Studies of high achievers have shown that no matter how different their personalities, work habits, occupations or gender, the people who accomplish great things in life have visualized and expected success all along. They've had the ability to vividly picture their achievements and to reassure themselves in the face of long odds that they would come through. To visualize the person you want most to become, set aside some time this week in which you can create an atmosphere conducive to re-affirming your life dreams. You may want to be near the ocean, or a lake, or in a park, in a garden or in the woods. Or you might just sit quietly by yourself in a comfortable lounge or chair. Get yourself in the mood for visualizing. When the left hemisphere of the brain is quiet and relaxed, the mind is most receptive to creative inputs. To facilitate this you may want to use soothing recorded music, preferably slow and inspiring, such as Bach, Handel or Vivaldi if you like classical music, or soft, popular instrumentals from epic movies or other mood music. Once you're properly relaxed and optimistic, let your mind focus on who you really want to become. Visualize the future in two time frames: five years from now and ten years from now. First, design a day in your life five years from now. Who are you five years from now? Where are you professionally and geographically? On Monday mornings, where do you go? What are you doing, seeing, feeling and thinking? Who are the people around you? What's different about your life five years from now? Next, project ahead ten years from today. Picture a film of your life at that time. Who is watching it with you? What dramatic moments are depicted by that film? What personal triumphs are revealed? What obstacles are courageously overcome? Don't be shy! The purpose of this exercise is to load visualized software in your mental computer. Just as a computer must be configured to accept specific materials, your mind must be prepared to accept the reality of your greater success. By introducing positive images of goal achievement, you're preparing yourself to translate those goals into reality. I especially like to visualize myself being introduced at a dinner in my honor. Maybe it's the Coaches' Hall of Fame! Don't laugh! It could happen! The emcee comes to the microphone and reads the highlights of my life and adds some insights as to who I really am. What would the emcee be saying about you if such a dinner were held in your honor ten years from now? Devote a page in your journal to describing the things you would want said about you. This visualization will put you on a path that leads to your future self that you vividly picture today! www.fraserstirling.co.nz

UNLIMITED POWER THROUGH A MASTERMIND

I have been blessed over the past few months with an amazing group of people who are amazing to work with.  Each person gets on and does their job and is continually looking out for the other one in our team. This reminded me of Napoleon Hills concept of the master mind.   
A Master Mind alliance involves two or more people working together in perfect harmony toward the attainment of a common purpose. Such a partnership creates a superpower that enables each of its members to do far more than either would have been able to achieve separately. Choose your Master Mind partners carefully. Align yourself with people whose strengths complement yours. If you are a right brain person, for example, a logically-driven left brain person may be a perfect counterbalance to your creative bent. Above all, choose to associate only with people who share your positive values and your commitment to similar levels of achievement.
It is am amazing place to be...


Ignite the fire within 


www.fraserstirling.co.nz

The Key to Long-Term Success

I was at a children's sporting tournament today and as I was watching people strive to win their games I got thinking.  I was wondering what the children, parents, teachers and coaches thought success was.  If I were to ask them individually, I may have ended up with 100+ different answers. This got me thinking about what do successful people do?  This is the best place to start.  No matter what we want, if we copy people who have achieved what we want, then we are more than likely going to experience similar success. 
Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years. They have been interviewed extensively to determine what it is they do and how they think that enables them to accomplish so much more than the average person.  So today I am sharing some ideas about what some research showed as key aspects to being successful.  

The Harvard Discovery on SuccessIn 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted. Banfield's goal was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.


Develop Long Time PerspectiveBanfield called this attitude "long time perspective." He said that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration while planning and acting, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career. For example, one of the reasons your family doctor is among the most respected people in America is because he or she has invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she is capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in any society. They had long time perspectives.
Measure the Potential Future ImpactThe key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life. For example, if you come home from work at night and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you have a long time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and your spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time. The potential future impact of quality time with your family is very high. If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you're acting with a long time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your career.
Practice Delayed GratificationEconomists say that the inability to delay gratification-that is, the natural tendency of individuals to spend everything they earn plus a little bit more, and the mind-set of doing what is fun, easy and enjoyable-is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life. On the other hand, disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.
The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for you.



Would these things have been answered by the children playing today?  I doubt it.  However the core principles could be used by these children to become better at the sports they played today.


For me, I define success as making progress towards a worthy ideal. 


Take steps towards your ideal life today.


www.fraserstirling.co.nz 

CREATE WHAT YOU SEE IN YOUR MIND.

The more clients I see the more I see that humans are very predictable. The same as in the classroom where i have worked as a teacher for a number of years.   

Have you ever wondered how children can sit through replays of their favorite Lion King or Little Mermaid video? It amazes me that they’ll watch the same show every day without a single complaint or request for something new.

What’s more amazing, though, is that adults do the very same thing with their days. The majority of men and women play “movies” in their heads, day after day, relentlessly focusing on past events, most of which are unpleasant and disturbing experiences. If they’re actually able to stop their contemplation of past events, then they allow impressions of their current surroundings and recent results to govern their thoughts.

If they contemplate the future it is usually by worrying about it, or wishing that something better might come along. Then they wonder why bad things keep happening to them, or why they never rise above the issues and obstacles in their lives.

While it is true that people are free to think anything they please, as long as they remain set in their ways, there is very little that can be done to change the unpleasant experiences that keep cropping up in their lives.

Recently, the study of the mind, and its veritable unearthly power, is at last taking its proper place in modern civilization. Proper use of the mind and its various faculties will give you anything you choose – but the emphasis here is on the word “proper.” To move in this direction requires study and focused, consistent effort with a good measure of creativity stirred in.

Just as the oak tree develops from the gene that lies within the acorn and a bird develops from the gene that lies asleep in the egg, so too will your achievements grow from the organized plans that first begin with your imagination. An image in your mind is the first stage of the creative process in life. From your imagination your visions and plans arise.

In his best selling book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote, “You will never have a definite purpose in life; you will never have self confidence; you will never have initiative and leadership unless you first create these qualities in your imagination and see yourself in possession of them.” He went on to say, “… imagination is the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force the world has ever known.”

There is a concept called “Fantasy – Theory – Fact.” The premise underlying this concept is that everything has its origination in the form of Fantasy, which some adventurous souls dare turn into a theory and then boldly turn into fact. Give this serious thought for a moment. The idea of moon landings, communicating by email, traveling on jets, cellular phones or wearing synthetic garments was, a very short time ago, sheer fantasy. Today, they are considered commonplace.

Your marvelous mind has factors that you can, with little effort, develop to use to improve the quality of life, not just for yourself, but for human kind. Imagination is one of those creative faculties. The individuals who were responsible for the conception and creation of the email, cell phones and any of the thousands of modern conveniences we enjoy today had a highly developed imagination.

Furthermore, they were not easily influenced by the opinions of the masses, the naysayers who historically have criticized and ridiculed anything they do not understand. These pioneers used their mental faculties to fantasize, to build wild and wonderful pictures in their mind. Then, holding their thought with their will, they watched their fantasy unfold into a theory and then into fact. They seemed to have an innate awareness that if they could visualize it, they could do it.

Use this power to let your mind play. Fantasize a much better life than you presently enjoy. Draft your future with imagination, ponder and calculate with intelligence and awareness, then knit it with care. Next, devise paths and find tools to help get you there.

Commit to reach new goals. The only barrier separating you from your goal is ignorance – ignorance of how simple, and simply powerful, your mind really is.

Choose something and make steps toward it.

Igniting the fire within. 

www.fraserstirling.co.nz

How to use your imagination to manifest what you want?

Last time I shared about the importance of taking action.  Today I am going to be building on this.

It’s not what causes you to take the RIGHT action to get the results you want. Now, don’t get me wrong. You do need will power. You have to be WILLING to change. But your real asset or your ally is your imagination, NOT your will power.

Today, I want to share with you some really cool ways to attract anything you want. These are the secrets people have been using for thousands of years to manifest what they want. You can use them as well. They are not reserved for a special group of people. For years, I have used them to create stunning results in my life. Here they are:

1 – Get yourself out of your way.

Listen, let’s be honest, I know you probably have already heard about the power of visualization or imagination. And you probably keep dismissing it as fluff. Maybe you are too intellectual or too smart to really apply it as you should. You probably have the same attitude toward learning new information. As soon as you start reading a book, listening to a CD, watching a motivational video, you say to yourself, “I’ve heard this before.” How do I know?

Well, many times I have to catch myself doing the same thing as well. When I started in the personal development field, I was like a starving person in a cafeteria. I ate and ate and ate. Then I started being full. I started skimming the books. I was no longer taking the time to read and take notes. It wasn’t until four years ago I realized what I was doing. I had to have a conversation with myself about it.

That’s what I mean when I say get out of your way. Stop skimming. Take the time to truly learn and apply. Suspend your judgment and try something different. As they say, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” So, if what you’ve been doing is not working for you, try something else. Try using visualization or imagination. But try it relentlessly. Try it as if it’s brand new to you. Also, decide to put it into application as it should used.

2 – Step Into Your Future Now!

Imagine I wave a magic wand over you. Suddenly, you are transported 5 years from now. You wake up. You’re living your ideal life. Describe that day to yourself in writing. Write down all the details. Let’s call it “A Day In My Life 5 Years From Now.” Now, I want you to truly imagine the scenario. Yes, use your imagination!  Unless you do something new then you will stay where you are.

I bet your first tendency might be to write from your current reality. You might start writing from your fears, feeling of inadequacy, or past failures. No. You can’t write from there. I want you to write from a space of total freedom. You are unstoppable. Nothing can prevent you from achieving that which you desire. You are totally unafraid. And you cannot fail. Be bold. Be fearless.

In order words, if on that day you want to have a brand new Bentley, BMW, Mercedes Benz, or rolls Royce in front of your mansion waiting for you to drive away, don’t let the fact that your bank account is empty and you are in debt to stop you from writing it down. It’s time to make that dream real in you mind. Dare to live it now so that when you get there you are only reliving it.

You also want t write your ideal day five years from now in the present tense. Say something like, “Today is October 17, I wake up fully energized and passionate about life! I’m completely healthy. I’m debt free. I’m a multimillionaire (Be more specific. You might want to say three, four, or five million dollars). I’m heading down to my private gym to workout with my personal trainer. My charitable foundation is feeding 10 millions kids the world over, etc.” You get my point, right? Declare your future in details.

Success is personal. You and I don’t define it the same way. So, I’m not going to pretend my ideal day is going to look like yours. Write down your own day in every area of your life—financially, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Make sure it excites you. When I read mine, which is personal to me, I feel a sense of total happiness. It would sound unbelievable to you. But you know what? I believe it. It’s God’s will for me.  

Listen, live your life by faith instead by sight. Don’t base your future from your current reality. Trust, believe and know for certain great things are about to happen in your life. You were born to win. You’re destined for greatness. Don’t talk yourself out of it because you are not doing well now. Believe!

3 – Turn What You Wrote Into An Affirmation.

Read aloud your ideal day first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Now, I do understand sometimes depending on your environment, you may not be able to read aloud. That’s okay. Read in silence. However, if you can, I strongly suggest you real aloud. There’s power in listening to yourself telling yourself how amazing your future is going to be.

You may be saying, “For how long should I read it?” Well, for as long as it takes. When you pray, you don’t abandon your prayer because you don’t get the answer fast. No. You have to pray or affirm that which you want unceasingly until you get it. You have to meditate on it day and night. You gotta stay with it. That’s the real secret. Meditate on it even when the debts are high, the bills are piling up on the table, you are in bankruptcy, and you just lost your job.

4 – Surround Yourself With Visuals.

Start living the life. Make it real to you. Go and test drive that Mercedes Benz at the dealer. Send $5 to a charitable cause to start your humanitarian effort. And send a note along with it that says, “5 years from now when my dream comes true, I will add three, four or five zeros behind that five.” Cut out pictures to create your wall of fame. Decorate your wall with pictures of the yacht, airplane, cars, homes, exotic vacation spots, presidential Rolex, etc.

That’s a great way to activate your senses. The more you see it, feel it, and touch it, the faster it will come to you. This is not some kind of lecture I’m preaching on the mountaintop to the masses. I’m a living witness this thing works. I have applied in my life too many times to count. As I said before, be obedient and try it for yourself.

5- Do Not Share.

Resist the temptations to share your ideal day with too many people. Why do I say this? It’s because if they can’t imagine it, they’ll think it’s impossible. And they’ll try to shift your beliefs. They will rain on your parade. Listen, it’s hard for you to really believe what I’m saying here works. You can’t afford to have other people create more doubts in your head. Got it?

Success starts from inside out. You cannot imagine your life 5 years from now based on your current circumstances. Start convincing yourself it’s possible. Activate the Law of Abundance in your favor.

Now, reserve a full day on your calendar to put into application what you learned here. Stop telling yourself I will do it later. This is not about convenience. It’s what needs to happen in order to create the life you life. Find a quiet place to write down your ideal day five years from now and make it exciting.

Remember this: Change is a gift and no condition is permanent. I want you to win. I can provide the roadmap for you. However, you have to bring the faith. I can’t have faith for you.

You have to take the first step to start the journey. Press on!

Igniting the fire within 

www.fraserstirling.co.nz

Why you need a vision board!!!!!

I have recently been working on my goals for the year. For me it is not something that is done quickly. I take time and review them before finalizing what they will be. I have just got near the end of finalizing my goals for the coming year and my mind has started to think how can I show this on a vision board as I believe it is essential that we visually show what we are in the process of creating.
Therefore today i thought I would share some ideas of the believes behind why they are so essential in creating your goals.

A vision board is a simple yet powerful visualization tool that activates the universal law of attraction to begin manifesting your dreams into reality. The concept of the vision board (also known as a goal board, goal map, or treasure map) has been around for generations, but it’s gained a renewed interest and popularity after success expert John Assaraf related his story of using vision boards to achieve his dreams in the best-selling DVD documentary The Secret.

WHAT'S A VISION BOARD?

A vision board is simply a visual representation or collage of the things that you want to have, be, or do in your life. It consists of a poster or foam board with cut-out pictures, drawings and/or writing on it of the things that you want in your life or the things that you want to become. The purpose of a vision board is to activate the law of attraction to begin to pull things from your external environment that will enable you to realize your dream. By selecting pictures and writing that charges your emotions with feelings of passion, you will begin to manifest those things into your life.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

What exactly is the law of attraction? The law of attraction states that we attract into our lives anything that we give attention to, regardless whether it be positive or negative. From a psychological view, the law of attraction can be best explained by the information filtering system of the brain known as the reticular activating system (RAS). Vision boards serve the role of programming the RAS to tune into external stimuli that can help us move closer towards our intentions.

HOW TO MAKE AND USE YOUR VISION BOARD

Your personal vision board is only limited by the extent of your own creativity. Some of my students have produced simple vision boards and others have made vision boards that could probably sell at an art show for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Having artistic ability is not a prerequisite for creating a functional vision board however and the procedures I’ve outlined below can be used by anyone.

The general elements that a well-designed vision board should include are:

Visual. Your subconscious mind works in pictures and images, so make your vision board as visual as possible with as many pictures as you can. You can supplement your pictures with words and phrases to increase the emotional response you get from it.

Emotional. Each picture on your vision board should evoke a positive emotional response from you. The mere sight of your vision board should make you happy and fuel your passion to achieve it every time you look at it.

Strategically-placed. Your vision board should be strategically placed in a location that gives you maximum exposure to it. You need to constantly bath your subconscious mind with it’s energy in order to manifest your desires quicker than you hope.

Personal. Negative feelings, self-doubt, and criticism can damage the delicate energy that your vision board emits. If you fear criticism or justification of your vision board from others, then place it in a private location so it can only be seen by yourself.

Step 1—Compile your pictures. Start by going through your magazines and compiling all the pictures that you can find that are relevant to your goal. Don’t evaluate the pictures or start pasting them onto your board. Just stack them into a pile. If you are internet saavy, then a much quicker method that I do myself is to use an internet search engine to find good pictures that I can use for my board. You can either print the pictures out on paper and then glue it to the board, or print the pictures out onto a self-adhesive label so that it becomes a sticker. This is the preferred method because it is takes much less time to do and you can pinpoint your pictures using very good technology at your hands. Make sure that each image that you put on your board resonates with your heart and makes you excited at the mere look of it. It’s also important when selecting pictures to include anything that is congruent with your goal, such as any changes in your life that might result from obtaining your goal. So if your goal is to have a six figure income, then select pictures of a lifestyle that is congruent with your six figure income. Asking yourself the following questions might help you design a congruent vision board:

What would you do differently when you realize your goal?
Where would you travel?
Where would you live?
What would you wear?
What things would you own?
What kind of vehicle would you drive?
What would you do for work?...Or would you work?
Who would you help?

Step 2—Sort and Cut. Go through your pile of pictures and select the ones that impact you the most emotionally. Cut the extraneous material away from the image.

Step 3—Arrange and glue. Start arranging your pictures creatively on your board. Don’t worry about being artistic—that’s not the point. The point is that your board should resonate with your emotions. Arrange your pictures in a way that gives you an emotional connection to your vision board. After you are satisfied with the arrangement, glue all your pictures in place. Additionally, you might want to add writing or drawing on your vision board if you feel that it would better resonate with your emotions. A feature unique to my vision boards is that I also put two labels on the bottom of board that read: “Date created: [today’s date]” and “Date Manifested: [blank]” This lets me know how long my vision has been gestating since its creation and also every time I look at my vision board, not only am I emotionally charged with the pictures, but I also feel an overwhelming sense to see it manifested to completion.

Step 4—Strategic positioning. The most important part of having a vision board is having it in a strategic location that gives you as much visual exposure to it throughout the day. For most of us, this is in the office, but if that is not possible or appropriate, then try your living room or your bedroom. Some people I know mount their vision boards on the ceiling above their bed so that it is the first thing they see when they wake up and the last thing they see when they go to sleep. If you are sensitive to what others might say of your vision board, then be sure to keep it in a safe area where only you will see it. Negative criticism or justification of your dreams can kill the energy that your vision board releases. As Brian Tracy states, “What they don’t know, can’t hurt you.”[7]

Step 5— Update your vision board. Your vision board has to inspire you. It has to charge you with renewed passion everytime you look at it and over time and as you progress closer towards your vision, you might find that some of the images or pictures on your vision board don’t really carry as much emotional impact on you as they did before. When this happens, you’ll want to update your vision board with new fresh images that do inspire you. You’re vision board is not a finished piece of art after its initial creation. It’s a dynamic piece of art that shifts and changes as your vision shifts and changes. Therefore, if you find your level of passion that your vision board gives you is growing weaker, then update it to bring fresh new emotions to it.

FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

Here are three examples of famous people who have used the techniques of visualization to activate the law of attraction in their lives. Although not all of them specifically used vision boards to get what they wanted, the applications that they used were similar in function.

John Assaraf’s Vision Board. Successful entrepreneur and author, John Assaraf, brought the age-old concept of a vision board to the mainstream public by relating his story of it in the motivational documentary, The Secret. In May of 2000, John was working in his home office inside his beautiful new home in Southern California when his five-year old son came in and asked him what were in the dusty boxes in the corner of his home office. John told him that it contained his vision boards. His son didn’t understand what they were, so John opened one of the boxes to show him. When John pulled out the second board from the box, he began to cry. On it was a picture of a 7000 square foot house on top of six acres of spectacular land that he had seen and cut out from Dream Homes magazine in 1995. It was the exact house that he had just purchased several weeks prior—A sure testament to the law of attraction at work.

Bruce Lee’s Letter. The late martial arts legend and my own personal role-model, Bruce Lee, understood the power of the law of attraction. As a struggling entrepreneur and actor, Bruce sat down one day and wrote the following letter to himself: “By 1980, I will be the best known oriental movie star in the United States and will have secured $10 million dollars… And in return, I will give the very best acting I could possibly give every single time I am in front of the camera and I will live in peace and harmony.” In 1973, months after Bruce’s untimely death, the blockbuster movie Enter the Dragon was released in both the United States and China, elevating Bruce to the level of an international star. According to Jack Canfield, that very letter that Bruce wrote to himself is hanging up on one of the walls at Planet Hollywood in New York City.[8]

Jim Carrey’s Check. As a struggling young comedian trying to make it in the make or break city of Hollywood, Jim Carrey was just about ready to give up his dream of becoming a professional actor and comedian. He had just performed at an open mic session at one of the nightclubs in Los Angeles and had been booed off the stage by his audience. He sat by himself at the top of Mulholand Drive and looked out at the city below him—the city that held his future success or failure. He then pulled out his check book and wrote himself a check for $10 million dollars and made a note on it: “for acting services rendered.” He then carried that check with him in his wallet everywhere he went from that day forward. By 1995, after the success of his blockbuster movies: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, and The Mask, his contract price had risen to the price of $20 million dollars.[8]

Conclusion

Vision boards are an important tool in your success tool box. They are cheap to make and their potential value to you is immeasurable. Figure out what you want in your life and then commit yourself 100% towards making that first step of creating your vision board and activating the law of attraction to pull your dreams into reality.

Have fun