You are actually a Success, even though you may not think it.

“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
– Benjamin Disraeli

I think most of people want to be successful, but there are many who never seem to reach their ‘ultimate goals’. They don’t realise that even if they haven’t made it to their ultimate destination yet, they are still a success.
I make sure that every day, I tick off each and every ‘win’ that I have had during that day. They might only be little ‘wins’ like ‘I finished going through my emails for the day’, but they are worth acknowledging and celebrating.
Otherwise you can go through your whole life striving for your goal, and not realise that...

YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Here is an article that Winsome (Global Secrets) has recently written about success.

What Is Success – Or How Will You Know When You've Got There?

If you step back and take a look at your life you actually already have reached success. Your life is in fact a success story even though you may not realise it. Take a look at where you are successful …..

When you think about success, first think back to your childhood.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Do you remember that mantra chanted from the back seat of the car during long drives? You could have been passing amazing scenery, unusual people and having a great conversation with your family ... but all you wanted to do was get to the destination so you could get out of the car and play.

Most adults live their lives as if they are still in the back seat of the car. They ask "am I successful yet" like a mantra and ignore what is passing them by.

It seems that we are so focussed on the end goal we forget there is a whole lot of stuff that happens in the middle. And if we reach one goal we instantly set an even bigger goal and start aiming for that one (and beat ourselves up for not hitting our goal earlier, faster, better).

We don't allow ourselves to see that our success journey is really a series of smaller journeys with infinite possibilities for enjoyment along the way.

We don't allow ourselves to feel relief, gratitude and to bask in the glow of achievement when we reach a minor milestone. We just race off to the next one without drawing breath.

We don't allow ourselves time to stop and reflect on our journey so far – what we have learnt along the way.

So how can you turn this around?

The first step is realising life is not a one destination goal – your only measure of success is not just one exam at the end of your life. Life is a series of smaller tests – some obvious and some not so obvious. Success is a cumulative process on how you go on all of these tests.

If you are a logical type – look at setting goals in all areas of your life. This includes work, spirit, family, health, and friends. Once you have set your targets ask if they really are achievable – I mean REALLY achievable.

If you set your targets too high you will never reach them – which means in your world you will never achieve success. Break the big targets down into smaller manageable steps and tick them off as you go. Factor in time to celebrate each success – with a personal rule that you can't start the next step until you have properly celebrated the one you have achieved.

Take time at each step to reflect on your learnings. Accept you did some great things as well as some things that can be improved upon. The focus here needs to be on a balanced assessment – not a doom and gloom drama.

If you are a feelings type - work out what success feels like. What emotions do you associate with success? How does it feel in the base of your belly?

Each day when you reflect on your feelings – look to see when you have felt success that day. Again, you are looking for a balance of your emotions. You have succeeded just by virtue of the fact that you are still alive and breathing. Allow yourself to feel the gratitude and the emotions of success.

The bottom line is there is no one single "there" from your "are we there yet” mantra. There are a series of "theres". Stop – celebrate and enjoy each one. You are a success.

If you would like to read more of Winsome's articles about Success and Life Happiness, go to:

www.4lifeselfhelp.com

Win #9 for the day, “Put up Winsome’s Success article on our Blog”

Congrats to myself! :)

Richie. (Global Secrets)

Laughing Your Way to Happiness

Can baby Ethan teach us how to be happy?

You can find more laughing videos at www.4lifeselfhelp.com/movie_life_happiness

Little Ethan knows the secret to happiness! Maybe there is a lesson all of us can learn from babies and children.

I love a good laugh, but too many of us don't laugh enough.

Did you know that children laugh on average 300 times a day compared to adults only laughing 15 times a day?

Where did we lose the ability to laugh? Did we actually lose that ability?
Laughing is a vital part of being happy in our lives, and it is something that is worthwhile making a conscious effort to do more of.
Find out how children are teaching us adults how to be happy in life.

We've all heard that old adage: Laughter is the best medicine, Volumes have been written and spoken about the value of laughter in life and how laughter can make us happy – even if we don't feel happy to start with. Laughter connects people and is part of the fine art of life happiness.

How does laughter relate to life happiness?

Think of this, babies and children have more than one way of showing that they are happy, but the most common way is through smiling and laughing. Research tells us that children up to pre-school age laugh about 300 times a day. 300 times! It's because to them, life is one big happy occurrence. They have what they need and are not concerned in the least about what they don't have – children are experts at the art of happiness. They are happy to see mom and dad, so they smile and laugh. They are happy to see their lunch, so they smile and laugh, they are happy to play with a ball, so they smile and laugh – they're happy! As adults, we laugh about 15 times a day. That doesn't mean that we're miserable, but it does indicate that as we grow up, we start to worry and concern ourselves with things, and unfortunately, we end up laughing less, and yes, we're probably not as innately happy as a two year old. But that doesn't mean we can't be happier! One way to bring a sense of joy and happiness into our lives and practice the art of happiness is by adding laughter. Seems sort of backwards, sure, but if it works, does it matter? If you can add laughter to your life and discover that you find happiness in the process, isn't that great?

How will laughing help me to find happiness?

Laughing does a lot of good things for us. It gives our body a gentle work out by causing us to use muscles in the face, chest and abdomen. It causes us to breathe deeply, cleansing our system. It raises the heart rate, and causes endorphins (feel good hormones) to be released. Laughing makes us feel the same way eating really good chocolate or having sex makes us feel. After a good belly laugh, we feel relaxed and alive and energized. Wait, those are things a happy person might feel! And whatever it is that made us laugh, later when we think about it, we will probably laugh, or at least smile again, continuing the "feel goods".

How can I add laughter to my life?

You can add to your overall life happiness by adding a good dose of sincere, happy laughter to each day. Here are some ideas:

1. Make a point to watch very funny movies or TV programs that really make you laugh a couple times a week.

2. Rent DVDs of your favorite comedian and watch with a group of friends (or your cat – that's OK too).

3. Play and be silly with small children. They know how to make everything fun.

4. Play fun games that induce laughing – games like charades and Pictionary-- are good examples.

5. Have your favorite comic strips emailed to you or set to appear on your homepage everyday.

6. Look into laughing therapy – there are schools and therapists out there that will help you "learn" to laugh.

7. Just laugh – even if you sincerely fake a laugh, you will begin to authentically laugh because it's so darned silly sounding when you fake it!

Laughter is a valuable part of your authentic happiness! Laughing each and every day is as good for you physically, emotionally and spiritually as taking your vitamins and getting exercise.

Go out and have a laugh!

Cheers,

Richie. (Global Secrets)