Prosper News: August 2006

Identify Reasons to Change
This is the first step because it is the most important. In order to effect any notable change in your personality or your life, there has to be a reason to do it. Whether you see it as a chance to improve your situation or a necessity in order to enjoy life, the first thing you need to do is to decide that you must change.

Once you have decided that you must change, burn the bridges behind you, do not give yourself the opportunity to retreat. If the only option is to move forward, then you will succeed. This is the key to achieving any great accomplishment.

Find Your Home-Field Advantage
You have likely heard the term home-field advantage when referring to sporting events. Home-field advantage occurs when you have more people cheering for you than the other team. The cheers boost the team and help them to perform at a higher level. This concept is important in life as well.

In order to increase your chance of success, find a personal cheer section. This can include friends, associates, your spouse, children or other family. You should tell these people what you intend to do. Ask them to help you by giving you their encouragement.

Build Yourself Up
Even though you have the home-field advantage, you still need a winning attitude. This step is important because your chances of success are much higher if you have a successful attitude. A winning attitude is not automatic; you must nurture and develop it.

Take some time each day to practice thinking positive thoughts. Set a half hour aside before you go to bed to envision what it will be like when you have accomplished your goals. You should focus on previous accomplishments and try to identify the way that you were able to do those things. Also learn to accept it when your cheerleaders tell you how great you are.

Eliminate Negative Vocabulary
There are certain words in the English language that you should delete from your usage entirely, especially when talking about yourself. The vocabulary that you use goes a long way toward the way you feel about yourself. Many people undermine their success with their vocabulary without ever realizing they are doing it.

Some of the words that you should avoid seem quite harmless. Other times the questions you ask yourself leads you to drag yourself down. Some of the vocabulary you should avoid includes, but is not limited to:

• I can't...
• How can I... if I can't even...
• Why don't/can't I ever...
• Who cares if I...

These are damaging because they cause you to set a failure mindset before you even start to try. If you tell yourself you can't do something, you are right. If you relate something by focusing on something you may have failed at before, you are dooming yourself to failure before you begin. If you ask yourself why you don't ever catch a break, you are going to answer yourself by telling yourself your own fears about your inadequacy. Instead you need to be positive and empower yourself to succeed.

Prepare Yourself
You can do anything you set out to do; however, it may require some intense preparation on your part. No one has ever climbed Mount Everest without preparing first. In order to overcome obstacles, you too must do what it takes to be prepared to take on a challenge.

If you are faced with a seemingly impossible task, your confidence will be low. Sometimes the best way to overcome an obstacle is to learn about it. Take the time to research your tasks on the Internet. Attend a workshop on the subject or take a class at a local college. Sometimes the only preparation you need is to pump yourself up. Regardless of what it takes, prepare yourself and get a full head of steam before you tackle a difficult task.

Break Tasks Down
Sometimes when facing a difficult task, people tend to look at the sum of the parts when considering whether they can handle the task or not. Often times the entire task is overwhelming. However, you can usually divide the larger tasks into smaller steps.

When looking at a difficult task, take the time to break the task down into manageable steps that you can easily accomplish. Create a checklist with all of the tasks written down. Break the smaller tasks into scheduled and categorized items. Work down the checklist and you will quickly accomplish the larger task.

Reward Yourself
Make sure that you really understand that what you are doing is worthwhile. One of the ways that you can do that is to reward yourself. Each time you reach a significant stage in your development, take the time to treat yourself to something you enjoy. It doesn't have to be anything big, just a little treat will do.