Your happiness is in your hands.

We all have tremendous potential. Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, produces the intensity of our activity and predicts the quality of the result we receive is our attitude.

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and infl uences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us, or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.

No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose; not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.

If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path, and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.

If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value that must be protected accordingly.

When you have the right attitude, you can do the remarkable.

When you recognize your gifts, you can change anything for yourself that you wish to change. If you don’t like how something is going for you, change it. If something isn’t enough, change it. If something doesn’t suit you; change it. If something doesn’t please you, change it. You don’t ever have to be the same after today. If you don’t like your present address, change it—you’re not a tree!

Having the right attitude is an essential prerequisite for success and happiness. The right attitude is one of the fundamentals of the good life. That is why we must constantly examine our feelings about our role in the world and about our possibilities for achieving our dreams.

It is our emotional nature that governs most of our daily conduct in our personal and business world. It is the emotional aspect of our experiences that determines our behavior. How we feel about life’s events is a powerful force that can either freeze us in our tracks or inspire us to take immediate action on any given day. With the right attitude, human beings can move mountains. With the wrong attitude, they can be crushed by the smallest grain of sand.

Jim Rohn.

One of the most important principals for achieving success is to understand that your mind is like a garden bed where you cultivate and grow the seeds of thought.

When you plant a positive seed of thought in your mind and nurture it carefully, it germinates and grows until it leads you to take action.

As soon as you begin acting on your idea, your seed of positive thought becomes a seedling of positive action.

If you continue to feed and encourage this seedling, it gradually develops into a tree of positive habit.

Once this habit has become solid and immovable, it is then only a matter of time before it blossoms to produce the fruits of success.

However it is important to be aware that the garden of your mind does not discriminate between positive and negative seeds of thought.

A negative seed of thought planted within your mind often leads you to take negative actions. These actions gradually develop into negative habits that will inevitably produce the fruits of failure.

When you understand that your thoughts lead to actions and your actions develop into habits and that it is your habits that determine your results in life, then you’ll appreciate why it’s so important to be careful about the seeds of thought that you plant within your mind.

One of the real secrets of success is to become a watchful caretaker over the garden of your mind and make sure that you only plant and cultivate thoughts that will develop into the positive habits necessary for making your dreams a reality.

So what does this mean in the real world?

It means that you should carefully monitor the thoughts that you are planting within your mind each day. Whenever you catch yourself planting or nurturing a negative thought, make the conscious decision to uproot and discard it.

For example, when Andrew went to see his doctor, he was told that he had high cholesterol and needed to lose 10kg. In response to this advice, Andrew joined his local gym and started exercising three days a week.

A few weeks later Andrew stood in front of his bed room mirror and assessed his reflection.

His first thought was, “I look exactly the same! All that hard work and I don’t look any different. This isn’t working at all.”

Then he stopped and realized that this was a negative seed of thought.

He knew that if he continued to nurture this negative perspective it wouldn’t be long before he started skipping sessions and pretty soon his exercise program would be a thing of the past.

Having recognized his negative seed of thought, Andrew made the conscious decision to uproot and discard it before it took hold in his mind.

He took a second look at his reflection and told himself, “Every training session is making me fitter.” This was a positive seed of thought that made him feel good about the action he was taking.

Over time, Andrew continued his training program while protecting his mind from the disempowering seeds of negativity.

Eventually he reached his goal weight and brought his cholesterol level down to a healthy level.

So today I’d like to encourage you to become a watchful caretaker of your mind. Whenever you identify a seed of negative thought, uproot and discard it.

Remember, it is much easier to uproot a seed of negative thought than it is to chop down a tree of negative habit that has taken root over many years.

By planting and cultivating seeds of positive thought, you will set in motion a truly remarkable process.

In the same way that a tiny acorn develops into a mighty oak tree, your positive seeds of thought will germinate into the actions and habits that will ultimately lead you to success.

By Anthony Fernando

One of the most important skills you can develop for success in life is the ability to evaluate situations quickly and make definite decisions.

Many people struggle with the process of decision making. Whether it is at home, or at work, it is easy to become paralyzed by the fear of making the ‘wrong’ decision.

This fear often leads us to avoid making decisions altogether and we end up delegating our decision making to the people around us.

For example, when someone asks, “What movie would you like to see?”

You might reply with one of these tell-tale responses:

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

“Whatever you like.”

“I’m not fussed.”

“Your choice.”

“Anything is fine.”

The problem with dismissive responses such as these is that they quickly develop into the habit of indecision. This in turn can become a major obstacle to achieving your most important goals in life.

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”
- Flora Whittemore

The first step to becoming more decisive is to understand that making decisions is a skill and just like any other skill, it improves with practice.

Instead of waiting until you are confronted with a major decision, the best way to exercise your ‘decision making muscle’ is to practice on the multitude of small decisions that you make each and every day.

Whenever someone asks for your opinion on any subject, here’s what you should do:

(1) Avoid responding with a dismissive remark such as “I’m not fussed”
(2) Stop for a moment and give yourself time to think
(3) Become aware of what your ‘gut feeling’ is
(4) State your opinion confidently

So, the next time someone asks you “What movie would you like to see?” don’t leave the decision making up to others.

Instead, stop for a moment, become aware of your ‘gut feeling’, and then state your opinion confidently. For example you might say something like “I feel like seeing a comedy…”

As you practice this simple process, you will find it becomes easier to tune into your gut feelings and identify what YOU want instead of always being influenced by those around you.

By exercising your ability to identify and express your opinion, you will gradually overcome the fear of making decisions.

Eventually, when you are confronted by a more serious decision, you will be able to draw upon your well-practiced decision making skills to evaluate the situation and make a decision quickly

and confidently.

By Anthony Fernando