5 Things Successful People Commit Themselves to Doing

By Sonia Thompson

When you’re trying to reach a goal, spend time learning from the people who’ve already achieved what you want to do. Because sometimes it’s better to learn from the battle scars of others than earn your own.

Over the last two years, I’ve picked the brains of people at the top of their field for my podcast. I’ve interviewed more than 100 entrepreneurs, and in each episode, I ask my guests for the keys to their success.

Not surprisingly, there were many interesting answers. But there were a few principles I heard repeatedly that were critical to getting these business owners where they wanted to go. Their advice is so universal, it transcends beyond entrepreneurship to anyone working to achieve a goal.

So, without further ado, here are the top five things I learned that successful people commit themselves to doing, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

1. Be persistent.

There’s an old Japanese proverb that says, “Fall seven, rise eight.” Failure, obstacles and setbacks are an inevitable aspect of the journey to achieving anything meaningful. In fact, it’s those failures that propel you forward. Failure gives you the clues to know what works and what doesn’t, so you can adjust as needed.

But failure scares people; it prevents them from even trying. For others, after a few slammed doors, they decide they are done. Successful people commit themselves to not giving up, no matter how many times they fall on their face.

A growing body of research backs up the benefits of persistence. In her New York Times best-selling book Grit, Angela Duckworth presents numerous sources that whittle down the essence of the mindset it takes to break through:

“Grit depends on a different kind of hope. It rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. ‘I have a feeling tomorrow’ will be better is different from ‘I resolve to make tomorrow better.’ The hope that gritty people have has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with getting up again.”

Commit to achieving your goal in advance. Relentlessly pursue it, knowing that you will not stop until you win.

2. Hang out with the right people.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when embarking on a new challenge is trying to take their journey alone. You will go much farther, faster, when you have the right people by your side. Scientific data bears this out as well.

Daniel F. Chambliss, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, spent years studying Olympic swimmers to understand the nature of excellence. One of his observations on how to achieve greatness is to hang around others who will push you to go farther. “The real way to become a great swimmer is to join a great team,” he says. Chambliss notes that the drive to fit in and measure up to the norms of those in your circle is what drives you to improve.

Surround yourself with people who will help you be great. For some, that means hiring a coach. For others, that means joining a mastermind group, or linking up with an accountability partner who is working toward a similar goal. Invest the time to discover who the right people are to have by your side.

3. Do the work.

People spend countless time dreaming about success but rarely do anything to make it a reality. You must put in the work, consistently. Do it when you’re motivated. Do it when you’re not. Do it when you can’t see any visible progress. Do it when it isn’t convenient.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a household name in business, but he’s quick to remind people he started at zero. He credits his success to committing himself to this principle:

“I hear people say, ‘Well how do I get in the New York Times?’ or ‘How do I get that meeting with that CEO?’ And oftentimes I just say, ‘One is better than zero.... The concept around one is better than zero is simply a call to action to do.... It’s the patience and willingness to do 500 interviews, and conference calls and meetings over coffee that never turn into anything. I mean hell, I did Wine Library TV shows every day for an entire year before anyone said a thing!”

Prepare yourself to do a lot of work. It isn’t always glamorous, but it will pay off.

4. Be self-aware.

You have to know what your strengths are and how you can leverage them to accelerate your progress. Conversely, you also have to know your weaker areas so you can figure out how to prevent them from derailing you.

Fashion designer Tina Lobondi told me she prefers focusing on the creative side of her business rather than thinking about money. But to advance her fashion label, she quickly realized that sales and finances had to be at the forefront of her mind, even though she hated it. The changes she made as a result have enabled her business to grow.

Take an honest inventory of your skills. Then make a plan for how to improve, or get help where needed.

5. Learn constantly.

You don’t know what you don’t know. But the more you dig in and do the work, the more you will gain an understanding of the areas in which you can improve.

Sometimes that means learning things outside your wheelhouse. Dr. Marc Smith is a veterinarian and co-founder of PetTao, a holistic line of pet food. He told me he discovered it was necessary to become a student again for him to grow:

“I can be the best veterinarian that’s ever walked the face of the Earth, I can have 400 degrees behind my name, but if people don’t know that, it doesn’t matter. And so I’ve embraced this idea of I have to become an excellent marketer, not only to help my business, but first and foremost to help people and their pets.”

Never stop learning. Determine the skills you need to acquire to get to the next step in your journey.

Successful people have figured out how to reach their goals through trial and error. Science has tested and proven how to do it, as well. Now all you have to do is commit yourself to these five principles so you can be the success you know you can be.

From http://www.success.com/blog/5-things-successful-people-commit-themselves-to-doing

Daily Habits of Successful People: It's All About Routine | Brian Tracy

Another great video from Brian Tracy - become more successful

Consistently Produce Your Desired Results

By Anne Bachrach

What is the difference between effectiveness and efficiency? There are a variety of subtle differences as well as some basic ideas to consider. The definition of effective reads "producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect." The word efficient is defined as "productive of desired effects and productive without waste." The term efficiency is usually associated with machinery or science. When an inanimate object is performing its function as directed, it is often said to be efficient. This is why many definitions include the term "without waste." Efficiency can also be used when describing people, that is, people who are performing their jobs efficiently-as directed and without the need for maintenance. The quality of being effective usually involves more human terms, as in reaching someone's mind and heart through a process of reason and conversation. Nevertheless, in business the two terms tend to be used interchangeably.

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

Some experts have commented that a directive of efficiency tends to dehumanize many factors and often favors quick decisions over careful analysis. The efficient person may move rapidly, checking off things to do in a hurried fashion. After all, the motivation is to perform the job quickly and with minimal waste. This attitude, however, may not give the proper attention to details. This is not to say that someone that is efficient is doing anything wrong. In fact, there are many benefits to being an efficient thinker. Efficient thinkers are organized. They operate quickly and don't have time for procrastination or laziness. They work well with tools and communicate clearly in voice and writing. They are on time and respect the company's resources. In other words, efficient thinkers work well according to established systems. They learn the system and they adhere to the operation some might think. They take a robotic approach towards many situations, which is appreciated for certain tasks. 

An effective thinker still wants the results, but focuses on getting results in the realm of their responsibilities. Effectiveness has more to do with teaching, with life experience and with specialized expertise in a chosen field. These advantages help to bring about effective results. There is more of a personal touch when one strives to be effective. Clients and employees want the personal touch and want assurances that their money and their efforts are not all in vain. Very often these people need guidance, the specialty of an effective thinker. People skills come more naturally for an effective thinker than an efficient thinker. The efficient thinker is more concerned with the overall process, while the effective thinker empathizes with every person involved. In order to teach others effectively, you have to reach out to them and deliver that "human factor" that efficient systems don't provide.

Cultivating Both Qualities in Business

You could strive to be an effective worker, even while you are supported by efficiency. You have to combine both perspectives, first of working with individual people, and second, working with a united front. If you sense that you alienate others or lack people skills then you need to decrease the efficient side of your brain and focus more on effectively communicating with others. If you sense that you have good communicative skills but are often so disorganized that it starts to affect your performance, then you might need to work on time management, the specialty of the efficient thinker. Try to plan out your schedule by calendaring and time blocking, and write an agenda for all of your important events. An agenda can help you to stay on topic and not waste too much time going in different directions. Others can learn from this good example.

If you are unsure on whether you need work in effective or efficient thinking, then it may help to ask others to provide feedback of your performance. This can be done by asking a professional acquaintance or even by asking clients to fill out satisfaction surveys. Some people are willing to give an opinion, especially if they have just paid for your services or if they care about you and helping you advance in your life. Remember to keep regularly taking these surveys so you can compare your present operation to your recent past and monitor your progress. There are free internet survey tools you can utilize to receive valuable feedback.

A proper balance of effectiveness and efficiency will be required in practically every avenue of life, from the work office, to the customer service desk to even the family unit. You want to effectively communicate and deliver a result, but you want to organize your activities so that you make the most of your time. Being effective and efficient allows you to be even more productive so you can get more done in less time and enjoy more time to do what you really want to do in your life.

Take advantage of a Free 27-page Special Report, Keys to Working Less, Making More Money, and Having a More Balanced Life, and 9 other Free resource tools at http://www.AccountabilityCoach.com Obtain your copy of the Excuses Don't Count; Results Rule 109-page book, and get results in just 30-days with the powerful 30-day self-study course. The Results Rule 220-page 34-lesson coursebook a long with a myriad of other proven resources are available to you so you can be even more successful - personally and professionally.

Review and utilize the success-oriented resources and tools and subscribe to http://www.AccountabilityCoachBlog.com so you can receive consistent feedback on how to stay focused and productive and achieve your goals so you can be even more successful and have a truly balanced life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Anne_Bachrach/150418

Feelings: Handle them before they handle you | Mandy Saligari | TEDxGuil...

Get control of your feelings and get control of your life

Feelings: Why Do Some People Believe That Their Feelings Are Not Important?

By Oliver JR Cooper

Part of being human means that one has feelings and these are an important part of who they are. And when one is in tune with how they feel, their life is going to be radically different to how it would be if they were unaware of how they felt.

Ones feelings not only connect them to themselves, they also allow them to feel connected to other people. Having the ability to feel can be the difference between living a life of connection and fulfilment or a life of being disconnected and unfulfilled.

Without this connection, it is going to be a challenge for one to know what they want to do or what matters. And one could find that even if they are around others, they could still feel alone and cut off.

Guidance

Ones feelings are then an inherent part of who they are and it is vital that one pays attention to how they feel. Their feelings will guide them and give them the information that they need in each moment of their life.

At times, this will relate to what one needs to do with their life in order to be happy and at other times, it could be a sign that one needs to stand their ground and exercise their ability to be assertive.

Their feelings will allow one to know if they have worked too hard and therefore, if they need to take a break or to spend some time by themselves. And they will let one know if another person is safe to be around or if they can be trusted, amongst other things.

Emotional Containment

When one is connected to their feelings, it doesn't mean that they will no longer have self control. As it will still be important for one to think and to contain how they feel from time to time.

What it means is that one will accept how they feel and not deny, minimize or ignore their feelings. Their feelings are then being validated and given the attention they need in order for one to live authentically and as a whole human being.

Invalidation

However when one denies, minimizes and ignores how they feel, they are cutting themselves off from who they are. One is then no longer in harmony with who they are, they are in conflict with themselves.

Their feelings are no longer being heard and accepted; one is then invalidating themselves. And this going to affect their ability to live a fulfilling life and this is because they will be estranged from what is taking place within them.

Two Ways

If one doesn't listen to their own feelings, then there is not much chance that other people will listen to them. When one is not in touch with how they feel, they're unlikely to show how they feel and the feelings of others could end up becoming more important.

It then won't matter if one is with someone who is interested in how they feel or not, as one isn't going to give other people the chance to know what they are feeling. And then there are going to be people who invalidate ones feelings and are not interested in how they feel. 

It Starts From Within

But while there are going to be people who have no interest in how one feels, if one doesn't listen to their own feelings it is going to be a challenge for them to find people that do. Or even if they do come across people who do, it might be hard them to accept the support that is being offered.

And this is because one has to realise that their feelings matter and when this happens, they will no longer put up with people who invalidate them. It will then be possible for them to attract people into their life who care and for them to recognise the people that do care.

The Cause

However, if one believes that their feelings are not important and this could be an outlook that exists at a deeper level, it is likely to be the result of how other people have responded to their feelings. This could relate to the experiences they have had as an adult, but the experiences they had growing up are likely to have had the biggest impact.

It is during this time that one would have learnt whether their feelings are important or not. And this will also play a part in whether one feels that it is safe for them to show them. These early years will often define the kind of relationship that one has with their feelings.

Childhood

One may have had caregivers who stopped them from expressing their feelings and therefore invalidated them. This may have happened on the odd occasion or it may have been a way of life. One may have been ignored, abandoned or even harmed whenever they expressed how they felt.

This then sets one up to do the same thing and to ignore their feelings. How other people responded to their feelings ends up being internalised and this then defines how one responds to their own feelings.

Awareness

In the beginning one had no choice and had to put up with people who invalidated how they felt, but as an adult one does have a choice. And when they form a healthy relationship with their feelings, the people they attract into their life will reflect this inner change.

The support of a therapist or a healer may be needed here. They will be able to provide the positive regard that one missed out on whilst they were growing up and have continued to miss out of throughout their adult years. The emotional pain that one experienced all those years ago, as a result of being invalidated, may have stayed in one's body and will therefore need to be released.

Prolific writer, thought leader and coach, Oliver JR Cooper hails from the United Kingdom. His insightful commentary and analysis covers all aspects of human transformation; love, partnership, self-love, and inner awareness. With several hundred in-depth articles highlighting human psychology and behavior, Oliver offers hope along with his sound advice. Current projects include "A Dialogue With The Heart" and "Communication Made Easy."

To find out more go to - http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk/

Feel free to join the Facebook Group -
https://www.facebook.com/OliverJRCooper

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Oliver_JR_Cooper/818466

Declutter Vlog: Less Stuff, Less Stress! Part 2

We all need some decluttering - part 2 of the series.  More to come!

Declutter Your Life: Less Stuff, Less Stress! Part 1

We all need some decluttering - watch this to get you started.  More to come!

The One Week Declutter Challenge!

By Marlee Dorst

If you are at your wits end with your cluttered house, and don't know what to do about it, why not give yourself a One Week Declutter Challenge? A One Week Declutter Challenge is just what it sounds like. You dedicate one whole week to regaining an organized and clutter-free space. One week is not a lot of time, is it? Think of the months, years, and possibly decades that have gone by with you eyeing that clutter every day. Surely you can dedicate one short week to the decluttering cause! What follows is a description of and some advice for taking such a challenge. Meet the challenge head on, and get your house (or a certain room) neat and organized once again!

Step 1: Set a challenging goal for yourself. Depending on the level of clutter in your house, you may be able to set the goal of a One Week "Whole House" Declutter Challenge. However, most people find that it works best to concentrate for the 7 days on one particularly cluttered area. For example: A One Week Bathroom Declutter Challenge, or a One Week Bedroom Declutter Challenge, a One Week Basement Declutter Challenge, or a One Week Garage Declutter Challenge.

Step 2: Clear your social calendar. If you are going to do this, be serious about it and make the time to clear the mess. Turn the TV off (or tape your shows so you can watch them the following week when your challenge is over and you have tidy house to enjoy). Consider asking your family members or friends to help you meet this challenge by assisting you with your outside responsibilities. Or, challenge those who live with your to take on their own One Week Declutter Challenges and encourage each other to commit the time together!

Step 3: Do a serious DECLUTTERING every day. This means getting rid of "stuff", not just moving it around! Before the week begins, have a plan in place so that you will make the most of your time. There are many decluttering techniques, so select a few that will work for you! (For some of these tips, see the links below).

Step 4: Allow no interruptions. Although this doesn't seem like a real "step", it actually is, because as the week goes by, the challenge aspect of this One Week Declutter Challenge will really step up. You'll want to return to your daily activities, you will miss having time to relax at night with a book or a movie, and there is the possibility that on occasion you will feel like you really aren't accomplishing much. Don't give up! And don't allow distractions and/or interruptions! Keep decluttering!

Step 5: Finish it off! Get your decluttered items out of the house for good. At the end of the week, make a trip to the local charity, or the dump, or the recycling depot. Do NOT consider your challenge finished if your discarded items have simply been moved to the garage, or if there are six bags of clothes to be donated still piled up by the back door. Chances are they will simply stay there for days or weeks to come.

Step 6: Take the time to enjoy your newly decluttered and organized house! Buy yourself some flowers to make that newly cleaned den beautiful! Host a luncheon and show off your immaculate and welcoming kitchen! Or just relax and enjoy that calm and relaxed feeling that comes with a clean and clutter-free house. Congratulate yourself on a job well done!

My fellow clutter-bug, I urge you to take a One Week Declutter Challenge soon! You will never regret the time spent. In fact, both you and your family will be thrilled with the results of your hard work and dedication, and you may even find that you want to do another One Week Declutter Challenge in a different area of the house the next week! Why? Because Declutter Challenges really WORK!

Want to cure both your home of clutter and yourself of your "clutter-bug" status? Check out http://www.declutterdiva.info to learn about the quick, interesting, and helpful tips that have received overwhelming raves from former pack rats and clutter-bugs alike. If you want to join in on the latest craze in decluttering, take a quick peak at other Declutter Challenges today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Marlee_Dorst/509704

Advice From The Most Successful People On The Planet | FAILURE IS NOT TH...

Another great compilation - failure is not the end.  Enjoy!

Mindset Is Everything ! Motivational Video Compilation !

Mindset is everything - develop a better mindset and achieve everything you want!

9 Ways to Successfully Create Good Habits and 5 Reasons Why You Fail At Breaking the Bad Ones

By Chelsea Lorynn O'Brien

9 Ways to Successfully Create New, Good Habits and the 5 Reasons Why You Fail At Breaking the Bad Ones

"Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones." - Benjamin Franklin

We all have habits. Some are good, healthy habits, while others are bad and possibly even dangerous. Throughout our lives we often set goals to try to create new, good habits or to break the bad ones we already possess. Many people try again and again to change their habits for the better only to meet with failure in the end. Learning a new habit can be just as difficult as breaking a bad one that you've struggled with for years. There are reasons for this and steps that you can take to help ensure your success.

Establishing good, healthy habits can enrich your life in countless ways. When an action becomes a habit, it becomes automatic and you don't really have to give it much thought. Some of the healthy habits that people try to develop include; eating healthier, exercising regularly, meditating, completing chores around the home, or simply taking time out daily for them-selves. These are just a few examples but, basically anything that you want to do on a regular basis that will enrich your life and make you happier can become a habit.

Here are nine, simple tips that are easy to follow and can help you to turn healthy activities into lifelong habits.

1. Take baby steps. - You cannot expect to just dive in and be successful when developing a good habit. Start with small manageable steps. If you would like to make healthy eating a habit, start by swapping out specific foods or meals for healthier options. If you make sudden, drastic changes to your lifestyle, the odds are good that you will not be successful.

2. Make yourself accountable. - Tell a friend or family member whose opinions matter to you. By telling a trusted friend or family member about your intension to develop a new habit you promote accountability. You will be more likely to stick to your habit if you know that you will have to answer to someone other than yourself.

3. Treat yourself. - You should be proud of the fact that you are trying to make positive changes in your life. Reward yourself regularly when you stick to your new habit. Treat yourself to a pedicure or a warm bubble bath. Spend a Saturday morning sleeping in, or play a few rounds of golf on the course. Whatever it is that you love... do it.

4. One habit at a time. - Work on developing one habit at a time. If you are anything like me, there are a ton of new, healthy habits that you want to incorporate into your life. Focus on one at a time so that you don't get overwhelmed. Developing a habit, like exercising regularly might seem like a small change but it's not. When you begin to develop a new habit of any kind you are changing the way that you live your life.

5. Make sure that you really want it. - The more you want to make even small changes, the more likely you will stick with them. Don't ever begin to develop a habit that you don't want just because you think, or have been told, that it's the right thing to do. If you try to force yourself to do something you hate, you will avoid it at all costs. If you hate going to the gym, don't do it. There are plenty of good habits that you can develop that will enrich your life and that you will enjoy.

6. Plan it out.- Sit down and make a list of the good habits you would like to develop. Prioritize the list and determine what habits you would like to develop first. Once you have this figured out, write out a plan. By putting this in writing you can refer back to it whenever you need a bit of extra motivation and it will help you stay on track.

7. Be very specific. - Don't just say, "I want to make it a habit to drink more water". Instead, say, "I want to begin drinking eight glasses of water each day". By being specific you know exactly what you have to do to develop your new habit and will not become overwhelmed. If you are too vague, you could easily rationalize that you drank more water today than yesterday, even if it wasn't your desired eight glasses.

8. Use tools. - Utilize every resource that you have at your disposal. You can make lists, journals, charts, spreadsheets... anything that will help you to keep track of your goals. I often use sticky notes around the house. I will place reminders on walls, mirrors, the refrigerator, and anywhere else that I think they may be helpful. They may not look pretty but they help me to stay motivated.

9. Don't berate yourself for slip-us. - We all slip up from time to time. Just yesterday, I was snacking on a few potato chips while watching television. Before I knew it, the entire bag was empty! It happens to everyone. Realize this, and don't be too hard on yourself. Remind yourself of why you wanted to develop the habit in the first place, and then start again

"A man who can't bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them." - Stephen King, The Dark Tower

Why is it so difficult to break bad habits? There are things we do on a daily, or even hourly basis that we know aren't good for us. We bite our fingernails, smoke cigarettes, make unhealthy food choices, procrastinate, lead sedentary lives, etc. Every one of us has a bad habit that we would love to break, but we often have difficulty doing so. This is because, once a habit is developed, we rarely even notice we are doing it. It becomes part of who we are. If we want to improve our lives, breaking bad habits is a wonderful place to start.

Here are 5 common reasons why we often fail at breaking bad habits.

1. We expect results too quickly. - We didn't develop our bad habit in one day, and we certainly can't expect to break it in one day either. Breaking a habit takes time. We must be patient and persistent in our goals.

2. We have a low level of self-awareness. - I have been a nail biter for the majority of my life. I do it without even thinking and am usually not even aware that I have been chewing on them until I feel pain or see blood. This is because I am not always self-aware. We often go through life on autopilot, but when we are trying to break a habit, we need to slow down and pay attention to everything we are doing. We must make an attempt to really live in the moment. If we develop a stronger sense of self-awareness, we can head off our bad habits as soon as we begin doing them.

3. We use our habits as an emotional crutch. - Many of our habits, like smoking or turning to food when we are in need of comfort, serve as a coping mechanism for emotional stress or pain. We need to look for other, healthier substitutes for these habits. When I was trying to quit smoking, I would often exercise whenever I would feel an urge. The exercise took my mind off of my immediate craving and helped me to relieve my stress in a healthy way.

4. We don't tell anyone we are trying to break our habit. - Breaking a bad habit is extremely difficult. It is even more difficult when we do not have the support of our friends and family. We often fail to tell them out of fear. We think that by not telling them, we can avoid disappointing them if we fail. In order to successfully break a bad habit we must tell those we love and trust. They will give us the support we need and they will also make us accountable for our actions.

5. We are too hard on ourselves when we slip back into old patterns. - Just as developing new habits is hard, breaking old ones is extremely difficult. We will all slip up from time to time. We must stay positive and remember why we want to break our habits. Do you want to be a better role model for your children? Do you want to avoid a second heart attack? Do you want your nails to be beautiful for your wedding day? Whatever your motivation is, remember, there is a very good reason why you decided to break your bad habit in the first place. When we slip up and fall back into our bad patterns, we must take a moment to remember why it is important to break the habit. Then, we must start again.

I hope that these tips will help you to feel guided in having motivation to break habits you're not happy about or develop new ones you're proud of.

"Successful people are simply those with successful habits." -Brian Tracy

Written by Chelsea O'Brien, author of "I Eat Weird" and founder of BingeEatingBreakthrough.com. Discovering how to stop binge eating has shifted her life in a whole new direction. Her counter-intuitive approach has inspired many others that feel unhappy with their bodies and eating. Download her free "Breakthrough Binge Eating" video course at www.bingeeatingbreakthrough.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Chelsea_Lorynn_O'Brien/1418064

10 Morning Routine Habits of Successful People

Simple tips to follow - get up early and have a to do list.  Good luck!

10 Tips to Sleep Better Tonight - Or at Least by Tuesday

By Patty Tucker

Why not "tonight"? Why can't this be 10 tips for better sleep TONIGHT? You've waited long enough. You've had enough sleepless nights. Please! Just let it be over TONIGHT!!!!!

Unfortunately sleep is too important, too complex. It is a combination of complicated processes, long established habits and tangled physical properties. If we only concentrate on the short term; i.e. sleeping better tonight, we miss the big picture, which is Better Sleep for Life! Isn't that what you really want?

Sleep is natural, normal and necessary. It is so elementary a baby can do it with ease. It is so essential that without it we die. It is a basic function of life, like eating, moving, thinking and creating. Why then should it be so darn difficult?!

If you have been having regular trouble sleeping you know how poor sleep on a nightly basis effects your days. It's a struggle to wake up in the morning. Maybe you are late for work or school. You have trouble concentrating, focusing and it's harder to be creative. Your mood suffers when you are sleep deprived. You are more likely to be irritable without good sleep behind you. The tendency to blurt out something you don't mean or shouldn't say is much higher when you're tired. It's harder to exercise and it may seem you are always hungry. Certainly your health and your life in general would be better if you could just start getting some decent sleep.

So here you are. And I can help! Keep reading and together we will get you moving in the direction of better sleep and a better life.

A few nights of restless sleep before a big event, in a new environment or during times of illness are normal and to be expected in everyday life. The problems begin when "a few nights" becomes "most nights" and any good reason for the sleeplessness has become a distant memory or is a complete mystery.

By definition, a chronic sleep problem has developed over time and existed as a concern for several weeks, at least. It is therefore unrealistic to think it can be repaired in one or two nights. It took awhile to get this bad; it will take awhile to get better. I know that's disappointing, but it's true.

The good news is you can START to make it better right away. The changes you make tonight and the commitment you make today will be the first steps to healthy sleep for the rest of your life!

Read and follow these 10 tips. Just reading them won't help. You must also follow them! Some seem really simple -- stupid in fact. But you will likely find that simple does not always mean easy. Also, when it comes to sleep, it is often the "stupidest" things that turn out to be the most powerful. So trust me on this. Your success will depend on your willingness to really work on these suggestions and be patient while the magic works over time.

Ready? Here we go.

Tip #1 Set a regular time to get up every day.

This means weekends, too. The actual time you choose as "your time" doesn't matter that much, but being regular about it does. If you have to be up by a certain time to make it to work 4-5 days a week, then that is going to be your time - workdays and weekends. This is a crucial step, and really, really hard for most people.

Sleep is definitely a natural process, but we need to allow the wisdom of nature to work with us and regular rhythms are a hallmark of nature. The human body, like the squirrel body or the bear body or the chrysanthemum "body" dances with rhythms of the natural world. The sun rises and sets, the temperature goes up and down, the seasons change. We need to get into that dance, move in regular rhythms to become regular in our responses.

Tip #2 Set an "intended" bedtime.

This too should be the same every night so that you can be certain you are allowing adequate time in you schedule for sleep. I say "intended" because you may not be sleepy at the same time every night and, as we shall later see, you should only try to sleep when you are sleepy. It is absolutely necessary, though to designate a time when all else will be laid aside and sleep will be the priority.

We live in a very busy, overscheduled, hyper-stimulated society. Sleep has taken a backseat to everything else and it needs to be given the respect it deserves. Post your bedtime in you PDA. Set an alarm clock in the living room or kitchen that will proclaim your bedtime as surely as the one in the bedroom proclaims your morning. Do not allow the 30,000 other distractions of life eat into your sleep schedule. 

Tip #3 Allow enough time for sleep.

How much is enough? Well, grandma was right again. Most humans need close to eight hours. 7 to 8 is a good range to test for yourself. Some will require 7 hours and others 9, but science has shown us that we are likely to die earlier if we do not average at least 6 hours every night. That does NOT mean that 6 hours is enough for a good life, just enough to keep going.

Sleep is not a passive process. It is not "down time". It is an extremely important opportunity for the body to heal, build, restore, re-balance and to clean up tissues, organs and systems. Without enough sleep the simple maintenance functions may not get completed. Some of our most important hormones, like human growth hormone and testosterone are produced most efficiently, sometimes only while, we are asleep. What would happen if you never took your car to the shop? If you never emptied the wastebasket in your office? If you never restocked your refrigerator?

The brain has lots to do while we sleep as well. We now know that memory consolidation is best achieved during sleep. There are hundreds of stories of creative breakthroughs that came through dreams or were at hand just upon awakening.

Schedule enough time for sleep so that the brilliance of your body and mind can have a chance to shine.

Tip #4 Create a bedtime ritual.

If you have kids, or if you ever were one, you are probably familiar with this idea. At a certain time each evening, the children are helped or reminded to take a warm bath, change into their snuggy jammies, brush their teeth, read a pleasant bedtime story, recite their hopes and gratitude, kiss their loved ones and then turn out the lights.

This would be an excellent routine to copy for yourself. The advantages of doing these kinds of things every night, at the same time are twofold:

First the regularity of timing, as discussed in Tips #1 and 2 is reinforced. Having a regular sequence of activities that lead up to "lights out" serves as a signal to your body that the chance for sleep is approaching. This lets the systems begin to reset and ready for their sleep tasks, rather than abruptly trying to change course in midstream.

Secondly, the quiet relaxing nature of the pre-bedtime activities gives you an opportunity to shift gears mentally and emotionally as well. You disengage from the stressors and pull of the daily responsibilities and ease into rest. Relaxing reading, soothing music, a bath, a massage, an intimate moment with a lover; these all can create an effective "moat" to safely separate your active day and your restful night.

Tip #5 Make your bedroom into a Sleep Sanctuary.

When you walk into your bedroom at the end of a full day, ready to start your successful sojourn to slumber you should receive one and only one message: Sleep...! (OK, Sleep and Sex - but two and only two messages!) If you walk into your bedroom and see a treadmill, a computer, a TV, a telephone answering machine, a pile of bills, a pile of laundry, a pile of anything other than pillows, your brain is getting mixed messages. With so much distraction the brain doesn't know what you want or intend.

Just like training a new puppy, there needs to be a very clear message about what needs to happen where. Bed = Sleep. Bed = Sleep. Bed = Sleep (and sex). That's IT!

So move everything out of your bedroom that does not relate to or promote good sleep. Now with all that clutter gone, you can "invite" sleep in. Make your bedroom a place you love. Choose your favorite restful colors. Hang pictures that remind you of relaxed times and places. Make it soft, like a hug and quiet like a sanctuary.

Tip #6 Get out of bed if you can't sleep.

In the beginning, when trying to reset you sleep patterns, you may find that even though you have set regular hours, followed a relaxing bedtime ritual and gone to bed in a tranquil cocoon, sleep still doesn't appear on demand. Remember it took awhile for it to get inconsistent and erratic, it's going to take time before it becomes reliable again. In the meantime you have to stay true to your intentions and continue to retrain yourself into better responses.

If you find yourself awake in bed and getting upset over it, get out of bed! Whether this is at the beginning of the night, the middle of the night or in the hour before the alarm, do not teach your brain that it is acceptable to be awake in bed. This goes back to training the puppy-sleep-brain. Remember the message is Bed=Sleep. If sleep is obviously not there, get up. Go to another room and do something quiet and restful until you feel sleepy. Then go back to bed and try again. If you "wake up" as soon as you get back in bed, then get up again. Repeat until you fall asleep easily. Training is about establishing a firm connection between two conditions, in this case Bed = Sleep. Don't let there be any other choices.

Now this is one of those things that seems silly or counter-intuitive or just plain dumb. I know what you're thinking. I've heard patients say it before: "But if I just lay here maybe I will eventually fall asleep."

"But at least I'm resting."

"But it's too cold to get out of bed."

"But I'm too tired to get up."

"But I don't want to disturb my spouse."

All those excuses may be true, but the reality is, staying in bed when you are not sleeping, especially when you are feeling any negative emotion about it, just brings more of the same on subsequent nights. It's a big part of why you've had this problem as long as you have, despite all the other things you've tried. To break the pattern you have to break into the pattern.

When you finally get this part and start this exercise, you could very well have some rough nights at first. You may feel a couple nights like you got even less sleep than before you started following any of "these stupid tips"! I am truly sorry for the discomfort and wish it weren't so. But keep the long term goal in mind here and know you are making important progress toward good sleep and excellent daytime energy that you can count on in the future. To skip or delay this step is likely to diminish or delay your success.

Are you starting to see why we can't fix everything all at once? Sleep is a process. Fixing broken sleep is a process. Each step along the way builds on previous steps. If your old habit is sleeping poorly we need to replace that with new habits. Habits take time to take hold. So stick with it. Don't try one thing or each thing for just one night and declare "this doesn't work!" Remember one-night solutions don't work!

Medical science shows us it takes at least 18 days to begin to change a habit. As you go through these changes on your path to healthy sleep for life, allow yourself 3 weeks of solid commitment to each stop before making any judgments. It will take even longer to cement in, but you can get some good feel for the outcomes before the first month is over. With some changes you may indeed see nearly instant benefit, but if you're looking for the whole package, you'll need to be consistent and patient.

You're doing well so far. So, ready to continue on?

Tip #7 Control Your Environment.

You will sleep better if it is dark. This may seem to be obvious, but I'm frequently amazed how many people discount this simple fact.

The brain gets one of its biggest clues about when to sleep from the daily changes in light. In fact melatonin, the most famous of the natural sleep chemicals, is only produced when the ambient light begins to fade. Melatonin production can also be shut down by as little as seven minutes of light exposure. Streetlights, nightlights, the glow from a computer screen, TV or even the alarm clock can be cutting into your ability to produce adequate melatonin to fall asleep, stay asleep or get back to sleep. This means the more light you can shut out of your bedroom the better. Turn off, screen out and eliminate what light sources you can, and try a comfortable sleep mask if it's not enough.

Here's another obvious one: It needs to be quiet. This can be a challenge in some neighborhoods, but good earplugs can be transformational. There are dozens of different earplug designs and you can find most of them at your local drugstore. Everyone is different, so try several. They are cheap. If you can't find anything you like already made, you can have a custom pair made just for you by most hearing aid dispensers. These generally cost around $40.

Here's one of the most common environmental mistakes people make. There are hundreds of people who try to get decent sleep with the television on in the background. These flashing lights and quick dialogues, often with varying volumes between shows and commercials are just the opposite of the environment required for healthy sleep to develop. Remember, the human brain is wired to alert to the human voice. It doesn't matter if that voice is live or recorded, talking to you directly, loud enough to understand or even in your language. When the ears pick up human voices, the brain wave patterns change to alert status. This is not what you want if you are trying to sleep. Turn the TV off. Better yet, move it out of your sleep sanctuary all together!

The temperature of your bedroom is important. Sleep happens most easily when the temperature is falling. That's why it is so difficult to sleep on those hot summer nights. The ideal temperature range for sleep is between 72 and 58 degrees. There will be some individual variation with this and finding a temperature to agree on is a classic couple's dilemma. If you are waking too early in the morning, your natural temperature curve coupled with the room temperature may be the culprit. Try lowering the bedroom thermostat a couple notches or trade your blanket for a lighter one.

People often ask about what kind of bed they should buy. My advice is to get the most "comfortable" bed you can afford. This will be different for every person, which accounts for the popularity of the customizable number system beds. Just remember you will spend over 2800 hours in the bed in the next year and it's worth the investment - in yourself.

The point here is, where you sleep greatly effects how you sleep. Take time to study your sleep environment and identify potential sleep stealers. Change what you can to minimize outside disturbances and you may be astounded to discover how much difference a seemingly small adjustment can make. And please, no TV...

Tip #8 Avoid caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and sleep disrupting drugs and prescriptions near bedtime.

This is a big one. Each of these substances has a distinct effect in the sleep centers of the brain.

Caffeine, found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolate and some pain medications, keeps the brain's alerting system turned on. The effects can last up to 9 hours! That means a diet cola at 3 pm may be what's keeping you up at midnight.

Nicotine has similar alerting effects. Cigarette smokers can also experience withdrawal symptoms during the night that can cause restless and broken sleep, especially in the last half of the night.

Alcohol is perhaps the most common self-medication strategy used by people who have trouble falling asleep. This can really backfire, though. It is true that alcohol can lead to some relaxation and quicker sleep onset. However, the sleep that ensues is short on the restorative deep sleep most people want and it carries an ironic Trojan horse that is revealed when the alcohol is metabolized. 

The body cannot safely eliminate alcohol in the same form you drink it in. The liver has to change it into other safer chemicals first. One of those chemicals has stimulant properties similar to caffeine! This happens about four hours after the glass of wine, whiskey or brandy hits you stomach. That would explain why you can have a drink at 9, fall asleep at 10 and be suddenly wide awake at 1 am! You will have some difficulty getting back to sleep, too, until the new chemical is cleared from your system.

Obviously recreational drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines interfere with sleep. Even drugs that seem to cause drowsiness generally do not lead into normally restful sleep. The pills sold as "sleep aids" are usually anti-histamines that can make you sleepy, but they don't bring about normal sleep either. There are many over the counter and prescription drugs that also alter sleep patterns in surprising ways. Be sure to talk to your doctor and pharmacist about how these may be affecting you.

Tip #9 Eat well to sleep well. 

Sleep is just one of the three legs on the stool of good health. The other two legs are exercise and nutrition. To do anything well, including sleep, the body and brain need adequate, clean and appropriate fuel. Feed yourself good food that you prepare yourself or know has been freshly made. Regular schedules are important for healthy meals, too. Avoid large, spicy, fatty or rich foods near bedtime. Dinner should be finished at least 2 hours before your intended bed time to allow time for initial digestion. Lying down with a full stomach is an open invitation to heartburn and acid reflux.

Likewise, it is important that you not go to bed hungry. If your body is hungry, lacking nutrients, minerals and amino acids, your sleep will be restless and the body's housekeeping chores will not get completed properly if the raw materials for repairing and restoring tissues are not at hand.

There are many different foods that can improve your ability to get to sleep. Warm milk is a famous example. The reason this works is because milk has tryptophan which the body uses to make serotonin. Serotonin is one of the brain chemicals, neurotransmitters, necessary for normal, consistent sleep. Other sources of tryptophan are turkey, soy products and sesame seeds.

There are also foods that can keep you awake; ginger for example. A meal high in protein without balancing carbohydrates, may block serotonin. If you are having trouble sleeping a big meal of spicy ginger beef, just before hitting the sack, would probably not be your best choice!

Tip #10 Don't worry about it.

Now here's some crazy sounding advice! After spending so much time going through all the different things you need to do to improve your sleep, telling you all the terrible things that can go wrong if you don't sleep well, now I'm saying not to worry about it?

The operative word here is "worry". Yes, I do think good sleep is important - I know you do, too or you wouldn't still be reading this. Yes, I believe we need to be paying attention to all these conditions, behaviors and schedules we've listed here. Yes, I know it's hard work and yes, I know it's worth it. But worrying about is, stressing over it and making it bigger than is has to be is not helping. In fact that goes for all the other nagging worries in our lives!

We mentioned before that losing some sleep before a big event, a trip or during a move or any exciting time is normal and natural. The trouble begins when the sleepless pattern seems to linger when the triggering event or circumstance is no longer present or relevant. For many people the "trouble" becomes a "problem" and then a "sleep disorder" when they start to worry about it during the day as well. Fretting over it, stressing and getting upset over it does NOT make it easier to sleep.

If worry and anxiety, about sleep or anything else, is there with you when you go to bed at night, you need to find a way to deal with it in the daylight first. Stress reduction strategies and techniques include meditation, yoga, martial arts, simple play, counseling, prayer, hobbies and fresh air exercise. Music, guided meditation, creative visualization, progressive relaxation and biofeedback can also be incredibly effective tools.

One of my favorite tricks is to perform a nightly "brain dump". When everything seems to be on overload, I will be sure to take time every evening to sit down and write out all I would normally be worrying about in bed. This might include big stuff, like how to pay the mortgage, smaller stuff like remembering if the tires need rotating as well as stupid stuff like wondering if my favorite summer shirt will still be in fashion next year. After writing furiously for 10 minutes or so the scribbling will come to a stop on its own. Later, in bed, when those worrisome thoughts start to come up I can say "no, I wrote you down, so I don't need to think you right now". It really works.

As much as you have been proactive about taking control of your schedule, your environment, your diet and behaviors, you also must accept responsibility and reclaim control of your thoughts. This may require outside assistance from a coach or counselor, but ultimately it is the key to lasting success - in sleep and in life.

So there they are, 10 Tips for Better Sleep - tonight, next Tuesday and beyond. To recap, they are:

1) Set a regular time to get up every day.

2) Set an "intended" bedtime.

3) Allow enough time for sleep.

4) Create a bedtime ritual.

5) Make your bedroom into a Sleep Sanctuary.

6) Get out of bed if you can't sleep.

7) Control Your Environment.

8) Avoid caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and sleep disrupting drugs.

9) Eat well to sleep well.

10) Don't worry about it.

I know it's not easy. But approach it like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. Keep in mind that when you can count on full refreshing sleep every night, your days will be brighter, more productive and more creative. Your relationships will flourish and your personal potential will expand. Good sleep lets your body heal from daily use and rebalance for each new day. Reducing cumulative damage can help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and depression.

In other words when you sleep well you will live better, longer and happier than you dreamed possible!

Patty Tucker is a Sleep Coach and Consultant helping people worldwide to find their way to the restful sleep that can support their full and successful lives. More information is available at http://www.sleepofchampions.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Patty_Tucker/958422

Steve Jobs explains the rules for success

Short but sound advice from the last Steve Jobs

How to Train Your Brain for Positive Thinking

Brendon Burchard

People ask me, “How do I reprogram my mind?” Why? Did somebody ninjutsu your brain and hypnotize you into thinking something horrible?

Here’s the thing. Most people don’t need to reprogram anything; they just need to program for the first time.

There are all these patterns of instances and circumstances that have all coalesced into these automatic thoughts and behaviors that people aren’t necessarily being responsible for. They come up automatically and they happen. It’s not as if someone said, “I want you to think this.” No one ever sat them down and wooed them into it.

What they’re really struggling to do is master their mind in a more capable way.

• I need to get a hold of my mind because sometimes I just have constant negative recurring thoughts that come up. I can’t get rid of them.
• Sometimes I get obsessed about this one bad thing that happened to me.
• Sometimes I can’t even control my attention.

Let’s talk about how your thoughts are generated. I’m going to give you one simple framework to think through and then some tips, tools and strategies that you can immediately input into your life to better manage your mind.

First of all, if you’re having negative recurring thoughts and feelings, those are “easy,” and here’s what I mean by that.

Psychologists say we have two systems of thought: System 1 theory, which is your automatic, unconscious immediate thoughts and impulses that come from your body. Usually your brain is saying, Hey dude, we’ve thought through this before, or Hey dude, we’re trying to protect you.It’s running at a baseline easy energetic level.

Your brain loves to optimize itself. It doesn’t like to have to do a lot of thinking. It just likes to say, What do we already know? How can we apply it to this situation?

If you had fears in the past and a similar situation is here, your body generates those fears and says, Hey man, run away again. If you had challenges in the past and you want to protect yourself, your brain just says, Hey, protect yourself right now—we’re worried about this.

But sometimes those are not helpful thoughts. They’re automatic, but they aren’t actually helpful; it’s just your brain saying, This is the easiest route we know.

Part of becoming a more mature, conscious, enlightened person is to take better control of our System 2, which is the conscious dashboard in our mind. It’s our ability to more directly work, control, generate and create our own thoughts and behaviors in the moment, not relying too much on just the things that come up for us.

Of course, most of our lives are very System 1 driven, unconscious, automatic; we’re just going through the emotions.

But the people who achieve the peak amounts of success, the highest performers in the world, say differently. They say, You know what, I need to discipline my mind to support me even when it comes up with automatic immediate thoughts. I want those to be positive, buoyant, confident and strong, something that leads me to healthy decisions for my life, not just things that protect me.

We have to learn how to do that. One of the simplest ways to do that is this framework to understand how thoughts develop into strong and automatic thoughts. I call the framework “RWID,” which stands for relative weight of importance and duration.

People who often have negative recurring thoughts and feelings in their life, the reason those keep coming up is because at some point in their lives (or continually), they are giving those thoughts, the negative ones, more attention than any other thoughts. 

That simple repetition causes the negative thought to keep coming up over and over. 

In other words, the relative weight they give those thoughts is high. They keep thinking about those thoughts, and it’s all that repetition that seals it in the back of their head. Now their head says, This is an easy thing, I know this one, and it pulls the thought forward. So that simple repetition causes the negative thought to keep coming up over and over.

There’s a negative and a positive aspect to that. The negative is, if you keep obsessing about negative things, your mind will be automatically conditioned to bring it up without your control—automatically. The positive aspect is that we can use that same skillset and same rule to apply positive thoughts into our own life.

We can give positive thinking, positive questions, positive approaches a lot of importance in our life. Focus on them and give a lot of duration to them over a period of time, and they get sealed in the brain as well. Now the brain says, That’s easy, and automatically thinks about positive things.

I’ve done this so much in my life that I automatically think about the best possible outcomes in almost everything I do. I used to think about the negative outcomes, but I thought that wasn’t supporting me. Leveraging RWID helped. I’ll break it down for you.

The first thing you have to do in order to improve your mind is to take total control of your attention and notice where your thoughts are right now. On a continual basis you have to think:

• Where are my thoughts right now?
• Are they supporting me or are they automatically coming up negative and self-protective in ways that are not advancing my life?

Be aware, be conscious of what’s going on in your body, in your sense of feeling and emotion, and have a sense of the thoughts you’re actually having. Just start paying attention.

Start paying attention to your thoughts any time you’re in line from now on. If you’re in line at Starbucks, just say, What are my thoughts saying right now? Check in. If you’re in line in traffic waiting for the next car, just sit and think, What are my thoughts right now? Notice what you’ve been thinking about. The more we notice what we’ve been thinking about, the more we can interrupt what we’ve been thinking about. 

If it’s negative and it’s not supporting you, redirect it. 

If we just allow that feeling to keep coming up and we don’t pay attention to it, our life can be frazzled and highly anxious. But once we say, What’s my mind on right now? and we redirect it, that’s where personal power comes from. First awareness, an understanding and the consciousness to what’s going on, but then the ability now to be self-directed to choose what we want to focus on.

If it’s negative and it’s not supporting you, redirect it. How do you redirect it? Say, What would be the opposite of this negative thing? Think about the positive thing. Focus on that and repeat it to yourself. For many people, that might include closing their eyes and visualizing a more positive outcome. Or even just thinking, What are the next steps I should take?

Visualize that positive thing and assign a high amount of importance and duration to it. Make that thing important to you by giving it a sensation.

• You feel that thing.
• You sense it.
• You sense what your next step would be.
• You sense how it would feel if the outcome would be better.
• How would it feel emotionally, psychologically, spiritually for that thing?

Allow it to have a lot of emotion. Pay attention to it with your eyes closed. You see that thing, you feel it and sense a different step, you know what you’re going to do, you pay attention to it and you keep focusing on that over a period of minutes.

When your mind automatically wants to go back to the easy, which might be negative, you think, No, no, I’m not into easy right now—I’m into conditioning my mind.

Focus, give attention, duration and sensation to positive thinking. Attention, duration, sensation. Attention, duration, sensation.

By repeating a positive alternative to a negative impulse, we give ourselves personal power.

You can either give a negative thought more time, energy and focus, or you can just stop it and force your brain—creatively force and direct it—to a different possible alternative. Force it. I’m sensing this negative thing coming up for me. I’m sensing it. Stop! OK, get to work, brain! What positive thing could I create and focus on? Close your eyes and think about it, focus on it and build it out. Make it a labyrinth in your mind so you can visualize and see the positive thing, feel it and focus on it. Later in the evening, focus on it again. You start building in that capacity.

If this all sounds way too philosophical and you’re like, How do I make it happen? Here’s a very simple thing you can do to reprogram your mind. Create a sheet of two simple things.

First, write down five positive questions that you’re going to ask yourself three or four times a day. Every day you’re going to read these questions to yourself and answer them. They can be questions like…

• What can I feel incredibly grateful for right now?
• How could I surprise somebody right now?
• How could I have fun right now?
• How could I demonstrate love or excellence right now?

Do this for 30 days and you will recognize a total shift in your life.

They’re simple questions, but you’re giving them weight by focusing on them three timesduring the day. You have duration by focusing on them over 30 days. Your mind starts to re-shift its gears to give automatic ease to answering those questions and living in that mindset versus an undirected, unconscious mindset.

Second, come up with three words that describe your ideal self. Mine are “present, excited and bold.” Focus on those questions three times a day as well. Put them on your phone where they come up as an alarm three different times during the day. My phone buzzes and those words are there. I might be in a bad mood and completely detached. And then I look and I’m like, Dude! No! I’m an excited person. Break that thought and get back into this. I’ve got this. This is who I am.

That might sound so simple, but people won’t do the discipline. They are so frustrated with their mind because they haven’t done the conscious discipline to program it.

Our unconscious and conscious mind are incredibly programmed not just by thought, but it’s also incredibly conditioned by action and behavior. You’ve heard the saying, “Fake it till you make it.” I don’t love that, I’d rather just say, “Be authentic over and over again.”

If you take action on a consistent basis, it teaches your mind to do that. So do things that are positive for you. Take bolder actions. Teach yourself, I’m just going to be confident for no other reason. 

The more you take action, the more your brain is automatically conditioned to understand that’s what we do. 

I want you to really think about this. The more you take action, the more your brain is automatically conditioned to understand that’s what we do. You can actually condition your mind without doing any thought other than just behaving in a more positive manner… and suddenly you find yourself thinking more positively.

I know it sounds duplicitous but I want you to really think about that: Your actions condition your mind as much as your recurring thoughts condition your mind. So be a person of good positive thinking. Be a person of good positive action. And suddenly, one day you’ll wake up and be like, I feel amazing, extraordinary, positive.

Taken from Success.com http://www.success.com/videos/youtube/how-to-train-your-brain-for-positive-thinking?