Motivation needs energy before it can empower you to achieve
your targets, and how much energy you start the day with depends
very much on how you start your day.

If you’ve ever overslept, skipped breakfast, been late for work
and made a mess of everything you’ve touched all day, you won’t
need much convincing that things started to go wrong before your
feet had even touched the floor, and left you trying
unsuccessfully to put things right all day.

On the other hand, when you’re confident and full of energy, the
chances are you’ve felt good from the moment you got out of bed.

A good start to the day can help you make good use of
opportunities, deal effectively with difficulties, feel full of
zest and energy, and get more fun from everything you do — and
making a good start isn’t not down to chance.

So how can you make sure you start the day the way you want to?
Here are some tips to help you take — and keep — control.

1) Get up half an hour earlier. Forget any negative associations
getting up early might have ever had for you. This time, it’s
about making sure you start the day by making time for YOU.

You can’t cram the other tips into an already overcrowded
schedule, so if you want your day to go the way you want it to,
it’s worthwhile to take an extra 30 minutes to prepare for it.
Besides, these techniques are going to be enjoyable — this is
YOUR time, so luxuriate in it!

2) Stand in front of an open window and do some breathing
exercises. Start with your feet flat on the floor and your arms
by your sides, then rise SLOWLY on to your toes. As you do,
breathe in as deeply as you can and bring your arms slowly
upwards till your hands meet above your head, then slowly,
gently and without strain, reach as far upwards as you can.

Staying in that position, hold your breath for a count of 5,
then slowly breathe out as you return to your previous position.
It’s a good idea to start by doing this 5 times, though if you
want to you can gradually start doing more.

If you find you need some extra energy or inspiration through
the day, you might want to look for a chance to repeat this
exercise, even if the only place that you can find’s the rest
room! Learning to control your breathing’s an important part of
relaxation, stress control, clear thinking and vitality, and you
just can’t take too many opportunities to practice it.

3) Have a light but nourishing breakfast. Too many calories will
make you sluggish - but too few, or none at all, can adversely
affect your mental energy. Experiment until you find what’s
right for you - fruit juice, toast and marmalade are a good
place to start.

As you enjoy your breakfast, think of something exhilarating
that you plan to do today (and if you haven’t anything
exhilarating lined up yet, this is a good moment to start making
plans!).

4) Spend a few minutes feeling grateful for some of the good
things in your life.

What are the things that make you feel the happiest? What are
the things, and who are the people, that you really love? What
do you most like to do? Where do you most like to be? Think of
some things that make you feel on top of the world, and feel
deep gratitude.

No matter what your situation, there’s something or someone in
your life you can be grateful for. Even if things are so bad
that the only thing you have to hold to is a dream, be thankful
for that. Many people live empty lives for lack of a dream worth
getting out of bed for, so treasure yours.

What really makes your heart sing? Focus on it.

5) Spend a few minutes thinking about the main ambition that you
have. It doesn’t matter if that’s how you earn your living right
now. Focus on the things you want to do. Dwell lovingly on every
detail of your goal, and how great you’re going to feel when you
achieve it. Even if what you’re doing at the moment’s just the
day-job that’ lets you pay the bills for now, see whatever you
have to do today as step towards achieving your ambition.

6) Plan at least one step that you can take today towards your
main ambition. Even if your schedule’s already crammed full with
the things you really have to do today, you’ll do them all much
faster, better and with a lighter heart for knowing that at
least some time will be devoted to your dearest dream. Besides,
the only way you’ll ever get there will be by taking steps in
that direction, so right now’s as good a time and place as any
to begin!

When you start to practice these techniques, you’ll probably
find yourself developing individual variations on them. That’s
fine - the important thing’s to find what works for you, and
helps you start your day with all the feelings of energy,
motivation, confidence, vitality, self-worth and empowerment
which will help you make the most of every opportunity that
comes your way.

This is a little primer on how to start, survive and finish a
journey to super success and I want to share it with you.

Have you ever heard that old saying, “the rich get richer and
the poor get poorer”? Sure you have.

Is there a touch of irony here? The bottom line is this: whether
you are rich or poor, success, especially super success is
within your grasp. Why? Because if you love what you are doing,
what you are doing will succeed.

But what if we hate what we do, how do we get out of it? How can
we solve the dilemma? What if we’re trapped in an environment
that we don’t like and don’t want to be involved in any longer?
What if we’re sick and tired of our job? What if we feel so
trapped we lose all our ambition and want to throw-up every time
someone mentions our work?

You have two options. You take inspired and motivated action to
get out of your present rut and start living the life you’ve
always dreamed or you cop out for fear of the unknown and stay
in that rotten environment you call a job and hate without mercy.

Guess what? A radical change in your mindset is not easy. No one
is comfortable with upsetting the status quo. You will have to
come out of your comfort zone to discover the potentials and
opportunities waiting for you. You have to conquer your fear of
change and take a calculated risk including some not so
calculated. You have to stay focused and persevere despite the
difficulties you will encounter. Those difficulties will come
from those closest to you - family, friends, former co-workers.
And lastly, you will not have a backup plan because if you have
one, you will always, and I emphasize always, fall back on the
backup plan regardless of how distasteful it is.

Success doesn’t come easy. If it were so easy, everybody would
be super successful. It takes hard work. It takes heart. Most of
all, it takes passion. It may also take some time before you can
actually reap the fruit of your new labor. The line between
success and failure is razor thin.

So, how do you survive to endure to the final stage of super
success? This is the moment of truth. You are going along
working extra hard to reach your goals. This is also the
instance when you’re enduring whatever adversity hits you. You
have left the job you hate but now you begin to regret leaving
the safety of its sameness. Yet you push on. Good move because
this is the toughest barrier to break through.

So far, so good.

What do you have to do now to sustain the momentum?

Learn to love your current situation. See all the positive sides
of life. Be enthusiastic. Love your new work effort at every
stage. Love your family, your friends, and even strangers that
you meet on the streets. It may not be easy, but nothing is
impossible with strong will power. J. Paul Getty, one of the
most successful and richest men in the world during his time
often suggested that anything we want is within reach. All we
had to do was “will” it. Never forget about your dreams. Arrive
one step at a time. Balance is the key while you’re slowly
crawling the long journey to success. Be patient and be
enthusiastic. Don’t let the rush to get ahead forge such a path
that you totally forget how to enjoy life.

Smell the roses along the way.

One fine day, you will achieve what you have always longed. And,
when that day comes, don’t spit and gloat in the face of those
who belittled you at the start, and during your journey.

Please, stay humble. Don’t look down on others when you see that
you are becoming more successful than they ever thought of
being. Help them. Inject your positive aura into their
personalities. When you give, you will yield back equal or
greater rewards.

Are you ready to begin the journey? Start with courage and
desire to improve your life. Survive and go through it with
persistence, enthusiasm, and positive thinking. Finish it with a
resounding bang of accomplishment and with the desire to help
others succeed as well.

Most coaches and “success” experts counsel you to create a
vision, and goals and focus on what you want to achieve in order
to create the success you want in your life.

It’s not that that’s bad or wrong, but I’d like to suggest you
should also look a little closer to home and focus on all the
great things that have happened in your life … all the
successes you’ve had in your business and in your life.

Even if you haven’t yet achieved all your goals and your
business is not exactly where you want it to be, I guarantee
there are a multitude of little successes along the way you
could be celebrating right now.

And what better way to set a great vibe and send a message to
the Universe that you are embracing your success and you’re
ready for more?

Here are 10 questions to help you get started on your Gratitude
Journey:

(1) Is your business still afloat?

Over 80% of all new businesses fail within the first few years.
If yours is still alive and kicking (even if it feels like your
business is on life support!) you have reason to celebrate.

(2) Did you learn something this past year?

Remember, life is about the journey, not the destination. If you
had the opportunity to learn and grow this past year, you
enriched your life and probably your business, too.

(3) Do you have a least one client or customer?

Congratulations! You’ve enriched someone else’s life or
business. And you’ve proven there IS a market for your product
or service.

(4) Do you have friends or family who support you?

Succeeding in life and in business is a team sport. Be grateful
for those around you who believe in you and support what you do.
They can help make the difference between success and failure
for you; you’re lucky to have them.

(5) Did you make at least one mistake this past year?

I hope so, because out of our mistakes come our biggest growth
opportunities. If you failed at something I guarantee you
learned more this year than you would have had everything gone
right.

(6) Did you take a chance?

If you’ve started your own business, you definitely took a
chance. You risked safety and security for the dream of
something bigger, better and more fulfilling. Congratulations!
Do you know how many people wish they had the guts to do what
you’ve done?

(7) Did you read at least one book?

Reading opens your heart and mind to new possibilities. It
expands you and enables you to grow and learn. Be grateful if
you read last year, your world of opportunity grew as a result.

(8) Did you give of yourself?

Did you share some advice, teach a class, write an article, give
someone a gift, make a donation, tell someone you love them or
offer something with no expectation in return? Givers get. Not
that they give TO get … it’s just the way the Universe works.
You are blessed if you gave this past year.

(9) Do you have a place to live?

Many people lost their homes in an overabundance of disasters in
2005. If you’ve still got a home, even if it’s smaller or not as
nice as you wish, consider yourself lucky. And take a few
moments to think about those who have lost everything.

(10) Are you alive?

I know it sounds corny and cliche, but if you’re alive, be truly
thankful. My daughter lost a 16-year-old girlfriend this past
year, and a very good friend of mine nearly died. Life is
precious. Be thankful for yours every single day.

Take some time every day to reflect on all you have to be
grateful and thankful for and I think you may just be surprised
to see more success and great things flowing into your life.

Because remember, what you focus on expands!

(C) Copyright 2006 Debbie LaChusa

There is an often missed distinction between Being the First, Being Original, and Being Innovative.

To determine that someone (or something) has been the first, we need to apply a temporal test. It should answer at least three questions: what exactly was done, when exactly was it done and was this ever done before.

To determine whether someone (or something) is original - a test of substance has to be applied. It should answer at least the following questions: what exactly was done, when exactly was it done and was this ever done before.

To determine if someone (or something) is innovative - a practical test has to be applied. It should answer at least the following questions: what exactly was done, in which way was it done and was exactly this ever done before in exactly the same way.

Reviewing the tests above leads us to two conclusions:

1.. Being first and being original are more closely linked than being first and being innovative or than being original and being innovative. The tests applied to determine “firstness” and originality are the same.
2.. Though the tests are the same, the emphasis is not. To determine whether someone or something is a first, we primarily ask “when” - while to determine originality we primarily ask “what”.
Innovation helps in the conservation of resources and, therefore, in the delicate act of human survival. Being first demonstrates feasibility (”it is possible”). By being original, what is needed or can be done is expounded upon. And by being innovative, the practical aspect is revealed: how should it be done.

Society rewards these pathfinders with status and lavishes other tangible and intangible benefits upon them - mainly upon the Originators and the Innovators. The Firsts are often ignored because they do not directly open a new path - they merely demonstrate that such a path is there. The Originators and the Innovators are the ones who discover, expose, invent, put together, or verbalize something in a way which enables others to repeat the feat (really to reconstruct the process) with a lesser investment of effort and resources.

It is possible to be First and not be Original. This is because Being First is context dependent. For instance: had I traveled to a tribe in the Amazon forests and quoted a speech of Kennedy to them - I would hardly have been original but I would definitely have been the first to have done so in that context (of that particular tribe at that particular time). Popularizers of modern science and religious missionaries are all first at doing their thing - but they are not original. It is their audience which determines their First-ness - and history which proves their (lack of) originality.

Many of us reinvent the wheel. It is humanly impossible to be aware of all that was written and done by others before us. Unaware of the fact that we are not the first, neither original or innovative - we file patent applications, make “discoveries” in science, exploit (not so) “new” themes in the arts.

Society may judge us differently than we perceive ourselves to be - less original and innovative. Hence, perhaps, is the syndrome of the “misunderstood genius”. Admittedly, things are easier for those of us who use words as their raw material: there are so many permutations, that the likelihood of not being first or innovative with words is minuscule. Hence the copyright laws.

Yet, since originality is measured by the substance of the created (idea) content, the chances of being original as well as first are slim. At most, we end up restating or re-phrasing old ideas. The situation is worse (and the tests more rigorous) when it comes to non-verbal fields of human endeavor, as any applicant for a patent can attest.

But then surely this is too severe! Don’t we all stand on the shoulders of giants? Can one be original, first, even innovative without assimilating the experience of past generations? Can innovation occur in vacuum, discontinuously and disruptively? Isn’t intellectual continuity a prerequisite?

True, a scientist innovates, explores, and discovers on the basis of (a limited and somewhat random) selection of previous explorations and research. He even uses equipment - to measure and perform other functions - that was invented by his predecessors. But progress and advance are conceivable without access to the treasure troves of the past. True again, the very concept of progress entails comparison with the past. But language, in this case, defies reality. Some innovation comes “out of the blue” with no “predecessors”.

Scientific revolutions are not smooth evolutionary processes (even biological evolution is no longer considered a smooth affair). They are phase transitions, paradigmatic changes, jumps, fits and starts rather than orderly unfolding syllogisms (Kuhn: “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”).

There is very little continuity in quantum mechanics (or even in the Relativity Theories). There is even less in modern genetics and immunology. The notion of laboriously using building blocks to construct an ebony tower of science is not supported by the history of human knowledge. And what about the first human being who had a thought or invented a device - on what did he base himself and whose work did he continue?

Innovation is the father of new context. Original thoughts shape the human community and the firsts among us dictate the rules of the game. There is very little continuity in the discontinuous processes called invention and revolution. But our reactions to new things and adaptation to the new world in their wake essentially remain the same. It is there that continuity is to be found.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com

I have another shoe story I’d like to share with you. I found this “bargain” just the other day. The highest quality brand of comfortable shoes that I ever wear at an amazing price. The style and the color were just what I was looking for.

At first when I found them on the shelf I thought there must be some mistake on the price. I put them on (only one because the other had a security tag on it that wouldn’t allow my foot to go in) and took it for a quick spin up and down the aisle. They seemed to be okay and I was in a state of bargain-glee.

I felt rather smug, like I got away “with one”, as I headed to the checkout. With great anticipation I put them on the very next day and headed off to my world of work…I felt like a blessed man.

About two hours into my day, I began to notice something: My feet were sore. I also looked at my shoes more closely and noticed a couple imperfections.

By the end of the day I was questioning my “bargain” (and feeling quite humbled instead of smug). It was at that point that I had an enlightened moment: I had fallen prey to the infamous bargain-impulse purchase. I had not been thorough in my research, and instead, I made a decision based on emotional impulse.

As I have since reviewed this incident (and the shoes are feeling better now that they have broken-in some, but the imperfections are still there), I have been reminded of the following life-lessons:

1. If you settle for less, you always get less - My emotional “great bargain so go for it” state did not allow me to thoroughly investigate my purchase. I simply did not have enough data and experience with these shoes to make a good decision.
2. If the shoe (sorta) fits, you still don’t have to wear it (or buy it) - Fulfilling and healthy choices are based on my values, needs and boundaries. When I instead act on emotional impulse, I may in fact be out of alignment with what is really important in my life.
3. The foundation is the most important part of my every situation - I just happened to be sitting next a chiropractic physician at a meeting yesterday morning and we got talking about shoes. He reminded me that our whole body rests on our feet, and if something is not right at the feet, the whole body can be thrown off. And so it is with life: My personal foundation needs to be of the highest quality so that my life will operate efficiently, effectively and abundantly.

So I learned some great lessons via my (not) shoe bargain…I was reminded not to settle; to be clear about what I really want; and to take care of and cherish the most important aspects of my life… I hope you also had an enlightened moment or two as you read this.

Ken Donaldson has been based in Tampa Bay offering counseling, coaching, and educational programs since 1987. His REALationship Coaching programs empower people to have more successful lives, businesses and relationships by building a powerful relationship with themselves first. Visit his website at http://www.REALationshipCoach.com for more information and sign-up his free e-program Illuminations and Sparks of Brilliance. Ken is also the author of the upcoming book Marry YourSelf First!