No matter how busy you are, make sure to find some time over the next two weeks to reflect, think, give and plan.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is the ideal time for this. Try to slow things down. Spend time with the ones you love and care about. Take some time to talk with your spouse and kids about goals and dreams for the next year. Use this as a time to recharge your batteries (and not just by watching TV the entire time), and with excitement, think about a handful of changes or additions you want for your life in the New Year.

I believe you will find the act of reflecting, thinking, dreaming and planning (with your family) to be one of the most important exercises you can do that will positively impact the next 12 months.

And, remember, do not neglect to commit yourself to set this time aside, or you will find that the business of life can and will get in the way.

So, let’s all take a moment to gather up the past year of victories and defeats, growing as well as those times of stagnation, and use it to wipe a clean slate and thoughtfully design the next year the way we truly desire it to be.

- Jim Rohn

by Jim Rohn

An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life.

To be enterprising is to keep your eyes open and your mind active. It’s to be skilled enough, confident enough, creative enough and disciplined enough to seize opportunities that present themselves… regardless of the economy.

A person with an enterprising attitude says, “Find out what you can before action is taken.” Do your homework. Do the research. Be prepared. Be resourceful. Do all you can in preparation of what’s to come.

Enterprising people always see the future in the present. Enterprising people always find a way to take advantage of a situation, not be burdened by it. And enterprising people aren’t lazy. They don’t wait for opportunities to come to them; they go after the opportunities. Enterprise means always finding a way to keep yourself actively working toward your ambition.

Enterprise is two things. The first is creativity. You need creativity to see what’s out there and to shape it to your advantage. You need creativity to look at the world a little differently. You need creativity to take a different approach, to be different.

What goes hand in hand with the creativity of enterprise is the second requirement: the courage to be creative. You need courage to see things differently, courage to go against the crowd, courage to take a different approach, courage to stand alone if you have to, courage to choose activity over inactivity.

And lastly, being enterprising doesn’t just relate to the ability to make money. Being enterprising also means feeling good enough about yourself, having enough self-worth to want to seek advantages and opportunities that will make a difference in your future. And by doing so, you will increase your confidence, your courage, your creativity and your self-worth—your enterprising nature.

Watch this quick video I shot today while it was 91° outside…
(Click here to watch it on YouTube.)

If you want to create the life of your dreams, then you are going to have to take 100% responsibility for your life… That means giving up all your excuses, all your victim stroies,m all the reasons why you can’t and why you havent’t up until now, and all your blaming of outside circumstances. – The Success Principles (by Jack Canfield)

“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver

This is your LIFE! It’s time to STOP complaining, making excuses & looking for reasons. When you claim accountability for your life you are no longer a VICTIM, claiming ‘poor me.’ You are the CAPTAIN of your own ship. You can CHOOSE to buckle up & head in the direction of your dreams. CLAIM it; OWN it & MAKE things happen!

Everyone wants to be physically healthy. You want to be mentally healthy as well. The true measure of “mental fitness” is how optimistic you are about yourself and your life.

Below you will learn how to control your thinking in very specific ways so that you feel terrific about yourself and your situation, no matter what happens.

by Brian Tracy:

Control Your Reactions and Reponses
There are three basic differences in the reactions of optimists and pessimists. The first difference is that the optimist sees a setback as temporary, while the pessimist sees it as permanent. The optimist sees an unfortunate event, such as an order that falls through or a sales call that fails, as a temporary event, something that is limited in time and that has no real impact on the future. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees negative events as permanent, as part of life and destiny.

Isolate the Incident
The second difference between the optimist and the pessimist is that the optimist sees difficulties as specific, while the pessimist sees them as pervasive. This means that when things go wrong for the optimist, he looks at the event as an isolated incident largely disconnected from other things that are going on in his life.

See Setbacks as Temporary Events
For example, if something you were counting on failed to materialize and you interpreted it to yourself as being an unfortunate event, but something that happens in the course of life and business, you would be reacting like an optimist. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees disappointments as being pervasive. That is, to him they are indications of a problem or shortcoming that pervades every area of life.

Don’t Take Failure Personally
The third difference between optimists and pessimists is that optimists see events as external, while pessimists interpret events as personal. When things go wrong, the optimist will tend to see the setback as resulting from external factors over which one has little control.

If the optimist is cut off in traffic, for example, instead of getting angry or upset, he will simply downgrade the importance of the event by saying something like, “Oh, well, I guess that person is just having a bad day.”

The pessimist on the other hand, has a tendency to take everything personally. If the pessimist is cut off in traffic, he will react as though the other driver has deliberately acted to upset and frustrate him.

Remain Calm and Objective
The hallmark of the fully mature, fully functioning, self-actualizing personality is the ability to be objective and unemotional when caught up in the inevitable storms of daily life. The superior person has the ability to continue talking to himself in a positive and optimistic way, keeping his mind calm, clear and completely under control. The mature personality is more relaxed and aware and capable of interpreting events more realistically and less emotionally than is the immature personality. As a result, the mature person exerts a far greater sense of control and influence over his environment, and is far less likely to be angry, upset or distracted.

Take the Long View
Look upon the inevitable setbacks that you face as being temporary, specific and external. View the negative situation as a single event that is not connected to other potential events and that is caused largely by external factors over which you can have little control. Simply refuse to see the event as being in any way permanent, pervasive or indicative of personal incompetence or inability.

Resolve to think like an optimist, no matter what happens.

You may not be able to control events but you can control the way you react to them!

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Make every second count! Time waits for no one!!!

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. And every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you fail to use during that day. What would you do?

Draw out every cent.

Each one of us has such a bank. It’s called TIME. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. And every night it writes off as lost whatever you have failed to invest wisely. It carries no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. If you fail to use the day’s deposit, the loss is yours…

There is no going back. There is no drawing against the tomorrow. You must live in the present. On today’s deposit. Invest it in every opportunity. The clock is running. You’ve got to make the most of today.

Right Here. Right Now.

Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, Today is a Gift. THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED THE PRESENT!

TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE!

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Did you know that the primary difference between the 5 percent of people who are wealthy and those who are not is that the 95 percent focus their attention and extra time on entertainment, while the wealthy 5 percent invest their extra time in education.

I don’t know about you but I want to be in the 5% group of wealthy people in the world. This is why I do my very best to focus any extra time that I have on education and building my own business.

I watch one football game per year… the Super Bowl.  (and mostly for the commercials)

The only time I watch TV is with my wife maybe once a week and we do rent 1-2 movies a week as well.

Click on the below link to read the rest of this post from Darren Hardy’s blog. It’s awesome!  You can become part of the 5% group!

Think about it: What if the time you spend…

• reading the sports page, you read a self-improvement book?
• listening to sports talk radio, you listen to an instructional CD?
• watching ESPN or Sports Center, you watch a seminar DVD or read a book?
• talking about sports scores and players, you talk about your goals and plans to achieve them?
• playing fantasy sports, you role-play your key skills training?

How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make YOU victorious… and far happier.

Oh, and let’s not leave out the non-sports fans. What if the time you spend…

• reading People magazine and other gossip rags, you read SUCCESS magazine?
• watching E! Entertainment, TMZ or Access Hollywood, you watched a seminar DVD or read a book?
• watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, or Jersey Shore, you read a book about YOUR reality?
• talking (or gossiping) about other people’s lives and foibles, you talked about your lessons learned in life and plans for growth?

How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make you victorious, and far happier.

Am I saying that anytime spent on any of the above for entertainment value is a bad thing? Of course not. What I am suggesting you look at, however, is the balance between the time you spend watching other people live out their dreams and the time you spend on making yours come true.

Last tip: Practice, train, develop, focus, and work as hard at your skills and career as the people you watch and admire do at theirs. Imagine that!

(Read entire post from Darren Hardy’s blog here: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2011/02/get-in-the-game/)

by Jim Rohn

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation.

And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can. All of us have the choice.

To do or not to do. To be or not to be. To be all or to be less or to be nothing at all.

Like the tree, it would be a worthy challenge for us all to stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our capabilities. Why not do all that we can, every moment that we can, the best that we can, for as long as we can?

Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as our talent and ability and desire will permit. To settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of undertakings.

Results are the best measurement of human progress. Not conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results! And if our results are less than our potential suggests that they should be, then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before. The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the world around them as a result of whom and what they have become.

by: Jack Canfield

Giving thanks should be more than an occasional exercise. We already know that appreciation is one of the highest emotional states you can be in. So why limit this fulfilling experience to just a few times a year?!

Today’s article walks you through five different ways you can implement a daily ritual of gratitude, appreciation and thanks … creating a year-round rampage of gratitude!

Be Thankful for Your Blessings:
5 Ways to Practice a Daily Appreciation Ritual

The practice of giving thanks is commemorated today in America as a national holiday. But if you want to live an abundant life, appreciation shouldn’t be confined to a solitary day. It should be incorporated into your daily living.

Appreciation is one of the highest emotional states you can be in. It is the state of abundance. The Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. If you are grateful for what you have already received, you will attract more for which you can be grateful.

Many people find that it requires great diligence to cultivate an attitude of appreciation. We are culturally conditioned to focus on what we don’t have, rather than appreciating what we’ve already received.

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
- Mother Teresa, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Appreciate the Smallest Blessings

Activate your gratitude by acknowledging the gifts most people take for granted.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes in your closet and a roof over your head, you are better off than 75 percent of the world’s population.

If you eat three meals a day, you are far better off than the 1 billion people on the planet who eat once a day at most. Celebrate these simple blessings.

Do you have a phone? Be grateful – millions don’t. How about a car that allows you to travel to work or to explore the country? Is your family healthy? Do you have a computer and Internet access to stay in touch with the world, get access to education, and perform work for which you are paid? Do you have clean water to drink?

These daily conveniences are gifts that most people in the world do not enjoy.

Daily Appreciation Habits

Here are five easy ways to make appreciation part of your daily routine:

1. Take 7 minutes each morning to write down all you appreciate in life. Starting your day this way primes you to be receptive and grateful for everything your day will bring.
2. Appreciate at least 3 people every day. Most people enjoy receiving verbal appreciation. But written notes are also nice because they can be saved and re-read. (For ideas on expressing appreciation, grab your copy of The Success Principles and review principle 53; Practice Uncommon Appreciation.)
3. Play the Appreciation Game. As the saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Look for the good in all situations. When my wife was in a car accident a few years ago, she could have chosen to berate herself or question her judgment. Instead, she focused on her gratitude for suffering only minor injuries and for the help she received from other drivers.
4. Carry a physical token of gratitude in your pocket, such as a stone, crystal or some other small item. As you reach into your pocket throughout the day and feel the token, use it as a reminder to stop, breathe and take a moment to fully experience the emotion of gratitude.
5. Appreciate yourself. We all need acknowledgement, but the most important acknowledgement is what we give ourselves. In addition to celebrating your big successes, acknowledge your small daily successes too.

It may not feel natural at first to focus on appreciating what you already have. But by faithfully practicing the Daily Appreciation Habits outlined in this article, you’ll begin to change your conditioning.

Giving thanks should be more than an occasional exercise once year. Let it become a daily discipline that allows you to attract more of what you want from life. I invite you to experiment with this discipline over the next 30 days and watch your blessings multiply!

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Great article from the amazing Jim Rohn…

You may be wondering why I would call this article “A Thankful Thanksgiving.” Aren’t all Thanksgivings thankful? Unfortunately, no. As a person who has experienced over 75 Thanksgivings, I recognize that being thankful is something that we have to work at, even on Thanksgiving.

If your home is like most, your Thanksgiving Day will be very busy, with either traveling to where you want to go or preparing your home to have others over for the day. Either way, that can be very hectic and emotionally trying, which doesn’t lend itself to preparing your heart to be reflective and thankful. In fact, Thanksgiving weekend is the most traveled weekend in America. Airports are full, and not always providing much room for contemplation of your good fortune.

This means all the more that if we want to be the kind of people who are characterized by thankfulness, then we must make sure that we focus on it, and not just on Thanksgiving Day, but at all times during the year.

Here are a few key words as well as some thoughts that are simple and practical to apply; something you can use right away in your quest for becoming more thankful:

Time. Set aside time regularly to be quiet, to reflect. We live in the fastest-paced time ever. From the moment we awake to the moment we collapse into bed, we have the opportunity to go at full speed and never slow down. If we schedule time every day in which we can be quiet and reflect, we will free our hearts and minds up from the tyranny of the urgent and rushed.

Thought. Give thought to the many blessings that you have. Living in a consumer culture, most of us are fully aware of what we do not have and how we absolutely must have “it.” But how often do we reflect upon that which we already have? Take some time each day and think of one or two things that you have that you may typically take for granted and then take a moment and give thanks for those. In fact, I make it a part of my reflection time to review a list of things that I’m thankful for.

Generosity. Be generous toward those with less and not envious of those with more. We tend to look at others who may be wealthier than ourselves and think, “I sure wish I had what he does.” That kind of thinking breeds envy and jealousy rather than contentment. What can we do to break that cycle? I would suggest being generous to those who are less fortunate than yourself. Go to work at a food bank. And not just during the holidays—everybody works there then—but on a regular basis during the year. That will remind you of how good you really have it.

Ask. Ask a friend what they are thankful for. The next time you are at lunch with a friend, ask him or her what they are most thankful for. You will be amazed at the answers you receive, and you will create a meaningful bond with your friends as you focus on this powerful question.

Acknowledge. Lastly, tell those you love how thankful you are for having them in your life. So many times we neglect to take the time to craft the words to express to those closest to us what their presence in our lives means to us. Take the opportunity of Thanksgiving Day to write them a note or sometime during the day put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eyes and tell them. Let them know what they mean to you, and in return you’ll begin to create the possibility of deeper, richer, more fulfilling relationships with those you love.

Of course, we should do what we can to make the most of the day we call Thanksgiving, but wouldn’t it be a shame if the only time we reflected on our blessings was that one Thursday in November? And the answer is, of course! So let’s do our best to be aware of the many great gifts that we have each and every day of the year. As we do so we will feel our hearts soar and our minds will experience more and more peace as we regularly remember and remain aware of our good fortune.

Happy Thanksgiving!