Positive Thinking is ALWAYS the best choice

Usually I am skeptical about statements that contain the word "Always". There's a lot of truth in the saying "Always is always wrong".

However, this case is different. I can't think of any situation in which negative thinking makes sense. Zig Ziglar's famous statement is correct "Positive thinking lets you do everything better than negative thinking does".

This does not mean that you ignore pain, suffering and wrong things. Acknowledge the pain and let the tears run but then find the positive growth opportunity that EVERY situation offers and take massive action not to miss out on this opportunity. God is waiting to bless you for persevering in your faith. Don't waste the blessing by becoming negative and give into a lousy complaining attitude.

The Power of “Taking Action”

The message today sounds so simple that most people will think "I already know that". However, it is probably the most important factor that distinguishes successful from unsuccessful people: The Power of "Taking Action". Taking action is the difference between a mere dreamer and a person who is actively becoming the person who he really wants to be.

Taking Action gives you an enormous amount of energy: I am always amazed by how much purpose, excitement and energy you feel even if you just make a tiny step towards a goal that truly matters to you. If your goals is for example to own your own home or become successful property investor, you will feel the excitement once you start looking through various websites and talking to people about various forms of financing. If you want to become a motivational speaker, starting to write your first speech at home will be an great experience.

The biggest risk in life is not to take action: Let's be really honest. Once you come to the end of your life and look back, what does really matter? Do you really care about people that were negative about what you were doing? Do you really care about all those failed attempts in the light of your successes? Is it better to know that you tried everything but failed or to know that you gave in to your fears and never seriously attempted to live an extraordinary life?

There are many things you can do to facilitate taking action: One of the most powerful things you can do is to break down your dreams and visions into as many small measurable sub-steps you can come up with. Moreover it is so powerful to talk to as many people as you can that are already doing things in areas you want to explore. Never feel to shy to even call up people you have never talked before. If you explain your genuine motivation and passion most people will be really happy to help you. If they are not, just call the next one.

So challenge yourself by asking "Am I really taking action towards my goals in ALL areas in my life that are truly important to me?". And if you feel that you have heard this message already a lot of times keep in mind one of my favourite quotes by Rick Warren "We fool ourselves if we think that by just listening to a message we have internalized it".

Why it is so worthwhile going after your dreams (even if it seems impossible)

A lot of people never truly try to make their dreams happen. The most common reasons for that are the perceived lack of (a) time and/or (b) money. Or they think that it is not going to work anyway and hence don't even bother trying.

One personal example includes the situation at the end of my studies. I was confronted with the possibility to submit my thesis to a competition with the prospect of winning a lucrative price. As I had tried similar things in the past which didn't work out, I initially wasn't very motivated to apply and felt that I didn't have enough time and capacity to really have a chance of winning. Fortunately I thought about how amazing it would be to win and created a picture in my mind. This thought motivated me in a way that I applied despite all limiting beliefs and eventually won the competition. The crucial thing is that only one incidence of winning/of creating something truly extraordinary in this life makes all efforts worthwhile (including all past failures). Let no limiting belief or negative comment of other people destroy your desire to create something truly meaningful with your life.

Here are some additional useful thoughts that have helped me to cut through limiting excuses:

• Once you make a true commitment to do whatever it takes your mind suddenly gets a lot more creative at finding ways to make your dreams reality. You'll be amazed by how many more resources you can mobilize only by truly putting your heart into something.
  
• Who really cares what was necessary to make your dreams reality once you arrived there?
  
• Nothing in life is more satisfying than to fulfill the purpose for which your creator has made you. You get so much passion, joy and energy out of it. It's so worth it.
  
• NOT going after what you truly desire is the greatest risk you can take in life.
  
• Even if it doesn't work out 100% the way we think there might be another great opportunity revealing itself.

Regular commitments: Key to your long-term success

I recently created the following affirmation: "Regular commitments are so awesome. Being made in moments of absolute clarity of my true life priorities, they ensure that I'm putting into action what matters most - regardless of how I feel in a specific situation."

There is a lot of truth in it:

1. It is so important to take regular time to think about what is important in life and to define review our core values for which we are living. A lot of people today are addicted to high-frequency tasks and hence will feel uneasy and unproductive. Nothing could be further from the truth as it's better to ensure that the ladder is at the right wall before we start climbing it.
   
2. Based on what is most important to us we should set up regularly reoccurring times in our schedules in which we work on making our desires reality. Otherwise most people get caught up in other things as distractions today are omnipresent.
   
3. It is extremely important to have the discipline to really commit 100% to doing those things. Unless something more important – not something more urgent! – comes along we have to discipline ourselves to stick to what we previously planned.
   

I have plenty of regular commitments in my schedule. I set the time intervals in a way that it still leaves me with enough time to deal with unexpected events. For example I go to martial arts classes twice a week, study a stock market course once a week and catch up with one of my best mates at least every fortnight.

All three things support things that are very important to me. The regular commitment allows me to not listen to all the daily excuses I'm confronted with and after doing those things I always feel absolutely awesome as I made another very crucial step closer to my dreams. For example I usually feel a lot of thoughts going on in my head before martial arts classes like "I'm too tired. Today I could skip class once". However, as I know I have this commitment set-up it's so easy to disregard this rubbish that is trying to keep me in mediocrity.

Challenge Yourself: In which areas of your life could you establish regular commitments to ensure that you are really doing what is most important to you in life?

Accountability Partner – Why having one is so important if you want to grow personally

The reality for every person that I've met so far in my life is the following: Everybody needs at least one person to hold him/her accountable for achieving goals is life.

You probably know this from so many situations in life: If other people are watching you or even if you just feel others might be watching, you perform so much better. If you expect guest you clean up your apartment/house. If there is a big audience you perform better at sports.

The key is to use this principle and make it a regular system so it works on your behalf. How do you do it? By setting regular appointments with at least one accountability partner to analyse how you are performing against your goals.

David Deida described it in his book "The Way of the Superior Man" as follows: "Your close men friends should be willing to challenge your mediocrity by suggesting a concrete action you can perform that will pop you out your rut, one way or the other. And you must be willing to offer them your brutal honesty, in the same way, if you are all to grow. Good friends should not tolerate mediocrity in one another. If you are at your edge, your men friends should respect that, but not let you off the hook."

How does this work in practice? Let's say you are afraid of public speaking. So you set yourself the goal of speaking in public three times a week. At the end of each week you meet up with your accountability partner and talk about your progress. If you failed to achieve the goal in one week you'll have to do five speeches the next week. Once you feel that the goal is not challenging enough anymore, you might want to move on to other areas in your life that you desire to improve.

As with every post on this blog, the most important thing is that you TAKE ACTION. Don't just read this post but really DO IT. Call some friends, share the knowledge and set up a regular (weekly or fortnightly time) in which you just talk about your life goals and keep each other on track. You'll be amazed about the outcomes.

SRI – Use your breath to increase your well-being and reduce stress

I went to an SRI workshop this weekend with Dr Donald Epstein and found the techniques I learned very helpful. SRI stands for "Somato Respiratory Integration" and is a series of breathing techniques to reduce stress, increase well-being and improve overall health. SRI is especially powerful when we feel under stress and need to reconnect with our body.

I go to a Network Chiropractor regularly and find that SRI really improves the healing process of my body a lot. Over the past 12 months I've seen tremendous improvements in my health due to the Network Care that I receive. The most amazing thing is that normal doctors told me for so many years that I had to wear specially adapted shoes to outbalance the imbalance of my hip. Within only a few weeks my chiropractor managed to make adjustments to my body, so that I can just wear normal shoes: What an amazing relief after I thought that I could never wear normal shoes again. It turned out that the doctors who previously told me that my legs were of different length were completely wrong. In fact my legs are perfectly the same length and also my hip is 100% healthy, only my spine was twisted. I think this a perfect example of the limitations of normal medicine that is too often focused on treating the symptom (e.g. taking a painkiller or wearing adjusted shoes) rather than working on the cause (e.g. unhealthy lifestyle, twisted spine).

Based on my experience I'd love to encourage you explore the following opportunities:

1. Make an appointment with a chiropractor practicing Network Care (not the traditional chiropractic care)
   
2. Practice the first stage of SRI which is easy to learn and very effective (instructions e.g. available here: http://www.freemanwellness.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Stage1.pdf )
   
3. When you go to a doctor don't see yourself as a patient asking the doctor to take care of your problem but rather a patient member with responsibility i.e. Invest some time researching skilled doctors in the respective area, ask questions to find out whether the doctor is really qualified: "Are you really focusing on treating the cause? How many people with similar problems have you helped in the past?"

Healthy nutrition is so vital for our well-being and also cheaper in the long-run

Following up the last post, I found this brief article that gives another example that consuming healthy food is also cheaper in the long run:

"Experts say the cost of health care in Australia could be lowered by ensuring a sustainable supply of fresh food."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/25/2696003.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail

It is so much better to invest a little more into our nutrition on a daily basis and thus avoid the enormous costs in the future that come with poor health. Moreover, you feel so much better, are more productive and can be a much greater blessing to this world.

Healthy Nutrition: Everyone is responsible

Many people today still don't care enough about how and what they eat but rather give into the temptation of convenience and cheap price. The effects become more and more visible. The dramatic rise in health care costs and people having diabetes are only two examples out of many.
I personally think that every one of us carries a responsibility for our own body which is a gift from our creator and also for society in general. Only if we actively maintain a healthy body we will be able to fully contribute our gifts to this world and make a difference.
Here are some really simple tips everyone can integrate into her/his life. Trust me: Doing so will improve your health and way you feel tremendously.

• Drink at least 2-3 liters of filtered water everyday (not liquid, water!). If you drink coffee/tea you even have to drink more
• Minimise your intake of sugar. If you want sth. sweet better prepare sth. nice and healthy with e.g. organic honey
• Minimise your intake of caffeine. If you really like the taste of coffee, drink decaf. Be aware that most teas also contain caffeine. However, there are plenty of alternatives e.g. Roibos tea. Especially bad are energy drinks. Always keep in mind that only enough sleep and a healthy lifestyle are the answers to fatigue.
• Buy organic fruits and vegetables that are e.g. normally available at Coles. It might be slightly more expensive per unit, but the value you get per $ is so much more.
• Take very good nutritional supplements
  

Obviously there are other areas that are also very important e.g. physical exercise and our thought life. However, for today we just focus on our food intake.
If you want to read more on the topic: An outstanding book that teaches one important nutritional principle per day over a 50 day period is: "The Seven Pillars of Health" by Don Colbert.
Have a great week and feel free to write me if you have further questions,
Johannes

Be a first class servant

If we focus in our lives on serving others and really creating value in their lives, we can make a massive difference in this world. Interestingly it not only helps other people around us a lot but it also makes ourselves a lot more successful.

Zig Ziglar poignantly stated that you can basically achieve anything you want in life, as long as you help enough other people to get what they want.

Mark Sanborn brilliantly describes in his book "The Fred Factor" that going beyond the minimum service required is a powerful key to success in life.

John Bevere gives several examples in his amazing book "Honor's Reward" of how people's lives have been transformed through honoring and serving others.

Moreover a lot of other authors and speakers have discovered the power of serving others. Why do nevertheless so many people fail to put this into action? Because they are too preoccupied with their own problems. They seem so overwhelming that they believe the lie that they have to put their own problems first. The more they do this, the bigger their own problems seem and the vicious circle perpetuates itself. However, it does not have to be like this if you make the decision to change. Small acts of helping others not only makes a difference in other people's lives but also does miracles for your own soul.

Start today: What is an area in your life where you can serve somebody else more? What specifically can you do today to go beyond what society expects from you as normal?

New post about daily speeches

I just uploaded a guest post on the Transformation Plus blog regarding the daily speeches I do.

Have a look here:
http://transformationplus.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-it-is-so-important-to-take-action.html

Every single human being carries a responsibility

I recently watched the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" based on the book by John Boyne telling the story of a young boy living during World War II and being exposed to the crucial reality of concentration camps at that time. The movie made me cry at several occasions.

It also showed me that we all carry a responsibility to make sure something like this never happens again. Best way to do this is by creating deep and lasting relationships across all boundaries of nations, skin colours, belief systems etc. As Zig Ziglar poignantly said: "No raindrop blames itself for the flood and no snowflake blames itself for the blizzard but every citizen has a responsibility for our country".

Moreover, many people think that we are living in boring times without war and hence without many opportunities to be a hero. This is completely wrong. Today we have so many choices and so much freedom as no other generation had before in history. We are so privileged to live in such a captivating time today full of opportunities to make a difference in this world and fulfill our purpose in life. These opportunities might not be as obvious as fighting an armed opponent on the battlefield but if we really want we find plenty of them: People in developing countries desperately need help and today we have an unprecedented variety of ways to help. And also in developed countries we have plenty of opportunities to reach out to those in need. By not ignoring these needs but rising up to the challenge and making a difference, every one of us can become a hero of the 21^st century.

Numbing our fear senses by daily actions

People learning martial arts often repetitively punch objects in order to numb the parts of the body that typically are the most frequently used in a fight. We can apply the same powerful principle in our everyday life by exposing ourselves to situations that we are scared of. That is why I personally find the exercise of doing a speech every day (and other excercises) so powerful.
Taking action EVERY day also builds another extremely crucial life skill in us: DISCIPLINE. We need discipline in order to stay on track and truly honour our commitments. Discipline is often what separates the person who merely has a vision from the other who really puts his dream into action.
A brilliant example of a man who achieved so much through discipline is Keith Craft. Have a look at the following pictures:
(a) Keith in the 1970s very tall but also very slim and skinny: http://keithcraftblog.com/index.php/2009/07/09/happy-anniversary/

(b) Keith today with his extremely strong and muscular body: http://keithcraftblog.com/index.php/about/

It shows perfectly that we always have a choice in life. If we have a goal (i.e. becoming a trained athlete) then we can choose to become that if we are ready to work on it with discipline and honour this commitment. If Keith could train himself like this over time, so can you.

My daily speech in public transport or at other various locations throughout cities

People regularly ask me where I am doing my speeches and what I talk about. That's what I would like to share with you today. As already stated last week I do one speech every day with the goal of doing a minimum of 300 speeches of at least 1min. length each by the end of 2009. I deliberately choose locations that are far outside my comfort zone. Excellent examples are fully packed trains, trams, train stations and public places. The more people watch, the more effort it requires of me and the greater is the reward.

In terms of topics I focus on things that inspire others to live a more fulfilling life i.e. overcoming fears, focus on positive things, go after their dreams, help others etc.

Here are the three most frequent examples. I hope it inspires you to make changes in your own life as well. All it takes is less than 5min. per day and courage to break out of old patterns:

Speech 1: Get rid of fears (public speaking and embarrassment)

(Customised opening) I'm speaking to you to get rid of my fears to speak in front of others and of my fear to embarrass myself in front of others. That's why I'm at the moment doing a small speech every day at an unusual location. And it's a really life changing experience and a wonderful liberating feeling. That's why I strongly encourage everyone of you who has fears - and most people have fears - to start by making a short list of you fears on a piece of paper. Afterwards you start by doing small unusual things outside your comfort zone. Even if it just takes 2 or 3 minutes out of your daily routine, it'll be really life changing over the weeks and months. I'll be happy to share any of my experience or recommend some books that personally helped me a lot in the past. Feel free to ask any questions. I hope it was inspiring. Do something great with your life!

Speech 2: Overcome Negativity/Focus on all blessings

Hallo everyone. I am doing a short speech to push myself outside my comfort zone. And today I'd like to encourage you... (Customised opening) ...to make more out of your life. So many people spend their time every day in negativity or doing sth. that they are not really passionate about. It does not have to be like that. Ask yourself everyday: "Why do I do all this? What do I really want to achieve with my life?" Focus on all the amazing positive things that you are surrounded with and that a lot of people take for granted: For example, we can breathe and we are living in an amazing developed country: AUSTRALIA. If we just keep focusing on the positive things and what we really feel called to be doing, life is so much more enjoyable. That's why I strongly encourage you to start changing your environment with small things. For example give a genuine smile to every human being you meet and do sth. outside your comfort zone everyday like I'm doing it in front of you right now. There's nothing to wait for. There is no one to blame. Thank you very much for listening. I hope it was inspiring. Do something great with your life!

Speech 3: Open towards others/Reach out more to others

Hallo everyone. I am doing a short speech to push myself outside my comfort zone. And today I'd like to encourage you...(Customised opening) ...to reach out more to people that you are surrounded with everyday. Do not make the mistake that many people do and be absorbed in unnecessary self-concern. Instead: take the focus of yourself and put it on using your unique gifts to bless others. The interesting thing is that it also makes you more successful. As Zig Ziglar said: "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." We're all equipped with gifts and we all have a unique fingerprint. It's our responsibility to contribute our unique gifting. Just look around: All of us are surrounded with plenty of opportunities to serve others every day. Even if it's just sth. small as a genuine smile to another human being or a speech at an unusual location as I'm doing it today. It makes a massive difference if you keep doing it over the weeks and months. Thank you very much for your attention. I hope it was inspiring. Do something great with your life!

Goal Setting: You don’t need to spend heaps of money to understand and do it properly

I realised recently that a lot of people spend a significant amount of money on all sorts of products teaching them how to set goals and keep themselves motivated. In my opinion that is not really necessary if you carefully read the following points and really apply them in your day to day life:

(1) Set S.M.A.R.T. goals: One of my goals is "Do 300 speeches of min. 1 min. Length in front of min. 10 people each until 31 December 2009". The goals have to be:

- Specific: My goal tells me what to do i.e. in this case: Stand up and talk in front of people for at least 1 min.

- Measurable: It is possible to measure whether I've achieved the goal or not. I've a little booklet (my little book of courage) in which I note down for every day how many speeches I've done and in which situation.

- Achievable: It is possible to accomplish the goal. It is roughly one speech per day which only takes some minutes out of my daily routine.

- Relevant: The goal must be relevant to what you want to achieve in life. One of my goal is to become motivational speaker and help others to make more out of their lives. By numbing my fear senses by talking in front of random people regularly I'm making an important step on my way to this goal.

-Timely: The goal has a specific deadline by which it is supposed to be achieved. My goal is to do the 300 speeches by the end of 2009.

(2) Focus and filter: Focus on a limited amount of goals at a time. Put everything else on a Someday/Maybe list that you review periodically. Thus your mind can trust that everything important is captured in your organisation system and that you will eventually get to every single item. Once your mind trust the system you will notice that an enormous amount of energy is freed that comes with the peace of mind i.e. you can use your mind for sophisticated and creative thinking rather than worrying and storing information. An excellent book to achieve this and get more organised is "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.

(3) Vision Board: In addition to your list of current and Someday/Maybe goals buy a pin board. Put your dreams on the board and make them as visual and as colourful as possible. Add your own photos and photos of people that inspire you to achieve more. Write in big letters as if the goal was already achieved. E.g. I printed out a photo of a motivational speaker speaking in front of a huge crowd. Then I put my photo on the head of the speaker and added in big letters "I am an excellent inspirational public speaker. I just love talking to people and inspire them to make more out of their lifes".

(4) Review goals daily: Review your goals every day. Put your vision board and goal lists to the wall at a place where you see them multiple times a day. Especially after getting up in the morning tune yourself in for the day by looking at the vision board and get really excited (e.g. say out loudly "Yes. This is another awesome day to come closer to my dreams. Every small sub step counts and is important. I am moving somewhere. My life is full of purpose. I'm so excited to make a difference in this world") One of Zig Ziglars quotes is very poignant "Some people say motivation doesn't last. Neither does bathing. That's why we recommend it daily".

(5) Really DO IT: In my opinion this is the most important point and the only real reason to go to one of these expensive seminars. Do not just read this post and treat it as just another article. Set a specific time when you will do these things. Get at least one accountability partner with which you do the goal setting and do regular follow ups (at least fortnightly). Track your success, discuss it, hold each other accountable and call each other whenever you get lazy or stuck.

Yes Man: Another movie that can change our life if we choose right reaction

(4) Yes Man

The movie tells the story of a man who usually says "No" to everything and lives a miserable, ordinary and boring life. Then due to a seminar he visits he makes a sudden and dramatic change by saying "Yes" to literally every request he is confronted with in his life. As he makes this change his life changes dramatically to the positive – though of course he makes a lot of mistakes on his way and learns from them.

After seeing the movie everyone makes an inevitable choice between two options:

(a) Passive option: Treat this movie as just another nice and entertaining movie. Make no link between the movie and own life. Continue life exactly as before seeing the movie and remain within the boundaries of old habits.

(b) Active option: Ask yourself "What can I learn from this? How can I integrate this learning into my life?", write some quotes of the movie on post-its and stick them to the wall at home or at work saying e.g. "Every day is full of amazing growth opportunities – Yes Man"

This is another great example that our life is full of choices. Every day we are surrounded by so many amazing opportunities to learn, grow and make steps toward the life that we really want to live. Every small sub-step on the journey is important! There is nothing to wait for and nobody to blame! Do something small every single day to come closer to your dreams! It's so worth it!

I'd like to conclude today's post with a quote by Brad De Haven who wrote the awesome book The Currency Of The Future: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather sliding in sideways, thoroughly worn out and proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride". Think about what you personally can learn from this quote for your own life!

P.S. A very good and more detailed view on the movie has been published by Chris Guillebeau.

Another great movie on the power of our thoughts and dreams

(3) The Legend of Bagger Vance

The film tells the story of a very talented golf plazyer who loses his swing during a tragic event in World War I and is subsequently haunted by his past. There are four main things we can learn from the movie

a) We're all equipped with a unique gift that we can use to do great and amazing things in our life.

b) If we just rely on our own strength and ignore God we'll fail miserably.

c) If we listen to God and follow his advice, we'll do truly amazing things that are far beyond of what we initially imagine.

d) After our earthly lives we are coming back home to God. It is important to consider this perspective in our daily choices to keep us focused on what is truly important in life.

The Power of Your Dreams

No matter what your circumstances are go after your dream and do not listen to all the discouragements of your environments and all the little excuses that come into your head. I highly recommend everyone watches the two subsequent movies on this topic:

1) Rudy (based on true story of “Rudy” Ruediger who pursues his seemingly impossible dream of playing football for Notre Dame University)

2) The Pursuit of Happiness (based on true story of a man pursuing his dream of becoming a stockbroker and providing a better future for his son)

They are both powerful testimonies of how far you can really get in life if you are really determined and focused. They also teach us that we have only one life to do what are called to do. Every moment waited blurs our clarity of purpose. There is nothing to wait for! There is noone else to blame!:

First Entry

On this blog I will regularly post my experiences in the area of personal development. Mainly I will discuss the following topics:

- How to overcome fears

- How to find true passion in life

- How to step by step generate additional income with the ultimate goal of breaking free financially