This book was literally years in the making. Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t take years to write it, but it did require years of research and practical application testing before I could develop a sure fire formula for creating anything you want in life.

How to Live the Life of Your Dreams outlines a ten step process that includes teaching you how to determine what you really want in life, and then shows you step-by-step how to go about making it a reality.

Here are just a few of the things you’ll learn:

• How and why you ended up where you are now.
• How to quickly discover what you really want, and how to get it.
• The ten steps to making what you want a reality.
• Simple action items for each step that make it easy to implement the process.
• The perfect way to formulate your goals.
• How to get your subconscious mind to help you succeed.
• Simple techniques that will activate the law of attraction to bring your dreams to you.
• The right way to visualize for maximum effectiveness.
• How to use the power of your mind to put your success on virtual autopilot.
• How to discover and easily clear your mental blocks to success.
• How to easily tap into your intuition to learn exactly what steps will make your dream a reality in the quickest, and easiest, way possible.
• How to expect success, and get it.
• How to utilize the little known “law of vacuum” to literally pull your dreams into reality.
• How to allow your dreams to easily unfold in your life.
• How to stay motivated and increase your confidence in your own creative abilities.
• How to have fun doing the whole process.

You really can create the life you want. Stop struggling and learn the ten steps you need to take to make your dreams come true.

This e-book is guaranteed to help you. If it doesn’t, you can ask me for a full refund (within 60 days) and I’ll give it to you, no questions asked. Plus, you can keep the e-book and bonuses as my gift to you.

Click here to learn more about “How to Live the Life of Your Dreams” and the bonus gifts I’ve included.

READERS OF MY BLOG CAN SAVE 50% FOR A LIMITED TIME

As a special gift to my blog readers, you can USE THIS SPECIAL LINK TO GET IT FOR 50% OFF! (sorry – the sale is over – link removed). You won’t find this special savings link anywhere else. Act quickly though, I will be removing this link in a few days.

Technorati Tags: success, law of attraction, goals, dreams, law of vacuum

This is a tribute to my dear grandmother who passed away last Thursday, February 4th, at the age of 91. She was an amazing woman who made this world a better place during her time here.

My grandmother never verbally gave me any advice on life, but instead she provided a living example through the way she lived her own life. I’d like to share with you what I learned from her.

1. Speak Your Mind

My grandmother was never shy about speaking her mind. She would be quick to let you know if she was tired, hungry, thirsty, bored, or if she didn’t like something. I really appreciated that about her. I think that to many people waste time by being afraid to say what they’re thinking.

Just imagine if we all spoke our minds.

• No more trying to guess what’s wrong when someone is visibly upset. We could get straight to trying to solve the problem instead.
• We could get to know people for who they really are instead of the false fronts that so many people put on.
• We would know that the people who love us, love us for who we really are.

I think this would be a huge time and energy saver for everyone.

2. Exercise Every Day

Up until about the age of 89, my grandmother exercised every day. When she was younger she would be working on the farm that she lived on, and after she retired, she started walking 5 or more kilometers every day.

It didn’t matter if it was hot, cold, raining, or snowing, nothing stopped my grandmother from getting out for her daily exercise. For her, exercising wasn’t a should do, but a must do.

Regular exercise kept my grandmother strong and healthy. She was rarely ever sick, and she was never hospitalized for anything (except for a hip operation) until she was in the final year of her life.

3. Family is Important

What really matters the most at the end of your life is the relationships you’ve had. I’ve seen many interviews where successful people are asked what they would do differently if they got a chance to do it all over again. Almost every single one of them reply that they would spend more time with their families. They all seemed to realize that while success and accumlating money and things might be nice, it should never be done at the expense of your relationships with family and friends.

I think my grandmother understood this. Hardly a day went by that she didn’t spend at least some time with family. Sometimes her frequent requests for a visit seemed a bit frustrating, but now that she’s gone, I think our whole family really appreciates all the time that we got to spend with her.

4. Cook Everything From Scratch

My grandmother was a great cook. She made some of the best meals and pies I’ve ever tasted. And none of it ever came out of a box.

I think that part of her “secret” to having such a long and healthy life is that she avoided processed foods. Processed foods are usually devoid of any nutritional value and are often full of fat, sugar, and salt. My grandmother regularly fed herself and her family fresh, wholesome foods that provided them with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

5. Keep a Clean Home

My grandmother took pride in keeping a clean home. I never once saw any sort of mess, dirt, or dust in her home. She always honored both herself and her guests by having a clean home.

Just imagine for a minute that you got a call today saying that somebody of importance (the queen, the president, or the primeminister) was going to come over to your home for dinner tomorrow night. Would you end up going on a mad cleaning spree to get your home prepared for this person’s visit? You would want to honor this person and give them a good impression by having a clean home right?

Well, why not honor yourself by keeping your home just as clean for yourself? You matter just as much as they do. Not only that, a fresh, clean home makes you feel good, and if it’s well organized, you even tend to think more clearly.

6. Enjoy Life

Grandma ate a lot of nutritious food and she exercised regularly, but she also enjoyed life.

She didn’t deny herself the things she enjoyed, she just enjoyed them in moderation. Every day she would have one cigarette with her morning coffee. She enjoyed eating a little bit of something sweet everyday, and she would also enjoy the occasional drink.

When my grandmother did these things she wasn’t thinking of how bad they were for her, or how they were going to make her sick, or fat. She just simply enjoyed them. Being stress-free and enjoying life can go a long way to helping you to live a long and happy life.

My grandmother also had a lot of fun. She could often be seen cracking a subtle joke with a twinkle in her eye and a sly smile on her face. We even have many photos of her doing funny poses in front of landmarks, or laughing while wearing crazy looking green sunglasses.

Laughing and having fun helps to reduce stress. Stress can take a major toll on your health, so make sure you take some time to laugh and play everyday.

7. If You Love Someone, Tell Them Frequently

I never doubted that my grandmother loved me because she told me every time I saw her.

Feeling loved makes us feel good. Who doesn’t feel a bit better about ourselves and our day when somebody tells us they love us?

Don’t just leave it as an unspoken assumption. Tell your loved ones that you love them. It will make their day, and you’ll feel better for it to!

8. Work Hard

When my grandmother got married, she and her husband had nothing to their name. No home, no money, no car and their families had no money to help them out.

Since my grandmother never had anything handed to her. She always took the initiative to work hard to get what she wanted. It payed off. By the time she and her husband retired, they had a successful farm and a well funded retirement plan.

It’s always nice to receive a helping hand or a timely gift, but you should never expect it. If you want something, roll up your sleeves, get to work, and make it happen for yourself.

9. Get up Early

You’ve probably heard the saying “The early bird gets the worm”. I’m not totally convinced that it’s true, I see birds eating all day long. But there might just be something to it since many successful people seem to share the habit of getting up early.

My grandmother was one of them. She would always be up around 5am and by the time the rest of the world was rolling out of bed, she had already walked 5 kilometers or more and eaten her breakfast. Just imagine how much more you could get done in a day if you got out of bed an hour earlier.

I have also read in several health related books that going to bed early and getting up early is better for your health. Seeing as my grandmother lived to be 91, there might just be something to this.

10. Trust in a Higher Power

My grandmother always believed that God would take care of her. This belief provided her with a sense of security, and it also became her reality. It always seemed like things worked out well for her.

Almost all major religions, and more recently, quantum physics, teach us that our thoughts and beliefs create our physical reality. So if you believe that you will always be taken care of and that things will work out for the best, it actually will.

Just imagine how much less stress you would feel if you believed that there was a greater power out there looking out for you and taking care of you.

Technorati Tags: self help, personal development, success, grandmother

This month, I’m going to be giving away a free copy of the Focus and Concentration Paraliminal.

• If you’re not familiar with what a paraliminal is, check out this page to learn more.
• Follow this link if you want to learn more about the Focus and Concentration Paraliminal.

In short, listening to this CD will help you to…

• Set clear priorities among the competing demands for your time.
• Believe in yourself and your purpose.
• Expand your capacity for success.
• Communicate your goals with clarity and effectiveness.
• Open yourself to creative insights.
• Gain control of your time and your life.

How To Enter

Entering is easy. Just leave a relevant comment on our blog. That’s it!

You can enter your name every day by leaving a new comment.

Important Details

Contest Closes – February 28, 2010.

Prize Claim – I will contact you through the email address you used for your comment(s). So please be sure to use a real email address.

Draw Date – Early March.

Other Details:

• You’re free to comment multiple times each day, but your name will only be entered maximum once per day.
• Shipping costs will be covered by me.
• Draw will be done by listing all entries numerically, then randomizer.org will be used to randomly select the winner.

GOOD LUCK!

There’s a dark side to the self-improvement industry. If you’re into any form of self-improvement (self-help, personal-development, personal-empowerment, etc.), there’s a good chance that you’ve been affected by it.

What is it?

Working on improving yourself can actually affect your self-esteem in a negative way. You see, when you decide that you want to improve something, you can get caught up in focusing on what’s wrong with you.

In order to decide you want to change something, you first need to acknowledge that there’s something in your life that you don’t like. This acknowledgment is important, but it’s easy to end up keeping your focus there. Keeping your focus on your problems is a guaranteed recipe for getting yourself down.

Does this mean you shouldn’t work on improving yourself and your life? Of course not, wanting to improve is a worthy endeavor.

So, how do you endeavor to improve your life without ending up feeling bad about yourself? Remember why you want to improve your life and also acknowledge what is already going well.

Remember Why Do You Want To Improve?

You have the power to choose where you put your focus. If you want to change something, first acknowledge that there’s a problem, then decide how you would like to change it.

Once you know where your want to go, keep your focus there instead of the problem itself.

Remember to Acknowledge What’s Already Going Well

Take some time to look at yourself and your life and acknowledge what’s already good about them. If there are areas of your life that are going well, appreciate yourself for doing such a good job.

Taking time to do this regularly will help you remember that you are a capable person and deserve to congratulate yourself. Really, go ahead and do it now, you deserve it!

Conclusion

Improving yourself is a worthy goal, but don’t get caught up in focusing on the problems in your life. Avoid any potential blows to your self esteem. Keep your focus on your goals and remember to regularly spend time acknowledging what’s already going well.

If your current results in life aren’t as good as you would like, you need to put yourself on a mental diet.

Brain Input = Physical Output

Most of us are aware of how important it is to eat healthy foods if we want to have a healthy body. There is similar relationship between what you feed your mind and the results you have in your life.

The majority of modern folks tend to have a mental diet that consists of news, television, modern music, gossip, mindless online entertainment, video games, and magazines.

While all of these things have the potential to give your mind a positive message, the sad truth is that most of them do not.

• Video games are often violent.
• The news is often negative and full of fear.
• Many popular magazines offer mindless entertainment and gossip.
• A lot of music contains either mindless or negative messages.
• The vast majority of television, movies, and online media is also mindless, negative, or violent.
• Many social circles are focused around gossip, complaining, or activities that don’t serve to improve your life.

Take a look around you. How successful and happy are the majority of people out there? Debt, stress, mental illness, suicide, and relationship problems are becoming more and more prevalent every year.

If you want your results to be better than average, you need to stop feeding your mind the same things that everyone else does. f you want to have different results than everyone else, you need to do things differently than everyone else.

Focus On A Mental Diet That Will Benefit You

What do you think would happen if you started taking some time every day to read or listen to something that was educational, uplifting, or inspiring? What would learning a new skill or talent do for your career or business? Everything that you invest in your mind today will benefit you as you move forward through life.

• If you regularly feed your mind books and articles on time management, you will tend to become very good at managing your time.
• If you regularly feed your mind books on spirituality, you will tend to become a more spiritual and loving person.
• If you regularly feed your mind with stories and techniques related to success, you will start becoming more successful yourself.
• If you learn a new skill, you become more valuable to your employer or your customers.
• If you hang out with other people who more positive and successful than you currently are, you will start to become more like them over time.

Whatever it is that you want to change in your life, decide what it is that you want instead, then start immersing yourself in it.

• Read books on the subject.
• Hang out with others who have already achieved what you want.
• Take a course on the subject.

Conclusion

By feeding your mind the right mental diet, your life will automatically begin to be influenced by ideas of greatness and excellence.

I think Mark Twain hit the nail on the head when he said:

The man who does not read great books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

Put yourself on a healthy mental diet today and watch the results in your life start to change almost automatically.

Living your life with passion is not as impossible as it might seem. All you need to do is to live your life in pursuit of your goals and dreams.

Life Without Passion

If you don’t actively pursue your dreams, you end up getting tossed around by the currents of life. You become distracted by what’s going on around you, and there is no central purpose to your life. You only react to what happens to you instead of working to create what you want to happen.

You might achieve a few things and you might acquire some nice stuff over time, but most of it will feel empty and meaningless. You will feel like something is missing, like there must be more to life.

Eventually, if you continue down this path, you will end up in the final years of your life filled with regret. Regret that you ignored what really mattered the most to you. Regret that you ignored your goals and dreams.

Even if you had tried and failed to achieve your dreams, you would still feel much more satisfaction with your life than if you had never tried at all.

Life Lived Passionately

A life lived passionately is a life lived in the pursuit of your dreams. Your dreams become the central guiding point on how your life is lived.

The work you do, the things you study, almost everything you do has a deeper meaning. You are careful to choose what you do with your time because those choices will either move you closer to, or further away from what you want out of life.

Every day has meaning. When you get out of bed in the morning, you know that you will be pursuing your life purpose as you move through your day.

Life still happens. But the difference is that you no longer let life control you. You are no longer simply reacting to it. You have a plan, you have a dream, and you are doing everything you can to make it a reality.

And when you finally get to your final days of this life, you can look back and feel pleased with how you used it. Even if you didn’t achieve your goals, you know that you tried your best. And as long as you tried your best, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You will not be filled with regret for ignoring what was really important to you.

Don’t Waste Any More Of Your Precious Life

Take advantage of the gift of life. Don’t squander it on meaningless pursuits and by wasting time doing meaningless activities that will have no future value.

You are not meant to hide away from your dreams. Pull them out, dust them off, and start doing whatever it takes to start making them a reality. Start living your life with passion again.

So in honor of her, I thought I would share with you a few of the more important lessons that she has taught me over the years.

#1 Don’t Worry

It’s not very often that I see my dog worry. She doesn’t spend her day worrying about whether or not her next meal will arrive, or if she will go out for a walk that particular day. She just takes things as they come.

To often we spend our time and energy worrying about things that may never happen. Why waste your precious mental and emotional resources on something that may never happen? It’s OK to plan for the future, but don’t obsess about it. Your life will be much less stressful if you just take things as they come.

#2 Love Unconditionally

No matter what, my dog loves me. It doesn’t matter if I’ve been away for longer than planned, don’t have time to take her for a walk, or if I’m feeling a little grouchy on a particular day. My dog is always happy to see me and spend time with me.

Imagine if she didn’t have that unconditional love.

If she held a grudge for not getting her walk, we would both miss out on some great time we could be spending together later. Who wants to hang out with someone who’s mad at  them?

If she avoided me when I was feeling grouchy, then I might miss out on the opportunity to be cheered up by her funny antics.

Imagine if we acted the same way around our friends and family? Showing unconditional love like that would make our relationships, and the world as a whole, much better .

#3 Don’t Judge People By Their Appearance

I can take my dog for a walk anywhere and she will be happy to meet anybody. There have been several occasions where we’ve crossed paths with people whose appearance has made me want to avoid them. Not my dog. She’s happy to go up and greet them.

Quite often, those people that appeared strange or scary to me ended up being very pleasant people. I never would have had the opportunity to interact with them if my dog had judged them based on their appearances like I did.

You’ll end up meeting and talking to a lot more interesting people as you go through life if you don’t dismiss them based on how they look.

#4 Be Persistent

If my dog wants attention, she’s lets me know. First she grabs a toy, trots over, shoves the toy in my lap, then stares at me. If that toy doesn’t seem to work, she’ll go to her toy box and grab another toy in the hope that the different toy might be of interest to me. If that one doesn’t work, she’ll go and get another one, and another one..

Sometimes throwing various toys in my lap works, but if it doesn’t, she’ll eventually proceed to flip over on her back, flair her legs around and make funny noises in an attempt to get me to rub her belly.

This whole process can go on for quite a while. If it doesn’t work, she’ll just take a break for a while, then try again. And she keeps on trying until she gets the attention she wants

The point is that she doesn’t give up when something doesn’t seem giving her the desired result of getting the attention she wants.

You can do the same in your life. Don’t give up on your desires and dreams because you tried something and it didn’t work. Just because it doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean you failed. You only fail when you stop trying. If you need to take a break, do it, but never give up.

#5 Live In The Moment

My dog is extremely focused. I  have never seen anyone as mentally involved in what they’re doing in any given moment as she is.

When she’s resting, she is the ultimate example of being totally relaxed. She just flops, and and utterly sinks into, whatever she’s lying on. It’s like she melts into the surface she’s on. Of course I have no way on knowing what’s going on in her mind, but I strongly suspect that she’s not running through a list of things she has to do, worrying whether or not her stuffed animal will make it through another play session, or wondering if she’ll get fed that evening. She’s just appears to be totally relaxed.

She’s the same when she decides that she wants to stalk the latest squirrel that’s invaded her back yard. Nothing can break her focus when she’s doing that.

We can learn a great lesson from her on this one. Learn to be in the moment with whatever you’re doing. If you’re resting, just rest. If you’re working, focus on your work. If you’re playing, play with everything you’ve got. If you’re spending time with a loved one, give them your undivided attention. You’ll find that you become more relaxed, do better work, have better relationships, and you’ll be less stressed.

#6 Get More Exercise

Insufficient exercise makes my dog both agitated and chubby. Regular exercise keeps her happy and healthy.

We’re really not much different as human beings. Our bodies were designed to move, not sit around all day. And exercise releases helps release chemicals in our body that make us feel happier. Take a tip from my dog on this one. You’ll feel better, and look better if you get some exercise everyday.

Oh, and bonus points if you exercise outside on a sunny day. Lot’s of fresh air, and plenty of stuff to sniff at when you’re outside .

#7 Stretch Regularly

Almost every time my dog gets up, and before every walk, she stretches.

It must benefit her because I can’t say she’s ever had any sort of joint injury. Unlike myself, and many other people I know, who have all had joint injuries at one point or another in their lives.

Take her advice and just do a few quick stretches her and there throughout the day. You’ll be much less prone to injuring yourself and it’ll help promote good blood flow in your body.

Conclusion

I’m not quite ready to promote my dog to monk-hood yet. I suspect it’s because I want to hold on to the ‘master’ title for at least a while longer. But I would be foolish to ignore the lessons I can learn from such a great teacher.

What about you, have your pets taught you any great life lessons? I’d love to hear them. Please share them by leaving a comment below.

PS – Check this out if you want to see a picture of Lucy.

If your parents ever told you that you weren’t allowed to do something, did you come back with the argument “But everyone else is doing it”? Whether you knew it or not, by using that argument, you were actually trying to use social proof to prove that what you wanted to do was actually OK.

Of course, if your parents were anything like mine, they actually had a good understanding of just how negative social proof can be. You probably got a typical response that went something like this; “If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?”. Your parents made a good point. But more on that later.

First, let me explain what social proof is, and why you should avoid becoming a victim of it.

What Is Social Proof

Social proof could be described as a sheep mentality. When we don’t know what to do or how to act, we often look to see what other people are doing, and simply follow their lead. The underlying assumption is that other people somehow possess more knowledge or skill than we do.

The problem lies in the word assumption.

Do we really have any sort of proof that other people know better than we do? I’m willing to bet that those ‘other people’ are just doing what they saw somebody else do. Hence the sheep analogy. Everyone is following everyone else just like a herd of sheep.

In a lot of ways, following the herd is an easy thing to become a victim of. If you do what everyone else does, you fit in. Nobody looks at you funny, and nobody judges you. It appears to be a safe way to live you life. Although, appearances can be deceiving.

Social proof could actually be holding you back from becoming a successful, happy person. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Examples of How Social Proof Can Harm You

1. How about these sage words of advice; “Go to school, get good grades, so you can get a good job”. This is what most people try to do right? The problem with this mentality is that most people end up in jobs they hate. They’re not following their passion and they’re likely preventing themselves from enjoying the type of success they would like.

Let me ask you, how many people with jobs do you know that are both as happy and successful as they would like to be? Chances are that they’re struggling financially, they’re stressed out from their workload and worried about losing their jobs.

If you want to be more and have more than everyone else, you have to do things differently than everyone else.

2. Diet. Did you know that the acronym for the standard American diet is SAD? There’s a good reason for this. Most of us are eating nutrient deficient foods that are brimming with fats and sugars. Then we wonder why we’re overweight, sick, and tired.

Again, the crowd is wrong. Just because everyone else is eating a horrible diet, it doesn’t mean you should too. If you want to be healthy and strong, dare to be different and do what you know is right, not what everyone else is doing.

Follow Your Parents Advice – Live Consciously

If you want to avoid becoming a victim of social proof, you should start by becoming conscious of your daily habits. Start examing the things you do on a daily basis and ask yourself if they are helping you, or harming you.

• are the foods your eating going to give you the health and vitality you want?
• are you taking the actions required to bring you the success you want, or are you using your free time to watch television like everyone else?
• do you get pulled into sessions of complaint with friends and coworkers, or are you consciously choosing to be different and have a positive attitude instead?

These are just a couple of examples to get you thinking.

Follow your parents’ advice. Don’t jump of the same cliff as everyone else, forge a new path instead.

Ask yourself if following the herd is going to bring you the success, happiness, health, and relationships you want in life. If not, what could you start doing instead that will start moving you in the direction you want to go?