The Power of Designing Your Destiny

By Adam Khoo

Let me illustrate to you a very well known example of the power of goals. In 1952, there was a research study done on the impact of goal setting on the graduating batch of students at Yale University. When asked how many of them had clearly specified and written down goals, only three percent responded. The remaining ninety-seven percent, despite being highly intelligent and hardworking, had no road map where they would be five to ten years after graduation. Twenty years later in 1972, a follow up study was done on the class of 1952. What they discovered was shocking; the combined income of the three percent who had clear goals was greater than the entire income of the ninety seven percent combined! Was it just a coincidence or does having clear goals really have an impact on a person's personal and financial success?

One classic example is investor Warren Buffet. Does his ability come about by chance? Absolutely not. From a very early age young Buffett was obsessed with making money and had a very clear dream of becoming the world's greatest investor. Born during the depression when his father was close to bankruptcy, Warren learnt about the value of money and the importance of being financially secure at an early age.

Even before his teens, Warren knew that he wanted to be rich. As early as elementary school and later on in high school, he would tell his classmates that he wanted to become a millionaire before the age of 35 (when he turned 35, his net worth exceeded $6 million). It was because of his goal that he constantly thought of ways to make money, while most other kids his age would be spending their parents' money.

He even memorized a book called 'A Thousand Ways to Make $1,000'. At the age of six, he started buying coke bottles at 25-cents per six-pack and selling them at 5-cents a bottle, giving him a 16% gross profit, as he would tell himself. At the age of 13, he got a job delivering newspapers and through innovative marketing and distribution strategies, he served five hundred customers a day. At the age of 11, he took all his savings and started investing in the stock market. His first investment was three shares in a company called 'City Service'. While most kids his age were reading comic books, Warren spent his time reading company annual reports.

By the age of 14, he started a pinball business and was earning $175 a week, as much as the average 25-year old was earning in 1944. Would he have taken all those actions if he never set a goal to be rich in the first place? Of course not. It was clearly because of his focus of energy and actions that allowed him to become the best in what he does.

What if you have no clue as to what business or career path to take? Well, it doesn't matter! Sometimes, just setting a specific financial goal will get your mind thinking and guiding you towards the right path. Before George Lucas left his hometown for college, he already predicted that he would be a millionaire by the time he was thirty. However at that time, his passion and dream was to make it as a racecar driver. It was after he suffered a terrible crash that he began to change his mind about that career.

It was only after that accident that he decided that he wanted to become a filmmaker. As a result of his focus on pushing himself to be the best in anything he did, he became a millionaire by the age of 28. However, the primary driving motivation of millionaires is not the money they will make, but the passion they have in what they do. The financial goal they set is only a means of measuring their success. However, what drove Lucas to give his all in the face of insurmountable odds to finish Star Wars was not the money he would make, but his dream of seeing his fantasy come to life on the big screen.

Tiger Woods never really set a goal to become a millionaire. However at the age of eight, he gave an interview on TV, after winning an amateur golf tournament. During that interview, he declared that his goal was to become the world's number one golfer and that he would break all of Jack Nicklaus' records. It was that obsession that got him to focus a hundred percent of his time, energy and thoughts into his game. Fourteen years later, Woods became the world's number one at the age of 22, again not by chance, but by design.

If you were to study the life stories of the most successful people in history, you will discover that their achievements didn't happen by chance. At a certain point of time in their lives, they dared to dream about something they wanted to create. They then allowed this dream to guide their actions until they made it a reality.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and a self-made millionaire by the age of 26. Discover his million dollar secrets and claim your FREE bonus report 'Get Out Of The Rat Race Now' at Secrets Of Self-Made Millionaires.

The Law Of Attraction For Beginners

By Dwayne Gilbert

The law of attraction is a new term for a very very old concept. This is a concept that has been taught by all of the greatest minds in history in one form or another from Jesus to the Buddha.

The law of attraction is very simple in concept, though it does take work and effort to get good at and create incredible results with. However, with the effort and energy it takes to use the law of attraction, there is literally nothing you cannot have in your life if you so desire it.

The law of attraction states that what you think about and feel about the most is what you are going to attract more of into your life. It's that simple, but of course, it's not that easy.

The law of attraction states that what you think about and feel about the most will attract more things into your life that match or mirror those very same feelings and thoughts.

Now, we can begin to control this on a conscious level. It takes time and practice to get good at it, however, it pays in dividends. So basically if you think and feel negative emotions most of the time, you are going to attract more people, situations and things into your life that sustain those emotions and thoughts.

If you are a sad person most of the time you are going to attract things into your life that sustain that emotion of being sad. If on the other hand you learn to see and think and feel much more positive in your world then you are going to start to attract more people, situations and things into your life that will sustain those positive thoughts and emotions.

The trick to this is learning to watch what we are thinking about and how we are feeling. Most people simply wonder through life with no awareness of what they are thinking or feeling until after it is a part of the past, if even then.

Now you might be thinking, "Of course I know what I think and feel! How silly is this guy!" However, I assure you that you most likely do not know most of the time. See, we see or hear our thoughts in our minds, but we never truly pay attention to them. We might think nice car, and instantly to go it's a nice day.

Our minds and emotions are constantly jumping around to many different things all the time based on what is going on around us. But we must learn to put our mind and our emotions in the place that we want them to be.

Most people are living in the past or are detached from the present. What I mean by that is simple. Most people are either constantly being pulled by their emotions and thoughts based on what just happened or what they just thought about or felt about. Other people are simply detached emotionally from what is happening. Both of these are very bad when it comes to the law of attraction.

The emotionally detached people have a hard time connecting with positive emotions and what they want on a deep mental and emotional level. The people who are emotionally in the past are constantly chasing something that is completely gone forever and will never come back. Neither of these are in this very present moment, which is all we ever have. The more you can learn to live right now in this moment, the better off you will be all around.

So learn to pay attention to your thoughts and your emotions on a regular basis. After you begin to realize what thoughts you are having and what holds your attention both mentally and emotionally, you can begin to change those thoughts and emotions to be more in alignment with what you truly want.

The more you are able to keep your mind on what you want and your emotions on what you want, the easier it will be for you to get what you want. The law of attraction really is that simple. The hard part is learning to manage our thoughts and our emotions. Work at it, and I promise it will become much easier with practice, then you can begin to create magic in your life that others will look at in amazement.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Dwayne Gilbert is the founder of www.wealthylifesecrets.com and the Wealthy Life Secrets Program. He has been helping people to Unleash Their Potential for over 10 years. He has helped people from all walks of life to get on a better path and to create the life of their dreams.

The Secrets To Leadership Exposed

By: James Yee

Much has been written about leadership: rules, pointers, styles, and biographies of inspiring leaders throughout world history.

But there are certain leadership ideas that we ourselves fail to recognize and realize in the course of reading books. Here is a short list of things you thought you knew about leadership.

1. Leaders come in different flavors.

There are different types of leaders and you will probably encounter more than one type in your lifetime. Formal leaders are those we elect into positions or offices such as the senators, congressmen, and presidents of the local clubs.

Informal leaders or those we look up to by virtue of their wisdom and experience such as in the case of the elders of a tribe, or our grandparents; or by virtue of their expertise and contribution on a given field such as Albert Einstein in the field of Theoretical Physics and Leonardo da Vinci in the field of the Arts.

Both formal and informal leaders practice a combination of leadership styles.
- Lewin's three basic leadership styles: authoritative, participative, and delegative
- Likert's four leadership styles: exploitive authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, and participative
- Goleman's six emotional leadership styles: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and commanding.

2. Leadership is a process of becoming.

Although certain people seem to be born with innate leadership qualities, without the right environment and exposure, they may fail to develop their full potential. So like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to become a leader and hone your leadership abilities.

Knowledge on leadership theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars, workshops, and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the opportunity to observe and practice leadership theories.

Together, formal and informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning. You do not become a leader in one day and just stop. Life-long learning is important in becoming a good leader for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills, and attitude to a test.

3. Leadership starts with you.

The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life. As an adage goes 'action speaks louder than words.' Leaders are always in the limelight.

Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your actions: your interaction with your family, friends, and co-workers; your way of managing your personal and organizational responsibilities; and even the way you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street. Repeated actions become habits.

Habits in turn form a person's character. Steven Covey's book entitled 7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides good insights on how you can achieve personal leadership.

4. Leadership is shared.

Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared responsibility among members of an emerging team.

A leader belongs to a group. Each member has responsibilities to fulfill. Formal leadership positions are merely added responsibilities aside from their responsibilities as members of the team.

Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work. Starting as a mere group of individuals, members and leaders work towards the formation of an effective team. In this light, social interaction plays a major role in leadership.

To learn how to work together requires a great deal of trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team. Trust is built upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is fostered and confidence is built.

5. Leadership styles depend on the situation.

How come dictatorship works for Singapore but not in the United States of America? Aside from culture, beliefs, value system, and form of government, the current situation of a nation also affects the leadership styles used by its formal leaders.

There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles depending on the situation. In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity, decision-making is a matter of life and death.

Thus, a nation's leader cannot afford to consult with all departments to arrive at crucial decisions. The case is of course different in times of peace and order, where different sectors and other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance.

Another case in point is in leading organizations. When the staffs are highly motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles of leadership is most appropriate.

But if the staffs have low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high supporting, and high directing behavior from organizational leaders is required.

Now that you are reminded of these things, keep in mind that there are always ideas that we think we already know; concepts we take for granted, but are actually the most useful insights on leadership.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

James Yee is the webmaster of www.yeearticles.com. His tips on internet marketing is available at yeearticles.com/affiliate-marketing/Here_s_How_To_Avoid_The_Most_Common_Affiliate_Mistakes.php