No Pain No Gain

Found a great book at the library which unfortunately I won't be able to scribble in or highlight for future reference, so....thought this would be a good way to store the information for further reflection & also to share it with any other interested parties :) enjoy...

No Pain No Gain

Martin's Law of Progress:
Desire/Pain = Progress. "Progress only occurs when the pain of effort is overcome by the force of desire."


If you look for the angles that are not immediately obvious to others, you create a world of opportunity that most are oblivious to.

If you continue to think on a small scale, the ideas that you conceive will be dwarf like. If you think on a large scale your ideas can become giants.

It is impossible for a bumblebee to fly. Thankfully the bumblebee doesn't know this! Up to this point there are many things that you have considered 'impossible' for you to achieve. Now it is time to re-examine these.

All of the great inventions from the light bulb to the motor car had to be pictured in someone's mind long before they could be seen by the human eye.

Enjoying the fruits of success are as important as achieving them. Without reward it would be pointless to make the sacrifice necessary to obtain those fruits.

There are six great pillars of fear that every person suffers from. The difference between the successful and non-successful people lies in the ability of the former to understand these fears and develop methods of overcoming them.
*Fear of death
*Fear of aging
*Fear of sickness
*Fear of poverty
*Fear of criticism
*Fear of rejection
Think about this-If you cannot overcome your fears, your own self-doubt and lack of confidence will paralyze your chances of success for life.

Any great step taken by mankind has only occurred when an individual has shaken off the shackles of self-doubt, looked the impossible square in the eye and refused to give up until lady success handed over the goods.

The road to success only begins with planned management of your thoughts, transferred into a definite plan of action and pursued with a single minded persistence.

Money can be made from infinite sources. It is the ability of the individual to set in motion and follow through the principles of success that really count.

Find your own role model and read everything you can find about them. If it wasn't for the great achievers of the past, there would be few great achievers today. Sometimes it takes just one individual to conquer the impossible before others follow in their footsteps. What is deemed impossible today may be totally realistic tomorrow.

Turn your disadvantage into an advantage.

Thoughts are great things. Accept the challenge to step outside the narrow tracks that confine you and dare to think great thoughts. A thought has no boundaries except for the ones that you set for them.

All something-for-nothing people, societies & cultures have failed on an extraordinary scale. The principles of success state that all achievements must be earned to have any real value.

Ask nothing of yourself and you will get it every time.

You'll miss all of the opportunities that you do not take.

Investing in yourself can produce dividends unmatched by any other system.

Remember, people are more persuaded by the depths of your beliefs than anything else you tell them.

Thoughts=Mental Attention
Plans=Mental Intention
First think. Then plan. Then do. Then don't EVER QUIT!

98% of people never become successful. Look around you. How many people do you meet in the normal course of business that sweep you off your feet with motivational inspiration? Successful people will always be a minority party.

One of the most exciting principles within the Law of increasing returns is that money has a magnetic pull towards other money of similar amounts.
If you possess several hundred rands in capital and you're working in units of R100, this is your trading unit.
When you put your capital to work you invested or traded units will earn you units of similar size.
Once you understand the principles of magnetic pull the only way to share in its workings are to progress your capital as far up the unit ladder as possible.

If you stand still, you cannot ask yourself the question: "Why am I not getting anywhere?"

You must first position yourself in the face of opportunity before you can expect to share in its fruit.

Man will always be two things: his own greatest asset and his own greatest limiting factor.

In every setback there is an equivalent seed of success.

Human faith mixed with persistence is greater than any force that wishes to contain it.

There will always be more people looking for help than the help available. Help yourself.

The world will lay down a red carpet for 'yes' people.

There is one sure fire way of upsetting everyone that you know. Become a success story. People hate to see in others what they would like to see in themselves.

You have got to think a lot of yourself first before others will think anything of you at all.

There will always be at least 10 more reasons to feel negative to every reason to feel positive. This is one of the fundamental reasons why it is easier to embrace negativity and accept its fruit of failure.

You are exactly what you tell people you are. Unless their experience of you tells them different.

When receiving advice from someone, look at them very carefully as the true value of that advice can be judged by what is standing in front of you.

Those without money have plenty of good ideas. Those with money are always in search of ideas. ....There are a lot of ways to access other people's money.

The seeds of success can only grow in a fertile mind watered frequently by positive thoughts. Conversely the weeds of negativity will choke your mind in the blink of an eye.

Never forget: The world largely consists of the average man. Therefore the trick is not to be the average man.

Work with your brains every time and employ others to use their hands to build your brain child. Herewithin lies your greatest restriction to wealth. Brain power pays infinitely more dividends than hand power.

The rich and famous experience as many set-backs, failures and disappointments as the rest of us, the only difference being that it costs them more.

A major reason why most people aren't successful is that they have never been able to control the vehicle that will take them there: themselves.

You simply cannot defeat anyone that will not accept defeat. You cannot beat anyone who won't quit.

The highest level of success can only be built by digging deep and secure foundations. Those foundations must be built from within.

Self-doubt is the most deadly cancer to success. For even a successful person who lets self-doubt enter his mind, the fall from grace will be swift and dramatic.

Anything obtained free of charge has no real value to the receiver.Acquire specialist knowledge and you will have a commodity to sell.

Wealth is the accumulation of the credit balance left between your income and expenditure. The wider the gap, the harder you push your foot down on the wealth accelerator. Once a large sum has been accumulated your capital will accelerate in relation to the law of increasing returns.

The advantage that successful people have over the rest of us is that they dare to think on a bigger scale. There's less competition in the league of big thinking, because there are less people there. The most competitive marketplace to operate in is that of small returns. Everyone's there.

Stop focusing on your limitations. Start concentrating on your potential.

You simply cannot grow a business to large proportions without other people becoming involved.

Most people are too busy working to make money.

The benefits of two or more people motivated individuals inspiring each other is immeasurable.

If negative people come in your way, run! Remember, negativity and depression are the common denominators that bind the poor and unsuccessful together. These people are easy to spot. They want to discuss inflation, price rises, bad weather, aches and pains, old age, and hard times. If these people come your way, run.

A lot of success stories occur when an individual has a good support mechanism in place. The mechanism is constructed of people who are your mental bakers, those who pick you up when you fall on your face and encourage you to carry on. No man is an island, so its important but difficult to build such a base.

Failure in any venture means only one thing: You are not doing it right! Change the plan, change the approach. Change everything, but experiment until you do get it right.

There are always more people wanting to ride on the back of a successful person, than any person can possibly carry.

Many people work long and hard throughout their lives and in the final analysis have little or nothing to show for it. The choice is yours: Make others rich or let others make you rich.

There's nothing more common than educated men who are unsuccessful and uneducated men who are.

The search for success is a fabulous journey, which if achieved, ends up with man finding himself.

You can achieve an ordinary level of success by targeting objectives that are accessible to you; or you can choose a more elusive target and shoot for the stars.

When all the ideas that you can think of amount to nothing, don't lose hope. Use someone else's idea and add something.

Every misfortune carries with it an equivalent benefit.

Ideas are a cheap commodity. They're everywhere and most people will freely tell youe very idea in their head if asked. The people who take an idea and put it into a plan of action are the only ones that really count.

Just because you're down, doesn't mean you've got to like it.

You must stay lean, mean & moody in your quest for success. Get in touch with that hard-done feeling. The road to success is paved with distractions. Avoid these pitfalls at all costs:
a) Frequent holidays b) Luxury goods c) High living d) Free spending = WIll reduce your opportunities to multiply your capital.

All success is based upon rising above the system that keeps you down.

Never underestimate the power of words. Words for the basis of all communication between people and the effect of badly chosen words can be immediately detected in the reaction of those that we speak to.

You must have faith in your ability, faith in your resolve to do the things that are right and important to you, faith in the controlling of your destiny to arrive at the point you want to arrive at.

One thing that every man knows how to do is quit.

To really see, you must open your mind, not your eyes.

If your level of success is greater than your expenditure than the scales will tilt in your favour as you will always be prepared for tomorrow's opportunity or disaster.

All success lies beyond the comfort zone.

If you don't truly desire success, something terrible happens-nothing.

The hard road to success only comes to an end at the intersection where the tough road to staying successful begins.

Syndromes: Any of these conditions can seriously affect your chances of success
1) Classic syndrome: It's the two steps forward, three steps back. An individual gets an idea, gushes with enthusiasm, pushes forward, encounters a setback, feels negative, looks for a way out and quits. The full circle is complete, but our man is a little worse off for the experience.
2) When my ship comes in syndrome
3) Something for nothing syndrome
4) Too old syndrome
5) Whatever happens happens syndrome: It applies to those who feel that life's a bitch and then you die. Shoot these people on sight.
6) In the hands of the gods syndrome: Applies to those who can't or wont take charge of their situation and would rather pray for luck than exert themselves on a positive plan of action to create their own good fortune.
7)I am not qualified syndrome
8)Don't get the breaks syndrome: It's another classic quitters phrase. The principles of success clearly state that quitters will achieve nothing, because nothing can be achieved by quitting.
9)My time will come syndrome: Is spoken by those who's time will run out waiting. Make your time come by putting your ideas into plans then action.
10)All words no action syndrome: Last night I made many resolutions, however this morning I went my same old way. Words cost nothing. Be known for your actions and before your words will carry great weight.
11)Only happens to me syndrome: Some people believe that destiny has chosen them to be the sole beneficiary of everything negative.
12)Always been unlucky syndrome: There is no such thing as luck. It is merely an expression. If you place yourself in the face of opportunity often enough you will command your share of it. Conversely you cannot hope to win if you don't have a ticket. Lady luck sides with the industrious.
13)I am only average syndrome
14)Some day soon syndrome:It refers to the hypothetical day that will never come otherwise it would have a date placed on it. If the day ever does come the people who chant this statement will never be ready for it anyway.
15)If I had confidence syndrome: Confidence is about placing a worth upon yourself and finding reasons through achievement to value the person that you are.
16)Whats the point syndrome: This applies to those who have never seen the point, wouldnt know what the point was if it hit them over the head and even if they discovered the point wouldnt know what to do with it anyway.

It is only the size of your commitment that will bring back to you the fruits that you desire, whether it be in business or relationships.

All of the people who really love their jobs have lost sight of what the end result should be.

Sales increase only at a reate equivalent to the products exposure to customers. The better the product, pricing or promotion the faster the acceleration.

The self-restrictive forces of fear can incapacitate an individual. Discipline yourself to implrment giant steps that will catapult your life into a new phase.

Spring clean your life frequently. Nothing will set your mind working like a large intake of new stimuli.

A mountain is only great in size when you stand in front of it and contemplate it. The greatness diminishes largely as you progress upwards.

The race for success is rarey won by the swift, but by those who keep on going.

If you give ten people a spade each, nine of them will start digging for worms. Will you be the one who will dig for gold?

This is to have succeeded...

"To laugh often and much;

to win the respect of intelligent people

and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false frineds; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, This is to have succeeded."

who r we

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented & fabulous?

Actually, who are we not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fears,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Source: A Return to Love by Marianne WIlliamson (as quoted by Nelson Mandela in his ainaugural speech, 1994)

why hesitate

i really like this one...

Why hesitate?
Upon the plains of hesitation are the
bleached bones of countless millions,
who on the threshold of victory sat down

to wait, and in waiting they died.

- Author Unknown (this guy's pretty famous :))

not you...

Let others lead small lives,
but not you

Let others argue over small things,
but not you

Let others cry over small hurts,
but not you

Let others leave their future in someone else's hands,
but not you.

- Jim Rohn

how far you go....

Every once in a while someone writes something in a birthday card that i don't really want to get rid of. Something that really makes sense & that i'd like to hold on to. I always wondered how i could keep the sentiment without having to harbour the cardboard.....yay, now i have a blog, it's the perfect place!
This time it was my dad-he wrote a pretty cool quote which i just wanted to keep. Here it is:

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young; compassionate with the aged; sympathetic with the striving; and tolerant of the weak and strong.
...Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
-George Washington Carver-

How to think like a leader

A man big enough to be humble appears more confident than the insecure man who feels compelled to call attention to his accomplishments. A little modesty goes a long way.
Praise people for every effort they put forth. Praise is the greatest single incentive you can give people, and it costs you nothing.
Remember, the main job of the leader is thinking. And the best preparation for leadership is thinking. Spend some time in managed solitude everyday and think yourself to success.
In everything you do, show that you put other people first. Just give other people the kind of treatment you like to receive. You'll be rewarded.
Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress. Think improvement in everything you do. Think high standards in everything you do. Be sure the master copy is worth duplicating. Make this a personal resolution: "In life, if it's progress I'm for it."
There is magic in thinking big. But it is so easy to forget. When you hit some rough spots, there is a danger that your thinking will shrink in size. And when it does, you lose.

A. When little people try to drive you down, THINK BIG
To be sure, there are some people who want you to lose, to experience misfortune, to be reprimanded. But these people can't hurt you if you'll remember three things:
1. You win when you refuse to fight petty people. Fighting little people reduces you to their size. Stay big.
2. Expect to be sniped at. It's proof you're growing.
3. Remind yourself that snipers are psychologically sick. Be Big. Feel sorry for them.

Think Big Enough to be immune to the attacks of petty people.

B. When that "I-haven't-got-what-it-takes" feeling creeps up on you, THINK BIG
Remember: if you think you are weak, you are. If you think you are inadequate, you are. If you think you're second-class, you are.
Whip that natural tendency to sell yourself short with these tools:
1. Look important. It helps you think important. How you look on the outside has a lot to do with how you feel on the inside.
2. Concentrate on your assets. Build a sell-yourself-to-yourself commercial and use it. Learn to supercharge yourself. Know your positive self.
3. Put other people in proper perspective. THe other person is just another human being, so why be afraid of him?

Think Big Enough to see how good you really are!

C. When an argument or quarrel seems inevitable, THINK BIG.
Successfully resist the temptation to argue and quarrel by:
1. Asking yourself, "Honestly now, is this thing really important enought ot argue about?"
2. Reminding yourself, you never gain anything from an argument but you always lose something.

Think Big Enough to see that quarrels, arguments, feuds, and fusses will never help you get where you want to go.

D. When you feel defeated, THINK BIG.
It is not possible to achieve large success without hardships and setbacks. But it is possible to live the rest of your life without defeat. Big thinkers react to setbacks this way:
1. Regard the setback as a lesson. Learn from it. Research it. Useit to propel you forward. Salvage something from every setback.
2. Blend persistence with experimentation. Back off and start afresh with a new approach.

Think Big Enough to see that defeat is a state of mind, nothing more.

E. When romance starts to slip, THINK BIG
Negative, petty, "she's-(he's)-unfair-to-me-so-I'll-get-even" type of thinking slaughters romance, destroys the affection that can be yours. Do this when things aren't going right in the love department:
1. Concentrate on the biggest qualities in the person you want to love you. Put little things where they belong-in second place.
2. Do something special for your mate-and do it often.

Think Big Enough to find the secret to marital joys.

F. When you feel your progress on the job is slowing down THINK BIG
No matter what you do and regardless of your occupation, higher status, higher pay come from one thing: increasing the quality and quantity of your output. Do this:
Think, "I can do better." The best is not unattainable. There is room for ding everything better. Nothing in this world is being done as well as it could be. And when you thin, "I can do better," ways to do better will appear. Thinking "I can do better," switches on your creative power.

Think Big Enough to see that if you put service first, money takes care of itself. In the words of Publilius Syrus:

"A wise man will be master of his mind,
A fool will be its slave."


And that brings to the end our book summary of this book. I hoped it's changed you like it has me. To THINK BIG....

Use goals to help you grow

A goal is an objective, a purpose. A goal is more than a dream; it's a dream being acted upon. A goal is more than a hazy "Oh, I wish I could." A goal is a clear "This is what I'm working toward."
Without goals individuals just wander through life. They stumble along, never knowing where they are going, so they never get anywhere.
Goals are as essential to success as air is to life. No one ever stumbles into success without a goal. No one ever lives without air. Get a clear fix on where you want to go.
The individual who fails to set long-range goals will most certainly be just another person lost in life's shuffle. Without goals we cannot grow.
People these days are measured by the size of their dreams. No one accomplishes more than he sets out to accomplish. So visualize a big future.
"A man is not doing much until he cause he works for possesses all there is of him."
Desire, when harnessed, is power. Failure to follow desire, to do what you want to do most, paves the way to mediocrity.
All of us have desires. All of us dream of what we really want to do. But few of us actually surrender to desire. Instead of surrendering to desire, we murder it.
Throw away those murder weapons. It's never too late to let desire take over.
Successful people have their eyes focused on a goal, and this provides energy.
Goals, intense goals, can keep a person alive when nothing else will.
Use goals to live longer. No medicine in the world-and your physician will bear this out-is as powerful in bringing about long life as is the desire to do something.
The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that progress is made one step at a time. Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.
Do this: Start marching toward your ultimate goal by making the next task you perform, regardless of how unimportant it may seem, a step in the right direction. Commit this question to memory and use it to evaluate everything you do: "Will this help take me where I want to go?" If the answer is no, back off; if yes, press ahead.
It's clear. We do not make one big jump to success. We get there one step at a time. An excellent plan is to set monthly quotas for accomplishment.
Examine yourself. Decide what specific things you should do to make yourself more effective. Make notes of the things you will do in the next thirty days. Then, when the thirty-day period is up, check your progress and build a new thirty-day goal. Always keep working on the "little" things to get you in shape for the big things.
Lots of conscious effort, invested day by day, made the person what he is. Building new positive habits and destroying old negative habits is a day-by-day process.
Create your first thirty-day improvement guide right now.
Ask yourself "Isn't my future worth this small investment?"

How to turn defeat into victory

We can turn setbacks into victories. find the lesson, apply it, and then look back on defeat and smile. Defeat is only a state of mind & nothing more.
Decide right now to salvage something from every setback. Being licked is valuable if we learn from it.
It is true that in this complex world others may trip us. But it is also true that more often than not we trip ourselves. We lose because of personal inadequacy, some personal mistake.
Condition yourself for success this way. Remind yourself that you want to be as nearly perfect as is humanly possible. Be objective. Put yourself in a glass tube and look at yourself as a disinterested third party would look at the situation. See if you have a weakness that you've never noticed before. If you have, take action to correct it. Many people become so accustomed to themselves that they fail to see ways for improvement. Have the courage to face your faults.
Being self-critical is constructive. It helps you to build the personal strength and efficiency needed for success. Blaming others is destructive. You gain absolutely nothing from "proving" that someone else is wrong.
Be constructively self-critical. Don't run away from inadequacies. Be like the real professionals. They seek out their faults and weaknesses, then correct them. That's what makes them professionals.
View your mistakes as "Here's another way to make me a bigger winner."
"A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience."
Stop blaming luck. Blaming luck never got anyone where he wanted to go.
All thoughts are magnetic. As soon as you tell yourself, "I'm beaten. There's no way to conquer this problem,"negative t6houghts are attracted, and each of these helps convince you that you are right, that you are whipped.
Believe instead, "there is a way to solve this problem," and positive thoughts rush into your mind to help you find a solution.
It's believing there is a way that is important.
When you hit a snag, don't throw up the whole project. Instead, back off, get mentally refreshed. Try something as simple as playing some music or taking a walk or a short nap. Then, when you tackle it again, the solution often comes almost before you know it.
Remember, there is a good side in every situation. Find it. See the good side & whip discouragement.

Get the action habit

Every big job requires a man who thinks action.
Think of it. Everything we have in this world, is just an idea acted upon.
As you study people-both the successful and the just average-you find they fall into two classes. The successful are active. The just average, the mediocre, the unsuccessful are passive.
We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action. It's still good advice to cross bridges as we come to them.
We can't buy an insurance policy against all problems. Make up your mind to do something about your ideas. Ideas are important. Let's make no mistake about that. We must have ideas to create and improve anything. Success shuns the man who lacks ideas.
First, give your ideas value by acting on them. Regardless of how good the idea, unless you do something with it, you gain nothing. Second, act on your ideas and gain mind tranquility.
Someone once said that the saddest words of tongue or pen are these: it might have been.
Action feeds and strengthens confidence; inaction in all forms feeds fear. To fight fear, act. To increase fear-wait, put off, postpone.
The way to combat that kind of fear-yes any kind of fear-is action.
Build confidence,. Destroy fear through action.
Rather than wait for the spirit to move you, sit down and move your spirit.
Lots of good dreams never come true because we say, "I'll start someday," when we should say, "I'll start now, right now."
Live the advice of Benjamin Franklin: "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."
When you see something that you believe ought to be done, pick up the ball and run.