts and emotions this can be seen as good or bad. Positive thoughts will lead to a wonderful life. On the other hand, negative thoughts and emotions can hold you back from living your dreams.

I am continuing to talk about the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Today I will discuss the eighth step, Persistence, The Sustained Effort Necessary To Induce Faith. Once you turn belief into faith you will become unstoppable. Faith is an essential ingredient to accomplishing your goals and dreams. What does persistence mean?  These 10 quotes will help you discover the meaning of persistence.

Hill states that persistence is an essential factor in changing desire into its monetary equivalent. The basis of persistence is willpower. Titans of industry are often described as cold-blooded and ruthless. This is because they have the willpower to obtain their objectives. Henry Ford was described this way because of his habit of following through in all his plans with persistence.

I first heard of Ernest Shackleton when I was given a book titled Endurance. You can also get this book by clicking on the icon to the right. (Another wink). The book, written by Alfred Lansing, is well written and inspirational. It entails the 1914 ill-fated expedition to Antarctica led by Shackleton. They proceeded from England aboard the ship, Endurance. The expedition had planned to make the first crossing of Antarctica. They would travel via the South Pole from the Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound.

The Endurance became trapped in the ice and drifted for 10 months. Eventually, the ice crushed the powerful ship. Shackleton and his men then drifted for another five months on ice floes. Running low on food and supplies, they escaped in boats to uninhabited Elephant Island.

All right, you have decided to become the person others want to be. You've taken that first step on your journey. Goals have been set and you have written a detailed plan for accomplishing them. Now what? How are you going to get to that finish line? You see, it's all a waste of time and energy if you don't begin to do the work. You have to crack that egg to make your omelet. Congratulations! It's time to take that first step on your journey to a new you.

This is the most important step, ACTION. Once you have made your decision to accomplish anything, 50% of the work is done. Congratulations once again, you are already halfway there. The other 50% comes from the action of getting it done.

It's great that you have set your goals, written a good plan, and are ready to change. Unfortunately, nothing will change without ACTION. You must do the work. This is what stops most people. They are unwilling to do the work and make the sacrifices. This is why only 1% of people succeed. You are not like most people. It is inside you to get moving and take that step.

Faith builds your confidence. Fear tears it down. To accomplish great achievements you must carry faith with you. As you begin a new venture it can seem overwhelming, almost impossible. To turn it into a reality you will need confidence in yourself and everyone helping you. Everything is possible with faith. In 1969 we sent three astronauts to the moon. Two of the astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin actually landed and walked on the moon. Michael Collins flew the command capsule. This was a phenomenal feat. When they were given the “green light” to launch in July 1969, many scientists and experts thought we were years away from being ready. It took a lot of faith and confidence from the astronauts, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians to proceed on this historic event. In fact, experts only gave them a 50 percent chance of making it back alive.

If you’ve decided to do anything significant, at some point you will think about quitting. We have all been there. These thoughts are at their greatest frequency just before you are about to have a breakthrough. All you have to do to be successful is turn the corner or take another step. If you just drive one more mile you will find the answer. If you ever get to the point where you’re considering giving up and returning to your old lifestyle, think of WHY you wanted to change.

Who actually writes down goals? Well, the best answer is, successful people. Did you know that 96% of all the wealth created in the world is created by 1% of the population? These are the people that are extremely successful in building businesses and making money. By comparison, I recently heard that only 1% of people actually write down their goals. One could deduct that the 1% who are writing down their goals are also the 1% creating 96% of the wealth. For example, in my post last week on becoming an expert, I listed some habits of successful people. One of those habits is that successful people are goal-oriented. This is a great reason why setting goals is important. Taking this all in, I think it’s time we started writing some goals.